guess who went poo-poo in the potty today.  yes, me.  of course, me.  but guess who else.

today, sienna said “poo-poo” and started walking toward the bathroom.  i know sienna is only 17 months old, but miss denise thought it would be fun to let her try the little potty.  mommy suggested putting her on the big potty instead.  miss denise thought sienna would be scared, but mommy had put her on it once before, so knew that she would be fine with it.

apparently, sienna made a big giant poo.  it was so big that denise saved it so that mommy could take a photo.  mommy passed on that opportunity.  it’s too bad that i was at school, ‘cuz i totally would have taken a picture of it.  i know that you’re just dying for a visual!

i started taking showers when i was 1.5 years old.  by the time i was 22 months, i had stopped taking baths altogether and was showering every day.  but sienna is still little, so she still takes baths.  and about once a week, i take a bath with her as a special treat.  it’s so fun re-discovering the joy of bath toys!

about a month ago, sienna and i were getting undressed for bathtime, and i had this conversation with mommy.

me:  how come sienna doesn’t have a peanut?

mommy (looking confused):  what?

me (pointing to my private parts):  a peanut.

mommy (laughing):  oh!  it’s called a penis.  sienna doesn’t have a penis because she’s a girl.  girls don’t have penises.

so now i know.  and since then, i’ve been working on telling the difference between boys and girls without seeing them naked.  i figured out that all aunties and mommies are girls and all uncles and daddies are boys.  i can pretty accurately identify the gender of my friends, but i get confused about mason.  i usually say that he’s a girl.  but lots of people think that mason is a girl, so you can’t really blame me for that.  mommy and daddy think i get confused because his hair is longer than most girls i know.  plus, sienna’s hair accessories look better on mason than they do on her.  (see photo.  am i right?)

just the other day, mommy and daddy were quizzing me.

daddy:  is mommy a boy or a girl?

me:  mommy is a girl.  she doesn’t have a penis.  but she has a butt so she can go poo-poo.

they thought that was hilarious.  i don’t know what was so funny.  i was just stating the facts.

i wasn’t sure what category gung-gung fell into because he’s not a mommy or a daddy or an auntie or an uncle. so i asked him if he had a penis.  don’t be surprised if i ask you, too.  do you have a penis?

if you hadn’t heard, sienna doesn’t like to sleep.  mommy usually puts her to bed around 9:00pm and sits with her until she falls asleep.  sienna sleeps pretty well for a few hours, then wakes up in the middle of the night.  it used to be that she would go to mommy and daddy’s room and sleep the rest of the night with them.  but a few of weeks ago, mommy and daddy decided to start putting sienna back into her own bed to sleep there.

so during the past few weeks, mommy or daddy would walk sienna back to her room, let sienna climb back into bed, and then lie down on the floor right next to her.  but the problem is that sienna wouldn’t go back to sleep.  she would lie down, but pop her head up every minute or so to see if someone was still there.  because it’s usually the middle of the night, mommy and daddy would often fall asleep on the floor in sienna’s room.  sienna figured this out.  so if mommy was with her, sienna would wait until mommy fell asleep, then crawl out of bed and cuddle up next to her on the floor.  mommy would wake up, put sienna back in bed, and this cycle would repeat all night long.

if daddy was with sienna, she would wait until he fell asleep, then she’d slide out of bed, tip toe around him, then go and find mommy.  a couple of weeks ago, she did that, but mommy wasn’t in her room.  so sienna went downstairs to look for her and couldn’t find her — she was out shopping at target.  i guess sienna fell asleep on the stairs waiting for mommy to come home.  daddy had no idea!

either way, sienna’s nighttime activities have been preventing mommy from getting any sleep.

when i go to bed at night, i say “good night, see you in the day time!”  that’s because i know that if i wake up in the middle of the night, i’m supposed to go back to sleep.  but if i wake up and it’s day time, i can go see mommy and daddy in their room (if they’re still there).  so since it’s a new year, sienna made a resolution to start doing the same thing.  it’s actually daddy’s resolution, but it sounds better if i tell the story this way.  i’m calling it operation kitty cat.  why?  because cats sleep a lot.  plus i like kitty cats.

