Our kids are weird. So, you KNOW they are OURS!

Weirdness runs in our bloodline.  Sometimes it is quirky and cute or endearing and funny and other times, just plain annoying.  But, I wanted to record some of these current little quirks of our boys at the moment.  I thought it would be a good laugh 20 years later when we look back at this and remember (I'm hoping these will be passing memories!)

Kai-kai



Big Brother Kai お兄ちゃん

   Kai has inherited the OCD gene from my mom (and me.)  I hear though that sometimes it is just a developmental thing in toddlers (please God!)  Kai's obsession of the moment is making walls.  When I peak my head into his room during his "quiet time," there is a blockade of random objects in front of the door like pillows, blankets, toys, his plush chair, his push train.  He has strewn some of his clothes about the room and rolled up and piled up his rug and blankets.  Usually, I'll catch him in the middle of some sort of song and dance which involves waving about a pretend "parachute."  I can only laugh when he freezes like he got caught.  I have this image in my mind of opening the door to him standing on his blue chair holding a pretend parachute and freezing mid-song as I stare at him.  On long, tiring days, the impending clean up looms at the end of the hour.  Kai likes to build walls wherever he is using whatever objects are available.  For example, he will pile pillows or toys around him when he plays on the ground.  I sometimes wonder if I need to be alarmed by this.  Does the wall make him feel safe?  Is he trying to keep us out?  Or is he just being a kid with an imagination?  Although if you destroy his wall or clean it up, he gets REALLY mad.  It is cute though when he lets you "in" and opens a "gate."  During storytime at night, he will make a wall from the wall to the sofa and will even use our legs as part of the "wall."  If our body moves and creates an opening, he will come and check and move our leg or arm back to close up the gap in the wall.  Another interest of Kai is CIRCLES or まる。In the family room, he enjoys throwing his ABC or number or hiragana or tako cards around the room and then making circle designs with them on the rug.  It is oh-so-cute and oh-so-maddening at the same time.



"Look at my wall and my parachute house!"

 Kai's long-term love is the parachute.  He had been going to Gymboree classes since he was 10 months-old and we just stopped his classes this month.  I wonder how long this will last, but almost daily he wants to play parachute and sing songs.  Again, this is oh-so-cute and oh-so-maddening.  If there is no real parachute around, he will take ANYTHING and make a parachute out of it, such as a napkin, a book, a blanket, a piece of paper, ANYTHING flat and can be waved about.  I love thinking about Halloween costumes and told myself that if Kai still had parachute love by October, I'd make him into "Parachute Man" for Halloween.  Lukas could be Gymbo the clown.  I could be Teacher Beth.  With this parachute love, it has expanded into the "parachute house" obsession.  Kai has been building forts and tents using the parachute and parachute-like objects.  A few nights, this was our conversation before bed:
Mommy: Kai, you have two choices.  One, read a book.  Two, go to bed.
Kai: Three, go in my parachute house.



the "parachute house"

 Ryuta went to IKEA and got Kai a circus tent for his room, very "parachute house-ish."  Kai loves it, but still prefers to sleep on the floor with his blankets.  Other parachute activities has been marching about the house with Tutu with the parachute or Auntie Nadia came over the other day and they were a parachute "dragon" scaring people.

Lukas

Lukas, aka "Animal"/"Little Animal", "Machine"/"Eating Machine"

So, Lukas is still just a newborn baby, but for the sake of not feeling left out, he's weird, too.  I have vague memories of Kai grunting alot, but Lukas grunts and growls EXCESSIVELY at all hours of the day.  The kid spends every other hour wanting to eat, wanting to be held, burping, farting REALLY LOUD (he is one gassy little guy), pooing, peeing, and GRUNTING LOUDLY.  But, I have to say.  Our kids make up for some of their bothersome quirks with their extreme cuteness.  We know they are ours and we love 'em!