about a month ago, i started sleeping in my crib.  but since i was still waking up 2-3 times per night, mommy would bring me into her room and let me sleep in the co-sleeper bassinet for the final stretch before morning.  well. those days are gone.  i’ve been officially… say it with me… KICKED TO THE CRIB!

last weekend, i blogged about how i had given up on crawling. of course, the very next day, it just happened naturally!  i guess that’s how many things are in life — you find things when you aren’t looking for them, or things come to you more easily when you stop trying so hard.  life is weird like that.  anyway, i’ve been crawling around the house all week, and i have also been practicing pulling myself up to a standing position.  so you know what that means?  the co-sleeper can no longer contain me.  so all week, i’ve been sleeping by myself in my crib all night long.

the good news:  i usually “sleep through the night” (defined as a 5 hour stretch).  the bad news:  that 5 hour stretch is usually from 8pm – 1am.  and by the time mommy feeds me then unwinds for the night, she doesn’t get to bed until 2am.  that gives her only 2.5 hours of sleep until i wake up for my 4:30am snack.  before, mommy could just roll over to plop me in the co-sleeper after feeding me.  but now, she has to come into my room, pick me up from my crib, feed me, lay me gently back into my crib, wait til i’m fast asleep, then walk back into her room and crawl back into bed.  then i wake up again between 6 and 7am.  sometimes i can fall back asleep for an hour or so, but by that time, i’m usually ready to start my day.

so, being kicked to the crib is a big step for me…  a big win for daddy…  and less sleep for mommy.  sucks to be her 😛

now, i’m working on climbing out of my crib.  i wonder what mommy and daddy will do once i figure out how!

i got to stay up waaay past my bedtime tonight, but only because it was a very special occasion — the sharks are in the stanley cup playoffs!  we went to game 5 tonight, and the sharks won 5-0!

i stayed awake through the entire game.  i didn’t want to miss a moment of the excitement.  plus, it was SO LOUD in the tank (even with the ear muffs) that i couldn’t have napped even if i wanted to.  i wonder how long it will take me to get back to my regular sleep schedule after staying up until 11pm tonight.  eeek!  oh well, it’ll be worth it 🙂

i must be a good luck charm.  anyone know of a sports team that wants to hire me to be their mascot?  one of your volleyball teams, perhaps?  i work for cheap, i can scream really loud, and i make a darn cute puppy 😛

i’m planning on surfing in hawaii later this year, so there are a few things i need to do to prepare:

1)  learn to swim  (you know the saying “crawl before you walk”?  well, i say “swim before you surf”!)

2)  improve my balance so i can stand up without holding on to anything

3)  look cute in a rash guard

i heard that babies are born with a “dive reflex” — the natural instinct to open our eyes and hold our breath underwater.  aaand, until about 6 months of age, we move our arms and legs in a swimming motion when placed face down.  that means that babies less than 6 months old are natural swimmers!  well, i missed the window by a couple of weeks, but i figure… better late than never, right?

so, i went swimming with my buddy isaac today.  it was just like bathtime — i got to kick and splash and get mommy all wet.  the only differences were that there were lots of people in the bath with me and that i was wearing a rash guard instead of my birthday suit.

mommy dunked me in the water over and over again to test my dive reflex.  isaac’s mommy is nice, so she didn’t subject him to the chinese water torture.  so, my study ended up having a sample size of only 1, but it appears to prove that the dive reflex really does exist.  yup, i’m a natural swimmer.  it helps that i’ve mastered spitting because i was able to spit out the pool water that got into my mouth, rather than swallowing it.  check me out!

(i already look good in my rash guard, so now i just gotta work on standing up by myself.  i’ll be surfing in no time!)

i have been practicing crawling for months now.  i usually end up crawling in place, moving maaaybe 2 inches or so (and sometimes in the wrong direction :()  i just can’t figure out how to coordinate the movement between my hands and knees.  but that’s ok, i’ve found other ways to get around.

rolling: i can roll and roll and roll.  i find that this is the most efficient way to visit the four corners of my crib every night.

crab walk: i can get up on my hands and feet, stick my butt up in the air, and “walk” around a little bit.  i don’t move sideways, but mommy says that i look like a crab.

lunging: i can get on my hands and knees, rock back and forth to build momentum, then lunge forward.  i especially like doing this in front of the mirror.  and if you’re wondering…  yes, i do crash my forehead into the mirror.  repeatedly.

rotating: i can rotate around and around like the hands on a clock.

army crawl: i can get around pretty well, dragging myself on my elbows with my belly on the ground.  i learned this trick from koda’s sister, kiara.  she is the best army crawler around.  staying low to the ground, we can sneak around, undetected.  this is also good practice for adventure racing.  logan doesn’t know it yet, but he’s going to be my racing partner.

cruising: i can hold onto chest-high objects (coffee table, ottoman, exersaucer) and cruise around.  in fact, i don’t like to sit in my exersaucer anymore — i just stand and “walk” around the outside of it.  and rather than sit in people’s laps, i roll onto my tummy and slide down to the ground so that i can cruise along the couch.  i usually end up falling to the floor after just a few steps, but sometimes koda is there to break my fall.  how nice of him, huh?

