Why why why

Leina's at a cute stage now.  She's purposely being a goof ball and laughs at everything.  Mentally, she's developing.  She's thinking about how things work.

One example:  Yesterday, we took a walk to the park.  Taisei rode his scooter, Mirei rode a bicycle, and Leina rode her tricycle.  Everytime we crossed a street, I would have to push her to about the middle of the road because of the natural peak in the middle of the road.  Then, as soon as she could, she would start to pedal like mad.  But before we got to the sidewalk on the other side, the tricycle was going too fast and she would ask "nan-de? nan-de?"  (Eng: Why? Why?)  So even though she can't clearly vocalize, she's clearly asking mom "why is the bike speeding up?

Today we watched The Lego Movie and she kept asking about stuff during the movie.  They're specific enough that she's clearly watching and wondering about what's going on.  Anyway, it's kind of neat to see and definitely so cute.

Mirei decided today that she wants her ears pierced.  She was so serious about it that she prayed about it, and reminded up before she went to bed that when she wakes up in the morning, she wants us to take her to get it pierced.  We told her it's going to pierce her ear, make a hole in it, it's going to bleed, etc, but she can't be deterred.  Plus, pain is not something that she has ever worried about.  I'm going to have to see if I can delay this for a while by finding some decent fake earrings.  I think they have decent ones, right?

Mirei has gone crazy with riding her bike and she's gotten good at it.  At first, I was worried that she wouldn't be very fast because she wasn't able to get herself started.  I had to push her.  Also, she wasn't good at turning right - only left.  But she's got it all figured out now and can even use the brakes pretty well. I have hope that we'll be able to all go biking together soon since Leina seems to be a quick learner.  I think I can get her riding within the next year or so.

Our sassy girl (the bigger of the two, anyway):

Taisei's starting to peak at baseball at just the right time - playoffs.  He's been able to whack the ball on the first pitch for the past several games.  Normally a good enough crack that none of the kids can field it and it's an easy double.  Also, we realized that his blue/black Nike glove has been the problem with his fielding.  As soon as we switched back to his old Walmart glove, he can catch everything!  I'm so glad we figured that out.  I was frustrated with why he hasn't been playing defense as well as he had in past seasons.  Here's one of his hits from last Wednesday.

A picture of the Alligators on Diamond Day:

Anyway, everyone's happy.  We should have some more updates soon.

May Update

Now that the sun is back out, it's time for hibernation to end.  Here's an update on the kids.

One day last week, I noticed Leina climbing around on her crib.  I realized that she could climb both in and out.  She must have made the discovery that day.  Late last week, she woke late at night (1:30 am) and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I laid down with her and fell asleep.  She was pretty happy about that and every night since, has begged for the same thing.  Except, instead of screaming and crying in her crib, she climbs out, lays down in bed where she wants me to lay down with her, and then screams and cries.  So she doesn't try to get out, but she climbs out of the crib, and lays down on the bed to wait for me.  She's so proficient now, she can get out of the crib in a matter of seconds.  But luckily, she hasn't figured out the smooth, round doorknobs yet, so she's still stuck in the room... for now.

She's still our quiet girl, but has a strong opinion and stubborn attitude.  Quite different from the older two.  Here she is using the scooter she got from grandpa and grandma.  She's getting better at it.

Taisei got baptized two Saturdays ago!  Here are some pictures below.  Today is the first Fast Sunday since he's been baptized, so we let him go for it.  He complained about being hungry at church (especially hard in our ward since it doesn't start until 1pm).  But he made it all the way to the end, got home, ended the fast, and then had breakfast.  That's no small feat for an 8 year old.  We were proud of him so we let him relax at home for a few minutes.  ;)

Just for our records, Taisei is 51" and 54 pounds, approximately 50% and just below 50%.  Eyesight isn't perfect anymore - about 20/25.  Still not necessary to have glasses yet.  I hope it doesn't get worse.  :|  Interestingly, his left eye is better than his right eye.  He is right eye dominant, however.

Mirei is starting to read now.  Occasionally, she'll read something from a sign or something.  We're still on 3-letter words, like "pot" and "pan", but the other day, she read "yes" from a sign.  Not too bad.  Maybe we'll throw her in an academic preschool like Challenger to see how she likes it.  Oh, Mirei learned to ride a bike recently.  She still will occasionally pedal backwards and engage the brakes, but she's getting comfortable with balance and steering.  Here's hoping we can go on bike rides soon!

From Hiro's birthday party:

Anyway, just a quick one since it's late at night.  G'night!

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".

Begin 2014!

Here are some scratch notes on the kids.

