Little Raindrops

Posts Tagged ‘toys’

Today you are two years old! You are having a great day so far! We are having a family celebration right now and next week you will have a small party with some of your good friends. Last night you went to a party while Daddy and I went to our church Valentine’s Day Banquet, so you were out late and playing hard! You got to color, listen to music, play games, hit a pinata, and have lots of snacks! So you wanted to sleep in this morning. As soon as you woke up, we went to the Weasels’ Den for the Pajama Jam, where you played on the playground and bounce house, had a big breakfast buffet, saw some friends, and watched some Ice Age on a big screen. When we came home, you opened presents from us, from Grandma and Grandpa, and from Grammy and Uncle Ron. You were given some fantastic toys, snazzy shoes, and a Blue’s Clues DVD and CD! We talked to Grammy on Skype while you opened gifts from her, then we traced your hand and you painted a picture. We have more fun lined up for you, but right now you’re enjoying playing with Heron and your new Blue doll.

I thought it would be nice to keep track of some of your favorite things and see how they change from year to year. Love you!

Favorites
Fruit: mandarin oranges; apples
Vegetable: carrots
Snacks: cheese; tuna salad; scrambled eggs; peanut butter
Meal: breakfast
Drink: apple juice
Songs: the Itsy Bitsy Spider; Skinamarinky Dinky Dink
Movies: Aliens vs. Monsters; Potty Power
TV Show: Blue’s Clues
Cartoon Character: Elmo
Book: I Love You Through and Through
Friend: Carson
Toy: Duplo blocks
Stuffed Animal: Yellow Bear you got from Uncle Matt your first Christmas
Playtime Activity: blowing bubbles
chores: sweeping; unloading dishwasher
Place: the Thursday Playgroup room at EDIS

I don’t get a whole lot of time each day to sit on the computer, but when I do I like to read other blogs. I have 230 blog subscriptions on Google reader, and usually every couple of days I get to browse through the most recent 50 posts or so. So I know I’m missing a lot, but I get my fill of inspiration, motivation, and awe in all the amazing posts and photos. Anyhow, quite a few blogs do a weekly roundup of sorts, where they post favorite things they’ve seen during the week. Off the top of my head, there’s Amy’s Notebook on Mom Advice, which I always love, Craft: Weekly Roundups, and Weekly DIY Roundups at ThreadBanger. Since I see so many interesting things while I surf, I thought I’d start a [possibly] weekly roundup of my own. For now, not all of my entries will be recent happenings on the web, but they will be favorite things that I’ve Stumbled, or bookmarked that I’d like to share.

Easy Valentines Chocolates @ Gourmet Mom on the Go

These look amazing and actually not very difficult to make! They remind me of all the wonderful chocolates my brother, Matthew, and his girlfriend, Adria, made all his family for Christmas. Yum! I don’t think I’ll get to try these in time for this Valentine’s Day, but maybe I will next year, or this Christmas, or just one day I’m craving chocolate!

Rainbow Pancakes @ i am mommy

This poor gal has gotten a ton of criticism via blog comments for something as silly as making these crazy colorful pancakes for her little ones as a treat. I definitely don’t want to pack the boys full of food dye, sugar, etc daily but I don’t see any harm in pumping up the fun factor in foods occasionally. These awesome pancakes remind me of the wonderful colorful cakes (like my 4th of July cupcakes) and I definitely will make some colorful breakfasts for the boys in the future!

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version @ YouTube

My friend Liz linked this on Facebook and I cannot get enough of it! I’d never watched a “literal version” of a music video but considering how Matt and I adore MST3K, it’s not surprising that we enjoyed this sort of humor. This particular video was done by dascottjr, and there are some other wonderful literal versions of videos on his site. My favorites, not including the awesome Total Eclipse of the Heart, are definitely Jingle Bell Rock, Separate Ways, and the choreography part of Love is a Battlefield!

NZ Book Council – Going West @ YouTube

This is a short animated film narrating part of the book Going West. It’s a stop-motion of papercutting, which is absolutely stunning. I highly admire papercutting and hope to do some of my own someday, but I cannot imagine the time and skill required to produce a project such as this. Amazing!

