Christmas Eve

It's starting to become a tradition to go to Tessho's cousin's house for Christmas Eve. I really enjoy going to see the whole family and Tessho's got a good size extended family. It's rare when we can all get together like that. There's always someone missing from our family events. Our family will increase by one next year in May. That's when Tessho's cousin is getting married. Ha ha! Did you think I was pregnant?!?! Just to clarify, no I'm not pregnant. Just thought I'd play a little joke. Anyway, back to Chistmas Eve, Tesshin is getting older so he's able to interact with his cousins Jacob and Joshua. It's fun to watch them together. Jacob and Joshua watch over him and include him in whatever game they're playing. They were really into the Disney DVD Bingo. We could hear Tesshin's little voice competing with the other 2 boys. But for the most part, Tesshin was their echo. We left around 9-ish so the boys could get to bed and wait for Santa. My little one is sound asleep. Doh...we forgot to sprinkle the reindeer food! Oh well. Merry Christmas!

Family Day 2009

Tessho and Tesshin came to my company's Family Day again this year. Most of my co-workers only get to see him once a year on this day so they were really happy to see him and commented on how much he's grown. He was able to do more activities than last year. I realized that my favorite activity is making reindeer food. I'm sure Tesshin could care less about the activities. He just likes running down the hallways. We took a family photo with Santa. He was a much better looking Santa than the one at the mall.

Catch up

Has it been 2 months since my last post?! Yikes. Well, to sum it all up, Tesshin is doing great. He is a very active 2 year old. We went in for a height/weight check (since he's still below the 1 percentile range) a few weeks ago. He weighs 21 pounds and is 32 inches tall. Yay! Finally some growth. He's been 18 pounds since he was 1. October kinda flew by, especially since we've been going back and forth to San Diego to help my mom. We were able to stick around for Halloween. Tessho and Tesshin went to the pumpkin patch with the Fu's earlier in the month and then on Halloween day we went back to Kidspace with the Fu's for their annual celebration. That is a really cool place to take kids. Later that day, we went over to the Huegle's for dinner and trick-or-treating. Tesshin dressed up as Thomas the Tank Engine. He didn't like the costume at first but he got used to it. He put on the engineer hat for a few pictures and immediately tore it off. He really got into the "Halloween" thing once he got the concept of getting candy after saying Trick-or-Treat. Too bad he never got to eat any of his candy. There's plenty of years for that.

His latest obsession is Monsters Inc and Toy Story 2 is not far behind. Can you believe he's watching these movies from the VCR, not DVD? At least they're getting some use instead of collecting dust. It's nice that he can sit through an entire movie without fuss or getting bored. I think he's watched it at least over 100 times already (Sometimes he'll watch it 3 times in one day). He's watched it so much he can follow along and say certain lines in the movie. We went to Disneyland on Nov 11 (Veteran's Day). Tessho and I had the day off so we took Tesshin for his first time. We hadn't been there in about 10 years. I know it's been that long since DCA is celebrating 10 years and we haven't gone since it's been open. Geez, what have I been doing? Anyway, they have a Monsters Inc ride. While we were waiting in line, we kept passing the Monsters Inc trash bins and he would point to the bin and he'd say "Monsters Inc eye". All in all it was a great first day at Disneyland. We're excited to have annual passes, too. We can't wait to go back and see all of the Holiday decorations.

Conversations with Tesshin

I can't believe we were once worried that Tesshin couldn't hear. Along with that, came the fear that he would have delayed speech or no speech at all. Nowadays, we can't get him to be quiet. After Tessho went back to school, I've taken on thh duty of taking him to daycare and picking him up. We have great conversations in the car. Here's a sample of what we talked about yesterday:

On the way to daycare:
Me (M) - Are you ready to go to Maggie's house?
Tesshin (T) - No
M - But you're going to see all of your friends
T - See friends
M - That's right. Who's your buddy?
T - Mommy buddy

At the daycare (end of the day):
T - MOMMY!!!
M - Hi buddy.
T - Bye Maggie...thank you. Mommy...project.
M - Oh, you have a project outside?
T - Yes, heart
M - Oh it's a heart and a key. Do I hold the key to your heart?
T - Yes.
M - Thank you Tesshin
T - You're welcome Mommy

