Last week, we invited one of Yoshi's classmate (& neighbour)- Carter for a playdate along with few other friends. As soon as Yoshi opened the door, he switched into English channel. Though with very limitied volcabularies, but it wasn't a problem at all, they seems to find their ways to understand each other. Carter wore the toy google, so Yoshi copied him with a pair of sunglasses... ^_^
Before Kiharu was born, my biggest worry was how to deal with the kids' bathtime on my own in the weekdays. When Kiharu was little, I used to give her bath during Yoshi's nap time, to avoid Yoshi splashing the water everywhere on the floor. Then as Kiharu starts splashing water, I moved her baby tub inside a big tub.
Now, her bathtime is right before bedtime. I would have Yoshi stays upstairs together, he would read books or play nearby. Then after Kiharu falls asleep, it's Yoshi's shower time. In the weekend, Nori will sit in the bathtub with them. Yoshi could sit in there for a long time with all the toys floating everywhere. He even remembers the swimming lessons from this past summer.
Let the videos tell the stories......
(Thanks cousin Minecar & Jennifer again....)
On the days when Yoshi has school in the morning, grandparents always leaves messages to Yoshi, asking him how's his day, where he went, told him they will call later....and Yoshi would always reply to the voice mail...
After doing 3 years of birthday party in blue, green, yellow, finally I can have the pink explosion on Kiharu's 1st birthday. We had a great party, invited few close friends to come and celebrate. Can't believe Kiharu is already 1. Happy birthday our little girl. (did u know your brother had been waiting for a week to sing the birthday song & ate the cake?! ^_^) Thanks everyone for coming (& Thanks for all the overseas gifts too)
(Background- TV was on; when I checked on them, that's what I saw. Not sure if that meant to be a real hug or big brother just trying to stop little sister from crawling towards the TV. But at least, they seemed to enjoy that moment together.)
(Amy, this is for you....thank you)
We had snow yesterday, so for 2 days, we had been staying at home (I really got to go out tomorrow....the days went by so slow). Thanks to my friend Amy for the indoor activity idea, we had a little snowy fun nside the house today. (this was great, because it's challenging to let Yoshi play with snow outside while having Kiharu in my arms under the cold temperature)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------When Yoshi was 1.5 yrs old, he enjoyed reading the いないいないばぁ-Peekaboo book. Recently, Kiharu shares the same interest and is able to say "Baa....baa" too (The Japanese saying of peekaboo is "INAI INAI BAA") I told Yoshi to read to her the other night......
We can't believe Kiharu is turning 1 year old. Me and Nori kept saying what we were doing a year ago today- having breakfast as McDonald; shopping around town with grandparents; having Mexican dinner & starting the contraction during Yoshi's bathtime before heading to hospital....... all these felt like only a short while ago.
ONE year old Kiharu--
- You sure don't like sitting on the highchair. The strap around your waist is useless. Right now, all I can do is to have u sit on my lap while feeding (unless it's finger food like fruit or snack, which you were more focus on grabbing the food on your own). But I am not going to chase after u with the spoon my little girl.....
- You are never scare of my mad face look (unlike your brother). The more intense my facial expression I gave u, the harder the smile u return.
- Besides Otousan & Yoshi, you are 99.5% attached to me. You do not like being held by anyone else, unless more than 30 mins observation/ warm up time is being given.
- You have great appetite on all meals. You can finish a big bowl of congee, then follow by fruit or other snack.
- You start to sleep thru the nights. (but u tend to not like me talking about this, because u would always wake me up that following night after I compliment you)
- You love hanging out with brother Yoshi, you would follow him everywhere, even to the bathroom (can u smell the stinkiness?) Who wouldn't when he's such a great brother to you (almost all the time....almost)
- You love jamming music with Yoshi. He would sing, dance, play instrument and you would bounce your head along with the music beat.
......there are so much to write about you, but guess what I love the most, is your big welcome smile at the crib when you wakes up from morning or nap. And I love seeing you and Yoshi play together, though there are lots of fighting moment, but love is in the air.... xoxoxo
Ki-chan, Happy birthday our little girl, we all love you so much, so bless to have you.
I guess she is trying to tell you it's her birthday!!! (Yoshi was trying to finish his dinner at the background)Having two kids, the biggest challenge right now got to be the terrority disputes. From the beginning, I am always teaching Yoshi to "share" and "report incidents", instead of dealing with force by himself. He doesn't know, he's so used to have all the space and toys to his own, but suddenly, there comes Kiharu, just like a giant beast crawling all over his train tracks, taking away every cars, chewing on every books, tearing every piece of paper.....
It's not an easy or overnight learning task. Is there a moment when I caught him slapping her head to try stopping her? yes of course; Is there a moment of loud S.O.S scream towards her? yes of course; but he's doing much better. He has learnt to call for my help or share his toys with her. Hang in there Yoshi, it will get better soon (hopefully).
Auntie Veron, the Tomy car mat u gave Yoshi in the summer, we had actually saved till Christmas for him to open. He didn't play with it till yesterday, almost as if he found a treasure hidden somewhere. (thank you again) He was so excited to pull out his cars and planes. And of course, little Kiharu was "excited" as well..........
(turn down your headphone volume just in case.....)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amy, here are Yoshi's two favorite train encyopedias- 1) Chinese one- my brother bought that in bookstore in HK. Sure u can find it. Shinkansen + trains. I'm suprise Yoshi was reading every pages in this book, even though they all look the same to me....and it's a good tool to keep him busy & quiet for a while (maybe u can bake more cakes afterwards)
We got this second one from Japan, but maybe u can find in JP bookstore. It's about those train tracks (palarail). Yoshi is never tired of flipping this book over and over again. The best part, it's hard cover + pages, so it's unchewable for Kiharu. ^_^
Yes, I wrote "father & son collection". From the moment Yoshi showed interest in his first shinkansen toy (Thanks Uncle Henry for the first train), Nori is the biggest supporter (& supplier). Nori had those similar trains when he was little, sure these bring back lots of childhood memories. In addition to those we found at Japanese garage sale here, we brought back more than 8 of those trains from the Asia trip last summer (some were gifts). We have saved a lot for x'mas and later. Afterall, how many can the track holds.
Yoshi is really into the shinkansen trains, the real trains, not the cartoon. He would read the train encyopedia again and again (Uncle Henry, your money well spent); he would watch those shinkansen videos again & again (I always wonder what's so fun watching the trains zoom here and there on TV); he would lay on the floor to get a better up close view of the trains running around the track; he would panic if Kiharu gets 2 feet within the station radius......
Well, if u ever need to know the model names of each Japanese shinkansen/trains, just ask Dr. Yoshi. And if u ever said the wrong name, be prepared, he will correct you right away.Since we were visiting San Francisco during the x'mas holiday, we told Santa Claus (& his team?!) to come later. So on Saturday, after cleaning the chimney ( = last minute gift wrapping), Santa Claus made his sudden delivery.
(Thanks grandparents, Uncle Henry for all the gifts as well....videos to come later)
Happy holidays & Happy new year everyone.
