Chain-reaction

Shi-Shi and Mama went to Shi-Shi's friend's preschool to pick her up because her mom was busy with taking care of other stuff. Shi-Shi and Mama arrived the preschool earlier than the school end, and waited at the front yard for a while.At around the school end, Shi-Shi and Mama went to their friend's classroom, but she was awfuly crying for some reason. She understood that her friends came and pick her up, though, she suddenly missed her mom:( It happened all the time especially when kids just started school. So it was understandable to Mama, though, Shi-Shi started to cry like a chain-reaction. Mama carried her friend on her arm and hold Shi-Shi's hand on the other side, and both girls were crying. Some of moms in the preschool gave Mama bitter smile.

Mommy take a rest!

Shi-Shi now takes care of others. Mama was tired after the swimming class and sighed heavily with weariness after dinner. As Shi-Shi saw her tiredness, Shi-Shi said " Mommy, take a rest!". Mama was really proud of her little daughter who now can take care of her family, though, at the same time, Mama felt herself really old. But then, when Mama sat on the floor and was lazy, Shi-Shi said " Mommy, watch TV.". ??? Is that what she wanted isn't it?!

A little conversation with pappy

Here is a little conversation between Shi-Shi and pappy yesterday.

S: Cookie Monster!
P: Wow! Where did you get this?
S: Mommy cut.

That doesn't really make sence to others, but Shi-Shi responsed in a right way.
Shi-Shi had a ready-to-eat waffle coming with a box with Cookie Monster's picture on, and since that was the last piece, so Mommy cutted off Cookie Monster's picture from the box and gave that to her.
Shi-Shi is now trying really hard to talk more and more and make longer sentences.

Helping mommy

Shi-Shi's been a remainder ever since she was one year-old. When Mommy and Shi-Shi go for shopping, Shi-Shi reminds Mommy something that Mommy forgets to put in a shopping cart. For example, she used to say " bread!" on a way back from her day-care center. She used to be a bread eater. Whenever she had a piece of bread in her hand, she was really quiet. And it used to be really busy in a morning because Mommy needed to leave house early. So Mommy just gave her a piece of bread while preparing something go with the bread. So Shi-Shi's family always had to have a lot of bread at home. She is not a big fan of bread any more, though... They went to Trader Joe's yesterday just to get a couple of water bottles, but Shi-Shi said " coffee!". Yes, actually Mommy needed to get a bag of coffee beans! These things happen often. Mommy doesn't like to go shooping with her so much, though, when Mommy is with Shi-Shi, Mommy doesn't forget something she should buy.

Key?!

Shi-Shi likes Curious George, and she has DVD, which has 6 episodes in. She asked Pappy to turn on the George DVD, and she said "KEY" when it was time to choose an episode to watch. The episode she wanted to watch was "night zoo", so Pappy was really confused and thought she mispronounced " key" instead of "zoo". However when she asked to turn on the DVD in the afternoon, Mommy noticed that Shi-Shi said "key" because keys were one of the main pionts of the story. The story is like this; George went to a zoo to watch a panda bear and was trapped in a zoo. He found keys, which he thought he could unlock a door and get himself out. Instead of openning a door to lead him out, he opened all the animals' cages, and all the animals were out in a same field. He noticed his mistake and figured out what to do, and that was all about the story. Mommy is not sure if she really follows the story or not, though, she remembers what is in a story at least!

Shi-Shi is Happy!

Shi-Shi has been developping her language skill so much more recently. She copies some of the words Mommy tell her often and makes another sentence with the words that she copies. For example, Mommy and Shi-Shi took a walk in this morning and grab a sandwich at a shop, and after they finished their lunch, Mommy started reading a book. Mommy said " Mommy is reading a book." and Shi-Shi said " Shi-Shi is reading a newspaper." She knows a word newspaper because she loves opening a newspaper stand on street and Mommy always tell her " no newspaper, please..." So eventually she learned the word Newspaper. Mommy's friend suggested Mommy oneday that she should note every word Shi-Shi said because it is a remarkable period in a kids' life to aquire a language.

So, since Shi-Shi talks a lot recently, she started to enjoy a conversation-like with Mommy and Pappy. And her favorite sentence is " Shi-Shi is happy!"

Shi-Shi goes to pre-school!

