Even if Masashi doesn't look very Japanese (at least not when compared with other Japanese babies), there are several things that indicate otherwise. Besides Masa speaking Japanese, he has taken a recently liking to Sumo wrestling. Now, it is unfair of me to equate Japanese-ness with interest in traditional Japanese sports/culture, seeing as how many Japanese are not interested in Sumo and only the smallest minorty will ever even try Sumo. But, Masashi has shown some interest in this unique traditional sport. He loves watching Sumo on TV, and will squat like the Sumo wrestlers do before they go at each other. So, I did the squatting thing, too, and got Masashi to push and wrestle against me! I only had to do the squat and rush/push once and he did it back. Now, when I go into the squat, he smiles and rushes at me, trying to push me back!

Masashi is climbing over the fence and up the stairs all the time now. He has also learned how to jump, probably from me holding him up on Ritsuko's big yoga ball and letting him bounce. He hasn't gotten outside much, not seeming to like the cold or snow too much. But, when he goes shopping with us, he always loves watching any kind of construction going on (and there is always construction happening somewhere). The other day, he stood outside in the cold for over 20 minutes watching some giant cranes. When Ritsuko finally got him to leave with her, one of the construction workers tooted the truck horn to Masa!

It's snowing pretty hard tonight, so we should have a nice bit of snow on the ground tomorrow morning. I have the next 2 days off, so maybe we'll get Masashi out in the snow again. We'll also be putting up the Christmas stuff! Fun.

New Pictures: Album 2005-11-22