After our hike up Makapu'u, we went grocery shopping at Costco and then got dinner at Taco del Mar. I shared my carrots with Mommy, and every time she took a bite, it made me laugh! Pretty soon, I just wanted her to eat the carrots (Or perhaps it was just all a part of my master plan! Just do something cute. Parents are so gullible I tell you.).

Hiking Makapu'u

Mommy wasn't feeling well last night, so she slept in (and in fact, we all slept in until 7 am!). Of course, I had completely soaked through my diaper and my sheets by that point. But, at least Mommy found me playing with toys on my bed and in a happy mood.

Daddy took me to swimming lessons today so that Mommy could go to 9 am yoga. I had the most fun playing with my friends on the play structure after swimming. I must have run around the play structure about 15 times before another parent commented that I'm so active! Daddy started watching me closely after I hung off the bars and started swinging and flying myself down the slides. I can be a dare devil for sure, but I can also be calm too, like when I shared my Cheerios with my friend Derek.

After naps and lunch, we all went hiking up Makapu'u. I'm so used to hiking with Popsicle, that I kept asking, "Hike with Pop?" But, no, Mommy came with us today. The last time we all went hiking up Makapu'u was last year. Last year, Dad carried me in his pack. This year, I just wanted him to stroller me or carry me. When I did walk, I wanted to walk in the grass, even though there's a pavement trail. A few people laughed when they saw me fall in the grass or hike off the trail into the grassy areas. I kept telling Mom and Dad, "Walk on the grass. Come on!" After all, it's not hiking if you're walking on a paved path! One lady said, "Uh oh, looks like you're gonna have your hands full!"

When we got to the top, I wanted to climb the rocks and climb the stairs. It was so much fun! (and a lot breezier up on top!) Daddy told me it was the wrong season for whales though. The whole way up I kept saying, "No whales?! Where the whales?".

Guess we'll have to hike Makapu'u again in the winter! (and hopefully, they'll put some more grass on those trails, or else I'll have to join Daddy when he goes off the beaten path.)

I'm 26 Months Old Today!

Things I'm Adjusting To This Month:

* Eating lunch at my new preschool

* Getting picked up at Nana's & Pop's house by Daddy instead of Mommy after work

Things I'm Into These Days:

* Singing my nursery rhymes: "Old MacDonald Had A Farm", "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and my ABC's

* Reading books before bedtime: Goodnight Moon and Goodnight Vermont (where I always point out "Dog driving car?! No! Dogs don't drive cars! Daddy drives car!")

* Poi

* Hiking with Dad and Pop on the weekends

The Joys of Two To Four Year Olds

Mommy rushed home from 5:30 am yoga so that she could get cleaned up and ready for work and drop me off at preschool by 7:45 am. I was only the second kid there. But, Mom put me down and I only stood for about 3 seconds before running off to play in the toy area. And I didn't look back. Did I tell you I love preschool?

When Nana picked me up, she got to see my food report for the day. Sausage and eggs for breakfast. Check. Curry and rice and fruit for lunch. I tried the curry, but I didn't like it. I ate my brown rice and fruit of course. For afternoon snack, I ate 3 crackers, and then kept asking for more. So I had about 7 Ritz crackers and juice.

I had a different set of clothes on by the afternoon because I had poured water all over myself while playing outside. That's why Mom and Dad packed 3 changes of clothes for me, right?

I successfully went poopy in the potty today. The teachers are impressed that I can name colors and count and say my ABC's.

I was not so successful at Nana's and Pop's afterwards though. I got put on a time out after I threw a toy at the screen door.

Mommy didn't have any of that with the preschoolers, but she did have kind of a chaotic afternoon, with 2 kids who wet their pants (again, it's a good thing there are changes of clothes!) and one who woke up crying inconsolably after he had a bad dream during nap time (who then made another child cry just because it caused a chain reaction). The morning teachers were having an afternoon meeting/farewell party in the next room, so it was quite noisy, and the children kept stirring from their naps.

Then, there was all the paint and moon sand to clean up in the late afternoon.

Ah, the joys of two to four year olds!

Mom's Preschool Job

Mommy is enjoying her preschool job. She has a nice bunch of 4 year olds, and she gets to play with them all afternoon. They do centers, , naps on Wednesdays, play "Red Light, Green Light", paint, play on the tire swing, hula hoop, walk on stilts, play on the play structure, play with moon sand, read stories during circle time, sing songs, and every now and then, Mom throws in a little writing that they can take home (This month, they're talking about their feelings and emotions). Her class loves the outdoors, whereas the other class loves inside centers and loves fine motor activities, like stringing leis and necklaces.

