January 2010

Its Thursday but I've taken the day off and am blogging at home.



On Tuesday night Hannah surprised herself and us by suddenly vomiting in the bed (twice). She was then tired and vomiting through Wednesday, so Rika took her to the doctor. The diagnosis was that Hannah has caught a Noro virus that is going around.

I couldn't come home to help on Wednesday but Ive taken today off to help. Hannah isn't vomiting now but she wants to be cuddled all the time.




Although Hannah is sick and doesn't want to do much other than sleep, she is still pretty assertive.

Rule 1 - Hannah must be cuddled by Daddy today


Rule 2 - Hannah will not share the ice-cream.


Earlier in January.

Daddy explaining to Hannah where beer-guts come from. When we have a bath Hannah likes to tell me that my tummy is made of beer while hers is made of 'Baby-Dannone'


Hannah helping Dad learn a Japanese action song.


Singing a song together after work. I'm dresed casually because I've just cycled home.


Hannah feeding the cats.


Hannah and Minimi wth Dad.

Weekend in the park 2

On Saturday we went to Inokashira-park which is about 40min away by train but has a petting zoo and a small amusement park.



I enjoyed the zoo. We petted guinnei-pigs, walked through a big cage with lots of squirrels hunting for nuts, and watched the monkeys.


Hannah was less interested in the zoo and keen to get to the amusement park. She enjoyed riding on the carosel again (although she seemed slightly disappointed -perhaps because
it seemed to have 'shrunk' since last year).




The big highlight was driving go-kart.



Hannah at the wheel!


Hannah riding solo on a motorbike!


After we had lunch, Hannah got tired had a nap a sling on my back. Unfortunately she dropped her 'minimi' doll and I only realised this on the way home so we had to retrace our steps through the park to find it. Then we took the train to Shinjuku to buy some more 'Curious George' books for Hannah, and got home late at around 6pm.

Here are some Hiroshige prints of Inokashira park (although it looks a little different these days). Benten Shrine, Inokashira Pond, No. 87 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo



Benzaiten Shrine at Inokashira Pond in snow:

On Sunday we went out to the 'Haru no Ogawa' playpark. This is the opposite of the super-safe playground at Gaien. Here children can play with making things with wood, lighting fires, digging holes in the ground or making mud.



Hannah in the lookout (looking out for health-and-safety officers).






We bumped into Honoko-chan from 107 with her mum and baby sister Nanoha-chan. (Needless to say I had no idea who they were until I showed Rika the photos). This is Hannah playing with Honoko-chan



Once again Hannah wanted to play in the dirt.


She also found a family who were plying with blowing bubbles and confidently muscled in on the action.

Weekend at the Park

This month I've continued with the plan of taking Hannah out on Saturdays and Sundays to try to give Rika some time to herself. Luckily the weather has been sunny - if a little cold - and we have been able to have a nice days outside.

On Saturday we got out early and went by bike to the new playground at Gaien. We were the first to arrive at 10am.




So Hannah could have the big slide to herself.


When other children arrived we had to have a little chat about sharing.



Later we went on the big-kids slide which is wide enough for us both to slide down together. At first Hannah wanted to slide down with me, then she wanted me to sit at the top and push me down, and finally she slid down on her own.


Hannah took this video of me at the top of the slide.


The park has a food-stall with tables and chairs laid out in a sunny spot. So we could enjoy a nice junky lunch of cheesed nachos, 'nikuman' (pork buns), and corn soup.



On Sunday I took Hannah to the cycle track at Yoyogi Park. It was a big milestone for me because Hannah rode a bike by herself for the first time.


Hannah was less excited and after a few minutes wanted to stop, take her shoes off and play in the mud.



For now Hannah is more interested in playing with the bushes at the side of the track, than riding her bike around the track. (Hannah is saying she doesn't want to have a nap or go to school so she is still a bit traumtised)



So we left the bicycles and went up to the Tokyo Riding Club in Sangubashi to look at the horses. Hannah took this photo.

New Year 2010

As usual we spent New Year at Baba's house. Rika want down a day ahead of me on the 29th and stayed until Jan 8th, while I returned to Tokyo on Jan 3th to focus on the year-end work.

Baba had a full-house with us, Yu-chan & Makoji-chan, and Nao-chan, Ni-chan, Masumi and Chiyaki.

Hannah chatting with Makoji-chan



Hannah looking upset about something

Hannah and Musashi reunited.

New Years day breakfast. Nao-chan, Masumi and Ni-chan

As usual I forgot to get take proper family photos. Sorry about that.

Hannah made this sad face with her breakfast.


and this happy face.

Rika, Hannah returned to Tokyo with Baba who stayed with us for a few days. On Saturday we all MeijiJingu for 'hatsumoude' or first visit to a shrine in the new year. Last year 3.19 million people visited Meiji Shrine during the first 3 days of new year (!), making it Japan's busiest. We visited later, on Jan 9th , and as you can see we largely avoided the crowds.



Hannah and Baba playing with 'Nendo' (playdough)


Another important new year tradition in Japan is sending and receiving new year greeting card ('nengajou'). Rika made a family card for us to send. The tiger is because 2010 is the year of the tiger.

When we returned home we found this nengajou in the post from Hannah which she made at school. Awwwww!

