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.