Bunny Hop Slippers @ Craft

The cutest! I’ve always wanted a pair of bunny slippers, and these are the most adorable I’ve seen. I can’t wait to knit them up! I’ve never made thrums before, so that should be fun, too.

“So Easy, A Toddler Can Do It” Snowflakes @ Frugal Family Fun Blog

We made these in our Wednesday night King’s Kids class (Flyers; 4 &5 year-olds) a few weeks ago. It really was easy and the results were wonderful! I let the kids place their masking tape however they wanted, so some of the snowflakes were a little creative and free-form, but that was sort of the point! It’ll be fun to make these one winter when the boys are a little older.

9 Ways To Encourage Your Kids to Live Simply @ Simple Mom

This is my goal. I fail at it often, though. I really do want to instill simplicity in the boys as they grow. Simple Mom has many great articles like this to steer us in that direction. By the way, I’d love to make the boys’ toys! I have knit, sewn, and crocheted a handful for them, but I’d love to pick up some woodworking to make them some terrific, sturdy toys, too!

How to Get Back in the Groove of Reading @ Mom Advice

This term I’ve had to do so much reading for my literature class, as well as the half a dozen textbooks for my other class, that I feel so burnt-out on reading that I don’t want to do. I am trying to put these points into practice in order to read for pleasure. Oh, it’s hard and I feel like I don’t have the time to read, but I’m going to start taking advantage of those reading windows now.

Prayer: Why We Struggle (and how not to) @ holy experience

This really spoke to me. I don’t have much more to say about it. Just read it.

Inspiration: “Tips for Capturing Newborns” @ i heart faces

Now that Heron’s getting so big, I feel like I wasted time that I could have been photographing his tiny newborn bottom and wrinkly little fingers! I wish I had played around more with my camera like this. I am still enjoying photographing the boys as they are, but hope to have another bitty baby someday to capture in this way!

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!

It’s been a while since I’ve shown off what crafting I’ve been up to. Mostly I’ve been making gifts for babies. A couple of months ago I made myself a hat because my head was chilly. I didn’t use a pattern, but I think I should have. It works and I wear it, but I’m not in love with it. (Ravelry page for Green Hat.)

When we had our 20 week ultrasound and I thought we were having a girl, I made a little pink square hat. It’s just a rectangle, but when it goes on a baby’s head, it rounds out and the corners look like cute kitty ears. We’ve tried this on Rhino and it is very cute, but you aren’t going to see any pictures of him in this hat! Since we aren’t having a girl, it will be a gift for some girl baby of the future. (Ravelry page for Pink Square Hat.)

I’ve been very busy working on baby blankets. There are five pregnant women in our church (excluding me!) and I’d love to give each of their babies a handmade blanket to welcome them to the world. The first to arrive will be a girl, due in June. I crocheted up this white blanket, but ran out of yarn and have no idea what kind I was using. I put a pink border on it to make it slightly larger, but I still feel it’s way too small. It’s still cute, though! (Ravelry page for Ocean Waves Baby Blanket.)

I’m also knitting a super soft blue blanket for the first boy due (unless ours comes early!) at the end of June. I went through 4 balls of yarn and still ran out, so I’m waiting to take a trip to Hachinohe to pick up more. It’s about 75% finished and goes really quickly, so I should be able to whip that out in time. In the meantime I’m also working on a pink knit basketweave blanket (probably for Denna’s girl, due in July — not in our church, but it seems like most of us church ladies are having boys!) My fingers are keeping very busy with all the blanket knitting!

