Cherry Blossom Adventures

by Lulu | January 12, 2012

No & I love you…

As most of you know Noah turned 2 on 19 December. I think on his second birthday he had about 10 words that he used on a regular basis by himself {Mama, dada, nannan, baba, jiji, ball, go, colouring, there & star and a couple of others that he might use when prompted} – It is a month since I posted the last update with the advice we got from the child psychologist and different things we could do to help him strengthen his mouth muscles.

In the last month he seems to have hit a bit of a language explosion. He is definitely still behind his peers with his language {of course he is not going to catch up overnight} but since turning 2 I would say he has over 50 words right now. Most of which he will use by himself unprompted- he also attempts to say a lot of words if we ask him. For example today I said “Time for a bath. Can you say bath?” at first he said “No” and shook his head and then I said “No, you should try. Say bath” and he stopped, thought about it and then said it perfectly with the th at the end and everything.

I think the highlight of having him start talking more has been him starting to say almost all of the words he used to sign {he still signs as he says most of them though} like car, cat, drink, eat, more, banana, bye bye, book, bird, duck etc. He still can not say train or airplane which is a shame as he makes me say those words for him 50 million times a day…Well he say “chhhh” for trains and “aaaa” for airplane and has fluked saying airplane properly a couple of times but as I said, pretty sure they were flukes or me mishearing. He attempts a lot of animal sounds and has mastered woof woof, quack quack and moo moo {although he had moo down for awhile}

He has his first Japanese word {that wasn`t un, baba or jiji}- Ooishii. He only says it if we say it though.

He strings words together. Today when I finished my lunch he said “mama eat fished” …he signed “finnished” and that is the word he meant.

Another highlight is having him say I love you. Every night when I put him to bed I say “Night night Noah. I love you. I will see you in the morning”…..I have done it since he was a teeny tiny baby. He now responds with “Night night. Love you”…..of course it has that 2 year old feel to it and is pronounced nigh nigh wuv you but still it melts my heart.

He really struggles with S words. He can make an ssssssss sound like a snake but will not attempt to say words with S in them. L`s too.

His favourite word right now is “No”. Typical 2 year old! He says no even to things we know he would want/like. We have to remind him that he probably means yes and then he says “essss” and shakes his whole body up and down instead of just his head.

I am not sure if it is anything we have done specifically that has prompted his language to take off but we have been giving him larger bits of food to eat, making him do funny faces/sounds and move his mouth and tongue around and we ask him to try to say a lot of words. I have upped our reading as well and we now read 20 plus books a day- some of them are the same books over and over again. I love reading with my kids especially now as Shion is getting super interested in books as well and is no longer trying to eat them {well not as often!}. Both boys will pull books from the shelves and flick through them by themselves as well.

Shun does a lot of work getting him to sound and say individual sounds {like the Japanese alphabet sounds- a i u e o, ka ki ku ke ko etc} and Noah loves copying his daddy.

When he says a new word, and practices it over and over again, Noah is so proud of himself. He is very deliberate in what he does try to say though and will not attempt things that he doesn`t think he can say {like elephant etc, if i ask him if he can say it or try to say it he just says no}

Noah has a long way to go before he catches up with children his own age- he is still six or so months behind but I am just so relieved that he has started talking more and is now adding new words each and every day as well as the words he has are becoming clearer. It is hard to believe that a month ago he had so few words and now seems to have so many.

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by Lulu | January 11, 2012

Sleep time…

Noah is a pretty awesome sleeper. He has slept through consistently since he was eight months old, naps like a pro and has never been much of a struggle to get him down. I had planned to post about his recent speech development sometime this week but instead this is going to be a rant on my other child, Shion. Who is driving me up the wall. I know, I know- I shouldn`t complain about my kids. But hey…my blog. My rant space.

Shion was a great sleeper…til he hit about six months old. He even slept through the night from 4-6 months until it got hot over summer. He also would sleep through anything until about that point as well. I retrained him to put himself down to sleep at about 9-10 months and luckily most naps and night times, at first, all I have to do is put him in his bed and say “sleep time” , pat him for 10-20 seconds then leave the room. This only works at the start of nap or night time though—if he wakes up after he goes to sleep then he does not self-settle no matter how much I try to teach him.