the first step in operation kitty cat is to help sienna learn to sleep by herself.  so last night, the baby gates went up in sienna’s room.  (is it just me, or does this look a lot like the pens that you’d set up around a puppy’s crate?)  when sienna woke up at 2:00am, mommy went to her room to talk her back into bed and soothe her back to sleep.  sienna crawled in and out of bed, over and over again, screaming the entire time.  after an hour, mommy couldn’t take it any more.  daddy’s turn.  he did the same thing, standing outside sienna’s door and going in to check on sienna every few minutes.  that went on for another 45 minutes.  the house was finally quiet by 3:45am.

operation kitty cat, night 1:  1:45 of crying time.

i’ll let you know how the next few nights go.

new year’s day is a big deal in japanese tradition.  families come together to eat special foods called osechi-ryori.  it’s stuff like burdock, lotus root, chestnuts, and mochi rice cake soup.  each dish and ingredient has a different meaning, like good health, prosperity, happiness, long life, and so on.  last year, grandma made lots of food for me and packed it up for me to bring home.  but i’ve always wondered why we never went over to her house on new year’s day.  this year, we did.  we weren’t planning to go, but daddy had to help grandpa do some stuff around the house.  lucky me, ‘cuz i got to eat grandma’s special new year food.

daddy doesn’t like any of that food, so he bought himself a burger on the way over.  but when we got there, grandma made me a plate full of stuff that nobody thought that i would eat.  auntie barbara said that she was forced to eat it earlier in the day and gagged on it.  i thought it was delicious.  while i was eating, i said (completely unprompted), “grandma makes me the best food.”  that totally made grandma’s day.  she said that she loves me so much and that she is going to buy me so many christmas presents next year 😛

grandma was so happy that i liked the food she made because nobody else appreciates all the hard work that she puts into making 3 days worth of traditional food.  (except mommy.  mommy likes it too.)  grandma said that from now on, she is going to make a whole elaborate spread and invite us over for special new year’s meals.  and now i know why we’ve never spent new year’s day at grandma’s — because daddy doesn’t like the food.  but that’s fine.  daddy can have his burgers.  the rest us will eat the good stuff.

happy new year!

today is a special day.  it’s the last day of the year.  i understand days and weeks and months, but i’m a little fuzzy on the concept of years, so i don’t really get it.  but it seemed like a big deal to everyone, so i just went with it.

first, kai-kai came over to hang out during the day.  we played board games (sesame street chutes and ladders and hungry hungry hippo), ate lunch, and then played outside in the backyard.  it’s fun having friends my age to play with.  i like playing with sienna too, but she’s not very good at board games.  we let her play hungry hungry hippo with us because we needed more people.  we even let koda play.  koda’s not very good either.  kai-kai and i always got the most marbles.

in the evening, we went to matthew’s house for a NYNYE party.  that’s not a typo.  it was a new york new year’s eve party — celebrated on eastern standard time!  we had dinner, we played with matthew’s bazillion toys all evening long, and then at midnight EST, it was time.  we had our countdown, blew our party horns, and toasted with apple cider.  best kiddie new year’s party idea ever!

2012 was another good year for us.

• sienna and i continued swimming and gymming, and i started soccer classes.
• we took a family trip to san diego (with grandma and grandpa) where mommy, daddy, auntie barbara, and uncle randy ran the rock ‘n’ roll 1/2 marathon relay.
• we went to lake tahoe for a summer beach weekend (with gung-gung, the tungs, and the nishimotos).
• we celebrated sienna’s 1st birthday party in the park with elmo.
• i had an awesome 3rd birthday party at disneyland (and a fun weekend in LA with the wolberts).
• we took a family vacation to kauai (with gung-gung and the ang family)!
• we made a lot of great new memories with our families and friends.

