Yesterday, one of the first things Chiara asked for in the morning was her “fishies.” Luke sets his internet browser on Flickr and slideshows random photos with the keyword “fish.” We see gorgeous photos of fish in the ocean, octopus, jellyfish (my personal favorite), but also outliers like kids making fish faces, sushi, and moody wide-angle shots of fishermen. Chiara is absolutely in love with this slideshow and watches it for some time every single day.

However, on this morning, after a few moments of these beautiful photos, she turns to Luke and says, “I want to see penguins, actually.”

Like many people, I try to keep my plastic bag use to a minimum. A month or so ago, I began to carry used plastic bags in my purse so I could refuse new bags when I went shopping. That worked, although it was awkward to whip out a Whole Foods plastic bag when I was at a small, independent natural foods store, but I thought in the long run, it still was the right thing to do.

This weekend I brought a handful of canvas and polypropylene bags to Whole Foods and at the checkout line I asked whether I could pack everything in my own bags and still have it delivered to my apartment. After a short consultation with a manager, my cashier said yes!

That was awesome. i had bought so many groceries that I did still end up using 2 plastic bags, but it still was great to cut down so much. Next time I’ll bring even more bags. i have so many canvas bags from various conferences. This seems like the perfect use for them and justifies my inability to throw them away, too.

Little Miss Chiara had two birthday parties, each a wonderful celebration with family and friends old and new.

The first party was the evening before her actual birthday because I thought a celebration on Labor Day itself would be a traffic nightmare for people coming down to our Point Pleasant Beach house by car. A bunch of friends spent the day with us at the beach, and then came over to our house for pizza and birthday cake. I stood behind Chiara as our guests sang Happy Birthday but our friend Zak, who faced her, said that he watched as the recognition lit across her face that everyone was there for her and was singing the song for her. She was so excited after that that she woke up a few times during the night, mumbling about things that happened during her day, I think. I saw that she was awake at the exact moment of her birth so I nudged Luke awake too and we whispered a Happy Birthday song to Chiara at 2:42 am on Sep 3. So sweet!

About a half hour later, she awoke again, or perhaps was just talking in her sleep. She said, clear as a bell, “I am sooo cute!” And then immediately fell back asleep!

On Sep 9, we had a picnic in Central Park. What gorgeous weather we got again. The weather report called for a chance of thunderstorms so I’d been on pins and needles for a few days, especially since I had no back-up plans if it were to have rained. This time, we located ourselves on the grass under the shade of a bunch of trees and then the kids and parents went back and forth to the playground just steps away where there was a sprinkler, swings, slides, a rope jungle gym and all of this was in a huge sandbox.

Fun! So the kids didn’t actually interact all that much, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves. I am looking forward to the day when Chiara does actually play with another kid for more than a few seconds, and perhaps without hogging all the toys!

Here’s a photo of Chiara standing in front of one of her gifts, an easel with a magnetic board:

Luke and I received t-shirts when we signed up to play a beach volleyball tournament. The shirts had illustrations of a Hokusai-like wave and an octopus.

Chiara pointed to the octopus and said, “What dat?!”

And Luke said, “An octopus.”

Chiara says, “Yeah.”

Then she points to the wave: “What dat?!”

Luke said, “A wave.”

Chiara waves her hand, “Hi!”

After a day playing a volleyball tournament in strong winds at Point Pleasant Beach, I stepped into the shower to remove my sandy clothes and then called to Chiara, whom I was going to rinse off in the shower, too. She was sandy, grimy, sticky and sweaty–direly in need of a shower.

But she backed away from my outstretched arms and said, Noooooo! I’m clean! I’m clean!

Last night was the worst! Miss Munchkin was NOT going to go to sleep. I asked nicely: Please help Oma tonight and go to sleep. I got bossy: Go to sleep! Now. I was determined: Each time Chiara opened the door of her bedroom, I picked her up and wordlessly put her back to bed, just like Supernanny says to do.

But all I got in return was attitude. Crying, kicking, screaming. She refused to lie down. Would only stand up and sidle up next to my leg.

After a dramatic tantrum, I held her in my arms until she drifted off to sleep. But as I leaned down to put her on her bed, she woke up and made her back rigid and immediately turned over, climbed off the bed and stood next to me, crying, No No No! So I picked her up and she fell asleep again, and then I put her back on the bed and this time managed to get out the door. But, a few moments later, there was Chiara, standing next to my stool at the breakfast bar, where I was taking a break and reading.

