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On being a new father…

I have finally gotten around to writing this entry … (again.) To be honest (well mostly honest) I had quite a large entry written up, but for some unknown reason it died. Ug.

Oh well… let’s try some recall here. I am writing this after getting back from a 2 day trip to Tokyo. Although it was only a 1 night stay, Thursday to Friday, it gave me a chance to reflect on a few important things.

What it is like to be a father
Mario Kart DS

I will begin with the first part. This is only a small point but I guess one of the biggest changes I have noticed is how much one looks forward to going home. Not that I didn’t before (Hi Kiko!), but it is quite amazing to go home after work and have Noa there and how he is clearly excited to see me. Especially now that he is smiling and attempting to fly, it really is quite a feeling. Corny? Maybe. But true.

So, suffice it to say I missed both Kiko and Noa a lot while away in Tokyo. How could you not miss this?

While we are still on the topic of choice around here (Noa!) have a look at some pictures from our new camera. I was a little skeptical about the quality of picture vs. the price of the camera, but since we got a really good deal on the Canon Kiss N (Rebel GT or something) we figured we would get it. I still am shooting on automatic (until I figure out the manual features) but the pictures are looking great! Have a look.

Another thing before I forget: Noa’s name.

In Japan after a baby is born the father is expected to write the baby’s full name on a piece of paper to signify that a name has been chosen (I made that explanation up.) Anyways, here is my attempt at Noa’s name. Not the greatest, but I went through 5 or 6 sheets of paper before coming up with this one. (A big thank you to Komuro-sensei and Arntzen-sensei.) I would be way better at writing Japanese if I were able to absorb all of their advice.

This is getting so long… exciting eh? Now on to some more exciting topics. Mario Kart DS

The new Mario Kart game for the Nintendo DS is amazing. Since it takes advzantage of the DS’s wireless abilities, you can play with up to 16 people at once (who have a DS around you.) Only one person needs a copy of the game. Even better is that if you have a wireless internet hookup, the DS will hook up the wireless internet and you can play with up to three other people from around Japan, or around the world! The game is amazing, makes use of the two screens very well, and the multiplayer is smooth. I don’t know if it is released in Canada yet, but when it does get online and let’s play.

My friend code is: (oops I don’t know it! e-mail me!!) Unfortunately I suck. Ok, that’s all for now.

I AM GETTING davidandkiko.com 2006 back on track as we speak. emoticon My other computer is still in parts but I found a partially saved backup of the work I had done before the crash. Wish me luck.

Miss you guys all. As does Kiko… Noa is doing well and we are looking forward to going back to Canada soon.
love, David, Kiko, & Noa. emoticon
ps. and just for good measure, here is a present for (from?) Tracy & Thomas: (THANK YOU!!)

dog suit and totoro bread

The title says it all.

Noa’s dog suit pyjamas and totoro bread.

… and you complain about no updates emoticon

Here is a picture of Noa looking at his favourite thing in the entire world. I mean that… he clearly loves it more than he loves us. His new mobile.

Kiko and I are having a heated discussion about who took that picture. I think it is too good for her to have taken. emoticon Clearly my work…

Kiko’s belated birthday present

Hello!

Once again I am astounded by some of our astute readers. Apparently I made a promise to show you all my present to Kiko because I claimed it was really sweet. It was really sweet! Kiko got it when we arrived back in Kagawa after visiting her family in Tanegashima.

What is it you ask? It is a Noa book. My Mac has a photo program called IPhoto which is like Picasa (FANTASTIC PROGRAM!! get it!) and that allows you to organize photos. It also lets you compile them into a book. You can choose pages, layout, length, design… it’s actually quite flexible. The finished product is a bound book. It was very reasonable and looks great. So in answer to your question and my earlier boasts, I got kiko a book called "noa" which are pictures from Noa’s first few weeks here in Japan.

Have a look…

People have also been wondering about Noa’s hair… emoticon

It’s dark but has some incredible highlights in the sun… have a look!

ps. My computer is still broken Once its fixed I will get back to work on davidandkiko.com 4.0 (davidandkiko.com 2006) … another update will be put up in two days! See you then!!

The sadness that is my computer…

Oh god… it hurts! My super-cool Linux/MythTV/webserver computer blew up. Really really badly. I am actually pretty depressed. Why you ask? Well not only was it months of work (not to mention most of the changes for the new website && some non-backed up Noa video) but also because I was 10 seconds away from ensuring that everything was backed up. I am not exaggerating. I had just spent $100 on some backup stuff and was about to install it when POOF.

ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Other than that, things are pretty good. I have been lax on the updates because I was hoping to roll out the new website. That won’t be happening for awhile longer… I was also focusing more on davidandkiko updates as opposed to just Noa, but since all those pictures are gone too, you are going to have to suffice with the January update of Noa (with the pictures that were still in my cameras memory.)

For this weeks update. 1st there is a picture of me and Noa… just because.

Next… apparently some people were concerned about Noa’s hair standing up. It stands up all the time. It looks just like Hanawa (japanese musician). See what happens when (Kiko) makes his hair stay down…. he becomes sad emoticon

Even more people didn’t believe that Noa can actually smile or laugh (ahem!!) apparently I am mistaking this for gas. So this ones for you.

And finally …. THANK YOU SCOTT AND STACEY!! We actually had pictures of all the stuff you guys have sent us but its gone now (read earlier in this post… emoticon ) This one was still on my camera so give us a little bit more time to re-take them. For now have a look at his cool Roots-gear (not to mention a really cool jumper that we will show you soon… you’ll like it… trust me!)

That’s all I got. I am actually quite sad about my computer. because i am a loser. I am going to get back to fixing it… sigh.

