Making rivers on a train...

So we were at church all day Friday. Finally got home, packed to leave on Saturday and crashed because Hana's preschool had sports day the next morning. Sports day was scheduled to end around 12:00 and we had to catch a train at 12:55. Our travel would take about 6 hours to get to Kouchi for a Friday evening concert and Sunday morning concert, after which we would turn around and come back home (yes, we sign up for this kind of craziness). Sports day went very smoothly and finished early. We actually got to sit down in a restaurant to have lunch. I was beginning to think this crazy trip might not be so bad.

We boarded a train to the main station in town, and then hopped on a bullet train. Kai slept a good part of the way, all was going well. UNTIL we were pulling in to our stop to get off the bullet train. Hana just casually says, "I think I'll go to the bathroom after we get off the train." and I say, "Okay, sure we can do that." I'm holding Kai (still asleep) and Rocky disappears to throw some trash away when I notice a panicked look on Hana's face. And she says, "Mooooommmmy, I am peeing in my pants." I'm like, "Oh my gosh Hana, STOP, wait!" But I look down and her shoes are filling with pee, beginning to overflow and a huge puddle is forming on the floor beneath her. Have I mentioned that this child has been totally potty trained for more than 3 years and never had an accident after about the first month or two after potty training was done?

You must keep in mind, a bullet train stops at a station for like a minute, and we were slowing down for our stop. If we miss this stop we will have to ride another long ways to the next stop get off and come back (we are on the Nozomi super express which doesn't stop very often) and that will make us late for our concert engagement. I'm holding sleeping Kai and can do nothing like pull a diaper or something out of my bag to start soaking up teetee and there is no train staff person in sight.

At this point I'm standing still in a panic having no idea what to do. I must have looked like a flamingo, motionless and doing nothing, only I had both legs on the ground. Rocky appears again and I tell him to do something but he can't find anything to clean it up and we are like seconds from stopping. I look back and a long line of pee is slowly making it's way down the aisle of the train and people are starting to look back to see what is this liquid running down the aisle beside them.

Finally I see a train staff person coming towards me and tell her what happened. She grabs some paper towels and starts to clean it up and all I can do is apologize and bow profusely, stating that we must get off the train at this stop. All the while row by row, train passengers are looking back and I can see the realization come across their face as to what is this mysterious river running down the aisle. The foreigner stands there apologizing and bobbing her head like a duck fishing in the pond as a little girl stands beside her with her legs spread apart in an uncomfortable stance and little wet footprints are following her.

At this point the train staffer begins to ignore my constant apology as I can see this look of total resentment begins to spread across her face. I know she's thinking, "Why did I have to be the one who came walking through this car at this moment? This is not a part of my job description, cleaning up pee!"

By this time the train is stopping and my last glimpse of the car we were riding in, was the passengers in aisle 2,3,4,5 and 6 staring back at us with disdain, several passengers scrambling to get their bags up off the floor, a line of papers towels following the river of pee and the crumpled nose of the train staffer as she is frantically dropping paper towels and whipping up pee.

Bugs!

Hana has an odd fascination/fear of animals and bugs. She loves to see animals and ask questions about them and recently began to get brave about touching them. Still the only BUG she will touch is a rolly polly.

Today Daddy found a praying mantis and was carrying it around. She was talking about it in the car on the way home. She kept saying, "What that praying mountains eat?" LOL, praying "mountains"!!! Love it!

But it is interesting that she asks great questions about animals. She always asks immediately what an animal eats. She asks other great questions like where it lives, how old it is, if it is a boy or girl, etc. She compares it to other similar animals or bugs. I think she is going to be good at biology!

Funny things she says...

Tonight at dinner Hana cleared her throat and said, "I have a frog in my nose!" LOL

And after dinner this evening she wanted a pop-stickle!

Hana always wants to whisper in your ear and tell you a shweeket (secret).

This one is not funny, just an amazing vocabulary usage. Yesterday she used the word concentrate!

What rabbit?

This past weekend, Hana's preschool had their Christmas pageant. Hana was a bunny rabbit in her portion of the program. She came home today with her little rabbit hat on her head and has been wearing it around the house since then. After dinner Daddy and Hana were playing. Daddy had a huge cardboard tube, that came from the middle of a roll of wrapping paper and he was pretending to use it as a fighting stick. This is the conversation that took place...

Daddy: "Mommy, you need to wrap some more presents so that we can have another stick!" (so that he and Hana can pretend to fight together)
Mommy: "Well from what I understand, you have a present that needs to be wrapped!" (One for me that has been sitting in a bag in the hallway for a few days! LOL)
Daddy: "Oh, yea, I do!"
Mommy: "So go get it out and wrap it!"
Hana: "Huuuhhhhhhh? What rabbit?"

LOL!!!! get it?

Funny line for the day...

