i spent this weekend hanging out with older women.  saturday was madisen’s 1st birthday party, and sunday was brooke’s.  i have a funny feeling that these are the first of very many 1st birthday parties that i’ll be going to this year.  i guess 2009 was a popular year for babies.

there were about 25 people at maddie’s party, but there was enough food for 200!  teri chicken, kalbi, kalua pork, spam musubi, mac salad…  yup, maddie did it up island style.  mommy was sooo excited about the pineapple with li hing powder!  after we ate, we played with the toys, books, and soft blocks that maddie brought to share with her friends.

at brooke’s party, there were about a million people.  i’m not really sure exactly how many because i can’t count that high.  but there were a lot.  brooke served good ol’ southern style bbq — big piles of meat with buckets of finger-licking delicious bbq sauce.  after lunch, a big pink and silver thing descended from a tree.  it looked sort of like a medieval morning star.  i wonder if that’s why all the big kids took turns whacking it with a big stick until its guts spilled out.  mommy said that it was actually a pointed star pinata, and that its “guts” were just candy and dress-up jewelry.

the two parties were very different, but both were a lot of fun.  over the past couple of days, i learned a lot about how older women party.  i also took some notes about what i want for my own 1st birthday party later this year:

• mountains of food – YES!
• toys for friends to play with – YES!
• pink princess hats for my friends – hats, maybe.  pink, no.  (and if you tell me that real men wear pink, you’re not invited.)
• birthday tiara for myself – umm, no.
• medieval weaponry – undecided.  (depends on how rowdy my guests are.)
• big cake for my guests – YES!
• my very own cake that i can smear all over my face – DOUBLE YES!  (do you see the look that maddie gave me when i smashed my hand into her cake?  it was worth it though.  the cream cheese frosting that i licked off of my hand was delicious!)

birthday parties are so much fun.  i can’t wait until i get old, too

sometimes it’s hard to be sharks fan.  i’m not just talking about being down 0-3 before you get into your seats… then fighting through the next 2.5 periods to force OT… then losing 97 seconds later.  (that happened last night.)  and i’m not just talking about the heartbreak of seeing your first place team fall apart in playoffs.  (mommy says that happens every season.)  i guess those things might be expected.  but there are hazards that nobody ever tells you about:

getting your head bitten off:  sharkie tried to eat me last night!  i was scared cuz daddy wasn’t there to save me, but mommy came to my rescue.  i’m not sure if this will leave me traumatized for life.  so, if mommy and daddy take me scuba diving when i get older, and i refuse to jump off the boat…  please remind them of this post.
getting attacked by a monster burrito:  i was pinned underneath a burrito twice my size!  (yup, our row “won” a 4-foot burrito!)  it’s a good thing there were so many good samaritans sitting nearby to save me.  as they stabbed that monster to death and  cut it into pieces, its guts got splatted all over me.  mmm, tastes like chicken   i wonder if i will be scarred by this.  is there such a thing as burrito-phobia?

extra!  extra!  read all about it!  i have exciting news.  i rolled over today — by myself!

every day, i have floor exercise time and i practice rolling from back to tummy.  i can almost do it by myself, but i need mommy’s and daddy’s help because i get stuck on my shoulder.  once i’m on my tummy, i spend a few minutes “crawling” — sometimes i rotate in circles and sometimes i actually move forward at a rate of about one inch per minute.  then when i get tired of holding up my big head, mommy and daddy help me roll over onto my back.  but i surprised mommy today by rolling over from my tummy to my back by myself!  yay me!

and guess what else i did today during my floor exercises.  i was able to grab things out of mommy’s hand!  first, the mirror from my play yard, then my stuffed inchworm, then my teething ring of plastic keys…  i grabbed them out of mommy’s hand and put them right into my mouth.  now that i’m starting to get a little bit more mobile, i can’t wait to explore the house to see what other tasty things are lying around

after accomplishing so much today, i am going to reward myself by going to the sharks game tonight.  daddy has to work (again), so i’m going to bring mommy and gung-gung.  after tonight, i’ll have gone to more sharks game this season than daddy has!

