Taisei Buffet

24-27 Months

As anticipated, keeping up with Taisei's development would eventually prove to be way too much to document. It's been a flood of new things in the past 3 months. I'm guessing that any parent who tries to blog their kid's development will give up trying to thorough around this time (maybe earlier for girls). There's too much to explain.

For example, he expresses disappointment now. I don't just mean "Oh, I don't want babysitters!" The first time I noticed, I told Taisei that I would take him downstairs to watch Lilo and Stitch. He was very excited, but I wanted him to do something (small and silly) first and he wouldn't do it. I can't even remember what it was. So, jokingly, I told him that I would go watch myself and he should stay upstairs with mom. I really thought he would just ignore me and come anyway. Instead, he turned around, walked back over to mom, and started wailing! I felt so bad! I promised to never disappointment him like that again, if I could help it.

He's always listening to our conversations. I know, I know - all kids eventually surprise you with this. Nevertheless, it's extremely surprising when they repeat something back to you in a conversation you really did not expect them to be paying attention to. Wami thought of one example. One day, we were talking about how cool it would be to see the Grand Canyon from the air. Wami said it would be scarier to see it in a helicopter and would rather ride a Cessna. I said I would be more scared in a Cessna and would rather be in the helicopter. Several minutes after the conversation had ended and moved on to something else, Taisei asked: "Mama, hikouki kowaii?" Which means "Mama, are you scared of airplanes?"

In many situations, Taisei's considered very difficult to understand. He speaks probably 50% Japanese, 40% English and 10% Chinese. Most of the Chinese is just nouns - like frog or airplane - but his Japanese is WAY beyond mine. Mom can say all this stuff to him... and I'm like, huh? It's quite amazing. But the bad thing is that people will give up trying to communicate with him sometimes. How is it that adults almost seem to be less confident about learning something new than a small child?

Taisei's still small, but is finally quickly growing out of shoes and clothing. I'm not sure about percentages anymore since appointments are few and far in between. I'm hoping he's having a growth spurt. Since our visit to Frank's, Taisei has started to enjoy meat. He also drinks more milk now. I'm hoping for a big growth spurt. :)

Taisei's able to be babysat sometimes! This is a HUGE one. He goes to a twice-a-week 2-hour pre-school with other Japanese kids. He usually cries when we drop him off but is happy when we pick him up. Also, he successfully went to the "Kid's club" at 24-hour fitness yesterday. He was pretty distraught about being dropped off, but wasn't crying when we picked him up. He still can't handle nursery at church for some reason, unless mom is the one to drop him off. By the way, 12$ a month for a gym membership that includes free babysitting (Utah only) is a KILLER deal! Go to Costco.com and get it while it lasts!

posted by Jerin at 4:31 PM