Shi-Shi now goes to pre-school with her friend Luna two mornings! She is really happy to go there with Luna, so mama thinks that the problem was the envieonment that there was no friend. Shi-Shi's mama applied to a pre-school summer session for Shi-Shi, and she supposed to go four mornings in July. Though, she was not ready to be away from mama and interact with other kids. So she only went to school for 1/3 of the summer session. But mama and the president of the school conserned about it, and as a compliment, Shi-Shi could take her friend to school even though Luna is not a student. Mama is also happy that things turns out very well, and thank Luna's mama's corporation!

Shi-Shi runs!!

Shi-Shi's family is a running family. Since Shi-Shi's parents had decided to attend an half marathon race, they'd started running almost every morning before papa went to work, and they still trains every once in a while even their marathon race was over. And Shi-Shi now became a running girl. One evening, papa and mama left for running, Shi-Shi said " Shi-Shi runs!", and she acctually ran for 500 m without stopping at her favourite newspaper holders. It was really impressive, though, papa and mama acctually liked her to get on a stroller because they wouldn't even run. It is interesting, though, Shi-Shi've started to walk more on her own since her parents's started work out. There is a saying in Japan that a child develops his value while watching his parents' behavior, close saying in English will be "like father, like son" "Know the breed, know the dog".

Toilet Training

Shi-Shi is now in a middle of toilet training, and she did pee on a toilet! She was playing without a diaper in this morning, and she came to mommy and said "poop". So she went to a toilet and sat on Elmo toilet supporter. After a few moments she peeed instead of poop. This may be the first time that Shi-Shi actually asked mommy to take her to the toilet and pee. Mommy didn't know that if Shi-Shi wanted to poop, though, pee came out, or she actually wanted to pee. Though, the important thing is that Shi-Shi knows that she needs to go to a toilet to either pee or poop. And she DID! YEY!!

Guiter Player

Shi-Shi's family went to San Diego, and Papa and Mama bought a guiter for Shi-Shi at Old Town State Historic Park, where the first Europians settled in California, and there are original building re-creating the era from 1821-1872. (those buildings serve as musiums, shops, and restaurants. ) Old Town is quite interesting place to see cultural things. Papa and Mama thought of adding a new instrument to Shi-Shi's toy box. First, they saw maracases, and Shi-Shi played with them for a while, but when Mama asked her about which one or two getting, she lost interest. Then she bamped a shop and saw a guiter. Suddenly she toutched and started playing. A guy at the shop came out and showed her him playing, and she showed interest. It was only $11, and Mama thought that it was good for beginning. She sees her music teacher playing the guiter every week, so she does know how to hold it, and it looks like she already know how to play and is a good guiterlist!

Bubble Bubble

Shi-Shi was invited to a friend's birthday party. She found a bottle of bubble liquid and enjoyed making bubbles. She's had great time with friends and got tired afterwards, and she's been asleep for more than 3 hours!

Creazy about Bubble!

Shi-Shi went to Elizabeth Gamble Park with friends from her playgroup. It was a perfect weather for walking around the park. There is a rose garden, and it is really beautiful. Mama had never seen such a lot of roses in one place. Mama remembers that she once visited a park which was famous for roses, though, the day she visited was not the season and only saw leaves. Shi-Shi was interested in roses and touched flower petals. Later on, they went to a cactus garden, and there was a girl playing with her bubble maker. The girl generously let others to play, and Shi-Shi and her friend enjoyed making bubble.

 

Grown-up girl

Shi-Shi's grandma bought the pink dress last summer, and it was really big for her at that time. Now she wears it, and it's just her size!! She's grown up since last year. Grandma must be really happy to see her next month!

Home-grown carrots

A friend of Shi-Shi and Mama has a home garden and brought a bunch of carrots!! Shi-Shi only knows carrots in a store, not carrots with leaves and earth. Mama asked Shi-Shi to help cutting off the head part, and Shi-Shi curiously tried and tasted the freshest carrot. They were really crunchy and sweeter than one at a store. Mama made carrot salad for dinner.

Baking Bread

Mama is a big fun of a bread, though, she has never baked a bread by herself. She found a book about how to bake a bread for biginners the other day, and thought " well, maybe we (Shi-Shi and mama) can bake together!". So mama bought everything needed and was ready. Mama started scaling flour, yeast, suger, salt, olive oil etc, and, Shi-Shi was very curious what mama was going to do. Shi-Shi distracted and annoyed mama, but by the time when all the ingredients were mixed and got in a big one dough, Shi-Shi could touch and be allowed to knead some part of the big dough. It looked like she was playing with play dough. Shi-Shi is now sleeping, and mama is waiting for the second fermentation. Baking a bread is time consuming!!