since i have a lot of new little friends on the way, i’ve decided to help them out by writing reviews about baby gear and supplies that i’m using.

it might seem odd that my first product review is for a diaper rash ointment since i don’t have a diaper rash problem.  i think i had a mild rash one or two times, but with just a dab of butt paste, it was all gone by my next diaper change.  that testimony alone might be enough to give boudreaux’s butt paste a rave review, but there’s more.

being a chunky monkey has its pros and cons.  the biggest pro is that it makes mommy happy.  while a chubby baby is not necessarily the sign of a good mom, i heard that it makes moms happy.  after all, it’s their only tangible reward for all the effort and pain of breastfeeding!

the biggest downside to being a chubby baby is having neck rolls.  so many people think it’s cute, but lemme tell you, it’s downright yucky.  it’s only a slight exaggeration when mommy says i can smuggle contraband in there.  in actuality, all sorts of other things hide in those rolls:  drool, milk, shirt lint, blanket fuzz, sweat, etc.  no matter how much mommy cleaned my neck and tried to keep it dry, nothing worked.  people suggested using a bit of cornstarch or baby powder, but it just ended up turning into a smelly paste since the area never sees the light of day.  ewww, gross.

two nights ago, my neck was more red and chafed than usual, and even a little bit raw.  mommy had already tried everything else, so she gave the boudreaux’s butt paste a try — on my neck!  i thought that was so silly.  it’s butt paste, not neck paste!  but she explained to me that the idea is the same — it prevents chafing and helps to heal my delicate skin.  and guess what… it totally worked!  by the next day, my neck was completely healed!  my neck feels better than ever and not even the slightest bit red.  mommy is so smart!  i just wish she had that brilliant idea a long time ago.  i’m guessing that any diaper rash ointment would have done the trick, but none of the others are as fun to say as “boudreaux’s butt paste”!

boudreaux’s butt paste: (out of 5 )

everyone has been saying that i’m thinning out.  at first, i thought they were just talking about my hair, which is definitely getting thinner.  but mommy says i’m getting skinnier, too.  i guess my daily workout routine (dancing, crawling in place, and core strengthening in the cheater chair) is paying off.

now don’t be mistaken, i am still a chunky monkey.  but instead of 4 chins, i now only have 2.  and mommy used to say that i could smuggle contraband in my neck rolls.  i still can.  but instead of nuclear warheads, i can now only fit a dimebag or two.

to see just how much i’m growing (and because i no longer have monthly doctor’s appointments), daddy went out and bought me a digital scale.  i guess he doesn’t trust the wii fit.  or maybe he just got tired of it telling him that he is overweight.  anyway, daddy tested out the new scale by stepping on it while holding me.  he said that i must weigh 25 pounds because the scale read 25 pounds more than he thought he weighed.  that’s funny, cuz when mommy weighed me today, she said i weigh 15 pounds (62 %ile).  at my last doctor visit i was 75 %ile for weight, so i guess everyone’s right — i am thinning out.

we didn’t measure my length but i must be getting really tall.  for one thing, i am getting too long for the changing table in my pack ‘n play.  mommy and daddy don’t know what they’re gonna do!  and for another thing, i used to be the size of koda’s head, but now i am way taller than him.  it’s obvious from the photo that he only comes up to my shoulders when we lay down side by side

there are a couple of new skills that i’ve been trying to master.

sitting up: i’ve been practicing sitting up by myself on the floor, bed, couch, and basically anywhere i can.  it’s so much better than lying down because i can get a full view of everything around me instead of staring at the white ceiling.  the problem is that i fall over to the side unless somebody is holding me.  but guess what — i got a cheater chair!  with this chair, i can sit up all by myself, all the time.  it’s supposed to help me develop strong core muscles (like baby pilates!) so that i can learn to sit up on my own.  but why bother?  this chair is my very own baby-sized la-z-boy.  don’t i look comfy?  all i need is my bottle and the remote control and i’ll be set

an unexpected discovery that i made with the cheater chair is my toes.  they’ve never been so accessible before!  my toes look like they’ll be even tastier than my fingers, but i haven’t been able to get them into my mouth yet.  i’m getting very close, though.  i can’t wait!

