grammar 4 kids

a few weeks ago john started saying something that sounded like "mice" all the time and we couldn't figure out what in the world he was talking about (which, of course, was infuriating to him and would usually end in a screaming fit). finally, we realized he would use it in a possessive sort of way, indicating that something belonged to him. it dawned on us one day when michael said that something was "daddy's" and john firmly corrected him, saying "no, mice!" that's when we realized he was duplicating his daddy and stating a possessive "my's". and although it's incorrect, i'm still astounded that little kids can be so brilliant to apply grammatical rules to their words like that.
seriously, i don't think it's possible to not enjoy watching kids grow up.

name that tune...

Fun diversion for the day:
LYRICS GAME
If you want to check your answers you don't need to actually click on the "Answer" link for each one, just hold your mouse over the word Answer and it will pop up. I thought this was totally fun although I have to admit to only getting 15 out of 50. yikes.

Boy 4 Sale

Literally from the day John turned 2 our home has become a war zone. He has several melt-downs a day, including major screaming fits that leave us so exasperated he ends up in his room half the day because we don't know how to deal with him. We're crossing our fingers that it can simply be attributed to his lack of ability to communicate yet...he's learning slowly about pronunciation of words, he's started stringing together words to make simple sentences...he's really getting there, but apparently it's too slow because he gets wildly frustrated with us when we can't understand him. Anyway, a result of all this hullaballoo is that I revoked movie-watching privileges, making him (heaven forbid) actually play with his mom and, oh i don't know, read and stuff. What a concept. We do, however, still let him watch video clips on YouTube and he especially loves Sesame Street. Michael & I have found the coolest clips that take us on a trip down nostalgia lane...Ladybug Picnic, Pinball counting, Rubber Ducky, C is for Cookie, etc. Anyway, we discovered this the other day and John requests we watch it at least 14 times in a row before I pull the plug because anything is obnoxious after 14 times. The sound is pretty bad and it's totally old school stop-animation, which looks completely primitive after getting used to digital animation. But it is pretty darn amazing when you think about how they accomplished it. So, for your viewing pleasure, here is...an Orange Singing Carmen.

Etched in Graphite

My friend Miow Lin is from Malaysia and she told me that when she went to vote in the national elections, they gave her a slip of paper with the candidate's names and...a pencil. I am totally not making that up. Indignantly she declared it to be ridiculous, that anyone could change her vote by simply erasing her marks. To which she received the reply, “but who would?” And it is that kind of forward thinking that has made Malaysia the super-power it is in the world today.

More birthday pics

I almost forgot to post some more pics from John's birthday. We wanted to plan a small play-date with John's friends for an informal birthday party and one of our friends that works at the US Embassy invited us to do it on the embassy grounds. There's a lap pool and a small kids pool where we gathered with 5 other kids and their moms for a lunch/swim party. A bunch of the embassy pics here were taken by Anne so thanks to her for sending me copies!

John 2nd Birthday