Work is Fun!
Lately, we've been trying to move up Taisei's bedtime (b/c of pre-shool at
CDFC) and he obviously doesn't like it. Tonight when we told him it's shower time, he resisted big time. Eventually, I lured him into the shower by offering to let him use one of the old toothbrushes to clean the shower. He went right in. Ha! He loves to clean! Sucka!!
(Shhh... don't tell him that some people thing work is no fun.)
Dinosaurs and English
Wami's fear has come true sooner than she thought. For the first time yesterday, Taisei corrected his mama's English. It occurred at bedtime, when I was away taking care of Boy Scouts. Taisei had had a big "Dinosaur-day." They read dinosaur books at the library for story time, so he checked out several dinosaur books for bedtime. Here's the conversation:
Mama: "Dino-pets..." (title of the book)
Taisei: "No, mama. It's Di-no-saaaaur!"
Mama: "Ok. Di-no-so-ah, ne."
Taisei: "Mama, Di-No-saoR." (attempting to enunciate)
Probably as Taisei's English gets better and better, which will be faster than it was for me, since my parents primarily spoke Mandarin at home when I was this age, Taisei will probably give his mama a harder and harder time. Poor Mama. :) The funny thing is - so far, Taisei himself has a Japanese accent sometimes.
Sneak Peak at Night
Yesterday night, Taisei pulled his little trick again. He waited until bedtime to do his number two. There was so little this time, it was like two deer pellets. Then, he kept making excuses and wouldn't go to bed. Finally, he must have gotten tired and fallen asleep. At midnight, we went in to check on him. Here's what we found.
He had pulled the pillows off, nicely made the bed, and then he must have fallen asleep in the "prayer" position that you see him in. Only Hiro was using the bed!
I put the blanket on Taisei to keep him warm, but inevitably, he will kick it off and sleep without one. That's why we always check on him. We're so worried about our boy freezing at night!
p.s. No accident this day. Phew.
Tri-cycle action
Last weekend was full of small accomplishments for Taisei.
I thought that this hand-me-down tri-cycle from our neighbors was too rusted and stiff to work at all, but Taisei finally decided to try the pedals. At first attempt on Saturday morning, it was a stroke forward and a stroke back. Then he got a couple in a row. About thirty minutes later, he was showing off to everyone who walked by. That was also a trait that we haven't seen: showing off. Not at all humble like his father. When someone would smile and ask him about his tri-cycle, he would look at them and then start pedaling like mad. He spent so much time on the tri-cycle that morning that I think he wore himself out and took a 2.5 hour nap in the afternoon. And that was after a 12-hour straight night of sleep.
In the afternoon, we went to target (actually, Wami went to Target while I studied in the car with a sleeping Taisei). When I finally got too bored, (2 and a half hours later) I woke Taisei up and took him in to meet mama. In the toy section, he discovered yet another tri-cycle. He rode it all over the store and figured out how to steer, which he couldn't do at home because he basically went back and forth on a straight sidewalk.
Sunday after church, we took Hiro for a walk and Taisei rode the tri-cycle to the dogpark and back. That's from I Street to M Street and back, almost 5 blocks either way. Uphill. Through the snow, wind and lightening. j/k It was a very nice day, actually.
Potty update: Oops. Taisei had his first accident yesterday since he started going regularly in the toilet. That was a pretty good run, but I hope this isn't the beginning of a bad habit of waiting too long. That's what he essentially did yesterday. He waited too long, and by the time it was time to go, he couldn't hold it anymore. He's had several close calls. In fact, Saturday was the closest. He was riding his tri-cycle and suddenly had to go. Since I wasn't close by, he pulled his pants down and peed on our driveway!! I couldn't believe my eyes.
I believe our inadvertent secret to success (assuming it is that), is that Taisei wore his underwear for at least a few hours a few days a week for a very long time. I'm talking several seasons, probably. That was all thanks to his super patient pre-school teacher. This didn't potty train him, but it did teach him to hold it for those few hours. So we ended up with a boy with super holding power. I think he can hold it pretty well now. Once he says he has to go, he's never "spilled" on the way to the toilet. It remains to be seen if what I'm saying is true. But I think that's the main reason why he's been pretty successful ever since he decided that the toilet is his friend.
Update: Yep, he had another accident the next day too. What's going on!?
Sense of Direction
Every parent is allowed to think that their own children are the bomb. And even blog about it. So that's what I'm about to do. Please allow me to indulge.
One time we blogged about Taisei's ability to find his way out of a confusing hospital. I think it's been reconfirmed to us that Taisei really does have a good sense of direction. As Wami and Taisei were returning from a shopping trip to the Gateway Mall, Taisei pointed out the Energy Solutions Arena (former Delta Center) on the other side of the intersection.
