i like getting food for koda, but i don’t like it when he rushes me. when he starts whining, i make him wait even longer. use your words, koda. that’s what mama and dada say to me when i whine.
since mama was playing hooky from work today, she invited auntie sophie over to visit. so after lunch, auntie sophie came over, and she brought a new friend for me to meet — baby max. he is 10 weeks old.
our first meeting was a little awkward. when i sat next to him on the couch, he made the biggest poo explosion i’ve ever heard in my life. i don’t actually know if there was an explosion in there or not, but it sure sounded like it. and i wasn’t taking any chances. so i quickly moved away from him, then decided to climb off of the couch altogether.
after that, i tried to keep my distance from baby max, but mama kept encouraging me to hang out with him. i just stared at him, wondering when the next bomb was going to drop. but eventually, we were okay. we high fived. we fist-bumped. i even showed him lion, and i think he liked him. he wasn’t interested in playing with my cars and ride-on rockets though, so i mostly played by myself.
at one point i looked up and saw mama holding baby max on her lap. i pleaded “no, no, no” in the saddest, most pathetic voice i could, but she didn’t listen. she just told me that she still loved me and asked me to sit next to her so that she could hold me with her free arm. but luckily, baby max listened to me. he started fussing, so mama gave him back to auntie sophie. i hugged mama and signed “thank you”. there is only room for one baby in this house!
while auntie sophie was feeding baby max, mama tried to put me down for my nap. okay, seriously? you think i’m gonna leave a cute baby alone with mama? needless to say, i refused to take my nap. when i came back downstairs, i didn’t see baby max. i ran all around the house calling “baby?” and looked for him everywhere. i even checked under the table and under the pillows on the couch. he wasn’t there. but then i saw his toes sticking out from under auntie’s nursing cover! he was hiding from me 😛
once i realized that baby max was not going to steal mama away from me, we became friends. i even gave him a hug. next time we hang out, i hope he’ll play cars with me. or at least, i hope he doesn’t make poo explosions so close to me or try to steal mama again.
this morning, mama, dada, and i headed out to the shark tank (hp pavilion). i thought hockey season was over, but whatever… i went along with it. when we arrived, matthew and his family were there! we all went inside, and i knew right away that something was weird. instead of going to our usual seats, we walked all the way down to the arena floor. and there was no ice! instead, there was a big stage with bunch of lights. matthew and i looked around for sharkie, but we couldn’t find him anywhere.
next thing we knew, the lights went out and a bunch of big furry characters came on stage. i didn’t know any of them, but mama and dada said their names were bert, ernie, zoe, and some others that i can’t remember. (actually, mama and dada didn’t know some of the monsters’ names, either.) i wasn’t all that interested until cookie monster appeared. a real life cookie monster! i leaned forward in my chair and waved at him while he sang and danced around.
it turned out that matthew and i were watching elmo’s super heroes (a sesame street live production). mama, dada, auntie audrey, and uncle alan all played hooky from work to go with us. cool, huh?
mama was pretty sure that she was going to have to chase me all around the arena since i usually cannot sit still. but i shocked everyone by sitting through most of the first act (bouncing around between mama’s lap, my seat, and dada’s lap). after intermission though, i was done. i spent the second act walking around the aisle, high fiving other kids, and trying to pull mama toward to stage to high five elmo.
what a fun way to spend a tuesday morning! my favorite parts were:
best of all, i got mama and dada to play hooky and hang out with me on a school day!
in honor of father’s day today, i woke up an hour early so that i could spent extra time with dada. and then, i took him swimming for the first time. for some reason, dada didn’t seem too excited about my father’s day plans for him.
last summer when i took swim lessons, mama always swam with me. but mama said that there’s no way that she can fit a swimsuit over her big belly, so i had to show dada the ropes. i called for mama the whole time, but she wouldn’t come into the water — she just watched from the viewing area. the skills we practiced today were all review for me, but since dada is just a beginner, i didn’t mind the refresher. dada did pretty good for his first time 🙂
after swim class, we went to lunch with grandma, grandpa, and uncle randy. we went to a fancy place, so i had to wear a collared shirt. and even though we were going there straight from swim class, dada wouldn’t let me wear my crocs — i had to wear real shoes! mama had to wear real shoes instead of her usual flip flops, too. so i guess it was only fair. here we are: three generations of tanaka men. we’re a good-looking bunch, dontcha think?
