dear annie’s and earth’s best:

thank you for your brilliant packaging and marketing tactics.  you have successfully tricked mama into believing that your snack foods are healthy.  little does she know that they are just organic, grossly over-priced versions of other junk food that i am not allowed to eat.

• organic bunny fruit snacks = gummy bears
• bunny graham friends = teddy grahams
• organic snack mix = goldfish crackers and salted pretzels
• sesame street crunchin’ grahams = honey graham sticks
• sesame street crunchin’ crackers = mini ritz crackers
• sesame street yogurt rice crisp bars (not pictured because i ate them all) = rice krispies treats

i still only get to eat a couple of yummy bites at a time, but it’s better than nothing.

i also have a product idea that i’d like to share with you:  cupcakes with lots and lots of frosting.  if you make them organic and package them appropriately, i might be able to convince mama to let me eat them.  that would be terrific.  thanks for your consideration.

a loyal consumer,

kyden

today was the last soccer class of this session.  mama didn’t sign me up for next session because, well, for a couple of reasons.

1. it’s at a bad time (5:00pm on saturdays).  almost every time i made it to class, mama or dada had to wake me up to go.  and i actually slept through class a couple of times.
2. mama thinks that i’m not very into soccer.  i don’t laugh with excitement when i’m playing soccer like i do when i’m swimming or at the gym.  after class today, i told mama and dada that soccer is fun.  they were both surprised that i said that because they don’t think i look like i’m having fun.  i think that’s just ‘cuz i’m always groggy during soccer class.

so, no more soccer for now.  but i do plan to start playing again at some point.  maybe next year.

as soon as we got home from soccer this evening, i took my balance bike out for the first time.  in case you don’t know what a balance bike is, it’s an alternative to tricycles for little kids like me.  there are two wheels like a real bike, no pedals for our feet to slip off of, and no training wheels to become dependent on.  you’re just supposed to run, and then when you get enough momentum, you pull your feet up onto the footrests, and balance.  i guess that’s why it’s called a balance bike — or, as mama calls it, a “run bike”.  i corrected mama.  mine is not a run bike, it’s a “slow bike”. watch the video 🙂

(and now that i’ve watched the video, i realize that mama and sienna made my seat too high when they assembled my bike. i’m going to ask them to lower my seat so i can really run next time!)

after we got home from san diego, mama turned right back around and flew out to (dallas) texas for work.  miss denise hung out with me, sienna, and koda during the day, and dada took care of us at nighttime.  (gung-gung helped, too.) sienna was fine, but i wanted mama.

whenever mama travels for work (or even goes out for a couple of hours), dada always posts on facebook about how tough a time he’s having. mama never believes him. so this time, he made a video.

this time, dada wasn’t exaggerating. i cried. a lot. i said “kyden want/need mama” and “kyden go texas” over and over again.  thank goodness for facetime. mama was gone for two nights, and we facetimed for over an hour each night. i counted her teeth, we read books, and we sang songs — just like we do when she is home.

on the second night, auntie mimi (who was in texas with mama) put two fingers up behind mama’s head. mama asked me what was growing out of her head. she thought i was going to say “fingers” and auntie mimi was going for “bunny ears”.  instead, i very proudly said “number 2!”. mama and auntie mimi thought that was hilarious. i don’t know what was so funny. it was the number 2. auntie’s fingers aren’t bunny ears.

well, i hope mama doesn’t have to go to texas again.  but if she does, i want to go with her.  and if i can’t do that, at least we have facetime.

one of the freebies that everyone got with their race registrations was a one-day pass to sea world.  cool!  so of course we had to stay an extra day and go.  i had already been to sea world last year, but this was sienna’s first time, so everything was new to her.  actually, it was new to me too, because almost everything we did was different than last time.

