Spring Cleaning

Here is Justin. Helpful little guy. Whenever I try to clean he is always there to help. We are less than half as efficient and it takes us at least twice as long. Now he has his own dustbuster so we don't have to fight over mine.

I promised my mom I would put some new pictures of Justin up on the blog and then realized that I didn't have very many new pictures to post. So, here are some from yesterday. I think he looks so grown up. My sweet little baby! He could really use a haircut too. This time I am not going to attempt it though. He will have to wait until the guy downstairs gets back from vacation next month. March is almost here so it won't be long. As a bonus, the long hair on his forehead covers up a big bump and several small bruises. He had a couple of mishaps last week. He did a faceplant on the sidewalk one day. The next day he saw someone walking a dog and was SO excited that he ran towards the dog. We were still inside and Justin wasn't paying attention. Instead of going through the automatic sliding door he veered a bit to the right and ran smack into the window and then fell backwards. Poor baby!

February 5th Rob and I went to get our Japanese driver's licenses. I found it a long, interesting process. I guess it wasn't any longer that it took in Maryland. Since we arrived with all our paperwork COMPLETED and verified by the US Embassy, I didn't think it should take very long. I don't really know why it takes so long in Maryland or other places either now that I think about it. Here is our story:

We met at the Embassy at 8:50 and were given paperwork from the Embassy and a checklist to make sure we had the things we needed. At 9:00 AM we got in the van and were driven to the Japanese version of the DMV about 30 minutes away. We had instructions telling us to go to window #27 (I believe) on the second floor. We had the documents we needed: Foreigner ID card, diplomatic passport, US driver's license, notarized translations of the documents from English to Japanese, and the completed paperwork. We submitted the documents and were told to sit and wait. After over an hour and a half, we were called to the window and given our documents and told to go downstairs and take our eye test. This was the part that worried me. I have been aware that my vision is declining. I haven't ever had glasses or contacts and it has become obvious that I do. Instead of the alphabet eye chart familiar to us in the US, we did what I call the "c" eye chart. Basically it has rows of circles with sections of it missing on the top, bottom, left, or right. This makes it look like a "c" in various positions. I thought this would be tons easier than identifying letters. Rob went first and we were given directions. He had no problems. When I got up there, I could not tell which segments were missing. As the examiner highlighted a letter, I would stall asking if he wanted me to tell which direction it was pointing. Meanwhile I would squint and try closing one eye at a time to see if that helped. I did my best, but at least one was a total guess. I passed! The color blind part was easy since I'm not color blind. Even though I made it, I still realized that I have vision problems. I was still excited. With our little seals affixed to show we passed, we went back upstairs. We went to a different window where we bought special stamps which were placed on our documents to show that we had paid the appropriate fees. Then it was back to the first window. We had to wait for awhile and were then told to come up with two different four digit pin numbers to associate with our licenses. (Other than being able to access our personal information at the DMV by inserting our licenses and entering our PINs, I don't think there is any purpose for the PIN numbers). After this was done, we were told to go back downstairs and get our picture taken and turn in our paperwork. At that point we were given a number and told that our licenses would be ready at 12:20. We had to go up to the 3rd floor and sit in a big waiting room until our numbers were displayed. Then we were able to go up and get our licenses. Yay! Back out to the van and back to the Embassy. Rob and I are only "beginner" drivers since we cannot prove that we were in the United States for a full year since our license was issued. Well, of course we can't prove that, we haven't been in the US for over a year on our current US licenses. If we want to be "professional" and not "beginner" we would have to request our DMV records and submit translations of them along with our previous passports to prove our driving experience. Evidently having a license for more than half my life is not enough. Whatever. All our driving status means is that we have to have a magnet on the front and back of the car when we are driving to indicate we are new drivers. I suppose that isn't so bad. I am new to driving on the wrong side of the road! One interesting thing about our driver's licenses is the year. My birthday is listed as 47-01-29. That would look to me like I was born in January of 1947 and am older than my own mother. The 47 refers to the 47th year of the reign of an Emperor, I don't know which one though. My license expires in the twenty something year of the reign of the current Emperor. I think that is really confusing if he dies before that year comes. I was excited that I passed my eye exam and was telling everyone. Everything I have heard seems to indicate that they don't really pay attention when we take our eye exams and that it is just a formality. Rob says that sometimes it seemed the guy was moving on to the next one before he even answered. That kind of bummed me out. Maybe I can't guess as well as I think.

