Lego Maniac

Kenta has a friend at church - a kindred spirit, if you will - who shares his love for all things electronic and gadgety. Last weekend, this friend introduced Kenta to the wonders of Lego mindstorms. He's pretty much been talking about legos non-stop ever since, trying to convince me of their undeniable usefulness. Last night was no exception:

Kenta - I just saw this awesome youtube video today.

me - Hmm....

Kenta - Yeah, this guy had programmed his lego robot to solve a Rubik's cube.

me - Hmm...how can a robot do that?

Kenta - He programmed it to recognize colors.

me - Hmm...really.

Kenta - Yeah! Think of all the things I could program the robots to do!

me - Like what?

Kenta - I don't know. What would you want a robot to do?

me - (glancing at the sink, overflowing with piles of dishes) Huh. I want a robot that will wash the dishes for me

Kenta - uh...Kendall...

me - Yeah?

Kenta - They've already invented something for that

me - ......?

Kenta - It's called a dishwasher.

Doh!

So much for my short-lived interest in lego robots. Kenta hasn't given up his efforts to convert me to lego robotism. He emailed me this video today:



I'm trying to decide where I would store something like that.

Train up a chid in the way he should go

This past weekend was busy around these parts. The first weekend in October brought us General Conference and - much to the chagrin of LDS Longhorn and Sooner fans - the annual OU/Texas football game. Being the pious types that we are, we taped the game and watched it after we enjoyed the Saturday sessions of conference - and didn't even sneak peeks to see what the score was. That takes an amazing amount of willpower, my friends.

Thomas had spent the morning absorbing the messages at conference (yeah, right), so we thought it would be good to balance out the spiritual knowledge that he had recently gleaned with a little secular football knowledge. Here he is, showing off his mad verbal skills:

(A little background on the video - "banzai" is Japanese for "hurrah!". It's something that (I guess?) Japanese people say to their kids, so they'll lift their arms up. It helps when you're changing clothes. Anyway, Thomas recently learned how to say it and is now always asking me to take his shirt off. Which I don't do.)



So there you have it. Our kid is a genius. And he got to experience, for the first time in his young life, the sweet taste of victory over the evil Texas Longhorns.

Lest you think we only watched football with Thomas on Saturday, he did watch Conference with us and pointed out every Jesus he saw on the computer screen. But mostly he just drove his cars around the living room floor. Lucky for us, he loves naps and cars. They kept him pretty well occupied while we watched Conference, so we actually got more out of it than we thought we would (parents of small children everywhere know what I'm talking about). Does that mean I have a notebook full of profound Conference quotes and insight that I gained while listening to the messages? Uh...I wish.

Unfortunately, there are lots of doodles of hearts,flowers and my name spelled in about a million different fonts (block letters, cursive, all caps, all lower case - you get the point). There are even some words in my actual notes that are only halfway spelled with the word ending in a crooked line (written as I dozed off and my hand slid off the page). So, I'm not the most alert Conference watcher. I couldn't tell you a lot of what was said. But I can tell you what I remember most - the most GORGEOUS arrangement of "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd". So beautiful.

Since I don't remember a lot of the specifics of Conference, I've decided to choose one talk a week to focus on and study in depth. I'll double up with the shorter talks some weeks, and by the next Conference in April, hopefully I will have been able to internalize a little bit more.

In short: 8 hours of church (10 for Kenta)+ 1 Sooner victory + 1 new, useful word learned by Thomas = an exciting weekend!

Li'l T v. the Tomato

This is what happens when you leave a garden fresh tomato, unattended, within arms' reach of a breakfasting child:















You'd never guess that this same child is currently refusing to eat his scrambled eggs. Ahhhh....the joys of toddlerhood.

In case you haven't heard....

...there's a baby in da 'hood. Mother Hood, that is. Baby should make his/her appearance sometime around the end of the year. That makes the pregnancy a little over halfway over. I only barfed twice (one time was fried-clam-induced, so I can't really blame the baby) and am feeling great! Cravings have included: fresh pineapple, pizza, and Walmart Fruity Smiles.

This pic is from the ultrasound last week. Thomas kept pointing at the baby's head on the screen and saying "ball! ball!" Ummmm....I hope that he learns the difference before baby comes home.

