Thanksgiving and Birthdays
We're finding out that November's going to be a busy month for us.
This year was Leina's first Thanksgiving. That's because she was born the day after Thanksgiving last year. Happy birthday, Leina!
When it was time for her to eat the cake, she gently tasted it, picked at it, and then she was done. When we persisted and trying to get her to stay there, she got mad. She was OK to have Mirei feed her a few more bites. But then she wanted to get up and that was it. Wami and I both noticed a lot of her personality coming out in that instant. Oh well. So much for the cake. At least Taisei and Mirei had fun making a mess of it.
Thanksgiving was the last holiday that Leina hasn't celebrated yet. She was a hit at our humble gathering. We had over the YSAs from the ward that didn't have anywhere to go. Since we were pretty much in the same situations ourselves, we figured we'd have a party for all the local misfit toys.
I asked the kids what they were grateful for and here's their list:
Taisei
Mirei
Can you see some patterns?
Mirei also had her birthday. She was extremely excited about it. We made a cake for her once-a-week visit to Makiko's Japanese-style daycare. We also had a small party for her at home. I love to see my kids so happy. Mirei is a happy girl.
The kids are all growing like crazy, especially Leina. Some major milestones, she started crawling up the stairs and around her 11 month mark, started walking. On Sunday, she started to say "Uh oh," but most of the time, it seemed like a call for food. She's started pointing and making grunting sounds to get what she wants. She seems to be a bit of a picky eater. To our dismay, she might have her sister's taste for anything sweet.
I took Mirei skiing for the first time this past Saturday. Thanks to Esther for not only motivating us to go, but taking care of Taisei while I taught Mirei and then spending the rest of the day with him when I had to take off. More on that later. Mirei did great! After a lot of tipping over on the first run, some tipping on the 2nd, she was up all the way down on the 3rd run. A few times I let her go fast, which she later told me she didn't like so much. She probably had one pretty good wipe-out, but she was a good sport about it.
The big drama didn't come until lunchtime. After we ate, she wanted to take a trip to the bathroom just in case. It was 2:14 - I still remember. As she was sitting down and Esther was helping her get her suit off, I stepped over to give her a hand. Taisei was talking to me about something, and I tried to step past Mirei so I could turn around. The front tip of my ski boot landed right on Mirei's right hand ring finger and I totally crushed it with all my weight. She started screaming and crying. I watched at blood streamed underneath her fingernail and also a big blood blister formed at the tip of the finger. We were at the south lodge at Alta, so I had to go all the way back to the north, with the rope tow to get the car. I figured I had smashed the bone and possibly the first joint. By the time I got back, it'd probably been like 20 minutes. She was still screaming. She hardly cries for more than a minute, so I was getting worried. But by the time we got over to the IHC Instacare, and waited for almost 2 hours in the clinic (really!?), I could tell that her bones were going to be fine. What a scary moment! I was so grateful. She might end up losing a fingernail, but not the use of a finger. On the way out, it was already 5 or so. She told me she wanted to first go ski, show Esther her bandaid, and then show Mama her bandaid. When I told her it was too late to ski now, she started to weep again. Oh my sweet girl. At least the injury was not going to be associated with the skiing. :)
I had a rough patch at work where my program manager and her boss had some sort of unknown issue with me. One was distant and the other was visibly and verbally angry. I documented everything and talked with my management to make sure I had my back covered. Lucky I have a great manager and director. Then, after cooling off and pondering the situation for 2+ weeks, I brought the program manager some chocolate as a peace offering in case I caused some offense originally, and with her boss, I just waited for him to cool off. Strangely, it's now like nothing ever happened. Perhaps my efforts paid off. Or perhaps whatever pressures where on them have been alleviated. I may never know, but everything seems back to normal and we're back to one happy Canadian team. What a relief. It's not a good feeling to have people angry with you. I learned that I need to make sure all my eggs are never in just one basket. Make sure that everyone, especially my direct management, knows what I'm up to all the time. That take effort to communicate and document specifics.
We're back to being a happy family.
This year was Leina's first Thanksgiving. That's because she was born the day after Thanksgiving last year. Happy birthday, Leina!
When it was time for her to eat the cake, she gently tasted it, picked at it, and then she was done. When we persisted and trying to get her to stay there, she got mad. She was OK to have Mirei feed her a few more bites. But then she wanted to get up and that was it. Wami and I both noticed a lot of her personality coming out in that instant. Oh well. So much for the cake. At least Taisei and Mirei had fun making a mess of it.
Thanksgiving was the last holiday that Leina hasn't celebrated yet. She was a hit at our humble gathering. We had over the YSAs from the ward that didn't have anywhere to go. Since we were pretty much in the same situations ourselves, we figured we'd have a party for all the local misfit toys.
I asked the kids what they were grateful for and here's their list:
Taisei
- Jesus and the world he created
- Bread and water
- Our house
- Holidays
- Family
- Lots of days, not just one
- Electricity
- Animals
- People, girls and boys
- Beds
Mirei
- Apple juice
- Drinks
- Jesus
- Whipped cream
- Cake
- Strawberries
- Soup
- Blueberries
- Apples
- Grapes
- Temples
- Frogs
- Christmas lights
Can you see some patterns?
Mirei also had her birthday. She was extremely excited about it. We made a cake for her once-a-week visit to Makiko's Japanese-style daycare. We also had a small party for her at home. I love to see my kids so happy. Mirei is a happy girl.
