Takeshi,

First, can I just point out that this is probably the first time in over a year that you have had two consecutive Monthday entries. Most of your Monthday writings are at least 3 or 4 months apart because in Mama’s World, a month is NEVERENDING.

In the past month, you have really started to pick up some more verbal skills. You are starting to string two words together and are often pointing out things and who they belong to. Dinner is often started with you pointing to your food saying, “Tee-chee” (which is how you say your name) and me saying, “Yes, that’s Takeshi’s dinner.” Then you point to Papa’s plate and say, “Papa” and I say, “Yes, that’s Papa’s dinner” and you nod in agreement. Then you do the same for my plate. Sometimes you will also let us know where we are sitting by pointing and saying, “Papa chay” — Papa’s chair — or “Mama chay.” And when Kenji is eating, you like to point and say, “boo-BEEEEE” and sometimes follow through with a poke to my breast. Kenji always thinks that’s amusing and usually stops eating to look at you, which is when you grab his head and smoosh it back into my boobie.

You have also started singing more and associating certain words or objects with songs. When you see a boat you move your arms as if you were moving oars and say, “Row. Row. Row. Bot.” And every night, you and Papa sing “Wheels on the Bus” and “Old McDonald.” You are particularly fond of the donkey on Old McDonald’s farm and think it’s hilarious when Papa hee-haw’s. You also make an excellent back-up singer and are always emphasizing the last word when Papa sings.

Papa: The door on the bus goes open and shut.
Takeshi: CHUT!
Papa: Open and shut.
Takeshi: CHUT!
Papa: Open and shut.
Takeshi: CHUT!
Papa: The door on the bus goes open and shut.
Takeshi: CHUT!
Papa: All over town.
Takeshi: OWWWN.

A few weeks ago, we picked up a Spiderman bike (with training wheels) for you and our kitchen floor now looks like a speedway. We also got you a matching helmet and you know that you have to wear it when you ride but I think this has caused some confusion in your little world because you think that you have to wear it ALL DAY. So you will put your helmet on, ride your bike, play with your motorcycles, build an obstacle course with blocks, get back on your bike, go back to your motorcycle course, back on the bike, look at some books, back on the bike — all while wearing your helmet. If I try to take your helmet off when you’re not on the bike, you think I’m going to take your bike away too and you throw a fit. Sometimes you want to ride your bike but when I tell you that you have to wear your helmet, you stop and think for a moment and I can see you contemplating whether or not it’s worth it to have to wear your helmet all morning just so you can ride around for a little bit. Hopefully sometime soon you’ll realize that it’s not all or nothing and that you can do both. And really, it’s not that difficult to take off your helmet and put it back on between rides.

We have been letting your hair grow because for the past year we’ve been buzzing it and your grandmothers feel that when your hair is long, it gives the illusion that you are a sweet, innocent little angel. Now that it’s long, we can comb it to the side and fool people into thinking you’re a perfectly normal little boy… until you bring out the crazy and then everyone is just like, “Whoa. Wasn’t expecting that.” And we’re like, “Yeah. Feel our pain.”

Love,
Mama

Kenji,

I think you are in a race with your brother to see who can be the craziest. At 5 months old, you have mastered leap frogging; this is how you get to things. Mostly, you are interested in Takeshi’s toy motorcycles (which he leaves everywhere!) and you leap-leap-leap to get to them. You can lay in the Pack-N-Play very calmly, holding your toes and talking to yourself but the moment your brother jumps in there to join you with a motorcycle in hand, you flip onto your stomach and leap like mad to try to commandeer his Amazingly Awesome Must-Have-It-RIGHT-NOW motorcycle. Needless to say, although Takeshi can be quite generous (on his own terms), he is almost never willing to give up his motorcycles. Then there is the sound of squealing, a staccato of “My! My! My!” from Takeshi and a thud! as your brother jumps out of the Pack-N-Play to ensure the safety of his toy.

Your bachan has commented that you are a very happy baby and she couldn’t be more right. You wake up every morning around 6 o’clock and just roll around, babbling and gurgling and making high-pitched happy squeals. If I’m not awake (which is the case 99.99% of the time), you bat me in the face and just laugh and roll away from me, then roll into me, then roll away, then roll into me. This usually continues for about an hour until your brother wakes up or until my face can no longer take the scratchings from your little razor-like baby nails (which seem to grow back to eye-gouging length the moment I finish cutting them). And so begins your day.

