Clay Fun and Sling Time

Once again, we're in the middle of a heat wave, the Santa Anas are blowing, and fires are igniting in the mountains. What to do? Stay inside, strip down to your undies and make things with modeling clay! Which is exactly what Kate did. She made lots of little people, babies, and accessories, and then coated them all in a thick layer of paint. Jina-eemo sent us a box of baby stuff (courtesy of Emma, Kes, Kate, and Kiki) since it's now Kate's Baby Sister's turn. Naturally, Kate wanted to try out the sling. She never liked it as a newborn, but I guess she had to grow into it.

Mom and Appa, by Kate

Kate came home last friday with a drawing she did of Mom. "The baby is growing bigger inside you! And those red things in your eyes are your veins. And see the dot under the baby's mouth? That's her BEARD." I asked Kate if I she thought I was carrying Santa Claus' child. She cracked up and said, "Nooooo! He's already borned!" This is Kate's rendering of Appa. "Wearing glasses!" (?) Yeunjee-eemo sent a care package from Korea -- a new Korean hairband, and several sheets of cool sticker sets of food items and animals. To celebrate her first week of Pre-K, Kate wanted to go out to dinner. She came downstairs wearing her hanbok and new hairband, ready to go. I tried to get a nice shot of Kate in her hanbok outside...

...I was less than successful.

35 Weeks! Less Than 5 More To Go...

Kate finds it fun to monitor the protrusion of my belly-button as if it were a turkey thermometer. "Ha ha ha ha! It's popping out, Mom!"

Hmm....resemblance? She also likes to decorate the butterball with stickers. What dignity? Kate waiting to feel her baby kick.

"I felt it move! I felt her knuckle!" Kate promised she would share her big toys and allow Baby Sister "to go first sometimes" (you heard it here) before singing the A-B-C's to her and going to bed.

First Day of Pre-K!

After a long break, Kate was giddy to be starting Pre-K at A Child's Garden School. She couldn't wait to see her friends and her new teachers, Ms. Kim and Ms. Yolanda. She chose the pretty shirt Cousin Emma sent her for the momentous day. At Visiting Day yesterday, everyone remarked at how much Kate grew over the summer. Ms. Kim and Ms. Yolanda had the kids draw a picture about their Summer Vacation and dictate an essay. Kate drew a picture of the sun, the sea, and herself wearing "a flowing dress in the breeze" and wrote about seeing Halmoni, Halabuji, Pop-Pop, Grammy, Baby Kiki, Jina-Eemo, Scott Eemo-bu, and Soo-Eemo. "Because I love them so much." She also wrote about the ocean and how it "sings to me." Kate told me the other day that she wanted to be a writer when she grew up. God help us. Chris took this shot of Ms. Yolanda putting Kate's name tag on before the camera pooped out. Kate had a fun first day making red playdough and playing "princess" with Maya. It's going to be a great year.

Last Days of Summer

During the last few days of summer, the Kang-Weyants squeaked in a few more fun outings before having to face the realities of school, work, and baby.

We finally went to see a show at The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, the oldest children's theater in LA and a historical-cultural monument. The rabbit called me and Kate the "strawberry twins" and then pounced on us. Kate found it both funny and slightly terrifying. The old-fashioned music and radio spots (remember "The Incredible, Edible Egg?"), the punny jokes, and the one or two offensive puppets in desperate need of retirement....

....made me and Chris feel like we were in a time capsule. Racist puppets notwithstanding, we all enjoyed the show immensely.

Topping off our journey back in time were the vanilla ice cream cups that the puppeteers handed out to everyone. Kate was thrilled to be eating with "an old-fashioned wooden spoon," and she appreciated the Nancy-Reagan-era message of "Say No To Drugs" on the sides of the cups. "Like Michael Jackson should have!" We continued our tour of downtown with a stop at Clifton's Cafeteria, LA's "oldest surviving cafteria-style eatery." Kate was fascinated by the block of green jello with bits of pear trapped inside.

It looked a lot more interesting than it tasted.

We all agreed it wasn't the soup-kitcheny food that made the visit worthwhile...

...but the decor and atmosphere.

Where else in the city can you dine by a family of bears fishing?

A few shots of the horrible fires during that week that kept us indoors:

View from the side-view mirror as we were leaving our house.

On another day, we escaped the toxic air quality by heading to the Science Center near Mom's alma mater, USC. After watching the Imax movie, "Under the Sea," narrated by Jim Carrey ("Mom, when is he going to stop talking??") and learning all about how cuttlefish mate, we headed inside the main building.

Aside from watching Adam Arkin help his kid tackle the climbing wall, the most interesting things we saw were this giant spiraly tube through which Kate could send secret messages to Appa ("Appa is very smelly")...

...a ride simulator in which Kate and Appa (pregnant ladies not allowed) took a trip under the sea to see schools of dolphins; and the playarea upstairs where Kate lead a group of kids in a game of working together to collect and distribute foam shingles inside a 2-story clubhouse. Karl Marx would've been proud.

When a few uncooperative boys grabbed the shingles out of Kate's hand, she shrugged and said, "Those boys don't know how to play nicely." They're lucky she didn't sentence them to a gulag.

It was an incredibly fun and productive summer. Kate learned how to swim, began learning how to read and spell, started doing simple addition and subtraction ("Michael Jackson is dead, so there are four brothers left and now they're The Jackson Four!"), further increased her rapidly-growing vocabulary ("Elephant is very discouraging of Piggie"), and even grew a whopping three inches!