i am a super lucky kid to have 2 grandpas. so at dinnertime, mama and i celebrated (grand)father’s day again with gung-gung. dada couldn’t come because he had to work. boo 🙁 we went to a thai/vietnamese restaurant in a ghetto part of hayward. i know, there’s nothing about that that sounds good, but it was nice inside, and the food was delicious. mama said that every dish we ordered was the best version of that dish she’s ever had. (and she’s eaten a lot of thai and vietnamese food in her life.) everyone agreed that we should go back there again soon.
when we got home from dinner, dada was still at his office working. even though it was past my bedtime, i stayed up to wait for him so i could give him his father’s day card. when he came home, i ran to the door and yelled “dada!” he liked the card i gave him, but he said that the best present was hearing me call him “dada” 🙂
happy father’s day to dada, grandpa, and gung-gung. i love you all!
the first time i went to kiddie funland (a.k.a. gilroy gardens), i had so much fun that i convinced mama to buy season passes for our family. (i’m good, huh? ;)) mama used her membership for the first time today, and we spent the day there with maddie and kai and their families. dada had to work. boo 🙁
today was a completely different experience than the last time we went. first of all, maddie is a kiddie funland regular (and also 9+ months older than me), so she knows her way around the park and likes to go on some of the scary rides. there was this one hot air balloon ride that went up in the air and then flew around and around really fast. what kind of hot air balloon flies around in circles??? i kept saying “no!” but nobody listened. it just kept going around and around and it made me (and mama) dizzy. there was nothing i could do but bury my face in mama’s lap and wait for it to stop. last time when i went with matthew, we only went on non-scary rides that were more my speed.
but it wasn’t all bad. we went on a lot of fun rides, too. and since the weather was warm, all of the water attractions were open! there was a splash & squirt area that had giant frogs that spit water at us, and a huge splash garden with a water slide, a super squirter station, and lots more. my favorite was the water that squirted right out of the ground. we got soaked! (kai even took his shirt off. he said he was letting it dry in the sun, but i’m pretty sure he was just trying to impress maddie.) and just as we were drying off, we’d find another water play area and get soaked all over again. we also walked under the giant waterfalls… where we got even more soaked. it’s a good thing that i was prepared with my towel, swim trunks, and rash guard!
there are still so many rides and attractions that i haven’t tried at kiddie funland, and i can’t wait to go back and check them out. who wants to come with me? i can bring a guest for FREE on july 25-31, august 15-21, and november 5-6. now you want to be my best friend, huh?
daddy thinks that i hate him because i refuse to say his name. it’s not that i can’t — i just don’t want to. but i don’t think it really makes daddy sad. it’s actually kinda funny 😛
daddy has been okay with me saying “mama” and “koda”, but now that i’m calling my aunties by name, daddy is starting to feel left out. so in honor of father’s day this weekend, here’s my shout out to daddy.
see daddy, i DO love you!
two nights ago, i slept in my big boy race car bed with my brand new mattress for the first time! my new bed is awesome because i can climb in and out all by myself — no more crib rails to trap me in 🙂
1st NIGHT
i took a bath and went through my beauty routine like usual, and then i went to my room to change into my pajamas. but then, instead of sitting with me in the glider, mama brought me to my car bed in my new room. she laid down next to me and told me my usual bedtime stories and sang me my usual nighttime songs. then she kissed me goodnight and went downstairs.
