a family of cars

karol will be having his name's day on the fourth of november. today, we had lunch at dedko's and he got his advance presents. he got an rc car from dedko, and his first ever lego set from tita lucia and tito peter.

at first he didn't want daddy to put batteries on his rc. he really didn't enjoy rc's that much before. he likes to "drive" (karol's own words) his cars on his own. that means pushing it around on the floor. he almost started crying when mommy tricked him into giving the car back to daddy. luckily, the car has flashing lights when activated and he was later on convinced to operate the rc. at last, he was fully enjoying the rc experience.

we only have duplos at home but karol likes playing lego when we visit babka. today he received his very own first lego set (which means we would have to graduate from duplo sooner than planned :D). anyways, as you may have guessed already, it's a set that comes with wheels. he wanted to open the box the moment he got it. naturally, mommy had to convince him not to. he agreed, but didn't let go of the box, not even when we went to cemetery and until we got home. he first had to take a nap. then, as promised the moment he woke up, we built 2 cars and a gasoline station.

one of the lego cars looked like a pick up truck. when i mentioned it to him, he had to run and get his car that looked like the lego car. incidentally, his old car is smaller, so then he explained to me that that one is a "baby car" and the lego is a "daddy car". i was surprised since he usually refers to bigger things as "mommy." apparently, cars are male. or, so i thought! because when i pointed this out to him, he immediately brought the rc and said that that is "mommy car." hihihi!!!

the family of cars

karol's first cinema experience

last friday, mommy took karol for his first cinema experience... cars 2!!! it was a great experience for him; complete with popcorn. i think he ate more popcorn than me and alex combined. :D anyways, karol enjoyed it so much he even wanted to finish the ending credits. unfortunately, alex had to run to toilet. karol only budged when i told him he can watch it at home. good thing i downloaded the movie before hand.

this was taken after the movie. not so happy looking anymore. not even five minutes after the movie, he already picked a fight with alex. geesh! i hope he outgrows this crying stage soon... at least he let me take his picture. :D

Karol turns 3

sorry for the late post. karol turned three, three weeks ago. we just had a simple celebration at home, day after we arrived from the tatras mountains.

hmmm.. how will i describe the three year old karol? he still loves cars and trucks, etc., etc.. and is so makulit. always says no or i don't want to anything and everything. cries about everything which doesn't agree with him. but is still super sweet.

what can i say, being the only boy and the middle child can be difficult. i think he's trying to make a statement. hopefully, this phase will end soon. although most of the time, you can eventually talk him into doing things even if he says no. and eventhough he just repeats what he hears from alex, he knows very well when to use them. he says the funniest things and the things he says makes a lot of sense when he's in a good mood.

anyways, after our tatras trip, i realized he's not into hiking :))) and that it takes him some time to get used to new things. poor karol was forced to hike and live in an unfamiliar hotel. he was so homesick. the moment we arrived home, he run to his room and played with his cars. surprisingly he wasn't cranky even if it was past his bed time. i guess he was just happy to be back home at last.

(6 days) before and after

karol's haircut done by mommy :) most people say this new hairstyle suits him. but i still like his long hair better. when combed properly, he really looks more pogi :)

kinder karol (again)

karol is very active and likes to ride his motorbike everywhere. he likes playing in the sand with all kinds of cars and trucks. in the playground, he is most of the time by himself in the sand box. otherwise, he is sitting quietly in a corner, waiting for an opportunity to borrow other children's toys (read: cars).

last week, karol went back to kindergarten. we transferred him to alex's old kindergarten, vcielka (little bee). he is the youngest pupil and he seems to be enjoying himself as evident in the photo. plus, his teachers report that he is a very good boy. :)

sadly, it's a different story at home... karol is 2 years and 9 months old, and definitely in his terrible two stage. unfortunately, he tries to say no to almost everything and screams like a girl when angry. our only consolation is if you pack a lot of patience, he is actually easy to reason with. also, thanks to the fact that he's very sweet. but i still wish he gets over this terrible two stage quickly.

additionally, i also hope that he gets potty trained before he turns three. :D yes, he still wears diapers but we're slowly getting there. already more than once, he made weewee and "brown weewee" (read: poop) successfully in the potty. but he doesn't ask all the time. most of the time though, he will tell us right after he pissed in his diaper.

oh well, that's our karol! :)

it's all about cars

karol loves cars.

i don't know when karol started playing with cars. but i remember one of his very first cars was a gift from a kid in the playground. this boy has like thousands of them at home, that his dad decided to give karol one. unfortunately, we already lost it.

karol's collection has grown since then. he has all sorts of cars, trucks and everything wheels. he almost always never leaves home without one or two of them. however, no matter how many he has, he always ends up playing with other kids' cars; whether it be in playground or our friends' home.

one friend he remembers the most is kuya adrian. once in a while karol remembers him. sometimes, karol asks us if we are going to kuya adrian's house, and that kuya adrian has lots of cars.

in the morning, we told him that we will be going to the zoo. he got really excited and said, "yes! we will go to zoo's house. and we will play with zoom's* cars!"

karol loves cars!


*not a typo. karol is now mixing slovak and english. most of the time he adds the suffix -om to his words (e.g., autom (auto=car), bagrom (bager=digger)), sometimes even when it's not applicable :D

kinder karol

a couple of months before the new year begun, i realized that karol can jump on two feet. i never really knew when he learned it. he is growing up so fast that he already started going to kindergarten at the beginning of the year.

he likes kindergarten so much. the first day he didn't even notice us leaving if we didn't call him to give us a kiss (which he didn't give in favor of trains).

the almost two and a half year old karol still likes toys with wheels (cars, trucks, trains, etc.) and i know i said he couldn't carry a tune, but he started singing more lately. he even goes as far as making his own lyrics by combining two different songs. some of his favorites:

"jingle bells! jingle bells! pussy's in the well"
"twinkle, twinkle spider..."

kuya karol is now more fascinated with andy than the first few weeks since andy came home. karol used to ignore andy's presence. lately however, he is eager to touch her and play with her :)