On the way home:
T - Go home (I couldn't tell if that was a statement or question)
M - Yes, we're going home now and we'll see Daddy
T - Daddy buddy
M - Is Daddy your buddy?
T - Yes. BAPES!!!! (Bapes = Grapes) SNACK!!! DADDY!!!
M - Do you want Daddy to get you a snack? Some grapes?
T - YES!!!
M - Ok, but you don't have to shout.
T - Sorry...sorry mommy.
M - That's ok.
T - Love you mommy.
M - Love you too Tesshin

Nisei Week Tourney

Tessho played in the Nisei Week Basketball Tournament this weekend. Tessho's second game on Saturday was against Willis so we got to see Debbie and Austin. Although we don't get to see each other as often as we would like, our boys seem to get along like no time had passed since the last time they got together. They ran around, passed the ball to each other, acted silly, ran around some more, and eventually got to watch the last few minutes of the game. We let the boys hang out in the back of our car and that seemed to entertain them for a while.
These boys look like they should be part of the game. "Put me in Coach!"






This picture is when they were in the car. They kept jumping up and knocking their heads on the ceiling.






This picture is one of a few rare moments when they sat still. I "borrowed" these pics from Debbie's blog. She's the mommy that's always prepared




Tessho's team did make it through to the finals and they pulled off a win on Sunday. It sure was a nail biter though. Uncle D sustained an injury but oulled though to make MVP. Way to go BayIILA!

My little helper

Tesshin has been become quite the little helper. He likes to help me wash the dishes, load the dryer and even wipes down the table after meals. He's always been good about putting things away. He learned that early on at daycare. He loves to vacuum with Tessho too. We usually end up vacuuming the rug (without him) and then when we're done we'll let him hold on and then go in circles, since he doesn't like going in reverse. I'm learning a lot of patience too. I'm guilty for "running the show" my way and on my time when it comes to chores around the house. But when Tesshin wants to help it usually takes twice as long and sometimes twice the effort since I'm cleaning up his mess, but it's worth it. I'm glad he's taking interest in helping around the house because in a few years, he won't have a choice. Hee hee hee :o)

Another crazy weekend

Saturday we spent a few hours at the Orange County Swap Meet. That was my first time there. It was huge! I'm happy to say that I still walked away with money in my purse. I got Tesshin a pair of sunglasses (which he won't wear) and another hat (that he also won't wear). It was such a hot day that I didn't want him to pass out from a heat stroke but he just wasn't feeling the hat. I also got some grapes. Tesshin calls them "bapes". He just loves grapes. I can't leave the produce aisle without a bag of them. Unfortunately since they're purchased by weight I have to pick them up last, put them first on the belt and then give him some while the cashier rings up the rest of the stuff. If I go to the produce aisle first, forget it, it's an all out cry fest. So anyway, during the day we did OCSM and then after that we had BBQ ribs for dinner. So yummy!


On Sunday morning, we had to go to LAX and pick up my dad. He was returning home from a 2 week trip to Japan (I'm so jealous!). We got there early but got mixed up about which airline he flew so we waited at the International Terminal for 30 minutes. All the while, he was waiting for us at the United Airlines terminal. Whoops...sorry Dad. He pretty much got over how mad he was at me because Tesshin kept smiling and saying "Jiichan". At one point, we were driving back to San Diego and my dad was telling me stories about his trip and Tesshin screams "QUIET!!!!!". He even put his finger to his lips and shushed us. What a brat!We got stuck in some traffic and my backseat driver says "Oh no". He cracked us up the whole way home. We got into San Diego at around 2:30, stopped at Carl's Jr for lunch and then Tessho did me a HUGE favor by picking up my mom and brother from the San Diego Airport. They were coming back from Denver. We have Chinese food that night since neither my mom nor I wanted to cook. We have fun that night rummaging through my dad's suitcase, going through all of the "omiage" that he brought back.

We left San Diego early that morning to avoid the holiday traffic and Tessho wanted to get home to mow the lawn before the trash guys came by the house. We were so pooped that we ended up napping with Tesshin in the afternoon. Or at least, I did.

