Today I received an omikuji (OH-ME-KU-JI) from grandma and grandpa in Japan. An omikuji is a fortune that predicts a person's chances of his or her hopes coming true, of finding a good match, or generally matters of health, fortune, life, etc. You can receive anywhere from a very bad fortune to a great fortune. Mine was 'good', so I was very relieved!!

Kohana's 1st Office Work

I can take a memo!

Hanging out with Hanaka & Manaka

Today I went to my babysitter's house and had lots of fun playing with Hanaka & Manaka. They are twins so that means I get 'double' the attention! They let me color in their Hello Kitty coloring books, and we also took some time out to pose for some pictures. For lunch, I ate a big bowl of hayashi rice, which I hear is one of my mom's favorite foods - it must be a hereditary thing!

Happy New Year Everyone!

On New Year's Eve, mommy and daddy had their friends Denise and Akio over to ring in the new year. We made sukiyaki, and they let me stay up for the ball drop, which was very exciting! I didn't get to sleep until almost 1am! Then, on New Year's morning, I helped mommy put the finishing touches on her 'osechi ryouri' and make ozoni (traditional Japanese New Year's food). This year, mommy made 'kyozoni', which basically means that she made the ozoni soup with saikyo miso, a type of miso that is popular in Kyoto, It is more sweet and lighter in color than the regular white or 'shiro miso'. I'm learning alot about cooking already, and now that I have a step stool, I can join mommy at the kitchen counter and watch her when she's cooking.

After we ate our New Year's food, I went to Barnes and Noble with mommy where we met one of my friends, Juliana. I haven't seen her in a while, and was happy to see that she is now walking! We then went to the playground but since there was too much snow, we could only go on the swings. It was Juliana's first time on the swings in a playground, and she really liked it! She was quite upset when we had to leave.

When we went home, daddy had a few of his friends over to play mahjong (Akio, Ito, Daisei). Every year on New Years Day, daddy likes to get together with his friends to play this game. They play for hours and daddy usually ends up winning since he's so clever! He said he's going to teach me how to play someday.

Akio's wife also came over, and while mommy was taking care of the laundry, Denise read me a couple of books. I also helped mommy down in the laundry room because she had so many clothes to wash. She would hand me some clothing, and then I would help her by putting it into the dryer. I thought that was so much fun! We also tried to talk to ba-chan and ji-chan in Japan over Skype, but our video camera wasn't working, so we could only see them. We decided that we would call again once our camera has been fixed. I did get to see my cousin Masamune for a few minutes though. I can't wait to go visit him in Japan again!

Osechi 2011

Now that I have some teeth, this year was my first year to enjoy mommy's osechi (traditional Japanese New Years food). It was yummy. I especially liked the kuromame (sweet beans) and the ozoni soup (New Years soup). Mommy said that next year, I may even be able to help her make some of it - I can't wait!

My accomplishments in 2010

As I enter the new year, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the things that I accomplished during the past year. Most notably, I have been walking since June and have been running for quite a while now, especially when mommy or daddy is trying to take something away from me that I shouldn't have. I like to eat a variety of solid foods, and more recently have decided to eat more, which has made mommy and daddy very happy. I do prefer to feed myself whenever possible, but also like to eat whatever I see anybody else eating, and will often reach my hand out and say 'hai', which to me, means 'please give me some of whatever you're eating!". One of my favorite foods is onigiri. Mommy will make them into little shapes for me. I also like to eat daddy's udon, and my favorite vegetable is broccoli! When I'm not hungry or don't like what I'm being served, I just spit my food out or throw everything on the floor, and mommy cleans it all up! I then give them one of my very cute smiles, stand up in my highchair and pretend that I'm going to climb out, which ensures that I will immediately be picked up. This shows that even though I can't say what I want yet, I still can get whatever I want!

I like to spend time at my babysitter's place sometimes so that I can play with her twin daughters, Hanaka and Manaka. They love to show me all kinds of things, like singing Japanese songs, and how to bow, and I really like to play with their tea set! I also like to play with my other babysitter's son, Rio, who lives in our building. He is always doing things that makes me laugh, and I like to play with his cars and trains, and musical instruments.

My other hobbies include pushing my shopping cart around, dancing and clapping to music, hiding mommy and daddy's stuff all around the apartment, playing on my electric keyboard, building with megablocks, stacking rings, helping mommy vaccuum with my vaccuum cleaner, watching the Peekaboo and With Mother show, going to the playground and climbing all the stairs to get to the slide, going down the slide, swinging on the swings, typing on my very own wireless keyboard which daddy finally gave to me (but i had to break it first), taking everything out of the cupboards and my clothes drawers, scrolling with the mouse when I'm surfing the net, talking on the phone, playing on the iPad, drawing with crayons, going for stroller rides, helping mommy in the kitchen by mixing stuff with plastic bowls and spoons, taking food out of the storage boxes, and going through her cookbooks; playing with wooden puzzles, stringing beads, playing with toys in the sink and the bathtub, wearing mommy and daddy's shoes (because I can't quite get my own on yet), climbing up on chairs and the couch, flipping through books, etc.

My very favorite book is the 'Ah - E -OOH - AY - O' book, which helps me study hiragana. I like to have someone read me this book every single day - I think it's very important if I'm going to learn Japanese. I also like to try and read it myself when everyone is busy. I also enjoy when mommy reads me the flap books and dr. suess books. And I love when daddy reads me my other favorite Japanese book - the daruma-san book.

I love to talk in my own language, which really entertains everyone around me. I wave my hands and laugh alot, which really gets me a lot of attention. My current vocabulary includes the Japanese words, 'nai nai ba', 'hai', 'dote', 'wan wan', and more recently, 'gato' (arigato) said with a little bow. My English words include, 'ma ma', 'da da' 'hello', 'uh-oh', 'wow', 'bye bye' (but pronounced 'dai dai') 'co co' (gramma and grampa's dog, and more recently, 'noooooo', which is a very useful word for me! When I'm hungry, eating something that I like, or when mommy gives me my daily vitamin, I say 'num num'. I also say some other words occasionally, but I say them quickly, which makes mommy and daddy wonder what I just said. They think they have heard me say, 'thank you', 'becky', and otou-san, for example. I think I'll keep them guessing a little longer!

I really love music, especially Japanese songs. My favorite song is currently 'Arigato', which is a theme song in one of the dramas that daddy watches. I enjoy dancing and clapping to songs on the tv, the ipod, or on my toys. Mommy taught me how to dance in circles and stomp my foot. She will frequently join me in dancing around the apartment, which is especially fun!

So, as you can see, 2010 has been a very busy year for me! I'm really looking forward to 2011 and all of the new experiences I will have. As such, one of my new year's resolutions is to update my blog more frequently so that I can keep everyone in the loop!

my friend

This is my friend Juliana! It was her first ever ride in the shopping cart. We went shopping at Babiesrus to check out the Halloween costumes.

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