Justin loves to "help" me out. Sometimes it is more help than others. Evidently he thinks I keep the place a mess and he needs to do what he can to keep the place up. Either that or he is afraid I will trade him in for a more helpful child. He is cute to watch, but it can take me a lot longer to get things done.

He loves his Clifford. If only I had known I would have purchased several. Of course it is NOT machine washable. I do my best to clean off the boogers and food particles. Too bad I can't teach him to clean it, or better yet not mess it up to begin with!

Justin has decided that the best way to annoy Mom is to refuse to say her name unless he is really really mad and using it like a swear word. He has no problem with saying "Daddy" or referring to him by name. Grrr....




When asked where Daddy (or Elmo, Clifford, Pooh Bear, the ball..) is, he has no problem with that either. Ask where Mommy is and he acts bored. I suppose that is because Mommy is either right there or he is screaming because she is gone.

Justin has been keeping me busy. When he is being Monster Baby I have to be right on top of him. Either I need to watch what he is doing or he has wrapped his little body around my legs and I have no choice but to see and hear how he is feeling. When he isn't being Monster Baby I often want to be there to see what he is doing. I love it when he decides to spin around. He isn't very good at it yet, but he has a lot of fun. Sometimes he tries to get a little up and down bounce in time to the beat thrown in there too, but he falls pretty quickly doing that maneuver.



Justin also enjoys playing chase--or at least he usually does. I thought we were going to have a fun little game, but Justin wasn't amused. I think part of it was that he was upset that the Pooh Mobile wasn't going up on the rug the way he thought it should.



He was laughing really hard while playing the near and far game with his dad. Once I got out the camera he sobered up a little bit. I guess he doesn't want to have proof that his childhood was a happy one. The more screams he can get on camera, the better it is when he wants to be emancipated from his mean old parents. He can show that from a tender young age he already knew he couldn't deal with people as uncaring as we are.



On a positive note...

Justin only wakes up (without self soothing) once or twice a night. That is so much better than the TEN times it was when we moved here! He wants to eat one of the times he wakes up and the other, well, I think quite often he is ready to get up for the day. I tell him it is still night night time. Mommy doesn't get up for the day before 6:00 AM. That makes it a loooooooooong day to love the baby. I love him a lot more when I get more sleep. Some people have said that if I stop feeding him in the night he will stop waking up to eat. Perhaps. Right now at 6:00 AM he is ready for oatmeal, banana, cold cereal, and milk. He would probably rather have it at 5:00 AM. If I didn't feed him in the night he might want to get up for the day at 4:00. I usually need to go to the bathroom and grab a snack in the night anyway. I just know that it is nice not to be as tired as I was. I haven't hallucinated in weeks!

Gears, Gears, and More Gears!

Justin enjoys playing with his gear toy. I am not exactly sure WHAT it is that he does with them, but he seems to enjoy it and it entertains him. That's what counts I guess.

Justin entertains himself in some interesting ways. Often he ends up entertaining us as well. Here is a clip of one of his favorite activities. There are many variations. The objects vary from day to day and so does the location he chooses to put them. Sometimes he moves the Pooh Mobile closer to the final destination so he doesn't have to make so many trips. Who knows what he is thinking?

The Difficult Life He Leads

Poor Justin. Life is rough when you are 13 months old. It is hard to feel too sorry for him though. It seems that he finds anything that isn't his idea a traumatic experience.

One of the many horrible things that his mom does to him each and every day is get him dressed. As if that wasn't bad enough, she gets him undressed and ready for bed each day too. He makes sure that the process does not go smoothly. He also likes to make sure his feelings are known. He may not talk, but this video clip makes his point loud and clear.



Evidently he wasn't too amused by our first snowfall this winter.



