Ketchup Post

I had to call this the "ketchup post" instead of  the "catch-up post" because Rafe is convinced that "ketchup" means any sort of dip, sauce, or dressing.  All condiments are ketchup.  Even syrup.  That out of the way, I shall press onward with this sure to be random assortment of pictures and stories.

We have a spotlight in Relief Society and the person who spotlights you gets you a present of your favorite things when it's your turn.  On my spotlight sheet I said that my favorite thing to go shopping for was yarn, so my friend got me 2 skeins and I had to hurry and make something out of them!

 We always set out Vivi's clothes for the next day the night before (so I can wake them up at 6:30, get their teeth brushed, clothes on, hair brushed, and shoes on by 6:45 when we have to be walking out the door) so I made her a kitty pajama pillow from my pattern book of knitted toys for her to tuck them into.

 She snuggled it one of the days she was sick.  Which day that was, I'm sure I could not say.  This has been the Winter of Weekend Fevers and they've all blended together.  But I think they look cute together, Vivi and her kitty pillow!

I had a lot of yarn left over, so I crocheted a star blanket for fun.  Whenever I would put it away while I was working on it Vivi would glare at me and say "Mom!  Why didn't you finish my star blanket?!"

I totally caught her touching the tip of her nose with her tongue in the bathtub the other day and it made me laugh because I had just seen this picture of myself when I was little doing the exact same thing!  It's genetic . . .

She is getting quite good with the Mega Blocks they got for Christmas.  Her creations are always very color coordinated.  

I am totally failing at writing down all the funny things she says (mostly because practically everything she says is funny, but also because I think I'll remember and of course I don't!).  Here's an exchange we had recently that I did manage to jot down.

Me: What's this?
Vivi: It's a chapter book.
Me: What's it about?
Vivi: Jesus Christ.
Me: What does it say?
Vivi: I didn't put any letters in it.  Here, I will put some in.
(Now it says "HOT")
Vivi: You should keep this book.
Me: Oh, I will.

She is still very good at putting stuffed animals to bed.  I got this text from Traci the other day when she was watching her: "Vivi just wrapped her bunny very carefully into her blanket and whispered to it, "I'd be so sad if anything happened to your broken baby body."

The broken baby body line is from when we were riding in the car one day and I was trying to express to Drew how horrifying it would be to watch your child get pulled from an accident if they hadn't been properly restrained, or see their "broken baby body" on the ground . . .
Vivi: "What did you say Mama?"
Me: "Oh I was just telling Daddy how sad it would be if you weren't buckled into your car seat properly and we got in an accident."
Vivi: "What did you say about our broken baby bodies?"
Me: ...

Practicing with chopsticks.  The little green thing is called a FunChop!  

Vivi is avoiding potty training with all her toddler might.  She will save it all day at school until she's on the bus and knows she won't have to go on the toilet.  As a result, by the time I pick her up (she leaves school at around 3:30 and with the travel time we don't usually get home until 4:45) her diaper is often quite full.  Her favorite thing to do when she gets home is take of all her clothes, and sometimes she'll come running back into the family room, then rock back and forth so her diaper swings like a bell clapper.  "Look Mama!  I have a ding-dong-diaper!"  "Awesome."

Coloring together.  I love how little Rafe's body looks.  

She ended up with a sheet of stick-on tattoos the other day.  We put a zebra one on her ankle and she was very proud of it and would show everyone who would look at it.  "I gotta tachew!"  That one made me laugh because the Japanese don't have a "too" sound.  It's either "tsu" or "chiu."

I have been trying really hard to learn how to French braid.  Vivi is sometimes patient enough to let me try.  Her favorite hairstyle is to have one pigtail braid and have the other side down.  It's difficult to talk her out of it.

 A few Sundays ago she said it was her turn to do my hair.  She brushed it out for me and was quite pleased with her work when it was done.

She calls my scrubs my "clinic clothes."

The other night Drew was on duty, so I put the kids to bed then cleaned for an hour or two.  When I went to curl up in my bed, however, there was another person in it!  I couldn't help myself from crying out--I was not expecting to see a face on my pillow.  Sneaky.

 Vivi's favorite night of the week is Pizza Friday, unless I try to put vegetables on the pizza.  Then she gets mad.

