Taisei Buffet

Fun in the 14th Month

Taisei's still a lightweight, currently at 19.5 pounds. He's only gained a few pounds since he was 9 months old. It doesn't help that he doesn't ever act like he's hungry. Sometime I wonder if his hunger hormones are kicking in at all. The good thing is that he's still getting taller. He's no longer able to stand up under our kitchen table. Maybe he'll catch up to his cousin Adele soon. :)


It's nice to be back home and have Taisei on somewhat of a schedule:

• Awake sometime between 7 and 8:30. Luckily, the jetlag from Asia didn't last that long.
  
• Monday is Japanese playgroup. For summertime, it's moved from the Sugarhouse library to Big Cottonwood Park where the city provides free lunch for children every day. Cool, huh? All the moms are Japanese, but, not surprisingly, there isn't a single baby who's 100% Japanese. Taisei's the only one who's even fully Asian, I think. In other words, no father is fully Japanese. It's more fun now that Taisei's able to run around with the other kids.
• Wednesday morning is baby story time at the Sweet Library on 9th and F. Sometimes Taisei will be good and at least observe the other kids. Other times, Taisei will just run around in the library.
• Thursday afternoon is CSA veggie pickup day - a walk to 6th and C.
• The rest of the days, walk Hiro to Memory Grove/City Creek in the mornings.
  
• Daddy comes home at 5 or 6. Taisei sometimes will beam really big. Sometimes he just wants Daddy to pick him up. That's dad's most common role in his life - provider of transportation and a better view of the world.
• Bedtime these days is around 8. Sometimes he struggles now. Even when he can't keep his eyes open anymore, he'll still try to look at books and play. It's really kind of cute, actually.
  

Funny things he does:

• He wants us to squirt soap and lotion on his hands so he can rub them together like Mommy does.
• He always has to push the buttons in the elevator.
• He likes to wear one of daddy's socks, even though it goes all the way up his leg.
• He likes to wear one shoe and walk around the house.
• He can sing along (like one little phrase) with two of his Japanese children's songs. He perks up when he hears them playing.
• He sings along with this Sweet Dreams Pablo toy that he got from Auntie Esther. This one is hilarious.
• He loves going down slides by himself. It scares the dickens out of us, but he really doesn't want us to ride together with him.
• He likes to flush the toilet. Ugh. This habit we need to curb somehow.
  

He talks! Kind of. But what's amazing is that he's definitely aware of what he's saying. His screams of frustration were at a peak a month ago and seem to be on the decline now. This morning, Wami amazed me by demonstrating that Taisei can pick the fish and the dog out of his animal picture book. I've also found that he understands more Japanese than English. :O Oh no! I'm slacking on the Chinese!

Words he can say:

• 'sh (Fish, in English. He points to the fish)
  
• Ball
• Ba-ba (bye-bye, accompanied with a wave)
• Wan-wan (Dog, in japanese. He can point to the dog in his animal book)
  

Foods he'll eat lately:

• Cheddar Cheese
• Broccoli with cheese (finally, some greens!)
• Cereal - mini-frosted wheats, cheerios
• Tofu - this kind only. Dou4 Fu3 Gan1. He discovered this in Taiwan and hasn't given it up since.
  
• Banana & grapes
• Goldfish crackers
• Onigiri - Japanese rice balls

posted by Jerin at 8:49 AM | 7 comment(s)

More 1st Year Tricks

When I rough-house with Taisei - lift him up in the air and throw him down on pile of blankets - I always say "ahhhhhh - DONG!" You know, like a sound effect. Sometimes I say "BONG!" too. He's caught on:




Here's Taisei playing his first wind instrument. (He's already attempted the piano and guitar.) This pretty much summarizes his success so far - no record labels knocking just yet:

posted by Jerin at 9:08 PM | 6 comment(s)

New Tricks

Taisei walked almost all of Concourse B in the SLC airport. Then in Taiwan, he walked from the gate all the way to customs by himself. He wouldn't let us pick him up, so we let him keep going. For the most part, people thought it was amusing, although one passing flight staff glared at us and seemed to say "How could you force your young baby to walk so far on his own?" Whatever, ok? Mind your own beeswax. You prefer a screaming baby being held against his will? Huh? Huh? Anyway, check him out. If it wasn't for a huge group of sighing women distracting him, he would've continued going straight!




Suddenly, we have to watch what we do because Taisei will immediately try to do it himself. Yesterday, after I took a DVD out of the computer, he proceeded to grab it out of my hand, walk back over to the computer, push the DVD drive's open button, and put it back in. :O We were in awe. I wish we got that one on video too.




Don't try this at home - or worse yet, on a moving train. I didn't realize a baby could hold his own weight. This was successful attempt number 2. After that, I think he was too pooped. Behold, Taisei doing gymnastics in a Japanese subway train.

posted by Jerin at 7:31 AM | 2 comment(s)