Kaiya's Four Month Stats

Alright. Where is the "table"button.  In order for you to fully appreciate the weight discrepancy between four month Reina and four month Kaiya, the teacher in me wants to illustrate it in a table! The sentence I"m about to write just won't do it justice.  But, for lack of a "table"button, this will have to do.  Reina weighed 6lbs 10 oz at birth and was 19 inches long.  Kaiya kicked her butt, and weighed in at 8lbs 9 oz and was 20 inches long.  At four months, Reina was 14lbs 12oz (what, about 8 lbs in 4 months!).  Kaiya? She gained 4 lbs!  She is only 12lbs 12oz.  Crazy, right?  Kaiya has done better in length, growing 4 inches since birth (now 24").  Reina was 24" too, but she started out an inch shorter, so it seems that Reina just grew at a much faster rate. I remember her demanding to eat every 2 hours, whereas Kaiya is much more relaxed about the whole thing. Kaiya can pretty easily go 3 hours without eating, which has made getting out and about much easier.  If you look at pictures of Reina at four months and Kaiya now, Reina just looks chubbier.  The link takes you back to the blog post of Reina's four month stats (May 17th). Reina's face is much rounder than Kaiya's.

Kaiya is slowly becoming more and more alert and aware of her surroundings, and Reina has definitely picked up on this.  Reina often goes and lies next to Kaiya, putting toys in her face and talking to her. Its very sweet.  I think Reina is excited to have a little sister to boss around. I heard her at gymnastics yesterday bossing one of the other little girls around. Mind you, Reina is the youngest by 6 months compared to the other girls, but she is by far the best listener.  She will sit and wait for quite some time, while the other kids are up and about jumping on things they're not supposed to.  This particular class, while Reina was waiting her turn and the other girls were jumping around, Reina said, "Ava, sit down." So funny.  I'm pretty sure I was the bossy one too when I was little.  Not sure if it will be a phase with Reina, or its the big sis in her.


I don't think I've mentioned this before, but since soccer season has begun, I've had to control Reina a bit more. Usually its because I'm out with them and holding Kaiya, so I can't go get Reina when she decides not to listen. This prompted a small experiment, which I'm not convinced is working yet, but time will tell. I started a nickel jar.  My hope is that in addition to a rewards system, she can work on some counting skills too.  Basically if she listens, helps out, shares, etc, she earns a nickel. Then she can spend her nickels on trips to the indoor park, or the ferris wheel, or new barbie movies.  Chris and I thought 20 nickels would be a good goal, since she's not so great at counting to 20. BUT I think its too high, as she hasn't had a reward yet, so I dont' think she gets the point. I'm thinking we may have to go to 10, and see if that helps.

I sent out an email with our tentative summer plans. I'm so excited to come back to the States, as always, and see family and friends.  I was looking back at old pictures from last summer, and we always have such a great time; Reina too.  Hope we get to see everyone!

So Much Work

So cute - good thing we can't see the top of her head!

Reina wearing one of her new dresses from Grandma
You can tell this is in the morning before school
because she's got her to-go cheerios and water bottle.

There is just so much work...all around.  At work, at home, it just never ends!  Its been tough because Kaiya insists on waking up twice each night.  I was hopeful that sucking her thumb would improve this, but it has not.  Thumb sucking does make putting her to bed very easy - literally just put her down and she falls asleep, so we've been lucky in that department.  We go to the doctor tomorrow, so I will bring that up, in addition to her TERRIBLE cradle's cap.  This poor baby girl has had all sorts of mild skin conditions....nothing I thought ever warranted a doctor visit, but nevertheless I'm glad to go tomorrow to make sure everything is ok.  I'm also excited to see how much she's gained in length and height.

All of the soccer had made things even tougher.  I've had to put both girls down at night by myself twice now.  At one point, on my first night I thought, "what do I do now?"  This was after I decided that Moms and Dads have been taking care of children by themselves for centuries...surely I could manage bathing two children.  Then, when they were both in the tub, I couldn't figure out how I was going to dry them both.  The end result was baby Kaiya doing a lot of crying, but it was brief and we all got into bed more or less on time.  The second time was a bit better, but its still something I appreciate Chris to be around for.

In the wrap

Reina got ballet and tap shoes from Romeni some time ago, and then Grandma (and I) bought little tutus/ballet skirts. Reina is all set but she didn't have a class to go to till now. She was so excited when I was on the phone confirming everything, that I had to tell her to be quiet several times.  She was practically yelling me about how she had to get her skirt on and wear were her ballet shoes!  She will start the second week in April; we're excited.

All ready for Daddy's first soccer game.
We were in green, but it was COLD! So we bundled up

Reina starts her new daycare routine on Monday.  I'm a bit apprehensive, but Reina is excited.  We had a bit of a preview this Tuesday: Reina's "old"daycare was closed for a Japanese holiday that we all forgot about, so we had to ask Kaiya's daycare to take her for Tuesday.  I showed up and they were all impressed with Reina's Japanese, and the one worker who usually works in Kaiya's room couldn't believe how "calm" she was.  "Is she always like this?"  "No!"  On Monday, and from then on (except for Japanese holidays, where she will stay at Kaiya's school), Reina will spend about an hour and a half at Kaiya's school. Then one of the sensei's will drive (or walk) Reina to her Japanese school.  I'm a bit worried about Reina not wanting to go to the Japanese school, since one, she'll already be playing and may not want to leave or two, she will want to stay with Kaiya.  She loves her baby sister.  But, we've talked a lot about how it will be and what to expect, so hopefully all will go well.

Soccer Season with Two

Chris' first soccer game is today.  Its at 3pm against Shuri High School.  Reina, Kaiya and I are all dressed in our Kubi green - hopefully we actually make it to the game.  Last weekend the weather was glorious, so we met Kuniko at the Urasoe Dai-Kouen.  Its probably the best park in Oki (at least close by) and Reina was ecstatic about it.  We will definitely have to return.  We bought some new furniture on our way there, so our trip was a bit short, so we had to promise Reina we'd go back.

Reina had the flu (or something like it) Friday and Saturday, so we hung out a lot inside.  Today (Sunday), so we're hoping to get out a bit more.  There 's really not much to say except we've starting talking about summer and are very excited to visit everyone.  We bought Reina a sleeping tent - its meant to be a place little ones can sleep when they're traveling, so I hope she likes it.  Kaiya will be in the pack and play, and Chris and I don't get too excited about sharing our bed with Reina.