Today though he screamed for 90 minutes. Absolutely nothing wrong with him- he wasn`t gassy, he was sleepy, no temp just would not lay down long enough to fall asleep. He is finally asleep now on the beanbag downstairs but Noah will be up within the next 20-30 mintutes{ He managed to fall asleep through the screaming and actually stay asleep}. He does this sometimes- if I climb into bed with him he might fall asleep after he spends 30 minutes or more biting/scratching/clawing at my face and hair and I would then have to stay with him there because he could fall out of the bed when he wakes up.

Night times- he still wakes up 4-5 times a night. Sometimes more. Always at least 3 times. He is on formula now and doesn`t take a bottle overnight so he is not waking up because he is hungry. Sometimes he is gassy. Other times no reason. It is too cold to stand up and rock him to sleep or try to pat him back to sleep and in recent months if he is crying it does tend to stir Noah. As we have no heaters upstairs it is too cold to stand there so now he sleeps with us in our bed once he wakes up again about 3-4am. He climbs over us both, pulls our hair, giggles and then may fall asleep for an hour or so before waking up for the day around 6am. Co-sleeping is not for me- I have mentioned this before. I don`t feel comfortable having Shion {or Noah for that matter} sleep between us—I am constantly worried he will fall out of the bed or one of us will squash him so I rarely manage to fall asleep again after 3-4am once Shion joins us in bed…and if I do it is not a good sleep and I wake up really sore because of the odd angles I have had to sleep at in order to make sure he is safe.

He is still in our bedroom in his cot but I would even prefer he slept in his own room now like Noah although we do not have the space for that currently.

He only has one nap a day now {and maybe a 20 minute power nap if we go somewhere in the car in the morning or if he is in the pram and it is moving a lot}- I put him & Noah down at the same time usually about 12. Sometimes 11:30 if Shion is already overtired {He really needs 2 naps a day but I got sick of battling with him and it is not like I can spend 30 minutes upstairs trying to get him to go down for a 30 minute nap and leave Noah downstairs} because luckily Noah will just go to sleep whenever if I tell him it is nap time/bed time.

I think I just have to give up on the idea of having any time to myself during the day and just hope they go down at night without too much hassle {and preferably no wake ups from Shion}. At the moment I just have the time they are both asleep to do my own thing When my kids are awake I rarely use the computer {sometimes check facebook from my phone}, I don`t ever do my “own” thing, and very little cleaning or cooking gets done unless I have the TV on. I am lucky if I finish my coffee in the morning… The kids can play by themselves but one of them always hurts the other or they squabble over the same toy and they completely trash the living room with toys and stuff everywhere and that stresses me out even more- so even though I could probably sit and read a book for 15 minutes while they play it would then take me 15 minutes or more to clean up the giant mess they make.
I just feel so much better if I have 45 minutes or more to myself in the middle of the day. I go online, have a coffee, often do some cleaning or food prep for dinner. Sometimes the boys might sleep for 90 minutes or even 2 hours although recently that hasn`t happened much at all. I knew there would be a time when the boys would stop napping….of course {I was hoping they would be in kindy by then }…it is just that most mums I know seem to be able to do their own thing, at least a little bit, when their kid{s} are awake….I can`t even make a phone call or skype call without it resulting in a ton of mess to clean up and/or someone trying to climb all over me and/or screaming because their brother pushed/bit/kicked or stole something from them.

I am exhausted. I would go to bed earlier but then I would have even less time to myself and I wouldn`t see Shun at all during the week. Feeling a bit like it is a lose/lose situation…

Okay rant over. For now. Both kids slept through the entire time it took me to type this {about 15 minutes}- I wonder if I should attempt some lesson planning….

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by Lulu | January 7, 2012

Positives from 2011 {SYL12: Week 1}…

While stumbling around the internet the other day {as I do!} I followed a link from an Aussie blogger I read often {Hi Ames!} to Deb`s blog in which she was launching a year long challenge titled “52 weeks to simplify your life” and I decided then and there that I NEEDED to do this. My original motivation was definitely thinking that I could get more organized, spend more time doing things I love and make 2012 a great year for me and my family.

