Hair

This was Yo's project at Sunday School today:

One of the verses they taught the kids today was: "Even the hairs on my head are numbered" (indicating how much God knows and cares about us). When I asked Yo what that means, he said:
"That means God counted my hair so that I have enough".

Yo on Marriage

Saw this on someone's FB and decided to ask wise, old Yohan the same questions. Here are his responses.

1) HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?
Yohan: Ummm... with God's help. (Later on he added stuff about how "Sanson" in the Bible married a bad, bad lady and how we should marry good)

2) WHAT IS THE RIGHT AGE TO GET MARRIED?
Y: 55!

3) HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?
Y: Because of the lady's big tummy....when the baby is coming out.

4) WHAT DO YOU THINK MAMMA AND DADA HAVE IN COMMON? WHAT DO WE LIKE TO DO TOGETHER?
Y: Helping each other, hugging and kissing, washing the dishes, cleaning and living in the same house.

5) WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
Y: Just go out. Eat and drink coffee.

6) WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
Y: When they're sad.

7) HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE BETTER?
Y: By dancing!

10 plus 10 is:

10 percent.

So sayeth Yo. The Math Olympiad is not in our immediate future.

Calling All Superheros!

Yohan's fifth birthday party (where have the years gone :( :(??) was loud, chaotic and fun. Every year we think we should keep it small... this year, especially since we'll be celebrating his real birthday in Disneyland, we thought it would just be a playgroup party...small and sweet. But we forgot to factor in seven 4/5-year-old BOYS and their energy. Add 7 more crawling, toddling, wandering little siblings to the mix and ... you get the picture.

Mamma had a great time "researching" superhero parties in the weeks leading up. We came up the cityline "photo-booth" for the little caped crusaders, lollipop super-heroes, comic strip pendant banners, batman cookies, themed games and what not.

End result: Yo had fun, thought his party was way cool and is enjoying his wide array of super-hero toys.

(embedded slideshow)

Belt Test

The family got all geared up for Yohan's first Taekwondo belt test. Our budding champ did awesome with the warm-up routine, his "Basic Form Number One A, Sir" move and his first official board breaking. He had to write down one bad habit he'd like to break on the board and say it to the audience before he broke it. His parents had to veer him away from his first choice of bad habits ("digging my nose") to something more ...ahem... acceptable to the audience. So we went with "whining". And what a diference breaking that board has made in our home. Not/ :)

Goliath

Yo: Is Goliath in heaven?
Parents (unsure of appropriate response): what do you think?
Yo: He's just dead in Israel.

Karate Kid

Last week saw the emerging of the li'l ninja - Yohan at his first Taekwondo lessons. The boy put up a brave face despite all the loud yelling in the class and did magnificently well. Incredibly cute doesn't begin to describe him in his too-big-for-him uniform. As for his jumping jacks and hip rotations - hilariously adorable. But he did an awesome job focusing and he absolutely loves the class. Mamma especially likes Master Lee's command for the last set of punches in the video.

Super-heroes

Yo and his friends, in a mall earlier this year.

Music Program at School

Yohan's classs and the Pre-K class (one above his) performed for the parents a month or so ago. We were very impressed by the little guy's ability to remember all the lyrics to a volume of songs and even Bible verses. And our little man can definitely carry a tune. Yay!!

The latest super hero

Introducing Super Knight.

Captain America is in the house

We got this for the boy a couple weeks ago at Costco. He didn't get out of it for a few days after that, including wearing it for play dates. Would have also worn it to bed, but his parents had to draw the line somewhere!

On a different note, some more Yo-speak:
Dada, trying to have a teachable moment with the son: Yo, are the stripes on your pajamas horizontal or vertical? (They were vertical, for the record)
Son, with a typical response: I don't know.
Dada: How do horizontal stripes go?
Son: makes horizontal motion with his hand.
Dada: And how do vertical stripes go?
Son: makes vertical motion with his hand. This is looking promising.
Dada: Ok, so what stripes are on your pajamas?
Son, without batting an eyelid: Convertible!

Swimming, Part 2

Yo's moved on to phase 2 of his swim lessons, and seems to be getting better.

(embedded video)

18 Questions

I took this list of questions from a friend's blog and decided to interview Mr Yo. The answers speak for themselves. Mamma's addiction to lotsa lovin' is more than obvious. Also seems like she needs to get cracking on her Ipad gaming skills.

