Little Raindrops

Posts Tagged ‘Heron’

We celebrated a little early this year. On Friday our church had our annual Valentine’s banquet at the club. We got all dressed up (woops, we didn’t get a photo of us together this year!), dropped the boys off at their own kids’ party (thank you Vira + teens!!) and had a lovely dinner with other sweethearts from our church. We had a nice dinner (we always get one of each – chicken or beef – so we can split it in half and share), and chatted it up mostly with Jason + Tanya and Eric + Katie. There was a sweet message from our pastor after dinner, then we played some games, as usual. Matt and I volunteered for the first game, which was was round 2 of the blindfolded, no-hands Ho Ho eating contest! Last year Tim amazingly (disgustingly?) sucked that thing down in probably 4 seconds! I thought we would have had an easier time, but we had some serious hangups. We sat across from our partner, couldn’t use our hands, couldn’t see, and had to unwrap and consume a Ho Ho together. I held one end of the wrapper between my teeth and Matt attempted to rip open the other side. In the 45 seconds it took the winning team to swallow the Ho Ho (including some plastic…) we had only made a small hole in one end of the wrapper! That’s all right — I didn’t really want to chow down on it, haha! Then we were given questionnaires and played a Newlyweds-type game. We left in the middle of that because Matt still had to go home and change for work. It was a great time, though! Oh, and the boys seemed to have a great time at their little party! Heron only cried a little bit, but didn’t get any sleep (it was way past his bedtime!) Rhino had a blast eating lots of sugar, singing songs and playing games, coloring, and hitting at a pinata!

We did have special Valentine’s treats for the boys (Heron didn’t get any chocolate this year.) Once again, Rhino got into Matt’s chocolates and ate half of the box. He needs to stop leaving them where Rhino can snatch them up! We did get each other gifts – I gave Matt a new Wii game and he scheduled me for an hour-long massage (which I go to on the 22nd.) I made a heart-shaped red velvet cake for him (again – no photo of this year’s, but it was prettier) and splurged and also made a delicious red velvet / chocolate pudding / raspberry / whipped cream trifle. I really wanted to use my new trifle bowl! We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day extravagantly, but it’s nice to have a special day with my sweetie (and now my mini-sweeties, too!)

Hi again, sweetheart!

Tomorrow you will be two years old! It is so fun to watch you grow, but it also makes me sad to see your baby years fly by so quickly! I really feel like just yesterday we were cuddling in the hospital on your Birth Day, but I also feel like I’ve always known you and you’ve always been a part of our family.

You keep learning so many new things, I can’t keep up! It seems like every day you’re saying something new. Here are some of the new words/phrases you’ve started saying this past month: apple juice, aww man, bear, blue, cake, clue, cookie, door, Elmo, please, purple, red, see ya, three, toes, watch, and water. You’ve also started to pretend to count, by moving small objects or looking at your fingers and saying “two… three… two… three….” Your ABCs are very similar, and you imitate most of the letters but when you come across something too difficult, you replace it with “Eee” (which ends up being most of the letters at the end of the alphabet.)

You love your little brother and are such a sweetheart to him. You can also be quite a stinker! When Heron is doing something like crumpling paper or knocking toys around, you come to us and tattle on him. My favorite deception so far is when you framed him a few weeks ago. Daddy and I left an opened bag of chips downstairs and I had to run up the stairs for something quick, leaving Heron on the sofa and you to your own devices. As I walked back down the stairs, I heard the crumple of the chips bag and knew you were into them. Before I made it to the living room, you ran to me with a mouth full of chips, complaining and pointing to Heron. You had shoved the bag of chips in his hands and came to me to tell on him for getting into the chips! You can be such a naughty boy, sometimes! You definitely know when you’re doing something wrong. You were supposed to be asleep in bed one night earlier this month and Daddy and I were downstairs in the living room. We heard a crash of toys from upstairs and Daddy went up to investigate and scold you for being out of bed. He checked in your bedroom and didn’t see you, so checked the other rooms unsuccessfully. He went back into your bedroom and found you silently pressed against the wall behind the door, trying to hide. You can’t hide for too long!

