5 and 1.4

Taisei had his 5th birthday.  You can see the pictures and details on the daytime blog.  Random notes:

• Although at home he doesn't pay a lot of attention to Mirei, when we're out, he's more comfortable to have her around.  When he wouldn't go to preschool in Japan, the teachers had to show him that his sister was there in another class.  Only then would he stay the whole day.
• He still loves the same things - drawing, crafts, playing sports, riding his bike at the park.  Now I guess there's more - he loves watching the animated Avatar (Airbender) series, playing Plants vs Zombies, and card games such as Uno.
• Recently, he's started to develop allergies that he never had when he was younger.  There was the seafood at New Years in SF - don't know if that was shrimp, crab, clams, or scallops.  But a few days later, we narrowed it down to either shrimp or crab.  Then in Salt Lake, he had the reaction again with either shrimp or crab.  Luckily, he doesn't care.  He's still happy to eat the food.  Also, on a school field trip where he touched guinea pigs and baby chicks, he came home early with puffy, itchy eyes and a rash.  Just recently, he got the rash and puffy eyes again after touching guinea pigs and rabbits.  In all cases, the reaction was a mild case of itchy hives.  Too bad.  I was hoping he would be totally allergy-free, unlike his dad.  I have a lot of allergies myself - cats and rats and other animals, hay fever / pollen / grass, and probably other stuff.  Luckily with the miracle drugs these days, it's easy to keep under control.  Not so lucky when I was a kid.
• Already at this age, he reminds me of me.  Is that because he's like me, or because I'm like my dad?  When I try to talk to him about something serious, he goes "I know, I know, Baba."  In other words, we don't need to talk about it anymore.  I did that too.  :O

In the grand scheme of things, 5 is just barely getting started.  But as we watch him grow, learn, and develop in so many ways, it feels like his life is flying by so quickly.  Sometimes it's tiring to have him begging to be picked up every time Mirei's being held, but I have to remind myself that we're more than half way to the point where he's never going to want that again.  It's one more reminder to resist the temptation to look towards the future.  Enjoy every moment.  That's what I hope I'm doing.

Mirei now has 10 teeth, two of them upper molars in the back.  The two opposite molars on the bottom are there, breaking through now as well.  So twelve teeth before 1 and a half years old.  Did Taisei have that many?  If I only had a sample of two, then I would say that the desire to chew and eat causes your molars to come out.  I'm pretty sure there's no scientific fact backing there, but it sure does suit her desire to always be chewing on something. Other stuff:

• She still LOVES eating.  When Taisei got grumpy as a baby, it was clear - he needs a nap.  When Mirei gets grumpy, it's a different strategy - she's hungry.
• Miso soup is one of her favorites - and ours too.  Every time she sips from the bowl, she says "Oishi."  Siiiip.  "Oishi." 
• She loves to be outside.  Whenever she thinks she can, she brings us her shoes and tries to get us to take her outside.  Pretty funny how opinionated she is at this early age.
• Mirei's completely injury prone.  Especially her head.  She can whack her head on walls, tables, the floor several times in one day.  Of course, it hurts every time, but does it stop her?  No.  I feel like we need a helmet for her.  Unlike Taisei, she doesn't learn quickly from her mistakes and, instead, continues to do the same thing.  Maybe she's stubborn that way?  I'd have to say that this is probably more like me, and Taisei's carefulness is probably more like mom.
• Mirei's discovered the biting elicits a reaction.  When she's mad at her brother - and this is not a rare thing - she goes for his arm and bites him.  Luckily, Taisei's a pretty good sport about it, although he has shed a tear or two before.  The other day, she climbed onto Wami's back, which is just something she likes to do sometimes, but then she bit Wami's neck!  Wami was shocked and scolded her, but she seemed to think it was amusing.  Yikes.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now.  Enjoy a few pictures.