mama forgot koda!

Posted by kyden on Thursday May 19, 2011 Under Uncategorized

last night, mama and i went out to dinner and froyo with gung-gung and uncle henry. while we were out, koda had a playdate with kiara at her house. and then when we were getting ready to leave and go home, mama forgot koda! i kept trying to go back inside uncle henry’s house to get him, but mama wouldn’t let me. and during the entire drive home, i asked for koda at least a hundred times. (i’m not exaggerating.)

then this morning when i woke up, i looked for koda but i couldn’t find him. i started to put food in his bowl just like i do every morning, but mama wouldn’t let me. that’s when i knew something was fishy. but mama said not to worry. she said he was having a sleepover at dog’s house (that’s what i call kiara) and that i would see him when we got home from san diego. san diego? what’s san diego?

well, we got onto an airplane this morning (that was a fun adventure that i will tell you about later) and as we were walking off the plane 1.5 hours later, i started calling for koda again. i thought that the airplane might have been called “san diego” and that koda would be waiting for us when we got off. he wasn’t. i still can’t find him. i hope he’s not mad at me for leaving him at uncle henry and kiara’s house. it wasn’t my fault. mama is the one that forgot him 🙁

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uncle greg’s almost-famous hat

Posted by kyden on Wednesday May 18, 2011 Under Uncategorized

exactly 6 months ago, i was in hawaii eating shave ice with mama, daddy, logan, auntie cheryl, and uncle greg.  and if you read about my trip, you might remember that that’s where mama and uncle greg got their big tv break. i completely forgot about it until auntie judy asked about it the other day. and through the power of the internet, i found the show!

the episode that they were on was called “destination tennis: maui”.  it’s a show on the tennis channel, and it aired a week and a half ago.  i’ll bet that about 5 people tuned in to watch. it turns out that mama’s 15 minutes of fame was edited down to about 5 seconds.  and forget about the fame — all you can really see is uncle greg’s big hat.  oh well. at least we got free shave ice out of it 🙂

uncle greg’s big ol’ rice paddy hat is quite a sight to see though, so if you want to check it out watch the episode (skip to 6:58).

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nighttime checklist

Posted by kyden on Monday May 16, 2011 Under Uncategorized

yesterday, mama left us boys (daddy, koda, and me) and went out for some girl time.  but before she left, she made sure that i had food to eat for dinner, so we were all set.  we had a fun evening, a yummy dinner, and everything was going just fine.  in fact, when mama called to check on us at 8:20pm, daddy told her that we were all doing well and that he had already put me to bed.

so when mama got home, she was very surprised to see me running toward her yelling “mama!  mama!”  naturally, she asked what the heck happened.  well, lemme tell you.  when mama called to check on us, and daddy told her that we were doing just fine, he had spoken too soon.  we were NOT doing fine!  daddy didn’t do my bedtime routine right, so i was very upset.  after he put me in my crib, i screamed for 15 minutes and refused to sleep (which is very unusual because i go down very easily and quietly with mama).  it’s not daddy’s fault, though.  my bedtime routine is a constantly evolving and mama must have forgotten to tell him.  through a combination of words, signs, and pointing/grunting, i was mostly able to tell him about my beauty regimen, but i just didn’t know how to communicate “sit with me on the glider and practice ABC’s”.

so for future reference, i made a nighttime checklist.  it’s current as of today, but who knows when it’ll change again.  (and this is only for days that i don’t take a bath/shower.)

~8:40pm: head upstairs to my room

  • help me smear up the wall using the door jamb as an arête so that i can turn on the light
  • change my diaper and put on my pj’s
  • read books while i’m drinking milk from my spill-proof cup

~8:50pm: head to the bathroom

  • help me smear up the wall using the door jamb as an arête so that i can turn on the light
  • help me wash my hands (pull up my sleeves, let me turn on the water, pump liquid soap on my hands, let me wash my hands, let me turn off the water, let me dry my hands)
  • help me brush my teeth (put toothpaste on my toothbrush, let me turn on and off the water to wet the bristles, then let me brush.  when i’m done, help me brush the spots i missed, then let me turn on and off the water to rinse my toothbrush.)
  • wash my face (let me turn on/off the water to wet the washcloth)
  • floss my teeth (i tried doing this my myself today but wasn’t very good at it)
  • help me moisturize my face (squeeze a tiny dab of baby lotion onto my finger and i will spread it on my face)
  • put baby powder on my neck
  • carry me out of the bathroom and let me turn off the light on the way out

