since the new year, i’ve been accessorizing all my outfits with a bib.  yup, i’m a drool monster.

lately, i’ve been getting fussy for no reason.  mommy and daddy just figured that i haven’t been feeling well because of my runny nose.

for the past few days, i’ve been acting like i’m hungry, but sometimes i refuse to eat.  and when i do eat, i chomp on mommy really hard.  mommy chalked it up as a growth spurt.

mommy and daddy sure are slow.  has anyone else figured out what’s really going on?

i am teething!  duh.

i know, i know, i’m not supposed to be getting teeth for a few more weeks (or even months!).  at least, that’s mommy’s and daddy’s excuse for not figuring it out sooner.  but they’re coming in, alright.  well, there’s at least one in there, and mommy says it’s very sharp.  if you don’t believe me, stick your finger in my mouth and i’ll show you 🙂

in the wonderful (though short) life i’ve lived so far, i’ve met many friends and cousins.  some of them are many years older than i am, and some are just a month or two older.  the thing is, they’ve all been older.  but not anymore!

i made a new friend today.  isaac is almost 3 weeks old and he weighs about 7 pounds.  it just dawned on me… i am twice his size!  (i got mad math skillz, huh?)  no wonder i felt like a giant compared to him.  and now that i think about it, i was never as small as he is now.  yay, i finally have a friend who will look up to me 😉

i don’t think it’s eastertime yet, so why did mommy color 120 eggs?  for my red egg and ginger party!  (is that like green eggs and ham?)

in case you’re wondering, a red egg & ginger party is a chinese tradition intended to introduce a baby to the world and celebrate his one month milestone.  eggs are a symbol of fertility and renewal of life, and they are dyed red for good luck.  ginger is important because in the yin (cold) and yang (warm) balance of chinese food, ginger adds a touch of “hotness” to the nutritional needs of the new mother who is tired and weak (too yin) after giving birth.  these days, families host these parties up to several months after the baby is born.  my party was held on my 100th day because that is a significant milestone in the japanese culture.

i wanted to have 2 parties — a chinese red egg party at one month and a japanese party at 100 days.  mommy and daddy said no 🙁  but it all worked out because my celebration was like having 2 parties in 1, and it was double the fun.  it was the best party ever, and i feel so loved!

i always knew i had a lot of aunties, uncles and cousins, but i found out today that i have so many more than i realized.  thank you to everyone who came out to help me celebrate my 100th day and to help me eat all those red eggs.  i just wish i had a chance to spend more time and take photos with everyone, but i kept getting passed around. i guess that’s the downside to being so popular 😉  i hope to spend more quality time with all of you very soon!

grandma tanaka asked me if i am going to have a blue egg party next.  she’s so funny, huh?

(click here for more photos.)

i have so many pennies in my piggy bank that i decided it was time to get my own bank account.  i didn’t bother with checks or an ATM card because i don’t really need money — everything that i need or want just magically appears in my room.  but i did open a savings account and a 12 month CD.  my CD is earning 5%.  that didn’t sound like a lot to me, but that rate is a whole lot better than what mommy or daddy is getting!

daddy owes me some money.  one of my uncles gave me a check, but he wrote it to daddy instead of me.  i know that daddy is waiting for me to forget about it so he can spend the money on a new laptop for himself.

happy 3 month birthday to me 🙂

things i like:

• mirror time (mommy and i look in the mirror.  when i turn my head and look away, mommy turns around so i see my reflection in the mirror again.  no matter which way i look, i’m always there.  it’s magic!)
• my tasty fingers and thumbs
• my fauxhawk
• sitting up (with assistance)
• funny people who make me laugh

things i don’t like:

• the de-boogerizer (more commonly known as a nasal aspirator bulb)

happy new year!

nobody thought i was gonna last until midnight on my first new year’s eve, but mommy and daddy knew that i wasn’t gonna miss out on the action.  no way, not this party animal.  i did, however fall asleep just minutes after the stroke of midnight.

