late last week, we were all having dinner together and i was telling daddy about my day at school. i whispered to him in my quietest voice, “i made a special present for father’s day.” mommy shot me a wide-eyed look and put her finger to her lips. she said “shhh… that’s a secret.” i knew it was a secret — that’s why i was whispering. duh. i don’t understand what mommy was talking about.

anyway, mommy usually takes me to school, but last friday, daddy took me because there was a father’s day breakfast at my school. that was just the start of our celebrations.

today, we had a non-stop packed day. first, we had our swim lessons at AVAC. (more on that in my next post.) after that, we headed to grandma and grandpa’s house. uncle randy met us there, and we had a father’s day sushi lunch with the tanaka family. grandma really liked the card that i made from grandpa. i think she liked it more than he did!

after lunch, we made a quick run to the store, stopped home just long enough for mommy to whip up a lemongrass marinade, and then headed to cousin zoey’s house for a quon-style father’s day bbq. we had originally wanted to take gung-gung out somewhere special (he really likes trying new places and “different” kinds of food), but we came to our senses and realized that it was best to eat in. cousin zoey and i bring out the crazy in each other and we really can’t go out in public together.

as soon as we were done with dinner, we rushed home. mommy threw some clothes in a suitcase, and then she headed off to SFO to catch a red-eye. her father’s day gift to daddy is 3 whole days of quality time with me and sienna. what a great gift! that sure beats the handmade cards that i made for grandpa, gung-gung, and daddy. daddy disagrees — he wants to trade in his gift for a PS4.

happy father’s day to all the super (grand)dads out there — especially mine! 🙂

everyone says that boys develop large motor skills sooner (and more quickly) than girls.  the opposite is true for fine motor skills.  that explains why i could pull myself up to a stand, crawl, and walk earlier than sienna did.  and it also explains why sienna learned a proper writing grip and used utensils correctly much earlier than i did.

but how do you explain this?  i couldn’t do froggy jumps until after i turned 2, even with weekly gym classes where we practiced that kind of stuff.  sienna never went to gym classes on a regular basis, but she has been doing froggy jumps all month.  she would jump all day long if she had an audience.  (she loves to show off.)

p.s. when you read the title of this post, which song did you hear in your head? pointer sisters, van halen, or kris kross? mommy wants to know.

matthew and i finally got called off the wait list at airborne gymnastics.  mommy is not thrilled about it that place (the gym is a little hard core for her taste) but i have been super excited about it, so we are giving it a chance.  we official started in the dyna mights class today.

matthew and i are the only boys in the class.  we are also the smallest.  when we went through our workout, the coach told us 10 different things at a time, and we were supposed to remember everything and rotate through all 10 stations.  matthew and i knew how to do a couple of the skills, but only a couple.  i think matthew at least went through the stations in the right order.  i just kept going back to the trampoline to bounced bounced bounced until the coach told me to move along.  i tried the rope web today, unlike the last time we were there for our trial class.  i only got up to about the 2nd rung, but at least i tried it.  and mommy and daddy always tell me “just try”, so 2nd rung was good enough for them. 🙂

after class, coach went over to our mommies to give them a report on how we did.  he said that we are “coachable”.  i think that was his nice way of saying that our gymnastics skills are not up to par, but he’ll let us stay because we are good listeners.  we’ll see how long we last at this gym! 😛

when we moved to san ramon (about 6 weeks ago), sienna’s eczema got worse.  the change happened almost overnight.  we know that there are so many things that can aggravate eczema — heat, cold, environmental allergens, etc.  we’ve also heard that the water is harder here than in san jose, so it could be that, too.  but since sienna needed to find an allergist in the area anyway, mommy took her in for an appointment.

the doctor asked about any changes in sienna’s diet, our new home environment, or anything that might help pinpoint the cause of sienna’s worsened eczema.  nothing.  if anything, our hardwood floors (instead of carpet) should cause an improvement —  fewer places for dust mites to hide.

another possible cause could be allergies, so the doctor ordered a skin test to see if sienna had developed any new allergies since last year.  so… sienna basically turned into a lab rat for the afternoon.  she was tested for common environmental allergens (like pollens, dust mites, etc.) and common food allergens that she regularly consumes (like milk, salmon, etc.)  poor sienna was poked 20+ times.  she did not like it at all.  some of the pricks made her itchy, and mommy had to restrain her hands to prevent her from scratching for 15 long minutes.  luckily, the nurse came in with some stickers and toys for sienna to play with.  that helped the time pass more quickly.