so yeah, yeah, i can’t crawl.  it’s mommy’s fault.  gung-gung says she never crawled.  but i’m tired of being on the ground anyway.   so today, i pulled myself up from the ground and stood up — ALL BY MYSELF!  i think i’ll skip crawling and go straight to walking, just like mommy did.

i hope daddy doesn’t lower my crib mattress.  i’m gonna try to vault myself out of my crib tonight.

now that i’m eating solids, mommy has been having so much fun using my food mill to make food for me to eat.  and not only have i been enjoying eating it, but also rubbing it into my eyes and painting mommy with it.  mommy looks good accessorized with spinach.

currently, my twice daily meals consist of a grain, a green veggie, and a “sweet” veggie.

• grains:  rice cereal is ok.  my friends jacey and matthew recommended oatmeal, so daddy bought some for me.  i’m looking forward to trying it soon.
• green veggies:  spinach and broccoli are yummy.  what should i try next?  zucchini?  green beans?
• “sweet” veggies:  i love organic carrots, but regular carrots are yucky.  they taste like dirt.  (mixed with rice cereal and some formula, the dirt carrots are edible.)  i wanted to try beets next (mommy just bought some fresh ones!) but they’ll turn my lips red and make me look like a girl.  maybe i’ll go for yams, like uncle henry suggested.

i also get an afternoon snack — a piece of fruit in a mesh feeder.  so far, i’ve tried cantaloupe, apple, and strawberry.  i am definitely a fan of the cantaloupe and apple, but undecided about the strawberries.  mommy thought i might be allergic to strawberries because she noticed some red splotches around my mouth and chin.  so you’d think that she’d keep those things away from me, right?  but no!  she actually tried to force feed strawberries to me today.  i swatted them away, but she kept shoving them in my face!  when i grow up hating strawberries, please remind her that it was her fault for traumatizing me at a young age.

<TMI warning>

lots of people have been asking me if it’s fact or fiction about poop changing after you start eating solids.  this is a fact.  my poops are much bigger and less frequent than before.  and for the first few days, my food looked the same… before and after.  i.e. carrots and spinach going in = orange mush with green specks coming out.  gross, i know.  but you failed to heed the TMI warning, so you asked for it!

what about solids making your poop stinky?  fiction!  yes, mine is stinky, but it has been that way for months.  don’t blame the yummy yummy carrots!

</TMI warning>

another thing that has changed now that i’m eating solids is that i have been brushing my 6 teeth every day.  who wants spinach stuck in their teeth, right?  not me — especially since i have paparazzi for parents!

speaking of teeth, when will i get to use mine?  mushed veggies are getting old.  bring on the pizza!

everyone says that christmas is the best holiday for kids because we get lots of presents.  but i seem to get lots of presents on every holiday — halloween, thanksgiving, valentine’s day, chinese new year, st. patrick’s day…  i am such a lucky kid 🙂  for easter, grandma and grandpa tanaka brought me a basket filled with goodies, including a “hoppy easter” outfit.  mommy washed it right away so i could wear it and be dressed appropriately for the occasion.  and guess what else they brought me — a big chickie balloon!  (which reminds me, i forgot to mention in my 6 month post that i LOVE balloons.  i’m gonna go back and add it — just in case my friends re-read that entry one day to look for wish list ideas for their 5 or 6 month birthdays.)  i liked the chickie so much that i asked her to join me in the photo with my grandparents.  she’s a little shy so she’s hiding in the back.

gifts are always great (and very much appreciated), but the best part about all these holidays is that i get to spend them with my wonderful family.  (and there is always a ton of food, but i don’t get to enjoy any of it yet.)  grandma and grandpa tanaka, uncle randy, and gung-gung came over for brunch and spent the day with us.  too bad auntie barbara couldn’t make it.  she was at home in san diego getting rattled by the 7.2 quake in baja california (~150 miles away from her).  she said that some of her drinking glasses fell and broke, but lucky there was no major damage.  whew.

later in the evening, gung-gung treated the quon clan to dinner so i got to see uncle jamie, auntie alyssa, and cousin zoey!  i know what you’re thinking, but that’s gross.  yes, i have my hand on her knee, but i wasn’t getting fresh with her.  she’s very cute, but she’s my cousin!

i don’t really understand why, but mommy says that i have to find eggs next easter.  what if i don’t find them all?  will they stay hidden and get all smelly until the following year?  some holiday traditions are weird.

i want a little sister. auntie barbara says that i will have one by christmastime. so, i dunno why mommy says not to ask her about it for another year, and why daddy says that we can’t handle another baby in the family. in an effort to convince mommy and daddy how much fun it would be, i adopted logan as my little brother for the night.

before i ever met logan, i knew he was special because he was born on march 24. only the coolest of cool guys have that birth date — like daddy! plus, he is a blogger, so he must be cool. we went to visit him in the hospital where he was born, but i wasn’t allowed to meet him. (i think it’s weird that i, a baby, was not allowed into the “mommy & baby” ward. oh well.)

