Joy and Worry

I've been thinking lately... I'm not usually a big worrier about things, but I do worry about some things, especially a big earthquake while we're in Tokyo. It isn't so much the idea of the earthquake itself, but what might happen to Gaku and Hana.

Before having Gaku and Hana, I didn't worry so much about this kind of stuff. I suppose I worried about family members (and still do), but it's not quite the same. I worry that something will happen to Gaku and Hana and I won't be able to get to them when they need me. I didn't have this feeling so much when I just had one child, but now that I have two... it would be difficult/impossible for me to carry both of them. I think I also think about it more since Gaku's dive off the top of the steps. Standing at the bottom watching and knowing he was going to hit those concrete steps and there was nothing I could do to help him was definitely not fun. They both are completely trusting and dependent on me (and Tak). That trust and the bond with your kids are such precious things.

I just love them both so much! I want to protect them as much as I can. And that does not mean being an overprotective parent who gets upset when another kid hits or bites Gaku at daycare. That's minor stuff and part of growing up and learning how to play nice with other kids. Both Tak and I laugh that kind of stuff off when the teachers come up and apologize profusely. (We also know that Gaku gives as good or better than he gets - something we talk to him about not doing.)

Kids really bring so much joy into your life! I just want to see them smile and laugh as much as possible.

Gaku's Birthday Party

Gaku had a fun birthday party, up until the end when he was over-stimulated and too tired.

We went to dinner at the local Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant with the Mukai family and Azusa, one of my friends from Macmillan. About 19 people including kids.

At the restaurant, we had a whole back section to ourselves. It's a type of seating where you take off your shoes, but the floor is sunken so it's like sitting on a bench at a table. Towards the end of dinner, the kids were done eating and getting restless. They were all crawling around below the table going crazy. Gaku was so sweaty!!

Then we went back to the Mukai house for cake and presents. In the middle of opening his presents, Gaku had a serious meltdown. One of his presents was a track for his cars. When he opened it, there was a small box that was a car that actually belonged to Kei. Gaku thought it should be his. He started having a huge fit, hitting Kei and flailing all over the place. Obachan took him outside for a couple of minutes and brought him back. We started eating cake. As Gaku ate his cake, we gave him the rest of his presents one by one.

Shortly afterwards, the kids were playing. Rio got out some cards. Gaku wanted to play with them too, but Rio didn't want him to. Rio hit Gaku, who then went crazy trying to bite Rio. He got the shoulder of his shirt. After I got Gaku to stop biting Rio's shirt, he grabbed one of the cards and stuck it in his mouth. *Sigh* At this point, I realized it was about 10:00. Gaku is usually in bed somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30.

We got him to agree to go home by promising he could watch some of his Zenmai Samurai DVD which he had just gotten as a present. He skipped his bath and ended up watching the whole DVD. I don't think he actually got to sleep until after midnight. I'll bet he goes to bed early tonight...

Laughs with Hana

Living above the bath is great. If Hana gets restless and cranky, I just take her downstairs. Obachan holds her for a while, all of the other customers talk to her, and her mood is instantly fixed.

Last night after Tak and Gaku were sleeping, Hana was getting a bit fussy. So I took her downstairs to the bath for her Obachan fix. Obachan was holding her and I started playing peek-a-boo with her. In Japanese, it's called nai nai baa - 'nai' means you're not there and then you say 'baa' when you show yourself. At the bath, I can just duck down below the wall. So I started doing this, saying nai nai and popping up when saying baa. Hana laughed pretty loud. It was so cute. Both Obachan and I started laughing. I kept doing it and Hana kept laughing. Obachan and I were laughing so hard that our sides hurt and we were both crying. We must have played for at least 10 minutes. Babies can be so fun!!

Jack Johnson Concert

Yesterday we (Tak, the kids, and me) all went to the Jack Johnson concert. It was outdoors at a place in Yokohama called Akarenga Park. There are a couple of old brick warehouses that used to be the main place for imports/exports in Japan and have now been made into shops and restaurants. It's right along the water.