I have high hopes for 2012 because 2011 was a rough year in which I really felt like I was struggling to keep my head above water and get through each day and be a good mum to my kids. We had premature births, earthquakes, lots of moving, another bout of depression {or PND}, and daily struggles with two kids under two. The first six months were hard in particular but in the second half of the year, after we moved and after I acknowledged the fact that I was depressed again and needed some more support things started to pick up. The second half of the year was much calmer.

I have lots of ideas, lots of plans, lots of enthusiasm…but I am still lacking the motivation to start on a lot of things and I am hoping that by doing this year long challenge that is where I will get to. I will be motivated. This is why blogging is such an awesome platform for connecting with other- I know that I will gain so much inspiration from others and in turn hope that somehow something I may write might help inspire someone else- just as reading through Deb`s blog has already inspired me!

I will be posting once a week from now until the end of the year for this. I have no set day but the plan is to get it up by Monday of each week.

The challenge for week 1 is to make to make a list of all the things that went right in 2011. As we start a new year I realize most people are looking to move on, start afresh, go forward and make resolutions {I know I did!} but I love the idea of looking back on 2011 and focusing on the positives.

My number one positive for 2011 was definitely the birth of Shion! While his entrance was dramatic he is a charming little fella who has completed our family. Perhaps his birth was not as positive as the day we bought him home {Feb 2011} and then watching him continue to grow, beat odds, reach milestones that we thought would be months off. We always wanted more than one child and while he was conceived a bit earlier than planned having my boys so close in age has turned out to be a blessing in disguise as they are so close in age {12.5 months apart}, and are already developing a strong bond. My kids bring me a lot of joy! Watching their relationship grow was also a fantastic positive that I didn`t really think much about before Shion was born- I knew having him would change things for me but I didn`t think so much about how it would change things for Noah.

We also finalized plans for our home. Set to move in April the plans are all done and building is underway. Finally seeing our dream of designing and owning our own home is becoming a reality. I am so happy that 2011 was the year that all started.

Lots of things made me happy last year- time with my family {one of the best days we had all together was a trip to the local zoo and also a family trip to Shizuoka to visit friends}, catching up with friends {I have a lot of great foreign wife friends here in Japan- one of the best catch-ups I had was late in the year when I went to the movies for the first time in 2.5 years. I said to my friend though at the time that everytime the movie got loud I wanted to say “shhh” fearing it would wake one of my kids who were not even with me!}- some a bit further away than others, time away from my kids {to recharge my batteries!} and the wonders of the internet {for allowing things like video chatting with my mum so that while she can`t see my boys in person she can still see them growing up and watching them play via the computer}

Another big positive of 2011 was moving closer to my husbands family. Having the extra help with my kids if I need it- and just knowing that people are close by is a big thing for me. After the earthquake in March I hated seeing my husband go to work because I was so worried that we would have another large quake and he wouldn`t be able to get home or that something would happen. Moving to Ichikawa in May makes me feel more at ease because I know that if there is another quake my in-laws are 100m away.

I have written a lot in the last couple months about how worried we were about Noah and possibility of ASD and speech delay. ASD seems less likley than we first thought and while he has an obvious speech delay in the last week of 2011 his speech really took off. This is a kid that a month ago still only had 10 words he used often {mainly for people} and now he has close to 50. It is a bit like he just decided he was going to start talking. I have been working with him more on over pronouncing things, giving him large pieces of food to chew and practicing lots of silly noises and Shun has too and already it seems to be helping a lot. I am not sure if it is just these things that are helping or if he really did just decide to start talking…

Reading with my kids is another big positive and something I am grateful for- I LOVE having my kids bring me books and snuggling up and reading before nap and bedtime especially. Doing Tot School with Noah last year was also a lot of fun {although frustrating at times too!}.

I was grateful for a good healthcare system {and top-notch care for Shion while he was in the NICU}, parks close by to spend time outside, spending Christmas as a family of four, my part-time work, a fab community of friends and family {so so so many people helped me out in 2011. One thing that especially touched me was all the support and well wishes we got when Shion was born as well as a lovely bunch of women who got together and made a beautiful quilt for Shion. Now, nearly a year later, i still smile EVERY time I see this quilt and know the love that went into it. Shion also received 2 other very beautiful handmade quilts.} and I am grateful for my healthy, happy family. Shun & I may not have been married so long but we have been together 7 years now and we still laugh with each other, joke with each and our relationship is good. Great even, most of the time. He grew into his role as a daddy even more- another joy to watch.