last time sienna had an allergy skin test she tested negative for egg, peanut, and wheat (even though the blood test came back positive for those foods).  today, she tested positive for egg and peanut allergies and negative for wheat.  the allergist recommended being more aggressive in treating her eczema (use prescription desonide ointment until it’s under control) and then introducing wheat back into her diet to see what happens.  more food experiments.  fun.

but guess what else.  sienna is allergic to cats and dogs!  how could that be?  she was never allergic to them before.  and she doesn’t get a runny nose or anything from being around koda.  she even rolls around in koda’s bed sometimes!  mommy was always worried that one of us kids would be allergic to koda, because she wouldn’t know what to do.  how could you choose between your furry baby and your human baby?  easy.  daddy says that we have to get rid of koda.  (he was kidding!)

well, do you know how mommy is handling this?  she is in denial.  she has convinced herself that the dog allergy result was a false positive.  everyone always says that skin testing is inaccurate.  it must be true since sienna previously had false negatives for egg and peanut.  so koda can stay.  sienna can stay.  and we’ll all live together happily ever after.  but we won’t let sienna roll around in koda’s bed anymore.  just in case.

mommy and daddy play volleyball together on monday nights.  when we lived in our old house, miss denise used to come take care of us while mommy and daddy were out.  but when we moved to san ramon, we had to find someone else (that we were comfortable) with to take care us of on monday nights.  we have a lot of family in the area, but the only ones that we see on a regular basis are uncle jamie and auntie alyssa.  but since uncle jamie had just had surgery the week that we moved, they were not an option for us.  and because we moved on a friday and needed a sitter for the following monday, there just wasn’t enough time for us to get comfortable with someone new.  so what to do?

well, mommy offered the babysitting gig to uncle henry and uncle ritchie.  with pay, of course.  she figured one of them would be willing to help gung-gung with me and sienna.  even though we see uncle henry and uncle ritchie all the time and we love hanging out with them, they weren’t the obvious choices.  neither of them has kids, and i don’t think either of them has any experience in childcare. but it was for just one night.  and then mommy would have the rest of the week to get us comfortable with a new babysitter who would come on a more permanent basis.  well, uncle henry and uncle ritchie both wanted to come hang out with us.  and auntie margaret said she would come too, after she got off from working.  awesome!

monday afternoon came quickly.  mommy cooked dinner for all of us.  she wrote out our schedule.  she talked through our routines with our uncles.  it was going to be a piece of cake.  well… it wasn’t.

gung-gung woke me up from my nap, so i woke up crying and in a really crappy mood.  while i was crying hysterically, i peed in my pants.  nobody could figure out how to use our complicated media set up, so we didn’t even have ni hao, kai-lan to fall back on.   and when we bedtime finally rolled around, sienna and i both refused to sleep.

when miss denise used come over on monday nights, we usually ended up asleep earlier than our regular bedtime.  gung-gung would text mommy “kids alseep at 9:00pm” or something like that.  and when mommy got done playing volleyball, she would see the text and know that everything at home was hunky dory.  well, on our night with uncle henry, uncle ritche, and auntie margaret, the text from gung-gung said “kids still awake 10:06pm”.  uh oh.  all was not quiet on the tanaka household front.  after mommy heard about our night, she felt terrible.  she was so sure that the night would go smoothly, but it clearly did not.  and on top of it all, everybody refused payment.

after a night like that, mommy was sure that uncle henry, uncle ritche, and auntie margaret would avoid us for awhile.  but guess what.  they decided that they wanted to come back again!  so for the rest of the volleyball season, either uncle henry or uncle ritchie and auntie margaret came to hang out with us on monday nights.  things go a lot more smoothly now, but mondays are still party nights.  we get to stay up later than usual.  we get to watch more tv than usual.  we get to read more bedtime books (or in sienna’s case, hear “wheels on the bus” 100 more times) than usual.  it’s pretty awesome.  now if only we can convince our uncles that mommy lets us eat ice cream for dinner. 🙂

tonight is one of the rare mondays when mommy and daddy don’t have volleyball.  they are in between seasons.  i’m not sure who is going to take care of us next season, but i guess we’ll find out next week.  in the meantime, here’s a picture from last monday.  i took it all by myself! 😀

i’d been looking forward to my first triathlon for a long time.  mommy had been talking to me about what we were going to be doing — swimming, biking, then running — in that order.