Balance Bike

Shi-Shi got a balance bike and has practiced since then. She seems to be really fun pushing her bike in the living room. On the first day, she took her bike outside and steped it over and walked around the apartment. There were so many things which distracted, such as a manhole, leaves, seeds of some kind of tree, etc... and never went straight. A friend of Mama told her that she had to be really patient for the several days until Shi-Shi found an interest in riding a bike more than finding something else outside. But mama was not that patient person, and she got really tired after all. Actually, Shi-Shi did really well for the first run. Mama was so proud of Shi-Shi!

Mother's day

Mama had a relaxed sunday on Mother's day. Papa cooked Okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza?!), and Shi-Shi made dessert for dinner. Since mama is a stay-at-home-mom, papa seldome cooks, so it was realy nice of him to cook, so that mama could be away from her daily work. Shi-Shi was exposed to cooking for the first time! This is an instant dessert that you just need to add 200cc milk and mix together. First, mama brought all the tools and ingredients ( the package and milk), and let Shi-Shi put the ingredients into a big ball, and let her mix together.

Boiled egg peeling

Shi-Shi's breakfast for today was a boiled egg, a piece of bread and salad. Mama simply gave her non-peeled boild egg because Shi-Shi always wanted to do what papa and mama did. Amazingly, she knocked the egg against the table without being told, and she started peeling the egg shell. She hold the egg so hard, and a yolk came off, but she could peeled egg white well. Mama was recently inspired by Montessori education, and mama found out that peeling eggs could be one of the montessori activities, which help kids to learn things practically. Therer were some boiled eggs left at breakfast, and mama asked Shi-Shi to peel those eggs, so that mama could fix tossed salad for dinner.

Transition

Shi-Shi and mama went to one of preschools in town to have an interview. They visited once last fall, and mama found interest in terms of circle times and individual activities. Teachers encourage children to use soft voice, so it is a lot quieter than other preschools. I think it is once of the charactristics of the preschool, and mama thinks it is good and bad because children suppose to play and run around how they feel, but on the other hand, they need to learn the place and time and control their feelings.

Shi-Shi and mama stayed there for two hours, and mama found a LOT of rules in the school. What made mama surprised the most was kids had to have their shoose on all the time either in side of class rooms or outside. A teacher explained mama that that was for kids' safe in case of emergency. Also in playground, there is a tricycle track, and it is one way. ( if kids bike other way around, a teacher warms. ) There are more and more rules. Mama wonders " does Shi-Shi enjoy?"

But mama thinks it is transition time that happens when kids start preschool. There are lot of rules at home as well, though, as they spend time together, they don't realize how many rules mama created. It is a matter of a fact that as kids spend time with others, there have to have rules because each family has diffrent rules ( even though, some of the rule are the same.).

Fairyland

Shi-Shi's family visited Fairyland in Oakland on Sunday. It is a little theme park for younger children. There are little houses, rides and play structures which are designed by famous fairlytale such as The Alice in Wonderland and Pinocchio. Shi-Shi liked Alice's wonder-Go-Round so much, and she rode it for 6 tims. After the last ride, she still wanted to get on, though, papa and mama got tired of it and forced her to move to next attraction. Mama heard that this theme park was a miniture of fairytale story book, and you would find yourself in fairytale. It is not that well organized, though, everyone of the family enjoyed their family time on sunny day!

Balance bike

Shi-Shi borrowed Luna's balance bike yesterday afternoon and practiced pushing and riding the bike. She amazingly did well on pushing. Just because her hight is not high enough, she use her toes to walk when riding. Since many of her friends have their own balance bike, and she is always curious about it. So mama is thinking of buying one for her. Mama had a little reseach on a balance bike and found out that there were so many of kinds in the market. There are wooden type and steel type. Mama found a homepage about comparing many kinds of bikes, and mama thinks that Strider sport prebike is the best. According to the homepage, it can be as low as 11 inch.

Ponyo?!

Shi-Shi's family is a member of Netflix, and they can order DVD online, and DVD is delivered in a couple days. Mama ordered Ponyo, which is the newest GIBURI picture film, and watched once. Shi-Shi liked Ponyo so much. Actually she watched the film when she was just 3 months old at a theater; there are days when moms or dads can take their little kids along. And after watching Ponyo for the first time, mama liked the thema song so much and bought a music notation and practiced everyday. Since we finished watching the film and shouldn't keep the DVD for a long time ( there is no regulation for renting due, though, just in case somebody is waiting for this film), mama took the DVD to the outgoing mailing box in an apartment. Then Shi-Shi started crying right after, and have cried for about 30 minuits until she got asleep. Is that becasue of Ponyo?! By the way, she really looks like Ponyo because of her hairstyle. Mama hope that Shi-Shi forgets about mama returning Ponyo when she get up from her nap.