We're happy to "officially" be sharing the news with everyone! Sorry I was holding out on the announcement, but that's the way Angelina Jolie does it - and like I've always said: what's good enough for Angelina Jolie, is good enough for me :)

We went on vacation....like a million years ago

I won't even mention my lack of up-to-date blog posts, (other than mentioning just now that there is a lack of up-to-date blog posts). With that said, I bring you Speed Blogging, in the form of random pictures from our vacation with captions that may or may not be entirely accurate due to the amount of time that has lapsed since said pictures were taken.

Thomas watching the Southwest employee grill burgers on the tarmac (it was the 4th of July)

This was the only happy moment of our flight out to Missouri. Thomas happily watched the grilling and the passing luggage cars for about ten minutes of our layover. The other three hours and twenty minutes, he was throwing himself in a screaming heap on the ground as I tried to prevent him from boarding other airplanes. Luckily, he wasn't too bad on the actual flight.

I have discovered that traveling with a toddler is like wearing people repellent: nobody wants to sit by you on the plane (Soutwest, so no assigned seats) and people will quickly scoop up their laptops and carry-ons and move to the furthest seats away from you at the gate, just to get away from you and your screaming child.

Once we made it to Missouri, there was a lot to keep him occupied and plenty of space to run around:

Thomas at the dock, watching the catfish eat

Playing with the dollhouse. This was probably after breaking up a fight between him and [insert cousin's name here] for the umpteenth time.

There was a lot of (potential) cousin bonding time. I say "potential" because Thomas probably hit/bit/shoved every single one of little cousins at least six times a day (each). Needless to say, they were all avoiding him like the plague after a few days.

Thomas and Molly

Don't let that smile fool you. He would have probably eaten Molly for breakfast if he had not been restrained in the high chair.


One of the babies jumped in the water, so they all wanted in. Luckily they had their own individual pools - Owen ended up pooping in his.

Overall, it was a good visit with the baby cousins (and their siblings). I can't believe how much they've grown in the past year:

July 2009

July 2010

Please note that they are all wearing tie-dye shirts. Please also note that Thomas is slyly twisting Owen's arm.

Thomas also got to hang out with his grandmas:

Grandma (my mom)

Great-Grandma (my mom's mom)

After a week in Missouri, we headed down to Oklahoma with Soren, Natalie, and Owen. I sat in the back seat between Thomas and Owen (someone had to keep those two separated).

It was a long drive and the kiddos were tired.

Owen stared at me for most of the four hour trek (we stopped for the night with Natalie's parents).


Thomas ate a cheese stick to keep his mind off of how tired he was:


While Owen willed himself to stay awake:


These kids worked really hard at not sleeping in the car. Obviously.

Thomas read his truck book:


Owen played with his car:


At 10:00 p.m. these boys were still going strong. So, of course, I entertained them with the flash:



I finally got a smile out of Owen:


When we got to Oklahoma, we spent the rest of our vacation with Kenta's family. It was SO STINKING HOT in Oklahoma. I don't know how I put up with that kind of weather for 25+ years. I had forgotten just how hot it was, until I realized that Thomas was only wearing a diaper in like half of the pictures:

Watching cars and dealing some serious crack

Playing in the sprinklers

The heat must have friend my brain in Oklahoma - apparently I forgot to take pictures. I don't have a single good one of him and his cousin, Dane. For shame.

Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the plane and go back home:

Saying good-bye to Ojiichan and Obaachan

Luckily Kenta was with me this time. The plane ride/layover went a lot more smoothly:



As nice as it was to visit family and friends, it was so nice to be back home again. Dorothy was right: there's no place like home.

Communication breakdown

It's rough being a 16 month old.

You want stuff you can't reach. You try and tell your mom by pointing your finger and making frantic, indiscernible shrieks. She just looks at you and starts offering you everything BUT the one thing you are pointing at. So, of course, the next logical step is to to throw yourself on the ground, turn up the decibels a few notches, and launch a full-out tantrum. You know - so your mom understands the urgency of how much you really need THAT ONE THING.