The kids are all growing like crazy, especially Leina. Some major milestones, she started crawling up the stairs and around her 11 month mark, started walking. On Sunday, she started to say "Uh oh," but most of the time, it seemed like a call for food. She's started pointing and making grunting sounds to get what she wants. She seems to be a bit of a picky eater. To our dismay, she might have her sister's taste for anything sweet.
I took Mirei skiing for the first time this past Saturday. Thanks to Esther for not only motivating us to go, but taking care of Taisei while I taught Mirei and then spending the rest of the day with him when I had to take off. More on that later. Mirei did great! After a lot of tipping over on the first run, some tipping on the 2nd, she was up all the way down on the 3rd run. A few times I let her go fast, which she later told me she didn't like so much. She probably had one pretty good wipe-out, but she was a good sport about it.
The big drama didn't come until lunchtime. After we ate, she wanted to take a trip to the bathroom just in case. It was 2:14 - I still remember. As she was sitting down and Esther was helping her get her suit off, I stepped over to give her a hand. Taisei was talking to me about something, and I tried to step past Mirei so I could turn around. The front tip of my ski boot landed right on Mirei's right hand ring finger and I totally crushed it with all my weight. She started screaming and crying. I watched at blood streamed underneath her fingernail and also a big blood blister formed at the tip of the finger. We were at the south lodge at Alta, so I had to go all the way back to the north, with the rope tow to get the car. I figured I had smashed the bone and possibly the first joint. By the time I got back, it'd probably been like 20 minutes. She was still screaming. She hardly cries for more than a minute, so I was getting worried. But by the time we got over to the IHC Instacare, and waited for almost 2 hours in the clinic (really!?), I could tell that her bones were going to be fine. What a scary moment! I was so grateful. She might end up losing a fingernail, but not the use of a finger. On the way out, it was already 5 or so. She told me she wanted to first go ski, show Esther her bandaid, and then show Mama her bandaid. When I told her it was too late to ski now, she started to weep again. Oh my sweet girl. At least the injury was not going to be associated with the skiing. :)
I had a rough patch at work where my program manager and her boss had some sort of unknown issue with me. One was distant and the other was visibly and verbally angry. I documented everything and talked with my management to make sure I had my back covered. Lucky I have a great manager and director. Then, after cooling off and pondering the situation for 2+ weeks, I brought the program manager some chocolate as a peace offering in case I caused some offense originally, and with her boss, I just waited for him to cool off. Strangely, it's now like nothing ever happened. Perhaps my efforts paid off. Or perhaps whatever pressures where on them have been alleviated. I may never know, but everything seems back to normal and we're back to one happy Canadian team. What a relief. It's not a good feeling to have people angry with you. I learned that I need to make sure all my eggs are never in just one basket. Make sure that everyone, especially my direct management, knows what I'm up to all the time. That take effort to communicate and document specifics.
We're back to being a happy family.
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2 comment(s):
That is so funny that she is thankful for so much FOOD! Although, I would say it is more the exception that Taisei does not have a sweet tooth. Don't most kids love sweets?
That's so cool that you can take your kids skiing. Since it's something Aaron's never done, he doesn't have a desire to take our kids. (And last year it snowed so little that the mountain near us was barely open). Glad Es gets to do it with you guys!
Poor Mirei! I am really glad she didn't associate getting hurt with skiing! And sorry about that awkward work situation. That passive aggressive anger is harder to deal with then someone openly angry with you!
We really miss you guys. Wonder when we will see you next...
By
Aaron and Emily, at
11/28/2012 8:15 PM
I love the description of how Leina ate her cake (barely). I would have loved to see Mirei feeding Leina.
I also love that you recorded Taisei's and Mirei's gratitude list. They both made me chuckle. Taisei is so smart, I can picture him saying, "Lots of days, not just one," and how clever of him to appreciate not just our Savior, but things like family and electricity.
Mirei's list made me laugh because we know what fuels her! I burst out laughing when she slipped "frogs" in there.
I can't believe how well Mirei was skiing; it was a lot of fun to watch her in action. She was so intent and so happy.
I forgot to tell you that some guy finally came up to me when I was holding Mirei and you were getting the car, to ask what had happened to her. Mirei was too miserable to care. It was so sad because she kept holding her finger straight up and away from her other fingers and body. She wouldn't let me touch it to try to put more ice on it. She was clearly in pain, so it was nice when I saw her a couple hours later, and she was happy and proud of her new band-aid. I am proud of her for being smart enough to not associate being injured with skiing. When she was in the car with me later she said, "Papa's ski boot hurts."
I had so much fun skiing with the kids. It's hard to pay attention to just one niece or just one nephew at a time, so it was actually really nice to have some alone time with Taisei, even though I really missed having you two with us. We got in a lot of extra skiing, and he was very well-behaved. He didn't even accept my offer to carry his skis back to the car for him.
While on the lift, we counted all the bead necklaces that people throw onto the trees on the way up each time, and Taisei commented on how much fun he was having with our game. (Over 30 on one tree - on some trees, we were lucky and thrilled to spot just one bead necklace.) I guess we were lucky we were at Alta because at some resorts, instead of bead necklaces, it's bras hanging on the trees, and that would have been weird.
I am glad things went back to normal at work. That is a frustrating situation. Most of my colleagues are painfully direct, which is good. In a past job, probably 10 years ago, my boss was very cool toward me one day. Her coolness toward me was very noticeable, and I did not know what I had done wrong. It turns out that someone had told her a story about someone with the same name as me being very rude to some other employees at work. She thought they meant me, since I reported to her, not the other Esther in accounting. I am glad she figured it out, but it was disappointing that she didn't just confront me, instead of acting so cool toward me until she realized her mistake.
By
Esther, at
11/28/2012 10:54 PM
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