Baby grows and grows

This week, I’ve been lucky to spend a lot of time with Baby, as I took the week off from work. It’s been a great time, even though Baby has really tired Mommy and me out. I can really appreciate what Mommy has to go through daily by herself; that’s even more tiring than with the two of us. :p

Recently, Baby has begun taking two or even three steps at a time. People were right: once the baby stands up (our baby is 15 months), they learn to walk pretty fast. Baby was just shy I think, and since she is large for her age, I think she had more challenges with balance and weight. In any case, she loves to stand up, take a couple steps and fall down. She’s also learned how to drink from her own cup tonight. Not a baby’s sippie-cup, but a real cup. She tried this before, and would get water all over herself, and during dinner, she did that again, but then the second time around, she was more careful with the cup and drank her fill.

She’s also learned to use sign-language more effectively to ask for things. Mommy and I take turns playing with Baby in the bathtub, and Baby is more able to say “please” and “give me” than before. She looks at the shelf of toys above, and use both to tell me that she wants toys from there. Even more surprising is that she’s learned to put her hands together in the Buddhist gesture of gassho by herself without asking. In Japanese culture, when people are done eating they say gochisōsama deshita (ごちそうさまでした), which means “it was a wonderful meal”. My wife teaches Baby this as part of Japanese etiquette. When Baby wants to get out of her high chair, she just puts her hands together as a way of saying she’s done. If we ask her, “gochisōsama?” she also does this. She knows that when she’s done she should put her hands together in gassho. It’s good to see the etiquette (religious and non-religious) is coming to fruition in Baby.

Lastly, we often buy her books, but one book in particular has turned out to be a real hit with Baby. I love the classic Golden Book series, particularly books by Richard Scarry himself. I enjoyed them often as a young kid at my Grandma’s house. In any case, I’ve been them individually on Amazon.com regularly in the past, but yesterday while shopping at a different bookstore, I found Richard Scarry’s “Best Storybook Ever“. This book is wonderful because it contains not only long and short stories, but lots useful pages to teach kids about boats, trains, food and other useful information a young child should learn. I wrote a little message to Baby inside her copy, because I feel this was the best gift I could offer her as a baby girl.

I can’t say this enough: it really pays to spend time with your children. If it eats into your project time, or work time, it’s still worth it. You may not make the Big Deal, or finish a project at work as early as you’d like, but on the other hand, helping a young child grow and develop is just so much more rewarding.

Namuamidabu