• mama had a red bird land on her arm.  not sure why that bird was hanging out at sea world.
• we saw some llamas.   i don’t know why they were at sea world either.  they must have followed the bird there.
• we watched the people on the journey to atlantis boat ride get drenched.  there were coin-operated water cannons that spectators could use to spray the riders.  i could have done that all day long!
• i fed fish to the sea lions.  there were feeder tubes built into the plexiglass walls, but i didn’t understand why they were there.  i just threw the fish over the railing.  and then guess what.  a bird swooped down and snatched the fish!  boo.  oh, that’s what the feeder tubes are for.
• we went to see the penguins.  this was our only repeat exhibit.  we had to go because sienna loves penguins.  (remember?  from the monterey bay aquarium.)
• we watched dolphins swim around in the pool. mama has been telling me that dolphins live in the ocean, and i keep correcting her. see, i’m right. they live in pools.
• we played for a long time in the sesame street bay of play.  auntie barbara and i climbed up the gigantic rope net.  after all that climbing, there’s a big slide to go down.  i wasn’t allowed to go on it because i am too little.  all that work for nothing 🙁
• dada and i went on abby’s sea star spin. (think spinning tea cups.)  mama and dada were pretty sure that i wasn’t going to like it, but i insisted.  they were right.  i didn’t like it and i wanted it to stop RIGHT NOW.  so did dada 😛
• we watched a sesame street show and got to take pictures with zoe, elmo, and cookie monster!  sienna is going to be so bummed when she sees this photo because she fell asleep right before we got there.  elmo is fun!  (that’s what a told mama later that day.)
• we rode up in the skytower.  my idea.

that was pretty much our day at sea world.   dada, uncle randy, and i were so inspired by all the sea animals that we went for a swim when we got back to auntie barbara’s house.  i was trying to teach uncle randy how to swim because he is thinking about doing a triathlon next year.  i showed him “big arms, big arms, and kick kick kick kick kick!”  after we swam, we ate a quick dinner, then headed to the airport.

during the whole trip, neither sienna or i slept well because of all the excitement and the unfamiliar environment (which means that mama didn’t get much sleep either).  and as i mentioned in previous posts, i missed mama when i woke up on sunday while she was out running, and my ears hurt during the descent on the flight home.  but even still, the weekend was awesome and the trip was super fun.  i had so much fun that i didn’t ask for koda 100 times like i did when we went to san diego last year. (but whenever auntie or grandma wasn’t with us, i asked “where barbara/grandma go?”)

i want to make this an annual tanaka family tradition, including the running challenge.  can someone please help me convince dada?

the main reason why we went to san diego last weekend was for the rock ‘n’ roll half marathon.  “CALL US A CAB!!!” (mama and auntie barbara) vs. “He’s Fast, I’m Furious” (dada and uncle randy).  based on everyone’s estimated pace, the boys were favored to win by less than 10 minutes.  10 minutes.  keep that number in mind.

the day before race day, we had to go to the race expo to register and pick up shirts, gear bags, and relay batons.  that was fun.  the convention center was packed with sponsors giving away free stuff at every turn.  there were even slot machines and blackjack tables (promoting the las vegas rock ‘n’ roll marathon).  i won lots of fake money on the slots.  uncle randy managed to score  a month’s supply of tuna.  i guess the tuna girl thought he looked hungry.  (sienna had fun playing with the tuna.  apparently, so did grandpa.)

on the morning of the race, auntie and uncle (leg 1 runners) headed out at 4:30am.  since all the roads were closed, they had to take the trolley to the start line.  uncle randy is super fast, so he planned to start in corral 2, where the fastest non-elite runners line up.  auntie and uncle headed toward the front of the line, but they got separated in the sea of 30,000 runners.  so auntie barbara went to corral 2, searching for uncle randy.  uncle randy went to the information booth to call auntie barbara.  he had her drumstick (which was to be used as the relay baton)!

before they knew it, the starting gun went off.  auntie barbara was in corral 2 with the super fast runners, so she just started running with them (and no drumstick).  uncle randy was still at the information booth.  he left the girls’ drumstick there and made his way to the starting line.  by the time he got there 10 minutes later, he was running with corral 12.  he had to zig zag around all the slower runners to make his way to the front of the pack.

well, both teams finished the race, and i am so proud of them!  (i’d had my doubts.)  i am especially proud of dada and auntie — it was their first race ever, and they both did awesome.  uncle randy was super fast, finishing his leg at sub-8 minute pace, even though he had to weave his way around all those slow runners.  and mama was just silly — she ate a lollipop and an otterpop while running, and she posted updates and photos to facebook along the way.  the tanaka boys were faster (by almost 40 minutes) but the tanaka girls had way more fun — even without a drumstick.  and mama says that the boys are sandbaggers!

