Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Joe's Birthday




And then he was two........bah bah ba bahm. Crazy the responsibilities that come with being two years old. Such as having to dance for an hour straight to the same song, not for fun but as though your very sanity depends on it (probably more ours than his, as the war of attrition that is raising a two year old rages on in full swing). It's not as though Great Big Sea's "Donkey Riding" is all that bad of a song, but everyday all day it's "donkey riding", "just donkey riding" or if he's been told no more, it becomes "donkey ride, no no no". But it was Joe's birthday and if he wanted to listen to nothing else for a solid hour then I guess he picked a good day to ask for it.

All in all, Joe had a pretty fantastic day. His birthday included a trip to the Wal-Mart playroom, fancy yellow Kart-Racer shoes (with flashing lights to boot...sorry, I couldn't help myself), along with several new books from his Grandpa via Amazon.com, some plastic jungle animals, part of a model train, and a couple stuffed toys and marbles from Tae-Young (our boss's son, who has developed a great fondness for Joe), combined with a whole lot of balloons and access to the "big fan button" ( after two years it's not even remotely strange that the remote control to the air conditioner was probably his favorite part of the day). Sadly, though, right as he was presented with la piece de resistance, a delicious, succulent birthday cake fresh from the ovens of the bakery downstairs, he was hit with a fever, and spent the next day and a half clutched to his mom (and sometimes dad, if he was feeling better), digesting only children's "Tyrenol" and juice. (Dammit, Mom and Dad, I was sick and you ate most of my birthday cake!)

Today was Joe's first day with Hyun Ju, his new babysitter. We think it will be a much better experience for him. No more bite marks, scratches, or slaps upside the head with packages of pickled radish from Yoo Bin. After only one day, he has already started calling her "halmoni", which is Korean for "grandmother".

2 comments:

olsonz said...

happy bday joe! i especially love the shoes that make you look like you can levitate. p.s. the traffic safety worldwide can definately be terrifying, my first night in cuba (4 mos pregnant) revealed a young woman in a side car of a motorcycle carrying her infant (less than 4 mos) in her lap. no helmets, no seat belts, and certainly no car seats. worlds away....

Linda E said...

Hi Guys,

Glad to hear you are having great adventures (I'm afraid the spicy stuff would do me in). Happy Birthday, Joey. We really miss you here...Shir Chadash is doing well, but shrinking. Sadly, Alec Lehrer passed away. I'm not sure if you were still here when both Neumans and Alf Baron died. Also, David & Talya Gryn have gone back east. Bette & Harold Gonick's daughter got married and had a baby in reverse order. The baby was very early, but he is doing well. Sheryl has two new grandchildren, and her youngest daughter is engaged (well almost -- they're waiting for the ring to come from Winnipeg). I'm going to Cowtown for a few days to visit my veggie daughter (just missing the Stampede, thank G-d). On holidays (wish my "rewirement" would arrive sooner rather than later.

Keep in touch...I love reading your blog.

Linda