We celebrated just like any other American, barbecue cook-out, family, and friends.
Dear Audrey,
What a big girl you have become! You even say to yourself – “Look, I am a big girl now!”
Important Achievements This Month:
-Completely potty trained. Very few accidents. Maybe one or two, but consistently using the potty every time.
-Can go potty, wipe, and flush the toilet by yourself. You still need help after a good poop with the wiping, but you can sit on the toilet by yourself.
-More verbal in school.
-Can brush your teeth on your own.
Important Events in June:
-Bahamas Trip (June 2-7)
-Grandparents Visit (June 8-17)
-Butterfly Museum (June 9)
-Atlantic City (June 15-16)
-Tree trimming (June 22)
-Play in Pool & Tennis (June 29) – we need to work on having you actually play tennis and not just the clay sand in the court which you were doing. BTW, you were riding the turtle with an adult nearby always.
-Set up Garden (June 30)
-Started to work with mommy on after dinner reading and writing/drawing. Started in mid June after mommy’s vacation, and it’s now become a routine. During weekdays, after dinner, mommy/daddy reads you several books (along with discussion), work on a preschool textbook, and work on writing letters.
Verbal Skills:
-Can clearly speak in complex sentences
-Able to explain how a certain incident occurred, even when you are the only one there (Eg. like when Yuna fell and hit her forehead, and you and the nanny were the only other people in the room – you specifically explained how it happened).
Drawing/Writing Skills:
-You are working on your letters in school – learning and writing each letter every week. You are at the last two weeks of school
-Working on letters and improving penmanship at home
-Left handed, but also can draw and write with the right hand when prompted
-You can write your name, and a few words on your own
Math Skills:
-Can count consistently from one to forty and maybe fifty
-Can add as long as it can be counted on the fingers, and problems and visually illustrated
Social Skills:
-Best friend is H
-Doing well at her school – we will be sad when it is done with
-Playing silly games with your sister – you like to make her laugh
Favorite Activities:
-Singing – you can sing whole songs by yourself. You have recently memorized, “I see the Light” (Tangled), “I’m Wishing” (Snow White), “Perfect Slumber Party” (Princess Sofia the First). Previously, you had memorized “Part of your World” (The Little Mermaid), “Colors of the Wind” (Pocohontas). We’re talking about memorizing entire songs and singing pieces of them over and over again.
-Drawing
-Reading with mom and dad
-Playing with sister
-Watching videos of the various songs over and over again
-Dresses – especially the blue polka dot dress with white stripes that grandma got a while back (Winter 2012). You love this dress, carry it around with you all day, and want to wear it all the time.
Favorite Foods:
-Home made food, especially made by grandma.
-Rice, Anchovies (Myulchie), Squid (Jangjorim) unseasoned and seasoned
-M&Ms (you have been caught twice now in the pantry with the door closed, with your fingers in the Trail Mix bag. You couldn’t hide it from mommy too long though…)
-Ice-cream, especially the strawberry flavor (she doesn’t eat this often though, so when she does, it’s a real treat)
Personality:
-Introverted
-Disobedient, especially around mealtimes – you are not staying at the table
-More vocal at home – tends to yell when you are upset and then walks away
Still need to work on:
-Your penmanship and writing. You are left handed – Mommy is trying to see if you can write more with your right hand (will create less smudging)
-Opening up to people you don’t know
-Sharing your things
-Being more vocal (Your teacher recommended taking karate)
-Thanking people, greeting people
-Staying at the dinner table
-Curbing tantrums
OK, big girl. You’ll do great things and we’ll help you. Just don’t wear the same dress everyday and stop singing whole songs before bedtime.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
Last week of June, I was reading Audrey some books after dinner. We were going through one of her mini-books, and I happened to start a discussion about Mulan.
Me: Audrey, see this picture? Is it a picture of a man or woman?
Audrey: Woman
Me: What is the different between a man and a woman
Audrey: I don’t know
Me: OK, is mommy a man or woman?
Audrey: Woman
Me: Is daddy a man or woman?
Audrey: Man
Me: Is Audrey a man or woman?
Audrey: Princess. Audrey is a princess. (Then she smiled a great big smile and giggled).
Good stuff.
Dear Katie,
You are still so hilarious!
Major Milestones for 16 Months:
-You walk everywhere, run, rarely crawl
-Can climb up entire flights of stairs if we are not careful
-Obeys commands
-Identifies family members objects when prompted
-Still can talk a lot more words than Audrey said at your age
-Shifts objects, can twirl it around
-Stacking objects all the time (esp the cap to your bottle)
-Able to sip solids from cups, but still prefers the bottle
-Still only with 8 teeth.
-Showing preference for the right hand
Notable events this month:
-You have been talking up a storm this month – a lot more words
-Went on your first international flight – to the Bahamas (first week of June, June 2-7)! It was a fun trip.
-Got your first (May 22) and second haircut (June 13) – you look so dashing.
-Saw grandma and grandpa for the second week of June (8th through 17)
-Went back to the Butterfly Museum (June 9)
-Went to Atlantic City for the first time (June 15-16)
-Had a nasty booboo to your forehead – hit the edge of Ikea furniture – fortunately, it was a bad bruise, and the skin was intact (no scar) (June 21)
-Tree Trimming at our house (June 22)
-Aunt Jane came over and played with you (June 24). You unfortunately hit your head again on the floor this day – we vow to be more careful. We don’t want to lose any more brain cells.
-Swam in the pool (June 29)
Words:
-On the whole, you speak about 15-20 words consistently now. Probably even more since. It seems like you say something new every day and imitate us if we speak slowly and loudly enough.