After screaming and writhing on the floor for twenty minutes or so, your mom is pretty sure that you have actually forgotten what it is that initially made you upset. Now you are crying and carrying on because you are mad and it really feels good to let that frustration out. How does she know this? She may or may not have this problem herself.

You won't let her touch you. Every time you look at her, you start crying harder because she reminds you of what made you mad in the first place (whatever that was....). Yet, she continues to sit nearby, keeping an eye on you, making sure the path is clear of any potential hazards as you pitifully throw your body about the living room floor. She patiently waits for your sobs to subside and for you to crawl back to her for a hug, like you always end up doing. She would hug you right now, but chances are you would throw your head back and whack her on the chin. She knows this because you've done it before (MANY times). So she waits.

After awhile, you decide to choose a spot and settle there, still sobbing, but no longer screaming. The sobs subside, and your mom readies for the long-awaited embrace. But you don't come crawling back. So she approaches you instead. And this is what she finds:



so she gently picks you up and places you in your crib where you peacefully sleep for nearly three hours.

She is so happy that you were able to settle down. But she is also so sad because she never did figure out what you wanted. And she knows that, inevitably, it will happen again.

It's rough being the mom of a 16 month old.

May Madness

This poor, sad, little, neglected blog. I kind of gave up on trying to do anything with it in May because it was such a busy, busy month. I really did have time to update it. The problem was I had so much going on, all of my creative juices (and motivation) were completely sucked dry. But June is here now, so I'm feeling a little rejuvinated. Plus, I found out my sister-in-law reads it (among other assorted relatives and friends) and I don't want to disappoint. So, thanks for the kick in the pants, Mika. I'm back from the dead and ready to blog.

What were we busy doing in May? Well.....

We went to Cape Cod!


We decided to beat the summer rush and go on a little road trip to the Cape in early May. It was lots of fun, but very windy. We visited some historical landmark about something:


We saw a lighthouse:


Kenta showed his bravery by standing next to a cliff


and stepping in freezing water:


We also drove by....


Hyannis! We didn't see any Kennedys, nor did we flip off Ted Kennedy's grave (per Kenta's dad's request). But we were close enough that we could have, if we wanted to.

What else did we do? I taught a class at church on how to bake whole wheat bread. I didn't take any pictures, but I just wanted you to know that so you could be impressed at my domesticity. Also, I arranged and performed a harp piece for Mother's Day at church. Again, no pictures. I'm just documenting proof of my awesomeness for posterity. Seriously, though - these were probably the two most exhausting/time consuming activities of the entire month.

While I was busy doing stuff, Kenta took a nap:


Okay, okay. In all fairness, Kenta tweaked his back (probably from helping some friends move) and had to come home from work early one day because it hurt so bad. It was just too good of a photo op to pass up. Thomas and I documented our mischief while he slept.

Me, accidentally forgetting that the camera was still zoomed in after taking Kenta's Sleeping Beauty photo:


The second attempt(after I zoomed back out):


My glasses, apparently, are in a perpetual state of sliding down my nose.

Thomas learned how to walk. Finally. I was starting to think he might be crawling to school on his first day of kindergarten. This video is really long, but the first couple of seconds should give you an idea of how awesome his walking skillz are now.



It's fun watching him rediscover the world on two feet.

Back to May...I made stuff with my sewing machine. A cute hairclip holder for a birthday party for one of Thomas's girlfriends:


I discovered the joys of elastic thread and made this dress...


..and a coordinating bowtie for Thomas. Please excuse my massive biceps. I'm pretty sure the camera adds like six feet to their circumference. Also, the hair. I have no excuse for that, other than Kenta didn't tell me to fix it before he took the picture. Stay tuned for more of my sewing (mis)adventures.

Other May happenings....Aunt Rika went to Morocco and brought back some awesome souvenirs. Here's Thomas modeling his:



Thanks, Aunt Rika!!

Thomas celebrated 15 months of life with a trip to the doctor for immunizations. They sent us home with some band aids and a handy printout with all his measurements and percentiles. We're happy to report that his head circumference is in the 4th percentile. While we're not sure if his small head is an indication of his brain size, we do know that "simple minds, simple pleasures" is a pretty accurate description of him:



So that was May. At least the highlights, anyway. Hope you enjoyed the summary!