Mommy: "Okay Hana, bath is ready!"
Hana: "ummmmm, how 'bout next week Mommy?"

Hilarious laughter erupts from the adults in the room!

recent funnies...

Just wanted to blog a quick little update about some funny things Hana has done lately, before I forget them.

The other night after dinner, we put some praise music on and we were dancing to it. She loves this, the CMA girls obviously had a big influence on her ;) She has her own moves though. One is the "butterfly dance" as she calls it. I gotta get a picture of this. But basically, you spread your arms out like your flying, bend over and stick one leg up behind you as high as you can! It's hilarious! She'll then instruct me in our dance. We have to dance together for a while, then she'll go and take her place in a corner and bend down and wait while I do a solo, then she declares it is her turn and I have to go bend down in the corner while she has a solo! This also definitely comes from watching CMA perform! Well towards the end of our dance time she suddenly turns to me and says, "Mommy you no pretty good dance, I am pretty good dancer!" HA! EXCUSE ME! Evidently I am not as good as she is at dancing!?

Today we were at a friend house for dinner. I was sitting on the couch and she came and plopped down in front of me and says, "Mommy, massage!" Totally cracked me up. She gets this from me, cause I do that to Daddy all the time!

Last night her good buddy Kouki came to spend the night. They had sooooooooo much fun! I'll have to share pics of that soon, when we get them loaded onto the computer!

She is such a blast!

Translating what Mommy said...

Mommy: "Hana, you have to have a shower this morning. Who do you want to give you a shower?"

Hana: "Mommy!!!"

Mommy: "Okay then, hurry up and eat your breakfast cause I need to get my shower too so I have time to get ready! We are running out of time!"

Hana: "okay!"

TEN MINUTES LATER (and not one more bite has disappeared off her plate)

Mommy: "Okay Hana, I am going to get in the shower. If you haven't finished eating your breakfast by the time I'm done showering then you'll have to let Daddy give you a shower. Okay?"

Hana: "Okay Mommy!"

Then from the bathroom while getting in the shower I hear this...

Daddy: "Hana, are you eating? What did Mommy say?"

Hana: "She said, 'Eat my food!'"


Pretty good translation, I think!

nick? Nick? neck?

English is such a challenge especially for an almost 4-year-old whose vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds everyday.

Tonight at dinner, we were talking, and Hana blurted out the line that Rocky always uses in his self-introduction at concerts where he is explaining how he got the name Rocky. When she did that, I decided to ask her if she knew Daddy's "real" name. She said, "Yea, Rocky!" I said, "No that is Daddy's nickname, what is his real name?" She looked rather confused and then said, "I don't know." So I told her that it is "Hiroaki". She thought that was pretty funny but then she said the funniest thing. "Rocky is Nick?" and I said, "yea, it is a nickname." and she said, "Daddy's not Nick." and I said, "Oh no, I'm not talking about Uncle Nick (one of our missionaries at our church) this kind of nick is different, it's called a nickNAME." and she said, "Ohhhhh, a neck." As she raised her chin and grabbed her neck. Rocky and I both laughed and continued to try to explain what a nickname is! What a riot! She might be upstairs at this very moment, lying in bed pondering why we have given Daddy's neck a name, and why we call him by that name all the time! LOL Watching her language develop is so fun.

She has got the cutest pronunciation of some words right now. I am going to be so sad when these disappear.

accident = askident
computer = pacuners
conditioner = dishconer
piano = pinano

That's the most I can think of right now. I've got to get video of her saying all those words before she gets them right!

I am sad to report that "hold you!" is now gone. Sometime while we were in the states she started saying "hold me" and we rarely hear "hold you" anymore. She had been using the word "me" correctly otherwise long ago, but this way of saying "hold you" was one of my favorite things. I am so sad that it is gone. Sometimes I still make her say it that way for me before I pick her up. Silly Mommy!

Otherwise she is speaking both languages like a pro. And she translates for herself sometimes. She'll take off in one language and realize she meant to speak in the other, stop, and repeat the exact same thing in the other language. It just makes me smile when she does that.

She picks up English books and pretends to be reading in English. Japanese books, she pretends to read in Japanese.

Such a smart little girl! And so much fun!

Hide 'n Go Seek, Hana style!!!

Yesterday we some how ended up playing a game of hide 'n go seek in our house, just the three of us. Hana has yet to really get the point of this game, not sure why. But here is how it goes with Hana...

Hana says, "Mommy count!"

So I start counting and she and Daddy take off to hide. As soon as I finish counting Hana happily bursts out of her hiding place and comes running for me! She loves it! The point for her is to hide! She's had her fun, why wait for someone to come and find her? Then she joins me in going to find Daddy.

We tried explaining to her that she needs to stay where she is until we find her.