Leina the copycat

• This drives Mirei crazy.  Whenever Mirei is trying to talk, Leina starts talking as well, even though it's about nothing.  She's keep going as long as Mirei's going.  Leina's very animated and determined.
• Good manners - Arigatou, Gomen ne, "How are you?"
• Bad manner - "booboo-head!"
• Still does a lot of "yes, yes yes" without really hearing the question.  Sometimes she listens after the fact and will revise her answer.
• Does things and then says "i just wanted to try" or "I just wanted to look".  For example, "Mitai dake"  She seems very aware about what she's saying and doing.
• Likes to use scissors
• Loves to dance - tries to do it whenever she hears music, and tries to turn on music when she wants to dance
• Likes to jump off of things
• For the past year, hates getting in the car seat.  Always wants to sit on Taisei's booster seat.
• When she's with mama, she always asks "Papa は?  Taisei は?  Mirei は?"
• When she's with papa, she always says "Mama go" which is a direct translation for "Mama 行く"
• When she's asked how old she is, it's always the same answer "Oppai ni sai."
• She's a candy fiend - always on the prowl.  When she goes quiet, she's either looking for it, or has already found it.
• Discovered pizza, grilled cheese sandwich.  At least this is more variety than white rice and sugary foods.
• She's in the "mine" stage.  It's normally "Leina の! Leina の!"

Mirei

• She's our smarty pant.  She's got both the Japanese alphabet (Hiragana) and the English alphabet alphabet down.  She not only can recognize, but can write some of both.
• Peacemaker, and defender of the other kids and dog (from parents, mostly).  Once when we were mad at Taisei about something, she went in the bathroom with him and barricaded the door with everything she could find so that we couldn't get it.  She used the stool, heater, etc. and vehemently denied our entry.
• She's gets very rebellious stage now - definitely tries to do the opposite of what we want.  Often, this can be outrageously bad - breaking things, screaming, etc.
• To be funny, she often will purposely do outrageous things.  This is somewhat related to the previous bullet.  
• She very interested in makeup.  Even noticed Taisei's teacher has braces and declared that she wants some too.  Loves manicure, wants to do lipstick and eye shadow.  We let her color only her toenails for the time being.
• She's still the most cuddly out of the three - that's her love language, apparently.
• She likes having Taisei read books to her.
• She's very quick about finding things, eg in Where's Waldo books.  She can actually compete with Taisei and his friends on the game "Spot It"
• She's also our most empathetic kid.  She will randomly ask about and pray for Grandma Lin, who passed away last year, and our neighbor's cat, Cosmo.  She's genuinely concerned and wants them to come back again soon.  The dog park near our house is next to the cemetary.  One of our friends, Bunny, was killed in a car accident and buried there.  Mirei also often asks about Bunny when we pass near there.

Taisei

• He feels like everything should be fair with his siblings.  "How come they don't have to do homework?  How come they get to play?"
• He's in a more sensitive and emotional stage lately.  Especially when he feels he was dealt with unjustly, he will break out in sobs - something he never did when he was younger.
• His Japanese writing is starting to really look good now.
• His teacher rated him all 5s (out of 5) on his class behavior, which is a first for him!  Mrs. Benevento said "he is a model student in our class."
• He's getting into music.  He likes Katy Perry's "Roar", One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful"
• He's started fixing his hair and putting gel and things like that.  Still picky about what he wears.  Won't do jeans still.
• Getting better at skiing
• Turns out to be very good at basketball.  He was one of the top 3 players on his Jr Jazz team this year.  Good defense and dribbler.  Shooting isn't bad - his best shot was one from just inside the arc during a game.
• He also learned to throw a nice spiral with the football.  We watched a YouTube video and that's all it took.  He can put some juice on his because he has the footwork learned from baseball.
• His piano is really coming along.  He can now sight read single notes quite well.  Has a little trouble when timing is tricky.
• He's started to sing out loud particularly in primary.  He can now carry a tune and sing on key, so apparently this will self develop. :)

The kids now play very well together, often playing make believe.  Taisei enjoys taking a break from his work to play with his sisters.

All three kids still LOVE natto.  That's the one meal they want if they don't like what's for dinner.  The backup would be rice with rou song.

Weekly schedule:

• Mon - Taisei school, Mirei dance, Mirei/Leina Japanese playgroup, Taisei piano lesson
• Tues - Taisei school, Mirei preschool
• Wed - Taisei school, Taisei Japanese school, Taisei basketball practice
• Thur - Taisei school, Mirei preschool, Mirei Japanese school
• Fri - Taisei school, Taisei skiing
• Sat - Taisei basketball game
• Sun - Church 11-5

Hiro has grown to trust the kids more.  On the way to school, Hiro now will sit on the rear bench between Taisei and Mirei.