20 months old

I was informed by a friend that last week was a year ago since I last wrote on this blog. In general, I typically don't write much in public forums anymore. This is for various reasons which I won't go into hear, but as always, I wish I could write more.

Kenzo is now 20 1/2 months old, almost time to stop annoying everyone around my by stating his age in months. His speech is finally picking up, after overcoming mama and papa's obviously intentional efforts to confuse him by using more than one language in the house, on a dizzyingly consistent basis. But when a new word comes along, whether it be in English or Japanese, it's thoroughly exciting and we try to take advantage of it as much as possible. He's still a bit plump, but we're still in the "that's okay, it's so adorable" zone. He's running around the house enough now that you'd imagine he'd work the extra pounds off, but he just loves mama's cooking too much to turn anything down. The amount the kid eats astounds us both; he literally eats more than Ach does at basically every meal.

We'll be moving to Alexandria, VA in a month. My company is starting a new office, and Asako and I will be two of the three "founding members" (read: guinea pigs). It's a great opportunity but certainly isn't coming without a great deal of heartache for leaving a town we love, and family and friends we thought we'd be around forever. There will be an entirely new set of challenges and opportunities for us all, including Kenzo. We'll be sure to keep you all (read: both) up to date on how the new chapter of our lives unfolds...