I had had it! I was so tired myself but I had to pack for our trip to Washington DC, clear out whatever would go bad in the refrigerator, and then and only then go to sleep. So I finally decided that I would turn out all the lights in the entire apartment and wait her out, and hopefully, not fall asleep myself.

So, I turned out all the lights. Chiara was silent. Next thing I know, she was lying on the hardwood floor in the middle of the living room, about two feet from my stool, sleeping. Wow.

Then the phone rang so I went to the bedroom and talked for a few minutes with my brother. When I hung up, I trained my eyes on the living room floor where Chiara had been sleeping but I couldn’t make her out even though she was wearing a light blue onesie to bed. I carefully made my way to the living room, picking my steps carefully in case she had rolled somewhere else. But no Chiara. No Chiara in her bedroom either. No Chiara in the kitchen. Hmmm.

I stopped and listened and I could hear her breathing. She was sleeping somewhere….

I found her on the living room couch. Asleep with her head resting on one of the pillows. So cute!

I picked her up and carried her to her bed. Finally! Sleep is conquered!

Of course, it only lasted three hours. Oh well!

This is munchkin at 16 months, seven months ago! That night, she stubbornly insisted on wearing her cowboy hat, even to bed.

Luke Chiara and I were at the Melia Family Vacation this weekend, in the Poconos. Aside from seeing everyone together and having the usual competitive games and fun, my favorite moment was when I was pushing Chiara on the bucket swing. Nearby were two kids about six years old, on the saddle swings. They were speaking somewhat softly so I wasn’t paying attention to them until the boy’s voice rose and I heard:

Boy: “When I grow up I’m going to kick you in the penis!”

Girl: “I don’t have a penis.”

Boy: “What? Do you pee out of your butt?”

Girl: “Not exactly.”

Yesterday morning I woke up and showered before the Munchkin woke up, which is very rare. Oh, the luxury of showering in peace and quiet!

After I turned the water off, though, I could hear her tinklling voice as she talked to herself in her bedroom. I dressed and went over to her room and met her in the hallway outside, as she ran toward me. What a happy, beautiful sight she was, all fresh faced, chubby-cheeked and smiling in her cute little shortie PJs. I lifted her up in my arms and gave her a big hug. I love you sooo much, I said to her. Then I stopped and repeated in the singsong voice I use to get her to repeat what I say:

I….

Love….

You!

She looked up at me all smiles and replied, I love you, too!

Oh my goodness! You could have bowled me over with one breath. Too. I know I didn’t teach her that word or when to say it so all I can figure is that she’s heard us use it and figured it all out.

That remark earned Chiara an extra big extra hug!

I took this picture of her a few minutes later. She turned 22 months on this morning!

This past weekend I played in two beach volleyball tournaments! I haven’t done that in years. It was fun. The weather was terrific. And I won prizes both days—third in women’s A and second in co-ed A with Luke (the latter one is misleading because there was just the A division, then Open, so really the competition by the end of the day was AA, although I suppose you could argue that the better AA teams would have played up in the Open bracket). I suppose that might mean I should have played in a tougher division, but since these were the second and third tournaments I was playing in three years, it seemed like being conservative was the better choice. In any case, I wasn’t confident I had the stamina to survive a whole day on the beach under the hot sun, let alone for two days in a row.

I hope to play as often as I can this summer because having lost two entire summers in the blink of an eye, I now realize how easy it is to miss out on experiences and time and not even notice it except in hindsight.

watching chiara be completely confused by pronouns i am wondering myself how anyone learns how to use them. they don’t exist in korean (i hope i’m not saying something stupid. i really don’t think there are pronouns in korean but i haven’t analyzed the language thoroughly so take this with a grain of salt!), which may be the only aspect of korean that makes it easier to learn than english!

chiara will stand in front of me and hold her arms up and say, Hold You. and she means, hold me. or she’ll hand me a box of something and say, Help You when she needs me to open it for her.

she’s wrong, but how cute is that?

on memorial day weekend, chiara fell and skinned her knee. i think this may have been the first time i saw chiara’s blood. her birth was pretty bloody, but i think all the blood was mine. anyway, chiara wanted to kiss her own boo boo, or aya, as we call it in korean. so here she is kissing her own skinned knee before getting ready for bed on memorial day.