Rhino and I were invited to Carson and Cole’s first birthday party and I wanted to bring some handmade gifts for the little boys. The invitation was kind of last-minute, so I didn’t have time to do anything too elaborate. I’ve enjoyed making felt toys for Rhino and have really wanted to make more. A while ago I ordered a whole wide assortment of colorful wool felt and thought I’d put some of it to good use. I was afraid it would seem to plain or boring, but I wanted to make the boys each a ball. I sort of winged it with cutting out pieces and assembling them and am slightly disappointed that they didn’t term out spherical enough (they’re kind of squashed), but they’re all right! I embroidered each of their names and the year on their ball and I thought they turned out to be pretty snazzy! I also was working on knitting some precious little bear finger puppets, but I still have to make arms for one of them and didn’t have them ready in time for the party. I guess I should finish those soon and get some photos up!

Dearest Rhino,

Well, another month has flown by and you just keep growing! When we took you to the doctor for your 1-year checkup, she was concerned because you had lost some weight (dropping to 20 pounds 8 oz.) It looks alarming in your chart, but I think it’s mostly because you started to get a lot more mobile (lots of crawling and cruising!) and had stopped drinking so much Mommy milk (but weren’t liking cow’s milk.) So the doctor said to come back in a month and see how you’re doing. So, for your 13-month checkup you seem to be doing much better in that department. You still nurse occasionally (really only if you get fussy at night, otherwise you aren’t very interested and would rather have a sippy cup) but drink plenty of whole milk. You’re now at 21 lb 6 oz, which is still a low percentile for babies your age, but that’s nothing to worry about — you are a very healthy little boy! You are also getting even more exercise now that you’ve started walking!

Yes, you’re walking now! You took your first, wobbly steps on Feb. 22nd and today you’re almost running! You used to cruise around the sofa, look at the ottoman a couple of feet away, think long and hard about it and then give it a go, stumbling into the ottoman! Now instead of pulling yourself up with the coffee table or pushing up from a toy on the floor, you can stand up on your own. You are very steady and will walk around, turn corners, step over small obstacles, and right yourself if you start to trip over something. You are so cute to watch and you often find it so exciting to walk laps around us in the living room!

This past month you had another adventure: visiting Tokyo! We all went with our friends Mrs. Armstrong and Mrs. Kiser. We drove down to Tokyo, about a 9 hour drive, and you were so great the whole way! You love to look out the window at the passing scenery, play with your toys, show off to us, and sleep. The only time you fussed in the car at all is during the drive back home when your tummy got a little upset. While we were in Tokyo you stayed with Daddy and I in a hotel, went up Tokyo Tower, tried Japanese foods, rode on subways, trains, and buses, went to a pretty zoo and saw lots of exciting animals, saw the gardens at the Imperial Palace (and pretty swans and koi), and visited the Ghibli Museum where you looked at lots of pretty pictures and played with stuffed soot balls and watched lots of little Japanese kids. It was a very nice time and you loved chatting with and showing of to our friends, watching all the Japanese people zipping by, and flirting with the occasional waitress or lady on the train!

There are other new things that you are doing now, too. You point all the time at things you want, pictures in books, and Daddy and I. While you point, you usually say da, which sounds like you’re trying to say “that.” You aren’t talking to us yet, but we do get a lot of dadas out of you, which sometimes sound like you mean “Daddy”, but you say it to lots of things that aren’t Daddy, too. One of your favorite new activities is putting things away! When we play together, you like it when I dump lots of little toys out of a bucket or blocks out of a bag so you can quickly pick them all up and return them to their container. It’s lot of fun when you do this with your toys — especially now that you will help me clean them up! — but you do it with all sorts of other silly things, too. We are constantly finding toys, crochet hooks, remote controls, and other random objects you find stuffed in Daddy’s shoes by the front door or placed in empty glasses we leave out on the coffee table! You like to play with your nesting cups. You’ve always enjoyed un-nesting them and banging them together, but now you try to put them all together properly. Sometimes you stack the blocks on top of each other, too. This usually happens when your nesting doesn’t quite work out and you try to put a large cup inside a small cup. From there, you build upwards and seem happy with the outcome, too!