I have a lot of positive things from 2011 and a lot of things to be grateful for. It was nice thinking back about all the fantastic things that happened. What were some of the positives from 2011 for you?

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by Lulu | January 5, 2012

A year has passed…

Tomorrow Shion will turn one.

Almost a year has passed since I went into premature labour and he arrived so suddenly and so early. I have been thinking about the night I had him a lot this last month with Christmas and New Year passing by. At that time last year I was in Australia celebrating with my family and had no idea that a week or two later I would have had my baby. I still remember the doctor yelling at the midwife after I arrived at the clinic that he couldn`t find a heartbeat and to call for an ambulance. I still remember Shion being born and not hearing a cry. I remember calling my mum after they took him away in an ambulance {and Shun went with them} and telling her I had had the baby {She was asleep, it was almost midnight in Australia when I called} and her having lots of questions that I couldn`t answer. I remember “meeting” Shion for the first time on the night of January 7th almost 24 hours after he was born when he was still nameless and on breathing machines and I remember touching him for the first time through his box. I remember holding him for the first time on January 10th – that day he weighed just under 1500grams. So many memories that bring tears to my eyes.

I look at him now though and can not even tell that he had such a hard start to life. We were really really lucky. The complications that he could of had seemed to pass us by, the small hole in his heart that he was born with closed up by itself, he started gaining weight and hasn`t stopped and he now weighs just a little bit below the average one year old and he does almost everything the average one year old does.

February 19th will mark one year since he joined us at home and met Noah for the first time.

A couple of weeks back I had coffee with a two friends, one who had a 3 week old. I was busy with my boys and didn`t get a chance to hold her but I kept thinking “She is so small. I don`t remember my boys being that small”. Then I remembered- both my boys were once that small. The first time I held Shion he was less than half the size of my friends little girl. Time passes so quickly!!!

As usual my monthly letter below to Shion. This is the last monthly letter to him now that he will be one.

Dear Shion,

I could write a long long long letter to you on the eve of you turning one but really all I need to say is you rock little man. You have come so far in such a short amount of time and you make us all giggle on a daily basis.

You are “toddling” now and eating us out of house and home already so I can just imagine how much food I will need to buy to keep you full once you hit your teenager years. You get into all kinds of mischief by yourself and with your brother. You also love to chat- we have lots of mamamamama, dadadadadadad, bababababab going on all the time. You also can not wait for food. Ever. You screech like a bird until you get what you want.

I think you look more like daddy

But I guess we will have to wait and see how that pans out!

Happy 1st birthday,
Mama

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by Lulu | December 30, 2011

1 more day…

With just one more day of 2011 left I felt I couldn`t leave my last blog post up about our Christmas activities without at least touching on our actual Christmas. Although last year I also didn`t get to recap our Christmas or last weeks in Australia because I came back and Shion arrived early. That seems like so long ago now- he will be 1 next week! My last post of 2010 was about Noah turning 1 and my first post of 2011 was about Shion being born….

I cooked Christmas Eve and had a couple friends over as well as MIL & FIL. I think the food went down well- most of us ate seconds. Plus I made my first ever baked cheesecake with hints from both Mel & Khea and it turned out great. Definitely something I will be making again! Having Sam and her family for Christmas Eve dinner was great and her son and our boys had fun playing together. I spent most of the 23rd and 24th in the kitchen but it was worth it!!!

Christmas Day was a quiet one- we opened presents with my mum on Skype then spent the day at home eating leftovers, listening to carols and playing with the things the boys got. Lovely and quiet family day. The boys got totally spoilt of course- all of their presents from Santa were joint presents then from us they got some things for just them as well as a bunch of stocking stuffers. Plus things from my brother, mum, some friends & my in-laws {although they got their Christmas presents from the in-laws early!}. It was all about the kids!!!

