whenever i shriek really loud, mama says “use your words, baby”.  i don’t get what the big deal is about words.  isn’t there a saying about how actions speak louder than words, anyway?

i am good at actions.  i “open” and “close” doors on command.  i “wait” before going out the door.  i know “stand”, “walk”, “run”, “freeze”, and “share”.  sort of like koda, right?  but i can outdo the dog.  i even know how to go get my “shoes”, turn “off” the light, reach my “arms up” to change my shirt, and tilt my “head back” to rinse shampoo out of my hair.  but mama still thinks i’m a little retarded because i don’t say much.  but why should i?  i communicate just fine without them.

i know how to sign “more” and “all done”.  there are a few others, but really, those are the only two things that you need to know to get through life.

point.  sign “more”.  and it’s yours.

easy cheesy, right?  but just for kicks, i’ve found a few other ways to get my thoughts across.

when i want to be carried, i raise my arms up to the sky.  when i want to go cruising, i open the door to my cozy coupe, climb in, close the door, and sit patiently.  when i want to go on a nature walk, i try to put on my shoes (“try”, being the operative word).  when i want to leave, i go and stand by the door.  when i want some yogurt puffs or banana chips, i just bring the bag to the nearest adult.

i’m also working on my written communication skills.  i was trying to get mama to write-in elmo for governor yesterday, but she thought i was just scribbling on her sample ballot.  it’s not my fault that mama is not good at reading my handwriting, right?

so… yeah.  i’m a kid of few words.  but i know how to get what i want.

mama said that after you turn 1, you no longer get to make a big deal of your month birthdays.  fine.  but there are still so many changes every month, so i’m gonna tell you about ’em.

things i like:

• throwing my toys outside of my playpen (mama and daddy just LOVE it when i do this)
• washing my hands (mama and daddy used to think that i liked playing with koda’s food and water, but really, i just like washing my hands… which i always get to do after playing with koda’s food and water!)
• my new parking lot (daddy made it for me so i would have a place to park all my cool rides — 2 strollers, cozy coupe, 2 ride on cars)
• sign language (just when mama was about to give up on me, i started signing back to her.  i blame her for not being consistent and daddy for not even trying at all.)
• banging (knocking) on neighbor’s doors
• barrel rolls (i learned this in gym class)
• decorating the bathroom by unrolling rolls of toilet paper and dragging them all around
• PB&J
• riding in my forward-facing car seat
• nature walks around the neighborhood
• cruising around in my cozy coupe
• “reading” to myself (i really am reading and turning the pages of the book.  it’s not my fault that nobody understands me)
• trying to figure out how our porch light knows to turn on when i’m standing there and turn off when i leave (it’s like magic!)

things i don’t like:

• socks and shoes (as soon as i am out of sight/reach mama and daddy hear the sound of my shoes being un-velcro’d.  a few seconds later, i hold up my socks and shoes and beam with pride :D)
• the torture table in my doctor’s office (this is where the nurse always sticks me with needles)

halloween is the BEST… HOLIDAY… EVER!

mama had planned to take me out to a few houses in our cul de sac so that i could get some more use out of my awesome shark outfit. but i wasn’t ready to quit after just 3 houses! i signed “more” to mama, so we kept on going. my $1 treat bag got so heavy that the handle broke off of it (i guess you get what you pay for), but that didn’t stop us.  we kept on trick-or-treating until my bag was overflowing.

at the first few houses we went to, mama knocked on the door, and i just stood there. i didn’t know what to do. then someone opened the door, mama said “trick or treat”, and then the person gave me handfuls of candy.  cool!  by the 3rd house, i started to get the hang of it.  banging on doors looked like fun, so i helped.  i banged on the door, then turned around and laughed while i kept on banging.  a couple of times, i fell into the neighbor’s house when the door was opened 😛

at every house, i smiled and waved vigorously to the candy-giver.  they all ooohed and aaahed, and  many of them called over other family members to take a look at all my cuteness.  two different neighbors even took pictures of me.  it was like they had never seen a shark before!  after i got my candy, mommy would tell me that it was time to go, but i continued to stand on the porch and flap my fin.  it would have been rude to just take the candy and run, right?

when we got home, i told daddy that he needed to step up the candy-giving because all of our neighbors are so generous.  we don’t want to be known as the stingy house on the block!

this was the greatest holiday ever.  maybe next year, mama will let me help her stab a pumpkin and mush up its guts.

