sienna is 17 months old

Posted by kyden on Friday Dec 21, 2012 Under sienna

things she likes:

  • giving kisses.  i know i said that she liked giving kisses before, but she’s taken it to a whole new level.  sometimes, mommy wakes up to sienna giving her mouth-to-mouth.  sometimes sienna kisses people that she doesn’t even know very well.  the worst is when i’m crying, and sienna comes up to me and hugs and kisses me.  everyone oohs and aahs about how cute she is and forgets that i am upset.
  • talking.  sienna likes to talk, but there are a lot of things that she can’t say yet.  i always ask mommy and daddy why sienna says “meel” instead of “milk”, “mama” instead of “mommy”, and doesn’t even try to say things like “good morning”.  they always remind me that sienna is still a baby.  (and actually, she talks a lot more than i did at her age!)
  • playing follow-the-leader.  but she always insists on leading.  actually, she just drags people around to where she wants them to go.
  • walking up and down the stairs.  she doesn’t like to crawl up or slide down on her tummy anymore.  i always yell at her “sienna, turn out!  that not safe!”  but she doesn’t listen to me.
  • hitting.  she doesn’t hit very hard, but she does it a lot.  i’ve been trying to teach her to pet me gently, just like everyone taught me to do with koda.
  • dancing.  i think she’s actually going to be a pretty good dancer when she gets older.  i think she wants to be a belly dancer.
  • mama’s belly button.  at this age, i liked poking mommy’s belly button, too.  but that’s because mommy’s tummy was getting really big which sienna growing inside.  sienna just likes to jam her finger into mommy’s belly button when she’s nursing.  nobody understands it.

things she doesn’t like:

  • sleeping.  she wakes up several times a night, and refuses to go back to sleep.  it’s not that she can’t soothe herself back to sleep — she flat out refuses.  sometimes, mommy or daddy camp out in her room so that if sienna wakes up, she’ll be comforted by knowing that they’re there.  but sienna tries to tip toe past them so she can go find someone to play with.
  • mommy’s laptop.  when mommy tries to work on her laptop, sienna swats mommy’s hands away from the keyboard.
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reaching the top

Posted by kyden on Friday Dec 21, 2012 Under Uncategorized

my first time seeing a belly dancer was 2 years ago.  actually, that was my only time seeing a belly dancer until tonight.

we went out to dinner with mommy and daddy’s volleyball team and their families.  as we were finishing our food, a belly dancer came to entertain us.  all of us kids (there were 8 of us) gathered around to watch.  sienna got really into it, shaking her groove thing.  uncle greg asked her if she was going to be a belly dancer when she grew up, and she said yes!  don’t tell daddy.

after the belly dancer finished dancing, i wanted to tip her.  mommy gave me a dollar and told me to go tuck it into the waistband of her skirt, just like logan did.  but i told mommy that i couldn’t reach her top, so i needed her to carry me.  mommy laughed.  i don’t know what was so funny.  that’s how i learned to do it when i was 1.

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my first job

Posted by kyden on Friday Dec 21, 2012 Under Uncategorized

i got a job today. it was just a one day gig (really, only 30 minutes), but i had to apply for the job and everything. and i even got paid, so that definitely counts. so what does a 3 year-old do for work? product testing for leapfrog!

when we first arrived at leapfrog, i was very excited.  the lobby of their kid testing lab has fun colorful furniture, a tv, a leappad, and lots of other things to play with.  i took my job very seriously, so i went right to work playing with that leappad.  but it turned out that my real job hadn’t started yet.

a lady came out and called me into a smaller room that had a big mirror on one wall.  she started asking me some questions, but i got a little shy and didn’t want to talk much.  mommy helped out by asking the lady her name, then introducing me to her like a friend.  that helped me get a little more comfortable.  (you would think that someone who facilitates kid testing for a living with be a little better at talking to children!)

the first thing we did was look at pictures and talk about them.  those questions were easy.  it was elmo, grover, big bird, and the sesame street gang.  i got all of them right.  and then the lady gave me a leapster explorer game system.  there was a camera mounted to it, which made it a little awkward to hold.  it also requires the use of a stylus, which is a skinny little plastic pen attached to the right side of the device.  it was hard for me to hold the stylus at all, and i kept putting it in my right hand (since that’s where it was attached) even thought i’m left handed.  there were lots of times that i touched the screen, but i had to tap several times for it to register.