After work(s), Mom went to Costco to get groceries, and still beat me and Dad home by 6:30 pm. She cooked dinner, fed me dinner, and then Dad bathed me and put me to bed at 7:30 pm. These days, I enjoy when Dad reads my favorite books before bedtime...Goodnight Moon, Goodnight Vermont (thanks to Nana and Pop), and a book all about things on a Farm (which I call 'Old MacDonald Had A Farm'). It's become our ritual before he asks me whether or not I want to sleep on my bed or in the crib.

One of these days, Mom's gonna try and bring me to the preschool and sneak me in on all the fun!

My First Day of Preschool

Today was my first full day of preschool. Last week, I came for an hour while Mom and Dad and Nana sat through parent orientation. The next day, I came for an hour by myself. Today, I came for 8 hours by myself.

It was a lot of fun. There are 2 full-time teachers, and since it's at a community college, there are 3 college student workers as well. There are 10 full time children and 3 or 4 part timers like me (3 days a week).

Miss Lisa told Nana (who will pick me up daily) that I had a great day. I went on the potty. She said to give me a few more days in diapers and then switch me to pull-ups.

I hung out at Nana's and Pop's until Mom picked me up around 6:30 pm. We went home, played, ate dinner, and then bathed before a late bedtime at 8:30 pm. (I was just having so much fun playing in the bath that Mommy let me stay up later...She'll probably regret that move though.)

Craft Fair Clean Up

After Mommy came home from yoga, we went to swimming lessons. This is my second session of swimming at the YMCA. It actually started last weekend, but I had a runny nose so I didn't go. I kicked in the water today, but was less excited about splashing and blowing bubbles on my own. I loved jumping in the water to Mommy. And, of course, I loved playing with my friends on the playground afterwards.

We came home to a cut yard (thanks to the yardmen!), and then all took naps. We ended up getting to the Made in Hawai'i craft fair in the late afternoon. Mom and Dad always help clean up. This is what I did while they cleaned up.

I had a lot of fun playing underneath the tables, dusting everything with the feather duster, and running circles through the curtains. We ran into a lot of friends and came home with some food goodies to try: a seedless watermelon, Teriyaki Miso saute sauce, and Barbeque flavored taro chips. As is usual for putting in our elbow grease at craft fair clean ups, Nana and Pop took us out to dinner (Tonight, we went to Good to Grill in Kapahulu.). I continued to run circles around the tables (since we were sitting outside), stick utensils in the cracks of the tables, and drank a lot of "milt".

Hiking at Manoa Falls

While Mommy went to yoga, Dad and I went to Farmer's Market. Then, when Mom went to her friend's bridal shower, I went hiking with Dad and Pop at Manoa Falls. Mommy was about this age when she went hiking with her Daddy at Manoa Falls. Dad and Pop were impressed that I walked about a mile on my own! We saw some pretty flowers and I tested my balancing skills again (walking across things).

Melissa's bridal shower consisted of family, a few friends, an afternoon tea party theme with lovely sandwiches, scones, and iced tea, and a gambling game at the end. We're all looking forward to the wedding Labor Day weekend. Congrats, Melis!

In the late afternoon, we went to a Bon Dance, one of the last ones of the season. I got to play kiddie games (though I didn't get the concept of trying to catch duckies with a net...so I just picked it up with my hand and dropped it in the net) and Mommy tried grilled tofu on a stick. We also watched people dance and ate some Japanese food before it was time for us to head home and put me to bed.

Tonight, I woke up around 12:30 am, calling out for Mommy. When she went in to see what I wanted, I kept pointing across the room, telling her "sleep there". She asked if I wanted her to sleep there. I said "No. Lie there." Finally, Mommy and Daddy figured out I was asking to sleep in my race car bed. So, Daddy moved me from the crib to the race car bed, and I slept there until 6:30 am this morning.

Maybe it's time for Mommy and Daddy to get rid of the crib and put me in my big boy bed every night!

An Usher Like No Other

Here's a nice story about my great-grandmother's sister, Agnes. When Mommy was in Seattle a few years back, she took Agnes to dinner on the waterfront when she came for a visit to watch a show.

ALS Support Group Garage Sale Success!

After yoga this morning, Mommy had to work on writing a grant for school (though she could barely keep her eyes open and wanted to just take a loooong nap), so Daddy took me to run some errands. When we got home, Daddy went off to go mountain biking. Mommy took me to Kailua for the ALS Support Group garage sale.