Christmas

Christmas day isn't a public holiday in Japan. So Shimada-san came to look after Hannah for a few hours as usual. I took the day off and the plan was that Rika and I would go shopping together. But Hannah had other ideas and insisted that I join her trip with Shimada-san to the local sports center.

The sports center has a good indoor play area. This is Shimada-san and Hannah on the trampoline.


Hannah playing with Shimada-san


Hannah took these photos of Shimada-san




And this self-portrait


In the evening we went to Opera City for a short concert of Christmas carols.




Hannah seemed to enjoy it.


Rika cooked roast beef for Christmas dinner. We were joined by Kyo-chan.


On the 26th Kyo-chan and I took Hannah to Shinjuku park.


For Christmas, we gave Hannah a small and robust camera. These are some of the photos Hannah took:

December

Rika's mums group from the Red Cross Hospital had a Christmas party on Dec 19th. The children were all born in the same ward as Hannah in the same month so it was a good chance to compare progress (and swap complaints about the dads).



From left Yudai-kun, Narumi-chan, Sasa-chan, Natsuno-chan, Yukimura-kun, Hannah-chan.


Hannah also sometimes plays with Moyo-chan, who lives nearby. Moyo-chan is 6 months younger but they seem to have similar taste and get along very well. Here they are chatting like a pair of old men.


In order to give Rika get some time-off, I try to look after Hannah on Saturdays and Sundays from about 9:30 -2:30. I normally take her out on my bike to a park - Shinjuku central, Yoyogi Koen or the playground at Gaien near Sandagaya.

The new playground at Gaien has just been built where the beer-garden used to be (see 27-Aug post). It is about 20min away by bike, and we have to pay 400 yen to get in, but it is very good with big slides and other equipment, soft surfacs for safety, and it is sunny so it is not too cold even in December.

Hannah's favorite activity is to play in the sand with her shoes off. As you see her gumboots make excellent sand buckets.


Hannah loved taking sand to to the sink and playing with it in the water . She did this for about 40 min, while her dad tried to work out what the signs "suna wo irenaide ne" mean. (Eventually I realised 'suna' is 'sand' and 'irenaide' is 'don't put in').


After a few hours it was time to go home. Hannah didn't want to put her shores back on, and refused to wear her helmet. So we had a stand-off for about 30 min outside the park. On the positive side it was a good chance to develop empathy for mums.


Another weekend and Hannah climbing the big slide at Shinjuku central park with her 'minimi' doll. Recently she has been doing more imaginative play with her soft-toys - looking after them, feeding them, putting-on and changing nappies, telling them off (). Her 2 main toys are her 'minimi' (a ginger cat)and 'usa' (a black rabbit) and they have to accompany her everywhere.


Hannah loves washing her hands at the park,


Hannah and Usa. This time Hannah didn't want to get dressed. But Ive found that if you don't get her nappy (on the right end) she likes to pee on the floor. Perhaps because of Sasuke's bad example.


Recently I have resumed trying to play the shakuhachi, although it is very difficult to find time to practice. Due to my circumstances I play it with a unusual stance.


We managed to do some christmas shopping. This is a dancing cat we got for the Austins. Hannah wanted to keep it but she was outvoted 2-1.

School

Hannah started school in at the end of August and has now completed her first term. This was initially attending 9:30 - 12:30 2 days per week, but in the last weeks of term we put her in the 'extended hours' program until 3pm to give Rika more time.

Hannah dressed up for her class' Haloween party on Oct-30th


Hannah's class had an excursion to Yoyogi park on Nov-24th. They all enjoyed looking for acorns and leaves.


Hannah with her friend Rintaro-kun. Hannah seems to like looking after him. At the end of the excursion Hannah went over to Rintaro and gave him a big hug.


Rintaro-kun with his Mum. Rintaro is a cute and funny little boy. He calls Rika 'Hannah-mama'.


We had a parent-teacher meeting Dec-17th and received Hannah's first school report. She has settled-in well and is making good progress, although she doesn't yet speak much in English.

The next day Rika, Shimada-san and I all attended the school break-up party on the last day of the year. Here her class is singing the 'good-bye' song.




Then there was the 'Happy Holidays' concert. The 3 'little penguins' classes assembled in the basement gym and sang some songs in front of their proud parents.


One little penguin didn't join the group. When our Hannah was taken down to the gym with the rest of the class, she became upset, and I had to go and comfort her. So instead of joining the group, she sat on my lap by the side of the stage.


This is Lila-chan and Rintaro-kun from Hannah's class. Rintaro loves to dance and already has some cool moves.


It turns out that moving Hannah to the extended hours program in the last weeks traumatised her. In particular she didn't like being taken down at 1:30 to the nap room in the dungeon (basement) and being left in the dark to sleep. Most children cry at first and then get used to it, but our Hannah didn't and instead got more and more upset about being taken to school. Hence the tears at the break-up party when the class went down to the basement gym for the concert, and Hannah's refusal to give her teacher a good-bye hug on the last day!

During the holidays Hannah kept saying 'no school' and had too be reassured each day that she wasn't going to school. She is saying school is 'iyada' ('horrible')


Postscript: Hannah started back at school in January. We agreed with her teacher to stop taking her to the nap room, and kept telling Hannah. And after a few days it was back to 'school tanoshikatta' ('school was fun').