Sing along

It's been a slow progression but Tesshin is starting to say more and more words lately. His first real sentence was "I got it" and "I got the ball". He still has a hard time distinguishing between "Mommy" and "Daddy". We got our first musical concert this past weekend. He started out singing Old McDonald Had a Farm. He can say "Ol' McDonald nanono E-I-E-I-O". Then he goes straight into "anna moo moo moo anna moo moo moo E-I-E-I-O. (Translation = With a Moo Moo here and a Moo Moo there...." Then he'll clap his hands and say "YAY!!!" All weekend long it was "anna moo moo moo anna moo moo moo...YAY!!!" His second song was the ABC song. He'll get some of the letters. His favorite part is the end where they say "Now I know my A-B-Cs, next time won't you sing with me" Tesshin's version "Now nigh know nigh A-B-Cs, (fill in any kind of babble 'cause I have no idea what he says here".

Happy Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day in San Diego. My older brother, Mark, flew in from Colorado on Saturday and we were treated to homemade gyoza that night. On Sunday morning Mark, Tessho and I treated my mom to a pancake breakfast at home. It was so good. We had panckaes, sausage links, bacon, fresh strawberry topping and whipped cream. I realized we forgot to cook eggs that night. Oh well, it was still all really good. But most of all, it was nice to be with family and now that I'm a mom I really do appreciate my own mother. I actually had fun picking out Mother's Day cards for my mom, Tessho's mom and Tessho's grandma. I couldn't believe that they had a "Great-Grandma" card. It was cute so I had to buy it. It had a brown bear holding a shiny red heart. I'm so happy that Tesshin is fortunate to have 2 sets of grandparents and even a great grandma. It's these special days that reminds me how lucky he is. It's also nice that he's starting to say "Baachan" and "Jiichan". I'm sure it's confusing for him because he's got just one "Mommy" and "Daddy" but he's got to remember 3 Baachan's and 2 Jiichans. Father's Day will be here in no time. I have to start thinking of what to do for Tessho.

Wild Animal Park

We went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park today with the Alonzos. Kisha had some free passes and offered them to us. Jeff (Tessho's brother) also had some free passes so we used those too. I hadn't been to the Animal Park in years! I'd have to say about it's been about 20 years or so. Lots has changed. The first thing we did was go on the "Journey to Africa" bus ride. That was cool. we saw some rhinos, giraffes, gazelles. The tour guide said that we were lucky to have all of the animals out and about. During our ride up to the park I kept telling Tesshin that we going to see some lions and then I'd ask him what sound a lion made. He would hold his hands, scrunch his fingers and then roar like a lion. While we were on our tour I asked him again, "Tesshin what sound does a lion make?" His answer...."Moooooo...." Oh dear, where did that come from? Now I really believe it when they say that kids make liars out of their parents. After the tour, we walked to the lion exhibit and then finished with the Butterfly exhibit. That was cool. They had a bunch of different species of butterflies fyling around freely. They had to warn us about not stepping on them or freaking out if one landed on you. Poor Tesshin fell asleep while were waiting in line to go through that exhibit. We ended our day with the Alonzos with lunch at Red Robin (one of my favorites and very kid friendly). All in all I'm glad we went. The weather was really nice. It was kinda cold when we got there and it warmed up when we were leaving. We heard the radio talking about some type of swine flu going around in San Diego but Kisha hadn't heard anything about it yet so it can't be that bad.

Spring vacation

Tessho and Tesshin spent Spring Break up in Placer again this year. A lot of people think it's weird that Tessho and I travel without each other for extended periods of time but that's how we've always been. It's kinda different now with Tesshin and all but I don't mind if they go away and Tessho feels the same way. It's actually a nice time for me to spend alone, catch up on movies and much needed cleaning.

Tesshin got to spend Easter at Grandma Georgette's house again. They had a Easter Egg Hunt but Tesshin preferred to play on the grass and the teeter totter with Jii-chan.

Hitting Monster

I'm not sure where it came from but Tesshin has started to hit. It's usually when we take something away from him (for his own safety, like a pair of chopsticks while he's running around the house) or when we have to stop an activity. It's always the first thing he does. He won't breakdown and cry but he'll come up to you and whack you. He'll hit me, Tessho, my mom, my dad..pretty much anyone who gets in his way. I read online that it's normal behavior at this age because he really can't express himself with words. This better be a phase because I am truly losing my patience with him. I don't want him to be labeled as "the kid that hits" so no one will play with him. At first I tried to ignore it. Maybe if he didn't get a reaction he would stop but he kept going - first the arm, then the shoulder, then the face. Oh no no no, after he hit ME in the face I was done. No more Nice Mama. I've tried grabbing his hand before and after he hits and saying "No Hitting" but he'll just hit me again. They say you have to be consistent, which we are. They also say to use time out. I'm not sure about that one. I'm more about doing things the old school way.