while everyone was running, grandma and grandpa stayed back to take care of me and sienna.  sienna was fine.  i was not.  i needed mama.  i refused to eat the breakfast that grandma made for me.  i wanted to eat with mama.  i cried and cried and kept saying “kyden needs mama” over and over again.  grandpa took me out outside to watch the race to see if we could see mama running by.  (the race course runs right past auntie barbara’s place.)  we didn’t see mama.  it turns out that mama, dada, auntie, and uncle had already finished running and made the 2.5 mile walk back to auntie’s house before 10:00am.  when they came back, there were still people running (and walking) the course.  i’m glad that mama wasn’t that slow, because i was hungry!

remember when mama and dada went crazy and signed up for the san diego rock ‘n’ roll 1/2 marathon?  it was last weekend.  as soon as mama told me about it, i was so excited.  i wanted to go to san diego RIGHT NOW.  i wanted to go on an airplane RIGHT NOW.  wanted to see auntie barbara RIGHT NOW.

friday night, we went to the airport. dada dropped all of us off with all of our stuff.  we curb-checked two suitcases and two car seats.  mama wore sienna in the ergo carrier, put the carry ons in the stroller, and i helped push the stroller.  dada went to park the car, and then met us inside the terminal.  easy breezy!  (there was a moment of panic when mama realized that she forgot to bring sienna’s birth certificate, but it turns out that an immunization record is good enough to verify the birthdate of a lap child.)  going through security was even easier than the last time we traveled because sienna was allowed to stay in the ergo and i was allowed to keep my shoes on.  cool.

mama and dada thought they were being so smart by booking the last flight out — they figured that sienna and i would just sleep on the plane.  wrong.  i didn’t sleep at all.  sienna only slept for the last ~10 minutes.  i sat next to the window so that i could watch as we took off, went up in the air, flew through the clouds, and back down.  it was my 7th time on airplane, but the first time i got my own seat.  it was sienna’s first time on a plane, ever.  she’s still little, so she just sat in my lap.  (really, she sat in mama’s lap, but she sat in my lap for a photo.)

the flight to san diego was easy.  both sienna and i were perfect little angels.  on the return flight, however, i fell asleep.  i woke up when we hit turbulence on the descent, and i had trouble making my ears pop.  i shrieked at the top of my lungs for a couple of minutes while dada dug my drink cup out of his backpack.  after drinking a few sips, my ears were all better.  but for the few minutes prior, i was THAT kid on the plane.  sorry.  my bad.

anyway, back to san diego.  auntie barbara picked us up from the airport and and brought us back to her house.  auntie barbara’s house is better than any full-service all-inclusive resort.  all of these things were waiting for us when we arrived.

• our favorite foods and drinks (baby puffs, organic pears, strawberries, milk, apple juice, etc.)
• lots of clothes (the photo doesn’t even include the bikinis, flip flops, and sun hat that auntie got for sienna)
• awesome toys (lite-brite and leapfrog shapes and sharing picnic basket)
• diapers and wipes
• cars themed toddler toothpaste
• baby shampoo and body wash
• special laundry detergent that we use for sienna’s sensitive skin
• beds all made up for everyone (including a mattress for me and a pack ‘n play for sienna)

we didn’t really even need to pack!  but that’s not all.  all of our clothes, towels, and linens had been washed in sienna’s special laundry detergent.  auntie barbara let us use her car all weekend.  and she even did our laundry while we were there so we wouldn’t have to bring stinky clothes home in our suitcases.  now that‘s service!  auntie barbara is the awesomest, and her house is the best vacation spot ever!  i expect the same level of service from all our vacation spots from now on 😀

during the weekend, mama, dada, auntie barbara, and uncle randy had their relay challenge, and we also went to sea world.  more about those adventures in my next posts.

i had a couple of rough days recently.  last week, i had a hard time at school.  and over the weekend, i had a freakish flukey potty day.

i started school at the beginning of the month.  i go to school 2 days a week, afternoons only.  on my first day, i cried for 15 minutes when mama dropped me off.  on the second day, i cried for 5 minutes.  and after that, no more crying.  each time i went to school i got more and more comfortable, and miss shawna (my teacher) said that my personality was really starting to show.  i’d been having so much fun that when mama came to pick me up in the evenings, i was always so busy playing (usually cooking in the play kitchen) that i wouldn’t want to leave.

so last wednesday, when mama came to pick me up from school, she was shocked and heartbroken to find me sobbing uncontrollably.  miss shawna was holding me, and i was trying to say “kyden needs mama”, but i was crying too hard to speak.  i hadn’t been crying all afternoon — just for 15 minutes or so.  mama thought something must have happened, like maybe another kid was being mean to me or something like that, but miss shawna assured her that that wasn’t the case.  after i finally settled down, i told mama that nothing happened, i just missed her.  i had skipped my nap that day (which i have been doing about 2 times/week), so that explained a lot.  i can get really fussy and emotionally fragile when i don’t nap.