You have absolutely no set-in-stone nap routine. Mornings usually contain a small nap or two (less than an hour) and are mostly had when I am out running errands. I try to stay home in the afternoon so you can get a decent nap, which can last up to 3 hours (if you’re extremely tired and/or sick) but are mostly 2 back-to-back 1 hour naps (with a feeding in between). You have a definite preference about where you sleep and prefer the “family bed” versus your own crib. While I don’t mind you in the bed, I worry that Takeshi will roll on top of you and squish you. At night, before I come to bed, I usually have to separate the two of you a few times because Takeshi will scoot in his sleep and make his way over to you. Even though he may give you a hard time, he loves you so much. For a while, he thought all babies were called “Ahh-nee!” (as he so affectionately calls you). And whenever he has a snack, he always tries to give you some. I know some day soon I will find you with a chicken nugget or a cookie in your mouth, courtesy of your big brother.

As much as Takeshi loves you, you are equally enamored by him. If he wasn’t in day care, I don’t think you’d ever eat. If he is around, I have to make sure you can’t see or hear him, otherwise you won’t eat. You’d much rather stare and laugh at him, while milk sprays all over face, in your ear and onto your clothes. Papa often refers to you as “Stinky Cheese Boy” because you’d much rather wear your food than eat it. And in case you were wondering, clothes do not smell good when they are constantly sprayed with boobie juice.

We are trying not to rush you with your development and are trying to enjoy your babyhood but you are making it so difficult! Just yesterday you sat up on your own; I didn’t even get to see it! Takeshi and I were sitting in front of the Pack-N-Play and when I turned around, there you were — on your butt with your legs in front, your hands in your lap holding your torso up. You seemed a little confused about how you got there, then you leaped and threw your face into the mesh side of the Pack-N-Play.

You have also been doing something which I believe is called “Downward Dog” in yoga. You plant your hands and feet down, then you put your little butt in the air so you look like an upside-down V. Then you pump your little legs so your butt goes up and down; it’s the funniest thing to watch. You look very intent, as if you think you’re going to go somewhere after doing all that, but when you plop back down you’re in the very same spot that you started out. But don’t worry — soon enough you will be running around, jumping off the couch, climbing the windows and hanging from the fireplace mantel like your brother. And then I will have to bust out Takeshi’s old straitjacket.

I love you, Stinky Cheese Boy,
Mama

Takeshi,

You are growing up so quickly, it is astounding. You have firmly planted your feet in the land of The Terrible Two’s. “No, no, no, no, no” has become your favorite phrase (although your “o” is not a long “o” but more soft and so it sounds like “noo, noo, noo, noo, noo.” You also say this when you’re doing something that you have no business doing (like climbing on top of the table or tapping Kenji on his head).

Your vocabulary is very slowly growing. You understand everything that you’re told but you can’t answer questions as easily because of your limited vocabulary. You say Kenji’s name “Ahh-nee,” cookie is now “kah-KEE,” car is “kah!” (it used to be motor noises) and Papa is back to being “Papa” again (you were calling him Mama). Every now and then when you’re excited you start to call Papa “Mama” and it sounds like “Ma-Papa!” Motorcycle is “koh-koh” (I think it’s for the “cycle” part of the word), dirtbike is “DOOT-bah,” happy is “hah-PEE” and you’re starting to say “wah-TURR” for water (instead of “wah-wah”).

You are headstrong and reckless and carefree. Although I have told you (and shown you) a million times to look both ways before you cross the street, you still will run like a madman right into the middle of the road. I’ve told you that you will be as flat and as dead as the bugs you like to squish and you just laugh and wriggle from my grip. You are absolutely fascinated with bugs and love to squish spiders with your motorcycles.

You have taken on the role of Big Brother very well. When you first saw Kenji, you wanted to give him one of your cars and you kissed him every time you saw him. Then he wasn’t so cool to have around when you realized that Mama had to stop playing with you to take care of him when he got upset. Eventually you saw that he wasn’t going anywhere and so you’re back to being lovey with him. Whenever you lay down, you always make sure Kenji is covered with the blanket (even if he doesn’t want to be). You keep trying to feed him your crackers and you like to share your motorcycles and cars with him. You also like to make him laugh, which always makes you laugh. And when he cries, you run up to him and put your finger to your lips and say, “Shhhh! Shhhh!”