about 5 minutes later, i needed my diaper changed. (stomach flu. you get the picture without me having to go into details, right?) so i climbed out of bed and was planning to sneak downstairs to find mama, but koda busted me. by the time i reached the top of the stairs, koda was already standing at the bottom, barking loudly. koda is such a tattletale! mama didn’t know what koda was barking at, so she was telling him to be quiet. she didn’t want him to wake me up. she obviously didn’t know that i was waiting for her upstairs, so i called for her. “mama! mama!” mama came upstairs, changed my diaper, then put me back to bed. then she kissed me goodnight and went back downstairs.
about 10 minutes later, i climbed out of bed again. “mama! mama!” mama came upstairs and put me back to bed. i told her that i was thirsty, but she didn’t believe me. she figured that i was just faking it to have an excuse to get out of bed. she laid down with me again, told me my story again, sang me my songs again, kissed me goodnight again, and then went back downstairs… again.
mama was preparing herself for a very long night, expecting me to climb out of bed many more times. but that was it. i slept through the night in my new room, in my new bed. not too bad for my first night in a new bed — especially being sick, and all.
2nd NIGHT
same nighttime routine. but this time mama didn’t lay down with me — she just sat next to my bed. she got up and left the room after my story and songs, even though i was still awake and kicking around. and guess what. i slept through ’til morning and didn’t get up one time. i figured that even if i tried to sneak out of bed, koda would just bust me again.
mama says that i’m going to get cool car sheets and decorations for my new room soon. she is going to move my clothes, books, and toys into my new room, too, but i’m in no rush. i like having two rooms all to myself 🙂
i graduated from my “birds” (that’s what they call us 10-19 month olds) class at the little gym today. does that sound familiar? it should, because i wrote the same thing in this entry 5 months ago! wait, so why did i graduate from the same class, twice? i thought that i had flunked out and had been held back, but mama said that i was continuing in the same class because i was still in the birdie age range. plus, i had made some friends that i really liked, and logan had joined my class!
our graduation tonight was very exciting. our gym instructor was planning to call us up to the podium one by one to receive our medals. but i couldn’t wait, so i just stood at the podium and stared down my instructor. he got the hint, and he gave me my medal right away. it was my very first medal! (last session, we just got ribbons.)
even though i had repeated the birds class, i learned some different skills and developed new favorites. at the top of my list are swinging from the bars, bouncing on the springboard, and walking across the balance beam by myself. i wonder what’s in store for me in the next session.
now that i am 20 months old, i will be moving up to the next class. starting next week, i will officially be a “beast” (19 months – 2.5 year-olds). so much cooler than being a little birdie, dontcha think? GRRRAH!
everyone says that little girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. but i’m not a girl. and everyone says that i’m sooo sweet. i guess it’s because i like to blow kisses and give hugs, even to aunties and uncles that i don’t know very well. i give real kisses too, but only to mama and daddy.
in the past week or so, i’ve discovered how fun it is to blow raspberries and give eskimo kisses. these are also reserved for special people. but for some reason, people don’t feel so special when i give them raspberries — maybe because i slobber all over them. mama loves eskimo kisses, though. koda seems indifferent. his nose is weird — it’s always cold and wet.
cousin zoey had her birthday party today at studio grow. i can’t believe she’s already 2 years old! she has been going to classes at that place for awhile now, and every time she has talked about it, i thought she was saying “studio girl“. i felt a little weird about going to a party at a girlie gym (mama said it was going to be like “curves” for toddlers), so i was relieved to find out that it was “studio grow“.
studio grow is a big playspace that has all kind of toys and things to play with. there was a wooden climbing structure with a slide, a play kitchen, an arts & crafts corner, a stage for puppet shows, ride-on cars on mini rollercoaster tracks, and lots more. cousin zoey and i run in different circles, so i didn’t know any of the other kids there, but i had fun playing with new friends. i also had a good time hanging out with gung-gung, uncle jamie, and auntie alyssa 🙂
after playing in the studio room for over an hour, we went into the party room for cupcakes! everyone got one except me. there were plenty to go around, but mama only let me have one little crumb of zoey’s cupcake. that crumb was delicious! when will i get to eat a whole one by myself, with frosting and everything?
happy birthday to cousin zoey! thanks for a fun party 🙂