after a long day of pumpkin-picking last sunday, mama put me to bed, like always.  we read a book, she sang me a song, then i turned off the light.  but instead of wishing me sweet dreams and letting me sleep, mama stayed in my room for a few extra minutes.   she was blabbering something about not seeing me for a little while, but  i wasn’t really listening because i was trying to get some zzz’s.  i figured that she could finish telling me whatever she wanted to tell me in the morning.

but when i woke up monday morning, mama wasn’t there.  and she wasn’t there the next day, or the next day, or the next day.  now it’s thursday afternoon and i still haven’t seen her. where did mama go?

mama calls and texts throughout the day, and everyone tells her that koda and i miss her.  they just tell her that to make her feel better.  i dunno about koda, but i’m having lots of fun hanging out with miss denise (my nanny), daddy, and gung-gung.  today, i even got to go visit daddy’s office!  i tried to bid on an auction, but i didn’t know the password to mama’s paypal account.

i’m having a good time and everything, but if you see mama, please tell her to come home. i’m getting a little tired of posing for all the photos and videos that miss denise takes of me to send to mama.  thanks.

mama and daddy said that around this time of year, we’re supposed to decorate our house with pumpkins carved into scary faces.  weird.  but, okay.  i guess the pumpkins are supposed to scare away kids so they don’t take all my candy.

so, kai and i went to the pumpkin patch to pick our pumpkins.  there were so many to choose from!

there were big giant pumpkins that were bigger than us.  i tried to tell kai that they were too heavy to lift, but he didn’t listen.  (click on either photo to see more — there’s one of kai trying to carry a giant pumpkin!)

and then there were itty bitty pumpkins that must be for little babies.  mama said that those are not for carving anyway — they are used for decorating the dinner table and/or serving pumpkin curry when you have a fancy dinner party.

but don’t worry…  we found a whole section of kai/ky sized pumpkins that were juuust right 🙂

we were all really bummed that the hay ride and train were not running (due to rain), but we made the most of the afternoon.  kai and i had a fun time hanging out and we got perfect-sized pumpkins to take home!  (click on either image to see more photos from our afternoon at the pumpkin patch.)

for my birthday, uncle randy gave me a bunch of awesome presents, including shirts that say “GTL” and “The Situation”.  i had no idea what they meant.  uncle randy had to educate me about the tv show jersey shore and the guy on there nicknamed “the situation”.   this guy coined the term “GTL” which stands for “gym, tanning, laundry” — it’s his way of life, a recipe for success, i guess.  he even wrote a book called here’s the situation: a guide to creeping on chicks, avoiding grenades, and getting in your GTL on the jersey shore.

so i wore my GTL shirt today and went to the children’s discovery museum to go creeping on chicks.  it ended up being a sausage fest!  oh well, i had fun hanging out with my buddies matthew, edison, and logan, anyway.

i was too embarrassed to show my GTL shirt in the photo because i didn’t do so well with the chicks today.  maybe i’ll have better luck with the other shirt.

being a kid, traveling by airplane is awesome.  you get to fly for free.  you get to bring drinks through the security checkpoint.  you get to gate-check your stuff instead of having to go to the baggage claim area.  you get priority boarding.  you don’t have to wear a seat belt on the plane.  the only bummer is that you have to check-in at the ticket counter — no mobile or web check-ins.  i guess most kids don’t have their own iphones like i do!

our family trip to socal was so much fun.  here are the highlights and lowlights from the weekend.

highlights:  staying up past 10pm two nights in a row!  freely opening dresser drawers (no child-safety latches).  eating grown-up food all weekend long (since mama couldn’t bring the special organic food that she usually makes for me).  petting sharks and stingrays with sierra at the aquarium of the pacific in long beach.  brunching at duke’s with auntie cindy and uncle tim.  but the highest highlight was having a big sis for the weekend — sierra was constantly checking to make sure i was okay, sharing her snacks with me (we even split a smoothie at bubba gump shrimp co.!), and picking up my crayons and juice cup every time i dropped/threw them on the floor.

lowlights:  southwest airlines breaking the wheel off my stroller :x

mama’s and daddy’s highlights:  daddy getting to see auntie jenny get married (where he also rubbed elbows with chuck “the iceman” lidell!).  mommy getting to spend quality time with auntie jo — two days in a row.  complimentary crib use and baby toiletries from the hotel.  free rental car upgrade with XM radio.

mama’s and daddy’s lowlights:  unforecasted cold weather (daddy had to go buy warm clothes).  daddy cutting his finger and having to go to the ER late at night.  delayed return flight causing us to miss uncle john’s wedding reception.

this socal weekend was sort of a trial run for our trip to hawaii next month.  these are some of the things we learned that we’ll keep in mind f0r future travels.

