Playdate

We had our first official playdate today. We went over to Austin's house so the three kids could play together. It's amazing how fast they grow up. Tesshin and Austin were walking all over the place. Akemi wasn't going to let these guys show her up so she pulled herself up and cruised along the furniture. We had lunch, opened gifts and basically hung out. We put together the play tent that we got for Austin and they were crawling through the tunnel. Austin got a whole bag of balls so they put that in his pack-n-play. It was funny to see all three of kids in there.

I just wish we all lived closer together. I love playdates and Tesshin doesn't get enough of them.

Merry Christmas

I have many fond memories of my childhood Christmases. Every year my 2 brothers and I would get a jacket from the Takanashis (no kidding, we always knew it was going to be a jacket), we would get the board game, "Sorry", from one of my Dad's clients (I swear, that little old lady would get us the same game every year) and we would all pack up in the Buick and go up to Vista for good eats. Every year, I would rip open my gift from Santa Claus hoping it was a Make-it and Bake-it set but never got it. My younger brother would always sleep in so my older brother and I would open up his gifts for him. He didn't like that too much. Well, this was the first year Tesshin could really partake in the Christmas holiday and spirit. Last year he was more of an observer. We bought a Christmas tree that Tessho and Tesshin decorated. It was nice to see all of the ornaments we've purchased through the years. I especially like all of the personalized ones for our family. My friend Cindy got me hooked on that tradition. We actually get together and go shopping spefically for our annual ornaments. I couldn't believe how many "Baby's 1st Christmas" ornaments we had. Tesshin didn't give me the awe-struck reaction I was hoping for when I turned on the lights to the tree but I'm still hopeful for next year. Tesshin received a lot of new toys and clothes. He was interested in the boxes more than the actual gift. He would climb on top of them and then he would climb into them. We spent Christmas Eve at Tessho's cousin's house and Christmas Day at this uncle's house. It was nice to be with family. I can't wait til next year. Hopefully Tesshin will be able to open his gifts in front of tree too.

Family Day (Joy's work)

Tessho and Tesshin came by my office today for Family Day. Each year, we're allowed to bring our kids and the Family Day committee sets up activities for them. We also have Santa visit us so the kids can get their picture taken with him. Last year, Tesshin sucked on Santa's thumb during his photo. This year, he just REFUSED to sit with him (same reaction with the mall Santa too). So, Tessho and I had to sit in. As you can see, he still wasn't happy. Tesshin is a little too young to do the artsy crafts but he was able to make Reindeer Food and watch the movie. He really enjoyed walking around the floor of my department. I'm not sure if he knew where my desk was but he went straight to it. He probably recognized his pictures or something. It was nice to have him there so everyone could see how big he's gotten. Last year he was only 5 months old. I'm gonna say it again..."Time Flies!!!"

Blog update

I've added a few more entries. You can finally see Tesshin in his Batman costume.

It was a Size 10 shoe

Tesshin and I were watching the morning news together while I was getting him dressed. The segment about President Bush came on. They showed the angry journalist throwing a shoe at the president. Next thing I knew, Tesshin was throwing his spongy basketball at the television. We've been trying to harness that skill but he seems to want to throw everything at anytime. He tends to naturally throw with his left hand but I'm trying to switch him to use his right. We'll see.

My favorite word

Tesshin's favorite word is "ah-may-ya". We don't know what it means but he'll say it all day long. He'll wake up and his first word is "ah-may-ya". Everything he repeats is "ah-may-ya". I asked Miss Madeline (day care lady) if she knew what it meant but she said she thought that it was a Japanese word we were trying to teach him. So Tesshin has us all stumped.