2012 was pretty great, but there are some exciting changes coming our way in 2013.  stay tuned!

my friend sierra lives far away.  (we stayed at her house when we went to disneyland earlier this year.)  a couple of years ago, she had a birthday party up here in northern california, so i got to go.  this year, she did it again.  but this time, it was a double party because her baby sister sofia turned 1!

sienna and i dressed up for the party, wearing new clothes that we got as christmas presents.  when sienna wears dresses i tell her that she looks nice 🙂

the party was at her gung-gung’s house.  how cool that she has one, too.  (i thought that my gung-gung was the one and only!)  we spent the day at his house playing and eating and jumping in the bounce house in his backyard.  we actually spent most of our time in the bounce house — jumping, and rolling, and bouncing.  we took breaks every so often, but we went back to the bounce house for round 2 and 3 and 4.

how lucky sierra and sofia are to get to celebrate their birthdays together.  mommy and uncle jamie were both born in november, so they had some joint birthday parties when they were little.  i wish sienna and i could do that too, but our birthdays are more than 2 months apart.  oh well.  happy birthday to sierra and sofia.  so glad that we got to join in on the fun this year!

for my whole life, we’ve always gone to christmas in the park at nighttime.  but this morning, sienna and i met up with matthew and edison to see what it would be like during the day.  auntie mimi and auntie laura met us there too 🙂

i don’t remember all of the displays, but my favorite frogs from the carribean christmas were in their usual spot, and the toy train was chugging along just like in previous years.  i never knew this before, but there is a real train that you can ride, too!  we tried to buy tickets, but the train was broken.  and after seeing those rickety tracks in the daylight, mommy said that we wouldn’t be riding that train even if it was working!

we walked around the whole place, but we didn’t stay too long — maybe an hour or so (including a detour to the fairmont hotel for a potty break).  it just wasn’t the same without the pretty lights and the “snow” and the activities/performances.  plus, it was sooo cold, even with the starbucks bubble milk (steamed milk) that we picked up on the way there.

after leaving the park, we all went to eat lunch together.  and after lunch, we ran around like wild chickens up and down the alley in san pedro square.   that was one of the highlights of our day!  i guess that was one of the benefits of going to christmas in the park in the daytime (aside from being easier to take photos).  but from now on, i think we’ll stick to visiting at night.

we drive around a lot.  and whenever we drive, i talk about and ask questions about everything we see on the road.  “that arrow means go that way.”  “what does ‘U turn’ mean?”  “i see RXR!” (railroad crossing).  “why that sign say ‘NO’?” (as in ‘NO pedestrian crossing’, ‘NO stopping any time’).

my latest fascination is freeways.  i always want to know what freeway we are on.  about a month ago, we were on our way home from galleria (the place we go for dinner every week after gym class), and i asked mommy what freeway we were on.  “101” she said.  the next time we went to galleria, i asked mommy what freeway we were on.  she said “680”. 680?  why we not on 101?  the way home from galleria is 101! (we had taken a different way home because mommy had to stop at the bank.)

my favorite freeway used to be 101, but we’ve been driving on 680 a lot during these past couple of weeks. so that’s my new favorite freeway.

and in case you didn’t know, i have an excellent memory. so whenever i ask what freeway we are on, i remember that that’s the freeway we are supposed to take to get to wherever we are going. who needs a GPS when you have a KQT?

i’ve been learning that around the holdiays, we give presents, and we get presents. and when we get presents, we put them under the tree and open them on christmas day. i also learned that christmas fell on a tuesday this year. so ever since last week, i’ve been asking “what day is today?” and when i got my answer, i’d follow up with “why it not tuesday yet?”

well, today is finally tuesday. and that means it’s christmas. and that means i got to open all my presents!

after breakfast, i looked under the tree and found all the ones that said K-Y-D-E-N next to the “To”. that meant that it was for me. i helped sienna find her presents too. there was even one for koda. i helped sienna open her gifts, and i said stuff like “oooh, sienna, look at that. how cool!” (just like mommy and daddy say to me when i am opening my presents.)