You giggle and chat and smile all the time, but lately you’ve gotten quite a temper! You understand “no” and will test to see where the line is. Sometimes you can be pretty sneaky and you get punished for it. Usually when we swat your hand and tell you no, you’d get over it really quickly and come give us a hug. Now sometimes you’ll push us away if we try to hug you or you’ll bang your head on the floor and throw a little tantrum! You need to get over it and I feel a little bad for you sometimes, but you still are way too cute! You definitely don’t like having things taken away from you and if we try to hide something, you’ll go searching for it. Sometimes you get so upset by other people. You used to do just fine in the church nursery, but lately it’s been such a horror! As soon as we walk up to the door, you know what’s going on, and you will throw such a fit about it. I’m hoping this passes soon because I know it can be tiring for the other ladies who work in the nursery and I want you to have fun with the other children while Daddy and I are away at the service. Soon enough you should be able to understand that we won’t leave you in there forever. In your last two doctor’s appointments I mentioned earlier you were also so upset. Even if I was holding you, if the doctor came near you at all or even just looked at you, you would howl like she was torturing you! I wish there was something I could do to calm you down because you get madder than I’ve ever seen, but I’m hoping this too will pass soon.

It’s been such a fun month and every day you entertain Daddy and I so much! I love how you hug and kiss us all the time and want to snuggle and also how pleased you are with yourself for doing silly little things! We love you so much, Rhino!

Love Always,
Mommy

I’m joining in on the felt food craze and starting to sew up some fruits, veggies, sandwiches, sushi, etc. for Rhino to play with! Well, that’s what I’m planning on doing, though I’ve only just finished a carrot and a lemon. I don’t have a photo of the lemon yet, but really, it’s not as cute as the carrot. Rhino loves them, though!

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!

You’ve made it through the first year — hooray! I have known that “time flies”, but I really can’t believe how fast your first year has zipped by!

You’ve recovered completely from the trip to the States and now you’re your usual self. You’ve gotten to the point where I can say now that you are sleeping through the night. You’d often wake for short, frequent nursings, but you’re pretty much finished with that now. We’ve also set you up with your own little mattress on the floor next to ours, so you won’t be sleeping (crawling, kicking, sprawling…) with us when your new brother or sister arrives. You seem to like the little bed more than the big bed!

You’ve become a bit more of a trouble maker lately! Daddy had brought home a package of napkins the other day and left it on the kitchen floor, which was obviously an invitation for you to partake in the napkin fun! You are getting a bit sneaky, too, and will push the limits to see how much you can get away with. Even though you know “no” and that you aren’t supposed to be playing in the trash or grabbing in Daddy’s bag of chips, you’ll still try to when we aren’t looking and check to see if you’ve been caught yet!

You’ve become so affectionate lately! You understand “hug” and will give us big hugs often. You even hug all of your stuffed animals. You’re learning “kiss” now, too, but haven’t yet mastered it. You don’t quite know how to pucker, so when you kiss us, it’s with a wide open mouth and dangling tongue! You’re so sweet and sometimes harass us with sloppy kiss after sloppy kiss! Most of your stuffed animals also now have crusty mouths and noses where you’ve practiced your affection on them.

We have planned for your birthday party to be next weekend because your birthday weekend falls on Valentine’s Day and lots of your friends mommies and daddies all ready have plans. Daddy and I wanted to do something special on your birthday anyway, so I made you some cupcakes and you got to open gifts from your grandparents! Unfortunately, we didn’t have too much time for festivities because Daddy was at work all day and then we had a church banquet when he got home, so we had your little party over his lunch break. You weren’t so interested in opening presents — maybe because we were hastily tossing them at you! You know how to unwrap gifts pretty well, but this time you just wanted to tear one tiny piece off at a time and inspect each bit. Daddy and I ended up unwrapping everything else for you! You received some really nice outfits, a couple CDs you like to dance to, and some fun toys! Daddy and I gave you a wooden xylophone, which you haven’t quite figured out yet. You like to tink the keys with your finger instead of the mallet, or use the mallet backwards and at a whole arms distance away from the instrument. You’ll get it!