You like to help out around the house when I cook or do chores. You love stirring and pouring, unloading the dishwasher and putting things away, and sweeping with your tiny broom and smiling dustpan. You also help yourself to the refrigerator to make your own snacks. A few days ago I had left you at your small table to eat some soup for lunch – and you were doing just fine, so I took care of something with Heron. When I came back, you were no longer in the kitchen, so I went to clean up your soup. I noticed a raw egg in the bowl. I didn’t see any shell pieces at all, but did find two perfect halves of an eggshell in the sink, right where I put them. I am still baffled at how you managed to perfectly crack an egg — I still get bits of shell when I do it! It is sweet that you like to prepare food and look forward to teaching you more kitchen skills.

It has been a very fun month with you, Rhino, and a fantastic two years! I hope you enjoy your special day tomorrow!

Lots of Love,
Mommy

Milk is good, but it’s time for Heron to start eating food like the rest of us! We waited for the signs: interest in what we’re eating, sitting unsupported, “pincer grasp” (though he hasn’t perfected that one, he still technically does it.) With Rhino, we adhered to the Baby Led Weaning philosophy, but we’re a bit more lax this time around. We’re on WIC and are allowed SO much baby food, so I thought we might as well get some and use it.

Often times people start out with breast milk / rice cereal, we decide to go the veggie/fruit route. I started Heron out with pears, and he was not impressed. He’d pucker at the taste, and once I did get a small spoonful in his mouth, he made himself sick. I don’t think his gag reflex is quite ready. Rhino was begging the whole time for Heron’s pears, so I let him finish off what Heron didn’t touch.

We tried again a few days later with more baby food, this time: peas. His reaction was about the same and he wasn’t too pleased about it. Later in the day, Rhino was eating Cheerios on the floor next to Heron. Heron managed to pick one up from the floor and try to eat it. More gagging and spitting up. He’s not ready for Cheerios yet, anyway!

The other day, we tried well-cooked carrots, cut into small, pinch-able pieces. Heron liked playing with all the little orange chunks and tried to maneuver the slippery pieces to his mouth. He did finally get a bit in his mouth, which he manipulated for quite a while. Eventually he swallowed it, but I’m not sure how much he mashed it up before it went down. I think overall, he needs a little more time before food is a regular thing for him. We’ll keep working on it!

We were a little lazy about having Heron’s baby dedication! I know we had Rhino’s dedication when he was eleven days old, but we just weren’t on the ball with it that early this time. There’s nothing wrong with having it postponed, though. Any time is appropriate to dedicate ourselves to raising our child according to God’s word.

We chose to dedicate our children before the church because it is important to us to publicly ask for wisdom and grace as we carry out the responsibilities God has given to us as parents, as for support from our church, and pray that our children will one day come to trust Christ as their savior. We were presented with a certificate documenting the day as well as a small blue bible for Heron.

Heron is a little picky about who holds him! He is just now warming up to Matt and in the nursery would usually rather sit in the swing than be held by a lady who isn’t Mommy. Occasionally he’s in a good mood and let someone new hold him, but not too often. There are two people in our church who he has never complained for, though! He loves spending time with our friend, Tanya, and our pastor. Pastor says it’s because he’s a “Papa” and Heron can tell. While Pastor Popwell was holding Heron during the dedication, Heron would stare up at him and babble a little baby conversation to him. He’d respond enthusiastically with coos and gahhs whenever Pastor would ask him a silly question (like “your mom and dad should keep working on filling that quiver, shouldn’t they?”!)

It was a sweet moment with Heron and I am so thankful that we have a close church family standing by us with support, advice, and prayers as we try our best to raise our boys. I do pray that one day they too will know the joy that is a relationship with our Lord and an eternity with Him.

Rhino dearest,

The past two months with you have been a joy, as always! You are such a sweetheart, a bright little boy, and always make us laugh! You didn’t have a doctor’s visit this month, but did have a WIC appointment where we were able to get your height and weight. At 22 months you were 26 pounds, 12 ounces (44th percentile) and 32.75 inches tall (22nd percentile.)

Your vocabulary has really taken off these past few months! You say all sorts of words like shoe, boot, two, hat, cheese, snow, car, plane, up, down, juice, hair, eye, nose, mouth, chin, and thank you (“dat doo”). You don’t string words together to make simple sentences yet, but I have the feeling that’s coming soon! You still use your words together with sign language symbols, but we haven’t taught you any new signs lately.