Taisei: ママー、ここ来たことあるねー。
(Mama, we have be here before, haven't we?)Wami: そうねー（驚）ババとママと大成で来たねー。何見たっけ？
(That's right. [surprised!] Dad and mom and Taisei came here, huh? What did we watch?Taisei: バスケットボール。
(Basketball!)Wami: そうねー！！
(That's right!!)He remembered that we went to watch the BYU/Utah State game there back on Dec. 6th with my San Jose buddy, Michael. Taisei loved the intense atmosphere and also enjoyed walking up and down the steep stairs (since mama had to sit on the 20th row and Mike hooked me up with 5th row seats!). Wow, Taisei really got his mom's sense of direction and nearly photographic memory! I have a pretty good sense of direction, but Wami's is nearly photographic.
I must indulge further here. On preschool days, when Wami deviates from her regular path way home from Taisei's preschool, he always knows. He'll ask "今日違うねー。" = "Mom, we're going a different way today, huh?" It's somewhat of a comfort to know that we at least won't have to worry about him getting lost too easily.
Taisei definitely has his weaknesses and we acknowledge those as well, although, like 99% of parents out there, we normally drool over his accomplishments. For example, he's got pretty particular taste buds and doesn't enjoy eating that much. He's getting better and does eat more and more things. He's pretty shy until he gets comfortable and then gets totally hyper. We'll see if this changes in the future. He doesn't like to sit down to have chats with his parents. He's just like I was when I was a teenager! Anyway, I'm a firm believer that labeling can have negative psychological effects. So lets just say I'm capturing how he is at present day. One day, I'm sure he'll eat anything, be the most outgoing person in the world, and love talking to his parents. :)
Potty Log - Stardate 01.28.09
Taisei went cold turkey on daytime diapers. Since his first accident free day on Stardate 01.05.09, he has not had an accident. OK, I'll cut it out with the Star Trek nerdiness. I loved the original show. Anyway, no accidents for... what's that... 23 days now. Once he gained familiarity with the toilet, his previously acquired ability to "hold it" began to pay off.
On the other hand, he has begun to acquire the ability to "let go" as well. For the past couple of days, we knew he had been needing to go #2. We were tired of staying up late, waiting for hi
m to go in his diapers. I made him go to bed instead of playing around for hours. I'll post about how we finally did that another time. We knew he wouldn't be able to hold it all day for many more days. Yesterday was one day beyond his customary every-other-day routine. We knew he had to go, so we kept encouraging him. He tried going on the kid's potty and on the real potty probably 4 or 5 times. He would try and then give up. Finally, I reminded him that he would get something special if he could do it. I never tell him what that is, so that I don't have to figure it out until I really have to figure it out. After I told him that, he sat and pushed and pushed. Success! He was quite happy about his success. And so far, I've found that once I bribe him to do something the first time, I don't have to bribe him again. I even tell him that the special treat is only for the first time. I gave him a bath toy (a hand-me-down toy from our neighbor)
which was perfect for getting him into the bath, since he's been dodging the bath routine lately. Yesterday, he went to bed at his [relatively more] normal 9 pm last night. I'm seeing signs of our lives returning to normalcy! Hopefully from now on, he can have his successful #2s on the toilet every two days.
Update 01.28.09: Tonight, he came out of his room at 9:30 and then 9:50 reporting "mama, unchi shita." He went 2 in his diapers. :( We didn't expect that he would have to go the next day. Looks like we still have work to do.
Potty Log
[warning: the post contains lots of gory details about potty training!]No, not a
log in the
potty, mind you. ;) This is about Taisei's road to becoming an adult. At least in the potty department. I'm so glad it wasn't as gross of a process as I had originally feared.
San Jose:For the first part of our Christmas trip back home, I was too chicken to support Wami in her potty training with Taisei. So we put diapers on when we went places. But Wami persisted, and finally we decided to go for one whole day. His biggest obstacle for most of the trip was that he didn't feel comfortable using unfamiliar toilets, especially in the public. The first day, we took off his diaper in the morning at 10 o'clock. He refused to go to the bathroom all day. We didn't put on a diaper until bedtime and he never had an accident. This means he held it the entire day! Does that count as potty training? Probably not. The good news is that when we got home and finally got ready for bed, he used the toilet! So technically, it was a day without an accident.
The next day, we kept with the routine. This time, he went number 2 in the toilet. Woohoo - first time! (and it was a big sucker too!) He was so excited about it, he ran around telling everyone "unchi shita!" (I pooed!)
