Cisco myPlanNet

I designed this game. It sapped most of my Chi over the last 9 months. But it's released. Seems to be going well so far!

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Happy Fall! Happy Halloween!

Ryan now loves his school and seems to have made some friends (Cole and Sebastian are the names I hear most frequently when I ask who he played with at school).

We braved the traffic and went to Half Moon Bay this year to get pumpkins and play around the pumpkin patches.



During a non-soccer weekend, we took Montie to Carmel and stayed overnight. It was a gorgeous, warm weekend, so we went to the leash-free beach and played fetch with Montie in the waves. Ryan spent his time watching Montie and smashing sand castles. We also stopped in at the Dennis the Menace park in Monterey on the way back and visited the train, maze, and playground.



For Halloween, Ryan and the Rosenthal twins (Joe and Brian) all went as dinosaurs. Steve and I dressed up as cavepeople, although Steve was more into his costume and new personality than I was.

September update

Ryan started daycare. He was supposed to have a trial run before classes started, but then we both got sick, so the first day I was back to work was his first day going solo (we did have a few days where we went and stayed at the center together, so he wasn't totally unfamiliar with what was going on). If you saw Steve's facebook status, you know how some of it went:
me: so, Ryan, what did you do at school today?
Ryan: (matter of factly and in a happy chirpy voice): I cry.
me: and what else did you do?
Ryan: Played cars. Ate apples and fish (goldfish crackers).

Day two involved more crying. Day three involved crying but by the time I left the building, he wasn't screaming his head off, so all was well. I'm used to dealing with his crying (see previous post) so it's not really a big deal to me. One of the student teachers said that she's noticed some progress as each time he gets and stays less upset, so that's good. The staff is really great about caring for the kids who are having a hard time seeing their parents go, so I know he's in good hands.

His vocabulary and pretend-play are really fun to see in action; he'll do things like pretend to make food for us and then give it to us. When we ask, "what is this?" he'll tell you a different food item each time (asparagus, pizza, cookie, mushrooms, jelly sandwich, nectarine, cake etc.) and wait until you pretend to eat what he's given. Then, he'll run back to his "refrigerator" (it's an empty wine refrigerator) and get more things for you. Cars is still his favorite movie; now he'll chime in with "OHHH YEAHHHHH" at the start of the movie (just when Lightning McQueen says it) and can be frequently heard saying KACHOW! (another McQueen saying). Yes, he's watched it a bit too much, especially when he was sick. Another favorite thing to do is to go "too fast" (he really means "fast") and run around the house, often while pushing his pretend lawn mower or his "vacuum" (it's that toy that you push and it makes a popping sound -- I know many of you had this when you were a kid). Sometimes it's while he chases Montie. ah, there's no peace and quiet in my house unless people are sleeping!

and so begin the terrible twos...

Actually, Ryan isn't that bad, although a daily meltdown of some sort is getting to be more normal than not (at least it doesn't last too long). This one came about because he wanted to see what was on the camera and I didn't let him hold the camera. Here was a moment before the meltdown:



Usually, the meltdown is because he wants to watch more Curious George...or doesn't want to stop what he's doing to get a diaper change...or wants to play in the car rather than sit in his car seat...or who knows why. Sometimes he'll stop yelling to tell me "MAD BOY!", which makes me have to work hard not to laugh. I just tell him that I know he's disappointed, when he's calm he can leave the room, and then I walk out of the room. Ah, the joys of motherhood.

Yes, I'm procrastinating

I have a TON to grade before this Friday's deadline, but here's a quick update:

• my friend Anna got married on 5/16 to Hayes Ruggiero! I've known Anna for 32 years and have never seen her happier than this day. The wedding was in Santa Cruz on a gorgeous day, and the eats were excellent at Bittersweet Bistro in Aptos. AWESOME band and lots of fun!
• Ryan is still talking up a storm. Short sentences and excited declarations are his thing (ride in mommy's car, play blocks, play outside in water, Montie/Kobee crazy, awesome!, ooh -- big truck, ooh -- loud plane). He's still pretty even tempered although an occasional outburst occurs (like when he rammed me with his head).
• Kate, Barbara, and I ran/walked a 5K on 5/30 in Alameda. It benefitted Girls, Inc. and was sponsored by See Jane Run (their tagline for the race was "I Run for Chocolate and Champagne", which is what sold us on this race). We weren't particularly fast, but considering that I did not train at all, we did just fine!
• Crazy time of year is here: grades are due on Friday and I have much to do. Sorry if I've been out of touch with all of you! Gotta go now!!

Welcome to the world, Sophia!