Pink Eye

Update on Tesshin - he's got pink eye. I can't believe he's gone almost a year and a half at daycare with only one incident of it. I'd say that's pretty good. He came home Tuesday with a goopy eye and I suspected pink eye but I wasn't sure. Just kinda brushed it off as eye boogies. Then he woke with a crust eye on Wednesday. I'm such a bad a mom I still took him to daycare thinking if it was pink eye, Madeline would immediately call me and ask me to pick him up. Well she never called so I still thought it was eye boogies. Then this morning he woke up with two crusty eyes and when I cleaned him up they were pretty pink. I called the doctor and she saw us this morning at 9:30. We got a prescription for eyedrops - 7 DAYS!!!! That's not gonna be fun. I just hope I don't get it.

Wii Fun

I brought out the Wii yesterday since Tessho and I were at home sick. When Tesshin came home from daycare he saw the controllers out and started "playing" with us. He'll move the controller and joystick up and down. His favorite game is Mario vs. Sonic Olympics. He didn't too well with the 100m Swimming but he enjoyed the Rowing. I also dusted off the Wii Fit board and did some off the Balance Games. There is one where you're in a bubble and you have to float down the river without hitting the walls or else your bubble pops. In the middle of that game, you hear a bee buzzing and eventually it'll pop up on your screen. When Tesshin heard the bee he said "bee!" and pointed to the TV. I kept hitting the wall and popping my bubble so I played that a couple of times and every time Tesshin would point to the bee and say "bee". Another game I played was another balance game with the penguin. You have to catch as many fish as you can while you balance yourself on an iceberg. Every time a fish would pop out the water, Tesshin would point and say "fish!". I know at this point in his life, he is just a big sponge. He really is soaking in everything. He may not always get the right color or shape but he's getting there, one day at a time :o)

Somersaults

The three of us have caught some type of virus and we're probably passing it to each other because we can't seem to shake it. Since we're all sick, we've been at home in our PJs so I've tried to be creative so Tesshin doesn't get bored. After the paper cup telephones, music concert and teepee tunnel, Tesshin surprised me when he started doing somersaults. He can't do full somersaults, but he'll get into position and then fall to the side and land on his back. I think in his mind, he's done a full somersault. He loves to jump around and climb on top of EVERYTHING! I have to check Long Beach Recs and see if they have a tumbling class. If I can ever figure out how to post videos, I'll post his somersaults.

The Look of Death

When I was 8 months pregnant, Tessho and I attended a "New Parents" class. We learned how to change a diaper, swaddle, etc. We also had to share to the class a quality/qualities in our partner that we wish our child would inherit. Tessho said he wished our son to be organized like me. I said that I wished our son would have Tessho's compassion and patience. Well.....let's just say you can't always have what you wish for. Tesshin's been more expressive lately. He uses more words to identify things, he's more emotional (happy/sad/frustrated) but he also has a distinct look that he gives when you're either bugging the crap out of him or when he's mad at you for something. He'll furrow his brow real hard and give you this look, straight in the eyes - the look of death. He won't back down easily either. The only trick we've learned is he'll quickly change faces when Tessho and I get excited to see "the look" and we frantically try to grab the camera. But what's odd is that I have that same look and I was saving it to use on him whenever he did something bad. You know how parents just have to flash "the look". Well, Tesshin beat me to it. I'll just have to make up a new look in the meantime. A mother's work is never done.

18 month checkup

We went to see the doctor for his 18 month check up today. There was good news and bad news. The good news is he's 30 inches. The bad news is he's 18.5 pounds. That's less than what he weighed 6 months ago. I asked the doctor if I should put him on a multivitamin but she said that it wasn't necessary. I have to take him in to get bloodwork, a follow up ultrasound to check his kidneys and a follow up hearing test. I'm not looking forward to it. Well, I can be thankful that he won't need another VCUG.


Otherwise, he's progressing in his language and development. He says with strong conviction "Get Down!" He'll even point forward and then down while he says it. He must hear it a lot at daycare because he's a little monkey. He no longer says "mama". Now, it's Mommmmyyyyyy. I'm kinda sad that I'm not mama anymore. He likes to dance whenever he hears music. It's funny how I'll always catch him listening to the Gospel channel. He'll put the cell phone up to ear and say "Hello" but not much after that. He likes to turn the light switches on and off so we've made that his job whenever we come home at night. It's just amazing how much he's grown over the last couple of months. I can't wait til he can play Chibiko basketball and AYSO soccer and sing his ABCs. So much to look forward to.

