Kai's New Talent

As Kai nears the 6 month landmark he's been showing signs of becoming a "big boy" and not as much of a baby any more. His eyesight is clearly very good-- he followed a butterfly yesterday, a bat tonight, and finally spotted the train I point out to him every day between the houses this afternoon. He is very alert and knows his name (at least "Kai"... I don't know if he realizes his name is actually Malakai).

But his new skill that developed spontaneously this afternoon: Spitting. Awesome. He can launch bubbly balls of saliva about 8 inches from his face. Thankfully most of it was aimed at Daddy.

It's not easy living in a house full of boys...

Proof's in the Pudding

Hey guys! Here's an article about the quake if you want to read more about it. Like we said yesterday, it was a big one! Write more soon...

DAndiKai

Still shaking in our boots...

Hey everyone... just in case this makes the news, we are ok. We had a very violent earthquake tonight. The preliminary magnitude was a 6.8 Here's the link if you want more info (it will be more updated by the time you see it). http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Maps/10/140_40.php
Anyway, definitely the most violent quake we've felt. Thank God for his angels. We are all ok and Dan had Kai out of his crib before the biggest shake. Whew. Nothing broke, although stinky flower water spilled all over and got Dan's passport a little wet... but it was out because we are getting a new one anyway!

Ugh, so tired...
DAndiKai

I've come to the conclusion that life gets more and more complicated. Not necessarily in bad ways, per say, but in getting busier ways, for sure! Dan starts his new job on Friday (and I think there's a path worn into the floor from his pacing...) We bought plane tickets to come home at the end of November! And I sold another photo!

This photograph, "Lantern Parade" was displayed in my art show back in May. There had been
some interest expressed in purchasing the photo by the producer of the taiko group (I mentioned the ultra-cool drummers in the entry about my show, I think.) Anyway, Shu Chiba was excited to hear that no one had bought the picture when I had Dan drop a not-so-subtle hint to see if he was still interested. :o) It turned out, he was still interested, but for a totally different reason than I had imagined... (apparently it's not just my amazing picture taking skills...)

In the picture, there is one lantern that is brighter than the others. The writing on it just happens to translate to "Shu's House" (using the same character that he uses for his name)! He bought the photo to hang in the entranceway of his house. Talk about LUCKY! We delivered the framed photo yesterday at taiko practice and the group all got a good laugh at Shu's expense. I was just stoked to sell another picture.

So speaking of taiko, another life change for us: the taiko guys are hoping to organize a tour in the Upper-Midwest. (Mainly/only Minnesota at this point.) Anyway, seeing as they have two native-English speakers who lived in the area for awhile with plenty of theatre background, etc., we have been asked to help. This is probably going to become my pet project (in tandem with Dan's amazing Japanese skills, of course). If everything works out the way we hope it does, four of the drummers, the two producers and I (and Kai) will come to Minnesota and do a concert tour at the end of April. Dan probably won't be able to come because won't have enough vacation time to spend, so that means that I would be doing the M.C.ing for the concerts, be the go-between for the band and the venues, etc. Here's a link to a video of some of Senrai's stuff. And here's on of my favorite songs. They did this with a DJ... super cool! The shamisen (three-stringed banjo) player probably wouldn't be coming because he is the best shamisen player in all of Japan (no joke) and has oodles of gigs on his own, so they are working on a modified group.

Anyway, I'm trying to sort out how to be a publicist for an international "rock band" :o) And Kai can be the trip's mascot. Anyone want to volunteer to come along and babysit if we can make this work? :o)

Anyway, signing off for now...
DAndiKai

"What Happens after the Baby Goes to Bed" (Or, "The Box of Insanity")

The house quiets after 20 minutes of screaming and crying from the baby's room. Finally,
a moment of peace for two very tired parents.

"What should we do tonight?"
"Uh, I don't know."
"TV? Movie? Go to bed early?"
"Mmm, that last one sounds good... wait, it's only 7:42. Shoot."
"I guess I'll load something up on the computer."
"Hey, we still have that puzzle that I got for you at Jusco."
"Oh yeah. Let's do it!"

The playing card-sized box is opened and spilled onto the table.

"Hey, did you know there are tweezers included in here!?"









"Wow... these pieces are really small. Good thing there are only 204 pieces."










"Oh, this won't take too long."

Husband: "I'm going to use the tweezers for the whole puzzle!" (Wife rolls her eyes.)
















An hour later...

Inserting the last piece, "We are never doing this again."










"I have a headache. Let's go to bed."

Osashiburi desu, ne? (Long time no see, huh?)