My computer is on its last legs I think and so while I uploaded some photos to facebook I haven`t uploaded them to flickr in order to put them up on here.

This past week since Christmas has been pretty quiet as well- lots of play at the park and with friends although I had a 24 hour bug or something a couple of days ago which knocked me around for a bit.

I also went to the movies today for the first time in 2.5 years. I was nearly 30 weeks pregnant with Noah last time I went to the cinema. Had a lovely lunch, walk around the shops, coffee and then watching the movie with a friend. Great day out!

Blogging has hit the back burner lately for me- I am reading less and less and commenting even LESS than that so for 2012 I will try to be a better blogger. Not only with writing but also reading and commenting. While I love blogging and the interaction it gives me with so many wonderful people I do not want it to become a chore. That said- I also do not want to give it up!

The first half of 2011 was a rough one- Shion coming early, living at the in-laws then back at the apartment and then the earthquake and tsunami. Also moving house. The second half was a lot calmer, for us at least, although I will be glad to see the start of 2012.

Resolutions? Well pretty sure one of my resolutions for 2011 was to be better with money and save a certain amount- almost definitely failed at that. Next year….lets see…
-Be a better blogger
- Lose 5kg {or at least try to exercise 3 times a week. Need to find something to do at home. Maybe once we are in the new house and have more space I will start hooping again! I lost a ton of weight after Shion was born and then more with the stress, breastfeeding and then earthquake but I have put it all back on…and a bit more}
- Be better with money {than I was in 2011} and decide on a certain amount to save each month and stick to it
- Try to reduce our food bill {Including nappies and formula it is about 90,000yen a month so there must be SOMEWAY to bring that down}
-Find at least 5 more hours of work a month {which would take me up to about 10 hours a month- luckily I look to be able to do this from February}
- Stop buying children`s books but continue to read 10 or more books with the boys each day
- Work on Shion`s scrapbook and get it up done up until he is 1 {so far behind with this}
- Take the boys to Disneyland.
- Have a three date nights with Shun

Finally, my main resolution is to be a better mother and strive to be the best mother I can be. I need to work on this more- I love my kids and while I am not a bad mother there are definitely areas that I can improve!

So, there you go, 10 resolutions for 2012! We have a trip planned to Australia in March and then hopefully again for Christmas if we can swing it {although it might not happen} plus we are moving into our BRAND NEW HOUSE so 2012 will be exciting one way or an other.

Maybe I will start another 101 things in 1001 days- will have to think about it.

What are your resolutions? Do you have any? Did you meet your 2011 resolutions?

Happy New Year everyone!

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by Lulu | December 20, 2011

Tot School- Christmas…

Christmas themed tot school has been a lot of fun. With birthday parties and planning Christmas feast as well as some other things and still trying to spend a lot of time outside on nice days we haven`t done all that I planned but still got some things done! Lots of art & crafts which I loved as we often fall short in that area! Noah also loved it and we let Shion have a go at a couple things too!

Noah is 24 months, Shion is 11.5 months.

Art & Craft

Lots of Christmas stickers {like probably 6 times in the last 2.5 weeks!}

Decorating a Christmas tree with markers and stickers

Christmas cards for family {with more stickers, of course!}

The reason Noah is often in his brothers highchair when we do art/craft

Photo quality is not great here but Noah made a stocking collage

Lots of coloring & drawing

Noah loved this activity. A Christmas tree with shapes {that I had cut out previously} and some glue- he had to stick them in the right place which he did ALL of them correctly without any help {of course some faced different directions but he got the positioning correct!}

Decorating some paper to make wrapping paper for his Daddy`s Christmas present. He is so proud now when we pass the presents on the stairs to point out “his” paper.

Felt Christmas tree ornaments decorated with buttons. This was another hit. I had prepared three because I knew he wouldn`t want to stop at one. He cried though when it was done. I should of prepared more in advance!

Two of the finished trees

Drawing on his white board with red and green markers

A contact paper christmas collage. I found it really hard to find contact paper here in Japan so friend bought me some back from Australia recently {Thanks Nic!}- I originally though it would make a great first collage for Shion as I have seen it around on the web with kids as young as him trying it out but the problem is he still tries to eat EVERYTHING so instead I gave Noah some materials and he did it while Shion was napping one day.