Jack Johson did two concerts - one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Unfortunately, we didn't go on Saturday when the weather was beautiful and warm. We went on Sunday and it was quite chilly! But luckily, it didn't rain. It rained most of Saturday night and in the morning on Sunday, but then was just cloudy and cold in the afternoon.

The concert was a lot of fun. I'm really glad that I had bought and been listening to all of his old albums as well as the new one. He played a lot of songs from his old albums too. If I hadn't been listening to them, I would have known less than a quarter of the songs. The only thing that was too bad was he didn't play even one song from the Curious George soundtrack. If he had played just one song, Gaku would have really been excited.

As it was, we got there for the last couple of songs by the Hawaiian band and Matt Costa. I wish we had heard more of the Hawaiian band than Matt Costa. He's okay, but just doesn't quite do it for me. Gaku was having fun and dancing around during Matt Costa, but by the time Jack started playing we had been there for a little over 2 hours and Gaku was getting restless and wanting to go home. Tak had his hands full chasing him all over the place while I held Hana in the sling.

In the train on the way home, both kids were crying. It was a bit late; we didn't get home until almost 11 pm. Gaku just wanted to go to bed and Hana wanted to be held, nursed, and snuggle so she could sleep. Gaku had a fun, but it was just a bit too long for him. We should have gone a bit later, so we were there just in time for Jack. But it was a great concert!!

Sumo at Yaskuni-jinja

Yesterday, Gaku took a day off from daycare and I took him and Hana to see sumo at Yasukuni-jinja. It's an outdoor sumo ring and they hold this tournament once a year as part of a special spring celebration. It started around 10:40 with the lower-level wrestlers. They let in a maximum of 6,000 people. We went by taxi, because I couldn't figure out how we could go by train at that time of the day with 2 kids and a big stroller. It would still have been the tail end of the morning rush, which on the Mita Line is quite packed and not so friendly.

When we got there, we bought a couple of bento and were able to find a place to sit without too much trouble. Basically, it's packed dirt with large stones at the front edges of each level. The good thing is there are lots of little stones throughout the dirt, so Gaku kept busy with another boy collecting rocks for a long time. Gaku's pants were so filthy, and the pockets were full of stones. The wall at the end was also nice because it kept him from escaping, so I didn't have to chase him too much. Although I did have one slightly scary moment where I lost sight of him. He was also having fun running up and down the row talking to people. A guy at the other end gave him a pencil and a piece of candy, which he's running back with in the picture.

The bad thing about this ring is that it's a bit dangerous. Near us, a few elderly people fell trying to get down from the higher rows. One woman fell and hit her head on the rocks on the opposite side from us; another man landed on Gaku when he was playing down in the aisle.

From about 2:00 in the afternoon the more famous higher-level wrestlers start. Unfortunately, we had to leave just as they were about to start - Gaku had gotten a bit too bored and was about to meltdown/go crazy. It was a bit difficult to get out with the big buggy because of the way people were sitting and the fact that everyone else was trying to come in, not go out. At this time, there were people lined up for quite a while waiting to get in. We stayed a bit too long, though. By the time we got out of the sumo ring and towards the shrine entrance, Gaku was starting to meltdown. He basically cried the whole time we were walking from the shrine to the station, about 10-15 minutes. Because he was crying so hard, I couldn't quite figure out what he was saying. I know he wanted ice cream, which I had said we would get. By the time we got to the station, he was fine again.

We took the train to Shinjuku to buy him a new pair of pants first. His pants were so dirty I couldn't imagine taking him into a restaurant and wouldn't let him sit on the train. At Shinjuku, we made a quick stop into Baby Gap and bought some pants which he wore out of the store. Then we went and had a big sundae! Towards the end of eating the sundae, his eyes were starting to close. I nursed Hana and changed her diaper so I could put her in the carrier on the way home and let Gaku sit in the buggy. He was asleep before we got on the train.

I think we'll just stay home today as I'm a bit tired and tomorrow we're going on a "sakura walk". It's a walk set up by city hall to view the cherry blossoms along the river. It starts from 9am and is about 6.5 kilometers.

Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing)

On Sunday we went to a hanami party with the Mukai family. It was a bit chilly, but a lot of fun.

In the morning Tak went really early - about 7 am - to put out a sheet with our name on it. A bit later in the morning one of our friends who was going went to check out the spot. At first, he thought we might have a problem because all of the spots were taken. Then he noticed the huge sheet with Mu-ka-i in big characters. Later they took 2 big rugs to put on it. Tak made a huge table out of plywood.

I made Coca Cola chicken and Tak made dangos (a kind of sweet made from rice powder) to take to the party. Obachan ordered 40 onigiri (rice balls) and 3 kg of meat and cut up lots of veggies and fruit. There were a couple of tabletop gas grills for cooking the meat.

In all we had somewhere around 30-40 people - I think closer to 40. Mizuho, Shige, Rio, and Kei had just arrived back from Bali that morning. They arrived with all of their luggage, opened the door and saw all of the hanami preparations. Obachan told them let's go. They basically dumped their suitcases in their apartment and headed straight out again. I went slightly late because I was nursing Hana before we went.

When I arrived, Gaku was basically done eating and ready to run around and go wild with the other kids. I was trying to help him put his shoes on when he fell over and got sauce all over his pants - not just a little, but one pant leg completely saturated. He was upset and started crying, so I jumped on Obachan's bike and made a trip home to get him a change of clothes. When I got back, he was sitting there with his fleece jacket covering his bare legs eating fruit. He was very happy to have a clean, dry pair of pants. Right after that, he headed off to the park with the other kids. I think it's the first time he's gone off without an adult present. Yushi, the oldest, is about 10 now. Gaku came back with a huge hole in the knee of his pants and his knee all skinned up. What a tough day on his clothes! Someone asked him if his knee hurt, and he told them it was fine, it would get better. He's a pretty tough kid.

When we got back home, we hung out downstairs for a while. I decided I was sleepy and would come home to nurse Hana and take a nap with her. Gaku started watching Madagascar while Tak played on the computer. I slept from around 5 to 6:30, nursed Hana for a bit, and came out of the room around 7. Everything was quiet. I looked in the living room and saw Gaku and Tak completely sacked out. Hana and I went down to the bath and came back - still sleeping. Gaku woke up once at 3 am because he was wet, went straight back to sleep, and slept until Tak woke him up at about 6:30. He slept a little over 12 hours!

I took this picture this morning. Gaku is holding Hana, sitting in the Baby Bumbo chair I got for her. Hana was talking, actually more yelling. She was happy and excited to be playing with her brother. She has a really, really loud voice.

Kids!

Today was one of those days where I think, "do I really want to have more kids?" It just seemed impossible to get anything done... The amount of laundry with two kids is crazy, especially when you don't have a dryer and have to hang everything up to dry. I ended up taking laundry over to the laundromat dryers, so I could finally get caught up. By the evening, all the laundry was done. But guess what! The laundry basket is already full again. *Sigh*

It got to be lunchtime and I didn't feel like making anything so we got ready to go to a local restaurant called Puchi House. I went to grab Hana who was just starting to wake up and realized she was super poopy! It had leaked through her clothes and on the blanket she was sleeping on (the red one from Sarah). So, there was another load of laundry right there! I quick grabbed her, washer her up in the bath, and got her changed so we could go to lunch.

Laundry may be the biggest downside, but there are so many great things about kids. Gaku says the cutest things lately, and really tries to be quite the helper. He was "helping" me do laundry. After lunch we bought some ice cream at one of the local stores. We got one for Obachan too. Then we came back and sat down in the bath lobby and ate ice cream with her. Even though Obachan had her own ice cream (the same one as Gaku's since he picked it for her), Gaku was sharing his and offering her bites of his ice cream.

This evening after Gaku went to bed I was having a lot of fun with Hana. She was really talking and smiling. (See the video on Facebook.) It was one of those times when I could really relax with her and appreciate just how special she is, and how special our time together is.