Playing in the park

Taiyo meet stroller. Stroller meet Taiyo.

Thanks to a friend of ours with an older baby, we've realized that stroller we got is ready for prime time! Although Taiyo hasn't exactly been engaging his environment when we go outside, the stroller has allowed him to experience a bit more than before.

This week we've taken several big walks around different neighborhoods of San Francisco and Taiyo has split his time either sleeping away or staring wide eyed at the passing world above him.

Before long he'll be hanging out the side catching the breeze and chatting with everyone we pass by.

タイトル：公園で遊ぶ

太陽はベビーカーに出会い、そしてベビーカーも太陽に出会いました。

太陽より少し年上の赤ちゃん友達のおかげで、私たちの持っているベビーカーがもう使えることがわかりました。太陽は、まだ外に出て回りの見て楽しむには、まだ少し早いかもしれませんが、ベビーカーのおかげで、もう少し広い世界を経験しているんじゃないかと思います。

今週は、サンフランシスコのいろいろな近所によく散歩に出てますが、太陽は寝過ごすこともあれば、目をまんまると大きく開いて周りの世界をじっくりと見つめたりすることもあります。

太陽が回りにもっと気付くようになり、通り過ぎる人全員に話しかけ始めるのもそれほど遠くの未来の話ではないようです。

The games get more complex

Taiyo is starting to react to cause and effect games like "peekaboo". He likes to watch environments change, be it from a changing vantage point as he rocks in the swing to enjoying dad's face vanish, only to re-appear to the accompaniment of vocal fanfare.

It seems clear to me that just in the past few days this breakthrough has taken hold as he has really gotten the idea about how things are not always the same.

Tonight I returned home from work and I could hear him crying a bit as I came up the steps from the garage. I was hit like a ton of bricks with unbelievable joy at the anticipation of knowing in a few more moments I'd be with him, holding him, and replacing his crying with laughter (or at least contented gazing around the kitchen).

The feeling of coming back to family each night pulls at me with a great intensity. I can't imagine how hard it must be to be half a world away and not able to come home.

Growing Quickly

Two pictures today and one message - Taiyo is really really changing as he grows.

At 9 weeks, you can see that physically he has taken on a completely different character than he had at birth. Its not simply a matter of getting bigger, his features have evolved now to a point where you really notice. It seems like there are just SOME days where big jumps are made, or more to the point, changes get noticed.

The second picture demonstrates how he is developing. He is now beginning to see dividends paid on his stomach sessions as his neck gets stronger and stronger. I believe grabbing is not too far.

Although not pictured, the second major element of his development is that he has begun to stare at his fist. At first he began to make the connection that he had such a thing by sucking on his knuckles. Now he is visually connecting by holding his hand up high and gazing fiercely at it.

Happy 2 months birthday!!!

60 days never felt so densely packed. Each day is a joy with you, Taiyo. You fill us with happiness. Watching you smile and laughter and noticing you interact more makes me sad for your sleepy newborn days of past and excited for the fun we will share in the month ahead.

Today you are two months.

タイトル：2ヶ月の誕生日おめでとう！！！

この60日間は決して詰め込まれたようには思いません。一日一日が、君との喜びの日々でした。
君は私たちを喜びに包んでくれました。
笑ってる君も、新生児で眠っていてばかりいた頃の君も、見ていてとても心躍るものだったよ。
これからの成長がとても楽しみだよ。

今日で、君は2ヶ月になりました。

Good Camera - woof

The shiny new camera has arrived. We are very pleased with the results - it's just what we expected.

This has been a crazy couple of weeks but its starting to calm down. Taiyo is smiling and laughing and listening to people talk and making many new sounds. He is verbalizing little by little and starting to really "get" that the sounds he's heard since before he was born are the sounds one makes with their "mouth" thing. He's slowly getting into it day by day.

However...there are other times when nothing is worth paying attention to compared to a good old fashioned nap.

Letter to papa

My papa is now in Denver and I am missing him so much.
I often send a picture letter to papa.
I'll share today's letter with you.

タイトル：パパへの手紙

パパは今、出張でデンバーにいます。僕は、パパがいなくてとても寂しいです。
僕はよく写真付きのお手紙をパパに送ります。
今日は特別に、皆さんにもこれから送る手紙をお見せします。

（手紙の内容：パパ、今日は半日近く僕はここで’過ごしているよ。パパも今夜僕みたいにぐっすりと休めますように。
愛を込めて、太陽より）

Happy New Year!

Taiyo flashes the international sign for 2007.

I will be out of town for the next couple of days but updates will abound on during the weekend.