anyway, i got to play a learning game where grover kept calling me “super psychic” and asking me for help doing different things.  i had to balance a boat by putting an equal number of pigs on each side.  i had to put wheels on a race car and then help it speed through town collecting chickens.  and then i had to go around a room with a magnet collecting all the metal things.  random.  it took me a little while to get the hang of it, but i had fun playing the game.  (from what mommy could see by peeking over my shoulder, she thought it was just eh.)

after we were done, i went back out to the lobby to collect my payment.  a different lady came out and talked to mommy about me and my interests.  i wanted a leappad, but she said that was out of her budget.  i ended up getting a leapfrog tag reading system.  it’s cool!  when the lady gave it to me, i announced that i was going to put it under my tree when i got home.  and so i did.

going to work isn’t so bad — it’s actually pretty fun and i can’t wait to do it again!  i don’t get why grown ups complain about work all the time.

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off off off broadway

Posted by kyden on Thursday Dec 20, 2012 Under Uncategorized

we had a holiday party at school today.  mommy, gung-gung, and sienna came.  daddy thought the holiday party was at my gym, so he went there.  boo.  i’m not sure if mommy needs to communicate better or if daddy needs to listen better.  what do you think?

it was a great party.  we sang and danced to 5 songs.  (sort of.)  we gave our parents the presents we made for them.  (ornaments that we decorated with our photo, some glitter, and paint.  mommy and daddy loved it.)  we ate pizza.  and as we left, we all got presents!

our performance didn’t really go as planned.  we had been practicing at school for weeks.  i’d even been practicing at home by myself.  (mommy and daddy wondered where i had learned all these new songs!)  my friends and i had been doing great during rehearsals, and our teachers had been prepping us for the big audience that we were going to have tonight.  but still, two of my friends wouldn’t even stand up on the stage.  their daddies had to sit with them.  some others sat up there next to me but didn’t really participate.  i did all the hand motions and dance moves, but sang very quietly.  i guess we all got a little bit of stage fright.

mommy started recording our performance, but her iphone ran out of storage space before the end of the first song.  she frantically deleted apps between songs, but that wasn’t enough.  and daddy…  well, he was stuck in traffic trying to drive to my school from my gym.  he missed the whole thing 🙁

our teacher, miss shawna, was disappointed that our families didn’t get to see the result of all of our weeks of hard work.  she joked that she was going to have us rehearse one more time and record it.  i’m not sure if that’s really going to happen.  so for now, you’ll have to settle for this:

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super parties at super franks

Posted by kyden on Thursday Dec 20, 2012 Under Uncategorized

we went to super franks today.  daddy and i had been there before.  it was for matthew’s 3rd birthday party back in 2010 i was only 8 months old.  i don’t remember why i didn’t blog about it, but i think i have some photos from that party somewhere.  oh.  there they are.  maybe that’s why i didn’t post anything back then 😛

the party was in super frank’s fish tank room, and it was fun, i guess.  i mean, it was as much fun as you can have in a glow-in-the-dark foam pit and jumpy house and ride-on toys when you’re 8 months old.

well, we were back in the fish tank today for isaac’s 3rd birthday party.  super franks is a big venue with lots of different theme rooms, but i guess the fish tank is the happenin’ spot for 3 year olds.

my favorite part thing about the fish tank is that it makes my socks turn blue!  mommy said that it’s the black lights make my white socks glow in the dark, but i don’t think they were glowing.  i think they were blue.

i had a fun time diving into the foam pit and jumping in the bounce house.  sienna was not a fan of the jumpy house, but she had fun riding around on the jet skis and playing with other toys.  she and isaac even played bumper jet skis for a little while.

we had a great time at isaac’s party.  maybe i’ll celebrate my birthday at super franks one of these days.  i wonder which room the 4 year olds hang out in 🙂

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christmas is a time for giving… and stealing

Posted by kyden on Saturday Dec 15, 2012 Under Uncategorized

for the past 3 years (which is practically since the beginning of time) uncle ritchie and auntie margaret have been throwing holiday parties at their house. they always have fun kid activities, lots of yummy food, and a super fun gift exchange. and, they live in a neighborhood that lights up like las vegas at christmastime, so we always walk around all look at all the cool decorations.