You also had your first taste of chocolate! I made you some yummy cupcakes with chocolate frosting. You were mostly interested in licking all the frosting off the cake and playing with it and made a bit of a mess! You finished the whole thing and seemed pretty pleased with the whole experience! The next morning was Valentine’s Day, so we had a little teddy bear and small box of chocolates for you. You had a piece and liked it, but didn’t beg for any more. I had also given Daddy a bigger box of chocolate truffles, which was left out on the coffee table. You only needed 10 seconds to open the box and shove six truffles into your little mouth and all over your chest! It was definitely time for a bath and you were pretty wound up with sugar the rest of the morning!

It’s been such a wonderful year with you, Rhino, and Daddy and I are looking forward to another fun year with you! Happy birthday!!

Lots of Love,
Mommy

Hello, darling!

Your mommy has been a little lazy about writing your letters the few months! So much has happened, but I’m going to only talk a little bit about it this time.

9 Month Letter (Nov 13, 2008)

During your eighth month you started to “army crawl”: pulling yourself forward with your arms while lying on your stomach. You got around for about three days like that before you figured out you can use your hands and knees to move, too! Now you are all over the place!

You didn’t have a doctor’s appointment this past month, but we did weigh you in. You still haven’t gained any weight since we checked when you turned 8 months, so the doctor did want to see what is going on. You were a little sick for a week and you’ve been getting more exercising with crawling, so the doctor isn’t worried at all.

You’ve been trying more solid foods lately, too. We haven’t yet found anything you won’t eat! You are great about eating your vegetables and this month tried steamed broccoli, which you had lots of fun with. You also like mangoes, kiwi slices, and cottage cheese.

This month you traveled a little bit to the towns around us. We went to Rokkasho for their yearly Salmon Festival. You got to see lots of big fish swimming in the river and also in the pools at the festival. Daddy was hoping to get to catch a salmon with his hands, but we didn’t get to the festival early enough. You had fun snuggled up with me and looking at all the Japanese people, fish, and food.

The big news of this month is that Daddy and I found out that you are going to be a big brother next summer! This is very exciting for us because we knew we wanted you to have a little brother or sister that was close to your age to play with. You went with us to my first doctor’s appointment, where we got to hear Little Baby’s heartbeat and even watch a little movie of him or her! It would be neat if you were a little older and knew what was going on so you could be excited too, but I know when the baby comes you will be such a fantastic brother and you two will have so much fun together!

10 Month Letter (Dec 13, 2008)

Now you’re 10 months old and the last month has been very busy! You are crawling around everywhere and starting to get into things! Daddy and I have to put more thought into what we leave around on the floor or what doors we leave open so you don’t get into something you shouldn’t. It’s a lot of work!

In November you saw your first snow fall. It was exciting for Daddy and I because it was our first snow since we’ve been here in Japan, and we haven’t seen any in quite some time! We took you out in the backyard so you could get a closer look, but you really just wanted to eat it. I’d walk you up to the snow on the tree branches or pick some up in my hand for you to get a better look and you’d just reach forward with your mouth to get a taste!

This month we also started our vacation back to the US to see all our family for Christmas. You got to take a couple of trains to get to Tokyo, then fly from Japan to California and were really good, considering how long you’d been up and how long the flight was! In the airport in Tokyo, waiting for our delayed plane to California, you started “cruising”. Daddy was eating some french fries and had them sitting on the chair and you were crawling around on the floor. When you saw those french fries, you pulled right up on a chair and walked yourself down to get a bite! You poor thing, you worked so hard to get over to the snacks, but of course we didn’t let you have any! Food seems to be your biggest motivation to try new things! We spent a little time in California where you got to see some people from our old church, who you’d met before (but you were just born and definitely wouldn’t remember!) We went to see our friends the Lasleys and their little girls. Unfortunately, when we stopped by the girls were asleep, though it would have been fun to see you with them! I know we’ll see all of them again though, and you’ll have a good time when you get to meet up with them then. We took another plane from California to Texas, to see your Pop (my father), Dandy (my grandfather), and GG (my grandmother) as well as all your great uncles & aunt, etc! You turned 10 months in Texas and had a nice trip meeting and visiting with lots of people.