Pescadero Beach

Shi-Shi's family went to Pescadero Beach with Luna's family. It was really nice weather in Palo Alto in the morning, though, when we got to the beach it was dizzy. But it turned to be better in the afternoon. Shi-Shi and Luna tried a natural slide (which is a little cliff, and since many people go up and down often, it eventually became a slide-ish thing that kids can enjoy sliding down to the beach.), and got closer to shore and wet. Water was really cold, but there were a couple people running on shore. They had lunch on the beach and played with sand and went back to home at around 2:30pm. It was really relaxing excursion for everybody. Mama and Luna's mom talked about coming back with other moms sometime the weather was nice.

First time poo on a toilet!

Shi-Shi pooped on a toilet for the first time in her life!! She did a day after of papa and mama's 4th wedding aniversary. Mama found Shi-Shi straining after breakfast and asked her if she wanted to sit on Elmo, and Shi-Shi said yes and took mama to the toilet. It was funny that she took mama instead of papa. She might want to have little privacy?! She sat on Elmo and strained a few seconds and pooped!! Congratulations Shi-Shi!! She haven't sat on Elmo for a while. Whenever mama asked if she want to sit on Elmo, she refused, but not in this morning.

First Scissors

Mama bought two pairs of scissors yesterday at a kids' toy shop. Now Shi-Shi masters using chopsticks, so it's about time for her to practice using scissors. Those scissors are not just simple scissors that cut a paper straight, but cut with wave shape and jagged shape. Those are designed for children 3 and plus and for safety uses by little kids, so mama shouldn't be worry too much when Shi-Shi uses alone. For the first time Shi-Shi holded the scissors, she put her fingers into the rigs in righ way. But as she practiced holding and opening and closing scissors, she holded scissors like chopsticks, which means that sharp ends are toward her. Is she confused by using chopsticks and scissors?! Mama keeps telling her the right way, and Shi-Shi will figure out soon! By the way, mama didn't know there were kids' scissors until Luna's mama mentioned.

Chopsticks

Shi-Shi mastered using chopsticks! Shi-Shi's grandmother gave her children's chopsticks, which are used for little kids to learn how to use regular chopsticks. There is "Winne the Phoo" character on the top of the chopsticks, and Shi-Shi calls it "Phoo san" which means Mr. Phoo. She grew up with seeing her parents using chopsticks, so using them for her is not really special, though, it is still difficult for little kids to make two sticks under control with one hand. So Japanese inovators created this children's chopsticks for a training tool. She ate macaroni salada with chopsticks at breakfast in this morning. It was really amazing to see how fast she learned so much complicated tool! Mama is really proud of her!!

I am on my own now!

Shi-Shi mastered putting a diaper on and gargle all by herself recently! Yesterday mama was busy cooking dinner, so she asked Shi-Shi to put a diaper on by herself. She didn't really listen to mama for the first few muinets and played without a diaper for a while. Though, after mama asked her to put a diaper for the second time, Shi-Shi started to find a diaper and put it on!! She uses easy-up type diaper, so she can wear it easily. Only probrem is that she doesn't know which side is front. She will know after a few more trainings for sure! She's practiced gargling with papa for a while, though since she is still too short to reach to a washbowl, and papa needs to lift her all the time. Papa is always happy to help her, though, once she starts gargling, she never stops doing, so papa is a little tired of it. Yesterday she came to a kitchen with her yellow chair while mama cooking and asked to give her a cup. And she started to gargle and spited water to the kitchen sink. The kitchen sink is also a bit high, though, she streched and nearly reached. Shi-Shi has surprised me how much she could be done alone recently.

Drawings

Mama found an interesting book, called "Understanding Children's Drawings". Shi-Shi's enjoyed drawing ever since she was about 10-month-old. First, she started to play with a felt pen, then a ball point pen, and now she uses crayons. Mama didn't really care about what Shi-Shi drawed until last Monday when she found that interesting book. According to the book, children at 18 months to 3 years think kinestherically, and their scribbling is an outcome that they practice and develope atriculation of gross and evenatually fine motor control. Mama thinks it is true in the way that Shi-Shi more likely controls her arm/hand thesedays. A picture of Shi-Shi's drawing will be up soon!!