Note: The first video was uploaded to youtube and the second was uploaded directly to blogger. If you have strong preferences towards one or the other, let me know.

PICTURES and a RANDOM THOUGHT

Here are some pictures of my little Monster Baby. He has a part from his toy train that he loves to carry around on his face using his nose and mouth to hold it on. He looks like a little piggie.

Since before he was born I tried to get a lovey for my baby. I had three identical blankets made, I buy toys that look like they have lovely appeal, I have even tried forcing lovies on him. I thought a lovey would make moving and other transitions easier for him. Justin wanted nothing to do with it. Now it appears that he has chosen one. He loves Clifford. Of course we only have ONE Clifford (it is one that Kohl's had a few years back) and it is too big to easily carry around. I hope that the attachment is not a long term thing, but he seems to be bonding.

For you who are parents of young children, I have a question for you. Have you ever wondered why day after day Elmo asks Mr. Noodle to show or explain something? Poor Mr. Noodle is clueless. There is something not quite right with him or his siblings (Miss Noodles and the other Mr. Noodles). Mr. Noodles needs to be watching and not demonstrating, bless his heart. Even asking a baby makes more sense than asking Mr. Noodle. Will Elmo ever figure it out?

Justin is a toddler. He can walk, and is doing so more and more. Crawling is still his method of choice when he is in unfamiliar territory or has far to go, but each day he is doing a little more walking. Here are a few Justin the Toddler video clips, mostly put there for Grandma Pat, but anyone who wants to watch them is welcome. I just don't think that they are as exciting to most people as they are go Grandma. :) He is wearing clothes from Grandma Pat too.

Here is me (out of view) chasing Justin around the coffee table. He usually plays this game with Dad and he loves it. The table and the couch provide support so he doesn't have to walk on his own.




Round and Round! Justin likes the Busy Ball Popper (or whatever it is called) and also the Busy Ball Popper Train. He really likes the balls. When they go astray he will point to them and expect Mom or Dad to bring them back for him.

I wanted to get a clip of him walking, but he was having a hard time focusing on what he was holding, me, the camera, stuff on the floor, and walking at the same time.

Justin was walking all over the place so I pulled out the camera. That's when he stopped walking and started playing. I did get some walking on camera eventually. He just doesn't cooperate!

Here are some Christmas pictures, including:

Justin admiring the food proccessor. He is sure it is for him.

Figuring out the busy ball popper.

Rocking on the Rock, Roll, and Ride Bike (which I highly recommend, very cool).

Pulling a Pooh "radio" out of the gift bag --finally!

Using a present to climb up on the table.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Even though it is Justin's second Christmas, it seems like his first. Being born just a few days before Christmas meant that he (and I!) were out of it. This year he can do a lot more than he could last year. A bit overwhelming for him so I am glad we went small! Some of our things haven't arrived yet and I think that is for the best. It will make Christmas last longer. Justin can only handle so many new things at a time. After 2 1/2 hours of opening presents and playing he was begging for a nap. He even pointed to his crib and was out like a light! Forty minutes later he was up and good to go though. That didn't even give me time to upload pics and videos and do the blog. Currently he is entertained with new toys again. :)

I hope to soon be able to edit video from the video camera and put some of those things up, but for the meantime, there is plenty of poor footage taken with our camera. Enjoy (or not!) Of course there are also some photos for your viewing pleasure. This entry is getting kind of busy, so I think I will post the pics separately.

Playing with unwrapped presents was a lot of fun. Unwrapping was also fun. Wrapping paper and boxes can be as much fun as the actual gift. Why or why does Mommy clean them up and throw them away? After lots of practice ripping paper, gift bags can pose a new challenge. Sometimes my baby is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Either that or he has me trained well. Why put forth effort if someone else will do it for you?

