Free time

Since we've started Sora at daycare, the drop-offs have gotten a little easier. Kai no longer cries (thank goodness!) and Miss Sun says that Sora cries for less than a minute before going to play with the other kids. Having both kids at daycare has also made things easier for me. Although I initially mourned lost time with my little girl, I've since learned to appreciate my new found free time. Nik and I are enjoying having more one-on-one time and I've had a little extra time and bandwidth to take care of my self and start running again.

Spying on Sora via the daycare webcams

Brunch date

We've also found that having extra bandwidth allows us to have more energy to do fun and novel things with the kids rather than feeling like we're just keeping our heads up above water. The other evening, we took the kids out to the drive-in to see Zootopia. For the most part, the kids behaved themselves and although there were a few moments where Nik and I may have felt tempted to abort our mission and go home, we made it to the end of the movie. Kai ended up watching Thomas and Friends on Nik's phone during the "scary" parts of the movie while lounging in the backseat.  We kept Sora calm by feeding her various snacks throughout the entire movie, including nursing at one point, thank goodness we were in our own car!

We also took the kids to Emma Prusch Farm recently since Kai wanted to see the pigs. However, the potbellied pig was sleepy and uninterested, so the highlight for Kai was feeding the chickens and ducks. This was the first time we had taken Sora to the farm since she had learned to walk and she was so happy and excited to see the various animals roaming around her. We were worried that the animals would harass her since she's so little and one of the ducks actually pecked her! (although she was oblivious and didn't even notice)

"I found a treasure!"

Occasionally, we take the kids to Yogurtland after daycare. The kids love it, Kai especially loves the popping bobas and lychee jelly.

We also celebrated a number of birthdays recently. Dylan's birthday party was noisy and fun, with a gang of little boys running around the house (although Kai did not join in on the fray).

Later, Nik and Kai visited the Aolin's house for an impromptu play date. We're so glad that there are so many young families with children in our neighborhood and we're looking forward to seeing all the kids grow up together.

We also celebrated Pearl's birthday with teppanyaki dinner. We enticed Kai into going by saying that we were going to see "a cooking ninja." He was really excited, though the highlight for him and Sora was undoubtedly the ice cream dessert.

Good to the last drop

We also celebrated Niko's birthday this past weekend with yummy Mexican food and churros. Kai had a great time running around with his church buddies, though we must've been too busy wrangling the kids since we don't have any pictures. Birthday are now a Big Thing for Kai and he constantly talks about "my birthday." I suppose Nik and I have some planning to do! :P

Though we missed an hour of sleep with the start of Daylight Savings Time, we're enjoying the extra bit of daylight. The kids enjoy playing in the backyard, and Sora now climbs up the ladder to our backyard play set so she and Kai can play together on the upper landing.

Look who can climb up on her own..

.. and number one can now go up the climbing wall on his own!

There are plenty of other fun things to do in the backyard: like drawing with sidewalk chalk..

.. and having dinner al fresco!

And with the extra daylight, after we pick up the kids from daycare, there's now plenty of time to hang out at the playground across the street. Apparently, all of the parents of Kai and Sora's daycare classmates have the same idea, because on some days it's a veritable daycare after party at the playground!

Hangin' out with Luna and Ju Bao

It's amazing how quickly the kids learn how to use electronic devices. Kai has almost mastered point and click using the computers at the library and Sora's become quite adept at hacking into our phones (she even sent Nik and Matt a text the other day!).

"Hang on, I'm texting my BFF."

Last week, Kai had a mild virus and I kept him at home from daycare for a day. Since he wasn't really ill, we went to the library. Though later in the afternoon, he passed out in the stroller when I took him out for run. Fortunately, he was only sick for a day and he returned to daycare the next day.

Usually when I take the kids to Po Po and Gung Gung's house on Sunday afternoon, the kids will nap together in the car. However, occasionally their nap times don't sync up. In this case, Sora needed to eat lunch while Kai napped in the car. Since my parents weren't home yet, I needed to get a little creative. I might've gotten a few funny looks from my parents' neighbors, but whatever. :P

Al fresco dining on the sidewalk?!

