Jinja and Shoga: Life in the Land of the Rising Sun

             Keila turned 3/4 of a year old today! Here's an update in terms of how she's progressed in the past month:
  1. Still making lots of sounds but nothing too new that I've noticed in particular...then again, I'm around her pretty much 24/7 so maybe they're just not new sounds to me. She was blowing raspberries a while back, quit, and then started up again last week. It's great when she's got food in her mouth at the time!
 2. Sleep is still something that she fights like a wild cat. I've figured out that she will actually take 2 naps at day, one during our morning walk and one in the afternoon. However, if she does settle down for her afternoon nap, that pretty much guarantees she won't go to bed at 7:30....or if she does, she's back up again within the hour. Every night is a toss-up though, so we're hoping for at least 6 hours straight tonight! Speaking of sleep (or not sleeping), one of her new favorite activities is smacking Mom and Dad in the face at 6 am. She usually starts the night in her crib and ends up in our bed by around 5 am...then lets me sleep for another hour if I'm lucky. Investing in some light-blocking curtains probably wouldn't be a bad idea.
 3. Tummy time is still pretty much a no-go. Screaming usually starts up every time she's put down on the belly. Meaning that crawling hasn't started yet either. Keila's getting around this by acting as a sort of whirling dervish: she will use her legs to twirl herself around in circles while seated, slowly making her way across the room towards an unsuspecting target (ie Sushi or Wasabi). It took me a while to figure out how she would suddenly go from being on her mat to being halfway across the room, but Yuki figured it out after watching her a few times. Only Keila would be able to move without appearing to!
 4. Baby food: still not wanting much in the way of more textured foods, but tofu is ok, as are apricots, potatoes, and plain yogurt if it has some fruit mixed in. Not a big fan of sour foods. She also HATES this rather pricey salmon/vegetable dinner pack I ordered for her from the US. Recommended by Dr. Sears and everything. All I can say is, Dr. Sears apparently never ate that garbage! I tried it and am pretty sure even the cats won't bother with it. Poor baby! Now we're stuck with about 20 packs of stinky cat food-like salmon dinner. Yuck.
 5. New favorite activities include pulling out Sushi's fur, pulling out Mom and Dad's hair, throwing toys across the floor, throwing things in general, and trying to eat Mom's books and magazines. She also LOVES rolling a ball back and forth and can wave bye-bye. Smart girl!
 6. Finally, fear of strangers kicked in early last week. If someone looks at her too closely for too long, watch out! Random people will set her off for reasons that I can't discern, too. Poor baby! She does get really excited when Daddy comes home or she gets to see Grandpa, though!
  Until next month....

                                       Sneak attack on Wasabi....