wrist cuff

April 30th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi was investigating her dad’s wrist cuff last night so I put it on my wrist to show her how it works. Immi loved it immediately and grabbed the cuff out my hand and put it on her wrist. The cuff is quite a bit too big for immi so it would slip off unless she keeps her palm open. She spent the rest of the evening throwing tantrums every time the cuff fell off. She would stomp and scream for a bit then come running towards me with the cuff in her hand and thrust her wrist demanding it put back on (she has hard time putting it on by herself when she is feeling frustrated).

Anyway, here she is this morning, still enjoying the wrist cuff.

…now if I could just persuade her that wearing sun hats are fun…

shopping

April 29th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi’s daddy is getting a haircut at the mall, so Immi and I tagged along. Immi is walking around and I’m pushing the empty stroller closely after her because Immi doesn’t see the point in having to wear shoes if she doesn’t get to walk around in them.

(I think that immi might be a bit passive aggressive. She keeps taking her shoes off in the stroller when she doesn’t want to be strolled anymore. When I put her shoes away thinking that she just wants to be barefoot, she gets grumpier…)

game

April 28th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi has been inventing and playing her own games lately (she plays for 10s of minutes!). This time she is using legos, Point A (a tub of legos located in front of the dresser) and Point B (black box with a flat top located on the shelf across the room from the lego tub). I’m guessing that she is investigating theorems that involve numbers, adding, and subtracting: )

As far as I can decipher…the rule is: 1) Find ONE small YELLOW lego at Point A. 2) Take the lego to Point B and drop it off. 3) Grab ZERO OR MORE lego and shuttle back to point A and throw it back in the tub. 4) [Repeat 1–3] while maintaining no more than three legos at Point B.

Apparently, it’s crucial that she RUNs while transporting the lego. If she drops the lego during transportation, she’ll keep running to the destination without picking it up. And the lego absolutely must be YELLOW…

Point A:

Point B:

Immi seems to have graduated from stacking-ring toys. She prefers stacking quite random (as far as I can tell, but who knows!?) objects (i.e. a rubber duckie on top of a plastic cup on top of a doll house, or a door stopper on top of a book on top of a box…).

ouch

April 28th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Last night when I put Immi in her crib to go to sleep, she bobbled around in protest (which is quite usual). Then we heard a thud, several moments of silence, than a really really loud scream. Immi had bumped her chin into the railing; her lower lip had 2 teeth marks and bleeding: (

Immi got 2 more new teeth (lower left canine, and her lower right lateral incisor). If my counting is correct, 7 more to grow…

chair

April 26th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi is having a small piece of rice crispy treats at Starbucks sitting on an immi-sized chair (which they didn’t have before).

pandapeds

April 25th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi is taking a walk near the playground. She is wearing panda shoes we found on sale for $0.99 (!!) at the shopping mall this week. Immi walks very well even on the concrete path with pebbles and fallen branches.

Immi investigates dandelions.

happy earth day!!

April 22nd, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi seems to be developing a sense of likes/dislikes for food. Until quite recently, she would eat almost anything. Not anymore. She really liked granny smith apple that came with fondue, so I chopped up some golden delicious for her and she won’t eat it. She seems to prefer toasted bread to a soft one. She really liked all sorts of cheese (except cottage cheese) before, but now she doesn’t want any of them. She won’t eat eggs anymore either. Blueberries used to be her favorite, but now she won’t have them unless they are frozen. I consulted a toddler cook book from Japan for inspiration and made some steamed banana bread and Immi won’t even try it! She still likes freeze dried (not sun-dried) crunchy fruits and veggies — especially apricots. She eats tempei if its pan seared, but not if its boiled. She won’t have any milk or soy milk at all, which I’m assuming is a bit weird for someone her age…

want!!

April 19th, 2008 | By Kyoko

We are at Babiesrus to get some diapers and wipes. Immi and her dad are lounging in the comfy chair section and testing out various toys. Immi is doing “want” gesture at the set of crayons (fitted in a grabby-hand-friendly chunky plastic casing).

fondue

April 18th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Aunt Junko is visiting us this weekend and we are waiting for a table at Melting Pot (a fondue restaurant).

We finished cheese fondue (immi really enjoyed the granny smith apple), salad and the main course fondue and now having dessert. The chocolate fondue came with large plate of assorted goodies for dipping and Immi fell in love with rice krispies treats (she is so happy that you can see the crunchies in her laughing mouth!).

stuck

April 18th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi was happily playing in the bucket (I’m supposing that she stepped in and then squatted in it). But when she saw me and tried to come towards me, she found that she couldn’t.

tail

April 17th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi’s giraffe has a stub instead of a puff at the end of his tail because immi chewed off all but two strands of fiber.

spring shower

April 15th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi waters herself with her sippy-cup after breakfast.

