Packed out

Well, we're packed out. We're going to turn in our keys tomorrow and will be flying to Southeast Texas this weekend. It has been a very stressful time for our gal. She hasn't enjoyed the move at all and is not happy with all the changes she's had to endure. She has been really fussy the last few days, her schedule has gone haywire and she isn't happy about any of it. We're hoping that once she gets to my parents house and is able to decompress a bit with Jiji and Baba she'll bounce back to her usual self. My parent's place is quiet and she will be doted on constantly - perfect to take the edge off those baby nerves. Poor little Momochan.

A big girl goes out to eat

Here's a photo of our gal sitting in a big girl high chair last night. Momma and I don't eat out much because Momma is a great cook but we're at the point with our pack out and move that we'll be eating out a lot. We wanted to see how Momoka would react sitting by herself in a restaurant while we stuffed our pie holes full of chow. She did great. Very patient and entertained herself with toys and by people watching. We probably dallied a bit too long and she got a little skirmy at the end of the meal but that was fine because she was so well behaved. Such a big girl! Sorry for the crummy photo quality - this is from my cell phone.


We bought Momoka this little chair that clamps onto a table. The chair is made by "Phil and Ted" and is called "meetoo". The chair has an aluminum frame and is very sturdy. We're hoping she'll enjoy sitting in this chair because we'll be doing a lot more eating out in the next month as we transition from DC to Hawaii and wait for quarters to become available.

I can't believe she ate it . . . . .

Natto that is. Our gal downed about a tablespoon of natto tonight for dinner. For those unfamiliar with natto it is fermented soybeans and it is pretty good for you. Momma and Pappa like natto on a bowl of rice with a fried egg on top for breakfast - tasty! The problem with natto, as with most fermented things, is that it smells. For some Japanese the smell is just too bad. For Americans its the smell and the stringy slimy texture that keeps them from even tasting the stuff. It's really not something I'd expect a baby to eat. In Japan it is one of the second groups of foods offered to babies because it's a little chunky. Most think natto smells like dirty, sweaty socks. Momoka ate it and seemed to like it, which is good, because as I said natto is very good for you. Nice.

Momma's Sayonara Party

Momma has made a lot of friends in DC over the last few years. It never fails to amaze me how many Japanese live overseas. Momma found all her friends through an internet bulletin board called Mixi. You can post a message on a number of different types of bulletin boards (some are even based on geographic regions). I think over the course of the last 33 months Momma has made at least a dozen good friends (and met many more that didn't turn into friendships) and they have enjoyed getting to know each other, eating out and, of course, speaking Japanese. Most of the ladies are around Momma's age which is also nice. Some of the ladies are here working, some are married to Americans and others are married to other nationalities working at the various offices in DC. This past Sunday a number of gal pals got together to give Momma a nice send off to Alohaland. It was a great afternoon and I think everyone had a very nice time. The party theme was Hawaiian and it was complete with Spam makizushi - yummy!

Momma had found some cute jinbei on the internet featuring Anpanman and Momma's sister brought them over from Japan when she visitied last month. For those of you who don't know Anpanman he is a cartoon character in Japan that has an anpan roll for a head and fights evil. Anpan is a baked bread filled with anko, a kind of sweet bean paste. I like Anpanman but don't like anpan (I think it tastes like a mouthful of sweetened dirt). Anpanman has a lot of sidekicks that are also different types of baked breads. His nemisis is Baikinman (baikin is Japanese for bacteria). I can't wait until Momoka is old enough for her and I to watch Anpanman cartoons together (of course I'll need to get busy with my Japanese lessons).

Here's a photo of our gal dressed for the party in her best Anpanman jinbei . . . .


Back of jinbei with Anpanman's face . . . . .


The little wings on the top are part of a cotton undergarment that goes next to baby's skin and the clothing she is wearing. This is great thing to have in summer because it absorbs the sweat and keeps baby's skin nice and dry. Momma puts this little undergarment on before our gal gets in her car seat (and starts sweating) and then pulls it out, right from the top, whenever we arrive. No clammy baby - yeah!

One of Momma's friends has twin baby girls and they also came to the party (the girls are a bit older than Momoka). Here's a cute picture of them together having a seat on the floor. The girls are very sweet and played nicely with little Momochan. One twin is a little shy and the other is more outgoing, waving and smiling at you every time you pass by. One thing's for sure, they are adorable and Momoka really enjoyed watching and interacting with them!


Three big girls having a seat together!

Such a Silly Girl

Here's a short momomovie of our gal with quite the tickled funny bone. The full length feature is almost seven minutes of her giggling and squealing. I am not sure what she saw that was so funny (other than daddy's general goofiness). Who knows why babies laugh at the things they do? I am not sure I really care if that question is ever answered as long as they laugh. It is the laughter of someone who is truly innocent and I find, in spite of all the ills of the world (and there are many), it puts me back in touch with my humanity.

Seven Month Report

Momoka turned 7 months old last Friday - YEA! Sorry the posts have slowed down. We are busy trying to close out our house and are getting ready to move. This has been a tough move and we'll all be glad when we are settled in at our new duty station. These posts will slow even more until the fall when hopefully, by then, we'll be settled in for a while.

