JJ's speech

JJ's fav. phrases - "This is mine", "Don't do it", "What are you doing?", "Don't touch"
As for Nihongo - " Yada", "Yatta", "oshiko". and many many regular conversational phrases.
Sometimes, JJ goes on a monologue that is mostly unintelligible and somewhat German sounding. We are looking forward to his proper English speeches.

The toy tree trunk at Playtown in Valencia Mall is one of his favourite stages on which he stands and proceeds to espouse his thoughts in an almost Hitlerish manner, and sometimes orders his parents around during the process.

It's just amazing to witness the contrast between his almost withdrawn demeanor for the first few min when he enters Kids' Club everyday and this dynamic and commanding presence.

Hansei Kai (Time Out)

Hansei Kai in garage as necessary. JJ had a taste of it. Now, it's a great deterence. Boundaries are still being tested. Rarely out of control though.

Road to pre-school

Mummy found a nice pre-school which offer child care and recreational activites just a few min walk from our house. 'Shooting Stars" is very new, nice and has good vibes. A family run biz with the owner living just across the street. JJ has been there twice already. Had a good time on both occasions. There are several rooms w/ different amenities for different purposes. Quite well run from what I could tell. Teachers are high energy and very friendly.

Mummy and Daddy both agree that it's good place for JJ to start pre-school, and to get some temporary babysiting relief since they have supervised play hours on most evenings of the week.

JJ needs to get more exposure to English. While we are not too concerned, it'd good for him to get more comfortable with it now that his Japanese has reached a pretty decent level for his age.

End in sight

JJ is making good progress on becoming diaper independent. We still need to mostly sit him down for the 'minor biz' but he does prompt us occasionally. Accidents happen but the frequency is going down. The 'major biz' though is very hit and miss. Hard to gauge the intervals like we do for the minor ones. Mostly luck at this point.

Mummy thinks we are half way through this gauntlet. Just a matter of time.

Daddy tries to time his 'biz' with JJ and does it the 'good old days' way - yes, sitting down, so JJ has real time support. Is this what they call a 'role model'???

Hello Santa

This evening we took JJ to Kid's club for his annual pic w/Santa. Last year, daddy missed it because of biz travel. Mummy ended getting into the pic because JJ was too small and was scared of the big guy.

This year, it was much better. He was able to sit with Santa alone. Very apprehensive still so it was hard to get him to smile. After trying all sorts of tricks, he finally cracked a smile, which was captured by the photographer. It finally worked this year.

After the pic, Santa tried to do his talk about what JJ would want for Xmas. JJ had no idea what's going on, and was starting to tear up. Thank God, Santa ended it quicky.

Aftewards, JJ had some milk and cookies, which he enjoyed a lot so we had a nice ending.

Let me see the pics!

It has become extremely difficult to take pic's and shoot video's of JJ. Everything he sees the camera pointed at him, he runs over to see what's on it.
He loves seeing all the images, which are the best pacifier for this little one. Now, we have to learn how to shoot without him knowing it.

Speech at Playtown Valencia

After dinner at the mall, mummy decided to let JJ hang out at the Playtown upstairs. During the day, there are usually many kids. JJ normally doesn't like playing there because of all the other kids bumping into each other. Tonight, it was quiet. There was one other kid so JJ went wild. Having a great time jumping off everything that he could climb. He was fearless and joyous. He had the place all to himself and it was wonderful.

At one point, he climbed on top of the tree trunk tunnel and started making speeches before jumping off. He was animated and hilarious. Ordering us to go here and there. Sounded like Hilter as mummy would put it.

When we got home, JJ said to us with a lovely smile that he was 'upset' when he made those speeches. I think he was simply practising the words he learnt from us when we were upset.

JJ does speak English

In an almost completely Japanese environment @ home, we have always wondered about JJ's English. The only English exposure he has is at Kid's Club for 2 hr a day.

Well, when mummy puts him to bed; massages his little belly; and lovingly asks ' do you like it?' JJ raises his legs a little, and with wicked grin, he confidently replies ' I like it'

Simple but reassuring. Thank You, JJ.

Why why why

First it started with 'what'. Now, the 'why' has begun to join the repertoire. Daddy and mummy now have to the reason for asking JJ to do certain things. Not that good reasoning makes any difference if he does not feel like doing it. Rebellion is definitely in play. The 'terrible 2' has finaly arrived!

Adjusting from a break

JJ was doing great at Kid's Club before our trip back to Japan. Upon our return, he has been struggling a bit to get back to the normal routine back at home. He started the crying routine again at drop off. It was so bad that they had to call mum back to pick him up once. After 1 week, he is doing better. Just cries for the first 5 min now and plays like he used to. Probably too spoilt...

Macho Man in action

JJ has been practising his "macho macho man" routine from The Village People. Daddy also practises with him. This little macho man showed his strength today. When daddy picked him up at KidsClub, he was pushing a cart with a girl, bigger than he was, sitting on it. He kept pushing it around with all his strength. I kept wondering if he would ever put so much heart and soul into doing things around the house. Nevertheless, it was an impressive show of power!

Making a perfect box

When daddy picked up JJ today. Tommy (one of the child minders) @ Kids Club said that JJ put together a perfect box with interlocking pieces all by himself. Tommy said that kids of his age generally couldn't do it. Wow, there was one happy and proud daddy! Needless to say, daddy told mummy so mummy was happy too.

