i’m a big boy now, and i’ve done a whole lot of things in my (almost) 21 months.  so it was a little surprising to experience so many “firsts” today.

FLASH MOB

i’ve been to the children’s discovery museum dozens of times.  they change some exhibits once in awhile, but for the most part, i’ve been there, done that.  today however, mama took me to my first storytime at CDM.  and it wasn’t just stories — we also played games and sang/danced.  i actually wasn’t into the story, at all.  while the storyteller was reading the book, i wandered off and explored other areas of the wonder cabinet.  (the storyteller wasn’t very good.)  but when the music came on, i rejoined the group.  but guess what — i found myself in the middle of a flash mob!  all the kids started doing the exact same dance moves.  everyone except me, that is.  i guess i missed the youtube video with the dance instructions.  i’ll find it, though.  i’ve gotten really good at navigating youtube.

I AM BEAST.  RAAAWR!

i’ve been going to the little gym for a long time now.  i went to one “bugs” class and i completed two whole sessions in the “birds” class.  but  tonight, i was a “beast” for the first time!  the format of the class seems similar to the previous ones, but there’s more focus on cooperative play (rather than parallel play) and more advanced skills (galloping and jumping, identifying colors, standing on the high-beam unsupported, and doing rolls by ourselves without being spotted).  oh, and most importantly, the ratio of girls to boys in this class is way higher. and since i’m on the low end of the age range, that means i’m surrounded by older women   i’m liking being a beast, already.  RAAAWR!

MY UNCLE IS A ROCK STAR!

after gym class tonight, mama, dada, and i went out for dinner.  when we got to the restaurant, there was a band setting up.  i don’t think i’ve ever seen a live band before, so that was pretty cool.  and guess what.  uncle jamie was the drummer in the band!  how cool is that?  it was my first time seeing uncle jamie play the drums.  i know a real-life rock star!  i had fun watching and listening to the music even though it kept me up past my bedtime.

this is not uncle jamie’s regular band — he only plays with these guys part-time.  they are a classic/freedom rock cover band.  i dunno what that means, but mama and dada seemed to know all the songs.  and gung-gung was totally rocking out and singing along.  if anyone ever wants to go have dinner with me and listen to the band play, mark your calendars for the last friday of every month at sonoma chicken coop in campbell

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!

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

we just got back from a long weekend in san diego.  we flew down there for auntie barbara’s graduation and decided to stay and make a mini-vacation out of it.  auntie barbara earned her masters in nursing, she is a member of a couple of honor societies, and she did all that while working full-time. i have the smartest auntie ever!  and now that she is a nurse practitioner, she can write me prescriptions for some good stuff

here’s a quick recap of my san diego trip.

5/19 (thursday): mama, daddy, and i met grandma, grandpa, and uncle randy at the airport and we all flew to san diego together.  dropped off our stuff at auntie barbara’s house, and then we all had lunch at the cheesecake factory.  went back to auntie’s for a nap.  mama woke me up so that we could catch the end of auntie’s grad reception at the mission bay yacht club, but it was over by the time we got there

5/20 (friday): attended the school of nursing commencement ceremony.  went to lunch at maria maria (carlos santana’s restaurant).  i slept through the entire lunch, but i heard it was delicious.  after my nap, we went to sea world for about 5 minutes.  we thought it closed at 10pm, but it turned out that it closed at 6pm.  we decided to leave and come back the next day.  so instead, we went to kate sessions park where i played in the playground, ran around the grass, and made friends with some dogs.

5/21 (saturday): sea world!  i loved the penguins, life-size elmo, and elmo’s flying fish ride.  (i even got to make our elmo pig fly by pulling on the lever.)  i hated the beluga whales and other giant sea creatures when they got up close and personal.  (it was okay to see them swimming around at sea level, but when they swam right next to me in the underwater viewing area it sort of freaked me out).  i was indifferent about shamu and the sleeping polar bear.  i wish mama had brought my swim clothes to sea world because there was a water attraction that i really wanted to play in.  she said she didn’t bring it because the weatherman told her that it was going to be overcast and cloudy.  he lied.

