Benji takes flight

Playing outside

Independence

This morning the kids woke each other up at 6. I tried to bring them both into bed with me but neither would sleep. ＂爸爸我要起来＂ they both said. So Yaya suggested they go play for a while until I woke up. That's what they're doing right now. No tv, no fighting, no parents. And so we turn a page.

Benji: Sensitive about Poop

Yesterday as I was changing Benji, he said to me “爸爸，我不要你说这个.” (Baba, I don't want you to say that thing."

"What thing?" I asked him.

“我不要你看我的POO，然后说‘Oh My God'”. (I don't want you to look at my poo and say "oh my God.)

Well that nearly sent me into convulsions. I couldn't believe (a) he remembered me saying that, though from what I recall it was during a particularly awful diaper change; and (b) that if affected him to the point where he'd ask me not to do that again.

All I could do was apologize.

Yaya was a Boy

Today, Yaya said:

我很小的时候,我是男孩, 可是长大了就变身一个女孩子.

"When I was very young, I was a boy. But then I grew up to be a girl."

She also wrote her first Chinese character "小" on the side of the bathtub today.

The Update

These days, we have a running commentary about what's happening from Benji and we get a daily report about what has happened from Sophia. There's nothing better coming home from work to hear little footsteps running to the door with screams of "mama." I LOVE it and there is nothing nicer in the world.

Benji is really a talking machine, saying everything. A few fun things he's said recently. On our flight back from Bangkok, when he saw the roll on the meal tray he asked, "Butter, ne? (or where's the butter?)" Like Sophia did when she was about Benji's age, Benji sometimes likes to poo behind a curtain. Well, one of our favorite pastimes these days is playing hide and seek with the entire family and nannies participating. During one session of hide and seek, when Yeh Yeh (Josh's dad) emerged from behind a curtain one evening, Benji asked him, "Poo le ma? (or did you poo?)" It had us all rolling on the floor and the game of hide and seek brings giggles to everyone old and young.

Benji's other obsession is driving. He comes home and immediately asks for the car keys--the real car keys--and sits in the care for half an hour at a time: honking, driving and, yes, turning the car on.

Sophia loves taking ballet and cooking classes after school. She is also quite the conversationalist able to give a full and detailed report about, well, just about anything she wants. I often wonder what she's telling her teachers about our lives, perhaps that her grandfather is pooping behind curtains! She loves telling secrets (like watching Yo Gabba Gabba on the iPad while having breakfast without telling mom) and getting surprises (like macaroons from Comptoirs de France).

Benji is still completely addicted to driving anything from his Little Tykes car to using the wheels on the Pooh bear bike as a steering wheel to our actual minivan, which he knows how to turn on now! So, no more keys for Benji..He's also still addicted to Queen's" We Will Rock You," demanding it whenever he's in the car, sees an iPhone, iPad or Mac! Thankfully, it seems "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" seems to be gaining in popularity during the nighttime ritual this week.

Unbelievable.

This morning, Benji took a little cat nap on the big bed. As Josh was playing with Yaya in our room, Benji walked in bleary eyed and wobbling a bit, having just gotten out of bed by himself. Yaya looked at him and then this:

Yaya: "Benji, 你自己下床马?" ("Did you get down from the bed all by yourself?")

Benji: "Mmm" (i.e., "Yes")

Yaya: "那，你自己过来的吗?" ("Did you come over by yourself?")

Benji: "Mmm"

Yaya to Josh--in English: "Unbelievable."

Too cute.