Saturday, August 17, 2013


A quick trip to the store for a few missing ingredients. 

Dotty is keeping a strict eye on anything that might fall. She was very determined and never looked away. Lately I've been catching him drop stuff on purpose for her. 

It's a hot day so even though we didn't go in until 5:00, the water was still warm.
Baba and I made dinner together and NJ approved! :)

Friday, August 16, 2013

Day three and we're getting slightly better at the morning routine. NJ was ready early enough to have a little bit of play time before we had to leave. Although he kept saying, "Come on, when are we leaving? Are we going yet?" Man, don't be too eager, everyone's going to find out how boring we are as parents! 
Oh my goodness, he looks like a big boy with his hair cut and big back pack. 
It's a good thing it's just a pillow and extra clothes in the back pack otherwise it would easily be too heavy. Although he could probably do it easily with his unusual strength. He specifically asked me to pack him a pillow because he didn't have one. But he said Kinsley shared hers with him when they slept next to each other yesterday. Hmmm, ok. Later he said that I got him the wrong pillow, he wants the bean pillow with wings just like Kinsley's. Oh my. He's been talking about this girl every day. I know she's the cute little blond, so adorable! He still likes the blonds!
All lined up for the pledge of allegiance, prayer, and announcements. 
This is not the norm at all, but I had to get him some treats again today. I'm so proud of him for doing so well in first few days of school and he's been so good with listening. I think now that he's got a routine again, he has somewhere to put his energy and he's getting better sleep. Plus he was a good eater for dinner. I gave him his favorite, rice, corn, and chicken. But he kept saying, "I don't want chicken. Just rice and corn." I gave it to him anyway. He still said, "I don't want the chicken. I said I don't want it, Mama." As he's saying it, he also starts eating it. He cleaned his plate and even ate some tofu and mushrooms. He asked me so many times for Pirate's Booty that I gave him some after eating so well. On Wednesday I brought him some as an after school snack. As we're driving home he says, "Mama, Pirate's Booty is pirate's butt." 
What?
"Pirate's Booty is pirate's butt poo."
What?!
"Butt poo."
Who said that?
"Because I know."
Pirate's Booty means it's a pirate's treasure.
"Nooooo..." 
Oh dear. Where does he come up with this? 
One of my favorite things is reading to NJ, praying with him and tucking him to bed. He's just so cute and snuggly in his pj's and with his little elephant. I love his little giggle when I put his blanket over him and his elephant. Today in his prayer he thanked God for school. How sweet. I love that he loves it so much. I hope it stays this way, it's only the first week! 

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Big Boy Haircut

Before:
After:
We didn't get a chance to cut his hair before school started, but we definitely wanted to before picture day. I happened to find a coupon to a place really close to us. We decided to give it a try and see how NJ would do. It's been a while since some one else has cut his hair, but he did so great! Baba and I were so impressed at how much he followed directions, sat still, and was happily polite. He got not one, but two lollipops. Ha, ha. He wanted to eat his root beer flavor. (And shared his mystery flavor with Baba) As he's eating it he says to us, "I really have to floss now because my teeth are getting so dirty from the candy." He really made us proud. And he's handsome with his little haircut!

Watermelon Juice and Sunflowers

We let NJ loose on the playground for a while. He had lots of fun and he's getting better and better at climbing everything. Baba and I were pretty impressed. 
The sign says: 
Taste The Nuts
Use The Tongs
NJ really likes them. 
He asked for some watermelon drink and he got what he wanted. He did so well with his hair cut and listening, how could we resist?
We passed a booth where a guy was whittling wood. NJ climbed up to get a better view and watched for a while. We happily let him watch for a while, I'm glad he was so interested. 
I'm eyeing these flowers every week and always want to get some. 
NJ helped me carry them to the car. The stems were almost as tall as he is and the flower bunch was bigger than his head. Every time I see sunflowers I think of Ishinomaki. They were glowing all over and in front of the memorial wall. 

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

First Day of School

NJ was definitely excited and happy about school. He likes his independence and is so easy going. Baba's excited, I'm happy for him that he seems ready. But I don't think I'm ready! This is happening too fast. 

So cute sitting at his little desk. The first thing he said to me when I picked him up was, "We didn't use any of it!" Any of what? "Supplies. The supplies we got."
How odd that he would say that. Then what did they do? He must've been really excited about using all the stuff we got. 

It's a hot day so I brought him to get an after school treat. Especially since it's his first day. He was a happy boy and the drink didn't hurt either. He said his favorite thing was the play ground. I'm not surprised. He ate his whole lunch except for the baby bell cheese that he said he dropped. He told me about a story they read and he's already saying, "I love Mrs Lawrence." 

We went for another walk today. I thought he'd want to change his clothes, but he only changed his pants. He said, "No I like the shirt, but I want pants so I don't get another owie."

He got a bunch of balloon animals from my aunt. He asked me to take a picture of them and then another one when he throws them. We also played a game of who could throw the animals higher. When I did I asked him, "Now what?" He says, "You get one point." 
Someone is popcorn crazy. I got us each a little bowl and he says, "Let's share."
Which actually meant, I'll eat from yours and you only eat from yours. I did sneak some of his though. I tried to eat them faster which made him eat faster until he'd start giggling and I'd stop. 

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

School Orientation






Photos by Baba, I love them! We went to his school to bring his supplies, meet the teacher, the aides, and see his classroom. NJ seems so excited. Good for him, now Mama just needs to get over her nerves.
I discovered this yummy snack in Japan and found it here. NJ wanted a snack so I asked him to try it. He said, "Mmm, this is so good. I like this snack." Good! 
I saw him getting water with his backpack on and then sitting and eating with it. I guess he likes it and I'm glad! 
After his bath and getting into pajamas, he begged me to go for a walk. I really didn't feel like it (I was so tired) for one, and I didn't want him to have to change again. He said, "Please Mama, I'm in my pajamas so we can go right? Because Dotty can have a accident so we have to take her to see if she poos." Oh my, using every excuse! How could I refuse? Plus it's not a bad thing that he wants to go outside and walk or walk Dotty. I'm such a lazy hermit sometimes. My hesitation of him wearing his pajamas is that he'd get them dirty before going to sleep and it wouldn't be good if he fell in such thin pants. So what happens on our walk? He falls, tears a huge hole in his pants and skids his knee. He was all sad about falling and ruining his pants. I just put some aquaphor on it, changed his pants, and we prayed for his knee to stop hurting. I was proud of him for being good on our walk. He held onto Dotty's leash, he was gentle for the most part, and stayed out of the middle of the street. Dotty of coarse is never as happy as him about him holding the leash.