You’ve started to sing to yourself; neither Mama nor Papa can tell what it is you’re singing, but we know you’re singing because along with the nonsensical chatter, your head goes back and forth to some imaginary beat and you do a little dance. Did I mention that you love to dance? I don’t think that will ever change. Just like Papa, you love music; maybe someday he’ll let you play on his turntables… or maybe he’ll get you your own. You have a few wooden musical instruments but on the very first day you got them, you tore right through the top of the tambourine, thinking it was a drum.

It is still amazing to me that in just two years you have morphed from a little helpless baby to a defiant and CRAZY little beast. And even though you can can drive me absolutely insane sometimes, I love you to death. When I hear you say, “Mama, Ahh-looo” — your way of saying, “Mama, I love you” — it makes it all worth it.

Mama

Kenji,

I took a picture of you laying next to Takeshi the other day (actually, Takeshi had jumped into the Pack-n-Play with you, so it’s more like he was laying next to you) and you looked so big! You are no longer a little teeny, tiny squeakish newborn.

Shortly after you turned 3 months old, you started rolling from your stomach onto your back. Then about a week and a half ago, you started rolling from your back to your front. You scoot and do a semi-army crawl to get to things that are out of your reach. I can’t believe you are already on the move; you picked this up much more quickly than your brother but I think it may have to do with you sleeping on your stomach. I wasn’t too keen on the stomach-sleeping idea because of SIDS but you absolutely HATED sleeping on your back. I stared and stared and stared at you while you slept to make sure you were still breathing. Most nights I would sleep with my hand on you or touching you to make sure you were still alive. After watching you for a while, I realized that you never slept with your face completely buried in the bed and you always turned your head so that you could breath adequately. I still wake up to check on you but now that you’re rolling, I’m not worried about you burying your face so you can’t breath; I’m more worried about you scooting off the bed. (And yes, we have rails on the bed.)

You coo and gurgle like no other. Sometimes you like to talk to yourself and you just go on and on and on. You’re also fond of blowing bubbles and sometimes when I say, “Hi!” you smile, blow bubbles and laugh and laugh. You are also very fond of your brother and if Takeshi is around, you will stare at him; I hope you don’t pick up on his behavior — what interests you most is when Takeshi is running around like a madman or jumping off the couch.

You are not a big baby, by any means but we just had to move you to 6 month clothes. Just like your father and your brother, you are a hot-blooded little beast and if I put you in anything other than a onesie, you sweat and scream and cry. That’s too bad because you have a lot of really cute little outfits.

You are so ticklish and and have that wonderful deep little baby laugh/gurgle/scream. It cracks me up to hear you so jolly and I love to see your little toothless grin. You are pretty easy to entertain and even like tummy time. Now that you can roll around, you like it even more. Sometimes you forget that you can roll onto your back and you start to whimper so I flip you over and then you get happy and flip right back onto your stomach. The day you turned 4 months old, you started to do little baby push ups. You seem eager to be on the move but remember that you don’t have to be crazy like your brother. In fact, I’d really appreciate it if you had just a fraction of The Crazy gene that he does.

You have taken to nursing pretty well but get so distracted by your brother that most of the time you end up with milk all over your face, in your ears, down your neck and all over your clothes. Papa thinks it’s hilarious and Takeshi just says, “Awww, mah!” (his way of saying, “Awww, man!”) and then wipes up the milk with his shirt.

I love you, my little stinky, milk-covered boy,
Mama

Takeshi had his 2 year well visit the other day and he weighed in at 31.5 lbs (85th percentile) and measured 35 inches long (63rd percentile). I’m not quite sure how he went from the bottom of the weight chart to the top — must be all that cheese.

My little booger,

You are quite a force to be reckoned with. You are our little spitfire child; you won’t take no for an answer (not without a fight, anyway). Although you still can’t say much, you let us know exactly what you want and how you feel.