F-18 Jet Crash

An F-18 Fighter Jet crashed into a San Diego community today. My parents' house is two blocks from the crash site! That's the house I grew up in and still go to on the weekends. I can't imagine how I would feel if it did crash into my house. We didn't know the family, since they recently just moved there, but what a tragic accident. Those poor babies! I got back to my desk from lunch early and my friend Wendy says "Did you hear about that plane crash in San Diego?" I told her that San Diego is so big, so there was no way it would be near my parents' house. Sure enough, she pulled up the map and I saw the names of the streets. I freaked out and called my mom. Luckily she answered. She explained that they had gotten off work early and were headed home but couldn't get through the blockage. They were chillin', having some tea at my Uncle Tamio's house. According to the map and all of the news reports, we knew our home was safe. Life is so short and so preciuos. You shouldn't look forward to the things you may get in the future. You should treasure what you have now.

Stuck on 6

Tesshin's stuck on 6 teeth. No new ones have come in lately. I think he's had 6 teeth since we got back from Japan, and that was in October! He's got the middle 4 on top and only 2 on the bottom. I see him everyday so I'm impatiently waiting for some new teeth but it's funny when we visit friends and they haven't seen Tesshin in a while, their first reaction is "Whoa! Check out all those teeth!!!!". It's funny to think back on how long those 6 teeth took to come in.

Tesshin loves his toothbrush, too. We used all of the Red Cross beginning stages toothbrush kit but as soon as he showed interest in us brushing our teeth, we got him a "big boy" toothbrush. I think he's gone through 3 toothbrushes already. He'll stick it in his mouth, walk away and we'll never see it again. I got smart this last time and will only allow him to use it in the bathroom. He's fascinated with all the bubbles that I have (toothpaste) so he'll try to brush my teeth with his toothbrush. I'll put it up my mouth and pretend like I'm brushing my teeth with it and then brush his teeth. He'll usually go along with it but sometimes he gets frustrated and screams because he wants to do it himself.

My personal helper

It's amazing how quickly Tesshin picks on things. Once he saw my mom putting his dirty diapers in the Diaper Genie, he's been putting his own diapers in there, too. Once he started to wear shoes, he would lift his feet, one at a time, so I could put his shoes and socks on. He learned to do "Banzai" (raise both of his arms up) whenever we undressed him. His new talent now is to throw things away in the garbage. For a while, he would just throw everything away so Tessho and I had to be very careful when we threw stuff out. We wouldn't dig threw the trash but whenever we threw something in there we always have to peek and see if there's something important. Tesshin is just so sneaky. Anyway, now he's gotten the concept and will only throw it away if I say "Gomi' (trash in Japanese). Sometimes he'll purposefully grab a tissue, rub his nose with it and then throw it away. So now, when I'm cleaning the house, I'll have him throw things away for me so I don't have to get up. Don't worry, he gets a 15 minute break and his 1 hour lunch :o)

Blog update

We've been without internet access for about two months now. We finally got our laptop fixed and we're back in business. I've posted our last outing in September (Redondo Beach Lobster Festival) and a few from our trip to Japan in October. There's lots more to come, like the rest of our trip, Tesshin's first Pumpkin Patch adventure and our favorite...Halloween. I'll be working on those for next couple of days. In the meantime, enjoy catching up on our life with Tesshin.

What are you?!?! I'm Batman!

Tesshin was Batman for Halloween this year. I was trying to find a cute dragon costume but didn't have any luck. It also didn't help that I was frantically looking for a costume 3 days before Halloween. But it all worked out because he made such a cute Batman. He didn't like the headpiece (What a surprise). It's supposed to come over the front of his face, to cover his eyes. I crossed my fingers but it just wasn't happening. I put it on but tucked the front piece underneath so he wore it that way long enough to take a few pics so we can see his cute bat ears. We trick-or-treated around the neighborhood. I think we went to about 25 houses. When we first started he really didn't understand the concept of trick-or-treating but by the time we got to the 5th house, he would take a piece of candy from their bowl and walk over to me and put it in his Halloween bag. In between houses, I would whisper to him to get a Snickers Bar or some type of chocolate but he would grab the Mike and Ike's or Dots Candy. He was also fascinated with all of the lit Jack O Lanterns. I always had to keep an eye on him whenever we've come up to a door since he would walk straight to the pumpkin and try to stick his fingers through it. My pedometer clocked 7500 steps or so. Pretty cool. Good exercise for me. Overall, it was great night and now my little Batman is in his Batcrib, taking a Batnap.