We're now an aunt, uncle, and cousin! My sister, Jeri, gave birth to Sophia Emiko King on 5/23 (about 1 week after her due date). Jeri is a warrior! Ryan hasn't met his new cousin yet as he had a cold when Sophia was born, but we look forward to getting all of the fam together sometime soon.

New photos and latest antics

1. Foosball Fiend
2. No, I will NOT wear a hat!

Latest antics:

• Singing along to "I'll Follow the Sun", "Here Comes the Sun", "Come and Go with Me", "Say Anything", and, of course, "Rock a Hula Baby" and "All Shook Up".
• Dancing to all kinds of music. Jumping up and down when holding someone's hands
• pretending to cook and wanting to wash dishes (ok, it's really that he wants to play with the water)
• trying to hang onto Montie's tail while she walks around (NOT good)
• new words: wallet (not "wock" anymore), guitar (variations of this word but always accompanied by strumming), cook, wash, oishi (means "tasty" or "delicious" in Japanese - he usually has to be prompted and says "ishi"), thank you (ta-too), cheers.
• likes TV WAY too much. Favorites are "Harold and the Purple Crayon", "The Wonder Pets" (I think it's the guinea pig); still likes "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan" and "Curious George".

Funny how time flies...

A true blogger I am not. But here's a quick update:

• the semester ended very close to Xmas time, so no holiday cards got sent this year (sorry everyone! Maybe we'll send a Valentine's Day card?). I had my yearly baking experience with the girls (Wendy, Anna, Danielle, Melissa, and Rose) at Danielle's house; it's been an annual tradition for many years now and is a great way to catch up a bit and have some fun with old friends. We had lots of fun at Dana and Jim's holiday party followed up by Jessica and Greg's holiday party - I hope we didn't scare off any of their friends with our singing.
• Xmas eve was spent at Mom and Dad Saito's house. Being the crazy Japanese-American family that likes to take on other culture's holiday traditions if they involve tasty food, we had tamales, posole, and fancy decorated minicakes that Jeri made. The tamales and posole are a tradition since we visited my great aunt Yuki in Alberquerque, NM many years ago. Jess, Greg, Jeri, Ray, Pat, Albert, Maykel and Junna (dancers with the SJ Ballet and new friends of us all) and the rest of us participated in a Hawaiian style version of the "12 Days of Christmas" complete with ukelele accompaniment. The evening was capped off with gift opening, with many laughs about the "Jim Sart" gifts, another Saito tradition that started when we began receiving junk mail addressed to "Jim Sart" due to my father's messy penmanship. "Jim Sart" gives crazy gifts like a denim TP cover to Jess and Greg, a toucan-shaped can opener to Maykel and Junna, a banana container to us etc.
• Soon after Xmas, we left the cold Bay Area and headed off to Pat and Albert's Hawaiian home in Hawaii Kai. It was 80 degrees for most of the time we were there (a big difference from the 30 degree weather that we missed having to suffer through in Cupertino - yikes!). We got a good laugh from the Hawaiian weatherman who declared it was going to be a chilly night in Honolulu...72 degrees (and he was dead serious). We spent 2 weeks there and went to the beach (Ryan is still not a fan of the sand and surf), visited the Honolulu Zoo (where Ryan got butted by a small goat and kept wanting to see "more pigs"), watched some movies (Tropic Thunder, The Women, Valkyrie), ate A LOT, hiked Diamond Head (just me and Steve; I'm so happy we didn't have to carry Ryan!), shopped at Ala Moana, endulged in some shaved ice from Matsumoto's in Haleiwa and Kokonuts in Koko Marina (where President Obama stopped during his HI holiday), and visited various places like the USS Arizona Memorial, Kahala, Ko'Olina, North Shore (Haleiwa), and Turtle Bay. We didn't get to see any monster surf on the North Shore as it was remarkably flat with no wind the day we drove up there. I'll post some pics of our Hawaiian baby Ryan when I get a chance; that keiki get one nice tan! He was really great on the plane (except for the many diaper changes I had to do because he kept sucking down watered down juice like there was no tomorrow).
• Ryan's latest new words and short phrases: geecko (for gecko), peacock, wock (for wallet), pocket, circle (sorry to all of the people around us on the airplane - he kept saying circle because of the circular sticker on the back of each seat), more + whatever he wants, no + whatever he doesn't want, "mama car" (when he saw an SUV that looked like my car), "mama yeh-yeh go walk" (when he wanted us to go out with him).
• Ryan's latest antics: being a daredevil (he likes to stand up on the bed and then just fall back...he assumes the bed will always be there to catch him), getting swung around in the air, dragging a plastic bag with something inside it (he went through the whole Kahala Mall with one), finding things to put in his pockets, asking for his "dog" before he goes to sleep (he had not attached himself to any toy or blanket until now), running.