Then he decided to throw the materials around the room but when prompted he also cleaned them up. So a practical life activity thrown in!

Painting with baubles

Practical Life

One of my favourite practical life activities is cooking/baking with Noah. I can not wait til we are in our new house and our kitchen will lend itself to more than one person standing at the bench. I wish I could have Noah help more often but it is currently not so safe especially with Shion also under foot. I am so excited to include him more once we move though! We did do some cookie baking though {today actually after I put it off for almost a week- I shouldn`t of!}. Due to lack of space we did it on our dining table! Once we move Shion will be at the age where he can start to help a bit more {mixing, rolling, washing!} so that will be fun as well.

Rolling

Pressing in the cutters

Decorating before they go into the oven

I have enough ingredients for another batch so we might even do some on the 24th or 25th. Maybe in red and green!!!

I think cutting using scissors is practical life isn`t it?

This is the first time I introduced scissors to Noah- I made some cutting strips by putting stickers and lines on some cardstock. He didn`t really enjoy this but I still have some left so we will try again soon. Perhaps giving him paper and scissors with nothing on the paper is the better way to go for this at first.

I made a peg activity by putting washi tape on some pegs {reds/greens or christmas patterns} and then putting some tape on a rolled piece of cardboard for Noah to match up. I thought he would like this more than he did but he did humour me for a little bit but preferred to give me the peg, show me where it went then get me to peg it for him.

Another practical life activity: Spooning! We used large red and green puff balls and a muffin tin- I put coloured stickers in the tin so he could do some colour matching as well {a favourite activity of his!} – I loved that he tried to use the spoon each time even though he also needed his hands to help guide the ball. We pulled this out a couple of times before his birthday party but then I needed the tin for muffins for the birthday party and he cried when he saw me pulling off the stickers. Poor Noah!

Oh we also did a ton of water pouring, mainly in the bath. Noah has a bottle and a bucket with small handle and he does a lot of pouring, filling up, then pouring some more. Bath times are great for him for practical life focus actually as he helps wash his face and hair {we shower before we have a bath as that is usually the way it is done in Japanese culture as often everyone will use the same bath water- at the moment on the weekdays, it is just the three of us that use the bathwater at the same time} and then pulls the plug and cleans up the toys when prompted. He hates to get out of the bath now though so sometimes he throws toys first but if I gently remind him that he has to hop out but can have another bath tomorrow then he will clean up.

Math & Sensory

Christmas coloured patterning strips for his counting bears. {I know one at a time is better but he insisted on putting out all three}

Playdough!

Narrow to wide puzzle

Here he is picking it up to take it back to the bottom step where I had put it out {while Shion napped}

I have to admit that with cleaning up his toys and other things he is very good at this. Often doing it unprompted for example if I say we are going out or having dinner he will pack up what he is doing and put it back where it belongs.

I put together a Christmas themed sensory bin. He liked this okay but it was not as popular as I had hoped- good thing I just used things I had laying around mainly except for the “snow” although I bought that mainly for another craft that we didn`t end up getting too.

Matching coloured sticks to coloured christmas lights. Noah loves these sticks so anything that uses them he is into.

Also lots of Christmas themed window gels. Noah adores these things! He played with them 4-5 times in the last 2 weeks.

No pictures but he is very into counting right now. He also knows when something is missing- ie, his new wooden ramp for cars has 5 little cars that came with it. If one is missing when he plays with it he walks around holding one finger in the air to indicate that one is missing and he is looking for it. His favourite books at the moment feature numbers too- ie “Spot can Count” and “5 useful engines”

Language & Music

Lots and lots and lots of reading {Christmas themed stories and others!}- Usually we read 3 books before nap and 5 books before bed at night except Noah almost always cons me into reading double that each time. Also different times of the day he will bring a book or two to read or to flick through by himself. Sometimes when Shion naps in the morning we snuggle up on the beanbag and read a couple of books as well as Noah likes to have me to himself {and not to have Shion`s hands/mouth in the way I guess!}

We did C is for Christmas- I put together a C sound box and we practiced both phonetic sounds for C and Noah could make both.

Here he is pointing to OUR Christmas tree when I asked him.

