oh how they grow

natalie is now walking more than crawling.  the change really came when she could finally get into the standing position without the aid of a person or furniture.  i officially have a toddler now who toddles everywhere. the quiet smiley baby is turning into a distant memory because the current natalie is a gregarious constant moving bundle of fun.  

she's especially good at getting things open (packages, ziplocs, purses, chap sticks, boxes...aiya) which helps her during her favorite activity of generally moving around the house poking here and there and exploring/finding things.  she's found candy, unwrapped it and eaten it this way.  who knows where that candy was, but i can tell you that when i finally caught up with her sucking away happily on a piece of hard candy she had utter joy written all over her face.  she was in heaven with the discovery of such a treat.  and to think that noah didn't get any until he was past the age of 2.  

and noah is now speaking korean 50% of the time in spontaneous fashion.  he's into the Konglish stage where he'll start a sentence in one language and finish off with the other.  it's actually quite cute with phrases like "mommy, the baby ohla ga (went up)." and "i don't want to dah muh guh (eat it all)."  he's so much better too, at playing with other kids than even a few months ago.  a year ago, i had to constantly hover because who knew when he'd just decide to push someone over with his massive weight to get what he wanted.  but now, he's pretty good at negotiating and can be trusted to come to me if there's a problem.  that change alone makes my life SO much easier.

and my special joy from them in recent days is the fact that they are now PLAYING together.  it's so seriously touching that it makes my heart stop when i see their heads bent together over something, or laughing together over something.  oh my goodness, it's just the best.  they don't fight too often yet.  it's mostly noah not wanting natalie to have something, or natalie wanting to have something his brother has.  but it usually ends with whatever it is in noah's hands, and natalie kind of forlornly looking on.  are the fights still yet to come?  is this the calm before the storm?  we shall see.

Day 98