i finally got to meet logan at his house on wednesday, earlier this week. we said our hellos, but we didn’t get to spend much time together because he ran off to go eat. that kid is eating all the time. i remember those days, fondly 🙂 mommy remembers those days, too. but not so fondly 😉

the very next night, i invited logan over to my house for a sleepover. mommy says that i can get away with it at my age, but not when i’m older. she said that if i invited a girl to sleepover after meeting her only one time, that would make me a player 😛 (logan’s mommy, auntie cheryl, was at the hospital overnight. but don’t worry, she is doing just fine — it was just a precautionary visit.)

logan and i had a slumber party, and we had a fantastic time. i shared my co-sleeper, my clothes, and my swaddle blanket with him. i even got to help feed him. i would be a great big brother, don’t you think?

mommy and daddy and koda got a sneak preview of what it would be like if i had a little brother or sister. koda was pissed. i could almost see his thought bubble when mommy walked into the house with logan: “seriously??? another one?!” mommy is sleepy, after having taken care of logan and me all night. (but she loved it, and it made her miss the days when i was that little.) daddy, on the other hand… i don’t think he noticed a difference 😛

so can i have a little sister now?

you know those “then and now” photos that people take, where they find an old picture of themselves, and take a current one in the same pose? i thought i’d have some fun with that today.

that was me then…

this is me now!

who is that itty bitty wrinkly red baby in the “then” photo? i don’t even recognize him!

THEN: i was 1 month old

NOW: i am 6 months old

THEN: i weighed in at 10 pounds, 10 ounces

NOW: i weigh 16 pounds, 14 ounces (40 %ile)

THEN: i was 22.5 inches long

NOW: i am 27.75 inches long (88 %ile)

THEN: i was a cry baby (i wailed when i got just one shot)

NOW: i am a tough little boy (i got three shots today — whimpered for just a few seconds, but didn’t cry at all)

i used to be overweight, but now i am tall and skinny! i know what you’re thinking, but i don’t have a eating disorder. i’m obviously not anorexic — i eat all day long. and even though i sometimes gag myself by sucking on my fingers a little eagerly, i swear i’m not bulimic. it’s my daily cardio routine (rolling and bouncing around) that keeps the pounds off.

as for my newfound toughness, i’ll let you in on my secret. mommy! yup, mommy used to stand away from the exam table because she couldn’t bear to watch the big needle go into my little leg. i would cry, she would cry, and we would both be a mess. but today, mommy held my hands, kissed me on the forehead, and sang to me while my nurse administered the vaccinations. it was all done before i even realized it!

are you paying attention, little friends? learn from my pain, and train your mommies and daddies early 🙂

happy 6 month birthday to me 🙂

things i like:

• CARROTS!  (i celebrated my 1/2 birthday with carrots.  i hear that you get to eat cake for your whole birthday, but i can’t imagine anything more delicious than carrots!)
• feeding myself with a spoon
• standing (sitting up was sooo last month)
• climbing out of my changing table (i have to make diaper-changing more challenging for mommy and daddy because they’re getting so good at it)
• music (it almost always puts me in a good mood)
• rolling around (i like to visit all four corners of my crib throughout the night)
• raising myself up on all fours and lunging forward
• helium balloons

things i don’t like:

• my boring new ‘do (i miss my ubercool faux hawk)
• sitting/laying still (boooring…  *yawn*)
• zoo animals (not that i dislike them, i’m really just not interested in them)
• brainy baby videos (not nearly as interesting as the DVDs that daddy watches)

for almost a week now, i’ve been sleeping in my crib in my own room for part of the night.  from about 8pm until about 4am, with one feeding in there, i sleep all by myself.  when i wake up to eat around 4am, mommy brings me to her bed and i stay with her and daddy until morning.  so, that’s about 8 hours a night that i’m in my crib.  that’s 8 hours a night that i am surrounded by animals!  yup, my crib bedding and mobile have a zoo animal theme.  mommy made some matching artwork that hangs on my walls, and auntie barbara got me some stuffed zoo animals that sit on the shelves that daddy installed.  there are animals all around me 🙂  (look, the zoo animals are even hanging out with me on the header of my blog!)

so when matthew invited me to go with him to check out the newly remodeled happy hollow park & zoo, i was so excited.  i thought that i was going to get to pet real life lions with purple manes, turquoise zebras with orange noses, and giraffes with green horns — just like the animals in my room, right?  wrong.  instead, there were a bunch of animals that had fur like koda, big ears like koda, but smelled yuckier than koda.  mommy and daddy said they were goats, sheep, ponies, and zebus.  i never heard of a zebu before, but he looked sort of like those animals that say “moo”.  matthew had fun petting them, and i had fun petting/grabbing at matthew.  i wasn’t all that interested in the animals, and the feeling was mutual.  mommy and daddy said we should go back in a few months when i’m bigger.  then, i’ll be big enough for some of the rides, and maybe then, i’ll like the animals.  we’ll see.  in the meantime, i’m perfectly happy just hanging out with koda 🙂