The third day, he went to the potty standing up all by himself while he was being watched by Aaron and Emily (on the Temple trip day). The standing up part was a first (and a last to this day). We wouldn't have known he had gone except that Adele saw him going and reported it to her daddy. He even moved the stool from the toilet to the sink and washed his hands afterward. Unfortunately, he did have an accident shortly afterward. We wouldn't have noticed that either, had Aaron not heard Taisei whisper "uh oh."
Sunday, he almost held it all day again until he had an accident at the Adaniya's place (sorry!). But he made up afterward by copying Nathan and going no. 1 while standing. Woohoo!
Monday, he had one accident at the beach, while the rest of us were kayaking. Luckily, my mom really is a super grandma and doesn't mind dealing with that kind of stuff. Later that evening, he went no. 1 (sitting) at Ariake Sushi.
During the trip, we had tons of progress. The biggest thing was getting him in the mindset that diapers are a thing of the past. It helps that he loves his cartoon underwear. The other big skill he learned was to hold it. And I mean, hold it for HOURS.
Salt Lake City:New year's day was a big mess. We had a party at the Jone's house, where all the kids drank tons of Capri Sun. He's not used to drinking that much and ended up having about 4 accidents before we left. The root of the problem was that he was refusing to use the toilet. Partly he was having too much fun, but mostly he just didn't like to pull his pants down and use the toilet. We were patient and kept persisting in the following week.
This past week has been wildly successful. So far, he has not had an accident for five straight days. In order to maintain that streak, there was one day during a dog walk to the park where he needed to go and ended up going on a tree outside. But the important thing is that he told us and he didn't have an accident! Yesterday, he actually told us that he had to go and led us to the bathroom. Today, he went by himself without telling us. As he's pulling up his underwear and pointing into the toilet, he said “ママ！おしっこ出た～！見てー。黄色！” (Translated: "Mamaaa! Osshiko deta! Mite - kiiro” = "Mom! I peed! Look - it's yellow!")
Todo:He's so close!! We still have just a few more hurdles to get past. His no. 2's take time, so sometimes he prefers to wait til he has on his bedtime diaper to do it. This ends up keeping him up at night until he's done, pushing his bedtime further back than we'd like. Secondly, we're too scared to not put on a diaper for bedtime. I know we'll have to do it eventually. But when he's sleeping nearly 12 hours a night sometimes, I don't know if there's any real hope that he can make it all night.
Disneyland again?
Taisei seems to be a reasonable person, except when he gets frustrated. Two times this week, I was able to resolve a simple conflict like this:
Two nights ago at bedtime, I was afraid to mess up our ritual of turning off the light and immediately putting him to bed.
Me: Taisei, we don't need to have all the lights in the room on to read a book. Can you turn the light back off?
Taisei: No.
Me: We don't want to waste electricity, ok?
Taisei: No.
Me: Yes!
Taisei: Noooooo!
Me: Yeeeeees!
Taisei: OK.
And he went and turned off the light. It was amusing. And it happened twice this week! The other time was something about his water bottle. Oh, that they could stay so innocent and so simple forever.
____
Taisei is pretty spoiled. Thanks to the perfect circumstances, he's been to Disneyland 5 times this year. He was arguably too young the first time, but this time, he thoroughly enjoyed himself. He got to ride on a bunch more rides this time because he exceeded the 32" limit that he just barely missed back in the summer.
In fact, he made the 35" limit for Disneyland's very first roller-coaster, the Matterhorn Bobsleds. I was too chicken to go on this ride for at least the first decade of my life. I figured we'd take him before he knew the difference. He loved it... except he found the abominable snowman inside the mountain scary - "Monster kowaii!" Besides the Matterhorn, he wanted to see Mickey Mouse, ride the Astro Orbitor and Buzz Lightyear Astroblasters (again), the carousel (over and over), the haunted mansion (which they totally re-vamped with a Nightmare-before-Christmas-theme, dumbo, Flik's Flyers, Heimlich's Chew Chew Train, Bumper Buggies, autopia, Tarzan's treehouse and many others.
Taisei's favorite uncle Seth took him on the Pooh ride and the jungle cruise so mommy and daddy could go on the grown-up rides, like Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain. Thanks Seth! We had a great time. After we left, we told him that he got to go to the beach now! But he kept asking "Kowaii monster doko?" which translated means "Why aren't we going to Disneyland today? I want to ride the Matterhorn." Luckily, he hasn't thrown any tantrums yet, because this - if it were me anyway - might have been worthy of one.
Taisei scores only a little less than his mama :)
