Jonas update and some other stuff

Jonas says a new word these days --“Oishii,” which means delicious in Japanese. I think it is super cute when he says it and I usually chuckle. So now Jonas follows up “oishii” by laughing. We have heard him say a couple of other Japanese words, but this is the first word that the daycare told us about too. They were so excited to tell Jason about it. One of the foods Jonas thinks is oishii is onigiri. Onigiri is basically a rice ball stuffed with some sort of food, like fish or fish eggs and covered in seaweed. He even loves to eat the seaweed. Some other foods that illicit “oishii” from Jonas these days: yogurt, tangerines, water, strawberries, noodles, anything sweet. Jonas eating onigiri:

Some other favorite activities enjoyed by Jonas lately:

Putting on grown up shoes

Dumping all of his toys out, but only playing with a few. Playing with his toy trains, animals and new crayons. He does color with them (with sound effects), but he more often carries them around, lines them up, puts them in containers and takes them out.

Playing at the ALVE play area

Going to Starbucks (okay, that was my idea and us sitting in Starbucks lasted about two minutes, but I thought he was cute for the two minutes he sat there). And, yes, it is a American chain, but sometimes I just want a tasty latte.

He has always enjoyed books, but lately he really likes these non-fiction bug books that I brought with us from home. I think he likes the pictures, because they are real, not drawings. He has also shown a preference for his Elmo book lately (too bad he ripped out the big Elmo on the last page). Today he was looking at the book by himself and when he got to the page where Elmo reaches up tall, Jonas reached both hands high in the air like Elmo. He still likes to dance and I noticed this weekend he is trying to jump. He definitely watches the older kids at the play area and tries to do what they do.

For a few weeks, he has been reaching up or looking up to communicate that he wants help with something. He also makes some fussy noises sometimes when he needs something, so I am trying to teach him to say “please.” Wish me luck.

Jonas loves playing in and eating the snow.

Isn’t he so cute, all bundled up? And lying on the cold, snowy ground with mismatched gloves.

When we were in Nagano, one of the highlights of the trip for me was playing in the snow with Jonas and watching him enjoy the snow. He loved to slide down the snow hill and then watch me follow him in the sled. A couple of weeks later, he and I were walking down a snowy hill at the base of the ski mountain in Tazawako. As soon as he realized we were going downhill, he sat down to ‘slide’ down like he did in Nagano. Here is a video. The camera work (by me) has some issues, but I think it is so funny that I am posting it anyway.

He is becoming more independent and explored the base of the ski mountain. A couple of times he tried to catch a ride on some guy's skis.

When we went to Tazawako, Jason skied in the morning while Jonas and I explored. Here is he is playing by a snowman and the Kamakura (snow house).

When we met Jason at lunch time, Jonas was very happy to be reunited with Jason. Here he is giving him a big hug. Jonas gives great hugs.

While I was snowboarding, I took some pictures from the mountain. It is a small ski hill, but we enjoyed it. The view of the lake was beautiful. The lake you see in one of the pictures below is the same lake you can see in the picture that is at the top of our blog.

This weekend Jason traveled to Tokyo to watch sumo wrestling. It sounds like he is having fun there. Jonas and I have had a low key weekend at home. We went to the play area at ALVE this morning and Jonas is napping now.

I will end with some stats. At daycare they weigh and measure the kids every couple of months. I appreciate that they do this, because I lose track of how much Jonas has grown. Riveting way to end, I know.

Date	Height	Weight
September 4, 2007	No measurement-They wrote that Jonas would not stand still	11 kg (24.2 pounds)
November 2, 2007	77 cm (30.3 inches)	12.2 kg (26.8 pounds)
January 8, 2008	80.5 cm (31.7 inches)	12.4 kg (27.3 pounds)