Smart Phone Update

These smartphones can be the most convenient way to get pictures of everyday life, but these pictures are also the first ones to get forgotten.  Here are two updates from my phone.

Taisei just finished his first season in basketball.  He surprised me with his ability to dribble and shoot.  They both can use work, but I had no idea he was playing and getting better with his friends at school.  He was a big scorer throughout the season, and defensively, surprisingly aggressive.  He's good at driving to the hoop, but needs some work on layups and finishing.  His highlight was a shot he made from just inside the 3-point line that everyone happened to see.  I think he liked the cheers.  :)  All the kids got better and most of them were able to score.  I was an assistant coach again, so it was a fun season for me as well.  We were far and away the best team, probably because we had a lot of practices and none of the others teams seemed to practice.  We had 3 kids that were pretty good (Will, Noah, and Taisei) and a whole bunch of others that got a lot better as the season went on.

Mirei's tradition of using her head as a bumper hasn't stopped.  The weekend before Christmas she was rough-housing with Taisei, he bumped her backwards into the piano bench's sharp corner.  She ended up getting 3 stiches next to her left eye.  This one hurt.  You can see the bruising all the way around her eye.  We ended up at the InstaCare on Christmas day to get the stitches out.  Mirei is still our happy girl as you can see here.  After the accident happened, she didn't cry about it again.

Here she is waiting to see the doctor.  This is the brand new IHC InstaCare by our house.  Pretty nice.

Getting bored...

Finally the doctor came!

The  funny thing is that I was on a business trip the day it happened.  I was on a flight home from S. Korea, laying over at Detroit.  Between the time I took off from Detroid and arrived home in Salt Lake, Mirei had gotten stitches, and Wami's tooth had gotten chipped (while at the InstaCare).  With me being gone, it was extra bad trying to get to the InstaCare and the dentist - kids, naps, day before the weekend, etc.  Luckily, some friends close by (Allison and Stephen) came over on short notice.  Wami said it was one of the worst days.  But now we can look back and laugh.  We just have to somehow remember that every crazy day, which seems like everyday, we'll be able to look back and laugh about as well.

Leina's Not A Baby

Leina's really starting to understand a lot more than we realize.

• On the way home from Alta Ski Resort last Friday, Wami took the east bench of I-215 home, which we only drive once in a while.  Leina suddenly asked Wami in broken Japanese "Are we going to Rachel's house?"  So even though it's only a few miles stretch, and Wami only uses that part of the freeway twice a month, Leina recognized that this was the way to Rachel's house!  Looks like there's a good chance she'll have that uncanny sense of direction her brother and mother have.  (Dad's pretty decent too, but not quite at the near-photographic-memory level of the others.)
• While Mirei and Taisei were watching TV the other evening, Leina was busy in the kitchen.  She put chopstick, forks, spoons, knives, and cups on the table in an attempt to set up the table.  She can hardly reach up onto the table so she had to do an awkward stomach crawl onto the stool with a bunch of stuff in each hand.  She was particular about the cups and things she chose for different people.  Then, after she was done, she stormed into the living room, bent over forwards for emphasis, and yelled at her siblings "TAISEI, MIREI!  GOHAN DEKITA YO!"  Translated "Taisei, Mirei! Dinner's ready!"
• She's now 84 cm in height.  That's 2'9".