this year, we made and decorated snowmen made of foam cutouts. we ate yummy food. and we walked around outside to get a closer look at the 2-story-tall snowman, the giant inflatable mickey santa, and all the other decorations and lights around the neighborhood.

and then there was the best part — the gift exchange. opening presents is always fun, but i especially like this gift exchange because it’s the one time each year that i am allowed (and encouraged) to take toys from other people! this year, i picked number 7. that means that i had to sit there and watch six other people open their presents before me. when it was finally my turn, i had the option to open a new present or pick one of the things that was already opened. there was a set of wine glasses, a set of pint glasses, a roasting pan, a travel clock w/ photo frame, hot wheels wall tracks, and a remote control car. so guess what i picked. if you think i chose the excitement of unwrapping a new present, you’re wrong. car? wrong again. hot wheels? nope. i picked the travel clock.

i was SO EXCITED to steal the travel clock. (the person i stole it from was very happy about it, too. :P) mommy and daddy asked me many times if i was sure. yes, i’m sure. don’t i want the remote control car instead? no, i want the clock! i was so happy to have the travel clock. that is, until auntie mimi opened a new present — a set of toy keys and a bath toy. i immediately ran over, tossed my clock at her, and stole her toys. that’s how it works, right? apparently not. mommy explained to me that it wasn’t my turn any more. i don’t get it.

it all worked out in the end, though. auntie mimi and i negotiated an off-line trade. thanks for accepting my trade “offer”, auntie mimi! (as if you had a choice…) and thanks to uncle ritchie and auntie margaret for another great holiday party!

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looking at pictures

Posted by kyden on Thursday Dec 13, 2012 Under Uncategorized

at sienna’s 12 month check up, our pediatrician recommended that i be evaluated for an articulation disorder.  nobody else seems to think that i have any speech problems, but since the doctor said so, we listened.  i had to wait until i turned 3 to be evaluated by the school district, and i finally had my appointment today.

mommy woke me up early this morning and took me to meet a new teacher, miss lisa.  when we arrived in her classroom, she introduced herself to mommy and me.  i introduced myself, too.  “my name is kyden.  K-Y-D-E-N.”  and then i started chatting away, as usual.  “look mommy, i see a school bus!”, as i pointed to a cardboard cutout on the door.  i pointed out lots of other cool things that i saw, too.  after less than a minute, the teacher was questioning why we were there — she didn’t seem to think that there was anything to be concerned about.  but since we were there, we proceeded with the evaluation.

as first, miss lisa just showed me pictures, and i described them.  i do that at home all the time.  i’m good at looking at pictures and talking about them.  that part was easy.  but then it got harder.  like, she would say “sally is swimming.  now she is done.  what did she do?”  i said “swim”.  i got that one wrong.  i was supposed to say “she swam”.  and then miss lisa showed me some pictures and i had to figure out which one didn’t belong.  one page had a picture of a boat, a car, a plane, and a chair.  she asked me which one “didn’t go”.  i said the boat.  i doesn’t “go”, because you have to row it.  mommy said that i made a good point (even though that was the wrong answer).

like i said, it just got harder and harder.  in one of the last exercises, miss lisa listed some things that are hot:  the sun, a stove, a fire.  and then she said that if i wanted to describe something as very hot, i could say that it is as hot as a _____.”   i was supposed to think of something else that is very hot?  in that moment, mommy couldn’t even think of any other hot things.

two hours later, i was over it.  i was having trouble sitting still, and i wasn’t paying much attention to miss lisa anymore.  we ran over our allotted time (and another kid was waiting), but miss lisa told mommy that we had to keep going until i missed 5 in a row.  i think we got to the questions for 5 or 6 year-olds before i gave 5 incorrect responses in a row.

mommy and i will get the official readout next month, but miss lisa told us (unofficially) that there is absolutely nothing to be concerned about with regard to my speech.  yes, i have trouble articulating certain sounds right now (like Y and CH), but that is normal for my age.  those sounds are not expected to emerge until age 5, and others continue to develop until age 7!

miss lisa said that i speak like a very smart 3 year old.  well thanks, miss lisa.  i knew i liked her.