Birthday party at Bol Park

Shi-Shi's family had been invited Luna's mama's birthday party and went to Bol park, where two donkys lives close by. Shi-Shi's papa and mama made Sushi to the party because Sushi is Luna's mama's favorite Japanese food! Since Shi-Shi hadn't seen Luna for a couple days, Shi-Shi was really happy with playing Luna for a whole morning at the park. The park is one of her favorites. There are two donky ridings in the park. Luna's papa hadn't seen Shi-Shi for a while, so he was quite supprised to hear that Shi-Shi talks more words than before. " Apple juice", " Open", " Sticks", " Sky" etc are recent words that she learned, and she even can say his name! Shi-Shi gave a big hug to Luna's mama as a birthday present(?!). Since it was a bit chilly outside, not so many kids were not in the park. So we could occupy most of the park for most of the time. It was really nice birthday party with many good frieds and families!

2010 Easter Egg-Hunt

Shi-Shi's family was invited Easter brunch in the morning of Easter sunday. They don't celebrate Easter in Japan, so it was really great opportunity for them to lean a cultural thing. Parents hid eggs and chocolates baskets in grass, and kids found them. There was a rule that one egg and one basket for each kid. Shi-Shi found an egg, though couldn't find a basket. A friend of her helped her finding a basket for her and gave it to her. It was really nice of him!! There was a snail on her basket as an extra gift:) As soon as she got a basket, she quickly started to eat chocolates. Mama and papa stoped her eating so many of chocolates at once, and told her that she would eat one chocolate each day. She seemed to understand, though, unless papa encouraged her to play at playground, she would eat up all the chocolate!!

Shi-Shi's 2nd Birthday Pary

Shi-Shi's birthday is March 11th, though, Shi-Shi's family had been busy with visitors for the past few weeks, and didn't get chance to have a birthday party for Shi-Shi. So on April 3rd, Shi-Shi's thrown a birthday party at her favorite playground, Peers Park. Many of her favorite friends came over and celebrated her birthday. It was quite chilly outside, so it was hard to light up a candle on her birthday cake. Mama baked her birthday cake, though, mama forgot to take a picture of it... :( Since her birthday was about a month ago, she seemed not to be sure what was going on. She played at the playground as usual, playing with sands and play structures, etc.

Language development

It is amazing how little ones pick up words so quickly. Shi-Shi saw McQueen on TV yesterday, and she said "McQueen!". She has a McQueen baby car, and it has all options, such as telling its name, counting numbers, alphabets, etc. Mama has never told her the name of the red car. Shi-Shi just picked up "McQueen" when listenning to what it says.

Parrot

Shi-Shi has been just like a parrot thesedays. Whenever she learns a new word, she keeps saying the ward over again and again. The resent word is "Water". A hotel that Shi-Shi's family stayed in Las Vegas has water fountains and wall with water falling. Whenever they passed those things, Shi-Shi sayed "water!". And she found out that that water and a bottle of water were the same, just different whether drinkable or not. This mornig, she came to the kitchen and asked mama " water" while trying to open the refrigerator door.

Open!

Shi-Shi likes "open" things out. Sometimes she opens too much and breaks things down, and if there is something that she cannot open, she brings the thing to mama and says "OPEN!". The way she say "open" is really cute.

Wild Animals in Grand Canyon

Shi-Shi's family visited Grand Canyon last weekend, and saw wild animals (a dear and a lion) on a way to Mather point to see sunrise. It is first time to see them (they've been to zoos a couple times, though, they've never seen wild animals outside cages.). They'd just passed those animals, and tryed not to scare them. An instraction said that people shouldn't walk off the pass which was already prepared by the park, otherwise animals get scared and may attack people. Shi-Shi's family took a path to Mather point, so that was ok, though, mama wonders if there is anybody who get attacked by wild animals in the past. It is really scarey to think about becuase animals are really big and don't look alike stuffed animals.

Shi-Shi's family took a morning tour to look around Grand Canyon. It took them the nice view spots around the park. Cliffs are so high, and mama is a little scared of heights, mama didn't want Shi-Shi get closer to cliffs, and walk around alone. But Shi-Shi is scarelss!! She tryed to walk around alone, though, she eventually calmed down and played under a tree. (thanks goodness!!)

Eating habit

Shi-Shi's eating habit is not stable. Sometimes she eats a lot, just as much as adults do, but sometimes she eats only bites, just as little as a little mouse. Mama has no idea about what makes her eating habit stable. Her daily schedule is alway the same, going to a music class or an art class in the morning, taking a nap for two hours, going to a park later afternoon, and having a dinner at around 7:00pm. It happens to small children, and shouldn't be worried, though, when she doesn't eat much, she leaves a table so fast and comes to papa or mama to play and papa and mama can't relax while having dinner:(

TOTORO

Shi-Shi listens to songs from Neighborhood of TOTORO in a car all the time. When the songs come close to the end, she gets cranky, then mama has to set the CD back to the same songs again and again. Mama can now sing the songs perfectly...