Who is An-pan Man?

So some of our more astute readers have noticed that Noa has a bib (and a few other things!) with An-pan man on it. Who is An-pan man you ask? (and for those of you who didn’t click on the link I so nicely provided on his name!), I’m here to tell you.

An-pan man (fermented-bean bread man) is one of Japan’s most beloved cartoon characters along with Doraemon and Sazae-san. He has a bunch of friends including Toast-man, Melon-bread and some other equally as ~~retarded~~ cute friends.

He of course feeds his friends with his head (I thought he let them bite a chunk right out of his head, but apparently it is more complex. Kiko quickly informed me that he actually picks bits of his head off and gives them to his friends to eat. Oh. My bad.

You must also remember that his weaknesses are water and anything that makes his head dirty.

You crazy feremented-bean bread man.

Don’t say I never taught you anything. davidandkiko.com is an educational experience.
Now watch Kiko’s brother destroying me at shogi, the best game on earth.

A happy baby

Apparently people don’t believe that Noa is a happy baby. Something about a video of him crying and pictures of him giving death looks to people.

He is a happy baby. I have proof:

I don’t think babies get much happier than that.

We have also been meaning to take pictures of Noa with all the cool stuff you guys have sent him (THANK YOU!!) unfortunately we are lazy and busy cleaning up after him. Here are a few ones from quite awhile ago (Tracy, yours is coming up next!!). We can’t thank everyone enough for sending all this cool stuff. It means a lot to us.

And of course Noa wouldn’t be Noa without all of his knitted gear (that Kiko made for him.) He makes knitted wool look cool.

That’s all I got. But visit soon… I have a super cool video of my IPOD Nano playing videos (despite not being a Video IPOD) and great stories about my computer. emoticon I am so cool. are you on skype yet? go now!

My Favourite Picture

This was meant to be another post, but someone posted asking me for my favourite picture of Noa.

Well… here it is.

Our New Years in Tanegashima

How exactly was our New Years in Tanegashima?
We figured your might be interested so I put up a few pictures to show you how it all went. Being from a more rural island, Kiko’s family was very into tradition, so we did a number of things from making rice cakes, to planting pine trees at the entrance of doorways, to visiting a shrine (or temple… or something). Noa has grown quite a bit in the 3 weeks since we have been here and has put on a lot of weight. He is getting stronger and is becoming quite expressive.

We hope you enjoy the pictures!

New Years in Tanegashima

We also thought you might like my brilliant photography. If you have any complaints, its the camera’s fault. seriously. im perfect.

Noa : Up close and personal

Happy New Year … & stuff…

Ug…. this is coming a little bit later than I hoped but,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! emoticon

明けましておめでとうございます！

I am going to try not to cry as this is the second time I am writing this (stupid browser crash!), but suffice it to say we want to wish everyone a very very happy new year. Things have been quite hectic here as we are getting ready to leave Kiko’s island (we are going back to Kagawa today!!) and Noa has been keeping us quite busy. We are both looking forward to going back to Kagawa, but Kiko is going to miss her family and the help that have been giving to Noa. We aren’t very excited about the 20cm of snow and 6 degree house waiting for us there either…

Other than that, things are quite good! Noa is doing well (I’ll send pictures!) and we have been very busy preparing the new website. I know I have been saying this for the better part of 6 months, but the website is almost done! People have seen it and I think it looks quite good. In the next few days it should be up and should make it easier to update, a lot more interactive and fun for you guys, and be chalk full of photo galleries chronicling our lives over the past 2 years (with regular photo gallery updates!). So look forward to that!

A little bit of upsetting news however… we spent about 1 billion hours making Christmas cards and 年賀状 (nengajou) for pretty much everyone we know. Apparently only about 20% have arrived…! I am hoping that this is on account of the holiday season and the fact that we sent them fro Kiko’s island in the middle of the Pacific (I made that up.. I don’t know what Ocean we are in!) but expect them soon. In the meantime here is the christmas card you will be receiving, with a special note written in chicken scratches by me on the back. Enjoy!

That’s about it for now. Expect a whole lot of excitement/pictures/changes in the next few weeks here at davidandkiko.com. We also look forward to an exciting 2006 with lots of changes for the website, us (job/where we live), and of course for Noa, who is on track to be a strapping handsome young boy (which is no surprise considering who his pappy is.)

We really appreciate everyone who keeps visiting the site and look forward to chatting with you through the comments and the chat box, etc.

In the meantime, go get skype. get it now. best thing ever. ask mike.
love,
David & Kiko & Noa

Substance…

Once again the people have spoke… and I have listened.
"We want to know more about Noa."
"What is he doing?" "What is he like?"

"We want more substance in your posts."

Ok. I get it. Here is a general idea of how Noa works.

Noa Kenichiro Bennett

Lots of arm flapping. He really likes the flapping.
He is attentive and loves to be held.
He likes musical instruments.
He flaps his legs when he is bored of flapping his arms.
He has learned to smile!

First things first, he is a very advanced baby. I am not joking. He has been able to hold his own neck up since he was born. He is very good at sucking things. He can sort of pick things up. He has developed a sense of security when you hold his hand. He can smile when he is happy.

Now I don’t know much about babies, but from what I have been told, these are all characteristics of a 2 to 3 month old baby. Way to go Noa!

Now, a little bit more about our time in Tanegashima.

Here is Noa has been able to meet his 3 cousins. Hina, Kana, and Shuichiro. They love him a lot and even 10 month old Shuichiro is very gentle around Noa.

The following are some pictures of Noa’s first plane ride, his time in Tanegashima, and spending time with his cousins.