-Thank you
-Bye
-Umma
-Appa
-Halmi (short for halmoni, grandmother in Korean)
-Halbi (short for halabugi, grandfather in Korean)
-Audrey
-“A,” “B,” “C”
-“1,” “2”
-Mine
-Cookie
-Shoes
-Baby
-No
-Doesn’t really sign as much anymore, perhaps because verbally you are able to communicate
-Very effectively points to objects and babbles, indicating when you want a certain object or to be fed (points to the bottle
Feedings:
-Eats more solids, about three meals daily
-Still bottle feeding whole milk about 3-4 servings a day of 4-8 ozs each
-Still constipated, drinking prune juice daily about 3 oz
-Vitamin drops daily (TriViFluor)
-Still dependent on the bottle, but often drink from a straw cup (you like the Zoli straw cups)
Sleep Schedule:
-You have two naps, one in the morning, one in the afternoon – exact time varies. You sleep about 1-2 hours, sometimes 3 hour naps depending on how tired you are. Sometimes when you take one nap, it is longer, about 3 hours.
-You love to roll around when you sleep
-No midnight or middle-of-the-night feedings
-Cosleeper, and sometimes wakes up only to be soothed back to sleep
-Not dependent on the pacifier ever to go to bed
Favorite Activities:
-Butting your head in whatever Audrey is doing. If she is coloring, you want to do it too. If she is reading, you snuggle close and pick out your own books. If she has a toy, you sneak up next to her and grab whatever she has and run away….to a nearby adult.
-Often times you grab random articles of clothes, and drag it all over the place. You like to go into closets and play with your own clothes, or shoes.
-The TV and Iphone do catch your interest, but not for too long.
Personality:
-Very quiet and subdued at times, and loud when you want something. When you are hungry or tired – you let us know by letting out a loud yelp. If you are happy – then you are so quiet, it’s hard to know you are around.
-You speak a lot more thank Audrey at this age. You watch less TV. You are interested more in people and in what they are doing than what is on TV. That is a good thing – I suppose.
-You often “share” your food with others, and like to give toys and things to other people as well
Quirky Yuna things:
-Still gets carsick often enough, we need to have a one-to-one supervision whenever you ride the car. You have vomited over 10 times on various car rides. Once you vomited after gulping down 8 ozs of milk in 5 minutes. Maybe you have a small and sensitive stomach?
-Strawberry kisses have been commonplace this month. You have done it so often, Audrey copies you.
Education:
-More words, signs
-More books read directly for you
-Writing – right now all you can manage is scribbling
-Maybe a mommy and me activity – you haven’t been to any groups at all outside of home. This is different from Audrey who had been exposed to the classroom at this point (but she was an only child at that time).
We love you, our little mischievous dragon!
Love, Mommy and Daddy
Dear Audrey,
How much bigger and smarter you’ve become this quarter!
Important Achievements the Second Quarter:
-COMPLETELY POTTY TRAINED, even at night. We don’t put diapers on you at night anymore because it was irritating you
-However, we still do have accidents. The last times you went (for no apparent reason) was April 13th in the bed, and April 14th on the staircase, April 22nd in the middle of the day. There have been several other accidents that randomly happened. We still put diapers on occasionally at night.
-Very verbal when in comfortable situations
-We have tried to socialize with other children, especially over the weekends
Important Events the Second Quarter:
-Mommy’s cousin, Ms. C came to visit and you had fun playing with her. She also put the finishing touches to your dollhouse that was not built yet. (3/22/13)
-We had a wonderful Easter Party with our church group and friends (3/30/13)
-We went to the “Butterfly Museum” – The World of Wings which you loved (4/6/13)
-We went to the Museum of Natural History and revisited our friend the Big Whale, and the skeletons (4/20/13)
-Celebrated Mother’s Day cupcake party (5/13/13)
-Pool party (5/26/13 & 5/27/13
Verbal Skills:
-Vocabulary is expanding
-Mommy and Daddy are working at having you explain more things (Eg. What is the difference between a elephant and giraffe? – Your response, “The giraffe has a long neck! The elephant has a long nose!”)
Drawing/Writing Skills:
-Can draw nice pictures of people and animals
-You are working on your letters, especially in school
-Definitely left handed, but can do things with the right hand (like feeding yourself) if directed to do so
-You can kind of write your name on your own.
Math Skills:
-Can count consistently by yourself to Forty and maybe Fifty
-Mommy is trying to work on adding simple things, but you don’t get it yet
Social Skills:
-You and your friend H really get well together. It also helps that we are so chummy with her parents. The latest was when we went to the Butterfly museum and the Museum of Natural History together – you both had a great time!
-Getting used to your school
-Playing more with your sister and sharing a little when prompted to do so
Favorite Activities:
-Drawing
-Reading with mom and dad
-Playing with sister
-IPad, IPhone
-Favorite App is the “Endless ABC” on the Iphone and Ipad
-Favorite show is “Dora Dora.” You no longer watch Sesame street as much.
-Like to dress up, especially in nice dresses – you are definitely going through a Princess phase
Favorite Foods:
-Korean food
-Grandma’s cooking
-Likes sweets, chocolate
Personality:
-Introverted
-Obedient
-Quiet around strangers and in social settings, but more vocal at home
-Very feminine – lately, you have been crossing your legs like a lady
Still need to work on:
-Being friendly to people you don’t know
-Sharing your things
-Taking turns
-Being more vocal in social settings
-Not pushing your sister
-Thanking people
-Listening to parents and not having tantrums
We love you!
Love, Mommy and Daddy
The Lovely Details