• airport check-in can take longer than you think.  airport lines on friday and sunday afternoons are long.  non-ticketed passengers (like me!) have to check in at the counter.  it could take a few tries to get through security (since i had so much stuff, the TSA guys dumped everything out of my bag and re-ran it through the x-ray machine).  strollers have to be collapsed and sent through the x-ray.  drinks have to be x-rayed and specially tested (the tests were different at SJC and LAX).
• schedule flights around nap times.  i sleep well during plane rides, except for when other kids scream loud and wake me up.
• bring/rent a booster or high chair whenever possible.  it’s nearly impossible to feed me when i’m not buckled into a chair.  i make mama and daddy chase me around with a spoon.
• i won’t sleep when mama is RIGHT THERE.  why would i want to go to bed when there are other people around to play with me?  mama had to hide out of my field of vision until i fell asleep.
• my sleep schedule is flexible.  mama and daddy have been dreading the hawaii time change because they just know that i’m gonna wake up at 4am every morning.  but i think if they let me stay up later, i’ll sleep in later.  we’re all crossing our fingers on that one 🙂

thanks to everyone who made our weekend so much fun — auntie jenny and uncle peter, auntie jo and sierra, auntie cindy and uncle tim, and of course… uncle henry and kiara for inviting koda over for a sleepover while we were away!  XOXO.

i’m getting ready for my first airplane ride. we are off to LA. wish me luck! (mama and daddy say that they are the ones that need luck!)

during the weekend of 10/10/10, daddy went out of town. so while daddy was away, mama and i played and played and played! here are 10 things that i did on the weekend of 10/10/10:

i taught zachary how to walk. (i know, i know, i didn’t really teach him, but i was there, so i’m gonna take credit for it .)

i cruised around the neighborhood in my super cool cozy coupe. (i even know how to open the door and climb into the car by myself!)

i had a tea party with jacey. (don’t worry, fake tea is caffeine-free.)

i painted a wall with a real paintbrush and paint. (i used my hands, too.)

i scaled a chest-high wall at u-me place. (uncle joe says that i’m ready to start adventure racing :))

i visited bob the builder at his construction site. (i also ran into his bobble-head cat.)

i ate a grilled cheese sandwich and yam fries. (jacey was nice enough to share her yummy lunch with me. forget that healthy organic stuff that mommy makes me eat!)

i co-captained a ship with zachary. (we are not very good at steering, so we just kept sounding the airhorn to alert everyone to get outta the way.)

i went to uncle jamie’s gig at pedro’s. (well, i tried to go, but the 80’s cover band that he was playing with packed the house, and i wouldn’t have had a place to sit and eat. so we had to leave and eat at another restaurant. but i got to stay out past my bedtime anyway. hooray!)

i convinced mama that i’m left-handed. (she was in denial for a long time, but i think she has finally accepted it.)

for the past month, mama has been saying that she couldn’t wait for my 1 year checkup to see just how shrimpy i really am.  i’m NOT shrimpy — i am normal-sized!  mama must be hanging out with giants like bob the builder.  of course i am shrimpy compared to him.  look at the noggin on that guy.  even his cat has an oversized head!

so i went in for my checkup, and i guess mama was right (sort of).  here are my stats:

• weight:  20 lbs. 4 oz. (13 %ile)
• height: 30.25 inches (64 %ile)
• head circumference:  46.6 cm. (56 %ile)

overall, i am a-okay, but my doctor says that i need to bulk up a bit.  by my age, kids should have settled into a percentile range and stick to it.  but look at my growth chart from birth through today.

my height has settled right into the 60-70 %ile range.  but my weight peaked at around 75 %ile, then continued to fall down down down to its current 13 %ile.  at this rate, i’m going to fall right off the chart in a few months 🙁  at least i’m not a pinhead anymore.

uncle jamie says that i am definitely not underfed.  if you’ve ever seen me eat, i think you’d agree.  i eat.  a LOT.  i think i must have koda-disease.  both koda and i eat as much as we can, but we just can’t put on weight.  (mama has even taken koda to the vet because he’s so skinny that his ribs stick out!)  this problem must be genetic, but i dunno where we got it from.  mama and daddy are both really good at gaining weight.  but shhh, i didn’t say that 😛