3 February 2010

Julia and I had planned to spend the day in Odaiba, and I had also invited Bettina along. But on the day, Julia had to cry off as she and Charlize had had a very bad night. After a ride on the monorail round the edge of the bay and over Rainbow Bridge, Emily and I met Bettina and Tim at the mums and kids cafe, Mamatoko, in Aquacity. I had been wanting to go there since it opened a few months ago, as it is a buffet-style cafe with a semi-supervised play area.

After being briefly transfixed by a TV showing episodes of Chuggington with Japanese narration, Emily and Tim eagerly explored the various toys there, with Emily particularly taken with the play kitchen. After a while we managed to drag them away for some lunch. Though disappointed, I wasn't that surprised that Emily ate poorly as she is going through another phase of reluctant eating (possibly due to teething) and rarely eats well when we are out anyway.

The dreaded nap time came round, and Bettina and I loaded the two of them into their strollers and walked round behind the artificially-created beach, during which time they jabbered away to each other as we chatted. After half an hour there was no sign of either of them giving in to the sandman; we did circuits around the outside of the shopping mall and eventually after an hour they both dropped off. While they slept we shopped in ToysRUs, something I would not consider doing with a tired toddler as one of us would end up in tears for sure. They woke just as we completed our purchases, and we whisked them off to Starbucks for a snack before they could register that they were in toy heaven.

Parting with our companions, Emily and I retraced our steps on the monorail and carried on to Julia's, for a pre-planned tea. Cliff was away on yet another business trip and she needed a little evening company. The girls had lots of fun, though neither of them ate much dinner as they were to excited. Bathtime was curtailed because the water was too hot for Emily and she got upset. After reading some bedtime stories, it was time to rush Emily off home for a very late bedtime. It had certainly been a chilly day, and outside I found that it had started sleeting and snowing; some hailstones fell as I trotted briskly back. Emily wasn't in bed until 9pm, but was still genki and wanting to play.