But Rafe is still eating just about anything.  Unless it is a carbonated beverage.  I really need to get a video . . . he'll take a sip, then when the bubbles hit his tongue he makes a tortured face, like his tongue is being scalded.  Then he looks at you with concern and says "Spicy!"  But actually he says "spaishii," cause the Japanese don't have a "see" sound either.  

Rafe got the first stitches of our kids a few Sundays ago. He tripped on his own feet and went flying into our metal door jamb.  I had just gotten out of the shower, so I was trying to apply pressure whilst getting dressed single-handedly.  Drew had already left for his church meetings.  We packed up and stopped by our next door neighbor doctor that I work with to see what he thought, then he sent us on to the clinic for stitches.  

 Rafe was very good for the procedure, all things considered.  He did move around quite a bit, so that sometimes one little frantic eye would be peering out of the hole in the drape they put over his face and stare at us accusingly.  He got lots of practice saying "stitches."

What else?  Oh, our kids decided to rip up their three favorite books while I was at work one day.  Not just any books, but the three books we read every single day!  I was not happy.  Especially since one was Canadian and one was Japanese and they will be difficult to replace.  Ok, we have the internet.  They won't be difficult to replace. But I'm still not happy about it.    

The kids celebrated Setsubun at their respective schools.  It's the Japanese holiday celebrating the day before the first day of spring.  It's tradition to throw roasted soybeans out your door, or at someone wearing an oni mask and shout "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!" (demons out, luck in!).  You're also supposed to eat one roasted soybean for each year of your life.  The kids made oni masks at school.  Vivi is not a fan of oni.  

At her school, they had some parents come and chase the kids all around the yard with the masks on and clubs.  One of the moms took a video of all the kids screaming and running around throwing beans.  Traci asked Vivi where she was in the video.  She said, "See that bridge over there?  Vivi-chan is hiding under it and crying."  It was a rather trying time for the Tamago class.  

Let's see . . . we made crayons out of all of our broken crayon bits that I was sick of picking up every day.  Now we only have 5 crayons to pick up.  

Since I got nice new muffin tins for Christmas from Drew I got to use my old ones and not worry about the wax residue.  They like to stack the crayons up into a little wax tower.  

Vivi's two friends Norah and Liliana also had birthdays this week (it's weird for me to have a daughter who is so old for her class!  All her friends are just barely turning 3).  I crocheted their names with some scrap yarn.  

 Then we hot glued them on no-sew bean bags made out of tube socks so they can throw them around and practice spelling their names.

We tried a new restaurant out in town that they tried to make as American as possible.  There was a fake saguaro cactus, a chandelier, a Christmas tree and Christmas lights on the inside.  

 And a teepee on the outside you could go sit in.  There wasn't a heater in there though, so we stuck with the other room.

 It's called "Chief Burger" and they make gourmet hamburgers.  It was the closest to an American tasting hamburger I've had out in Japan, even though mine had an egg on it.  We had melon Fanta . . . it's so yummy in a play-dough ice cream sort of way.

I got my hair cut so I don't have to look like Bilbo Baggins anymore (it was starting to get awkward since my 16-week baby bump is getting more pronounced, enhancing my hobbitty appearance).  

 It was a surprising amount of hair, but now my layers are starting to even up.  Growing out a pixie cut is no joke.

Three more pictures!  One that was sent home from Youchien of Bibi-chan and Tsu-chan.  These were their costumes for the Happyouki Music Festival we missed because it was right during church and I forgot about it . . .

 One of Rafe.  He threw up during the night after coughing up a bunch of gunk and I didn't want to use a precious leave day for nothing, so I took him to work with me.  Most of my job is sitting at the computer and on the phone, triaging and following up with patients.  He sat in his camp chair and played on the iPad and was entertained by the corpsmen until lunch time when he went to take a nap at my friend Corrina's house.  He was a very good boy.  And had a bland lunch in Daddy's office of plain white rice, just in case!

 Last one of the kids playing on the playground while Daddy helped set up for his scout's Blue and Gold banquet.  Vivi really likes to carry scriptures around with her wherever she goes.

Woo hoo!  Ketched up.