Simple Pleasures

watching the backyard turn green and seeing all the flowers start to bloom - here is a magnolia bush that is just bursting these days


watching Claire put on her bright yellow boots. she oh-so-carefully lifts up her foot, curls her toes over and into the boots. it makes me happy to see her do it every single time

watching Skye make mud pies

being able to bare my arms and legs and feeling the sun on them

watching Claire stand in front of the window looking for birds and watching the wind blow the trees


chasing a naked Claire around the house (her latest thing these days is to take off all her clothes--when we head outside, she usually wants to just don her yellow rain boots)

seeing Skye and Claire play so well together. usually, Claire follows Skye around and Skye is really good about explaining to Claire what she is up to. it gives me great pleasure to think about how close the girls will grow as they get older.

hearing Claire say, "Ummah? Ummah? Ummah?"

First Hair Cut

my neighbour had asked me to cut her two year old daughter's hair. today, being a warm day, we decided to do it outside. i also decided to give Claire a haircut while i was at it. so here is a shot of her with her new "do". i tried to get a shot with our neighbour's daughter, but the girls were not cooperating. please check out the new video of the girls doing soooo well while Phil was away last week.

the "before" look


and after the hair cut.

Busy Times

Phil returned on Sunday and was relieved to find the household quite sane and calm! :) somehow, Skye, Claire and i managed to survive surprisingly well. yes, it was super busy and i wasn't able to blog at all, but overall, we had a good time. every evening, i'd be thinking, we're doing pretty well and that the girls might get to bed early, but every evening, after the dishes were done and the girls were washing up, it would be time for bed. it amazes me still how long it takes to do everything by myself and take care of the girls. again, i can't imagine how single parents do this all the time. by the end of the day, i'd be so tired i'd crash soon after the girls went to sleep.

the weather is slowly but surely warming up. i'm learning from the Madisonians that once we have a whole week of good weather, we'll get the last bit of cold and then spring really should arrive after that. i'm hoping this week is the good weather week since we are supposed to have sunshine every day and then hopefully we'll have our final round of cold. phew! can't wait! i see young people walking around in shorts and it's only in the 50s...yes, i'm tired of my winter clothes too but i think i'd get sick walking around in shorts right now.

Claire's favourite activity these days is to try on everyone else's shoes. it's such fun watching her walk around in our big shoes. she's trying so hard to grow into them! watching Claire, i can't help but think about the younger sibling's fate of always trying to keep up with the older one. Claire has taken many many tumbles just trying to keep up with Skye. she always ends up getting in Skye's way and falling over. Claire has scraped up her face so many times!

yesterday, all the neighbourhood kids were out to enjoy the warm weather and Skye has taken to loading some of the young ones in our wagon and attaching the wagon onto her bike and pulling them along. they have great fun. i'm glad Skye is being so maternal--not always so with Claire, but we're working on that one. :)

Minus Dad

we're without Phil this week. he headed off to DC for a conference today and won't be home until Sunday. let's hope the girls and i don't drive ourselves crazy without our man! :)

Hello warmth!

as you can see by the big smiles on the girls faces, warmth has come!! we were outside ALL day today! Claire only slept for an hour after lunch and immediately ran to the door, holding her shoes, ready to go out again. temperature wise, it was only in the 60s, but the girls acted like summer has arrived. Skye pulled on her flip-flops and they eventually came off and she was running around bare-footed. i'm a little concerned that she may get a cold, but i didn't have the heart to say no. even i feel like going barefooted because the sun feels so good. i used to think people were crazy if they dressed for summer in spring weather, but now i understand it. we are determined to bring in warmth by dressing for it!

Visit to the dentist

earlier in the week, i had one of my twice-a-year check-ups at the dentist. usually, Phil is able to watch the kids, or at least Claire while i would take Skye who loves to watch my teeth being cleaned. but not this time. i had both girls with me and i was a little nervous about that. i imagined Claire getting into all those sharp tools and making a mess. the hygenist sort of raised her eyebrows at me, but being an older woman who just married off her first child, she took it all in stride. she usually pulls out a box of crayons for Skye and puts down a blanket on the floor for Skye to sit on. so she did that for both girls this time. and of course, Claire was an absolute angel. she coloured with Skye, but watched me getting my teeth cleaned for most of the time. and while she rarely does this at home, she decided to draw on the wall. that was the only "accident" at the dentist's office. i was so relieved!

Skye never babbled - she was always rather precise about her words. but now, we have the pleasure of listening to Claire babble. she loves to imitate the sounds we make and i guess our cadences. i think i'm also confusing her a bit by speaking both Korean and English AND teaching her some signs. i find she communicates a lot in movement. for example, for music, Skye used to say "CD", but Claire does this little dance movement with her upper body. well, at least she understands that there's more to communication than just words. :)

Italo Calvino's "Six Memos for the Next Millennium"

i have loved Italo Calvino's fiction since my graduate school days and have picked up this book recently. it is a series of lectures he was supposed to give when he passed away, so there's actually 5 "memos" - the sixth was never completed. i wanted to share an excerpt from the chapter titled "Quickness". while he writes about the writing process, i think in so many ways, it is about life too.

"A writer's work has to take account of many rhythms...a message of urgency obtained by dint of patient and meticulous adjustments and an intuition so instantaneous that, when formulated, it acquires the finality of something that could never have been otherwise. but it is also the rhythm of time that passes with no other aim than to let feelings and thoughts settle down, mature, and shed all impatience or ephemeral contingency.

"I began this lecture by telling a story. let me end it with another story, this time Chinese: among Chuang-tzu's many skills, he was an expert draftsman. the king asked him to draw a crab. Chuang-tzu replied that he needed five years, a country house, and twelve servants. five years later the drawing was still not begun. 'i need another five years,' said Chuang-tzu. the king granted them. at the end of these ten years, Chuang-tzu took up his brush and, in an instant, with a single stroke, he drew a crab, the most perfect crab ever seen."

Winter fatigue

every single person living in Madison is so sick of this cold. it's not just me--all my neighbours are out, chipping away at the ice, determined to push the cold out of here! one of my neighbours was out today putting out grass seeds on his front lawn, determined to bring spring to our block. after the construction crew left just before the cold hit, our block was left with no grass, and with the snow melting, our front yards are mud baths.

and just to let you know how sick i am of this cold, i look at my closet and get terribly annoyed that i've been wearing the same clothes for 6 months!! i want to wear dresses! i want to wear sandals! i am sick of wearing my down jacket! i want to burn all my sweaters and my snow boots! it's sort of how i felt when i stopped breastfeeding Skye - i wanted to burn all my nursing bras.

well, on a brighter note, congratulations to my friends, Mary and Martin, whose baby girl, Camille, was born this morning in California! welcome, Camille! we look forward to meeting you some day soon!