Day at Chigasaki’s Southern Beach

On Friday, we had a very busy day.  While visiting the clinic, we had an hour wait, so we went to Denny’s for breakfast.

Playing a game on the iPod.

The checkup at the clinic went well.  Tomoe is feeling better after yet another cold.  This time, just runny nose and cough.  No fever.  We then headed to Chigasaki where my wife had to run into work for a short while.  Tomoe and I went to Chigasaki’s Chuo Park for some fun.  There was a pond with a waterfall and many dragonflies.  There was so much space, I let Tomoe run around on her own and just enjoy herself.

Next to a big tree.

Freedom!

She loves pushing her stroller around.

But the highlight of the day was Southern Beach.  This was Tomoe’s opportunity to get her feet wet and experience the ocean water.  We didn’t have swimsuits, but she could enjoy the water.  Or so we thought.  She slept the entire time.

Too sleepy to play.

Oh well, maybe next time.

Tomoe has an incredible sense of humour

A year ago, I couldn’t imagine what Tomoe’s sense of humour would be like.  Now I know.  She loves playing around and joking.

One of her favourite things to do is make faces.  If I copy her, she laughs.  She also laughs a lot if I pretend I’m eating her feet.  But on the other hand, she pretends to drink from a cup, feed me imaginary food, and she’ll play peekaboo with a blanket on her head.  She’s a copycat, too.  She jumped the same way I did tonight, and she also bent her waist the way I did.

She’s also been getting very moody.  When she wants something, she demands it.  If she doesn’t get it, she gets angry.  She’s very impatient, especially with food.  Even though she may be sitting and I’ve got food in her spoon, she’ll cry until it’s finally in her mouth.

She’s talking more now.  However, it’s mostly “hello,” “douzo,” and “choudai.”  She understands things very well, too.  She understands stand up, sit down, come here, where’s your bellybutton, and more.

When she’s going out, she runs to the door and waits patiently for us to put her shoes on.  When she’s going to the nursery, she’s very impatient, though.  She always holds her arms out for me to pick her up and get her out to the car.  She even eagerly holds her arms out for the driver of the car.  She’s really enjoying the nursery these days.

Recently, she’s figured out how to put shapes in holes.  She gets excited and waves her arms when she succeeds.  It’s quite funny watching her do that.  And of course, she’s still obsessed with using a phone.  She’ll use anything as a phone, though.  But she particularly loves using her mom’s iPod Touch.  She knows how to turn it on, unlock it, scroll through the apps, and start up her favourite games.  She’s knows where the start button is for each game, too.  I’m very impressed with her ability to use an iPod so well.

And now, some pictures.

She’s being silly here. She’s really hard to photograph, actually.

Tongue out, she’s looking at her own image in my iPhone with the reversed camera feature.

She loves plastic bottles.

Mashing her face up against the mesh on the side of her bed. She was having fun doing this.

She really is hard to photograph!

Drinking her milk with medicine. She’s had a mild cold this past week.

The master of using an iPod Touch.

Yes, she’s holding toy grapes in her mouth.

Again???

Tomoe has a fever again.  We’ll see the doctor tomorrow.  Our guess is that it’s a reaction from her MR vaccination last week.  We’ll find out tomorrow.

Caught her mid-blink while having a yoghurt drink.

I had her all day today.  She was rather talkative for much of the day, although I didn’t understand any of it.

I’ve been noticing today that she understands “Look at the clock,” “sit down,” “stand up,” and “okay.” She is following instructions more often these days.

Well, hopefully, her fever will be gone tomorrow.

Is it Finally Over?

Take me to your leader.

So, is it finally over?  Is Tomoe finally healthy?  Last Friday, she visited the clinic, got an almost clean bill of health, and finally got her MR vaccine!  She’s now got protection from measles and rubella!  Hurray for the wonderful vaccines.  I’m happy because this was extremely important for not only her health, but also her ability to stay at the clinic nursery if she’s sick again.

Tomoe is now 1 year and 5 months old.  She’s just a month shy of 18 months.  She’s talking more than ever.  She will sometimes use the words she’s learned and repeat them over and over again at the most inappropriate times.  She’ll walk around saying “hello” or “bye bye” (yes, she can finally say it correctly) when no one is coming or going.  She says “nai-nai” for “night night,” though often when she isn’t going to bed.

She can also be quite the brat now.  She has tantrums when she doesn’t get what she wants.  She’ll try hitting my computer, and when I tell her not to, she gets angry and hits me instead.  She has no concept of right or wrong yet.  She gets angry if I’m eating.  She’s already eaten her dinner, but if I eat my dinner, she gets really upset, because she thinks she’s having more dinner.  She thinks all the food is her food!  When she wants to eat something we have, she opens her mouth and says “Aaaaah.”  But she can feed herself, although mostly unsuccessfully.  She doesn’t have the skills to use a fork very well.

Trying to eat McDonald’s pancakes.

Let’s just use our fingers instead.

She got plenty of syrup on her fingers.

Tomoe’s been going through the night without peeing lately, as well.  She’s gaining bladder control, which means she could start potty training sometime soon.  However, she needs to be able to follow instructions and sit still.  She refuses to sit still these days.  It’s difficult to keep her in a car seat.  The nursery driver has told us she’s been difficult to keep still with the seat’s straps.  Not only is she getting out of straps, but she’s started undressing herself.  I’ve founder her without her clothes on while she’s napping.  She also has an interest in putting her clothes on.  This morning, she tried pulling up her pants by herself.  She was proud of herself and smiled really big.

She’s also made a good friend at the nursery.  She’s very close with another girl her age.  However, the nursery staff was very apologetic with my wife, telling her that the other girl had bitten her on her arm and finger.  She was even bleeding from the bite on her finger.  I’m pretty sure the other kid isn’t a vampire or zombie.

Well, Tomoe’s healthy, but I’m sick.  My turn to catch a cold.