Cookie in the Milk

Christmas, 2012. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, packages kept arriving at the front door. Of course, Casey wanted to open each and every one the moment they arrived. But we kept telling him to wait until Christmas. The days passed, and the pile of presents under the Christmas tree grew. Finally, it was Christmas Eve. Before going to bed, Casey helped leave Santa Claus some cookies. He personally choose three frosted Animal Cookies, and three chocolate chip cookies. We poured a small mug of milk and wrote a note to Santa. "Help yourself to some milk and cookies- Merry Christmas" Fast forward to Christmas morning. Casey came down to the dining table, looked at the cookie bowl, and said, "He left a piece of cookie!". Then he looked inside the mug and said, "He dropped a piece of cookie in his milk. Let's save it for him".

Looks like Santa left a note... and a piece of cookie in the bowl!

A Thank You Note from Santa!

Santa dropped a piece of cookie in his milk!

Carsland!

For years, Casey's favorite movie has been Cars. He owns the two movies, books and a boatload of the toy cars. He knows all the names of the characters/cars. So, when Disney announced they were opening a theme park named Carsland, I knew it was only a matter of time before we HAD to take Casey there. We sure were not going to go on opening day, we managed to miss the summer crowds, we didn't go on a weekend, we planned the excursion for a weekday in early December. Consider it a stroke of luck, but the day finally came, and it was dark, drizzly and a little chilly... In other words- perfect weather. Apparently, the thread of rain kept the crowds away, because with the exception of one ride, there were NO lines longer than 5 minutes. Before leaving, I consulted with many friends with prior Disney experience, and asked for advice. The most succinct advice I received? 'Don't go'
We got to the park, and went straight for the Carsland Racers. Casey and Daddy waited in line for about 90 minutes. Surprisingly, Casey did pretty good in line. I thought he would be bored out of his skull and going crazy. We finally got on the ride, and Casey was a little scared, but had fun. Toward the end of the ride, he looked over at me, and said, "I'm a little scared". Too cute. When the ride ended, Casey had the option of immediately going again, with Mommy. He didn't hesitate, and wanted to go again. I guess fun won out over scared!
From there, we rode Mater's crazy tractors, and Luigi's flying tires. After exhausting Carsland, we proceeded to Bug's Life. We rode the flying something or anothers.. Dont remember exactly what it was called, 'cept I do know mounted what looked like a giant Chinese Food to-go container for a ride in the sky. Then Casey saw the bumper cars. As we approached the cars, Casey pushed me out of the way, and announced, "I'm driving"! Apparently, he likes driving and crashing, cause he insisted we do this ride multiple times!
Casey requested we ride the giant ferris wheel. After that, we got some ice cream before heading over the Monster's Inc. attraction. For a spell, Monster's Inc. was a close runner up to Cars for Casey's favorite movie. Sure enough, he requested we take multiple turns on this ride as well. Thankfully, there were minimal lines, which made all these multiple rides real quick and easy. Our day ended with a front row seat for the Disney character parade. It featured characters from movies such as Monsters Inc, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, etc... It was so cool watching Casey recognize the characters and movies.
All in all, a wonderful family day. It went better than anyone imagined. Minimal lines, NO meltdowns, both boys throughly enjoying themselves ALL DAY long.

Carsland- Radiator Springs Racers Ride

"I'm a little scared"

"I'm a little scared"

Lighting McQueen

Crazy Tractors

Merry-go-round

Mater's Crazy Tractors

Casey driving bumper cars

Casey driving bumper cars

The boys on the ferris wheel

Ivory Clouds

Casey and I enjoyed a fun rainy day project today while Sydney was napping.  

We made Ivory soap Clouds. You take a bar of Ivory soap and put it on a piece of wax paper then put it in the microwave for a few minutes. It can make quite a mess but it is fun to crumble it and make it look like snow flakes falling.

Casey and his Ivory Cloud

Crumbling his cloud into "snow flakes."

It's fun to crumble it.