It doesn't seem to matter who the present is for either. I suppose that since he rules the house everything is pretty much his. If he can reach it, it's fair game as far as he's concerned. One of his favorite games is to put things in a container and then take them back out again. He can do this over and over and over again. He likes to add variety sometimes by transporting the items somewhere, preferably under something. What could be better than taking things out of a box, moving them a couple at a time and putting them under the couch, bringing them back again and placing them back in the box. The excitement! Sometimes things get pushed back too far and it becomes a #1 priority to scream until Mommy or Daddy can rescue the object and place it once again within reach. I don't know that pushing things back too far is a tragedy. Probably just another variation of the game and a way to make sure we remember that he is the one in charge.



It took awhile for him to figure out the busy ball popper. He liked the balls and he liked the music that the popper made, but he wasn't so sure about the rest of it. Now he seems to find it amusing to play with it as intended. That doesn't stop him from seeing how many of the balls he can fit in his hand at a time or what sounds the balls make as he bangs them against various surfaces. After all, he is a baby.

WHO NEEDS TO OPEN THE PRESENTS?

Justin has had so much fun rearranging the presents. What could be more fun than pushing the boxes around from one side of the house to the other? He also enjoys getting on them, so we tried to make sure that the larger presents that might be fragile were put away. The ones that weren't so fragile were perfect for climbing!

Happy Birthday Justin!

Today Justin turned one. He is not walking yet and I was SO sure he would be walking by now. (Of course I was sure he would walk before 10 months!) He CAN

walk a few steps and has on several occasions. He does it when he forgets to get down and crawl. When we try to get him to walk he will go limp noodle and laugh. Oh well. I suppose he will walk when he walks and I should be glad that he can't get into quite as much while he is still a crawler and a cruiser.

Justin's bday pictures turned out kind of like my second bday pictures. Rob took some video footage on the video camera that hopefully I will edit before too long and put up on youtube. In the meantime, here are some pictures.

Do you think I should see if the swiffer people want to use him in a commercial? He loves it! He loves cupcakes too. Not only can you crumble them, but you can eat them. Swiffer seems to be a pretty natural way to follow up his eating. :)

Five Minute Flop

I am trying to get some Christmas baking done. Mind you we don't even have all of our stuff put away yet from our move, but that's okay. I have the baby gates up on the stairs and one blocking off the kitchen, so as long as I don't mind hearing Justin scream, I am able to safely cook.

I don't like him to be upset too long, so I thought I found a great recipe from Rachel Ray (http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/kids-recipes/kids---fabulous-five-minute-fudge-wreath/article.html) that claimed to be easy enough that it was classified as a kid's recipe. It was easy, but I agree with what Rob said when he tasted it. It just isn't fudge.

Guess I will just have to go with a more traditional recipe. Sorry Rachel Ray. Thumbs down is my review.

We don't have the baby gates up on the stairs yet. We just put in a work order and it should be done this week. Until this weekend we have been keeping Justin from going up the stairs by putting the play yard in front of the stairs. We just block off the stairs and lock the wheels on the play yard and a baby gate of sorts is made. This weekend Justin decided that the times we forget to block off the stairs are few and far between and that he is much better off finding a way to get to them whenever he wants. He is a determined little kid! He has found a way and is getting more and more efficient each time he tries! Video kind of ends abruptly as I rescue Justin from falling.

Life in Tokyo

We are settling in to our new home in Tokyo. The movers are scheduled to come on Monday. Yay! Only onee more weekend without our things. Once we get everything it should make it feel more like home. It will be a lot of work to get it all put away though.

In the meantime, Rob is getting adjusted to his new job and Justin and I are trying to get into a routine. He will be one year old on the 22nd and he isn't walking yet. That is fine, but I would have bet money that he would be walking by now. He continues to cruise just as he has been for the past couple of months. Chicken Baby doesn't want to let go! He will stand up in the middle of the room and then decide he doens't want to chance it and gets back down and crawls. He has mastered racing up the stairs (gate isn't up yet) and climbing on top of things. How a baby who can't walk can climb the way he does, I'll never know. Here he is on the coffee table. He was very proud of himself.

Justin has become quite the "helper" with the laundry. He loves to take the clean laundry and throw it in with the dirty laundry. He also enjoys gathering up the socks and scattering them near and far. He just loves socks. Usually I don't mind, but when he attacks a pile of clothes I just folded... He is lucky he is so cute!