Plus a C is for Christmas worksheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

We also had Noah`s rhythmic class Christmas party- lots of bell ringing, meeting santa and dancing about. Noah had fun! {He is in the green}

Noah got some lovely birthday gifts including these animal puzzle cards with shapes. He enjoyed playing with them {and Shion enjoyed trying to eat them- are you seeing a recurring theme?}

He also got some ABC touch and feel cards- for now I just let him have about half of them to explore. I will think up some other ways to use them for another time. Great for getting him to try and sound out letters though!

Other activities

We spend time outside every fine day- sometimes 2 hours plus despite the cooler weather. Noah enjoyed leaf crunching a lot the last couple of weeks. He also has a “park” friend, Mao-chan {He says Mao ta} and loves to run around with her, hold hands with her and generally muck about. It is great for him to have a friend a bit older who is Japanese as most of the younger kids he spends time with on a semi-regular basis are other children with one foreign parent except for the students in his rhythmic class. Great for me too as I have made friends with Mao-chan`s mum and it is nice to have someone I can see day to day.

Noah got a tricycle for his birthday from his Japanese grandparents. He likes it okay except can`t seem to pedel by himself yet and actually enjoys pushing Shion around on it more than actually riding it himself. I hope he will get used to it!

I made a felt Christmas tree and stuck it to our living room wall so that Noah could “decorate” the tree himself. He does this most days- Shion also likes to pull what he can reach and try and eat them. Or put them under the sofa.

I made the boys an advent calendar- I bought a ready made one from Ikea that was santa shaped and come with 24 empty boxes which I filled with a small card with either “book” written on it or an activity with a small cookie or chocolate for Noah. I wrapped up 12 Christmas themed books and each day Noah has been really quick to request to open his advent box. It did not take him long!!! This is not so much related to “Tot School” but I hadn`t blogged about it yet. Some of the activities were craft projects, listening to carols, watching a Christmas dvd of their choice, baking cookies, stickers etc.

These photos were taken on my phone on the 1st day.

Baby School {with Shion, 11.5 months}

I found it very difficult to do certain activities while Shion is awake because of our space issues in our current place and the fact that Shion is still heavily into mouthing everything. I let him pretty much roam free but if he is awake when Noah is doing something then I have to hold him or put Noah up high which is no fun for Shion.

I did try him with his first craft project.

He has a lot of fun with his brother though and they create their own games.

He has his pincer grip down as well- this will come in handy for some activities soon! At the moment he mainly uses it if their is food involved.

Also some fun with the puff balls while Noah did some art! He got the idea to put them in the bowl soon after I gave them to him after I demonstrated dropping them in once.

Exploring with a mirror.

I also made him a Christmassy sensory bottle- red water with green sparkles and clear beads. He enjoyed rolling and chasing it as well but mainly just chewing on it.

Shion also met santa {at Noah`s rhythmic class Christmas party}

He of course put it in his mouth!

No Tot School plans for the coming weeks! We will just wing it and hopefully learn through playing!

Linking up at 1+1+1=1, Living Life Intentionally and Living Montessori Now.

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by Lulu | December 19, 2011

2 today…

Two years ago today you arrived.

Now you are two!

Yes that is you in both pictures. Hard to believe huh?

Happy birthday koala munchkin.

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by Lulu | December 16, 2011

Family photos…

Several weeks back we had a mini session with Dee & Tracey from 37 Frames – I wanted to get some family photos and photos of the boys to give to my mum and also to put up in the new house. We hardly have any photos of all four of us so it was nice to finally get some.

We had a great day although Noah literally fell over and split is top lip 1 minute before our 30 minute session was supposed to start. Luckily he calmed relatively quickly and the swelling didn`t come up until later in the afternoon. Noah loved the camera and both Dee & Tracey.

We had the session outside at Icho Namaki Dori in Tokyo near Omotesando. The leaves had started yellow {Icho= Gingko} and while it was really busy we had no problems.

Here are the photos we choose from our shoot. We are super happy with the results!

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by Lulu | December 14, 2011

A wiggly wiggly party…

As I mentioned we celebrated the boys birthday party last weekend- early for both of them! I went with a Wiggles theme because Noah is obsessed! Shion likes anything his brother does so that was easy!