Daddy - you do this

JJ knows what he wants and is not afraid to tell us. That includes getting parents to do exactly what he wants. He makes sure that mummy takes her vitamins, and daddy eats his noodles. When his tray gets messy, he wants it cleaned. When his hands get dirty, he goes and wipes it himself. There isn't much that this 2 yr old can't do or won't ask his parents to do anymore.

Getting Gentlemany

Daddy was making breakfast on a regular Saturday morning where Mummy was off to a ballet lesson. JJ got behind Daddy and saw an open cabinet door. Daddy then heard -
"May I close this door? " in perfect Japanese. Daddy looked around and there was nobody around but a 2 yr old gently closing the door.

Macho Man

One day, Daddy (for no good reasons) started humming the 70's tune of Macho Man from The Village People. Before long, JJ and Daddy were flexing their muscles to the music. JJ is hooked, and enjoys showing off his new talent wherever he can. Now, it is part of the pre-bath routine for JJ and Daddy.

Who paid?

JJ went shopping with mummy and got a nice shirt. He came back and announced that it was mummy who paid for it.

He then went shopping with daddy and got a fun book. He made a similar announcement accordingly.

He has become quite disciplined these days in making sure that his "sponsors" are well recognised.

Not sure whether it is part of the normal development of a 2 yr old living in a world of relentless financial reckoning, or it is because of the Chinese blood running in his veins...

2 yr old client

Mummy had been having lower back pains.
Daddy had been massaging mummy's lower back.
JJ began to develop lower back pains just by watching.

Today, JJ looked despondently at daddy with his hand on his lower back and said " My back hurts". He then proceeded to the sofa, and got into the perfect position for a back massage. Daddy obliged.

A few moments later, JJ turned around and said " My shoulders please".

Where did that come from?

Daddy - Go back to your place

We went to the "Coral Cafe" in Encino for dessert after some great authentic ramen at "Nippon Ramen" in Reseda. The cafe was very spacious and pleasant. Not a lot of customers on a Sunday evening, we had our choice of seats.

JJ was very particular, and picked the spot for us right away. Mummy was ordering at the counter so two of us sat down first. JJ got settled at one end of the table, and pointed across to indicate where I should sit. The seat in between was reserved for mummy of course. So, I "obediently" sat down and he was happy. While we were still waiting for mummy to come back, I moved over to take the middle seat so we could be closer. Before my buttocks could touch the chair, JJ looked squarely at me and loudly proclaimed - "This is mummy's seat!". With his finger pointing me to my designated seat, I quickly obliged. Then, he reiterated for me where our places should be around the table.

Looks like we don't need to worry about this 2yr old not being assertive enough...

Pool Day

Last Sunday we took JJ for his first swim in a pool at our fitness club. Understandably, he was a little apprehensive at first. He soon got used to it and seemed to have a wondeful time. Not to mention the fact that he was hopelessly in love with his swim trunks, which had his favourite race car prints on. If he had his rudder, he would be wearing them everywhere 24x7!

Today, we went again. Not only was he ectastic to be able to show off his swim fashion again, he was pleased to see his super cute friend, Sienna, there as well. JJ lost all his inhibitions and got very bold. He attempted to jump into the pool (a standard adult lap pool) by himself several times, and got intercepted of course. Needless to say, the hearts of the senior family members were put to the test. Once again, they survived.

It was very gratifying to see how quickly he adapted to the water. Or, was it because Sienna was there??

Chasing after mummy

Saturdays are mummy's personal days. She gets to do her stuff and regains sanity, and daddy gets to play with JJ all day.

Mummy has a really early morning class so she's out of here before JJ gets up.

Yesterday morning, I was expecting the usual where JJ would get up and cry for 15 min while going up and down the house searching for mummy. Instead, he got up; went down stairs; and tried to put on his socks. He was uncharacteristically quiet and calm.

Just when I started to breathe a sign of relief, and to think that he had finally accepted the fact that mummy would be away for the day. He pointed at the door and said - "Let's go and find mummy!"

Is he getting it?

Today my wife needed to get physical therapy for her lower back pain. Upon mummy's departure, JJ immediately teared up and started his "OMG, can't believe mum has left me behind with this guy, and the whole world is going to crumble" routine.

None of my regular tricks for calming him down seemed to work. In the midst of escalating frustration, I looked into his eyes and began explaining to him about mummy's condition and her need to see a doctor for it. Much to my surprise, this 2 old yr stopped fuzzing immediately after I was done with my "perfectly reasonable explanation". We started to play as if nothing had happened, and had a good old time together.


Did he really understand what I said? Did he simply have pity on me when he saw my helpless eyes? Was it just good timing? Who knows?

One thing is for sure - always good to have one more trick in the bag.

2 yr old's future ambitions

What does our 2yr old want to be when he grows up? Well, we asked this question and got our answer today.

"Gorilla", he replied with almost shocking confidence.

My intepretation was naturally that his company would become the "800 lb gorilla" in the industry, I proclaimed. My wife just chuckled with amusement.

Later on in the evening, JJ seemed to start considering another career alternative. This time, he announced - "Bird"

I was amazed by his "range of thoughts". My intepretation (without proclamation this time) was of course "Pilot".

What will it be next? Well, depends upon when he finds the next fascinating creature, I suppose. And, I stand ready to interpret ...