1995 – The Year in Review

Well, in 1995 we once again found ourselves the proud owners of a new model-year baby.

Michelle Mayumi (Michelle being the female version of Michael, which means "dashing, debonair, road salt" [wait a minute, I must be looking at the wrong place in the name book] - that is, "near to God"; and Mayumi which is a combination of two Chinese characters - one meaning "truth" the other meaning "archery" or "bow" [yes, I know that literally "truth archery" doesn't make any sense but I - by virtue of the poetic license I received at the DMV - will translate it as "truthful aim" or perhaps "my wittle bittle baby buttercup"]) was born Tuesday, May 9th (that's 5/9/95 - a palindrome of sorts, or maybe a conundrum) at 10:32 am (which was pretty good, considering when we called up to schedule the delivery they said it would be between 9:00 - 12:00). Actually, I'm not joking about that. See, Sugayo's water broke early again (Monday afternoon) and the doctor's said "If you don't go into labor by Tuesday morning, come to the hospital for an induction." We arrived at the hospital promptly at 7:30 am wearing our little elk hats (we had misunderstood what they meant by "induction"), they administered the medicine to induce labor at 8:00 am, and - boom - by 10:30 we've got our new little baby girl. Actually not so little, 7 pounds 2 ounces - a keeper, as they say.

Because she was born big and healthy, we got to take this her home with us right away (unlike Paul, who just wouldn't be convinced that he would get the same kind of service at home as at the hospital). ‘Right away’ is a bit of an understatement - they pratically kicked us out of the door the day after the delivery. It's this insurance thing - in and out within 24 hours (well 36, anyway). I guess they think what's the big deal I mean you've only spent the better part of a day rearranging your pelvis bones and exerting more force than a backhoe to bring a new human into the world. No reason you should be pampered.

Sugayo didn’t stay out of the hospital long, however. About a month after we brought our chubby, cheerful, cherubic bundle home; Sugayo noticed she (Sugayo) was getting short of breath. ‘Chasing the kids around will do that to you,’ I said. ‘It happens even if I just brush my teeth before the kids are up,’ she said. ‘Oh,’ I intelligently replied. So we took her to the doctor and we found out that aside from breathing - there’s something else lungs do naturally - collapse. Just like that. So Sugayo had to have her right lung re-inflated (which takes a bit more doing than getting your radials pumped up at the corner gas station). And while she was in the hospital Mark came to visit and help out with the kids for a few days. Sugayo recovered after about ten days and was 200% better, and Mark and I proved (contrary to popular wisdom) two men really can do the work of one woman.

So after an eventful and somewhat rocky start, we now find ourselves a family of four - twice the number of kids, ten times the work. Paul alternately loves his little sister and uses her as a piece of furniture. Mayumi thinks her older brother is pretty much the funniest guy on the face of the planet. He cracks her up (even when he is sitting on her, using the top of her head as a Tokyo stand-in for his Godzilla doll - especially when he is sitting on her, using the top of her head as a Tokyo stand-in for his Godzilla doll). Sometimes the way she’s cracking up will crack him up and we get into an unbreakable cycle of laughter and giggling. If mom or dad should happen to be trapped by it - they’re lost.

Mayumi - now about 7 months - has become a very efficient creeper (as opposed to crawler). She can get from point A to point B very quicky, especially if point B is something she is not supposed to have and should not put in her mouth. Paul is constantly working on new ways of making different pieces of toys fit together. Its bit analogous to how he’s trying to solve the puzzle of language: stick the word in there and see if it fits. Although he is getting a little mixed up with the two languages. Example: he was learning the parts of the face: nose, eyes, mouth. ‘Paul where’s your nose’ - he points to his nose. ‘Paul where’s your mouth’ - he points to his nose again. Oh well, close enough. Now in Japanese: hana, me, kuchi. ‘Paul, hana wa dore desu ka?’ - he points to his nose. Alright, he’s getting the hang of this! A week or two later, we’re out in the backyard and I point to the flowers and I say ‘flowers’ (I’m a pretty predicatable guy at this stage in my life). Paul says ‘fuhwahfuh’ - again, close enough. Now it turns out flowers in Japanese is a homonym for nose (they’re both ‘hana’) so I guess I should have seen it coming when I pointed to the flowers, said ‘hana’, and Paul pointed to his nose. What we didn’t expect a week later, was when Sugayo was at a friend’s house, pointed at some flowers, and Paul said ‘nose’! Oh well, he’ll puzzle it out eventually.

Amazingly, I have been at the same job now for over a year (almost two). Now there’s commitment. Contrary to my predictions based on all of my previous jobs, CBS did not go bankrupt - but they were bought out by Westinghouse and ceased to exist as a separately owned company. Hmmm. On second thought, maybe I am batting 1000.