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.