 After we crumbled it we added a little bit of warm water and some food coloring and mushed it back into more of a solid.  Then we used cookie cutters and made soaps in different shapes, a truck, star, candy cane, and circle. Once they dry we can give them as gifts or use them in the bathtub for some cleaning fun.

Casey's very own little soaps.

It was a fun time and apparently tiring because Casey fell asleep on the couch while mommy cleaned up.

Brotherly Love

Dialogue between Casey and me (mom) on September 27th...

It was afternoon Sydney was taking his nap and Casey was playing cars.  Sydney started making noise and Casey ran to check the video monitor....

"Mommy Sydney's awake."
"See look, see him, right here." (as he turns the video monitor to me so I can see)
"I'm gonna go play with him."

No Casey, he's not feeling good, he likes to wake up slow.

"but I want to play with him"

Casey, mommy will go get him, you stay here.

"Why? Sydney doesn't like me?" (sadness in his face and voice, mommy's heart breaks!)

He loves you baby! He's just not feeling good, he's sick and doesn't want to play too much right now.

"I go get him." (he takes off up the stairs)

Casey WAIT! (He waits then when I am half way up the stairs he heads up the rest of the stairs and opens the door)

"HI SYDNEY!!"

Poor Sydney was not ready to be awake. He just wanted to cuddle and go back to sleep. Of course he couldn't with big brother in the room because every few minutes Casey would make some noise or come over and try to tickle or hold Sydney.  Big brother just wanted to hug and comfort his little brother but Sydney wanted no part of it. 

I felt so bad when Casey said "Sydney doesn't like me?" I don't want him to think his baby brother doesn't like him.  I think my poor big boy is feeling neglected since Sydney has been getting so much attention and extra cuddles this week.  I need to give him some extra love!

He LOVES his little brother!!!

Halloween 2012

This being this third time around, Casey is getting pretty good at this. Weeks ago, he went costume shopping with Mommy. He saw a brown UPS outfit, and he fell in love with it. His first day home, he wore it, and insisted that he sleep in it! In the days leading up to Halloween he would blurt out, 'I want to go trick or treating'. I would ask him what he was going to dress up as, and he would reply, 'Brown delivery truck man'. To help celebrate the season, Casey had a field trip to the pumpkin patch. But we wanted to do a family outing to the pumpkin patch to introduce Sydney to the concept. Ol' Casey was a veteran, and was anxious to show his lil bro how to feed the animals and pick pumpkins.

Then came time for the main event: Halloween night. In what has become somewhat of a tradition, Casey went trick or treating with his buddies... Allison, CJ, Ian, Sammy. Often Casey the elephant led the charge from house to house. Despite all the excitement, he minded his P's and Q's, saying thank you to each and every house!

Casey the UPS Delivery Man

Feeding the goats

Hoisting the pumpkin

Group Shot

Trick or Treat!

Leading the Charge

Big Bro and Little Bro taking a break from trick or treating

Good Dad

Today Casey and I were at the park. He was having a great time playing, when he hit his head and starting crying. He came to me for comforting; hugs and kisses. I finally was able to console him to the point the crying stopped... Then he told me he needed a tissue. 'Cept, I didn't have one. So, I had a choice. End his fun time and go home... or take one for the team. I offered him my arm to wipe his boogers/snot on, and he said he wanted my shirt. So, I gave him my shirt sleeve, and he proceeded to take four HUGE swipes of both nostrils across my sleeve, leaving streak marks that soaked thru my sleeve. And he went on his merry way, back to playing... Meanwhile, it started getting cold, and the wind hit the wet spots on my sleeve and made me freeze. But I man-d up and continued to let him play!

Are you ready for some football?

Football season 2012 just started, and coincidently, I just ran across a few pix from LAST football season. I wanted to share a funny story connected to the pix. One day in the fall of 2011, I was watching football on TV. Casey was hanging around, kinda playing and kinda watching TV. Suddenly, he gets his mini football. Then he runs downstairs.... I hear the door to the garage open.. A few moments later, he coming running up the stairs, WITH HIS BIKE HELMET on!!! Gotta love the thought process and imagination. He grabs his football, runs in a tight circle, and falls down, just like he was tackled...