Then she declares it is Daddy's turn to count. So we try again. As soon as Daddy finsihes counting out she comes, happy as a lark to have hidden! AND in the exact same place as the time before. Then they set off together to find me.

We went through this several times. The only time she would stay in her hiding place until she was found was if I stayed with her. But even then, it was still the exact same hiding place as before!

You just gotta love it! It totally cracks me up, and some day she'll play like normal and it won't be this cute! I love this age!!!

I'm a horse!

Conversation in the car on the way to eat dinner...

Daddy: I don't know why but suddenly I'm so hungry!
Hana: Hana hungry too!
Daddy: I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!
Hana: Me too!
Daddy: Wow, you can eat a horse?
Hana: Yea, Hana eat a horse too!

Conversation in the car after dinner...

Daddy: Wow Hana you're tummy is so full, look at that!
Hana: YEA Daddy, I'm a horse!!!

Microphone Please!

Little miss priss! Oh my goodness she cracked Mommy and Daddy up last night, I would give anything for video of this moment. Every evening after her bath, I plop her down on the counter in the bathroom to blow dry her hair. She always like to open the medicine cabinet door where the mirror is facing her, and sing and play while I'm drying.

Last night, I sat her up there and as I was plugging in the drying she was grinning at her reflection, tilting her head and raising her shoulder, flirting with herself. When she was quite satisfied that she looked good, she threw her hand up over her shoulder in my direction and announced, "Microphone, please." in such a matter of fact, sassy voice I couldn't believe that was coming from a 3 year old! Daddy and I just died laughing. I handed her a brush, and she proceeded to give us a concert while I dried her hair. She never did figure out what was so funny.

Is she the child of a couple of performers, or what!? What a riot!

Me too!!!

While driving along in the car the other day...
Daddy: "ugh, I've got a pimple right here"
Mommy: "I've got one right here too, it's so annoying!"
Hana (from the back seat): "ME TOO!!!"

Sometime last week...
Mommy: "My bra itches right here..."
Hana: "ME TOO!!!"

There have been plenty more funny ones involving Hana saying "me too" but I just can't remember them all. She's so funny!

Fiasco at McDonalds...

We drove Daddy across town this evening for a rehersal time with some musicians he is playing with, and on the way home Hana and Mommy decided to treat ourselves to some Mcy-D's for dinner! We happily made our way over to the restaurant and with giggles and smiles like two little girlfriends on a "ladies night out". We entered the establishment ready to FEAST! Hana ventured out of her normal menu rut and decided to have a Hamburger Happy Meal Set, instead of her normal Chicken McNuggets (way to go Hana-baby!). Mommy ordered her usual Chicken Sandwhich, Salad set. We secured a favorite high chair with Ronald smiling ever so enthusiastically at us, and headed with our feast to a table with a view! We girlies were having fun.

Now, Mommy knows Hana has a tendency to decide she needs to go tee-tee during the meal so I asked her specifically when we entered the restaurant if she'd like to get that little event out of the way, and she adamently said she did NOT need to go. TWICE! So Mommy believed her.

We had just settled in for our scrumptious meal, Hana had her whole spread on the high chair tray in front of her and she was sampling her first bite of Happy Meal Hamburger when suddenly she says, "Mommy, teetee!" Go figure.

So Mommy is on her own right? We have all our food spread out in front of us and there is no way I am going to make her wait until the end of the meal. I decide there is no choice but to just go, and leave our food there. I scoop up my purse and begin getting her out of the high chair when Hana-baby jerks her knees up and POP - off flies the high chair tray, making a 180 degree flip and splat, on the floor goes all Hana's food. All the while Hana-baby is more adamently reminding me that she needs to hit the John, LIKE, NOW MOMMY! Mommy is almost in a panic, what do I do with the mess while I take her? I quickly reported the incident to a staff member and headed to the potty, when we returned, the mess was still on the floor, every patron in the whole restaurant was watching milk slowly make a stream across the entire restaurant with a "poor foreigner" expression on their face, and I was blushing furiously! Finally a staff member appeared with a mop, the mess disappeared, and get this, THEY BROUGHT US A WHOLE NEW MEAL!

OK, most embarrasing moment for Spring '07, out of the way!

By the way, Hana thoroughly enjoyed her new Happy Meal menu. She ate the WHOLE burger. But she so totally takes after Mommy, we had to remove the pickles! Daddy would have laughed, you see Daddy receives a bonus couple of pickles every time we eat hamburgers in our family, FROM MOMMY! Now, he's gonna enjoy even more. We hope Daddy doesn't turn into a pickle!!! Nahhh, we don't eat hamburgers that often, I THINK!?

It's empty!