on race day, i checked in, got body marked (a lady wrote on me with a marker.  that’s so silly!), and headed over to the transition area to set up my bike, clothes, and other gear.  while we were setting up, we saw some older kids mid-race, running from the pool into transition to get their bikes.  i pointed out to mommy that i wasn’t just going to be swimming, biking, and running.  i would be swimming, running, biking, and running!  she acknowledged that i was right.

anyway, i was in wave 24, the very last wave of the day.  the waves were grouped by age from oldest to youngest.  i thought i was going to be youngest participant, but i wasn’t.  there were two other 3 yos and even a 2 yo!

first, was the swim.  i don’t know how to breathe, and i refused to used a kickboard, so mommy swam with me.  i actually swam on my own, but when i needed to take a breath, mommy put her hand under my chest so i could pop up and get some air.  it was only 25 yards, but it felt like 25 miles.  about 80% of the way through, i was done, and wouldn’t put my face back into the water.

we made the long walk from the pool back to transition.  i changed into a dry shirt, then put on my socks and shoes and helmet.  i had to wait for mommy to put on her clothes, too.  then, i had to WALK my bike out of transition.  it was sooo far, and it took forever.

the bike course was an out and back, a total of 1 mile.  my bike doesn’t have cup holders, so mommy carried water for me.  i stopped about half a dozen times to drink.  the way back was downhill, and it made my bike go really fast.  mommy could barely keep up!  i rode on the wrong side of 3 cones — just ‘cuz i felt like it.  shhh!  don’t tell the race officials.

then came the run.  it was only supposed to be 1/4 mile, but they made us run 1.5 laps around the track.  we took the inside lane, but i’m pretty sure it was still more than 1/4 mile.  as we finished up our first 1/2 lap, we saw matthew and his family cheering for me!  how cool!    mommy had said that there were going to be lots of people cheering for me — and there were — but it was so great to see some familiar faces (that weren’t daddy’s or sienna’s).  when we were halfway done with the run, i told mommy that i didn’t want to run anymore.  but then she told me that there was jamba juice waiting for me at the post-race expo, and suddenly, i got my second wind. 🙂

i finished the race 148th out of 155 in my age group (6 and under).  my official chip time was 30:40.  the triathlon was so fun!  i didn’t like the swim because the water was cold.  i tell everybody that my favorite part of the race was the run, but let’s be real — it was the jamba juice.

thanks for cheering for me and taking this video, matthew.  next year, let’s race together, okay? 😀

when i was little, we used to go to the children’s discovery museum all the time.  even though CDM is a huge 2-story building (3 stories if you count the bubble exhibit on the basement level), we used to spend most of our time in the wonder cabinet, an area designated for little kids.  as we got bigger, there were plenty of other exhibits for us to play with and learn about, but the last time we went there, it was clear that was over it.  that was over a year ago, and we haven’t been back since.

we had always heard that habitot was like the CDM of the east bay.  but since we lived so close to the real CDM, we had to reason to venture all the way to berkeley to go to habitot.  but now that we are contra costa residents, habitot is actually a little closer.  so we decided to check it out.

first, we met matthew for brunch, then we all walked over to habitot.  the place is small — probably about the size CDM’s wonder cabinet.  but it is awesome.  there is a dramatic play area with a fire engine and firefighter hats and uniforms.  i guess a girl’s attraction to men in uniform starts at an early age, because sienna met some firefighters and refused to leave.  so matthew and i left her there and went to explore the rest of the place without her.

there is a wall maze that kids can crawl into and around.  (mommy said that it reminded her of the old arcade game, dig dug.)  there is a water play area with rubber duckies to race and fake babies to bathe.  there is a room with flower petals that blow in the wind (big blower/fan), with nets to catch the petals, and brooms to sweep up the ones that hit the ground.  and of course, there is an art room with a paint and activity tables.  (i decided to get highlights in my hair.  what do you think?)

we had a great time.  i told mommy and daddy that i really like it there and i want to go back again soon.  they said maybe.  i think that means no.  it’s pretty far away (45 minute drive), so it’s unlikely that we’ll go on our own, but we would go again to meet up with some east bay friends.  maybe claire and bella? 🙂

today was show week at the little gym.  it is our last week of class, so we invited our parents into the gym to show them all the things that we learned during our funny bugs session.  in addition to our grand parachute entrance, we rotated through our three stations.