1. What is something mamma always says to you?
Hug me! Hug me!

2. What makes mamma happy?
Huggies and Ummas

3. What makes mamma sad?
No huggies

4. How does mamma make you laugh?
Makes funny faces

5. What was mamma like when she was little?
You were a baby and ate mashed up food

6. How old is mamma?
Sixty-three

7. How tall am I?
Stand up

8. What is my favorite thing to do?
Have ummas and huggies

9. What do I do you're not around?
Work on your laptop

10. What am I really good at?

Angry Birds

11. What is mamma not very good at?
Cut the Rope

12. What do I do for a job?
Cook and clean up

13. What is mamma's favorite food?
Spicy Stuff


14. What does mamma need all the time?
She needs to clean me all the time when I do poop

15.What makes you proud of mamma?
When you do nice things

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
The same person you are

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Go to the bookstore

18. How are you and mamma the same?
We just give ummas and huggies

Yo Ho Ho! Yohan Turns Four!

Where did four years go?? We can't believe how fast the years are flying by ('cept of course, the days are still pretty long!) and how quickly the kids are growing up.

On Saturday, the 24th, we celebrated Yohan's fourth birthday at Pump It Up, followed by a home/ family birthday celebration on the 26th.

Captain Yohan and his crew went on a treasure quest at the pirate-themed party. The big guy wore a pirate-themed t-shirt and his second-in-command (Malaika) wore a sailor dress and, if mamma does say so herself, they made one cute buccaneer team. We had about fourteen little 3-4 year olds and their moms and dads and, of course, we had to do everything with an arrrrgh factor. Yohan's favorite were the homemade pirate-hook hands (crafted from a disposable cup and foil) and the swords we had as take-home presents. My favorite was the treasure map food labels (the "parchment" was made by soaking paper in tea and blow-drying it!). The kids had a great time bouncing, aaarrr-ing and finally digging into pizza and cake (which was served pirate style).

Hit the Deck! Pirate games in progress

It even had hammock to chiil out in after the treasure quest (for M n M's in this case!) 

On his "real" birthday, we had more presents from mamma and dadda (his wishlist was very specific: legos, super-heros, transformers, angry birds (!!!) and robots.... some of which were fulfilled by his parents and some by friends... thank you, everyone). Ranjit came home early from work and we went to the children's museum, followed by dinner at Red Robin where he was serenaded for his birthday.

  

(embedded slideshow and video)

Underwear

Yo's big question today was: "When will I stop doing underwear?"

Quite a valid question, when you consider over the short span of his life he has been encouraged to keep moving from diapers to pull-ups to underwear. There has got to be something else they want me to do next, right? Why the sudden dis-interest in my undergarment selection now?

Wish I Were A Kid Again!

A few weeks ago Yohan had his first dental check up. Of all experiences our little American kids have had in this land of milk and honey, this one made me think, "Wow!"

Even before the kid goes to the dentist (check-ups, btw, they are supposed to start at age 1!), there's a little "ease them into it" video online they get to watch. The World of Smiles waiting room was filled with toys and even had sea turtles in their little aquarium. Everyone, from receptionist to dentist, was dressed for the day's theme of "Cowboys/ Westerns". And the best part, each kid had a TV screen suspended from the ceiling. That was the clincher for us as "Cars" was on - Yohan was transported to Radiator Springs and began to engage the hygenist in McQueen talk after that!

  

  

Yo's gift to himself...

... this afternoon from Kohls was a pair of roller skates (and associated gear).

Big boy stuff

The other day Yo's pre-school had a "View the Crafts" day, and we trooped in to see quite a cool display of all the kids' work.

(embedded slideshow and videos)

Another big-boy milestone is figuring out how to put his own socks and shoes on.

Things that help you grow:

And we're keeping our fingers crossed on the potty-training front. As long as he isn't wearing any diapers, the right things happen. The question now is how to get him to proactively visit the loo when he does have diapers on - right after waking up, going out, etc.

Yo's 3rd birthday

This last week at the Narjala home has involved a lot of shopping, planning, baking, cutting, gluing and, did I say BAKING? All thanks to one very special darling little boy who turned three. Ranjit and I can't believe how time has flown. Three seems so grown up. Of course he still needs our help to put on his socks and open doors. But can time please stand still? We are so grateful to the Lord for the gift of our children!!

But now for party talk. We hosted our weekly Wednesday playgroup last week and, in keeping with tradition, Yohan cut his cake (in this case an icecream cupcake) with his little buddies singing for him. Toys, pizza and messy chocolate faces were the order of the day!

On his birthday morning, we heard him wake up but en route to our room he stopped short at the top of the stairs struck by the sight of "stickers" everywhere. The elves (dada and mamma) had been decorating the previous night, but of course the young man thought Santa was personally responsible for the living room looking like a McQueen exhibit.

The highlights of the day for Yohan were the cake and "my friends" coming over to celebrate the big three!

Pictures from the playgroup party.

Pictures from the party at home.

Video

Strike a pose

Unscripted, and unprompted.  What shows is he watching?