PROBLEM:  crying at school.  SOLUTION:  nap.

so that was last wednesday.  and then on sunday, after having used the potty successfully for almost 3 months, i pooped in my underwear.  on purpose.  and then i did it again.  and again.  that’s right, three times.  on purpose.  did i mention that i did it on purpose?

mama and dada were frustrated, but mostly just confused.  they didn’t understand what the heck was going on.  and i didn’t give them any clues, either.  but then mama found out that one of my friends did the same thing for an entire year.  and the problem was that she was constipated.  i was a little constipated that day, too.  don’t you get it?  for one thing, it’s easier to push when you’re in the asian squat position (my location of choice was under the table) than when you’re sitting on the potty concentrating on not falling into the toilet.  and for another thing, who wants to strain and grunt in front of their parents?  how embarrassing, right?  another mystery solved.

PROBLEM:  non-accidental poopie “accidents”.  SOLUTION:  more fiber.

so yeah, it was a tough couple of days, but i’m happy to report that i had a good day at school today.  and i haven’t had any potty “accidents” since that triple poop sunday.  aside from my no-nap days (which are happening more and more frequently), i think it’s safe to say that i’m back on track.  whew!

i have a skating buddy!  usually when i go skating, i go by myself.  mama and koda come too, but they walk.  and sienna usually cruises in my cozy coupe.  today, kai came over and we went skating around the neighborhood together.  fun! 🙂

about half way down the block, i insisted on pushing sienna in the cozy coupe.  when i stopped to put “gas” in the tank, sienna leaned out to see what i was doing.  and kai didn’t waste any time making his move — he got right up in there and put his hand on sienna’s!  WTH?  i didn’t wait around to see what he was going to do next.  as soon as i saw what was going on, i made my way over there (a little unsteady on my skates) and smacked his hand and swatted it away.  (dada said it was his proudest moment.)

you might think i am overreacting, but i’m not.  all day long, kai had been hugging on sienna.  and at one point, he went upstairs to my room, got a stuffed animal to give to her, and then invited her to go upstairs with him.  i’m not joking.  and don’t forget that this is not the first time that kai and sienna have “hung out” together.

i like having a skating buddy, but i’m gonna have to keep a close eye on that kai when sienna is around.  it’s tough being a big brother.

(click here for more skating photos.)

matthew, logan, and i used to be the three musketeers.  we’ve been on lots of fun adventures together.  we’ve hung out at CDM.  we’ve trick-or-treated at happy hollow.  we’ve played at gilroy gardens.  we’ve ridden thomas the train.  we’ve even gone bowling together.  well guess what.  our posse is growing.

today when we went to gilroy gardens, there were 7 of us (not including parents)!  it was the three of us musketeers, plus edison and greyson and mason and sienna.  between the membership card photos (since it was our first trip of the season) and all the diaper changes and potty breaks, we didn’t make it on to very many rides.  that’s okay though, it was fun hanging out with everyone.  and we did manage to ride on the train — that’s my favorite.  we got to drive the old-fashioned cars, too.  mama and dada thought my driving skills might have improved since i’ve been practicing around the neighborhood in my lightning mcqueen motorized car, but that did not seem to be the case… at all.  see video.

and in case you didn’t notice, sienna spent the day with 6 boys.  (i hope this is not a sign of things to come.  ugh.)  i guess we’re not the three musketeers anymore.  maybe we’re more like snow white and the six dw–  hey wait a minute…

(click here for more photos from our gilroy gardens outing.)

mama says that i am a smartass.  i didn’t know what that meant, so i googled it.  it means that my butt is smart.  i disagree.  all of me is smart.

when dada tells me not to put my feet on the dinner table, i put my hand on the table and rest my foot on my hand.  dada should be happy that my foot is not on the table, right?

when mama is cooking, she tells me not to touch certain things on the counter.  so i don’t.  i put my hands in the oven mitts, and the mitts touch the things on the counter.

when mama asks me to put my head on my pillow to take a nap, i get into a downward dog yoga pose.  but i make sure my head is on my pillow, just like mama asked.

i find solutions that make everybody happy.  see how smart i am?  it’s not just my butt that’s smart.