When we’re at home, I usually feed you some baby food that I made or pieces of our meals and rarely ever use normal baby food. We thought that for the long trip, we’d pick some up in case there were meals that we couldn’t give to you or we were unable to cook for you. I was a little worried that, since you don’t eat baby food at home, you wouldn’t really like it. Boy, was I surprised! You ate lots of baby food from jars on the airplane, in the airports, in California, and in Texas and loved it! You’ve become a lot more demanding for food lately, too! When you see me start to get food ready, you’ll whine and hold your fists out and shake a little. Sometimes you even yell at me to “hurry up!” I know that you just get hungry, need to learn a little bit of patience, and really, really like your food!

11 Month Letter (Jan 13, 2009)

You spent your tenth month mostly back in the states, still visiting over Christmas. After we finished visiting my family in Texas, we flew to New York to see Daddy’s family. It was much colder there and you met even more people who were very happy to see you! We spent most of our time with Grandma, Grandpa, and your Aunt Jen at home. Other family members and friends would come over to visit and everyone enjoyed just watching you crawl and cruise around the room, eat your meals, play with toys, and they took lots of pictures of you! You got so much attention and really seemed to enjoy it. We visited at Mom-mom and Pop-pop’s (Daddy’s grandparents) home and they had lots of people over to visit. We got to meet another baby boy, Mitchell, who is just 3 weeks older than you (Daddy’s cousin’s son!) You two had fun pointing at and touching each other and playing peek-a-boo around a chair! Mom-mom and Pop-pop have a staircase, which you hadn’t ever seen much of (right now we live on one floor.) We wanted to see what you would do with stairs, and to our surprise you took right to them! You zipped up eight stairs and then weren’t quite sure how to get down.

We weren’t in New York over Christmas, but we had an early Christmas so we could all celebrate together. You received lots of wonderful toys and handsome clothes and are having so much fun playing with everything. One of the best gifts you got was a little baby piano that plays notes and songs, lights up, and is just your height. Now that you can pull up to a stand on things, it’s so much fun to watch you play with this. One of your cutest recent developments is “dancing” to all kinds of music. While at the piano, you will play a couple notes or start a song, then rock back and forth, and repeat this over and over. You had so much fun with the piano!

We noticed your dancing skills last month when I would sing to you or put on music. It started out with just rocking back and forth, but you’ve developed all sorts of new “moves” since then. Anytime someone would sing a song to you (Grandpa would sing “yummy, yummy, yummy in my tummy, tummy, tummy” while you’re eating), put on Christmas music, or play a toy that makes music, you’d immediately start “be-bopping” (this is what Daddy calls your dancing!) We love it and can’t get enough of it!

After New York, we flew to California to see Grammy (my mother.) Your Aunt Andrea, Uncle Michael, and cousin Amelia, as well as Uncle Matt and his girlfriend Adria came to visit at the same time as well. Amelia is just a week younger than you are and we were all very excited for you two to meet! You guys were so cute together and seemed to have quite a good time! In Colorado you met Jack and Tilley, Grammy’s two little dogs (you also met Jasmine and Mugsy at Grandma and Grandpa’s, so you had seen dogs before.) You didn’t like when they’d lick at your face, but you did enjoy being around and them and petting their fur. We had lots of fun at Grammy’s, going out to eat, making lots of food in the kitchen, relaxing with your aunts and uncles, and having Christmas!

Christmas with you was a great time! Daddy and I went to church on Christmas Eve and Aunt Andrea and Uncle Michael stayed to watch you. When we came back, you sat up with Daddy and I as we opened some gifts. Then when we woke up on Christmas morning, you and Amelia got to dig around in your stockings for some neat books and car toys! We had lots of presents under the tree for the two of you. Neither of you seemed to want to tear the paper off the gifts, but you really did want all the bows! Once the paper was off, you did have fun with it and the ribbons. You both got some wonderful new books, stuffed animals, Little People toys, and some very nice clothes. Even more people came over Christmas afternoon to meet you and eat more food! After Christmas we did more fun things like going to see a cave, which you really enjoyed. When we were in a big, echo-y room underground, you would babble and make all sorts of cute sounds!