When we’re out, you always have to point out the various cars and trucks that we see by saying “brrrrr” until I acknowledge that yes, it is a car. You’ve also taken to airplanes lately but refer to them as “bah!” (much like everything else that you can’t pronounce). You have a million little toy cars and trucks but never complain if you’re given another one. Last weekend Abuela was visiting and gave you a new truck which you carried with you all day and eventually fell asleep with it later that night.

Your vocabulary hasn’t increased much in the past few months. You say “kah-kah” for both cookie and cracker and “la-la” is both flower and banana. Apple is “puh!” and water is “vah-vah.” You can say Mama and Papa but sometimes mix the two of them up. (However, as soon as Papa leaves the room, you always have to point out to me that he is gone by shouting “Papa! Papa!,” pointing to where you last saw him.)

You now have 7 teeth — four on the top and 3 on the bottom. Whatever happened to that fourth bottom tooth is beyond me. Knowing your parents’ dental history, I can guarantee that you will need braces when you get older. (You have a very visible under bite which comes from your Mama’s paternal grandmother’s side.) Your lack of teeth doesn’t stop you from trying to eat and you can gnaw your way through some corn on the cob.

You can now climb up on the couch without pushing up cushions and love to catch Esco napping on it so you can give him one of your hugs and/or kisses. The cats are definitely more tolerant of your affectionate nature; I suppose they grew tired of fighting a losing battle. Tygris loves to lay by the fridge but you like to sit next to her (which means you inevitably end up sitting on her) and it becomes a game of her trying to reclaim her warm spot by the fridge and you laughing and chasing her, plopping your butt down on her as quickly as possible before she gets up and moves again.

Every day you become more independent, more defiant and more like a little man. I am still amazed that in only a year and a half you have gone from this small, wrinkly baby to a walking, (almost) talking, pint-sized person that loves to gives hugs and kisses and enjoy the occasional boogie down session.

I love you, booger butt,
Mama

My dearest little crazed, climbing monkey,

You are keeping both Mama and Papa quite busy these days. You have progressed from staggering around like a little drunk man, to full-fledged walking to running and now you are pushing and climbing chairs to get what used to be out of your reach. You also like to climb up on the couch and run from one end to the other; however, the couch is too tall for you to pull yourself up on so you push up one of the cushions, climb underneath it and onto the couch. You gave me quite a scare the first time you did that; I looked away for 2 seconds and the next thing I saw was you laughing and screaming as you ran across the couch.

You still can’t say much but you’re trying. You can only say “buh, buh” so when you see a ball or balloon (or when you want a boobie), you point frantically and say, “Buh! Buh! Buh!” You don’t seem like you’re in too much of a hurry to learn how to talk (and the doctor told us that you may not start talking coherently until you are 18 to 24 months of age). You scream and point when you want something and that seems to get the message across just fine for you. You have also become quite a drama king and after a crying fit, you’ll throw your hands over your face and hang your head, as if life as you know it might end because we won’t get you another ball (which, by the way, only seem to interest you when we’re out of the house). You love to have your picture taken and say “sccchhhh” (very lisp-ishy) when we tell you to “Say cheese!”

You still have only 6 teeth — 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom. We are anxiously awaiting some new teeth. You love to eat what everyone else has on their plates but your lack of molars is preventing you from eating Big People Food. (And yes, I have tried to cut things up and/or puree them and you spit it out and make gagging noises.) You also LOVE orange juice and apple juice (watered down, of course) but the sugar in them makes you even more crazed than you already are and your consumption of them makes putting you to bed at night an Olympic feat.

You can point to your ears and nose and belly button when asked to do so. You actually love belly buttons more than one should and you knocked over a swimsuit poster at JCPenney trying to stick your finger in the model’s belly button. You love to pull up Mama and Papa’s shirts to get to our bellies and when I am not quick enough to give you The Big B, you pass the time by shoving your nubby little digits in my belly.

You love, love, love your music! You dance at the intro to Little Einsteins and Hannah Montana. You are also completely mesmerized by Rihanna’s Umbrella song and will sit and stare through the whole video. If Papa does a little beatboxing, your head bobs up and down. You are truly your father’s son.

You are still as affectionate as ever and love to give hugs and kisses (although your kisses are more like open-mouthed invitations for someone to kiss you). Some days you will stroll up to me, lean against me and put your arm around me — these are some of my most treasured moments.

Love always,
Mama