then we went over to grandma and grandpa’s house for lunch. auntie barbara and uncle randy were there, too. there were so many presents under the tree. and guess what — most of them were for me and sienna! i guess that’s what happens when you’re the only kids in the family 😀

after spending the day with the tanakas, we went to grandma and grandpa lau’s (our great aunt and uncle’s) house for dinner. all of mommy’s side of the family was there — everyone from cousins zoey, justin, caitlyn, and jerrod to bak-bak (great grandmother), and all the aunties and uncles in between. guess what. we got to open more presents! i think we need to buy a new house to fit all of our new toys.

when we first got to grandma lau’s house, sienna and i were both tired and grouchy. i warmed up quickly and started playing with my cousins right away. sienna pretty much just clung to mommy. bak-bak really wanted to hold sienna, but sienna wasn’t having it. toward the end of the night, mommy gave bak-bak a tiny piece of jello and told her that she could offer it to sienna to help win her over. it worked! bak-bak ran off with her, and sienna did not protest at all.

a few minutes later, mommy’s intuition kicked in and she suspected something fishy was going on. she went to the next room to check on sienna, and there she was, sitting on the kitchen counter, licking her lips, and looking giddy. bak-bak and grandma lau were feeding her frosted cinnamon buns! what’s wrong with a little sugar on christmas? it’s not the sugar — it’s the egg and wheat! (if you don’t remember, sienna is allergic to both egg and wheat.) mommy protested, and bak-bak looked confused. she knew about the allergies, but didn’t realize that cinnamon rolls had egg and wheat in them. hives started appearing on sienna’s face, but nothing serious. i didn’t get to use the epi pen. darn.

i love christmas. i love seeing all my family (especially cousin caitlyn, who i don’t get to see very often). and i really love opening presents! mommy and daddy make sure i read the tag before unwrapping my gifts so i can remember who gave me what. and whenever i wear/read/play with that gift, mommy always tests me to see if i remember. i get it right about 1/2 the time. but sometimes i just guess.

we got so many great clothes, books, and toys (and in sienna’s case, shoes and shoes and shoes) from our friends and relatives. thank you to all of you for being so thoughtful and generous. merry christmas everyone!

p.s. auntie jan asked me if santa came to our house last night. i told her no, but we saw him on the train. why would she think that santa would come to our house? was i supposed to invite him over?

during the holidays, the niles canyon railway gets all dressed up in christmas lights.  matthew went last year, and he invited us (and auntie mimi) to join him this year.  i love trains and i love lights, so what’s not to love the train of lights!

it was so cool.  i liked all the lights inside and outside of the train.  and the open-air cars were especially cool because you could see the trees and mountains close enough to touch them as we passed them by. and because it was such a cold evening, mommy brought warm milk for us to drink.  i want to drink my milk warm from now on!

we rode the train from niles (in fremont) to sunol, and back.  just as we started back, we santa.  mommy and daddy have never told me about santa, so they were surprised when i exclaimed, “look!  i see santa!  santa lives in the north pole.”  mommy asked me where i learned about santa.  “miss denise.”  of course :).

when santa made his way over to our seats, i leapt into his lap.  literally.  we chatted for a minute, but i don’t remember what we talked about.  i just remember everyone laughing about how comfortable i was with this stranger in a weird red suit.  sienna, not so much.  she wanted nothing to do with him.

we had a great time on the train of lights all the way until all that warm milk made its way through my system.  i had to pee.  badly.  we had to walk through a bunch of cars to find the restrooms, and then we waited for what seemed like a very long time.  and then right when it was my turn, they shut down the restrooms.  (they ran out of water to flush.)  i told mommy that i had to go now and that i couldn’t wait 10 minutes to get back to the train depot.  so we ran up through a few more cars to find the port-a-potty.  one look at that thing, and suddenly i didn’t have to pee so badly anymore.  i actually tried to go in there, but couldn’t.  (mommy didn’t blame me.)

the train of lights was so cool.  thanks for inviting us, matthew!  if you wanna see some of the photos that auntie mimi and daddy took, click here.