OK, what's been going on with our little gal? Well, it's like somebody flipped a switch. She never showed any interest in rolling over but now it's her main mode of transportation. She mastered the back to tummy and then just a few days later started rolling over from tummy to back. This past weekend she went half way across the living room just rolling. When lying on her back she also scoots along by digging in her heels and pushing off with her little legs. She has started squirming more when in your lap. She is bending at the waist and turning her head trying different positions to see how things look from different angles. Her balance has improved greatly (and most surprisingly) while sitting. She can now sit upright for minutes at a time without weebling and wabbling and will play with toys with both hands in the seated position. This is amazing to me because just a week ago her gyro was pretty unstable and she would roll to one side or the other pretty quick. She is also standing unassisted at the coffee table and plays with toys. She can't pull herself up yet but if you place her in the standing position beside the table she can stand there for a more than a few minutes. She will also go from the seated to standing position if you give her fingers to hold onto and help get her moving. We have been putting her feet on top of ours and walking her around a bit but walking is still too challenging for her right now. Hey, walking is challenging for me too.

She has expanded her menu. She has added broccoli, cabbage and tofu to all her old favorites. Momma has been putting tofu in the food processor, whirling it around a bit and then feeding it to her either straight or mixed with vegetables. She seems to enjoy the texture of tofu a lot. Night before last she ate white fish, tofu, cabbage mixed with okayu and broccoli mixed with okayu. She obviously has a Japanese tongue. Because of their texture, the fish and tofu cause her to "chew" and she does a great job chewing up her food. She is opening her mouth as the spoon gets close to her pie hole. She doesn't waste a bite. New food that's just ok - sweet potatoes. Go figure.

Her two front lower teeth continue their rise. Her first tooth is really poking up out of the gum now. The second tooth is still right at the surface. She is chewing on everything that gets close to her mouth and, of course, is a little bucket of baby slobber.

She continues to grow like a weed and has started to trim down a little. Now that she is scooting around and rolling over her little pudgy tummy and legs are getting trimmer. Momma weighed her recently and she is now 9 kilograms (19.8 lbs). She hasn't put on much weight since her six month check up although her appetite remains very strong. Movin' and groovin' burns off calories!

She is still enjoying her jumper, baby car and also terror chair. Her favorite toys are a little stuffed pony and the roundy roundy zoo toy that I described in an earlier post. Momma had the bright idea of putting Momoka in terror chair and setting her music toy in front of her. Great idea and she enjoys sitting and pounding on the music toy with her little mitts. She enjoys a good story - "Pat the Bunny" and "Tickle the Pig" are short enough and have enough colors to keep her attention from beginning to end. "Good Night Moon" has been a favorite on the reading list for a while now.

Lastly, her little face is starting to change from tiny infant to big baby. She is making new faces and new noises. She is blowing some soggy raspberries (finally, all my training efforts have paid off!). Her vowel sounds are now getting mixed in with some consonants. Got a "ba" and a "boo" out of her already this week.



Here's our gal rockin' out with her music toy. Fear factor of terror chair has been reduced to zero.



Quiet please! Can't you see I'm composing a masterpiece here?



OK, here's another "how'd that happen?" picture. At nap time or at night we start her off at the opposite end of the bed with her feet close to the footboard because she scoots around so much while she is sleeping. She recently woke up at 0430, which is very unusual, and Momma rushed in to see if everything was alright. Momma found her at the top of her bed with her noggin in the corner. Momma determined she awoke because she must have bumped her head in the corner and it woke her up. Such a squirmy worm! You can tell that she is really growing and that her little legs are getting longer and trimmer. What a big girl!

Shot day update

Well, if having shots, running a fever and being constipated wasn't bad enough it looks like our gal has also cut her second lower tooth. The first tooth has fully erupted and that thing feels as sharp as a Ginsu knife. The second tooth is just about to pop through the gum.



I'm fevery, both my legs hurt from where I got poked three times with needles, I can't poop even though I have eaten a truckload of prunes and now my head hurts because of a new tooth. When's that sunshine and lollypop fairy supposed to drop by?

Shot day - YUCK!

Yesterday was our second round of shots. We were a little behind because of all the stuff that has been going on this summer. This round of shots was, for some reason, worse than the last round as far as fever and crankiness are concerned. Our gal woke up last night at 0200 with a high fever and had a very difficult time resting after that. When she woke up this morning at 0915 and after we had some milk she sat in a tub of semi-warm water and took some tylenol. The tub seemed to help with the fever. She went back to sleep at 1115 after having some more milk and some diluted prune juice and is still asleep as of 1445. She is so cranky, much more so than the last time we had shots. My wife and I feel so sorry for her. She has also been a little constipated the last two weeks and the prunes, apples and prune and apple juice she's been getting don't seem to be working too well so that is probably making things even worse for our little gal. I've got to wake up early Monday and try to make a same day appointment for her to see the Doc but from what I understand they don't really do too much for baby constipation. We have been blessed as Momoka has been so healthy, especially considering we've dragged her around with us whenever I go TDY and the crazy winter we had in the mid-Atlantic region.