for the past two years, i’ve been swimming during the summertime.  but mommy didn’t want to wait that long to get sienna in swim lessons, so we started today.

daddy dropped us off and went to park the car.  mommy stopped at the front counter to check us in, but i walked straight past the counter, through the viewing room, and headed for the pool.  mommy caught up with me just in time to stop me from following another class right into the water.

luckily, my class was first.  mommy swam with me while dada and sienna watched.  i sat on the edge of the pool and jumped right on in without hesitation.  all the skills were review for me, but it was fun to be back in the water for the first time since last summer.  we all got to pick a water toy to throw across the pool and swim after.  i picked tinkerbell   i had a BLAST and was grinning from ear to ear through my entire class.

after my class, it was sienna’s turn to swim.  we have the same teacher!  during sienna’s lesson, i kept trying to dive back into the water but dada kept pulling me back.

it was sienna’s first time in a pool, ever.  she did great!  she kicked her legs while swimming after her water toy (she picked the dragon) and she even put her face into the water to glide across the pool.  babies don’t usually do those skills in their first lesson, but sienna was ready.  she must have been taking notes while we was watching me.

two days ago, sienna learned to pull herself up to a stand.  yesterday, she started army crawling.  i wonder what’s in store for today.  walking?

she’s the slowest crawler ever.  but still, my toys aren’t safe anymore.

part of my regular bedtime routine is taking a shower with dada.  he usually puts me to bed while mommy puts sienna to bed.  (that’s right, i said it.  sienna.  although, it comes out more like “c…n…uh”.)  anyway, even though i usually take showers, mommy still gives me baths once in awhile as a special treat.  tonight, i got an extra special treat — sienna and i took a bath together!

it’s fun having someone to play with in the bathtub.  sienna kept splashing me, so i started to squirt her with one of my squeeze toys.  don’t worry, i didn’t squirt her in the face.  at least, not while mommy was watching   i just squirted the water right in front of her.

oh, and guess who finally learned to pulled herself up to stand?  in the bathtub… of all places.  what a safety hazard!  i guess she didn’t like the way i was washing her hair.

i didn’t like it when si-nano carjacked my sports car.  that’s my fancy new motorized car.  and besides, it’s way more power than she can handle.   the cozy coupe is all hers, though.  i even take her cruising around the neighborhood in it.  but for some reason, she keeps veering off the road into the bushes.  mommy said that i am not pushing her straight, but i think si-nano is just a bad driver.  i tried to teach her how to “drive” (steer) like i do in my car, but she doesn’t get it.

remember my first boys’ day when grandma set up a fancy display for me and dressed me up in a traditional japanese outfit?  that was fun.

well today is girls’ day, also known as the japanese doll festival “hina-matsuri”.  si-nano didn’t get an elaborate display set up for her, but grandma and grandpa came to visit and brought her a special outfit to wear.  the outfit was handmade made by our great-grandmother.  how cool!   auntie barbara wore it when she was a baby, too.  it’s a good thing that si-nano has so much hair.  otherwise, she wouldn’t have been able to wear that vegas-showgirl-esque head piece.  i mean, hair accessory.

happy girls’ day to si-nano and all my girls

si-nano, sorry for photobombing your photo shoot.  i just couldn’t  resist.

when ees-nano was just 1.5 weeks old, sierra came over to our house to visit her.  i can’t remember where i was, but i wasn’t home — so i didn’t get to see her.    sierra lives far away (southern california), so i don’t get to see her very often.  lucky for me, she was in town this weekend and she came over to visit.  and  guess what!  sierra has a baby sister now, too

sierra and i both take good care of our baby sisters.  and we realized today that one of the most important jobs that we have as older siblings is holding up our baby sisters for  photographs

sierra’s baby is sofia.  sofia mostly hung out with auntie jo and uncle dave (her parents).  ees-nano mostly hung out with mommy and dada.  that freed up sierra and me from our big sib duties to just hang out and play!  sierra is such a fun playmate.  we had a tea party with ees-nano’s toy tea set.  we played a game of one-on-one with my basketball hoop.  and we took turns jumping up high to grab the ribbon dangling from the helium balloon on the ceiling.  i wish sierra would move back to the bay area so i can play with her all the time!

did you notice that ees-nano’s name (sienna) is spelled almost the same as sierra’s?  and did you notice that they are wearing almost-matching outfits?  i have a feeling that when ees-nano gets a little bit older, she is going to look up to sierra like the big sister she’ll never have.

happy 7 month birthday to ees-nano!

things she likes:

• reading.  she likes looking at books and listening to me read to her.
• wheels on the bus.  she loves it when we sing to her and help her go “round and round”, “swish swish swish”, and do the other hand motions.  it makes her giggle like a little girl.  oh wait, she is a little girl.  i guess it just makes her giggle.
• sleeping on her tummy.  when she sleeps on her tummy, she sleeps through the night (6+ hours).  actually, i should say that mommy likes it when ees-nano sleeps on her tummy
• pulling hair.  mommy doesn’t have very much hair left.  whenever i find mommy’s hair on the floor, i announce “mommy’s hair” and bring it back to her.
• hanging upside down.  she also likes flying through the air and doing back flips.  i think she’s going to be a gymnast.  or maybe she’ll be a circus act.