~8:55pm: carry me to my room

  • let me turn off the light
  • let me turn on the stereo
  • sit with me in the glider
  • recite “goodnight moon”, practice saying ABC’s, sing ABC’s, sing “twinkle twinkle little star”, sing “never gonna let you down”
  • carry me to my crib (make sure my blanket and bunny are in there)

it looks like a long list, but it’s actually very quick and easy.  if you follow this checklist, i’ll be asleep (with no protesting) by the time you get back downstairs 🙂

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hockey 101

Posted by kyden on Saturday May 14, 2011 Under Uncategorized

my buddy kai came over today for a playdate.  we had planned on hanging out for a few hours and maybe even having lunch, but we (and our mamas) were having so much fun that we lost track of time.  our playdate turned into an epic 7.5-hour eat- and play-fest!

kai brought over some hockey sticks and balls to play with.  (they were actually golf clubs, but they look just like hockey sticks to me!)  kai has a wicked slapshot.  i hope i can shoot like that when i am 2 years old.  today was my first time playing hockey, and i wasn’t very good at it.  mama kept calling delay of game and high-sticking penalties on me.  she said i wasn’t supposed to pick up the puck, which was confusing because it was actually a ball, and she usually encourages me to pick up and throw balls.  she also kept telling me to keep the stick on the floor, which was also confusing because i usually swing a stick (baseball bat) in the air to hit balls.

my face-off percentage today was 0%, and i’m pretty sure that kai should have been awarded penalty shot when i snatched the puck off the ground when he was on a breakaway 😛  when it comes to hockey, i am definitely not a natural.

mama says that she’s going to get me a real hockey stick and some inline skates soon.  i’m going to practice a lot before i play hockey with kai again.  i wonder if the yamamoto hockey clinic offers private lessons.

p.s.  do lefties have any advantage in hockey?

p.p.s.  please don’t tell grandpa that i was playing hockey with golf clubs.  he might never invite me to the country club again.

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the great bed debate

Posted by kyden on Thursday May 12, 2011 Under Uncategorized

mama and daddy said i’m going to get a new bed soon. but because i am such an active kid (even in my sleep) they know that i will roll around and fall out of bed on a daily basis.  so what’s their plan? to make me sleep on a mattress on the floor. what the heck??? that’s no way for a kid to grow up — that’s how starving college students live!

but i guess they have a point — i do move around a lot in my sleep.  even in my crib, i end up with at least one foot hanging out through the slats, and my head ends up wedged into a corner at the foot of my bed. but mama thinks she figured out why i always end up upside down.  every night, she lays me down in my bed and covers me with my blanket.  and naturally, my blanket is at the foot of my bed.  so when i scrunch it up to use as a pillow, i have to flip around to lay my head on it, right?

earlier this week, mama put a pillow in my crib.  at first, i hated it and tried to throw it overboard.  so mama moved it to the top of my bed and let bunny and dog sleep on it.  i slept at the foot of my bed like usual, undisturbed by the pillow.  but bunny and dog seemed to like the pillow, so i gave it a chance.  and guess what…  i love it!  the pillow stays at the top of my bed, i rest my head on it, and don’t have to flip upside down when i sleep anymore.  (don’t tell anyone, but i’ve figured out that it i fold my pillow in half, i can use it as a springboard.  i can almost vault out of my crib!)

now that i don’t flip around (as much) when i sleep, can i get a regular bed?  i don’t have to sleep on a mattress on the floor, right?  i hope not, ‘cuz i was browsing online the other day, and i found the bed that i want. whaddya think?  isn’t this the coolest bed ever?  mama says no.  she wants to get me a twin-sized bed, not a toddler bed that fits a crib mattress.  she says that my current mattress has to stay in the crib for the baby to use.  i dunno what she’s talking about.  it’s my mattress!

well, it’s a good thing that mama has one-click ordering on her amazon.com account.  when she’s not looking, i’m just gonna order the fire engine bed for myself.  it should be here by the weekend 🙂