We got there around 1:30 pm and didn't come home until 8 pm. I spent most of the day playing with the toys for sale. Mommy found some good books for me and for school. She also got a booster seat, a cool Melissa & Doug puzzle, and a Melissa & Doug whiteboard/chalkboard. During cleanup, Mommy found some cool skirts and shoes. She also left with some bins for school and some plants (which she hopes she doesn't kill) for home. All for less than $10! It took a couple of hours to clean up. There were over 6 tents filled with stuff for sale, and by the end of the afternoon, it looked like hardly a dent was made (even though we made over $1300)...That meant, there were also 6 truckloads of stuff to bring to Salvation Army. While everyone cleaned up, I had fun playing with D.J. (10) and Tenniel (6?). They're way older than me, but I had fun running around with them and playing ball. Mommy had to keep making sure I wasn't running into the street like they were (even though it's not that busy of a street). They were good and watched me. They're going to have a baby brother soon, so this was good practice for them Mommy said.

I was so dirty and sweaty from playing with them in this humidity that Mommy decided to give me a bath there before we headed home. The only extra shirt she had in the car was my swimming rash guard. Guess I'll be all set for swimming lessons tomorrow morning!

Mommy enjoyed a day of beauty (waxing at the salon) and relaxation (Bikram yoga, followed by gabbing with her girls over lunch at CPK) today....and they all left the kids at home!

Of course, Daddy took me to swimming lessons and then we hung out at Nana's and Pop's house.

Finally, It's Friday!

Mommy experienced her first 50 + hour work week divided over two schools. She's trying to get used to commuting in traffic when she gets on the road at 5:30 pm. So far, she's managed to get home by 6 or 6:15 pm. She's still trying to figure out how to get dinner on the table when everyone gets home. She managed to go to 5:30 am yoga only on Wednesday this week because she was way too tired to make it any other day. She's also realizing that her bedtime is soon after mine because she's just way too tired to stay up any later (especially when you wake up before 5 am).

On the bright side, she's beginning to see that working for a private institution is nice. A big difference is the benefits. She'll be canceling the medical insurance plan with the public schools and switching to this one because it's not only cheaper, but they have a better program. There are a lot of resources, lots of training, and she got paid for 25 hours of prep this week. There was orientation for parents today, and the Extended Day Program she'll be teaching starts on Monday. She and her teaching assistant will be in charge of teaching 20 four year olds each afternoon. She has to turn in weekly lesson plans, but at least there is another teacher in the other class to brainstorm with. The teaching assistants have been there for many years, too, so they bring a lot of hands-on experience. The population of kids is different from the upper class neighborhood she teaches elementary school at. But, it will be a nice change to get back to her roots. She will get to incorporate Hawaiian language into her daily lessons, something she really hasn't used since high school. All of the families are local families as opposed to her mostly Japanese national families at the elementary school. Some of the parents are graduates of her high school, and in fact, three staff members have daughters that were in her graduating class. She's excited for the change, but wondering how she's going to manage the workload at the elementary school. There are still grants to write and report cards to do, all at home now.

She'll also probably start cooking dinner and freezing meals on the weekends, since the weeknights are just way too busy and frantic.

The only thing that's different is that I've been spending a lot more time at Nana's and Pop's house since they pick me up from the sitter every day and now Daddy picks me up from their house since he gets off of work before Mom now.

Mom's going to try to spend quality time with me on the weekends since she doesn't get to play with me a whole lot during the work week now....If she's not catching up on her sleep, that is.

Extremely Tired (Mommy, That Is)

Mommy extremely tired from the concert last night, but couldn't sleep in because she had to get up before 5 am this morning to eat and get dressed and to the KITV 4 news station at 6 am. She and Kathy from the ALS Support Group did the "Community Minute," announcing the annual garage sale going on this Saturday.

She went straight to work, and then straight to work after that, until 5:30 pm. Mommy just wanted to sleep by the time she saw me (and her preschool program doesn't even start until next week)!

NO DOUBT!

Mommy went to 5:30 am yoga, worked at the elementary school from 7:30 am - 11 am, then worked at the preschool from 11:30 am to 5:30 pm. I stayed at Nana's and Pop's tonight because Mommy and Daddy went to the NO DOUBT concert tonight.

Mommy was SUPER excited as this is her favorite band. They're seats were high up, but they had an awesome view of the stage. She regrets not bringing her camera because the stage was well lit and there were huge video screens. She did buy an overpriced t-shirt and headband to remember this concert, the last one of their summer tour. They sang all the favorite songs as well as some recent ones. The concert was about 2 hours long, so they didn't come to pick me up until after 11 pm.

Mommy and Daddy have been playing No Doubt music at home all week long (just to share what I missed out on I guess).

We went to dinner tonight with Bob and his partner at a local Japanese place. We took advantage of the early bird special for $10. Mommy and Bob were the most vocal ones on jury together, and they acted as co-facilitators when it came to getting the jury to make a unanimous decision on the criminal case.