English or Nihongo?

After we got back from Japan, Tesshin has been trying to speak a lot more. He doesn't say words but his sounds are more diverse now. He can also respond to me whenever I speak to him in Japanese. After I pick him up from daycare, I'll let him roam around in the front yard. When I get tired of chasing after him, I'll say "Let's go inside the house" or "C'mon Tesshin, let's go". He'll turn the opposite way and walk away from me (with a huge grin on his face). But if I say it in Japanese "Tesshin, oide or Tesshin, ikuyo" he'll turn around and come towards me and follow me into the house. Same with asking please. If he's holding the remote in his hand "I'll say "Tesshin can I have the remote, please" Nothing. Then I'll say, "Tesshin, remote choudai". And he'll give hand it over. I'm very encouraged that he's learning key phrases in Japanese since my parents don't really speak English. I always worry that they won't be able to communicate. Yukiko-san gave me some books for Tesshin "The Very Hungry Catepillar" and "Curious George" but they're written in Japanese. I guess I'll be learning Japanese too.

More pictures from Japan

Tesshin on the train to Shimbashi








Tessho and Tesshin holding on during the busy ride









Tessho, Jeff and I at our Yakiniku dinner







Tesshin's GQ model pose









All smiles here

Suzuki Family

During our stay in Shimbashi, Yukiko-san and the family came out to visit us and took us out to lunch on Monday. I worked for Yukiko-san's mother-in-law when I lived in Japan back in 2000-2001. During that time, Yukiko-san stayed with us after having Miki (her second child). We lived together for a few months and developed a close friendship, more like a sisterhood. I hung out with Yukiko-san's sister, Makiko, too. Since then, I've gone to visit them in Chicago (2001). They came out for our wedding (2004). We visited them in Tanashi (April 2005). They came out for two weeks and stayed in Los Alamitos the whole time (July 2005). The girls even attended 49er camp at Cal State Long Beach. Yukiko-san and Maya (oldest daughter) came all the way out to see Tesshin last October. Even though we see each other for a short time (in this case, a couple of hours) it's so worth it. I'm really thankful to have them in our life and to be able continue our firendship even though were thousands of miles apart. They truly are a part of my family. Mahiro (youngest son) really took to Tesshin and reinforced the fact that he wanted a little brother. I can't wait to send Tesshin to their house during the summers. But, I'm really looking forward to the next time we can all get together, whenever that may be.

Uncle Dave's wedding

The real purpose of our trip was to attend David and Harumi's wedding. We had a meet and greet brunch on Sunday. The food was fantastic. It was like a 10-course meal - all small portioned and beautifully arranged. Tesshin tried a few of the dishes. He especially liked the fish. There was about 20 of us (which included our family, Harumi's family and some of David's close friends from San Francisco) and it was nice because we all got along and it was great to see these two families blend toegther so quickly and easily. It also helped that there was alcohol involved. Afterwards most of the group went to Harajuku to check out the farmer's market and also to see all of the young people dressed in their crazy outfits (like the Gwen Stefani videos). Tessho's parents, Tesshin and I went back to the hotel to rest and plus, Tesshin was having diarrhea butt. Later that evening, our family went out for Yakiniku (Japanese version of Korean BBQ). That was really good. We stayed at the Dai-Ichi Hotel in Shimbashi. It was very nice.

Monday (Oct. 13) was the day of the wedding. This was also Tessho's parent's 35th wedding anniversary. I helped translate my father-in-law's speech into English. It was interested to hear that 35 years ago, when Tessho's parent's got married, David's parents stood beside Tessho's dad to represent the Aoyama family. 35 years later, Tessho's parents are standing beside David representing the Murata family. I think it was a proud moment for all of us to witness and be a part of.