Being a parent is exhausting. We typically find that by the end of the day we'd rather zone out in front of the computer watching tv shows from home (or going to bed early, for that matter) than type in the blog. Sorry. So we have a lot to catch you all up on... here's some tidbits of our goings-on in this neck of the woods.

Dan's been doing all his "goodbye" lessons at school. He gave his going away speech for one of his junior high schools today and has been moving all the teaching resources cluttering up our apartment to his desks at school for the next poor soul to come in September. No, not really "poor soul," but I don't envy their immense task of going through all the handouts, text books, and notes that have accumulated over the last 6 years (we have a lot of stuff from the girl before us too!) Anyway, Dan is really excited about (finally) starting his new position. It's been a seemingly long wait, but July 25th is in sight, thank heavens.

Dan is still teaching eikaiwa (English conversation) class, although the future of that class is a bit up in the air at the moment... there is a slight chance that I (Andi) might teach it, but Dan has some chatting with his new office before that position is offered to me. We both feel it is probably better for the class to have a new teacher again. I don't know if I'm "new" enough to really push them to excel, but they've never had me as a solo teacher and my style is definitely different than Dan's (or our team-teaching style before Kai came along). Not sure what I would do with Kai if this happens, but we'll work something out. He might live in my baby carrier? Otherwise the slew of "obaachans" can "janken" for who gets to hold Kai (the grandmas can rock-paper-scissors) ;o)

Oh yeah, so anyway, today in eikaiwa Dan got a great question from Keiko. He asked the class how they were (typical starter question). She raises her hand and very seriously asks if she can ask a question. She went on to ask that if on days with sun it is "sunny" and days with clouds it is "cloudy" and days with snow it is "snowy," when it is hot can you say it is "hotty?" A pretty good question! The class had a pretty good laugh, I guess, when Dan explained to them that "hottie" usually refers to cute girls. Good old Keiko. I love her!

As for me, I've been making origami stationary like a mad woman. My sister-in-law Jenny asked me to make her some more if I had the chance (I had given her some for Christmas awhile back) and so I took the task to heart. Now, 24 pieces later and oodles of folded kimonos, little girls and boys, butterflies, birds, and even Noh masks... Actually it has been really good for me to have a goal to work towards and something that gets those creative juices pumping. Here's a few pictures of some of the stuff I've done. I have some more recent stuff that I have yet to document... I'll post a few of those in a different entry. Now I'm debating how to sell them (ideas, anyone? I'm thinking of an Etsy account, but if anyone knows of a good coffee shop or something, I'd love to hear about it!)

Kai has been developing by leaps and bounds these days. It is amazing. He is getting really good with his hands, can sit by himself (mostly... Mommy sticks close or puts a pillow around him), and even rolled over on his own once (he's a bit late on that... he hates tummy time, so it hasn't been much of a goal for him!) He rolls onto his left side all the time, though. And tonight I had pee shot straight up my shorts for the first time (I was sitting down). Good times. We tried rice cereal tonight too (made from scratch, mind you) and he pretty much hated it. We should have gotten that on video for you. He gagged on it and everything, poor little guy. I tasted it and concurred it was pretty gross. We're going to buy some apple juice to mix into it and see if that helps at all. So, for now, I guess it's just yogurt and breastmilk! We also started letting him "cry it out" at bedtime. The first night was pretty bad (over an hour), but after that it hasn't been any longer than 20 minutes and then he sleeps all night. I feel like a terrible mom while he cries himself to sleep, but I know we are doing the right thing. Another perk... naps! He has gotten into more or less of a schedule, allowing me a few breaks during the day to do my own stuff, be it cleaning or stationary (usually stationary, to tell you the truth!) Kai also learned the "p" sound last week. After we demonstrated it for him, he would practice when he didn't think anyone was watching and then interrupt feeding sessions with me to show me he could do it. So cute. I really, really love this little boy. What an awesome gift from God!

I'll have to blog again soon about our evening activity the other night, pictures and all....
So with that teaser, I'll leave you for now. Until next time,

DAndiKai

(I read this to Dan after I wrote it and he said that the "teaser" sounded provocative. It's not. Sorry to let you down.) :o)

Bon Appetite!

Well, Kai is going to be 5 months on Monday, so we knew it was inevitable that he would want to try eating like a big person soon. And yesterday it came to a showdown of wills... Kai won. In the middle of dinner, after much protesting and squirming and whining (by Kai), Mommy and Daddy pulled out the plain yogurt, the baby spoon, and removed all of Kai's clothes. It was eatin' time! (And like any good parents, got it on video for posterity -- and to share it with all of you!)

So, for your cuteness quota for the day, Kai's first "solids." Bon Appetite!