my new years resolution is to learn to walk so that koda and i can go out by ourselves.  besides, mommy and daddy have been saying that they’re not going to be able to carry me for much longer because i am getting too big.

mommy and daddy also had a few things they wanted me to add to my list of new year resolutions:

• stop sucking my fingers.  (they told me to stop sucking my thumb, so i did.  then i started sucking my index finger and they told me to stop that, too.  now that i’m working on my middle finger, mommy and daddy don’t like that either.  i just can’t win!)
• change my own diapers or potty train myself.  (they let me have a choice.)
• learn to drive

needless to say, those things didn’t make the list.

i’m looking forward to lots of new adventures in the new year.  2010, bring it on!

all that hair-pulling that i have been doing has not been without purpose.  check out my new ‘do!

i have a perfect fauxhawk.  no hair product required.  this is au naturel, baby.  but wait, there’s more.

if you look at my old photos, you’ll see that i was born with a lot of hair.  well now that i have a bald ring around my head, i have a natural mullet!

you can’t make up stuff this good.

my activity play gym has many brightly colored rings, rattles, and other toys that hang overhead.  they stimulate my brain and help to develop my eyesight, hearing, and motor skills.  most of the time, i just bat blindly at the toys, and sometimes i even hit them.  it seems obvious that my hand/eye coordination still needs some work, right?  well, this is baffling to mommy and daddy because there are some situations in which my hand/eye coordination is outstanding.

for example, i am really good at pulling daddy’s glasses off his face when i want him to pay attention to me.  when mommy de-boogerizes me, i can bat that bulb away with pinpoint precision.  and when i’m hungry, i’ve become quite proficient at pulling down mommy’s shirt for quick access to my food 🙂

isn’t it a wonder what we can do when we’re properly motivated?

there were two things on my christmas wish list this year that i didn’t get:

• more thumbs
• more hair

(actually, i also wanted a baby sister, but mommy and daddy made it very clear that that wasn’t happening.  especially mommy.)

i need more thumbs for ’round-the-clock sucking.  whenever mommy sees me sucking my thumb, she pulls it out of my mouth so i won’t develop a bad habit.  and sometimes, i just can’t find it again.  don’t tell mommy, but daddy helps me find it because it soothes me.  more thumbs would make for more thumb sucking joy.

and i could definitely use more hair to fill in the bald ring around my head.  most people think that baby hair loss is caused by friction, but i’ll let you in on a secret.  we actually pull it out.  i’m not joking — mommy took a photo to prove it.  it drives her crazy when i do it.

daddy wondered if i might be left-handed because i only suck my left thumb.  but mommy is convinced that i am right-handed and that i suck my left thumb so my dominant hand is free to do other things — like pull out my hair.

everyone says a baby’s first christmas is special.  i agree.  in fact, my first christmas was doubly special because it happened twice!

we celebrated christmas eve at cousin zoey’s house.  there was a ton of yummy food and a mountain of gifts.

the next day, we went back to cousin zoey’s house to bring her more presents that weren’t ready the day before.  and guess what — i forgot to bring my diaper bag!  i normally keep one in the car, but daddy had brought it into the house to restock the diapers since i am moving up to size 2s.  cousin zoey was  nice enough to let me borrow one of her size 2/3 diapers — it was too big, but better than nothing!  whew.  disaster averted.  (i can’t imagine why, but she didn’t want it back when i was done using it.)

for christmas dinner, the whole tanaka family gathered at grandma and grandpa tanaka’s house.  once again, there was lots of yummy food and even more presents!

everyone got lots of great presents this christmas, even koda.  but i got more than anyone!  i am lucky to have so many aunties and uncles and grandparents who love me so much.  too bad i slept through all the gift opening.  koda, however, was quite adept at unwrapping his gifts – i’m gonna ask him to help me next year.

mommy and daddy say that i am spoiled, but i earned all those gifts.  it’s not easy being this cute, ya know.