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mama’s day

Posted by kyden on Monday May 9, 2011 Under Uncategorized

because yesterday was mother’s day, we were extra nice to mama all day. first, we let her sleep in. and while she was sleeping, i went and picked out a card for her, and then i made her a special video (with daddy’s help). when mama woke up, we went out to brunch with grandma, grandpa, and uncle randy. buffets are awesome! i ate so much food that grandma started to get very concerned. she kept saying that i was going to explode 😛

when we got home, i gave mama her card, and i played my special video for her. you wanna see?

and then guess where we went for our mother’s day dinner. mama said that she wanted some roasted red wings, so we went to the shark tank.  i didn’t get it, cuz mama doesn’t like wings, but she said that’s what she wanted. (it was game 5 of the NHL western conference semifinals, and the sharks were up 3-1 in the series. we were sure that they were going to finish off the series tonight, especially because i am their lucky charm.)

one minute into the 3rd period, the sharks were up 3-1 and it was looking like smooth sailing. i was having a blast waving the towel all around, even when nobody else was. but it all went downhill from there.  the red wings scored 3 unanswered goals to win the game.  boo…

after the game, uncle joe texted mama and said that it was too bad that she didn’t get her roasted red wings, cuz shark sashimi was on the menu instead.  (i didn’t get it.  mama got it, but she didn’t think it was funny.)  mama blames me for the loss because i took off my lucky shark outfit during the second intermission.  i worked up a sweat with all that towel-waving that i was doing!

mama says that she had a wonderful mother’s day and that all her boys treated her well… except for patrick marleau.  he’s mama’s favorite shark (besides me, of course) but she says that he didn’t show up to play tonight.  oh well.  he’ll get ’em in game 6 tomorrow.

happy mama’s day to mama and grandma and all the other mommies out there!

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gilroy gardens (“kiddie funland”)

Posted by kyden on Saturday May 7, 2011 Under Uncategorized

i found a new local hotspot!  well, it’s sort of local — 45 minutes away.  matthew is a season pass holder at gilroy gardens, and he invited me to join him for bring-a-guest day.  it was so fun!  it’s like great america, but for little kids like us.  there’s fun stuff for us kids like rides, playgrounds, and water features.  and there’s boring stuff to keep the grown ups happy too, like gardens and the famous circus trees.

when we first got to the park, matthew and i went on two rides by ourselves — we got to drive fire trucks and race cars!  mama and daddy didn’t think i would want to go on any rides by myself, but i did 🙂  woohoo!  i tried to crash my car like i do at home, but the car just wouldn’t crash.  in case you don’t recognize me in my ridiculously over-sized hat, that’s me driving the orange #6 car.

since matthew and i got to drive by ourselves, i thought that we could ditch the grown-ups and go explore on our own for the rest of the day. but it turned out that we had to bring tall people with us on a lot of the other rides like the train, ferris wheel, boat ride, and the backroads tour (where we got to drive a 1920’s car around the park!).  i measured myself to be sure, but i didn’t make the cut, so we let our parents come along.

we worked up our appetites running all over the park and riding all those rides, so we stopped at a pizza and pasta place for lunch.  matthew’s spaghetti must have been incredible because he passed out from food coma during lunch.  i was getting tired too, so we just walked around the park a little bit more and rode the carousel one time before heading home. (on the carousel, mama said that i was riding on a horse, but they all looked just like koda to me. i felt sorry for the koda that daddy was sitting on — daddy’s really heavy.)

i passed out before we even got out of the parking lot.  i hope we get to go to gilroy gardens again soon!  i’m trying to convince mama and daddy to buy memberships we we can go all the time 🙂  thanks for a super fun day, matthew!

oh, and if anyone from gilroy gardens is reading this, i have a suggestion. you should think about changing your name to something more appropriate, like “kiddie funland”. “gilroy gardens” just sounds like a garlic farm. if i knew how much fun it would be, i would have taken mama and daddy there a long time ago!

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save the trees!