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kauai vacation, part 2: vacation recap

Posted by kyden on Saturday Dec 8, 2012 Under Uncategorized

our home away from home on kauai was a 5 bedroom “guitar house” on a golf course near poipu (on the south shore).  i call it the “guitar house” because it came with a ukelele, which isaac and i shared (read: fought over) every day.  we had 4700 sq. ft. to play in, but sienna, isaac and i liked to hang out in a little cubby hole under the microwave oven.  my favorite thing about the house, aside from the “guitar”, was the jacuzzi on the back deck. we went out to explore the island every day, but any time we had some down time at the house, i went swimming in the warm water.

here’s a recap of what we did and where we ate every day.  (if you want to skip the words and just go straight to the photos, click here.)

FRIDAY (11/30):  arrived on kauai.  lunch at pho kauai.  shopping at walmart and living foods (an overpriced organic market — think whole foods meets dean & deluca) to stock up for the week.  takeout dinner from tomkat’s grille.

SATURDAY (12/1):  played at poipu beach.  lunch at koloa fish market.  shopping at big save (to get more food since living foods was so freaking expensive).  dinner at merriman’s downstairs cafe.

SUNDAY (12/2):  all the grandparents went on a bus tour around the island.  us kids and our parents drove up the west side of the island to the waimea canyon lookout.  lunch at grinds cafe. visited the kauai kookie company factory storefront.  bought food and cooked dinner at the house.

MONDAY (12/3): headed up to the north shore. played at ha’ena beach. explored maniniholo dry cave. drank coconut water from a real coconut. lunch at chicken in a barrel in hanalei.  played at the AMAZING playground at lydgate park.  (mama and sienna also checked out the beach on the other side of the parking lot.)  dinner at kauai pasta.

TUESDAY (12/4):  lunch at mark’s place.  rode the train through kilohana plantation.  checked out the blowhole at spouting horn.  stayed in for dinner at our guitar house.

WEDNESDAY (12/5):  lunch at brick oven pizza.  tried to go kayaking up the wailua river, but all the kayak rentals shops were closed because of the previous night’s storm.  played at anahola beach.  dinner at restaurant 2978.

THURSDAY (12/6):  mommy and daddy went on a 2-tank boat dive in the morning.  stayed in for lunch.  played at poipu beach.  ordered take out from keoki’s paradise for dinner.

FRIDAY (12/7):  we said bye-bye to the guitar house.  played at the playground at poipu beach park.  lunch at randy’s boxed lunch.  got on the airplane to go home.

kauai highlights:

  • plenty of room to spread out on the plane.  mommy was sneaky and selected alternating seats for us.  luckily, nobody booked the seats in between us.
  • our guitar house.  i kept asking “whose house is this?”
  • swimming in the warm water (jacuzzi) at the house
  • sleeping in the same room with mommy and daddy
  • our rented minivan with electric doors that i could open and close just by pushing a button!  i kept asking “whose car is this?”
  • no rain… almost.  every day while we were on kauai, the weather forecast said 60% chance of rain.  we didn’t get rained on at all, except for one stormy night that had the loudest thunder that any of us had ever heard.  the flashing sky (lightning) was cool!
  • free samples at the kauai cookie company
  • body surfing in the ocean waves
  • the playground at lydgate park.  it’s the biggest and coolest play structure i’ve ever seen!
  • giving sienna rides on the boogie board.  every time she got/fell off, i yelled out “who’s next?!”
  • the big turtle that we saw just hanging out by the reef at the beach.  some locals said that it was against the law to touch it, so we didn’t.  we are law-abiding citizens.
  • sienna really loved her first time playing in the ocean
  • sienna also enjoyed feeding the goats at kilohana plantation
  • mommy and daddy got to go scuba diving and swam with lots of turtles.  i didn’t get to go, but i got to watch the video of all the dolphins they saw on the boat ride.
  • hanging out with the ang family (especially dragging isaac’s grandparents around the house) all week.  “i wanna show you something!” hooked them every time.