NO! NO! NO!

What an awful word! I've tried not to use that word with Tesshin since I didn't want him to turn around and use it on me. I've always used "da-me" whenever he would do something he wasn't supposed to. When I got home from work yesterday I saw Tessho and Tesshin playing in the living room. I walked over to Tesshin and held out my arms and he said "NO!" and shoved me away with his hand. All night long it was "NO!" "Tesshin, do you want gohan?" NO! "Tesshin do you want more eggs? "NO! Tesshin, can you bring Mama the ball?" NO! Hopefully tonight will be YES! night. I can always wish.

No surprise...sick again

So Tesshin was out of daycare for almost a week and now that he's back to daycare he's sick again. This time he has some cold virus. He's had a serious runny nose since Saturday and he woke up coughing Monday morning. You know how your voice changes when you're sick? He's got that sick-y voice. It's actually kinda cute, especially when he laughs. He must like the sound of it too because he laughs all of the time now. Of course he whines after one of his coughing spells. It's pretty sad because there's nothing I can give him for that. Anyway, I'm totally out of sick time and I told Tesshin to hold off on getting a fever until Friday (start of the new pay period) but he decided to break out with a fever today so I'm off from work. I took him to the doctor but they said there's not too much we can do. I was worried he was going to get RSV (it looked and sounded like he was having trouble breathing) but the doctor said that his lungs were VERY clear. I don't know the difference between very clear and just clear but whatever. I wish kids couldn't get sick. It's just hard right now because Tesshin can't tell me what hurts or what he needs. If all else fails, ice chips seem to be a cure-all.

Ah-chi

Tesshin has become an eating monster. He eats so much more now, which we're really happy about. He lost so much weight being sick. He was 19 pounds at a year and he's still 19 pounds 6 months later. He loves rice more now than before. He gets so excited when the rice cooker beeps. He must know that food is on it's way. He usually eats up to one adult bowl of rice per meal now. Well, everytime I scoop rice onto his plate I have to blow on it to cool it down. While I cool it down, I say "Tesshin, gohan wa ah-chi ah-chi" which mean that the rice is hot. I'll put it down on his high chair tray and he'll keep blowing on it. This past Monday we went to Tessho's grandma's place and had dinner. Tesshin was so excited to be eating that he forgot to blow on the rice and he ended up spitting it out and saying "Ah-chi". Tessho and I looked at each other and laughed. It was pretty cool to hear Tesshin using his words and using them at the appropriate times.

Words Tesshin can say clearly
Down
Oh-no
Mine (this one is the latest word)

Other words Tesshin can say (with translation)
Ba = Ball
Wa Wa = Water
Maa = Mama
Nana = Banana
Ah Dah = All done
Mimi = Milk

Stomach flu

Luckily we started off the new year healthy but our luck changed on the 8th. Tesshin woke up at around 1 a.m. throwing up. We had had curry for dinner that night so you could imagine what that smelled like. I changed his clothes and bedding and rocked him back to sleep. He got up an hour later and threw up again. Changed his clothes and bedding again and he went down. You guessed it, another hour later he was up throwing up. we definitely couldn't take him to daycare so I stayed home with him. I called the doctor but they said that as long as he didn't have a fever, there was no need to bring him in. By the time Tessho got home from work, I was in a skirt and a t-shirt. First thing he says "Why are you in a skirt?!?!" Well, Tesshin threw up on all 3 pairs of pajamas and all of jeans. At the rate he was going I would be in an evening gown by the time we went to bed. I took him back to daycare on Friday. Come to find out, all of the other little ones came down with the same stomach flu. She only had 2 kids that day.

Fast forward to the 18th....This was the first day Tesshin FINALLY gave us a solid poop. Daycare called on Wed. and said "Tesshin has had 6 diarrhea poops in the last hour. I think it's time to get him." So I rushed off, went through McDonalds drive thru to pick up lunch and picked up my boy. Poor kid, he was laying down on the nap mat all by himself. All of the other kids were outside playing. I ended up taking Thursday and Friday off so that gave him 5 days to recover at home.