You were extra-good on the flight back to Japan (it was an even longer than the flight to the States!) and on the three trains to get back home. You were wonderful to travel with, but we probably won’t go so far away again anytime too soon! You can read more about our December visits in the US in an earlier post I made.

Sorry, baby, for the long letter that covers the last three months! I will be better in the future about not skipping these so that you can learn about what your life was like as a little boy. As always, Daddy and I love you so much and are having the best time of our lives getting to know you better each day!

Hugs and Kisses,
Mommy

Hello, sweetie!

In the last six months, you’ve grown up quite a bit! You weigh 21.5 pounds and are 27.95 inches long. You are getting very sociable with other children now. We had a church picnic at Leftwich Park on base where you sat with 1-year old Samantha. You like to reach out and touch her head and babble to her! We have also spent time with our friends the Armstrongs and their kids, Josh and Aimé. Josh likes to tickle you (though I don’t think you’re ticklish right now, but Josh has fun!) and talk to you. Aimé likes to pat her head and you have pulled at her pretty little curls more than once! She always giggles and says “Baby Rhino likes me!” which you seem to very much. There are also other babies in the church nursery that you like to look at and reach out for. You are also very interested in certain adults. We were at the food court at the BX recently and there was a table with some Japanese men in front of you and you kept smiling and calling out to them with your screeches and babbles. They enjoyed your attention and would wave and laugh and you really liked the interaction. You are quite a friendly little boy!

You recently started pulling yourself to your knees and also to a stand. You have strong legs and stand very well with our support. We no longer pull you because you can bring yourself up! You are enjoying your play time in your crib more now that you’ve discovered you can hold onto the railing, kneel or stand, and chew on the wood!

You aren’t crawling yet, but I get the feeling you’re going to take off any day now! When you’re sitting on your own, you often lean forward and get on your hands and knees. It seems like you don’t know exactly what to do from there, though! Sometimes you plop down to your stomach and push yourself in circles with your feet or try to walk your feet forward so your diaper is in the air. Sometimes you just push yourself back to a sitting position. You seem like you’re ready to get moving, though!

You also started clapping for us this past month. You are very good with your hands and had been touching them together excitedly, but it never quite made a clap. Now you clap along with us when Daddy and I clap for you or you do it on your own when you’re happy and playing.

You make all sorts of silly noises, too! You’re continuing to string together “ba”s and “da”s, but lately you’ve been doing a whole lot more “ma”s and “na”s. The first time I heard your “ma” was when I walked in the room you were in and you looked up at me and squealed “mama!” I know you aren’t speaking yet and still just experimenting with sounds, but it made me smile! Now it seems like when Daddy is holding you, you repeat “mama” over and over, but when I hold you, you say “dada” all the time! You’ll figure it out soon! You are learning to recognize some words now. If you are lying down or sitting and I want to pick you up, I will say “up.” Now most of the time when I say up, you will look at me and lift up your arms for me to pick you up!

You love playing with your toys, especially some Japanese blocks we got you, your Bright Builders, and my yarn! You like to bang your toys together and sometimes get so wild with them that you scrunch up your face and lean back away from your hands because you seem like you’re going to smack yourself! You also like playing with your food. You are really getting good at pinching the sweet potato puffs and getting them in your mouth and you love the baby toast, both to eat and play with! You are still eating a lot of peas, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash baby food that I make as well as baby oat cereal. You don’t love being fed and always want to hold the spoon yourself. Sometimes you do a pretty good job, but most of the time you make quite a mess! You also like to chew on raw baby carrots and will demolish one very quickly. You chew it all up very well and leave almost no mess. You’re my little rabbit baby!

We are having such a wonderful time together and I have fun seeing all the new things you learn every day. It amazes me how quickly you grow and I am really enjoying helping you discover your world!

See some other photos and videos of the past month!

I love you,
Mommy