Packing......packing what?

By now, I would think I'm used to packing for travel. But somehow, I'm feeling a bit "lost" in this whole process. ....
- Is it because it's been a year since we took a flight?
- Is it because we are having a long weekend, so I kept thinking there's still tomorrow?
- Is it because Yoshi is no longer a baby, so there are lots to pack for him and don't know where to begin?
- Is it because I don't even know how to stuff everything we need into the carry on luggage? including Yoshi's toys, food, diapers, backup outfits.........oh my.....
- Is it because everytime when I try to pack, Yoshi likes to play the unpacking game with me?
Wasn't there a credit card commercial saying no need to bring anything to travel, just bring a credit card. That's not true, what about the door-to-door 24 hrs long trip? can u buy non-stop entertainment for a 18 months old boy? can u buy all the baby snacks he needs? can u buy diapers on the flight? No No No!!!

Oh well, good that there are still 2 more days........

Last year when I travel with Yoshi, he was only 6 months old. There wasn't any need for "entertainment" except his little bear for comfort and a boppy pillow for nursing and sleeping. But this time, non stop excitment is probably the key to keep him in the seat. so I have been collecting items for a while. All of these except the mini Tonka cars are newly bought, everything else were either gifts or free "treasures" (A.K.A.- JUNK) I found (& Yoshi has shown great interest before). See photos below.
Wonder how long these treasures can keep the little Yoshi entertained.And of course, these will only be seen after walking laps inside the plane cabin; or after holding him till our arms drop; or when me and Uncle Henry just want a moment of rest...............

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Doctor visits

At Dr. xyz's office where I was having a check up on my coughing......
Dr. xyz: "Ok mom, let me hear your lung."
Wah Wah Wah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mama: "Yoshi, it's just me having a check up, not you, why are u crying?! Play with your choo choo.."

Dr. xyz: "Ok, let me give you a flu shot on your arm."
Wah Wah Wah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mama: "Yoshi, it's on me, not you. Why are you crying?! Play with your choo choo.."

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After the visit, we drove to the pediatrian office to have Yoshi's 18th month check up.
Nurse abc:" Mom, let's remove Yoshi's clothes and weight him."
Wah Wah Wah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mama: "Yoshi, it's just a weight check, no need to cry"

Dr. efg:"Yoshi, let me check on you."
Wah Wah Wah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wah Wah Wah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wah Wah Wah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wah Wah Wah ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. efg: "ok, we will see you next time. Bye."
Yoshi: "............................................." catching up his breath from crying/ screaming from his lung.

At 18th month check up:

Weight- 23LB 2 oz (10500g)

Height- 33" (84cm)

Natto part II (2 more photos being added)

The last time Yoshi tried natto (A.K.A- Stinky beans), he doesn't like it. But this weekend, Nori gave a second try.....Oh oh.....seems like someone has changed his taste bud.......and made daddy happy. Or like Nori put it "yeah...I had my natto buddy!!"

We had a long weekend, Nori took Friday off and we went to Gymboree class together. It wasn't the usual music class, but it was fun to have Otoosan there. The last time Nori took a day off was back in Feburary, it's been so long. But on Friday, his mind was half with us and half thinking about work. I still remember I used to be like that too. I would be logging onto hotel computer to check e-mail, or checking voice mail.....but having 3 days weekend did help to catch up with his rest. Now, it's Sunday night, after dinner, Nori is walking around the house with Yoshi, they seems to be full of energy, getting ready for another week. Thanksgiving holiday is just around the corner, 3 more work days, then another long weekend.

Story telling

Another night, another story telling session....only click 'play' if u have speaker on and have an extra 3 minutes to spare......

"Heely" shoes retirement

Before Yoshi was born, for people who worked with me everyday, they knew I don't really own a pair of sport/running shoes. The last one I had was probably since 10 years ago. I never lay my eyes on any flat shoes. Work casual days meant jeans with heels.....BUT now~ I don't even own a pair of shoes with heels. There are many times I tried on some in store, but the thought of dropping Yoshi onto the ground because of the heels, just doesn't worth the try. I do miss those pretty heely shoes, perhaps when Yoshi gets a bit older, and no longer need me to carry him, then u might see me growing few inches higher ("artificially") someday.

"Kids friendly" furniture

Usually when u hear "kids friendly" label, u thought of safety issues right away. But in my case, it's all about the purpose. When we bought the couch, we just thought of the L-shape features, and more seats. But who knew beyond that, actually it was the "number" of pillows that was the best part. Earlier, we have played the tunnel game. Now, after staying home for 2 days, I got to push my creativity into a higher level.....

Winter is here

The cold weather has arrived in a sudden. My body definitely wasn't ready, so I finally caught a minor cold. I sound like a horse.......I'm feeling much better after the weekend, but the cold wind just made us want to stay at home, drinking hot chocolate milk only.

Auntie Anna- the jacket is finally fitting this winter. Now Yoshi is trapped!! (Thx)

Is anyone ready for x'mas?Recently, we have been teaching Yoshi to put things back to it's original position. Like this night, we have asked him to put the magnets back onto the refrigerator. We clapped our hands after he did it. He found it very funny when we did that. So in order to get more clapping hands, he always went up to the refrigerator, peeled the magnet, and put it right back.....and he then clapped his own hands....^_^ silly boy

Haircut Xth time

The last haircut was back in August, it's about time to get a new look before the upcoming trip back home. I always thought I have lots of patience, but after the haircut, I got to say, no one else has more patience than Barber Nori.

