21 February 2010

Nick was off to Narita early for his flight to London. He will be back Friday evening so most of the week will feel pretty much as normal, now that he is home so late every night, but Sunday yawned before us. Luckily, Julia had asked us to go along to the gymnastics class that Charlize attends, so I signed up for the free trial.

There were about 30 kids under three in the Tiny Tots 'I Can' class, held in a school gym hall near Arisugawa park. We all warmed up a bit and then they split us into three groups. First, we went over to the large trampoline and sat the kids around the edge. American Mr Lee, the brains behind the outfit, got us to give them turns bouncing. Emily was nervous about going over to him and holding his hands as she bounced tentatively a few times. The second time around she held my hands and tried to do a bounce, sit and stand motion. I think she liked it but was a bit too shy to get much out of it the first time.

After ten minutes or so we moved on to the next station, where an obstacle course had been set up. There were low and high bars to walk across, a small trampoline, bars to hang from and soft blocks to climb and do forward rolls down. Emily had relaxed now and really enjoyed this section.


Lastly, we played with footballs, kicking, and throwing and catching, though it was hard to get the girls to do what the instructor asked as they just wanted to run around and squeal. The three quarters of an hour class was over very quickly. I am quite tempted to sign her up for a course, but it starts at 9.30 Sundays, which would be a bit of a struggle to manage, and also because at current rates it works out at nearly 20 pounds for only 45 minutes. Ouch!


After the class we went over to the playground in Arisugawa park for a while; it was a warm, sunny morning so it was packed there. Julia asked if we would like to join them for lunch in Azabu Juban somewhere, so I thought we might as well tag along. Unfortunately, Emily was not interested in the Japanese meal of fish and rice at all, though the fish was very moist and tasty. She rarely goes for plain steamed rice. Charlize, by comparison, wolfed nearly all of Julia's lunch. I felt quite stressed out, and we left as soon as we'd all finished eating. I managed to get Emily to eat an onigiri on the way home and not for the first time wondered why she would eat rice in that form but not from a dish.

We had a quiet afternoon around home. I plucked up the courage to try the trike for a second time. Emily was keen, but as soon as we went down to the car park to practise she started making a fuss and just wanted me to push her. I tried my best to teach her how to peddle, but I think the trike is just too heavy for her to move by herself yet. Instead, I got her to steer, with some success. However, it was all very frustrating and stressful so the session was over after only quarter of an hour.