The weather has been warm. We haven't had to put on our winter coats yet. Justin has a hat and a pair of mittens, but he is yet to wear them outside of the house. I did try them on him. He didn't seem to mind. Perhaps that is because the TV was on. He has decided he likes Elmos's World on Sesame Street.

He is also working on feeding himself. It makes quite a mess which leads to needing to clean him up. He does not like that. Once he is clean he is off and running. He loves being naked. Rob says I shouldn't show people this picture because it will embarass Justin. I think that it will be okay for now. Don't plan on getting it enlarged and framed or anything.

I owe a lot of people e-mail. I haven't forgotten you! I have been busy trying to get to know the area and looking after Monster Baby.

Finally a post from Japan!

We have been in Japan now for a week and FINALLY I am getting around to posting on the blog. Of course as I begin I hear Monster Baby crying, so this may end up being done in pieces as I find little moments of time.

Even though the flight from Washington DC to Tokyo was shorter (only 14 hours) than the flight from China to Spokane, it seemed really long. Rob and Monster Baby had been feeling under the weather and weren't quite themselves when we made the journey. I have also determined that Northwest Airlines World Business Class is much better than United Business Class. Perhaps it is because on their international flights United also has a first class (NWA does not). I don't know, but if I ever have the option of which airlines I will fly, NWA will easily win even if the flight time increases by a couple of hours or a transfer.

Moving on... Our place in Tokyo is more than adequate. It is smaller than our place in Shenyang. We were spoiled there. Here our living room and dining room combined is about the same size as our living room in China. The kitchen is a lot smaller. Our bedrooms are bigger, but there are just the two of them. In China we had three bedrooms and used one as a family room. Our floor plan here is two floors and includes death trap stairs. I swear that whoever designed the stairs must have been trying to figure out how to trap children's arms and legs in little nooks and spaces. Having the baby gates put up will help immensely. The two balconies (one of dining room, one off of Justin's bedroom) are nice, though it wouldn't be bad to have the extra space INSIDE our apartment. It will take awhile to figure out how to arrange our space.

I took my picture out on the balcony to take a few pictures. Here is a picture of the building next to ours. There are three apartment buildings or "towers" and then some townhouses. I suppose the housing needs to be functional and someone thought that Scandinavian flair was being added. Instead I think they look like they were built out of legos. All they need is some color. In addition to balcony views, there is Monster Baby trying to escape. He loves being outside, even if it is just on the balcony. I think I will have to put his playpen out there in good weather. I can sit beside him and read while he plays.

It will take awhile to get adjusted. Very different from China (and much more expensive!). It will be a fine place. I think that Justin will really enjoy being able to play outside. Rob will get some different experience at the Embassy and not be on call or working overtime so much.

Justin's First Halloween

On Justin's first Halloween we were in Ohio visiting Justin's Uncle Ron, Aunt Ann, and cousins Scott and Missy. Missy got to take Justin around the cul-de-sac to trick or treat while Mom followed with the camera. :) Justin wasn't really sure what to make of it. He didn't dislike it, but he thought it was a bit odd. He found the other children pretty interesting. Probably his favorite part was pulling things out of the bucket after trick or treating. Poor kid didn't even get to eat very much of his candy. He did get to taste his first M&Ms and he is a big fan. Should I be surprised that my baby likes chocolate?

Justin had a good time in Ohio. He had the whole household trained to revolve around him. During our visit there he also:

-learned to crawl up the stairs

-tried going down stairs (saved from falls by multiple people)

-went to see his first marching bands

-discovered he likes banana yogurt (Mom doesn't so he might not have made that discovery for awhile)

-start clapping spontaneously and for games (like patty cake)

Justin and I met up with Rob in DC before heading out to Ohio. Poor Justin hadn't seen his dad (except over the computer) for about a month. When we landed at the airport, I started walking towards Rob. You should have seen Justin's face when he realized he was seeing his dad again. He was so excited. I bet the wheels were turning in that little head of his. What a coincidence that we would run into Daddy!