The wedding was at 3:30pm. We started on the 4th floor. Had some cocktails and took pictures with the bride and groom. Then we moved to the 3rd floor where they had the ceremony. It was a Shinto type ceremony. This was my first time attending this type of wedding so it was very interesting and fun. They poured sake to all of the people attending and I finally learned exactly how much a person should get. I was asked to pour sake at Tessho's cousin's wedding. Looking back, I screwed up big time. Everyone must've gotten 10 times what really should've been poured. Oh well. After the ceremony, we had some more cocktails and then we went upstairs to the 21st floor for dinner. What an amazing view! A typical japanese reception will include hundreds of speeches. They had quite a few. Jeff made a speech but I missed it because of Tesshin's diarrhea butt (yes, he still had it on Monday). I was back at the room changing his clothes while Jeff was making his tear jerking speech. I'm so sad I missed it. Harumi changed from the traditional Japanese kimono to the Western style white wedding gown. She looked beautiful in both. There was no dancing but the party continued in David's room. I got to hang out this time since Tessho's mom babysat Tesshin for us. Overall, I think it was a great wedding. I know a lot of hard work and money went into this affair. I'm glad we were a part of it.

Arrival into Japan

We're finally here in Japan to attend Uncle Dave's wedding. The plane ride was 12 hours long! I didn't think I was going to make it. The food sucked, there were no good movies showing and it just felt like FOREVER!!!! Tesshin puked at hour 9 into trip. Poor kid. He had some milk and then I decided to give him a piece of my Almond Cookie. Uggh...big mistake. I guess the crumbs got caught in his throat so he started to cough and then up came all of his milk he had just had. It didn't smell like roses either. Luckily we had some young folks in front of us so when it started to smell, I saw them look back and heard them say "Oh, the baby just puked. That sucks". I'll take that as sympathy. We landed at about 5pm Saturday (We left at 12:30pm on Friday). One perk we got having Tesshin was getting into the "special" short line through immigration. We got our bags, zipped through customs and then met Shizu and Tessho's mom at the airport. It was pretty humid when we got outside. It was such a relief to get into the car and make our way to Tessho's uncle's house. We had Chinese food for dinner. I was so tired, I don't remember what I ate. All I know is, it was really good to see Tessho's family again.

Busy week

This has been such a crazy week. We're getting ready for our trip to Japan! I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow. We were in San Diego this past weekend so my parents could see Tesshin before we leave. My mom and I went shopping and bought an umbrella stroller and Tesshin's outfit for the wedding. I can't wait to put him in it. It's so cute and he's such a handsome boy in it, too. We also went shopping at the outlets in San Ysidro for everyone in Japan. I think I went shopping everyday this week, either at lunch or after work. I got to bust out Tesshin's new umbrella stroller so that was cool. Not cool that all he wanted to do was walk around but I kept him in that stroller. Poor kid - but Mama was on a mission! We went and visited Tessho's grandmother. Tesshin likes to walk around in her room and go from one dresser to the next and pull on the handles. Tessho's grandmother freaks out 'cause she thinks that he'll get his fingers caught but he's a smart kid. If it gets caught and it hurts, he'll stop. Packing has been a chore. I had 6 lists going - things I needed to buy, bills I needed to pay before we go, Tesshin's suitcase list, Tessho's suitcase list, my suitcase list, my own hour by hour schedule for Friday. Within the lists, I has sub-lists. I'm the first to admit that I am one lazy woman, but when it comes to going on vacation or organizing something, I get into a frenzy and lists become my best friend. I thought Tessho was going to kill me if I started one more list, but luckily we got everything done.

