The Koo Family

For his birthday, Uncle Steven came over and we all took a trip to Target so Ethan can pick out his birthday present! We gave him a few choices and, of course, he chose the biggest box... He played with it until bedtime and then, ran to it first thing the next morning! :)

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Ethan at church during Fellowship and he blew out the two candles all by himself. He seemed to like that part, not so much the cupcake, though. He didn't even want a taste of it!

After church, Aunty Renee and Uncle Josh treated us out to Chuck E Cheese's, where Ethan had a blast on the rides and playing different games.

He was so excited when he saw the birthday cake with Elmo and Big Bird riding on cars!

I can't believe two years have gone by already! Ethan has become such a sweet, funny, little guy. He is so full of energy... never walking... always running around wherever he goes! Here are some new things he can do:

1. He can recognize familiar places. When we exit the freeway for church, Ethan says "dawhada!" (we're here!)... and he says it when we drive into the parking lot at home!

2. He can jump with two feet off the ground. He actually had been practicing this for awhile and when he finally got it, he was so excited that he kept doing it over and over again! We felt bad for our neighbors downstairs that day... hehe

3. He can kick a ball. He also takes his toy bat and tries to hit the ball with it midair.

4. He recognizes some numbers and letters. He definitely knows the number 2 wherever he sees it. (And now that he's two, he knows how to answer the question "How old are you?") He also knows how to say the number 9... and recognizes 8, and 10. While working on his alphabet puzzle, he will say "A" for A... "Ball!" for B... "quack quack" for D (duck)... "E" for E... "Fish!" for F... "House" for H... "I" for I... "Moon!" or "M" for M... "N" or "nest" for N... "O" for the letter O... "Ring!" for R... "ssss" or "S" for S... and "Y" for Y. Ethan will also point out these letters when he sees them around and about... in books... on signs... on shirts... etc.

5. He can follow along with motions to songs! He likes "Itsy Bitsy Spider," which he'll ask for when working on his insects puzzle... He also likes "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," which he'll ask for whenever he sees a star... He also knows "Wheels on the Bus" and "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."

6. He has added to his vocabulary... He can put 2-4 words into phrases now... such as "I want this please"... "more water please"... "baby night-night" (when Ellie is sleeping)... "baby mam-ma" (when Ellie is nursing)... "there it is!"...

7. He knows his animal sounds, especially while working on his animal puzzles
cow - moo
duck - quack
sheep - baa
pig - oink
horse - nay or "horse!"
dog - "mungmungyi"
cat - neow
elephant - bbooo
monkey - ah-ah
snake - sssssss
lion - roar

8. He no longer cries when he's put in the crib for naps and bedtimes! We're planning to transition him into the full-size bed in the the other room when Ellie turns 6 months old. It will be a big change for us all as we're going to move Daniel oppa's desk into the master bedroom and move the crib back into the second bedroom so both Ellie and Ethan will be sleeping together. We'll see how that goes!

9. He likes to say "mess" and lets us know when he's created one. He'll also notice the mess Ellie makes when she spits up and will even try to clean it with a washcloth!

10. He's slowly learning to pull his pants up and down to prepare for potty-training. He also knows how to undo the velcro on his shoes to help get them on and off.

11. He associates names with people... he can point out umma (mom), abba (dad), baby or Ellie or Hyunji, gomo (aunt), gomobu (uncle), Sammy or Heeman, halmuni (grandma), halabuji (grandpa), samchon (uncle), Christian, Aiden, Belle, Lucy, Brewce, Jaide... He'll also get excited (pointing and exclaiming) when he sees familiar faces at church.

12. He has learned to open doors... and being so observant, he has picked up how to unlock the front door! These days whenever he hears something outside, he'll run to the door, open it and look outside. He also gets really excited and runs to the door at the sound of the doorbell. :)