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.

Happy 80th Bday Nai Nai

Sydney accompanied us on a trip to SD recently. We all gathered in town to help celebrate Nai Nai's 80th birthday. For someone with such a big number attached to her birthday count, she sure was active with the little ones. She helped teach Sydney how to beat the heat by getting the garden hose and watering. (OK, so he got much more joy out of just squirting the hose, but whatever) Maybe someday we'll take to gardening like Ye-Ye. If there were two traits used to describe Sydney, they would most likely be his smile and his burp rag. That boy is always smiling. He can brighten my whole day by cracking that huge smile when I come home. I can get really p!ssed at him, and he busts out that smile. That's just not fair. And those burp rags. There are tons of them scattered around the house. No matter where he is, there is likely one within easy reach.

That trademark smile!

Can't ever get enough of that smile.

There's that omnipresent burp rag!

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"...

Growing up fast

They say the 2nd child grows up fast. I would imagine this is partly due to self preservation. Being a younger sibling myself, I remember the need to protect myself, fend for myself and stick up for myself. Another trait common to a lot of younger siblings is achieving milestones faster than older bros and sis'. I would imagine that has a lot to do with 'monkey see, monkey do'. When Sydney sees big bro doing all kinds of cool stuff, he wants to try too. Sometimes this desire exceeds both fear and ability. That's when it gets a little dicey. For the most part, Sydney has been doing pretty good. He's navigating his way around the jungle gym at the park pretty well on his own- Climbing up, and sliding down the big boy slide, climbing up and down the inverted ladder all by himself. So cool to watch him develop and master skills!

Thanks Cuz

We recently had the opportunity to spend some time with family. Casey and Sydney had some quality time with their cousins Chantal and Elena. Maybe because they are both younger siblings, but whatever the reasons, there is no doubt that Elena and Sydney formed a bond. When Sydney was napping, Elena asked me, "Can I go wake him up; I miss him and want to play with him". She volunteered to take him outside and play, and would follow him, and make sure he stayed out of danger. She went with Sydney to the park, and escorted him on all the equipment. And oh yeah, she even changed his diaper.. A poopie diaper no less...

It's all you, Elena

Plug the hole so nothing comes flying out

Diggin' in!

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.