Tired and Hyper

Mommy was tired because she said I didn't sleep well last night. She said I was up 3 times, which is unusual for me, but our days have been busy and my eating and sleeping times have been thrown off. Of course, Mommy wanted to nap after morning yoga, but I was hyper all day and wouldn't let her. So, she took me to Ala Moana shopping center, so that I could fall asleep in the car. Apparently, I slept for almost 2 hours in the stroller as she window shopped. We met Daddy and Nana and Pop at Kua'aina Burgers for dinner. We stopped by Nordstrom Rack on the way back to the car, and I was super excited. I ran all over the store and hid in the middle of the circular clothes racks. I even jumped and screamed and made faces in the mirror when I went with Mom into the dressing room.

Mom's hoping I sleep better tonight.

Dinner with Michelle, Adam, and Baby Allison

This is Mommy's last week of afternoons off. So, she got lots of things done, like going to the eye doctor, dentist, and talking to the handyman and the folks at Home Depot about the windows. After she picked me up from the sitter's today, we met her teacher friend Michelle and baby Allison at the mall. We got Jamba Juice and read books at Barnes & Noble's while Michelle nursed, diapered and burped baby. Daddy met us there after work. Then Michelle's husband Adam met us there, and we all went to dinner at CPK. Even though we had to wait awhile for a table on a Friday night and was out past my bedtime, Mommy and Daddy said I did really good at dinner. I ate a lot of my mac-n-cheese, sat nicely in my booster seat (no more high chairs for me!) and played nicely with the crayons. It'll be fun when baby Allison is older and I can play with her too!

Our Last Zoo Concert

We went to our last zoo concert of the summer tonight. I had fun jumping all over Mommy and playing with bubbles. I didn't even want to go see the animals right away. Maybe it's because I know that Mommy is going to be working longer hours soon. I ate lots of poi and pizza crust for dinner. We ran into our friends, twins Jax and Vaughn. I ran everywhere with Nana, Pop, and Daddy. They all said that I was super active. It was a fun time!

Mommy played with me in the "hidey hole" (a big shady tree in the yard) at Nana's and Pop's this afternoon. Then, Daddy came to their house after work, and we stayed to eat dinner there. Mom had to go back to school for a meeting since she's the teacher representative on the PTO this year. Little did she know that her commitment to this committee would mean that one Tuesday a month, she's got to sit through this 2 hour meeting. She was not a happy camper when she came home at 9 pm to eat dinner.

The Trials of Potty Training

After a fun bathtime full of splashing and bubbles, I told Mommy that I wanted to go on the potty. Then, I instructed her to "pour it out" (into the big toilet). Then I sat back down, went a little more, and then told her to pour it out (I actually tried to pour it out myself, but she insisted that she would do it.). A few seconds later, I sat down again, and told Mommy "poopy" (although I was just kidding). Mommy probably thought, "Enough already! Can't you go all at once?"

What Do Animals Do?

Mommy and I had intellectual discussions about animals at dinner tonight:

Mommy: "What does a penguin do?"

Me: "Waddle, waddle."

Mommy: "What does a horse do?"

Me: "Neigh, neigh."

Mommy: "What does a rabbit do?"

Me: "Hop, hop."

A few minutes later.....

Me: "A chicken lays eggs?"

Me & Mommy: "YES!" (actually a long "Yesssssss")

Mommy: "Chase lays eggs?"

Me: "Noooooo!"

Me: "Chase lays poopy in diaper."

Manoa Bon Dance

We went to Manoa Bon Dance for a couple of hours. Mommy really wanted to go last night for the children's lantern parade, but the weather was better tonight. So, we ate teri burgers, yakisoba, bento, and andagi (warm Japanese doughnuts). Mommy bought me taiko drumsticks, which I used to drum on the telephone poles and walls on the walk back to the car. We ran into some friends and enjoyed the lanterns, music, drumming, and watching people dance.

I fell asleep on the way home. Mommy said she even had to brush my teeth while I was asleep. She went to pick up my books in the bathtub, and suddenly I woke up and said, "No books out!" Guess I surprised her! So, I got to have a fun bath and then went straight to bed.

Hanging Out With Baby Allison

Mommy said she had a great yoga class this morning, with a record number of 53 people in class! She brought home another recyclable bag and water bottle, since the studio is celebrating its 14th anniversary. I hung out with Dad and Nana and Pop while she went to meet her teacher friends at Ala Moana Shopping Center. Her friend Emily has moved to Virginia and came back for a week to visit. They got to see Michelle's 2 month old baby Allison. But, when Daddy and I showed up to meet Mom, I wasn't too impressed. In

fact, I gave them the cold shoulder and didn't want to say hi at all. Mommy says I've been that way with all unfamiliar people lately. I had fun sizing up my feet for shoes in Nordstrom's and watching the fish in the aquarium! We didn't stay for long because we were soon off to the bon dance in Manoa!