5/22 (sunday): flew home.

my san diego highlights:

• getting to spend the whole weekend with grandma, grandpa, auntie barbara, and uncle randy (who i usually only get to see for a couple of hours at a time)
• the big pile of presents that were waiting for me when i arrived at auntie barbara’s house!  i thought she was confused because it wasn’t my birthday or anything but she said she wanted me to have things to play with while i was visiting.  (little did she know that her coasters, refrigerator door, and rock band drumsticks were all the entertainment that i would need.)
• riding on (shuttle) buses to and from the airport parking lot, terminal, and car rental place
• swinging on the bid kid swings!  (mama always thought i hated swings, but i just hate baby swings.  i love swinging by myself on the bid kid swings!  ’bout time that she figured that out.)
• making daddy chase me up and down the big grassy hill at park.  i wore him out
• taking the elevator in auntie’s building up and down from the underground garage to her condo
• getting to share a room with mama and daddy.  i even got to sleep in their big bed for a little while.  (auntie got me a pack ‘n play to sleep in, but it was cramping my style.  so mama put me to sleep in the big bed, and she moved me to the pack ‘n play after i was conked out.)

my san diego lowlights:

• no koda.  i missed him a lot and asked about him all day, every day.
• sleeping through auntie’s reception at the mission bay yacht club
• not having my sun hat at sea world.  mama didn’t bring it because the weather man told her that it was going to be overcast and cloudy.  it was warm and sunny for most of the weekend.
• not getting to take a photo with elmo or even give him a high five.  the line was closed by the time we got there.  at least i got to wave to him and big bird.
• getting stuck on the tarmac for 1.5 hours before our plane ride home.  good thing i had lots of snacks to eat and bubbles to play with.  (who blows bubbles on an airplane?  mama is so silly!)

people in san diego are so nice.  like, when i went to the bathroom (in the airport) with mama, all the ladies in line in front of us offered to let us go ahead of them because they thought that i had to go potty and they didn’t want me to have an accident.  and, when mama dropped her jacket at sea world, she retraced her steps and found it hanging on a post right where she dropped it — with her iphone still in the pocket!

we had such a fun trip to san diego.  thanks for letting us stay with you, auntie barbara.  and congratulations on earning your masters degree — we are sooo proud of you!

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!

like all the good holidays, christmas happened 3 times this year. and it’s a good thing, ‘cuz it took me awhile to get the hang of opening presents.

our first christmas was earlier in the week at grandma and grandpa’s house. auntie barbara had to work on christmas day, so we celebrated with daddy’s side of the family early so we could all be together.  (can’t people stop having babies on christmas day so that auntie can stay for christmas?)  see that photo of me with all those presents?  those are a LOT of presents, right?  and yup, they were all for me.  well, almost all of them.

on christmas day, we drove up to the east bay to cousin zoey’s house.  i spent the afternoon opening more presents, playing with cousin zoey, and rocking out on uncle jamie’s drum pads!  i’ve been practicing drumming with my bathtub drum, so i was pounding the snare pretty good, but my legs are too short to tap that bass

then we all headed over to cousins jerrod, caitlyn, and justin’s house.  the rest of mama’s family was waiting there for us.  we had a yummy dinner (i chowed down on the homemade pad thai and broccoli cheese casserole), i charmed all the ladies by blowing kisses and giving hugs, and guess what else…  yup, more presents!  by that time, i was a gift-wrap-ripping expert.

thanks everyone for all my presents.  i really appreciate all of the generous gifts and am so lucky to have such thoughtful family and friends.

i still don’t know about this santa claus guy, though.  all my cousins were talking about what he brought them, but i got nothing.  no presents under the tree from santa.  nothing in my stocking.  is it because i didn’t go visit him at the mall, or write him a letter, or leave cookies out for him?  or maybe he came, but couldn’t come down the chimney because daddy made a fire?  or is it just because i’m a naughty kid?   i wonder if santa will come next year.

everybody has their thanksgiving traditions.  for some people, it’s the macy’s thanksgiving day parade.  for others, it’s volunteering at a soup kitchen.  before i came along, my family’s thanksgivings were about football, family, and food.

FOOTBALL:  mama and daddy always watch NFL games on thanksgiving day

FAMILY:  they always get together with their families on this long weekend.  i always enjoy seeing my grandparents and my aunties and uncles.  but i especially love playing with cousin zoey!  she is such a chatterbox!  is it true that all girls talk too much?

