Fun in the Sun

First, I want this picture to show up on the thumbnail...Second, last time I accidentally uploaded two of the same video instead of this video of Claire being able to pedal her own bike with only a little help. Its been two weeks now so she can even get her self started on her own too but here is the video!

Claire

It feels like there is so much to talk about and yet nothing too new going on with Claire and how she is learning to talk and communicate so much better. I love being able to talk and she understands so well. Now that she can bike mostly on her own she loves going outside and I have to tell her its wet and cold out there when she asks so early. It has gotten down to 50 degrees in the mornings for the past few days and we've been wearing hoodies and sweats and I've had to get out the warmer cloths for the girls too. She has lots of imagination and can come up with her own games that are fun to watch her play and she often wants us to watch and play with her. There are still words that I don't always understand and when she shows me what she means I help her make the right sounds to say the word better. I don't think Claire has ever actually burped a single time in her life but she does like to do fake burps while she eats and tell us how big or small the burp was.

Shay

She is getting so mischievous and learning to get into things we normally have behind closed doors or barriers. She gets into my sewing room and takes apart everything she can reach if we don't catch her soon enough which has happened with Claire's help twice this week so security is getting better with a locked door. She also hasn't given up on taking off all the couch cushions every day yet...but she has learned to smile for pictures! And she covers her eyes for about 2 seconds when we play hide and seek and we tell her to count, or when she wants us to play with her she shows us how to join her. She watches where people hide to help the counter on anyone else's turn and hasn't learned how to hide unless you grab her and sit with her. There was one time that our vacuum didn't go the night before so I ran it in the morning and the girls were obsessed with it as it went around, but it didn't last the whole time and they got bored. She also likes to help me count and pointed to the numbers on the ground as I was counting for hop scotch.

 

Garden

We found some huge caterpillars in our garden! One was hanging off of a green onion and I showed it to Claire who was very excited until I told her they were bad for the plants. I looked up the exact kind we had and it is a horntail caterpillar that can eat tomato pants up in one night! The first day I found two and then Chris went to look and found two more, but we've been keeping our eyes out for more of their droppings to make sure they are actually all gone. They ate quite a bit but there is still a lot of plant left and we have new growth in other places so I'm sure it will turn out fine as long as we don't get more again. Claire still asks to see it when we go outside even though they are gone.

Kimchi

A memory of the first time I ever made kimchi 3 years ago popped up on the same day I made kimchi this week! I thought it was pretty ironic and fun to see how I've changed just a little bit but they look so similar. Chris did say that it was pretty accurate the very first time and that they keep tasting better, so the main thing I've changed is how we store them in glass jars instead of one huge container. The recipe was found off of YouTube with Maangchi who has taught me all sorts of fun recipes I've tried now and she is a great teacher. I also have the recipe down a lot better and don't have to watch the video multiple times before starting the process.