Casey's touchdown dance

Touchdown!

Rock Climbing Wall

One of the interesting activities we sampled this summer was a rock climbing wall. The local YMCA has family nights once a month, and they have activities for the kids. I came up with a great idea that I should expose Casey to a rock climbing wall. My thought was that I would go first, climb up and demonstrate for him... and hope that he would want to be like Daddy and try too. We get to the facility, and see the wall for the first time. I ask Casey if he wants to try. Thankfully, he said yes. We get harnessed, and he bolts straight for the wall. I ask if he wants to watch Daddy go first, he doesnt even answer, he's too busy getting locked into his climbing harness... And he just goes for it... Like it was nothing. No instructions needed, no encouragement.. He spiderman'ed right up the face of the wall, until he got about 20 feet in the air. I suspect he looked down at that point and realized just how high off the ground he was, cause he suddenly asked to come down...

After Casey was safely back on tierra firma, and since I was all harnessed up, I decided I would try a climb, even if Casey no longer needed me to lead by example. Good thing too, cause about 10 feet up the wall, my fingers started cramping, my groin muscled started spasm-ing, and I aborted the mission. Good thing Casey was off playing in the foam pit by this point, and didnt have to witness Daddy's sad attempt.

Casey-isms

I've been meaning to post this entry for a long time, but couldn't settle on a good format. Suddenly, I look up and 3.5 years have passed. I realized that I'm gonna forget some Casey-ism's... In other words, the unique ways Casey describes things. So, format be damned, here goes. Check back periodically, as Casey is bound to add to this list.

Cacish- Early on, he had a fascination with vacuum cleaners. For some unknown reason, he called them cacish.. Which happens to be the Portugese word for poop!

Ses-Ses-Ses- One of his first favorite TV shows was Sesame Street. He would point at the TV and say "Ses-Ses-Ses".

Pork-a-cheese- Mom was talking to Casey, but not in English. Apparently, she was speaking "Pork-a-cheese" instead!

Mac-a-oni- One of his favorite meals is Mac-a-oni and Cheese.

Guac-a-oni- Casey sure likes his chip and guac-a-oni... We had to concentrate to differentiate between Mac-a-oni and Gauc-a-oni.

BBBBBBB-chips- For some unknown reason, he would add a bunch of B's before getting the word 'chips' out of his mouth when requesting potato chips.

Yennow- The color yellow.

Peppa-oni- His favorite pizza topping.

SD trip- Happy 80th Birthday Nai Nai

Each visit to San Diego produces new memories. And Nai-Nai's imagination produces new and exciting activities for Casey each and every time. This time, one highlight was watering plants and squirting the garden hose. I'm sure it helped that the water can was shaped like an elephant (one of Casey's favorite animals). And Ye-Ye sure has a lot of plants for Casey to water. I'm not so sure about the hose squirting thing. I foresee Casey hosing his baby brother, and Sydney attempting to fight back and the whole episode escalating to a full blown water fight.

Football game

Tonight was another first. Well, lemme back up. A few weeks ago, Uncle Andy and cousin Nate invited Casey to a baseball game. He enjoyed himself, particularly the junk food and the cheering. He didn't understand the nuances of the game like hitting behind the runner, advancing runners into scoring position with less than two outs, etc. But Casey made it clear how he felt. In the parking lot, on the way out of the game, he says, "Daddy, I had fun at the baseball game." "I want to goto a football game now." Fast forward until now, (when football was actually in season) and I made his wish come true. Tonight, Casey went to his first football game; West High v Torrance High. When the home team scored, Casey raised his hands overhead and said "touchdown". We capped the night off with a stop at the 'ice cream factory' where he got some ice cream. On the way home, he said, "I want to goto a basketball game"...

Beach Volleyball

You saw it here first. The humble beginnings of Casey's beach volleyball career.

