Our organizational master

Yes that is a job title:) Our son Isaac has that on his special skill section of his job application. :)Take a look at the video and you will see why.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Isaac was still sick but was much better by Thanksgiving so we were able to head to Windsor. My brother hosted Thanksgiving this year. We were able to see family that we hadn't seen in a while. Next month, Japan here we come! Isaac has all girl cousins so I suspect in the future there will be some hairstyling and makeup wearing for my son, I am sure he will be their guinea pig as all of them are older than him. :)
I just had to have a memorable moment. If you take a look in one of my pictures you will see this cute, tall girl, which is my niece. I can't believe about 13 years ago I was taking care of her when my sister went to work. Time sure does fly! I will have to keep cherishing every moment when Isaac is little, because it won't be that way for long. :(

A little vacation...

I was lucky to have the whole week of Thanksgiving off. So Isaac, Masa and I traveled down to LA to visit friends. Isaac was really good in the car ride because we had his favorite video "Elmo in Grouchland" But the next day he woke up with cold feet and later that afternoon had a temp of 101, which proceeded to get higher by Sunday afternoon to 102, with a cough. We were leaving Monday morning anyways so we took him to the doctor and he had the case of bronchilitis He still has his cough a little bit. Although he had a fever we still managed to have fun with our friends. He had tons of fun as well, especially going down the slide at the park and the slide at their house.

Happy Halloween

Isaac attended my school parade on Friday and then on Halloween we handed out candy at our home. There were not as many children this year, but he still dawned his cute little Elmo outfit. By the way this took us two weeks for him to even like it and get into it. I had to trick him one night like I was putting on his pajamas, then actually put the ELMO outfit on and show him what he looked like in his mirror. It worked so that was a success!

Getting ready for Halloween!

Isaac was helping to clean out his first pumpkin, or as he calls it "pumpin" He enjoyed pulling out the seeds and didn't like Daddy trying to share in the fun:) Isaac also got to go to the Pumpkin Patch at the local mall area. He had fun touching the pumpkins and looking at the children playing in the jumpy house. We picked out a perfect size pumpkin.

Visiting Friends

We recently had the chance to see Masa's friends from Cal Poly who live not too far from us. So we had a nice time spending part of the day with them and their two wonderful children. Isaac loved playing with them and playing in their backyard with their indoor homemade soccer ring and play structure.

Isaac the artist

I have been working on Isaac and practicing his coloring. He loves to color at the table and is getting better at holding his crayons. So I had him do some masterpieces so we can send them to his grandparents. I think they will appreciate his artistic ways. He is speaking more words like; careful, and bath time. These are the new additions to his vocabulary. Also his new thing is to line up his books in his bed.

Dancing and Singing in Japanese

So we have been teaching Isaac a children's Japanese song. We finally were able to catch him on video tape singing the song. It is "M(oo) sew oon day" I am doing it phonetically, this is not how it is spelled. "Tay oh oo tay", So no tay oh, oo ey knee" You will hear him say some parts better than others. He also has a new dance move which looks like he is boxing. He saw it on a dance show and copied the move.

Playing at the park...

So we went to Robert's Park. A nice little park near our home. Isaac is starting to enjoy going down the slide and playing at the park. He is growing more and more each day. He is becoming quite a chatterbox, saying words I understand and also having conversations that I don't know what he is saying. His new word right now is "share." He also is trying to say his friend's name, Camden, but says it "nan-nen." Here are some pics and video of him.

Isaac, Ansel and the Park

So yesterday we decided that we were going to go to the park and spend a couple of hours with my friend from work and her son Ansel. Ansel is about 2 1/2. It was cute to see them together playing in the sand and on the slides. There was one particular moment that they both decided to take a seat on the park bench and take a break. A perfect moment to take a picture!

Isaac has really progressed in his speaking in the past month. He now can say "thank you" and sing part of the ABC song. He also can say some of his numbers. He especially likes 3, 6, and 9. He also is trying to say his friend's name which is Camden, but it sounds more like "Nan-nen." Isaac also has been putting two word sentences together like "no more", and "no go."

Isaac has become more attached to me because I have been on summer break but now I start back to work tomorrow. I am going to be sad to go back because I have enjoyed spending so much time with him this summer, he has become my little man:). This age is a fun age, because they are learning so many things everyday!

Videos....

I thought I would share some videos of Isaac. I was having a hard time figuring out the videos yesterday because I recently got a new computer so had to figure out the new system.

Here are some videos of him. One is particularly funny as he wants more of the Korean dessert I was giving him.