I was so busy though I didn`t get many photos of the decorations etc but we had yellow/red balloons and streamers and decorations, wiggles plates and cups, a wiggles mat playing music that my mum sent and signs for the food which related back to a lot of The Wiggles songs. Invitations, while not home made this year, were also Wiggles themed! Also Wiggly party bags with wiggles themed snacks, balloons and party horns.

Both boys had a great time- Noah running around the park and Shion devouring everything in site. Lots of lovely people came to help us celebrate too!

Some shots from the day….

Hard to believe my boys are almost 2 & 1 though!

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by Lulu | December 11, 2011

An update on words…

Today we had a joint birthday party for Noah & Shion- Noah will turn 2 in a week and Shion will turn 1 in early January- we lucked out with awesome sunny weather- it was cool but not too cold and a lovely day to catch up with friends, let the kids run around, eat lots of food and cake and here some wiggly tunes coming from a musical mat my mum sent {Theme was The Wiggles- photos to follow at some point}.

The party was a success and I think both boys had fun!

I have been trying to write this post since last week but with all the birthday party prep I didn`t get to it. We had Noah`s follow up assessment regarding his speech and possible signs of ASD.

After our original meeting where we had a home visit they had pretty much ruled out ASD {Autism Spectrum Disorder} – any of his “quirks” are more what seems to make him him and in the last 2 months some of the things that were concerning us have gotten less and less common. The Child Psychologist we met Wednesday also said that she saw no definite signs pointing to an Autism disorder and that she thought we had nothing to worry about. If we have the same concerns in a year or something else then we should have him reassessed then.

As for his speech- he definitely has a speech delay. Speech therapy in Japan though is non existent til 4. I was shocked! In Australia and I know also in America, it is all about early intervention but here they say just socialize your child and then if they are not talking at 4 or still behind at 4 then they start therapy.

No definite reason why his speech is delayed or hard to understand but she said she did notice he didn`t open his mouth very wide and used his hands a lot to communicate {more than the average child his age} without necessarily even making any sounds. Noah is still very drooly even at almost 2 so she thinks perhaps his muscles in his mouth/tongue are a little weak. She asked questions about how he eats {for example does he take bites then chew a lot then swallow or try to put everything in his mouth etc} and said that it might be better to give him large pieces of bread so that he has to use his jaw/teeth/tongue to bite bits off and eat that way instead of cutting things smaller.

He is not completely non verbal either, can say things that everyone can understand {mama, dada, ball, jiji, baba, go,, uhoh, nannan, and some others} and there is no sign of a hearing issue {which we already figured out as he has no problems responding to requests/his name/hearing airplanes or trains far off}. These two things mean that with time he should completely catch up with his speech.

The Child Psychologist made some good suggestions- she even suggested that because Noah is with me and I understand his signs/what he wants without him having to say clear words that perhaps putting him in an English class with other kids a similar age might encourage him to try and say words and things more because the other kids would be doing it also. It seems a bit strange to put my child in a class to learn English when I know he already understands things but when I thought about it what she said made sense. Not something we are planning on doing now but something to think about. There is also therapy offered once a month {to anyone that applies if they have had assessment though the hokken center like we did with Noah} for children that have communication issues. It is not speech therapy but more teaching kids how to communicate better with the skills they do have. Shun will ring up about this and we might look into it for the new year.

Other things we can work on at home include making exaggerated movements with out mouths including sounds {Ahhhhhh oooooo etc} and getting Noah to try and copy so that he moves his mouth more.

In Japan it definitely seems to be more of a wait and see approach. It still hurts to see other kids a similar age talking so much more but I have to stop letting it bother me I guess. I am still worried but there seems to be some things we can work on at home which of course I am open to doing- socializing him with other kids that talk, reading a lot, talking to him and listening to him talk back are all things I do already but the larger food, exaggerated movement with our mouths are things we can work on.

He is coming out with more “words” each week. I am looking forward to the day it will be more “words” each day.

We have been doing some Christmas themed tot school but probably no post this week! Will try to do one mid week perhaps or if not wait til next weekend! Lots of photos to upload from the party and from our recent activities!

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