Elmo

Shi-Shi likes Elmo from Sesami Street. She never watched Elmo on TV or DVD before, though, her toilet sheet is Elmo, so she knows the charactor. For some reason she's been calling Elmo all the time, and mama found Sesami Street's DVD at Safeway, mama bought the DVD and watched it after dinner. Shi-Shi, papa and mama sat and started watching it, though, Elmo was not coming up yet. They waited to see Elmo for an half hour, though, still he hasn't come up, and Shi-Shi got cranky:( The DVD that mama bought is titled " follow that bird", and a story is about Big Bird, so because of that Elmo is not in the DVD?! Mama wonders is he going to come later this story? Mama will find out other DVD with Elmo next time!!

Two Words!

Shi-Shi started to speak two words! She used to say only one word, though, now she says " mama cooking" or " papa cleaning". It is not her repeating after somebody, but she say when she sees mama or papa in a kitchen. Also she says more words than before, apple, airplain, raisen, fork, and more! She doesn't say whole a lot, though, she does understand what somebody says. When mama talked to her " there is a piece of cake in a refregulater", she went to a kitchen and waited in front of a refregulater!!

Afraid of Chickens?

Shi-Shi went to Hidden Villa for hiking. The park has chichens, sheeps, cows, pigs, many farm animals. Shi-Shi had been a zoo couple times when she was much younger, and she often sees bogs around town, though, she was really scared of firm animals. There was a place chickens were off a cage, and they were around us. Mama wanted Shi-Shi to walk with them and pet them, though, she was really afraid of walking alone. But when we left the place, she said "bye bye chicken!" in mama's arm.

Shopping Cart!

Papa nad mama bought a toy shopping cart for Shi-Shi's christmas present, though, she received so many presents from everywhere, so papa and mama decided to give this present later, but didn't know when... So finally, they decided to give it on her birthday! She really loved the shopping cart!! She put her frog friend, called gacco on its child sheet and put books and clothes on a basket, and she pushed the cart around a house. When mama told her it was time to take a bath, Shi-Shi took the shopping cart to a bathroom.

2nd Birthday!!

Shi-Shi turned TWO on March 11th. She celebrated her birthday with her favorite friend Luna. Shi-Shi might not really understand what day was, though, she'd seemed to be really excited past few days. Mama baked a cheese cake for her and lit a candle.  She will have another birthday party at a park in a couple weeks!

Pasta neckless!

Shi-Shi goes to an art class once a week, and she adores the class so much. There are 6 tables, and an art projects materials are prepared on an each table. Kids move a table to a table and create art projects. Shi-Shi never finish one project, and she moves a table as she feels. She likes playing with playdough so much, and she stays at a playdough table for about half hour, which is half of a class hour. Today, she tried to make a neckless with short pastas. She tried to put a string though a shot pasta, though, she was not patient enough, and tried to swich to another table. Though, mama stopped her and let her try a little more. This time, mama holded a string, and Shi-Shi put a past through the string, and she did!!

Jamping on a bed

Shi-Shi had been excited for something for a whole day today. She was jumping on a bed in the morning before the music class and in the evening after bath. She was jumping around while singing some songs from Music Together.

How do I look?

Shi-Shi normally doesn't like to tie her hair, so her hair is always flapping like wings. Sometimes mama ties her hair with her favorite hair band, and she likes it for a while, though, in a few hours she takes the hair band off. Oneday, mama ties her hair and told her " look at yourself, you are really cute with hair tied.", then she looked at a mirror so curiously asking herself " how do I look?" In a few hours she took off hair bands, and she became as usual...

Future Figure Skater

All of Shi-Shi's family enjoyed figure skating in Vancouver Olympic game. While watching figure skating, Shi-Shi raised her leg with hand holding a table and pretended skating on ice with hands on her back. Mama tried to record Shi-Shi, though, a camera got her attention and she stopped acting like a figure skater.

Girls' Day

Girls day is celebrated on March 3rd in Japan, and girls and their families display their doll collections. One legend says that if girls display their dolls longer after March 3rd, they will marry later in life. Shi-Shi's grandma displays dolls every year and put them back to a box right after the date, so Shi-Shi's mama married at around the right age.