Better eater

It feels like Tesshin is finally gaining some weight. His face is getting a little bigger and he feels heavier when I pick him up. He's got that pot belly now too. I'm sure it has a lot to do with changing his diet. We've been adding whole milk to his Stage 2 formula for some extra fat. The daycare lady gives it to him straight. He's not a picky eater. He eats pretty much anything we give him - fish, chicken, all kinds of vegetables, cheese quesadillas, scrambled eggs, pancakes, avocados, mac & cheese (a favorite). We still feed him baby food but instead of the combo dinners, we mix it ourselves with some type of meat and two vegetables. That seems to be working out the best. Some people think it's strange to mix it all together but it's not that bad. Yes, I still try everything. I'm learning to cook better meals so we can all eat the same thing. It's hard to not reach for the salt and pepper. But who likes bland food? I still have a lot of learning to do. It'll be interesting when we go to Japan. Maybe he'll come back eating rice and miso soup.

Redondo Beach Lobster Festival

The three of us made our way over to Redondo Beach at the Seaside Lagoon for the 13th Annual Lobster Festival. Our lobster festival adventures began in 2005. Tessho and I were watching TV and saw a commercial for the one in San Pedro. We just hopped in our car and drove down to Ports O'Call to experience our first lobster festival. It was pretty good. The lobsters were cold, took a lot of work to get every piece of meat but well worth it. We really filled up with food from all of the other vendors. I even bought an apron that year. (I'm not sure where that apron is now). Anyway, the next year we decided to go to Redondo Beach instead. OMG!!!! Way better. The lobsters were nice and hot - they steam them in huge pots right next to the line. We always have to get corn on the cob. We missed the festival last year because we just had Tesshin and I think we were still in San Diego. Anyway, we made it this year and it was great. They still cook them right in front of the line so they're ice and hot. They'll crack 'em open so it's not too much work. The tri-tip and chicken were really good too. Tesshin enjoyed the corn on the cob. He had corn poop all night. He also enjoyed watching the wakeboarders do their stunts and tricks. We tried to get him to walk around barefeet on the sand but no luck. Just like the grass, he lifted up one foot and stood tippy toe on the other. He has pretty good balance.

Happy 1st Birthday Austin

We went over to the Chang's house today to celebrate Austin's 1st birthday. They had a great set-up with a Jungle theme. Lots of activities for the kids - drawing station, make your own leis station, cupcake decorating station. Just tons of fun. Austin kinda dug into his cake, more than Tesshin did. You can see he's got blue icing on his face. Good job Austin! I hope you didn't poop blue icing. Tesshin also got his first taste of ice cream cake (Cold Stone - yummy!!!). I can't believe our babies are 1. I remember going over to Debbie's house and we would stroller them around while we were both still on maternity leave. Fun times! They'll be running around together and playing basketball in no time. There's definitely plenty more to look forward to.

See if you can catch me now

Tesshin is walking!!! Yay!!! Once he starting cruising along furniture, everyone said "He'll be walking in no time". I didn't believe that it would be this quickly. It seems like he would build up his confidence little by little, day by day. It was three steps in the beginning, then it went to five. Then it would be from one object to the next. Just a week ago, he walked from the TV to the couch - easy breezy. I think as long as he knew where he was going, he would try to get there. This past Monday, he actually pulled himself up to a standing position (in the middle of the rug, nothing around him to help him get up) and took three steps, paused, took another three steps and then fell to his knees. The daycare lady has been saying that he'll walk from one side of the room to the other side and then clap his hands. He'll have a huge grin on his face like "Yay, I made it without falling on my butt!" We would walk outside and he would reach up for our hands to help him but today he wanted to do it all on his own. After dinner, he got down from his high chair and walked from the kitchen to the living room - no problem. I'm pretty positive that he'll be really walking, maybe even running by the time we go to Japan.

