Taisei's now had his own personal blog for four years now. It's been fun, but it's time for us to include all the kids. I know everyone hates updating their links... but in this case, are there really any readers? Maybe not, but that's OK. Here will be the new address for any of you interested.
Just the same as any other parent out there, we can't believe how fast our boy is growing up. We constantly have to remind ourselves that Taisei's not a baby anymore. Maybe to us, he'll always be our baby. But everyone else sees a rambunctious, high-energy, but very shy boy.
Three years down the road, we can easily step back and see what we have emphasized as parents, and what we could probably work on more. What we really have learned is that your kids grow so fast that you really do have to constantly adapt as parents. There is always something new to teach and something new to learn.
For our own memories I thought I'd record the things we feel we have emphasized and things we need to do better.
Physical development:
Body control is good.
Foot, hand-eye coordination is good.
He loves to draw and do crafts.
Do better:
Swimming is non-existent
Basketball - he can't even make layups consistently ;)
He won't sing much. Musical talent... unsure if they exist yet.
Lower-case Alphabet - he's just not interested
Numbers - only up to 10 consistently. He's spotty up to 20.
Personality things. It seems that there are things we can't do anything about. Taisei is still shy, until he warms up to someone. After several years in a Japanese playgroup with the same group of children, he still has his favorites. This was apparent at his birthday party where he was willing to give hugs and kisses only to the ones that he felt more comfortable with. For certain kids, he wouldn't budge.
Overall, he seems more comfortable in Japan. He appears to actually enjoy going to primary and pre-school over there. I'm not sure if it's a language or culture thing or because there's so much family around there, but he eats better there and just seems to act a lot more loose when he's over there.
Taisei's grandparents 爺爺奶奶 gave him a bike for his birthday on Friday. I took off the training wheels immediately. haha! (I made it clear to him that we would be doing that from the get go.) I spent 5 minutes pushing him around and teaching him how to use coaster brakes, then I let go. I originally expected to need a day or two at least. Here it is, right after we got home from Walmart.
This is the next day at Liberty Park, in between conference sessions. Dramatic improvement from day 1 to day 2.
Turns:
Straightaway:
I believe the key was his balance bike (for balance) and his tricycle (pedaling). I also believe that training wheels are a crutch. He wanted them at first, but told him you could go faster without them so he let me take them off. Later, when he still wanted them, I put them back on and he realized that they did slow him down and also made it harder to maneuver, so he wanted them back off. The key was to let him know that he could do it first, then be flexible enough to put them back on.
Now he likes to ride his bike to the dog park every day, except today he took his sled instead since we had a crazy snowstorm last night!
You were away from your 爸爸for 2 months and stayed with お母さん, An-chan and Mi-chan in Japan. You made new friends and went to 保育園(preschool) while there. By the time you came back, you had to completely relearn English to talk to 爸爸 again, but you did it in just a few weeks.
You have learned many new things. You now your 1,2,3's and almost all of your A-B-C's too. Along with your Japanese 腕白school with Chieko-sensei, you started a big-boy's preschool now with Mary-sensei. You wake up early each day to go and meet lots of new friends. Also, you've moved from nursery to primary at church, where you get to sing songs and go to class with new teachers to learn about Jesus Christ. Each of these things was hard for you, but you were very brave.
Your biggest accomplishment this year is becoming a new big brother. You waited all year for it. You have taken good care of your sister and care about her very much. Please keep loving her and she will love you back.
Thank you for being such a good boy this year. We are so proud of you!
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.)
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.
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!
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!?
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:
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