Shi-Shi's dolls were in Japan and were not displayed in this year, though, we still celebrated the day to  pray for Shi-Shi's health and her girl friends' health. Mama cooked Anpanman face Sushi, and Shi-Shi liked it so much.

Ice Cream!

Ice Cream is one of Shi-Shi's favorite. Mama asked what Shi-Shi wanted for her snack, and she said " ice cream!". Ice cream is a good motivation to make her do something not interested in. At dinner last night, she was not eating, so mama told her that if she finish all the food on her plate, she would have ice cream. Then she started eating so fast! Ice cream amazed papa and mama with what it could do to Shi-Shi. Now ice cream is a good friend of mama and papa.

No No No!

Shi-Shi is turning Two-year-old in a week, and she is already " a terrific Two". Now her favorite word is "NO!". Mama wonders how other mothers deal with their kids saying "NO!". Mama thought back and noticed that she'd kept saying Shi-Shi that " you shouldn't do this and that" all the time, so now it is Sh-Shi's turn to say " No! I don't want this and that!". It seems like fair... Ok, mama is going to try not to say "No" to Shi-Shi from now on... That will be a new campaign.

Spi Cy

Shi-Shi picks up words while listennig to someone's talk quite often recently. Mama and papa were so surprised to hear that Shi-Shi said " Spi Cy" when we had yellow curry at dinner. Mama has no clue where and when Shi-Shi learned the word "spicy" because we don't usualy eat any spicy food except salsa and curry, and we don't eat those food often. It is also curious to know how kids leran how animals make sound. Shi-Shi knows how doggies make sound, and she says " wan wan" which means " bowwow" in English. But that's because mama talks her like that. But for other animals, she hasn't made sound yet, and mama dosen't know how bears, penguins, alligators make sound. ( they are all the stuffed animals Shi-Shi has.) Mama is interested in asking Shi-Shi how she creats animals sound in the near future.

Potty!

Shi-Shi sat on a potty and made chi-chi (pee-pee) into a potty for the first time! When she went to her friend's place and saw her friend sitting on a potty, Shi-Shi started taking off her trausers and diper and tried to sit on a potty behind her friend. Mama asked Shi-Shi to wait for her turn, and when it's time, she looked really happy sitting on a potty! Later on she sat on and got off over again and again, and finally she looked a little nervous. When mama checked her out, Shi-Shi'd made pee-pee!! It was not exactly into a potty. She wore a body suit type underwear, and back part of the underwear was in a potty. So pee was on her cloth, though, it was her first time to make pee not on a diper!! ( well, she has a lot of stories of making pee on floor or carpet, though, today's story is making pee on somewhere she is allowed.)
It is realy special day to mark on a calender!!

What is Your Name?

Shi-Shi listens to a CD in a car. She has a couple CDs, though, mama is lazy to change a CD. So Shi-Shi listens to the same songs all over again and again. Today on a way back to home from a playground, Shi-Shi was listenning to a song " what's your name?". The lyric is like this.

Hello! What's your name?
Hello! What's your name?
Oh, tell me what your name is
Me, Oh may!
Don't be shy!
Ba la ba di doo dah
Hello! What's your name?

When Shi-Shi listened to the line " what's your name?", she responded and said " Shi-Shi!". She just started calling her friends' names and her name recently, so mama thought Shi-Shi just said that, though, mama asked again " what's your name?" Shi-Shi responded " Shi-Shi". WOW!! She really said that!

Now I remember, Shi-Shi said "Hi" to an old man at the playground this morning when he said "Hi" to her. It was like she repeated just like a poll parrot.

Shi-Shi is now in one of the biggest transitions. She is learning a lot of words, and mama guesses that she understands most of what mama talks and others do thesedays. A baby grows up really fast!


And now, with me

A Little Exprorer

The Shi-Shi's family visited Sausalito on Saturday. It was a nice weather in Palo Alto, though, it started raining a little as we aproached SanFrancisco. And when we arrived at Sausalito, it was raining so hard. We decided to go to a restaurant and wait until the weather got any better. The restaurant was called the Spinnaker, which featured a panoramic view of the San Francisco bay and skyline. Papa ordered crab cakes, mama ordered avocado and turkey sandwich, and Shi-Shi shared with papa and mama, as usual. We enjoyed the nice meal while viewing the nice scenery. As we stayed at the restaurant, the weather got better, and it turned out the nice weather to talk around the town.

