Last Days of Summer

August 31st was officially the last day of summer. And, like last year, the weather changed noticeably and on schedule (albeit 1 day early). Temperatures have dropped from 30+ to the mid-20s.



We still having many clear, sunny days, but they are a lot more pleasant, so in fact early Autumn is a nicer season than summer. On the other hand, there is a definite end-of-holidays feeling: schools are starting again, the trains are crowded again everyone has returned from holidays, and the schedule of harvest festivals has started.



The splash-pool at Shinjuku Central Park finished on Sep 7th, so we made a point of going there to enjoy it for the last time this year .





And then we moved to the advenrture playground. Hannah is more sure in her climbing, and I let her climb up the big slide by herself for the first time, although she still doesn't want to slide down on her own.

Happy Birthday Granny

Happy Birthday to Granny who turned 70 years old in early September.






Here are some outtakes from Hannah's rehersals.

First Day of School

In the first week of September Hannah started at school for 2 mornings a week.

Rika and I took her to the classroom on her first day. She was quite stoic and didn't cry when we left her. Although later on she apparently has a little cry when the class went to the rooftop playground. I think she may have had an incident with another child because since then when we take her to a slide she 'acts out ' saying 'dame dame' ('don't don't') to other children.



The school is held mainly in English apart from specific Japanese lessons, and the students are a mix of foreign children, 'halfs' (mainly Japanese mums), and Japanese children whose parents want them to get a head-start in english. S o far Hannah has attended 4 times and we are already noticing her using more english. Also since they will be teaching Hannah to recognise her name in writing, we have had to standardize the spelling in english. (after 2 years - not that I'm indecisive you understand)



However it is clear that Hannah finds school intimidating and would rather stay at home with us. She has been noticeably more clingy since she started, and when we mention school she says "school kowaii" (school's scary). Also when I took her to school again this week she said "uchi kaerou" (lets go back home) when we got near the school, and then cried a lot when I left her.



Despite this initial reaction, I think the school is very good and we expect she will enjoy it more when she gets settled and used to the other children. They do lots of fun activities and I think she already has a good time when she is there.



There are 2 teachers for the class, one Japanese and one brit who both seem very nice.　　They send us a weekly e-mail telling us what they have done in class , including what books they are reading. We've bought the some of these books to read at home and I think their selection is better than what we would have chosen on our own.



We even got homework the first week. We had to make a 'family shield' about Hannah, her family, her home and her favorite things.