Yoshi started crying as soon as the haircut shaver started the noise. Then the rest, I think the photos below can tell all..........

He finally calmed down a bit and look at the "new" toys ("new"- just because he hasn't seen often yet)

Barber Nori followed his client everywhere in the bathroom while trimming his hair

We started out putting Yoshi into this bumbo seat which had been his designated hair cut chair in the past (to trapped him inside). But as soon as Yoshi heard the shaver noise, he tried to escape while being stuck in this chair...that's why it got flipped over...wish I had video taped that moment, quite funny....

Will have Yoshi's new look photo next time............

Parenting Book

Lately Nori has several overnight trips, though it further reduces our family time together, but there is also a good side effect-- Thanks to Obaachan (grandma), somehow the book u bought for Nori made it into his travelling bag. So few nights when he came back home, he would told me what he has read/ learnt. (this is a book about parenting). I'm sure part of the reason was because there wasn't any good movies or magazines on the flight, so this book became his only entertainment. Since then, his new goal is to finish reading it at the upcoming trips...it's a good thing.

Let's put the book theories into practices.
Lately Yoshi was very into "stacking things"- books, cars, blocks...and each time he got really excited when those items were sucessfully being stacked.

While watching Yoshi being so concentrated in stacking his items:

Mama: "I think Yoshi has your (Nori) gene"

Nori: "I think Yoshi has YOUR gene"

Mama: "What gene of mine u are thinking?" (thinking to myself his possible answers were like - nice/ happy/ behaved....)

Nori: "your SILLY gene"

Mama: "Huh?!?! That wasn't what I was expecting"

Nori: "I mean......(start to rescue himself out from this topic....)...I mean...your happiness"

Mama: "Silly don't = to happy?!" "Oh well......I was actually thinking he has your gene- your engineering gene" "........but I guess not anymore....."

At this moment

At this moment, I'm sitting on the couch, with the legs up. The CD player is not playing any 123 or ABC songs, but "Symphonic 'Say Yes' by Aska Orchestra". Haven't heard this CD for so long, it almost became ancient collection in the cabinet. Coffee table has an almost empty mug with hot coco. On the other side of the living room, was the monitor showing the quiet Yoshi's room............. after 13 hours with him today, plus an extra hr battling the sleepless Yoshi, I can finally have a little quiet moment to myself. (Nori is out dinner tonight). Perhaps lately Yoshi has been waking up at least once every night, or like last night, I had to sleep in his room to avoid more back and forth trips between our bedrooms...it just wasn't as good night sleep these few nights. Not sure if it's the gas problem or is he having more teeth like others? hope next wk check up could give me some clues.... Physically and mentally was a bit exhausted after a long day (or days)......I know I might sound harsh compare to those who has a real full time job or to those single parents......I know I should appreciate I have the opportunity to spend great quality time with little Yoshi, and I DO...just at this moment, I am appreciating my little own time as well. Good night Yoshi, have a sweet dream tonight.

Twins Shopping Cart

I've never seen shopping cart with 2 seats......Yoshi & Ethan had a great time together (inside Costco Store.)

Sleepless in Cincinnati

Instead of Sleepless in Seattle, it's Sleepless in Cincinnati last night.

After refusing to drink his night time milk, and tossing in bed for almost 45 mins, Yoshi finally fell asleep at around 10:30. But then, by midnight, he woke up again, crying in his crib. His loud crying wouldn't stop no matter what we did, how we held him..........long story short- after back and forth in the crib, I finally took him downstairs, gave him a bottle of milk, that was it. He drank it all and happy smile was back. In fact, lately he's been waking up after few hrs into his sleep, but he always fell right back to sleep. We thought perhaps the night time milk gave him some gas to release which woke him up (because me and Nori both heard him farting few nights...)??? wish I had a magic "crying decoder" machine.

Rafael, I thought of you last night, remember your midnight show happened few months ago?

After his milk, smile and story telling began.......

Trilingual session

Scenario #1)
Mama: "Yoshi, this is 鼻" ("nose" in Cantonese)
Nori: (right away) "Yoshi, this is HANA" ("nose" in Japanese)
Mama: "Yoshi, this is 口" ("mouth" in Cantonese)
Nori: (right away again) "Yoshi, this is kuchi" ("mouth" in Japanese)

Scenario #2)
Mama: "Yoshi, can you please go and get xxx for mama?"
Nori: "You can speak in Cantonese to him, so he can learn"
Mama: "Actually, I'm talking to whoever that could understand" (I guess Nori is the only one so far who understood then.....^_^)

Weekend

Weekend = time to catch up sleep/ rest

Weekend = time for father and son bonding.....

......laying around, just kicking legs (Last week)

......taking a morning nap as usual

......taking a morning nap at the same time

..... (after morning naps), it's time to follow each other around the house

......let's look at the blog together

..... it's time for lunch. Thanks Obaa-chan for the mushroom udon, very nice packaging.

I think u can only find these kind of instant noodle packaging in Japan. Look at those mushroom, so "delicate", they were supposed to be very special ($$) mushrooms. I wish I could take close up photo to show u the thickness of those inside clear plastic sleeves....because they are so THIN, even thinner than a piece of gum. But they are good.

Today's lunch: Mushroom udon + dumplings. I almost felt so guilty to eat the whole slice of mushroom in one bite, because they were so delicate. But at the same time, they were so thin that I couldn't even enjoy the taste completely before it slide right down into my throat.

Today's weather: Cold & cloudy. But the red trees are so pretty.......