タイトル：ハッピーニューイヤー

タイヨウが2007年を祝って、国際的な手振りでご挨拶しています。

僕（Logan）はこれから2日間ほど出張で家を留守にしますが、週末に更新します。

Family Resemblances

It is funny how depending on the situation, a baby can take on the likeness of so many different people. When Taiyo is awake, we think he looks like me. When he is a asleep, we think he looks more like Yoshiko or Yoshiko's sister.

In this particular moment, he reminds me a lot of my uncle Peter. You never know who will be dropping by next.

（Yoshiko wrote: When Taiyo is smiling, he reminds me of my brother's baby picture.)

タイトル：家族の類似性

状況に応じて、赤ちゃんがいろんな違った人に似てるように見えるのはとても面白いです。タイヨウが起きていると父親の僕に似ているのに、眠っているタイヨウは母親の美子や美子のお姉さんに似ていると思います。

この１枚の写真に関して言えば、僕の叔父のピーターを思い出させます。いったい、今度は誰を彷彿させるのでしょうか？

（ちなみに、美子はタイヨウが笑うと美子の兄の赤ちゃんの頃の写真と似てるように思います。）

Done with picture books

Taiyo will be seven weeks old tomorrow. The seven week year old is fully engaged and very interested in his environment. Where as in the past he might once in a while notice that there is a massive world revolving around him, the seven week year old constantly gazes at his surroundings.

A good friend was kind enough to give Taiyo a very deep and esoteric translation of the "Art of Peace" by a Japanese Aikido master. While Taiyo enjoyed his picture books, he's now riveted by the essays on how the warrior is actually a reflection of a peaceful existence.

タイトル：絵本はもうおしまい

太陽は明日で7週間になります。生後７週間になり、まわりの環境によく関心や興味を示すようになりました。以前にも、太陽の周りで巨大な世界が転回していることに時々気付いてはいましたが、7週間になり、もっとよく周囲を気にかけるようになってきました。

親切な友人が、日本の合気道家であった植芝盛平著の「Art Of Peace」（日本語題名は不明）というとても深く難解な本を太陽にプレゼントしました。しばらくの間、太陽は絵本を楽しんでいましたが、今は“どうして、武人の存在は、平和の存在の反映であるか”ということについての論文にくぎづけになっています。

I'm living large in my 6 month clothes

Even though I'm only six weeks...

A serious thank you to everyone who gave us newborn outfits. We really enjoyed and appreciated the array of cute clothes. I'm sorry to have to report that we have officially buried that stage of Taiyo's life as a relic in our rear view mirror.

We have now entered the nebulous and confusing world of "3-6" months, which seems to cover whole lot of range depending what particular article of clothing you happen be staring at. As you can see from the picture above, Taiyo is having no problem fitting into some 6 month year old clothing, but we find some 3 month marked outfits to be far too large.

Its a brave new world, but Taiyo is too busy looking good to sweat the fever.

タイトル：僕は6ヶ月向けのお洋服で大きく生きてるよ

まだ生後６週間なのに・・・

僕に新生児のお洋服をくれた皆さんありがとうございました。僕もパパもママも、沢山のかわいいお洋服を十分に楽しましていただき、とても感謝しています。誠に残念ながら、全ての新生児服はお蔵行きとなってしまいました。

僕は既に不可解で不明瞭な３～６ヶ月服を着るようになっています。なぜ不可解かと言うと、服によって大きさが全然違うからです。写真でご覧のように、僕は6ヶ月のお洋服さえぴったりで着れちゃいます。でも、どういうわけかある“3ヶ月服”は、大きすぎたりするのです。

そんなわけですが、僕は“かっこよくなる”ために大忙しです。

Let the reading begin!!!

I'll be the first to admit that Taiyo doesn't have a clue what I'm saying when it comes to the books we have. But he is now beginning to take an interest in the pictures - especially those with bright multi-colored scenes. We are starting on some classics such as "Where the Wild Things are" as well as some new books that I've never seen before.

His eyes light up when a page with particular contrast is turned and he sometimes just watches me read the words for a minute or so before turning back to the next picture that unfolds. I"m as spell bound watching him as he is watching the book.

We'll be reading War in Peace from tomorrow.

P.S. Our camera broke but luckily, our video camcorder takes pictures, albeit at a lower quality. We'll treat ourselves to a late Christmas gift and take care of that little problem.

Merry Christmas

From Taiyo, his mamma and his pappa. I hope everyone takes a break to breathe it all in between now and the new year.

Holidays are coming

We are starting to enjoy the holidays. This will be the only year in which Taiyo has less interest than us in what is under the tree. We've been told that next year it will be the wrapping paper and the year after that, what's inside...

Focusing in and making friends

Yesterday a friend of Yoshiko's and her 6 month year old stopped by for a visit. I wasn't there but looking back over some of the pictures, it was really interesting to see a 6 week and a 6 month side by side.