• i am still a little hesitant on the beam.  i can side-step just fine, but i get nervous stepping one foot in front of the other.
• my forward rolls are pretty good.  i don’t flop to the side anymore.
• i am really comfortable on the bars.  i can grip the bar with my feet in straddle position and rotate forward (with help).

anyway, after we made it through all our stations, we had a graduation ceremony where we all got medals.  yay, another one to add to my collection!

and just like that, after ~3 years, i finished my last class at the little gym.  ever.

bye bye funny bugs.  bye bye little gym.  it’s been fun.  starting next week, matthew and i are going to go to a new gym.

here are some videos of me going through the stations.  they’re not all that interesting.  definitely watch the outtakes, though.  it will probably make you laugh out loud.

station 1:

station 2:

station 3:

outtakes:

one of the reasons why we like our new house is because it’s “walking distance” from the school that i am going to go to when i am 6.  that’s pretty cool.  because even though it means that we have to walk to (and from) school, it will be much faster than getting into the car, buckling everyone into car seats, driving to school, and waiting in that ridiculously long drop-off/pick-up line.  the schools don’t allow parents to drive into the parking lot before a certain time, so cars start lining up 20-30 minutes before that, causing traffic jams on the nearby streets.  it’s crazy.

but “walking distance” means different things to different people, right?  and mommy has always wondered if we really would/could walk to school.  (yes, i’m 2+ years away from going to that school, but mommy is thinking ahead.)

anyway, a new farmer’s market opened today, right next to our local elementary school.  of course we had to go check it out, right?  and guess what.  we walked.  well, mommy walked.  sienna rode in the stroller.  i rode my bike.  it was an easy 1/2 mile.  (daddy drove there straight from work.)

when we got there, there was a bike rack where a bunch of other kids had parked their bikes and helmets.  when i told mommy that i was going to leave my bike there, she hesitated for a moment because i don’t have a bike lock.  but then she realized that none of the other bikes were locked.  around here, kids leave their bikes (unlocked) all over the place — at the park, in their front yards, or just laying on the sidewalk in front of friends’ houses.  i guess people in this neighborhood are very trusting.

i love farmer’s markets because of all the free samples. 🙂  this farmers market was pretty small, but i liked it.  maybe it was because it was opening night, but the vendors were pushing free samples (especially the prepared foods) like they were going out of style!  a lot of families just hung out and ate dinner.  we did.  we also saw a bunch of people from our neighborhood, including cousin zoey and her family.  there was a live band, too.  they were playing some sort of jazzy sounding music — not really my thing, but i always enjoy live music.

this farmer’s market seemed different than other ones that we’ve been to.  it felt more like a gathering place for neighborhood friends rather than a place where strangers come from different parts of town to shop for produce.  we will definitely be going back there.  a lot.  so if you ever want to come visit our ‘hood on a wednesday evening, you’ll know where to find us. 🙂

emerald glen park is a big 40 acre park near our house.  we drive past it all the time and we always look at it and think how fun it would be to play there.  but we never stopped.  but since this weekend was a scorcher, isaac invited me to go play with him in the water play area.  cool!  i was excited to go check it out.

on saturday, we got there a little before 5pm.  i was already dressed in my swim clothes, ready to get wet and cool off.  but by the time i got all sunscreened up, the water turned off!  why would the water turn off so early?  the sun stays out and it’s still warm until at least 8pm. 🙁  oh well.  there was a playground and a sand play area, so there was plenty for us to do.

but i remembered the big water fountain at the front of the park that we saw while we were driving in.  and i was already dressed in my swim clothes, so off we went.  apparently, there were posted signs that said that we were not supposed to go into the fountain, but there were a lot of kids playing in there.  i can’t read long words — that’s my excuse.  i don’t know what mommy’s excuse was for letting me swim in there.  criminals are made, not born.  anyway, i splashed around for over an hour (isaac eventually joined me), and then our mommies got hungry and decided that it was time for dinner.

on sunday, we arrived a little earlier to make sure we didn’t miss the water play.  i really wanted to go into the no-swimming-allowed fountain, but mommy didn’t let me this time.  that was a little confusing, but okay.  isaac was already playing in the water when we i arrived.  but when i joined him, instead of running through the water like the other normal kids, we put our buckets over the water holes to see if we could stop the streams.  we succeeded.  mostly.  i got geysered in the face when the force of the water stream knocked my bucket over, but i guess that was bound to happen.

when the water turned off, we moved over to the sand area.  we started to make sand castles, but then i found a watering can.  so while isaac and the other normal kids played in the sand, i used the water from the sand area to water the park’s bushes and trees.  i could have done that all day long, but again, our mommies got hungry.

we’ll definitely be back to emerald glen park.  i love the fountain, the water play area, and the sand pit there — but i don’t think i enjoy them the way that i am supposed to. i guess i’m just not a normal kid.