October Round-up

I noticed a few new things this month.

About Ailin:
Her hair is finally growing thicker and longer and faster. She just got her hair cut in August and will need it again soon. She says she wants to get her hair cut just like mine.
She says funny things like "French Rice" for McDonalds french fries.
She's really sassy. It gets worse each month.
She can speak English and knows a lot of words, but I think she chooses to speak Japanese. She often surprises me with a slew of English words or sentences, so I know she is picking up stuff. Yesterday, she said, "You're mom. He's dad. This is brother. I'm Ailin."
She really wants to learn to read. We may have to start Hooked On Phonics or something similar soon. Oh, where will I get the time?


About Luka:
He is much more "INTO EVERYTHING" than Ailin ever was. I have put locks on every single cupboard door in the kitchen, plus the garbages and many of the cabinets throughout the house. I may have to put a lock on the toilet too.
He likes to play hide and seek, as in peek around the corner and then run away.
He likes to stand up on his high chair. Not good!
He also likes to crawl from his high chair onto the table, and he can do this very quickly...just to get some food that he couldn't reach.
He really likes his Papa. (and of course his Mama too.)

About myself:
I am getting old and fat.
I discovered a secret weapon though - girdles and spanx.
I finally decided that out-sourcing is a good and necessary thing in some cases. Hello professional house cleaner and hello professional typer.
Every year, I start out by promising myself that I will keep my work desk organized and clean, that I will keep up with evaluating of homework and projects. It all goes well until a virtual tornado hits my desk in September, and I am left with a huge pile of evaluations, a messy desk and NO TIME to possibly do it all. (Then, I promise myself that I just won't assign homework next year! Ha! How easily we forget.)
I discovered Genius Playlists on iTunes works really well to help me listen to my 1000s of songs, most of which I have forgotten about. Genius rocks!
(I can't believe I just wrote that something "rocks".)
I am working too late every night and need to get out of this office earlier so our evenings can go smoother. (See above!)


I learned something new too.
The word "kaba" in Japanese means hippo, but it can also refer to a stupid idiot. The word "baka" means stupid, so if you call someone a hippo, you are really throwing an insult their way. It might be akin to our English insult, my personal favorite, "dumbass" as in dumb donkey or dumb butt. Please do not ask me how I learned about this.

Events
Not much going on this month except our EXTREME preparations for Halloween.
Annual Sports Festival at Daycare on the 4th.
Bilingual Kids Club on the 23rd.
My School celebrations on the 29th.

I am SO TIRED from celebrating Halloween that I have decided there will be no Thanksgiving this year. I just can't handle another month of expensive preparations with Xmas just around the corner.