Friday, March 13, 2009

Baby Jesus...

A couple of days ago Hana was pretending that Kai was baby Jesus. She would cuddle with him and say the sweetest things like...

"Jesus, you are my best friend."
"Jesus, you always be there for me."
"Jesus, you give the best hugs."
"Jesus, you love me soooooo much."

Many of her comments, even though they were directed towards "Kai", were so fitting for the role Jesus REALLY plays in our life and so sweet to hear. And then all the sudden she says...

"Mommy, Jesus pooped!"

I laughed so hard! Love it!

Monday, March 09, 2009

I think she's actually done it!

I really really think maybe she's done it! It's been a week! She is still very excited about the band-aids, and she insists she isn't sucking her thumb at night or any other time! I am almost in disbelief that it was this easy! I had told her she can only have one band-aid per thumb per day, but I think tomorrow morning I am going to take her band-aids off to be sure she didn't suck her thumb in the night. On the second morning of this, one of her band-aids was loose and when we took it off her thumb was all wrinkled underneath like when you get out of a long bath. She confessed that she had sucked that thumb in the night. So I threatened to not let her have any more band-aids if she did that again. I think it worked, but I want to be sure! I haven't seen her with that thumb in her mouth during the day though, and that is a BIG deal!!!!!!!! I'm so excited, I really hope this is it!

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Is it possible...

Could we have beaten it? Could my baby girl actually have given up sucking her thumb??? I can not be totally certain yet, but it looks like it is totally possible.

Two days ago she came home from preschool with a bandage on one finger. Her teacher told me that a friend had an owie, and Hana wanted a matching bandage because "her finger hurt too" (yea right). I told the teacher that Hana ALWAYS wants a bandage, and that usually I refuse cause those character bandaids she loves so much are too expensive.

Then, that night at home Rocky was off at a church meeting and I had the two kiddos to myself. It was a circus trying to put them both in the bath by myself for the first time and after the bath when Hana asked for a new bandaid for her finger I didn't feel like arguing with her about her not needing one. That's when it occured to me I could make a deal with her. I told her if she would let me also put a bandaid on both her thumbs and if she'd promise to keep those on her thumbs all night long and not suck her thumb, then I'd let her have new bandaids. She happily agreed and kept talking about how she was not going to suck her thumb, with so much pride, that I was actually hopeful this might work.

We are weeks away from resorting to ordering some kind of hand contraption that you strap onto their wrist and they have to wear for 24 hours the first week and then at night for at least another month! I was getting THAT desperate! She has a huge gap between her top and bottom teeth because of how much she has sucked her thumb. She can not bite into food in the front because those top and bottom teeth will not meet. I still have to cut up EVERYTHING for her or she chokes on it.

Well, she woke up the next morning with totally dry bandaids. She proudly announced she had not sucked her thumb. So I promised to take her to the store and buy her whatever character bandaids she wanted if she'd keep this up. She is always wanting some and I never let her have any, I bought a few boxes in the states last trip back and I won't let her have one unless she's bleeding which means she never gets to wear them! I think the novelty of them is the key to possibly breaking this horrible habit! Could this be it!??? Time will tell. But she kept the bandaids on all day today, took them off for a bath and got her new MIFFY ones we bought at the store on as soon as she could get help opening the box after bath time. She was still proudly announcing that she is not going to suck her thumb anymore!

Can I get "Glory Hallelujah!" Can I get a "Aaaaaaaaaamen!" Can I get a "PLEASE LORD LET THIS BE IT!"

And now for some pictures to enjoy cause you just can't have a blog post without pictures, now can ya?


On her favorite little ride at one of the grocery stores we frequent. She has loved this little elephant for as long as I can remember, even when all other characters and statues totally freaked her out. The song this thing plays will forever be etched in my memory and sometimes I can't get it out of my head. But I don't mind cause the ride is only 10 yen, and you can't find them for less than 100 yen anymore!



Doing some acrobatic entertainment for the people at church! Can you believe how LONG she has gotten! Even though she is a shorty for her age, she just seems so huge to me! I can't believe she is 4 1/2!


Waiting patiently for someone to finish cutting the chocolate cake for a church members birthday celebration last week. Why she waited so anxiously I'll never know, she took like 3 tiny licks of some of the icing off her fork and turned it down. YEP, my vegetarian, still doesn't like sweets very much! I LOVE IT!


Good morning sweet baby brother!



She is still absolutly in LOVE with her little brother. He hung the moon and is her "BEST FRIEND". I'm concerned for Kai, not because she might hurt him out of jealousy but that she might smother him with all her "hugs" and "kisses"! Just kidding! He obviously adores her too, he LOVES to just watch everything she's doing! It is so precious to see this special relationship between them.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Conversation about Jesus

This morning on the way to preschool Hana and I had a pretty deep conversation about Jesus, well I guess deep for a 4 year old anyways. Lately she always wants to read the story of his death on the cross and resurrection in her children's Bible. She talks about it often. But for some reason she is a little confused and thinks Mommy is also going to die on the cross someday. I have told her many times that I don't have to do that cause Jesus did it for me. Anyways, today's talk went something like this.

Hana: Mommy, Jesus was on the middle one!
Mommy: Yes he was, he was hung on the cross between two thieves. Do you know what a thief is?
Hana: Yes, that friend of Jesus.
Mommy: No, Jesus friends were his disciples. The two men on each side of him were people who had done something bad. The took something that wasn't theirs, they stole something. They were being punished for doing something bad.
Hana: Jesus wasn't bad, right Momma.
Mommy: No, Jesus did nothing wrong but he had to die on the cross anyways.
Hana: Mommy gonna go on the middle one.
Mommy: No, remember Mommy doesn't have to do that cause Jesus already did it for me.
Hana: Then Jesus came back right. Mommy come back too?
Mommy: Well first of all I'm not going to die on the cross, but when I do die I can't come back. Jesus is the only one whose ever come back after dying.
Hana: Yea, that's cause he is God!

I am amazed at her comprehension of some parts of this. Although, I don't think she fully understands what dying is yet. Once we trapped a mouse and we've seen some dead bugs and that is how she knows the word, but I don't think she gets how final it is. But I was so impressed to hear her say that Jesus came back because he was God! She is absorbing some things from our Bible reading.

So fun to watch her understanding grow and her comprehension develop!