Third tooth

Tesshin's third tooth is coming through. It's his top left tooth. He looks so cute with his two bottom teeth and this teeny tiny third tooth poking out. He wasn't too fussy with this one. I can't believe he has teeth! It took him forever to get them so it's kinda weird that I don't remember what he looked like without them. It wasn't that long ago. Well, he's doing a lot better with his teething biscuits. They should call those biscuits "after you get teeth" biscuits. When he didn't have teeth, he would get them all soggy with his spit and then rub it through his hair. Now that he has teeth, he just tears through them. He'll actually bite off a huge chunk and work on that til it's gone. He likes the japanese rice biscuits and Earth's Best Organic Wheat Biscuits. It sounds like he's a better eater at daycare too. He likes the pancakes in the morning and tuna fish sandwiches for lunch.

Pool Day

We spent the afternoon at Jonathan's "End of Summer"party. Had some awesone ribs and corn on the cob. Tesshin also got to spend some time in the pool. He's getting better with floating in the water. When he takes a bath, there's always a surface below him so he wasn't used to free floating in a body of water.

Party Time

Tessho's parents came to visit us so we took that opportunity to have Tesshin's birthday party. It was also a good time to reconnect with family and friends. We had a sports theme birthday so we wore our football jerseys. Tesshin and Tessho represented the Raiders (whatever!) and I represented the Chargers. We ate good food, played a few games and had birthday cake. The lady who made Tesshin's cake threw in a cake just for Tesshin. We thought he would tear into it but he didn't. He kinda poked at it and then shared it with me, Tessho and his Hii-Baachan (great grandmother). All in all it was a great day with great company.

Three steps

Tesshin took his first three steps tonight. Why is it that I miss these things?! Any why is it that he walks and crawls when Tessho's parents are around?! They need to come around more often. We still have feeding himself and potty training to ge through. Anyway, back to the walking. He was in the office with Tessho's mom and pulled himself up using a Rubbermaid container. He let go and took 3 steps into the hallway. He was in the living room with Tessho and his dad. He pulled himself up using the rocking chair. He let go and took 3 steps. I heard Tessho yelling my name out a few times but by the time I responded, he plopped his butt back down onto the ground.We would all take turns sitting on the carpet, facing each other and having Tesshin walk back and forth to each of us. It's so funny to watch him because he walks top heavy so we'll catch his arms and his tiny feet follow with a few more steps. 3 steps, that's where we're at.

What can I do now?

Tessho and I were watching some old videos that we took of Tesshin. One in particular is the one where he just started crawling. He was never a chunka monka but he looked kinda chubby in that video. Anyway, the point is, it was amazing to see how much Tesshin has progressed and developed in such a short amount of time. He went from wiggling around like a catepillar to crawling, pulling himself up on everything (tables, chairs, the pants I'm wearing) and now cruising along the furniture/walls. He actually took one step from the table to the sofa at Christina's parents' house on Saturday. He eats a lot more table food and he's getting heavier. He can put his hands together and do "Gochisousama" when he's done eating. Speaking of eating, he thinks he's slick but whenever he doesn't want to eat something, he'll grab it, put it up to his mouth and then hide it behind his butt. Whenever we lift him out of his high chair, we'll find all of his food back there. He knows to go feet first whenever he climbs down steps or when he gets down from the couch or bed. We taught him that early on, so he won't try to go down head first. He can open and shut the XBox (not convenient when he's watching his Baby Einstein DVDs). He loves taking the remote control and hitting the pause button. In our bedroom, we have two remotes. The gray one for the TV and the black one for the cable. If I give Tesshin the black one, he throws it and points for the gray one. He now knows that the gray remote control turns on and shuts off the TV. Same thing with the house phone versus the cell phone. He knows that the house phone is boring and that the cell phone has more buttons and can do neater things. He actually sent a photo of himself to my friend Aaron with my cell phone. Here's the pic that Aaron got:









I definitely look forward to many more things that Tesshin will be doing in the upcoming months. We're hoping he'll be walking by the time we go to Japan.