A visit from the Far East

It has been a long time since I have blogged, but we have been busy. We had a visit from our family from Japan for about two weeks. We went to many different places, Fairyland( overpriced, good for 3-4 year olds), Zoo, SF Aquarium of the Bay, Chabot Space and Science Center and Lake Tahoe. Busy, Busy and busy... Isaac of course had fun having many people play with him and take care of him. I suspect he misses them and is a little bored being with mom and dad. Although his "Baba" ( grandma in Japanese)is still here from Japan. I can't possibly fit all the pictures and videos in this blog because there is like 500. I will put a few samplings of what our 2 weeks were like. In Tahoe we took a dinner cruise on the lake. It was fun! As a little girl on my grandfather's lot I always saw the boat on the lake, but we never took the ride. It was nice dinner, better than expected and wonderful way to see the lake. They had music and dancing after dinner with a bar and snack area. It was a bit long for the children, 3 1/2 hours but well worth the ride. We also during our Tahoe trip went on the Heavenly Gondola all the way to the top. Now granted this was difficult for me, as I am afraid of heights and this trust me was high. About 4,ooo-5,000 feet elevation. Then when we got to the top we ate lunch and their was a kids play area. We also managed to make it to the beach, but unfortunately we weren't able to spend enough time there. Next time we are going for more than 2 nights. I was also able to make a trip down memory lane and see my grandfather's lot that we spent every summer from the time I was born until about the time I was 17. He sold a few years later because they wouldn't let him build, some environmental issue. Now it is a beautifiul 50 foot lot of grass for the next door neighbor. He has done a nice job.

Tilden Park and other fun..

Well we have been busy the past couple of weeks with friends visiting and going places with friends. We had Masa's best friend and family visiting us from L.A. Then when they left we hung out with our friends from down the street at the Tilden Park Little Farm. Isaac loved feeding all the animals lettuce and celery. It is a cute little farm located in Berkeley. Isaac also had fun playing in the backyard with his swimming pool on the really hot days we had a couple of weeks ago.

Who does Isaac look like now?

Check out the pictures and vote! The poll is to the left.

Just another weekend...

So we didn't do much this weekend, but we celebrated Father's Day by making daddy breakfast and then going out later for lunch at the International Market Place. While we were there Isaac decided he wanted to play in the ball pit. He also has found interest in lining his blocks up and watching them fall. Here is a video.

Isaac the big helper

Isaac is starting to get to the age of wanting to do things himself and to help mommy and daddy. He has been for the last 1-2 weeks feeding himself with his spoon and attempting to use a fork. He stopped mommy from feeding him in the morning and now wants to do all the meals by himself. At first it was a sticky and messy situation but he is now getting comfortable with his spoon and I am getting comfortable with him using it:)
He also likes to help mommy and daddy put things aways or lift things for us. I caught him the other day helping me as I was putting his diapers into the diaper hamper. He carried the big package of diapers to me and I couldn't believe it. He also helped the other day by dragging one of the grocery bags to the kitchen. He is sure growing up quickly. He also now has 12 teeth, I think it might be time for a dentist visit:) I am not sure how well that will go over as he doesn't like it too much when I brush his teeth.
He has also started to put two words together, for example his saying right now is "No go", which I think means don't go, or I don't want to go. My son is of few words but uses them at appropriate times. I think he is more of an observer. :)

I am happy to be off from school and get to spend most of the summer with my son:) I wonder what he will do next?

Birthdays and Anniversary Big Weekend...

So some of you may know that Masa and I have birthdays 6 days apart and with our anniversary following shortly after. Isaac and I started the weekend on Friday by going up to Santa Rosa to celebrate my birthday. This was supposed to happen last Friday for my birthday but Isaac had a 103 temp and so we couldn't go. So we had lunch with my family at my favorite delicatessen that makes the best Strawberry pie, at least in Santa Rosa. It is a birthday tradition.

Then on Saturday night we decided that we were going to go out for sushi and then go to SF on Sunday and dance in the park like we used to and travel to Japantown. Isaac of course being with us every step of the way:) We went out for sushi last night and Isaac loves Tamago (egg). He ate about 5 Tamago Nigiri. Quite an appetite!!

Then this morning we headed off first to see the Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39. He had some excitement with different fish swimming around. He had an "ooh" word when he sees something he likes.

Then we went to dancing in the park, known as Lindy in the Park. This is one of the first places Masa and I met 9 years ago and later soon started dating:) I would drive every Sunday from Santa Rosa for one hour just to dance and see him of course:)

Then after dancing for about an hour we went to Japantown and had lunch and walked around. Isaac needless to say was exhausted and crashed in the car on the way home after the long day and now is in bed asleep at 6 p.m. Here are some pictures of our trip.

Easter

Isaac had fun with all his cousins at Easter. He didn't know exactly what it was about and then caught on as mommy was putting eggs into his basket. He caught on so much that he started to steal eggs from his cousin's basket. :) There was 33 people over for Easter at my Uncle Dennis's house. Almost everybody. We were missing 4 people.