Kai loves visiting Po Po and Gung Gung's house and espcially loves seeing Bebe. Lately he's been anti-Brownie since Brownie had snatched a blueberry out of his hand one day.

Kai also loves the chins. He likes taking them out of the cage and chasing them around, though I'm not sure if Chubs or Skinnay appreciate the extra attention.

Did you know that you could purchase a cup of boba for $0.50? Neither did we.. the funny things you figure out when you have kids.

Sora continues to be our good little eater and most days, she eats more than Kai (although recently she thinks it's hilarious to drop her bowl or food off of the table).

Another reason to love Trader Joe's: free lollipops!

Parmesan cheese by the spoonful

It's really cute to see Kai and Sora's developing relationship. They're always mimicking each other and they're starting to play together, although there's still a lot of crying over stolen toys. It's also clear that Sora dotes upon her big brother. She's always getting Kai's jacket or shoes for him and she's delighted to see him when she wakes up in the morning.

Sora: "I don't know what I'm doing, but if Kai's doing it, it must be a good idea."

Sora: "Back off, buddy."

And just one more picture of my Spider-boys. :)

Sora's first day of daycare

The week just flew by and now it's already Friday. This week, we started Sora in daycare. My feelings are mixed: I'm torn between relief/sadness/guilt, but it has been nice to have some time to ourselves again. Nik dropped the kids off on the first day and stayed with the kids while they acclimated, while I anxiously watched the daycare webcams at home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the kids. Of course, they both cried when Nik left.

That afternoon, Nik and I went on a quasi-celebratory lunch date (our first child-free outing for months). Just being able to sit down and eat at a restaurant without having to worry about the kids was liberating.

We picked up the kids early from daycare that day and took them out for frozen yogurt as a reward for what was undoubtedly a tough day. Miss Sun assures me that Sora is doing better day by day. I'm hoping that my bold little girl will acclimate quickly to daycare, perhaps having Kai there will help ease the transition.

I've been using this extra time to check out preschools for Kai. I can't believe it's almost time to send Kai to preschool and sometimes it feels like I'm just getting bombarded by information, but I hope we can find a school where Kai will thrive!

Rewinding back to this past weekend.. the weather was beautiful on Saturday and we took the opportunity to spend plenty of time outdoors. The kids were walking around the neighborhood and I noticed that Sora is actually the same height as a fire hydrant. I hope you grow taller, little girl!

Getting a boost

We then ventured off to Magical Bridge Playground, designed to be accessible to all children in spite of disabilities, the playground offered a lot of unique and neat play structures. Kai and Sora enjoyed all the spinning play structures and the laser harp (only in Palo Alto!). Sora, our little socialite, even made friends with a family while exploring the playground.

ADA accessible swings

In spite of the look of terror, she actually is having fun.

On Sunday, we attended church as usual and then quickly head off to Lord's Grace Christian Church where David was getting officially installed as one of the pastoral staff. Kai and Sora enjoyed running around the expansive church grounds, though we did have an unfortunate (and messy) code brown incident (oh, the joys of potty training!).

We then had a celebratory big family dinner with David in Redwood City. The kids enjoyed the paella and afterwards, Nik, the kids and I went on a nostalgic walking tour of the downtown. We stopped at a boba place for dessert and the kids loved it!

I'm trying to have Sora grow her hair out, though it's now at a length where it gets into her eyes. Unfortunately, my little girl loves to pull out any cute barrettes that I put in her hair, so I need brush back her hair all the time and snap a picture whenever I can.

Kai seems to be more interested in eating and has been a little easier to manage lately. Perhaps this means that three may be easier than two? Wishful thinking. :P He's a silly boy and loves to play with whatever he has on hand.

Sora now helps us feed Kai :P

Fun with kids' flossers..

.. and pants.

And we've had the usual rotation of family helping us care for the kids. Thank goodness for family!