Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Food and Shy-ness

Quick update on the kids.

Mirei said Taisei's name for the first time last weekend.  Now she says "ma-ma", "ba-ba", and "Taisei."  Every morning, the first thing she says in the morning is "Ba-ba?"  She yells it at the top of her lungs, so it's a fun way for me to wake up.  She also yells it when Wami's phone rings, or when I get home from work.  If she can get out of her room in the morning, then she'll come bang on my door and yell "Ba-ba?!"

A few weeks ago, she started to shake her head.  Now, she really makes it clear what she wants to eat.  She no longer wants to just everything.  Unfortunately, anything that's wrapped (as in processed foods), she always wants to open and taste.  Sadly, she's pretty much looking for candy and sweets.  She's definitely a lot more into garbage foods than Taisei at this age.  It's a mystery to us whether it's because we were a little less strict, or because she's got different (more American) taste buds.  Hopefully she'll grow out of it.  :|

Taisei, on the other hand, is eating good foods.  He still doesn't eat much and is mostly skin and bones, but at least he likes good food, and doesn't like sugary stuff.  For his age, he has pretty good eating habits, and very highly differentiating taste buds.  Generally, he would rather have fruit than candy.  To name some other things, he likes salad, pasta, Japanese ramen, and ice cream.  I would say he's picky, but in a good way.  He'll pretty much try anything, and, if it's good, he'll eat it.  But often times, this means he won't eat things that aren't good, even in restaurants and other places.  He has never take more than a bite or two of food at McDonalds (yay!), except for the fries.  On the other hand, he does like Smashburgers.  I tried to get him Wendy's once when he wanted Smashburgers, and he wouldn't take more than one bite.  Oh well.

Mirei doing her favorite thing - eating.  Sometimes she's joined by her big bro.  But usually not.


She always has to eat herself.  Especially if it's something she really wants to eat.  She has a big fuss if we don't let her.


Last week, Taisei surprised us by writing us letters at preschool, and then hiding them in our bedsheets such that we didn't find them until after we went to bed.  He pulled it off perfectly.  He wrote one for Wami, me, and Mirei.  Wami was very touched when she discovered the letter. 

Mirei's starting to become a little shy, whereas Taisei's finally starting to grow out of it.  At church, Mirei will now only let people who she's familiar with hold her. Some of her favorite carriers there are Braden, Annie F, Holly and George.  Taisei now will go to primary on his own and just have fun with the other kids.  He's CRAZY out-of-control when he plays with Amy G.  Taisei's deal is funny.  He seems like a leader in most of his circles - at Mary's preschool, amongst his Japanese friends, and his primary friends - but he's still totally wimpy about getting up in front of people to speak or sing.  The other kids all try to encourage him, but he usually opts out of those kinds of performances.  He did volunteer to get up and share one of the Articles of Faith one day a few months back.  That was a bit of a milestone for him.

One last thing.  Mirei's always been one to wear her emotions on her sleeve.  Lately she's been expressing anger in new ways.  We're going to have to check her into an anger management place.  She's started to resort to biting when she doesn't like something Taisei's doing - often it's blocking her from food.  This was the first big bite.  Since then, we've caught her attempting a few more bites.  Yikes!  Not good.



Happy Chinese New Year!  (Not sure why, but I can't find any of Taisei in his outfit.)

2 comments:

Aaron and Emily said...

I love how Mirei is such a Daddy's girl! (Just like Adele). I think I know how you feel, because I went through Adele being sort of flippant with me whenever Aaron was around. But then when Samuel came around, I had a kid who actually wanted Mommy. It feels nice to be wanted!

Taisei shy, eh? Adele was asked to give the prayer in primary last week, and she was so excited. She didn't want anyone to help her. I know she did not get that bold public speaking trait from me! I was terrified when I was that age.

I love his letters he hid you! That's so cool that he did it without you even knowing. I should try that with my preschool kids.

Esther said...

That is really cute that Taisei hid the notes for you. Did you know I used to do that for Dad and Mom ... ever since I could write, as far as I know. Strange coincidence - I wonder how many kids do that?

I hope Mirei isn't shy with us now that she is becoming shy.