Sumo Jump

Monday was a rainy, rainy day; perhaps a preview of the "tsuyu" (Rainy Season) that will be upon us soon. For the first time in I don't know how long, Koji and I stayed in. All day. Without leaving the building. That gave us plenty of time for practicing Koji's current favorite sport, sumo.
When I tell people he's two and his favorite sport is sumo, they wonder if I've been forcing him to watch it on TV? It's very difficult to explain that this all started with VeggieTales Sumo of the Opera....
At least Koji has more or less learned how to pronounce "S" so that when he talks about sumo, people can understand. This is an improvement from his previous version of the word: "fumo".
Likely more thanks to his Papa than me, Koji even knows how to say the words that sumo refs say when the match gets underway. This is something like an American version of "play ball," I guess. I don't even know exactly how to spell it but it's something like "HAKIYOI!". Then, while the match is going, the ancient and tiny ref shouts, "Nokotta! Nokotta!" which means something like "the match isn't over yet!".
Koji's version of sumo involves an addition step, a kind of set-up jump that we have appropriately labeled "Sumo Jump". This is where he jumps and then lands with feet apart in his idea of a pre-bout position. He doesn't get much air under him when he jumps, but hey,
"NOKOTTA"....! He's got a lot more years of practicing and eating chanko nabe before his first real HAKIYOI.