Head size was similar, but the 6 month year old had a lot more leg and arms to go around.

You can see from the shot above that Taiyo is getting bigger around the cheeks but although its harder to tell, we think his arms and legs are also starting to lengthen.

Next month's pediatrician visit will reveal all.

Going back to work and missing out on the day's development is not very fun. Luckily when I get home, I've got plenty a few hours to enjoy before we go to bed, so I'm not missing out entirely.

Happy 1 month

On Friday, I turned one month old. I spent the day partying with mama.
I partied so hard, I had to wear several different outfits.

All my stuffed animals came and made me this great card.

In the afternoon, I took mama to visit my kibishii (strict) pediatrician. I now weigh 10 pounds and 6 ounces. I am also much taller and doing very well.

Papa came home later that night and we listened music and hung out.
I had fun day.

金曜日に、僕は1ヶ月の誕生日を迎えました。僕は一日中、ママとお祝いをして過ごしました。
少しはしゃぎ過ぎたせいか、何回もお着替えをしなくてはなりませんでした。

僕のいつも遊んでいるぬいぐるみ達がやってきて、この素敵なカードを作ってくれました。

午後には1ヶ月検診のため、ママを厳しい小児科の先生のところへ連れて行ってあげました。僕は今、4706gになりました。それに背もたくさん伸びて、とても健康だそうです。

夜にはパパが帰ってきて、一緒に音楽を聴いて過ごしました。
とても楽しい一日でした。

4 amazing weeks

And like that he was 4 weeks old and days away from his first month.

I can't exactly say we're feeling like pros at this point but we're getting better and Taiyo is learning more about us. He knows that Mom likes to relax with him while Dad enjoys bouncing him around. He knows when bath time rolls around and anticipates the routines.

At 4 weeks I really feel like a rhythm is setting in for us and we are running with our new roles together. It is amazing how much has happened in so short a period of time.

I get to feel time pass through him in a way I've long forgotten.

Tracking

今日から日本語でもブログを書きます。いろいろ間違えるかもしれないですが、日本の方も見てると聞きましたので、頑張ります。

At 27 days, Taiyo is really tracking movement with his eyes. For the first few weeks, he was often not aware of things around him. But now he will notice movement passing across his field of vision and often orient on that movement.

His favorite thing to track is Momma, which he does with a steady penetrating gaze. But he will also lock onto other things and follow them around the room for short periods before losing interest in favor of other intruiging sights in his surroundings.

I am reminded of how becoming a visual creature is a slow and steady process with many different levels along the way. I can remember when he first began to really stare at things in front of him. He does that for hours now...

生後２７日の太陽は動くものをよく目で追います。最初の数週間の間、太陽が周りの物にあまり気付かなかったです。でも、最近から何か目の前で動くとそれを見つめるんです。

一番好きな見つめるものは、もちろんママです。でも、興味を失う前に他の物も暫く見つめます。

人間にとって視覚が大切で、それが少しずつ発達するかを考えさせられます。初めて太陽が目の前の物を見つめるようになったことを覚えてますが、今ではもっと長くできるようになりました。

I'm Back and I'm Big

Taiyo got an infection and had to go into the hospital last week. Luckily we all got to be together and spent each day hanging out.

All of the drama was complete by 4:00 a.m. the first night and the entire week simply consisted of him getting regular doses of antibiotics and eating. He certainly did not have any appetite problems and has gained great weight over the week.

In some ways, the whole experience was positive because we learned a lot from the nice nurses who all fell in love with him and were falling over each other to offer their advice and assistance. We also learned some good lessons about the health care system and when and how we have to manage them.

All this is behind us now and we are back home and happy. Taiyo is regularly smiling to stimulus and interacting more each day. Although we will probaby be gun-shy for a few weeks, he is the model of health and a very happy baby.

Regular updates should resume here in the days to come.

Where's Taiyo?

You may be wondering why things have gone quiet here the past few days. We've had some medical issues we are working through that is keeping us all away from the computer.

Rest assured everyone is fine and we'll be back to normal and updating here again hopefully by this weekend.

Growing child - evolving relationships

One thing that is clear is how easy it is for parents to slowly gravitate their relationships towards others with children. This is something I've always heard about - how old friendships can suffer when one friend has a child and the priorities and interests are suddenly so different.

As I've considered this subject the last few days, I've realized that it is my responsibility to find opportunities not to try to preserve my old friendships as they were before but to really evolve them to relate to and include Taiyo.

It will be up to me to ensure that Taiyo benefits from all the wonderful things my friendships have meant to me over the years.

I want to thank all my friends who have stopped by to meet Taiyo and who have contacted us to hear all about him. I hope to do what I can to bring him into your world instead of expecting you to exclusively enter his.