28 July 2009

First up we went over to Nursery Ui, for another quick reccie before Emily starts there next week. I really dislike the route I had taken so far, but now I got my bearings I realised I could get there by another route, albeit taking about the same time, but less hassle with lifts. Emily clung to my leg when we went in, though she was curious to look at what the kids were doing and Sophia was there too. For the first month Sophia will be there on Tuesdays, which should help Emily settle in a bit. Still, I am envisaging many episodes of heart-rending crying.


As it was 'only' high 20s with cloud cover, afterwards I decided it would be OK to play outdoors so we went to the playground in Akabanebashi. There was only one other child there, a boy of about three, but he did interact with her quite a bit, causing her to squeal happily a few times as they climbed up and slid down. Given the example of his agility, Emily was a lot more confident than usual on the equipment. As we left she blew a kiss to him, though he didn't notice, or respond to her wave either.

We continued on to Roppongi Itchome for lunch with Nick, where Emily wolfed down everything we gave her. On parting she volunteered 'I love Daddy', which must have sent him back to work with a spring in his step.

After a very late nap we didn't have time to go far afield, but popped over to Hon Shiba park, where we found that the fountain had stopped and two of the three pools had been drained. I hope that is only a temporary state of affairs. Nevertheless we had a full hour of fun, starting with a paddle then onto the pirate boat. There was one other child, a boy of two, there with his Chinese nanny, and we talked quite a bit. She was telling me about life in a Chinese village for a girl (awful), especially when she was one of seven girls and had only one brother. Apparently the family was bullied as a result. We anguish about the second class status of Muslim women, but forget that they are also despised in other cultures.


Emily was very confident again, and looked strong playing on the pirate boat. She was hanging from the bar above the top of the slide like a monkey. I'm afraid that I got complacent and she fell twice; the same Japanese mum caught her both times, though the second time Emily caught her jaw on the side of the slide and ended up with a bruise. Goodness knows what the other mum thought of me.