As usual, Shi-Shi was interested in any little things, such as fallen leaves, seeds, manholes, etc... and couldn't walk straight. Papa and mama decided to stopped by at a children's clothes shop in order to find a safe place for her to walk around. ( There were a lot of tourlists and busy trafic.) Shi-Shi found a nice traveling bag at the store, papa bought it for her. She carried the bag all the way, and passersby said " Oh, cute!!"  

Get on a Swing Bucket back to back

It was playdate today, and Shi-Shi and mama went to Barron Park. Shi-Shi got on a swing bucket with Jasper back to back! The swing bucket might be too small for two of them:( Mama took several pictures, though, they didn't turn out very good. She'd been inside for a week because of sick and the bad weather, so she was so much excited in the playground! She nomally goes down a slide a couple times and swiches to another a play structure, though, she sticked with a big slide all the time in this morning. After a while, Shi-Shi and Jasper went to see donkeys, though, they were out to somewhere:( Maybe it was such a nice weather, so they took a walk and got some sunshine.

Do I look COOL?

Ring around the rosey

Shi-Shi loves "Ring around the rosey" so much. She heard this song at her art class in the last fall. Mama hadn't known the lyrics, and we couldn't sing and play at home. But mama'd found the lyric in Mother Goose, and now we can sing and play all the time! The interesting thing is that lyric is a little different in each country. This is what we sing in our art class.

Ring around the rosey
A pocketful of posies
Ashes, Ashes,
We all fall down

The cow a in a meadow
Eating buttercups
Yummy Yummy

There's a thunder, there's a lightning
We all stand up!

LUNA

Shi-Shi and mama has been stucked in our apartment for more than a week becuase of the bad weather and because Shi-Shi has been coughing and sneezing. While then, Shi-Shi has practiced pronouncing her friend's name "LUNA", and she did it!! We met Luna in this afternoon, and Shi-Shi called her name!!! It is HUGE step for her. It was the FIRST time for her calling somebody's name except papa and mama. Now, she keeps calling "Luna" "Luna" all the time. When I asked her if she wanted to see Luna in this afternoon right after she got up from her nap, she said "Luna!".

Construction workforce

This is a helmet that her teachers at a daycare center made for a kids and parents event. The helmet was made out of a bowl of an instant noodle. (There is a stroy behind that teachers at the daycare center had to eat an instant noodle just for making helmets for kids.) At the event, Shi-Shi and mama attended one of races that Shi-Shi put the helmet and acted like a construction workforce, such as digging a hole ( putting balls to a sled), piling up blocks. Shi-Shi was nervous because there were a lot of families watched the race, though, she was good at piling up blocks. Shi-Shi was not really interested in putting the helmet at that time, she still likes it a lot, and she puts it when play with other toys for some reasons. She may be thinking of the fun time at the event and daycare center.

Do I look Crazy?

She-Shi is picky about what she wears thesedays. When mama opens Shi-Shi's drawer to get clothes for her, she comes to mama and trys to pick something else. Mama always sneaks Shi-Shi's clothes and put them on, though, sometimes she hates to put something that are not her choice. This is what happens when she choses her clothes... She wears a hot pant and leg warmers on top of her red trousers, and put a apron on her T-shirt... also she has a scarf on her neck ( this is mama because she is drooling because of stucked noses...)

Does Shi-Shi understand what Mama says?

She-Shi seems to understand what mama says thesedays. This morning, mama was looking for the Mother Goose CD, wandering around the livingroom and asked Shi-Shi where it was. Then she brought the CD and gave it to mama!! The CD was in a trank of her little car. (she put the CD into the trank earlier, and mama wouldn't know that.) Shi-Shi is now 22-month-old, though, she is not ready to talk yet.  (she speak her own language that nobody would understand.)  It would be fussy by the time she speaks ...well in a good way...

What Fun it is to sing songs....Recent favorite activity

One of the most favorite activities for Shi-Shi is singing songs (maybe listening to songs...). That book is her favorite music book. She always brings it to mama or papa to let her or him to sing. Shi-Shi sits on mama or papa's rap and flips pages. The interesteing thing is that she doesn't listen to a whole song and flips a page in a second. Mama and Papa sings just a line or two and swich to another song. Also, she is picky about where to sit to sing songs; sometimes at a corner of a living room and sometimes on a bad. It is realy a fun activity for both of us!

Rain Rain Go Away...

It's been rained for almost a whole week! We are already spoiled by the CALIFORNIAN weather; dry and warm. When it rains, SHI-SHI has nowhere to run around. It is ok only for a day or two, though, Mom cannot think of any more activities that SHI-SHI would enjoy at home other than singing songs, dancing together, and playing with kitchen staff. Mom hopes No More Rain tomorrow!