Mischief, Mayhem, and Cuteness

Clark has learned how to say "I'm 2" in Japanese, and he is definitely practicing being a two year old. Since I've been sick off and on for the last two weeks, busy, and just in general absorbed in Emma by Jane Austen(by the way Emma Woodhouse drives me nuts, she's my LEAST favorite heroine), I'm going to make lists.

Mischief/Mayhem List:
Throwing tantrums when he doesn't get ice cream. Mind you his ice cream is yogurt and a little bit of ice cream, but he still loves it and begs for it.
Going out the front door when I'm trying to cook dinner.
Pouring a WHOLE BOTTLE of Costco sized Italian Seasoning on the floor.
Stealing dough of whatever I'm making.
Ripping the nose piece off of the right side of my glasses(you know the plastic pad).
Trying to rip the left side off the next day.
Stealing muffins while I hang the laundry. My own fault, I should have suspected from his contended quiteness. It wouldn't be so bad if the muffins we're made with EGGS. So far, so good.


Wearing shoes in the house(keep in mind, we're in Japan, shoes inside is a BIG DEAL).
kicking, hitting, slobbering, stepping, purposely drooling milk on mommy.
Refusing to wear clothes at bed time.
Talking REALLY LOUD in church, and running over to his favorite girlfriend. She is a sweet RM, and decided to sit next to us to solve the problem.
Smiling as he runs away from his good friend/nemesis with a toy that said friend/nemesis wants to take away. I swear Clark knows he's driving the other kid nuts.
He takes everything out of their spot and then carries the stuff around in bags or purses that he likes


Waking up with the sun.....at 5:30 am!!!!

Sweetnes/Cuteness:

Sleeping after driving mommy nuts the day he poured out Italian Seasoning, water, and begged to go to the Aikeee Kojo(Ice Cream Koujou"factory")
Saying "Daddy I wuv oooo"
Saying "My name is Clarky" after hearing it during kids English earlier in the day.
Getting SUPER excited to go to the neighbors house, because, well he loves her, her dog, and her husband.
The way he says "Onemoretime" and holds up his pointer finger with two hands.
He loves to climb into his red stroller and go out(which is good since he is refusing to ride in the "bicicle").
The way he stomps his feet and jumps when he hears the doorbell or when I tell him "Clarky, who's home?" when Masaki comes home.
He says Peter Pan with a Japanese accent.
He talks like Yoda. Did you know Yoda uses Japanese grammar? I should watch a Japanese dubbed version of Star Wars and see what Yoda talks like in there. The one I remember the best so far is "Clarky Takafumi play".
He says please a lot. For example, "Help, peez", "Mommy, comehere peez"
When we pray I'll start him out with "Dear Heavenly Father" and he'll say "Deaa Heabnee Fadder, tank oo for". He starting to get the pattern. It's fun.
He shares a lot when prompted, though not his favorite foods.


Ok, that is all that I can think of right now. I'm exhausted by the end of most days right now, but hey that is normal. I can eat most stuff...but still meat and high fat stuff are mostly out. I have a harder time if I eat after 8pm. Surprisingly I can eat chocolate...kind of. I have been able to keep up running some times. Masaki is wonderful and does the dishes a lot at night. You say, "Well, he should!", but remember he has a herniated disk in his neck and doing the dishes hurts rather quickly because of the height of our sink. Plus he brought home some AWESOME flowers yesterday. My nose is super stuffed, but I can still smell them. It is great. I got him Mr. Donuts gift certificates. We got take out pizza the day before our anniversary, because I was craving it. It was a rad dinner. Ok, despite my two hour nap and weird dreams about snakes this afternoon, I'm pooped. Ciao!

Oy, make it harder for me will you?!?!?!

It is people like THIS that make it that much harder for me to bring Masaki into the US. All I have to say is THANKS! Oh and thanks to the people who made the movie Green Card too...jerks.


Update on all that, Masaki has a good job here, and the US economy supposedly is not doing so hot, so while we will have to jump through hoops and pay out a butt load of cash, we're sitting tight until at least after #2 comes out.

phthpthbthalates

So Pam has me thinking about some crazy stuff that is found in plastic...so this is what I make my child drink from. He likes his Pero like this because it is 'Daddy's cup'




...and then I made peanut brittle for my mother in law with a teflon pot! yeah me!

Thank you

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that comments. It is really nice, and very much appreciated!

HELP!

I need vegetarian recipes high in protein. Pretty much any form of meat sounds gross or makes me sick, including eggs. I can eat fish, but I don't want to cook it(smell). We had chili tonight for dinner. Beans + brown rice = protein. Any other ideas? Maybe I'll make pita bread and bust out the hummus I made last year from the freezer. Other ideas? I'm fine with veggies and carbs. Soy leeches calcium so I don't want to eat too much of it.