After dinner this evening I took Hana to the potty. Potty time is a bit difficult to judge these days, sometimes she's done in a sec and wants to go back to play and sometimes she'd like to stay put for a while and play with some books. Mommy sometimes gets frustrated at the unpredictability of such visits, so instead of just leaving her there this evening only to be called back just as I get my hands in my dish gloves, I decided to ask her if she was going to be staying for a while. So I said, "Hana, are you all done or do you need to poopy?" and she goes...

"uuuuummmmphhhhhhhhhh" (a long grunt) and then looks up at me and says "Nope, it's empty!"

and she was all done! She cracks me up!

Listen...

Every night before bed, we read a Bible story with Hana. Then after it has been read to her, she takes her little Bible from me and begins to flip through the pages and pretend to read as well. Tonight Daddy and I were sitting on the couch together listening to her read to us, and we were noticing some of the things she was saying and whispering to each other about it. Hana stopped reading and turned to us and said, "Listen!" and then went back to reading. We both thought that was funny (it sounds exactly like what we say to her when she isn't paying attention during Bible story time) and we giggled about it. At that point Hana stopped again and turned to us and said, "Listen!" So funny!

She said it in a kind voice but it was still funny that she has learned the clear meaning of that word, and she used it so perfectly.

Our little comedian...

Hana has a Veggie Tales DVD she got for Christmas that is a sing-along. She loves watching and one of our favorite songs on it is Pizza Angel. For all you out there who don't do Veggie Tales or don't know this song, basically Larry is lamenting over the fact that the pizza he ordered is late, very late, and he's craving it. The chorus goes like this...

Pizza Angel please come to me
Tomato sauce and cheese so gooey.
Pizza Angel I'm on my knees...

and so forth! Hana loves it. Well the other night we were going to treat ourselves to dinner out and Hana immediately started yelling "Pizza! Pizza!" as we were headed out the door. Daddy and I had already chosen the restaurant and we knew they had a little pizza on the menu, but it was not our normal pizza restaurant. So we told her she could have pizza and she must have assumed we were going to that restaurant. When we pulled into the parking lot of a different restaurant, from the back seat we heard this lament...

OH NO! Pizza Angel!!!!!!!!!

What a nut!

Then last night we got personal entertainment at dinner. We had Afureru worship and the staff always goes out to eat together afterwards. After Hana finished eating she was playing around the table with everyone and she grabbed the two little menu stands on the table and propped them up on the water pitcher. She proceeded to stand behind it and begin to babble away. We soon realized she was pretending to read a Bible story like we do for children's time at church. We always have the picture posters with the story on the back. She was even switching out the two menus as she read the story, pretending to move to the next poster and next portion of the store. It was so cute! Here is a picture...



She had the whole table entertained. Before it was over she was actually calling out menu items as a part of her story. What a riot!

Note to self...

When teaching your daughter how to say "gas station" be sure to emphasize the "G"!!!

The little character that poots...

In our city, there is a city bus system and they have a little character painted on the side of their bus. He looks like this...



As we drive around town, every time Hana sees him she giggles and says "Mommy, boy pooting!!!" She must thing the little shadow below him represents gas! I think it is incredibly smart that she came up with that on her own but also hilarious!

What a riot!

Excuse my shadow Mr. Treetrunk

Hana recently discovered her shadow. She loves watching it. Today on our sunny day outing to the park she had a blast following her shadow around. But she did the funniest thing. Once when her shadow hit a tree trunk, she turned to the tree and said "Gomen!" Which is like "excuse me". It was so cute! She does this when she is trying to get past us and has to push us or if she bumps into us while walking. So her shadow bumped into the tree and she felt compelled to appologize to it! So funny!

I one two...

I have been having the HARDEST time getting Hana to say certain things in English. She has her things she always says in English like, "hello" "mine" "eat" etc. She knows her ABC's and 1,2,3's in English only, and some other things. But most of the rest of the time (it seems to me) she speaks a lot of Japanese. It is driving me NUTS! I have been doing my best to make her say things in English before I will respond appropriately. My biggest project right now is to get her to say "I want to ___." instead of saying the thing she wants and following it with the Japanese "shitai" which means I want. So EVERY DAY a MILLION times a day for example, she says... "Teetee shitai" and I say, "SAY - I want to teetee", and she says "want to teetee" and then we go.

FINALLY today, a couple of times she has said "I want to ____." on her own OR at just a stern look from me, she says it OR if I say "how do you say that?" she'll say it in English. And at dinner tonight she was asking for more toast with butter and she said, "more butter shitai" and I just looked at her and she goes...

"I one two three... I one two butter!"

Rocky and I both died laughing! No wonder she won't say "I want to..." she thinks I am asking her to count or something! It was soooooooooo hilarious!

Rocky was like, "she must think we are always asking her to count and say ABC's, just think about it, we make her say 'I want to see ____' when she asks for a video. She must be thinking we are making her say 'I one two C _____'!"

What a riot!