things she doesn’t like:

• laying on her back.  she gets all wiggly and flips over super fast.  i think she thinks that diaper changes are a game.
• crawling.  well, i guess it’s not that she doesn’t like crawling, as much as she hasn’t really tried it yet.  by the time i was her age, i was crawling everywhere and pulling myself up to stand.  ees-nano just lies on her tummy and flaps her arms and kicks her legs.  she doesn’t even try to army crawl.  i don’t get it — why doesn’t she want to follow me around the house?

remember how dada used to think i hated him?  that’s cuz  i wouldn’t say “dada” until i was 20 months old.  well, ees-nano has been saying “mama” all week.  mama mama mama all day long.  i’m trying to teach her to say “dada” so that his feelings don’t get hurt again.

i got your back, dada!

have you noticed that ees-nano goes to see the doctor a lot?  a LOT.  i have never been to the doctor except for that one time when i smashed my fingers in the door and i thought they were broken.  oh, and regular checkups, of course.  but i would even skip those if i could.

ees-nano has doctor’s appointments all the time.  there’s her regular doctor, her kidney doctor, her head specialist, and today she went to a new doctor for her skin.  (more on that later.)  every time she sees the kidney doctor, she is told that everything is fine but that she should come back again for monitoring… just in case.  it’s the same story with the head specialist.  i used to feel bad for her that she has to keep going to all these doctor’s appointments.  they are terrifying.  but then it dawned on me.  she likes it!

i think ees-nano has been making up all these issues so that she can meet lots of doctors.  and even though there is nothing wrong, she keeps going back so that she can keep seeing them.  i’m on to her.  she just wants to marry a doctor.

if you’re wondering, the reason ees-nano gave to get an appointment with a dermatologist is that the soles of her feet and palms of her hands are peeling.  mommy thought it was just normal newborn molting, but it never went away.  her regular doctor was stumped, but guessed that it might be athlete’s foot.  how silly!  ees-nano is not even athletic.  mommy put athlete’s foot cream on her feet for a couple of weeks, but that wasn’t helping.  plus, ees-nano has recently started sucking her toes.  so, no more cream.  and off to the dermatologist they went.

the doc took one look at ees-nano and announced that she has a mild case of atopic eczema.  he showed mommy ess-nano’s hands and all the lines on her palms.  he said that is common in people with atopic eczema.  mommy never noticed all the extra lines because she has them too!  apparently, that’s what’s causing the peeling on her feet and palms, too.  doc said that ees-nano will eventually outgrow the eczema, and in the meantime she should avoid environmental allergens.  he said to stay away from tide laundry detergent and use all free clear instead (we already are — dada is so smart!).  he also recommended cerave lotion because it replenishes ceremides in your skin, something that people with eczema have less of.  and that’s it.  the dermatologist must not have been cute because ees-nano didn’t say that she has to go back “for monitoring”.

last night, mommy and auntie judy went to the sharks game.  mommy told auntie judy that she could pick one kid to bring to the game.  so ees-nano and i made our cases.

this was my pitch:

• i dress for the occasion.  i have a sharks t-shirt, a sharks hat, and a sharks fleece sleeper.  i even have an entire shark outfit so i can dress up as a real shark.  all of ees-nano’s outfits are pink.  and pink is basically light red.  and red is the color of the opposing team (chicago blackhawks).  uncool.
• i am always prepared.  i have earmuffs for ear protection (and cheek-squeezing).  ees-nano has none.
• i have team spirit.  i know how to do the shark chomp and yell “go!  go!  go!”.  (i learned that from watching football, but it applies to hockey, right?)  ees-nano’s yelling just sounds like “eeehhhhh!!!”.
• i am low-maintenance.  i can walk to and from the seats by myself and i can eat arena food.  baby sister needs to be carried everywhere and she needs to have special food packed for her.
• i play fair.  ees-nano already went to sharks game without me this season.  it’s my turn.

ees-nano took a different approach and appealed to auntie judy’s sensibilities:  “i will be a fantastic wingwoman and sit still on your lap all night.”

i think it’s clear from the photos who auntie judy picked.  *sigh* she had her at “wingwoman”.

at least ees-nano was true to her word.  she sat still all night, and she got the attention of all the boys sitting around her — except for the ones wearing enemy colors, of course.  one guy held her hand and one even took a photo of her.  and by “her”, i mean ees-nano, not auntie judy.  so what did auntie judy do with these guys after ees-nano got her the in?  no idea.  they won’t tell.

auntie judy, whatever you did with those guys, i hope it was worth it.  i’m going to remember this!