kauai lowlights

  • bumpy airplane ride (turbulence)
  • mosquitoes.  mommy got bitten a LOT.  maybe 15-20 times.  (sienna and i didn’t get bitten at all.)
  • mommy got stung by a bee for the first time while we were body surfing.  what kind of bee hangs out in the ocean???  (the bee rode in on a wave and crashed into mommy’s leg.  literally.)
  • it’s difficult to find local food that you can eat when you are allergic to wheat (and eggs and peanuts).  and when i say “you”, i mean sienna.
  • lots of places were closed on sunday.  we wanted to check out downtown hanapepe, but most of the shops were closed.  so were all of the highly-rated local spots on west side of the island.
  • no kayaking after a big storm.  we were so disappointed because we were really looking forward to “row row your boat”.

and now that we’re home, i realize that there’s another kauai highlight that i forgot to mention.  warm weather!  when i went out this morning, i asked “why is it cold outside?”  i keep telling mommy “i want to go back to hawaii.”  she always responds, “me too.”

i am already looking forward to our next trip to hawaii, but i think it’s going to be another couple of years before we go back.  so in the meantime, i’ll just keep looking at pictures from our trip.  if you want to look at them too, just click here!

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kauai vacation, part 1: party plane

Posted by kyden on Friday Nov 30, 2012 Under Uncategorized

remember how i had a destination birthday party?  mommy did too.  her birthday was today, and we celebrated in hawaii.  well, since we spent 6 hours on the plane, it was really more like we celebrated her birthday on the way to hawaii.  it was our family (including gung-gung), plus isaac, his parents (auntie viki and uncle warren) and and isaac’s 3 grandparents all going to kauai together.  that makes 11 of us.  auntie viki brought happy birthday beads for mommy and tiaras for everyone else.  have you ever heard of a party bus?  well, this was a party plane.

i wasn’t really in a party mood in the beginning.  mommy thought my ears were bothering me, so she gave me one of sienna’s fruit pouches to suck on to help me pop my ears.  i ended up throwing it all up.  the airplane was too bumpy (turbulence).  but after i threw up and the flight smoothed out, i felt much better.

the 6-hour flight went by pretty quickly.  it helped that isaac shared his ipad with me.  we sat next to each other and took turns flinging angry birds.  sienna actually got a free digiplayer.  apparently, they are free to all first class passengers, and someone was nice enough to donate his player to a kid at the back of the plane.  sienna was the lucky recipient.  she didn’t actually watch any movies though — she had more fun playing with the ear buds.

this was sienna’s first long flight and she did great.  she even laid out across two seats and took a nap!  she paid for 0 seats, but she took up 2.  nice, huh?  sienna was unfazed by the bumpy flight.  i think she even liked it.  when we landed, we hit the ground pretty hard and were jostled around a bit.  most people were gripping onto their armrests, but sienna started laughing and clapping.  she’s definitely going to be the adrenaline junkie in the family.

well, we made it to kauai.  more about our trip in the next post(s).

oh, and happy birthday mommy!

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so many things to love about mommy

Posted by kyden on Wednesday Nov 28, 2012 Under sienna

mommy went out this afternoon, and when she came back, her hair was gone.  this is the conversation we had.

me: mommy! what happened to you?

mommy: what, you don’t like my haircut?

me: yeah. i sure do!

mommy: do you like my hair better long or short?

me: long.

mommy: just like daddy. *sigh*

see, daddy has always said that his love for mommy is directly correlated with the length of her hair.  he even said that getting her hair cut could be grounds for divorce.  this is the conversation that mommy and daddy had when he saw her.

mommy:  hi baby 🙂

daddy:  hi stranger 😐

he didn’t look at her the rest of the night.

sienna, on the other hand, didn’t even notice mommy’s (lack of) hair.  all she cared about was her boobs.  as soon as mommy came home, sienna crawled into her lap and pulled down on her shirt, like always.  mommy is trying to wean her, so she said no.  sienna didn’t give up, though.  she continued to claw at her chest, tried to rip off her shirt, and cried and cried until mommy finally gave in.  they went upstairs and mommy nursed her.

i was easy to wean because when mommy didn’t offer, i didn’t ask.  sienna asks.  actually, she demands.  loudly.  i think she might be breastfeeding until she’s 5.

see, we all love different things about mommy.  sienna loves mommy’s boobs.  daddy loves mommy’s hair.  i just love mommy.

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