The Newlyweds

Congratulations to Justo and Chistina. They were married on July 28. We went to their wedding reception yesterday. It was a lot of fun. They had a Hawaiian theme party. Tons of food. They even had a whole roast pig. We dressed Tesshin in his hawaiian outfit he got from his Uncle Justo and Uncle Dave last year. It was sized for 6 months but Tesshin barely fit into it now. He's so teeny tiny for his age. We hear that a lot. People (mostly other moms) are shocked when we say he's a year old. They usually respond with "Oh my goodness. He's so tiny. I thought he was 7 months old". Yeah..... That's ok. At least he tripled his weight from birth(which is the average weight of a one year old). Anyway, back to the party. It was great to the Fu's. Akemi was dressed in a cute red dress with plumerias printed on it. Tesshin and Akemi took a picture together using the face cut-out poster they had. They are both very serious kids. It took a while for either of them to crack a smile.

What....E-Coli?!?!?!?!

The doctor called this morning to tell us that Tesshin has e-coli in his urine. He had a fever of 102 degrees last Thursday and Friday. Tessho took him to the doctor to do another urine bag and at the same, get checked out because of this ongoing fever. I thought that his fever was because he had his chicken pox and MMR shot 10 days prior. They say that that is a normal reaction to the shots. He didn't eat very much over the weekend but I thought it was because he was teething (YES...he's got two teeth!!! Finally!!!) But after hearing from the doctor, it makes total sense. So, he's on antibiotics and we have to take him to the hospital next week to do a VCUG and ultrasound of his kidneys, to make sure there's no damage. YIKES!!! I immediately Googled VCUG and read up on it. Oh boy, that is not going to be fun. I might have Tessho go in with him, not me. My poor little Tesshin. He's probably been to the doctors more times in his first year of life than I've been in my life. I just hope for good news.

Fun with the Fishies

We went to the Long Beach Aquarium today with Karen, Jon and Akemi. It was a really nice day, kinda hot, but not scorching hot. The last time I went was with Kisha, probably two years ago. I have to say, every time I go to the aquarium I get this strange craving for sushi. I don't know what it is :o) This time around, I stopped myself from saying "oohh...that looks good" because I don't want Tesshin to hear me saying that and copy me one day on a field trip to the Aquarium with his friends or school class. That would be embarrassing. Anyway, it was fun to hang out with the Fu's and stroll around with our babies. Tesshin almost touched a sting ray (his arms are too short) and I was too scared to lean over the rock wall bacause I didn't want to lose my grip and have him end up in the pool. He was able to see the sea lions playing around. The kids fell asleep after lunch so they missed seeing Nemo and Dori. Oh well. It gives us a chance to go back.

I've got 2 toofs

I know!!!! Isn't that exciting?!?!?! We've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Tesshin's two front bottom teeth have FINALLY poked through. He was real fussy over the weekend and now we know why. He's not a very drooly kid, but he loves blowing raspberries. If I can get him to smile, I'll add a picture of his two teeth.

My first haircut

Tesshin had his first professional haircut today. We went to Kiddy Kastle in Cypress. I found this place on the internet. It was really clean and everyone there was friendly. They specialize in kids' haircuts but they service adults too. I was happy with my choice to have his first haircut there. He did so well. His appointment was 3pm and he unfortunately fell asleep on our way there. I think the hair stylist was worried because when we walked into the place she said' "Is this Tesshin? Ugghh, he's asleep...are you going to wake him up? Is he going to be okay?" I told her not to worry. He woke up and didn't fuss one bit. He had a choice of sitting in a car or a boat, he chose the green car. He sat there the whole time, very mellow. She was impressed. She did a great job and was real quick. Tessho's shocked that his haircut cost more than his. Well, it's the first one. It's ok to splurge. She took the Polaroid picture of him in the boat since we took a ton of pictures in the car.




I think her nails frightened him more than the scissors






He didn't shed one tear. What a brave boy!

On our way to Kiddy Kastle. Not a happy camper.

On our way home from Kiddy Kastle. Still not a happy camper, but he sure his a handsome unhappy camper.