Super Readers

Adam and Lottie love to spend time pulling down all the books on the bookshelf. Sometimes they even read them.

Trade In

Adam keeps telling me that he wants to trade Lottie for Baby Tate (Calum's little sister). He's pretty definite that he wants to trade, even when I explain what that would mean. Yes, he wants Lottie to go live with Calum, and he wants Tate to live with us. Tate would even get to share trains with him, while Lottie would NOT. After further questioning today, I figured out why he wants a trade-in. He's willing to trade Lottie for Baby Tate (8 months) or Baby Scottie (6 months), but not Baby Kerri (14 months). I'm pretty sure it's because he'd like a baby sister who does NOT cruise the room and steal his toys. All trade-ins must be little and -most important - stationary!

Mountains

Yesterday, the mountains looked like a Japanese painting. Now we see where that comes from. I cropped and doctored this photo up a little bit, but Chris did actually take this picture from the school parking lot. I wish they looked like this all the time.

Going Home to Get Grandma

Grandpa left yesterday, and Adam did NOT take it well. That and the disappearance of the snow was enough to send a baby over the edge. Grandpa told him that he had to go back to NJ to get Grandma so they could come back in April, which is acceptable (although he has no concept of how long 2 months is...). We did manage to get some funny pictures with Grandpa before he left.

We ended up having to make some sugar cookies to make up for all the bad stuff that happened that morning. It's a hard life for a baby.

Funny Face

Adam's potty training is going very well. We haven't had any accidents in quite a few days (of course, I've now doomed myself to an accident today). He's even figured out how to hold his poop, which was his biggest problem. This is what he was doing when he was sitting on the potty last night. Crazy boy!

Snow

On Tuesday night, we got a lot of snow! We haven't had any snow that has stuck this winter, so Adam was especially excited when he saw it on Wednesday morning. Our neighbors from Hawaii built this snowman the night before - they were up until 10:30 PM making it.

Lottie thought the snow was interesting, but hates her snowsuit. She can't move around very well in it.

We love snow! But, it was all gone by lunch. Now it's time to get ready for spring.

Girl's Day

The 3rd of March is "Hina-Matsuri" (Doll's Festival) or "Momo-no-Sekku" (Peach Blossom Festival), or Girl's Day. It has been celebrated in Japan since the Edo Period (17th - 19th century). On this day, families with young daughters celebrate this event at home to ensure their daughter's future happiness. They decorate Hina-Ningyo (special, beautiful dolls which are replicas of an ancient emperor and empress and their subordinates). These are ceremonial dolls, handed down from generation to generation. They are displayed for a few days in the best room of the house after which they are carefully boxed and put away until the next year. It is considered bad luck to display them past March 3. Peach blossoms, symbolizing a happy marriage, are also used to decorate. The blossoms signify the feminine traits - of gentility, composure and tranquility. We've seen many beautiful treats decorated with peach blossoms in the Japanese grocery stores. We haven't celebrated with Lottie's other baby girl friends yet, but it is customary to have a little girly party as well. Happy Girl's Day, Lottie! We are glad to have a beautiful little girl to celebrate.

Dentist

Adam had his first dentist appointment today. We pretend played about visiting the dentist first, which seemed to make him a little apprehensive, but when he finally got in the chair, he was great! He enjoyed the big chair. He opened up big (like a hippo) so the dentist could count his teeth - he has all twenty. COL Valient (what a great name) said that Adam was a great patient.

Then his hygenist cleaned (i.e., brushed) his teeth. She also let Adam play with the water suction tube, which was fun for a little while, but then he didn't want it anymore. So she only did a little fluoride on his teeth, with the promise that we would put more on his teeth in the future. Then she let him pick a toy from the good patients toy chest. He, of course, picked a car. Because he doesn't have enough of those. Then Grandpa and Lottie, who got to watch, got him a James train from the toy store. Yay!

Time with Grandpa

Grandpa (Chlapowski) came to visit for a few days after his trip to Korea. We tried to ride the ponies at Sagamihara Park, but they were resting (i.e., closed). So we played at the playground instead.

Adam had a great time making friends...and trying to make friends. These older kids ignored him the entire time, but he did his best to get them to like him! He followed them around for a good half an hour, but they were NOT interested.

Curls

I attempted to curl Lottie's hair the other day. Unfortunately, it's like Mommy's, and so fine that the curl fell out in a few hours. But, here are the waves, while they lasted.