Some exciting things have happened these past months! Your Aunt Jen came to visit and had such a good time with you! You entertained her a lot with your dancing, silly playing around, and guitar hero strumming. She tried for ten days to get you to say Aunt Jen, but you wouldn’t even try it. Then, after she left, you were looking at photos on our digital frame and saw a picture of her, pointed, and said Aunt Jen. Daddy was on the computer and looked up with surprise, and asked if that’s what you had said. It was pretty clear. Too bad you couldn’t do that a few days earlier for your aunt! We did lots of fun things with your aunt while she was visiting, like shopping, going out to lots of different restaurants, a wonderful Thanksgiving, checking out the Aviation and Science museum, visiting the fish market in Hachinohe, going to the beach to see shipwrecks and horses, and playing games. She can’t wait to see you again!

We also celebrated Christmas last month! It was your second Christmas and was a little more exciting for you than your first Christmas. You enjoyed getting advent treats every day in December, loved all the sweet goodies we munched throughout the month, and really loved the tree and would consistently try to blow out the lights and take down all the ornaments! You received some wonderful gifts from all the people that love you, including a tricycle, a Mr. Potato Head, a huge box of Lego Duplos, some wonderful wooden puzzle toys and lacing beads, lots of snazzy clothes, and your favorite ball – a Blue’s Clues ball! It was a fun, quiet Christmas and you seemed to really have a great time!

You are still such a good big brother and are really bonding with Heron. He adores you so much and you make him laugh when no one else can. You shower him with kisses, want to hold him, and share your toys (by forcing them into his little hands) and your sippy cup (though he doesn’t care for that yet!) You two are so sweet together and I’m looking forward to the days ahead where you will play together!

Thanks for another fantastic few months with you, Rhino! Daddy and I love you more and more each day and can’t wait to have another great month with our big boy!

Love always,
Mommy

We had our first family Christmas at home this year. It is a little lonely being so far away from family, but we had a beautiful Christmas with the boys and our friends. We had lots of lovely snow for Christmas, cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa. Rhino ran downstairs in the morning after we read Luke 2, excited about his advent treat that he’d gotten for the past 24 days. He completely overlooked the tree and presents and ran straight for the empty advent calendar. We had to turn him around and set him straight before he saw all the presents and pointed with a great big “WOW!”

Rhino enjoyed unwrapping the gifts. He’s much better at it this year than he was last year, when he’d only peel a tiny little scrap at a time! Everything unwrapped received another “WOW!” and he was just as excited about Heron’s toys as he was his own. Heron liked to just lie under the tree and gnaw on his toys, then eventually fell asleep on the sofa from all the excitement!

We received so many wonderful gifts from our family. We really are blessed to have such wonderful people who care about us. I only wish they all could have been with us to share in the festivities. I would love it if all our family, both Matt’s and mine, could come together for the holidays, but I don’t really see it happening anytime soon. We’d love to go back to the States to spend future Christmases with family, but while we’re stationed in Japan, it is too much of a trip to trek all over the country for the holiday. Maybe someone will want to come out here with us one of these years!

On Monday we needed to run by the Shimoda mall to pick up the remainder of our Christmas gifts. I want to try and get everything mailed back to the States by Thanksgiving this year. I should be able to!

We always park on the same side of the mall and use the same entrance. Recently, someone was talking about the playground in the mall parking lot and I had no idea what they were talking about. So this time we parked on the other side of the mall and look! A big playground! Rhino’s a little too young to climb on most of the equipment, but there were some fun swings, his favorite springy/gliding animals, and some things for him to step on. It had just rained that morning, so there were a lot of puddles and mud. It’s just now starting to get pretty cold, so we didn’t stay out too long, either.

This is a great playground; one of many that makes me wish our boys were about 5 years older. Heron slept in the carseat while Rhino played around, swung with Daddy, admired the gorgeous leaves, and tromped through mud. He woke up for a photo opportunity and we headed off to get our shopping taken care of. It was nice to be out in the cold with the bright leaves. Rhino has such a good time running around these days and is so busy and energetic when he’s outside!

My little Rhino,

I’m so sorry I’ve let three months go by without writing to you. Plenty has happened worth writing about, but we’ve been keeping very busy!

Since my last letter to you, you received your first haircut (and it’s probably time for another one now!) You were sporting quite the mullet before, so it was definitely time to chop it off. You immediately looked so much older, our little big boy.