rolling over:  mommy was so excited when i rolled over from my back to my tummy.  but i did it on our bed, so mommy put me on the floor to see if i could do it again.  i came sooo close, but i kept getting stuck on my side because my shoulder gets in the way.  oh well.  mommy thinks that i can only roll on the bed because the cushy pillow top mattress helps me to clear my shoulder.  but actually, i think that mommy is so heavy that she creates a slope in the bed  is that cheating?

since the new year, i’ve been accessorizing all my outfits with a bib.  yup, i’m a drool monster.

lately, i’ve been getting fussy for no reason.  mommy and daddy just figured that i haven’t been feeling well because of my runny nose.

for the past few days, i’ve been acting like i’m hungry, but sometimes i refuse to eat.  and when i do eat, i chomp on mommy really hard.  mommy chalked it up as a growth spurt.

mommy and daddy sure are slow.  has anyone else figured out what’s really going on?

i am teething!  duh.

i know, i know, i’m not supposed to be getting teeth for a few more weeks (or even months!).  at least, that’s mommy’s and daddy’s excuse for not figuring it out sooner.  but they’re coming in, alright.  well, there’s at least one in there, and mommy says it’s very sharp.  if you don’t believe me, stick your finger in my mouth and i’ll show you

in the wonderful (though short) life i’ve lived so far, i’ve met many friends and cousins.  some of them are many years older than i am, and some are just a month or two older.  the thing is, they’ve all been older.  but not anymore!

i made a new friend today.  isaac is almost 3 weeks old and he weighs about 7 pounds.  it just dawned on me… i am twice his size!  (i got mad math skillz, huh?)  no wonder i felt like a giant compared to him.  and now that i think about it, i was never as small as he is now.  yay, i finally have a friend who will look up to me

i don’t think it’s eastertime yet, so why did mommy color 120 eggs?  for my red egg and ginger party!  (is that like green eggs and ham?)

in case you’re wondering, a red egg & ginger party is a chinese tradition intended to introduce a baby to the world and celebrate his one month milestone.  eggs are a symbol of fertility and renewal of life, and they are dyed red for good luck.  ginger is important because in the yin (cold) and yang (warm) balance of chinese food, ginger adds a touch of “hotness” to the nutritional needs of the new mother who is tired and weak (too yin) after giving birth.  these days, families host these parties up to several months after the baby is born.  my party was held on my 100th day because that is a significant milestone in the japanese culture.

i wanted to have 2 parties — a chinese red egg party at one month and a japanese party at 100 days.  mommy and daddy said no   but it all worked out because my celebration was like having 2 parties in 1, and it was double the fun.  it was the best party ever, and i feel so loved!

i always knew i had a lot of aunties, uncles and cousins, but i found out today that i have so many more than i realized.  thank you to everyone who came out to help me celebrate my 100th day and to help me eat all those red eggs.  i just wish i had a chance to spend more time and take photos with everyone, but i kept getting passed around. i guess that’s the downside to being so popular   i hope to spend more quality time with all of you very soon!

grandma tanaka asked me if i am going to have a blue egg party next.  she’s so funny, huh?

(click here for more photos.)

i have so many pennies in my piggy bank that i decided it was time to get my own bank account.  i didn’t bother with checks or an ATM card because i don’t really need money — everything that i need or want just magically appears in my room.  but i did open a savings account and a 12 month CD.  my CD is earning 5%.  that didn’t sound like a lot to me, but that rate is a whole lot better than what mommy or daddy is getting!

daddy owes me some money.  one of my uncles gave me a check, but he wrote it to daddy instead of me.  i know that daddy is waiting for me to forget about it so he can spend the money on a new laptop for himself.