Ahead of time, muchas gracias!

Bumble Bee

We just re-learned the Baby Bumble Bee song from Aunt Pam and Andi. We've had to sing it ALL the time since. We got a bit on video...here you go!

ABC's, Chiba, and baby info

We've had a lot of fun with Daddy this weekend. It has been really low key which was desperately needed. This morning as we got ready for Church, we discovered Clark singing his ABC's, it is super cute, so we'll entertain you with the video of it.



And as promised a few photo highlights of our trip to Chiba last weekend!


a cool photo from above by daddy.

Clark was having some issues about going to bed with clothes on so we tried to bribe him with Pooh bloomers. We ended up bribing him with seeing Obaachan and Ojiichan again before he'd stop being Naked Boy.

..of course our time at the zoo.

...and on the playground again.


Baby Info:
Due Dateish - New Years Eve/Day
Sex -dunno yet, and won't until the end of the summer, I'll make a quiz about it later.
Me - some things make me sick, others don't. Mornings generally suck, eggs, high fat things, citrus, and sharp tasting things are a no-no. Veggies, smoothies, and SALSA as well as miso soup are big hits. Oh and I'm getting more tired by the day. I'm going to try to keep up with the running as long as I can, so if anyone knows of a good maternity belt for running let me know.

Our night time visitor

Look who stopped by for a visit??


I was just playing at the computer and saw him scuttle across the top of the wall. I went back into the kitchen to put the rice on and he was gone....

Shake 'n Bake

So this is what is shakin' and it definitely woke me up. Masaki acted awake (turns out he was really still asleep), and we covered Clark just in case, but he slept well and nothing broke or fell. Pretty good for a 6.8 I'd think

And this...is what is bakin'



don't know what it is? Well...this place will tell you.



On a side note, we had a blast in Chiba this weekend, and I should get pictures up soon. Clark is the luckiest kid ever, since he got to go to the zoo twice in 8 days. The biggest hit was the monkey's and the penguins. He was excited about the Elephant and it's big poo again too.

Middle names

So I'm not sure if Margo meant me or the other Nicole(or perhaps both) but here is a fun tag using your middle name. I have a lot of A's in there, so it should be interesting. Oh and so you know unless you are in the State you were either married or born in you can't change your middle name to your maiden name!

Adventurous. Ok only a little, but come on, there has to be some adventure in staying over here for almost 4 years so far.
Masaki is the name of the man I love...ha that was an easy one!
Azure is kind of the color of my eyes. I've always liked that I have blue eyes and I don't know why.
No TV is the word around the house until 8:30 or 9pm. I like it that way, it keeps my days much more interesting, and I know I am much less bored.
Dedicated to a full night's sleep. I love sleeping, ask anyone in my family, if it could be a hobby, it would be mine.
Adept at cooking, web design and sewing. I think sewing is the one that is improving the quickest.

I tag...hmmm Hatsuho(when you have time dear), Queen Scarlet, and her sister Jess.

Oh and for anyone who wants to know do some shopping at
The Baby Market Place they are having huge sales and may go out of business for health reasons, so go help, and get good deals!

Holiday at the Zoo

Tuesday was a national holiday, so what did we do?  Join up with Grandpa and Co. and go to the zoo!  It was packed, but Clark loved it.  The whole way there he was saying 'Ganpa zoo, Ganpa zoo'.  


The big hits were the monkeys and the penguins.  Honorable mentions go to seagulls who were supposed to say mine mine mine, elephants and their 'oooki poo poo'(big poo poo), and the waterfall that once again got Clark soaked.  I forgot a change of clothes, but luckily it was a warm day and we had a jacket for him.



All in all a fun day, though Masaki did get a bit of a burn, or at least as much of a burn as he could ever get.

The national holidays start again for 4 days as of the 2nd!!!weeeeee!

New Mediums

Our dear son Clark LOVES drawing.  He would do it all day if he could, or at least make me draw pictures all day.  Last week we had to draw repeated pictures of Andi, Tenna, Albert and Pam.  This week we are drawing ducks in chalk.  Since he is so prolific, he needed to break the normal boundaries and find new mediums to work with.

There is also a nice door that has been "beautified" by the art of Clark.  He's tried some drawing on the wood on our bed but it(or rather mom) doesn't allow him the same freedom of expression.

He may also go into fashion.  I wasn't able to snap a picture of it, but he came out of the playroom earlier today wearing nothing but his Thomas the Tank engine knapsack covering the areas most in need of coverage.  It was pretty cute and rather impressive.   He loves being 'naked boy', but even naked boy needs to accessorize.