You still aren’t talking a whole lot, but your vocabulary has expanded in the last few months. You say: mama/mommy, dada/daddy, baby, no, uh oh, wow, oww/owwie, kite, bee, apple, Blues Clues (“boo boos”), ball, two, and bye/bye-bye. All your animal sounds are still growls, but we’re working on oinks and woofs! About a month ago we introduced a little bit of sign language to you and you picked up on it very quickly. You tell us: drink, food, eat, more, thank you, and ball. You use it all the time and always appropriately (“Please, food! More, more, more, more, more! Thank you.”) Sometimes you just go into the fridge, get the juice and grab your cup, and bring them both to me signing “please” over and over.

You were able to visit with your Grammy last month. She and Uncle Ron came out to visit for a little over a week. We met them in Tokyo and did all sorts of fun things down there. You went to Tokyo when you were 12 months old, but you seemed to enjoy it a little more this time around. You rode the trains and subways, walked through town, saw temples and shrines, played with toys and read books in the hotel, ate lots of rice, and slept in bed with Daddy. Then we brought Grammy and Uncle Ron up to our house in Misawa where they played with you a lot. We went to playgrounds, ate out at all your favorite places where you eat a lot of rice and fruit, saw more temples, they went with you to playgroup, and showed Grammy all your toys. It was a wonderful time and you really liked being around your Grammy and Uncle Ron.

When we first moved to Japan and you were just a few months old, we started going to playgroups on base with other little babies. You didn’t seem to care much about them and I got busy, so we stopped going. Then when I was pregnant with your brother, I didn’t feel like going. We recently started going again to two different groups, one on Wednesday that does a variety of different activities, and one on Thursday that meets in a play room. You really like it when the Wednesday group goes to playgrounds around our area. Sometimes they do craft projects that are a little too advanced for you and you don’t really have the attention span for right now, so we haven’t been going as much lately. There are a few little boys that are right around your age in the group that you like to run around with. The Thursday group has a bunch of boys your age and we all meet in a big room with lots of toys, mats, tunnels, swings, toy tools, and a ball pit. You love throwing all the balls out of the pit, screwing and hammering various things around the room, and snuggling up inside the net swing and flying back and forth. We also occasionally go to the Weasel’s Den, where you go wild with all the space, slides, toy houses, big soft blocks, and ride-on cars. Now that it is getting colder, we will probably do more things like this for now. We used to spend more time inside, but over the last few months you seem to get cooped up at home and definitely need to get out and run around a lot. You have so much energy!

Speaking of your wild side, you do get a little crazy sometimes! I’m having a harder time keeping up with you, especially while tending to your baby brother. You seem to know the perfect times to act up, when I have my hands full with a cranky or feeding baby! You’re a smart boy and understand and dislike the consequences of your misbehaving, but sometimes it seems that you weigh your options and chose to be naughty in spite of a spanking. Some people have described you as strong-willed. I think it’s been hardest lately because you might be a little bit jealous of your brother. You still love on him, like to hold him and give him toys and kisses, but sometimes you are a little mean to him. When you are angry at me, you will hit Heron or while he’s sleeping you’ll spit on him (where did you learn that?!) I know right now he doesn’t do much with you, but soon he will be a friend for you to play with all the time! I know you’ll enjoy him more then. You seem to still be adjusting to the idea that you can’t have all of my attention all the time, that sometimes I need to hold Heron or want to play with him. He’s still new and I know you will get used to it soon. Most of the time you are such a good big brother!

You haven’t been to the doctor in a while, so I’m not sure what they’d have to say about your weight or height, but you appear to be a very healthy little boy! You love to eat all the time! I made a chicken spinach curry casserole a little while ago that Daddy and I really thought was gross, but you had three bowls full! You also eat the same amount of lasagna as I do. You don’t care a lot for chunks of meat, so we’ve been eating more beans lately. You like the Mexican casserole I make with beans, rice, tomatoes, cheese, and tortillas and eat a huge portion! You still love bananas and mandarin oranges (actually, you love every fruit we’ve had.) You do eat sweets more often than I’d like, but not really too much. Whenever you hear a wrapper, you know that we’re opening up the yummiest food, though! You beg and beg for chips, candy, and ice cream. We usually give you a little bit, depending on what it is. You know that when I’m in the kitchen cooking, that there will be food soon. Whenever the oven timer beeps, you run into the kitchen squealing and grab the oven mitts! You are such a piggy little guy! You are getting awesome at feeding yourself now, too. You use a fork and spoon and usually get most of your meal in your mouth. You use sippy cups throughout the day, but during meals you often use a real cup without a lid, usually with great success! For some meals, you sit in your own tiny chair at your own short little table. You always “pray” before you eat (by holding your hands together over your head), even a little snack, which I think is so adorable.