Posted by kyden on Wednesday May 4, 2011 Under Uncategorized

a couple of weekends ago, grandma, grandpa, and uncle randy came over and helped us fix up our yard.  mama and daddy thought that they might trim some bushes and maybe even pull some weeds, but boy, were we were in for a surprise.  every single thing in the front yard was chopped down and uprooted! everything but one tree, that is.  we left that tree where it was and planted new plants around it.

mama was thrilled to have the front yard re-landscaped, but she didn’t like the arrangement of the new plants.  so later in the week, she uprooted two of the new plants plus the lone original tree, and played musical chairs with them.  i think that was a mistake, because none of them seem to be doing very well.

mama doesn’t know much about gardening, but i heard daddy tell her that the plants should be watered aggressively.  aggressively?  that’s weird.  mama always tells me to be nice to the plants and not to hurt them.

so every evening, i’ve been helping her water all the plants.  after we finished watering tonight, mama put the hose away, but i thought the tree still looked a little thirsty.  mama headed back into the house, but i was on a mission to save that tree.  since mama obviously had no intention of helping, i had to water the tree all by myself.  mama was shocked!  she didn’t think i’d be strong enough to unwind the hose or smart enough to figure out how to operate the nozzle…  but check me out!

i’m doing my best to save mama from getting a reputation as a tree-killer 😀

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i am 19 months old

Posted by kyden on Sunday May 1, 2011 Under Uncategorized

things i like:

  • piggy back rides.  i “hold tight” around mama’s or daddy’s neck and hang on — they don’t even have to hold me up.  i guess all that working out at the gym is paying off!
  • taking care of koda.  i furminate him, put on his collar (with help), hold his leash when we walk, and fill his bowl with kibble (with help).
  • playing fetch with koda.  for some reason, koda doesn’t seem as excited when i throw sticks for him as when mama does.  maybe it’s because i can only throw the stick about 2 feet away.
  • throwing rocks and sticks into the ponds and the creek
  • wind chimes.  i like walking past the houses that have wind chimes so i can wave to them and listen to the music that they make.
  • weighing myself on our digital scale at home
  • wearing sunglasses around my neck like a necklace
  • balancing things on my head.  dog sits still better than my other stuffed animals because he sits on all fours.
  • big kid slides.  they’re taller and steeper than the baby ones, so i slide down really fast!
  • taking showers.  i still like bathtime, but showering like a big boy is fun, once in awhile.
  • looking at pictures of myself, my friends, and my family… but mostly myself.
  • animals.  i like dogs, roosters, cows, geese… any kind of animal.  i especially like birds because they fly away like airplanes when i chase after them.  how cool is that?!
  • climbing up and riding on my rocking tiger.  yeah, you read that right.  i don’t have a rocking horse, i have a rocking tiger.  RAAAWR!
  • eating with chopsticks.  most people need two, but i only need one to stab my food with.
  • drinking soup out of a bowl.  forget the spoon — that takes too long.

things i don’t like:

  • canned or frozen foods.  when mama tries to feed me canned or frozen foods, i go on a hunger strike.  i would rather starve to death than eat that stuff!  i want my meals home-cooked with only the freshest quality ingredients!  (and mama wonders where i get that from :P)
  • being left at home when mama and koda go out for a walk
  • when mama starts reading “goodnight moon” before i’m ready with my blanket and bunny in hand
  • when the “if you’re happy and you know it” song plays, and people don’t clap when they’re supposed to
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half-and-half

Posted by kyden on Saturday Apr 30, 2011 Under Uncategorized

remember when i was little, i had a 100 day red egg and ginger party?  i thought i was the only kid in the whole world who would be lucky enough to have a party like that because i’m half-japanese and half-chinese.  (the 100 day celebration is a japanese tradition and the red egg and ginger are chinese traditions.)  but then baby greyson came along!

today was baby greyson’s 100 day red egg and ginger party.  i knew that it was a special occasion, so i wore a collared shirt, and i even picked out some fancy dress shoes.  unfortunately, daddy wanted to wear the shoes that i picked, so i had to change to different ones.  oh well.  i had a hard time walking in those shoes anyway.

greyson’s party was at a teppanyaki restaurant.  it was so fun to watch the chef cook my food right in front of me.  he even made a onion volcano that had fire coming out of it!  mama and daddy said that i’ve been to a restaurant like that before, but i don’t remember it.  i guess my memory is going in my old age.

i had a fun time at greyson’s party.  aside from the yummy food, i got to hang out with older twin girls (katie and ellie) and i met a new friend (kaylen).  kaylen kept touching me and hugging me, just like kimora did at logan’s birthday party.  i guess younger women just can’t keep their hands off of me.  awesome! 😀

happy 100 days to greyson, my half-japanese / half-chinese brother!

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