Casey Beach Vball 712 from p wang on Vimeo.

Family Vacation

Water slide from p wang on Vimeo.

About a month ago, Mommy and Daddy had a relaxing get-away to a swanky oceanfront resort. Quiet meals, scenic hike and rest and relaxation... Sitting on the balcony, overlooking the family pool and Pacific Ocean, we both had a realization: we both kinda missed our boys. Isn't that ironic; we FINALLY get away, and we miss the kids. At this moment, an idea was born. Family vacation to a resort hotel. After a month of research, recommendations and planning, we ended up at a resort near Palm Springs, CA. Its major attraction was a giant kids pool complex, complete with water slides, lazy river and kids pools. The 2 hour drive went pretty fast, Casey talked virtually the whole way; calling out trucks and construction equipment. Upon arrival, we hit the pools. The original plan was for me to take Casey in my lap down the water slide. Once we climbed to the top of the slide, that plan went out the window. Only one rider allowed at a time. Additionally, riders needed to be a min. of 42" tall. Thankfully, Casey wanted to go by himself. And more thankfully, he BARELY cleared the minimum height. When he got to the bottom, his first words were, "Let's go again".. So we did, over and over. We also had a great time in the kids pool. We did lots of Casey bombs, both forward and backwards. We also did Sydney bombs. The little guy had tons of fun jumping into the pool. We spend some time at a friends house. He and his son have quite a car, truck collection; it was one of the highlights of the trip for Casey and Sydney. We also ran into some friends at the resort, so Casey had the added bonus of splashing in the pools with his friend Cassandra. Each night, the boys were so worn out, they fell asleep without a fight. Alas, it wasnt all fun and games. One day as we were leaving the pool area, we momentarily lost sight of Casey. We looked around for him, couldn't immediately find him. We enlisted our friends' help in locating him; no luck. We asked the lifeguards and gate monitors about the missing boy; they put the call out on walkie-talkies and had the hotel staff looking for him. A good 15 minutes passed, and he was finally located. He had exited the pool area, took a 5 minute stroll along the path that led back to our hotel room, somehow deviated off path and ended up in the hotel lobby. Thankfully, this being a hotel resort that caters towards families, a family saw him wandering around alone, and they escorted him to hotel security. Alls well that ends well, but he put a scare into Mommy and Daddy :(

P!ss like a man

I take my job as a father very seriously. I am responsible for teaching my sons. One important skill I am currently teaching him is to "piss like a man". Ie: stand up and pee. Right now, it's about 75-25.. The majority of the time he pees in the potty, he does so sitting down. There are many reasons for this; sometime's he isnt tall enough for his unit to reach the urinal. He also hasn't quite mastered the stance; he thrusts his belly outward, so as to create space below his hose, so he doesn't wet his legs. This isn't the most comfortable position, it actually looks rather taxing on the quads. Tonight, he opted to 'piss like a man'. He climbed up on his step stool, assumed his half-squat position.. and proceeded to pee backwards, between his legs, (picture a center in football hiking the ball back to the quarterback. That's the trajectory I'm talking about). He pretty much hit every target in the bathroom, except the inside of the toilet. Then he says, "Uh oh, I just pissed everywhere!"

Pool Play with a Gift

Last Thursday Casey and Sydney had a fun play date in the pool with their friends Allison, Sammy and their mommy's.  We had a great time swimming, playing, snacking, and more swimming.  After about 2.5 hours it was time to go home for naps. As I was getting Sydney cleaned up and dry I looked back at Casey in the pool to tell him he was next and to come out.  When I looked I saw "chunks" floating around him.  I panicked and told him to get out of the pool. He didn't budge and just had a funny look on his face. I walked up to him as his hand was up at his mouth and he had a strange look on his face.  I said "Oh baby, did you spit up?" and I cleaned his nose and mouth. He then said "Now clean my poop!" :-(