We haven’t had you watch much TV in the past, but we’ve had a few shows on for you lately. I don’t like to have the TV babysit you, but sometimes it is just easiest (like now) to have you entertained. You don’t get a lot, but you do love Sesame Street (especially Elmo) and go crazy over Blues Clues. Blues Clues is definitely your favorite show. You dance to all the songs and do all the hand motions. You even start dancing with anticipation whenever Daddy or I says “Blues Clues.” You point and laugh and wave bye-bye to Steve at the end. We love watching you enjoy Blues Clues! You do read a lot more now, too. The bottom two shelves on our bookshelf are all books for you, and throughout the day you pick a few out and bring them to me to read. Sometimes you just sit on the floor and flip through them on your own. You’re finally sitting all the way through the book now rather than getting to the second page and running off. Many of our Usborne books have a little duck hiding somewhere in each picture, and as soon as I turn the page you seek out that duck and keep your finger on him. You also have favorites that you always find on the shelf and bring to me. Daddy reads two books to you before bed every night now too and he might have to increase that because you don’t seem to get enough! I love that you are starting to enjoy books (more than just eating the corners or drawing on the pages) and am so excited for the day when you will be enjoying the stories and reading books on your own!

I have been having so much fun getting to know you more and more each month. You are such a sweet, fun toddler and I feel so blessed that you are in my life! Thank you for making me laugh, teaching me patience, keeping me running around, snuggling with me, and always offering kisses and hugs. I love you so much, Rhino!

Love,
Mommy

How are moms supposed do this? I’ve spent the last three days on the brink of death (not really, but you know, I felt like it) and absolutely no opportunity to recuperate. I had a low fever, lots of aches, sore throat, constant headache, upset stomach … and a teething baby and insanely wild toddler. They didn’t seem to get the message that Mom wasn’t feeling up for dealing with their moods. Matt works all night and sleeps all day and we have very few hours together where he can lend a hand. One night Heron sat up pretty much all night screaming for an hour, drifting off to sleep for 10-20 minutes, screaming for another hours, etc. I’m doing everything I know to do to soothe his achy gums (I’m assuming that’s the problem even though I don’t see any budding teeth yet.) He’s doing a little better now, but the peak of his discomfort seemed to be at my peak as well. And Rhino … Rhino! He knows just when to act out the most. Right when Heron finally calms down enough to nurse or fall asleep in my arms, that’s when Rhino causes the most damage. Do I drop the baby, upsetting him all over again, to give Rhino a swat? Or do I whisper-yell at him from across the room and give him lots of Mean Mommy looks. Yeah, he knows when he can get away with tearing all the DVDs out of the stand or pulling all our condiments out of the fridge. It’s been a long, long week and I am ready to go to sleep for a month.

We have been planning for weeks to go hiking. Matt gets home from work at 7:30 in the morning and the boys and I were all ready to go. We had the baby carrier packed, the mei tai, hiking boots, jackets, diapers, and snacks! The first place we hiked when we moved here was Oirase Gorge up to Lake Towada, so we decided to go back there since it has been a year since our last visit. I’ve either been pregnant or carrying one or more small children since we arrived and it has squashed my motivation to hike much.

The weather wasn’t so bad here in Misawa at 8am, but by the time we arrived at our destination, the rain was really coming down. I’m not entirely opposed to hiking in the rain, but we don’t really have a good way to keep the boys dry. Rhino’s carrier has a flimsy little rain roof, but it doesn’t help much. I carry Heron on my chest and wasn’t equipped to keep him dry either. So, we took a nice drive around the lake and admired the changing leaves before they fall off and give way to snow. We had lost the mood to hike and Matt usually goes to bed around noon or 1, so we just decided to drive home.

Matt and I plan to hike Mt. Fuji before we leave Japan. We are in no condition to tackle this feat right now, so we really want to get some hikes in before then. I think the Spring ‘10 will mark the beginning of our hiking training. Heron won’t be so little and we’ll just make time to get out more. I hope to leave the boys in Misawa for two days and summit Mt. Fuji the summer of ‘11. We’ll see! In the meantime, it’s getting cold and damp, so I’m thinking we’ll stay inside a lot until spring. At least we got a nice drive in, though.