FOOD:  there is always sooo much food — i think over-eating is a thanksgiving requirement

this year, we added two things to the list:  friends and fun.

FRIENDS:  last year, thanksgiving happened twice.  but this year, it happened three times!  we celebrated with daddy’s family on thursday and mama’s family on friday.  then on saturday, mama and daddy invited their friends over for thanksgiving dinner (again!).  it was so fun to see my aunties and uncles.  i hope we get to have three thanksgiving dinners every year!

FUN:  it’s always fun to see friends and family, but i’m talking about the kind of fun you can only have at the children’s discovery museum!  i met my friends logan, sierra, and chloe there on friday morning.  i dunno what all the talk was about “black friday” — if you ask me, it was more like “blue friday” or maybe “wet friday”!  i am starting to get a little bored of the wonder cabinet (the place for little kids), but i painted a blue masterpiece in the art room (double-fisting it with two paintbrushes in my left hand and one in my right) and i had a blast playing in the waterways.  even though i was wearing a shower curtain, i got drenched!  we are definitely making CDM one of our thanksgiving traditions

happy thanksgiving to all!

koda came home today.  for the past 3 nights, he was at his sister kiara’s house for a sleepover.  i missed him, but i hafta admit that it was kinda fun being an only child for a little while.  normally, weekends are for me and koda, but this weekend was all about me.  we were able to stay out and play all day and not worry about koda being bored and lonely.  so while koda and kiara were putting each other’s paws in warm water and crank calling animal control, i had a fun-filled weekend of my own.

after spending saturday at u-me with logan, we went to erik and matthew’s house for auntie jill’s birthday party.  i saw some old buddies, met some new friends, and we all got to play with a house full of toys!  it was so fun that i could have sworn that it was a kid party.

on sunday, i finally got to play with daddy’s new phone. my buddy isaac moved across the country, but with facetime on the iphone 4, i can see him all the time!  yay!  the audio and picture quality was fantastic — none of the lag that you get with a webcam.  so ladies, if you wanna see my handsome face, gimme a ring at… umm… my daddy will give you the digits.  (how embarrassing.)  daddy, now that you have an extra iphone, can i have one of my own?

i also had my swim lesson on sunday, as usual.  and guess what — there is new girl in my class who is a model!  i figure she must be a sports illustrated model because she was swimming topless  boys, i’m telling you, AVAC is the place to be.

and the highlight of my weekend…  getting a mohawk with gung-gung!  don’t we look like twins?  actually, gung-gung’s mohawk is real.  mine is more of a fauxhawk.  gung-gung was loving the new ‘do that uncle jamie gave him, but i didn’t want those clippers anywhere near my lovely locks!   i’m all for bonding with my grandpa, but that’s taking it just a little too far.  although… i think daddy is in need of a haircut…  UNCLE JAAAAAMIE…!!!

last month, we celebrated boy’s day.  and apparently, yesterday was the opposite of boy’s day because all the boys were honored except for me!  gung-gung…  uncle jamie…  daddy…  but not me.  it must have been old guy’s day.

cousin zoey and her family came over to our house for the old guy brunch celebration.  i was an excellent host!  i invited zoey into my playpen and handed her different toys that i thought she would like to play with.  i even tried to giver her a flower, but it was stuck to my exersaucer!

she must have had a good time because she left her bib and burp cloth at my house.  i heard that girls do things like that when they like you so that they have an excuse to see you again.  girls are so coy.  (yay, cousin zoey likes me!)

don’t tell anyone, but i tried on her bib today.  i heard that boys sometimes do things like that when they like a girl.  i didn’t think anyone saw me sporting the pink bib, but mommy caught me in the act!  she told me not to be embarrassed though cuz real men wear pink

we found some old boys’ day photos at grandma and grandpa’s house!

the boy’s day display is the same one that daddy had when he was a baby, and the outfit that mommy and i are wearing is the same one grandma and daddy wore a kajillion years ago. cool, huh? (nobody was able to explain the mexican donkey in daddy’s boys day photo. maybe it was in honor of cinco de mayo?)

do i look like daddy? does mommy look like grandma?