Watch Kâi as he begins to learn how to crawl.

This video shows the big guy from almost a month ago, till today, and how he has developed the skills to get around on his own. Now there is no stopping him, the sky is the limit with this kid∞ Recently he has been pulling himself up on things, and trying to stand all by himself!

Why crawl when you can walk right? Smart kid.

This is what Kai looks like when he is crawling though the Internet. Watch out, he might get into your hard drive! I swear, the farther back you stand, the more it looks like him.  I could spot that cute-baby-mohawk from a mile away.

June 1st Update: Kai is on the move! Last night I witnessed a full fledged crawl: hands and legs were both moving at the same time. He successfully got himself from one side of the room to the other and did it almost entirely without resting on his stomach. It was amazing to watch him figure out the movement finally and all it took was a little incentive (his pacifier). It has been almost a week of trial and error, with the birth of many new positions, including the confidence to sit unattended. Now he can manage to do it all by himself while moving around the house with no real problems, but you should see him when he finishes. He looks like he just got done running a couple of kilometers, which is probably due to that big belly he has to tote around.

I actually got some better pictures of the little guy in the crawling position. He is so close to running all over the place, but I guess we should be happy that he hasn’t crawled yet. Once he is mobile I can kiss the freedom of leaving him alone for a few minutes, GOOD-BYE. I think we are going to invest in a nice walker, something to get him moving like he wants, but not so he can go ramming his head into every wall in our apartment. It is that or the steel cage, and I don’t want to be in the ring with Kai when he is hungry. You have no idea how strong this kid is. ====> Crawling Slideshow

Also I put up a couple of random pics from the last week or so. There are pictures of Nagoya, for those of you who haven’t been here and seen it, in all its (concrete jungle) splendor. There are notes on the pictures with links to info about Nagoya, so if you are interested in what my stomping grounds look like, check them out. Also there is a picture (yes only one) from the Dali Exhibit we checked out last weekend. Some of the paintings we saw were The Memory of the Child-Woman and Napoleon’s Nose but due to the camera rules, no snap-shots were taken.

Kai has taken three huge steps recently, as he begins the second half of his first year.

To get things moving on track, he finally cut his first tooth this week. When he gives a big smile, you can see the top of his bottom front teeth popping out. This is great and all, but everyone knows how much it can hurt to have a tooth come up out of your gums: hence the constant crying and irregular sleep schedule. Ma-dukes advice was to keep the teething toys cold in the fridge, that way he can get some pain relief while he chews away at them. Thanks for the tip Mom. Now if there only was a cure for the massive energy level which keeps his body in full swing all day, we might be able to bypass all the broken things in our very near future.

This brings me to the second item on the list: Kai is about ready to get mobile, and there is no turning back. As of late, there has been a lot of rocking back and forth on all fours. He is trying to crack the crawling code, but still hasn’t quite got it yet. Usually he will get up on his hands and knees and shake around. Other times I have seen him hop off his back legs and move forward while in the crawl position. He just can’t figure out that he needs to move his arms along with his feet. Wow, and let me tell you, those feet are ready for marathon competitions. He will try to crawl so hard sometimes that he pushes his butt way up into the air, and buries his face in the ground. It is only a matter of days probably, and you all will be seeing some video of this guy on the move.

Finally, BIG NEWS, Kai has said his first word (well kinda, pretty sure he doesn’t understands it, but it has been said nonetheless). “Dada,” that magical word has somehow been spoken by Kai; actually it’s more like “dadadadadadadadadadadad” for a couple of minutes. This may sound like mindless child blabbing to you, but for Kai this is the first formation of a phonetic sound. Before this it has been screams, laughs and sobs, nothing that sounds like a word, or even a letter. He finally is starting to repeat some of the sounds he has constantly been hearing. If it’s English, Japanese, or Mandarin, that is up for the judges to decide. I am leaning towards Japanese, that way when he starts talking, he can teach me to speak as well. I could use the free lessons.