Learning new skills

Today, Daddy Mommy imparted some useful knowledge to Casey. We were on a long walk and suddenly Casey said he needed to go potty. The only problem is that there was no restroom nearby. Have no fear, Daddy Mommy had the solution. She I said, "Daddy will show you how to pee on a bush." Daddy said, "Come on Casey, lets go pee on a bush". Alas, we couldn't find a bush, but managed to find the next best thing... a tree! He was pretty successful; only a few details I still need to work with him on. Such as, you want to aim such that the runoff doesn't flow to your shoes. But other than that, his first attempt at this important life skill was a success... Until.... About 30 minutes later, still on the same walk, he said he needed to go potty again. This time, we were near some stores, and I offered to take him to a potty. He said, "No potty, I want to pee on a bush". So we found another tree. He asked Daddy to go first. So, I demonstrated. When it was his turn, he pulled down his pants and started to go. Everything was going smoothly until he saw a 'roly poly'. Mid flow, all his attention got diverted off the task at hand, and focused on the roly poly. Now, his hose sprayed everywhere; straight down into his underwear and pants, streaming down his leg, soaking up his socks and shoes. With everything wet, we finished and continued the walk home. As he waddled uncomfortably in his wet everything, he says, 'Daddy, carry me'.. And I thought, "Oh he!! no kid, you're all wet. That's nasty."

Cowboy up

Recently, we were invited to a party that had pony rides. Before we left the house, I asked Casey if he wanted to go ride pony's. He said, "Pony Daddy not pony's; there is only one pony". Nice that my three year old is correcting my English... teaching me the difference between singular and plural!

Casey found a sombrero.

Riding...

Thanks to Uncle Ed, the Wang boys can ride as one. We recently inherited Uncle Ed's trail-a-bike. It's a nifty contraption that attaches to a normal bike and allows tandem riding. Add an additional child seat mounted up front, and we have transportation for more occupants than a Smart car. The riding was a little challenging; the added mass and irregular weight distribution created some instabilities. Stupid me chose a path that included a decent incline, so I burned my quads trying to pump us all up the hill. Alas, the maiden voyage was a success, not to mention a hit... Casey now requests to ride 'The Big Bike'

Big Day, Huge... Historic

D-day. June 6th, 1944. Huge day in World War II. Allied troops invaded the beaches of Normandy, France. On very close to the 68th anniversary date of this historic event (June 8th, 2012), we had a historic splash-down in the Wang household. CASEY POOPED IN THE POTTY! For the first time ever! I am in no way trying to compare the significance of these two events; one arguably altered the course of history. Casey dropping a deuce in the potty is definitely reason to celebrate, but there most likely wont be any victory parades celebrating his feat. He did however, earn 5 'money' for his 'efforts'... Now, if I could find someone to pay ME each time I pooped... Another milestone in the adventures of Casey potty training.

Posing next to his accomplishment.
Holding up five fingers to count his payday!
Putting his hard earned money into his piggybank.

Dodger Stadium

Just got back from Dodger Stadium. Took Casey there, for the first time. For those of you who haven't heard, Dodger Stadium isn't exactly the safest place in town these days. It's not quite as bad as Afghanistan, but you get the idea. All went well. We didn't get beaten or even threatened. Casey had a good time. His favorite part was whenever the crowd clapped. He likely didn't fully understand WHY people were clapping, he merely enjoyed clapping with everyone. Oh yeah, and he really enjoyed all the treats he got to eat. The Dodgers played the Brewers, who featured a player who was recently caught in a steroids controversy. Of course the Dodger crowd chanted 'Steroids' everytime he was at-bat. Casey turned to me and said, 'Daddy, what is steroids?'.... Being caught off guard, and thinking off the top of my head, I replied, 'Steroids make your pee-pee shrink'. Apparently, I said it kinda loud, during a lull in the action no less, cause people within 3 rows fore and aft started cracking up.

The Wang Dynasty(s)

Back in 2010, Casey served as Emperor. Alas, his dynasty ended, and now, in 2012, Sydney is currently ruling. Here is a photographic comparison of their respective dynasties...