Immi wears the sippy-cup’s detachable froggie feet on her head.

c’ville sunday

April 14th, 2008 | By Kyoko

We are at Aqui es Mexico having lunch with my friends (Wendy, Allison&Immi, Kevin, Carey and Aurie). They are all smiling for immiblog: ) …except for immi who is busy playing with someone’s (is this one allison’s?) cell phone. Everyone offered up their phones for immi’s entertainment.

c’ville saturday

April 12th, 2008 | By Kyoko

We are in Charlottesville this weekend. We drove down last night and here we are getting breakfast bagel at Bodo’s. Immi still looks sleepy!

We are having post-breakfast coffee at Mudhouse on the downtown mall. Immi is reading her book with her dad.

After a stroll around downtown where we found a big cushy kitty for immi, we are back at Jordan’s. Immi lounges with her big cat in her travel crib.

…immi is still lounging with her cat and reading her book.

swing

April 10th, 2008 | By Kyoko

It is a such a beautiful day out. Immi and I are at the playground which is part of the apartment complex. Immi loves the swing and she meows at the birds and the squirrels.

We met 4 year old twin boys and their very nice mom who were playing there. Immi had fun meowing to their doggie too.

too big?

April 8th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi and I are putting away laundry and she really wanted to wear my shirt, so I helped her put it on. She has suddenly grown much taller lately, it seems that she can reach more and more things!

Immi can definitely climb off the bed safely now (she turns around, grabs the bed, then slide off with her feet first).

I think that Immi might be starting to say few things, but I’m not entirely sure because she says them appropriately but sparsely. Some things that I think she says are “yeah”, “no”, “hmmm?” “hi, dada”, “hello”. Still, mostly she meows. Now she roars too, like a little lion cub (grrrrrrowl!). And she babbles a whole lot (she is very talkative, even with strangers!) and she laughs everytime someone says a joke — she always knows when something is funny!

obento

April 7th, 2008 | By Kyoko

I wanted to show obachan — hi mom! — that we are using the obento box she got for immi (for when she visits her grandmom!). It’s not that I’m showing off my culinary skill: steamed veggie, freshly washed fruits, chopped-up bread and cheese…I guess I could put a bit more effort.

I found the background fabric many months ago and I got it for unknown reason (…it’s really not my style or anyone else I know’s) other than that it was really cheap and it reminded me of things made in Japan. But it’s a perfect match for the bento box! I’ll make a little bag for it because every japanese bento box needs a bag: ) A tiny random piece of japanese culture for immi!

reading

April 5th, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi and I are having a — probably very short — reading time (Immi loves books, but she doesn’t like being read to much, she prefers to flip the pages herself and enjoy them in random order).

…after few moments of reading Posie Prefers PINK together on the bed, Immi wanted walk around the room with the book and her shoes. Eventually, she decided to sit in front of Miss Monroe and continue her reading time.

goodies!

April 3rd, 2008 | By Kyoko

Immi’s Ojiichan and Obaachan (my parents!) were in Japan for a couple of days and they sent us a box of goodies. There were bunch of stuff for immi!

Immi is running around after breakfast with empty (i took out the contents) box of biscuits while eating one.

Immi can *almost* climb off of the big bed (not her crib yet, though not for lack of trying!). Instead of trying to walk/crawl off the edge, she turns around, holds on to the bed, and slide off with her feet first. I just help her a little bit for now to avoid accidents: )

misc.

April 1st, 2008 | By Kyoko

When immi thrusts her open hand, it mean ‘want’. She has been making this gesture for a while now. Last night, she tapped the edge of the bath tub while staring into me and did her ‘want’ gesture. I guess she really loves bath!

She stopped waving for hello and bye-bye for nearly 2 month, but it’s back! And, I think that she might be saying ‘hello’ as well. She has been saying ‘hello’ very occasionally since the time she was 3 month old but she probably understands it better now.

Quite often these days immi wants to walk around on her own when we go out. Walking an immi is a bit like walking a cat: she goes where she wants to go. I have to follow her closely so that she doesn’t get run over by other adults or eat random stuff off the ground.

Immi has loved to take-stuff-out-of-things. She still enjoys this, but now she also likes to put-stuff-into-things as well. She wants to help me put away laundry, but it’s usually not very helpful.