9 October 2010

While I attended class, Nick and Emily went to a damp Hibiya park, where there was a railway festival on. She got to ride on a miniature Thomas.

Later, I took Emily to Sharon's apartment for a playdate with Taylor and Lottie. We hadn't seen them since February, but they were very welcoming and Taylor is a sweet little boy. Sharon had just landed a transfer to Mauritius, though they will not leave Tokyo until the spring. What a posting! It was dreary all afternoon, and at 5pm it absolutely pelted down so Ryan kindly gave us a ride home.

Nick and I went out after getting Emily to bed. We had a reservation in Nishi Azabu. First we had a swift couple of rather nice bottles of beer at a small wood-lined bar beneath the expressway, then went across the road to Gonpachi restaurant. We ate some truly delicious Japanese food though the predominance of other gaijin somehow felt wrong, and, oddly, I disliked being addressed by the staff in English. This establishment supposedly provided the inspiration for the venue of the massacre of the Crazy 88s in the film Kill Bill (my favourite flick ever), and though less cavernous and swish than the film version there was a certain likeness. We ducked across the road for one last cheeky beer before jumping into a taxi to get home and relieve Erna from duty.

7 October 2010

Emily and I took a bus to Roppongi. With traffic lights every 200 yards it took as long as it would have taken to walk it and I rued the loss of opportunity to burn calories, though I wanted to find out where the bus went for the future when we are buggy-free.

At Midtown Starbucks we joined up with Jo and the children and let the girls run riot there for a while before moving on to the park, where we met Bettina and Tim. Soon Emily and I had to dash off to meet Nick for a quick picnic lunch, then we went straight back to Midtown, where we found that the others were just finishing their lunch. The three children drove the many other people on the decked area crazy running around and yelling and I had to give Emily a smack when she defied me and picked a flower despite me telling her what the consequence would be ('if you take one more flower I will have no choice but to smack you - do you really want me to do that?' .'Yes'). It is only the third time I have given her a smack and the other times were with a nappy to cushion her buttocks, but I suppose I didn't do it that hard anyway with so many people around. She didn't cry at all, and therefore I have probably weakened the threat of it for next time. I need to find a more effective way to discipline on the relatively few occasions it is necessary with our normally angelic little girl.



Jo took off with a sulky Isy and a sleeping Cooper and Bettina and I took Emily and Tim back down into the park area. They spent ages at the fountains (Emily soon stripping off after Tim took his kit off).

I felt uncomfortable about people seeing her naked but I'm sure I spent a lot of time undressed at her age and no-one would have thought anything of it then. After that we took them to the landscaped area where they played Poohsticks and pretended to fish with long willow sticks.



Tim went into meltdown at snack time so Bettina took him home, and we left soon after. Emily seemed close to nodding off so, desperate to stave off a nap, I suggested a bus ride home, which did perk her up. Unfortunately we had to wait more than 20 minutes for the bus, though once aboard it got us home quickly enough.

6 October 2010

As the weather was favourable, Lydia held Mia's 3rd birthday party at Arisugawa Park. It was an exclusive affair, with Emily and Camille the only guests.

We hung out in the sandpit for some time, making sand birthday cakes and collecting acorns, then moved on to the playground. Emily refused to use the toilet once or twice, because she wanted to wee in the bushes, which is all very well but results in drips. I was very pleased with her when I asked her to count out the acorns and she accurately counted to the total of seven. Usually, she double-counts an item or loses interest and starts looking around even while she is saying the numbers.


We adjourned for a picnic when Emily said she was hungry at 11.30 (which surprised me after her large breakfast). It took a lot of encouragement to get her to eat her sandwiches; the usual story when eating with other children and in a place full of distractions. I had to resort to threatening no birthday cake in the end, which did the trick. After the food, we made some funky egg-box spiders, then with Mia becoming a bit tetchy, it was time to pack up.



Once the party broke up we went over to Julia's. The girls are playing more nicely these days and getting along very well most of the time, though what they like doing most together is squealing. As it was such a pleasant day we finished up at Amishiro park. The two of them got filthy, and loved it when I buried their hands and feet in the mud that passes for sand there. Emily got involved in a 'sandwich' of about seven kids of varying ages on the rollerslide, to her delight.

Emily was worn out after such a full-on day and it took so long to get her to eat her tea that I had to cancel the bath and give her a brief shower instead. Even so, when I tried to tuck her into bed she got upset that I wouldn't let her get out and look at Tokyo Tower's lights.

5 October 2010

Emily seems happy enough with being picked up from home for nursery now, though she is the first in the car so I have to have her ready for 9am. Jo and I now have coffee at Starbucks in Tamachi as we don't want to miss out on our weekly chat now the kids are collected from home.

At the pool I swam for 40 minutes continuously. Picking a lane with a fast non-stopping swimmer helps a lot as I do well with a bit of competition. I even did front crawl every other length, which I always find hard to sustain; I have always been convinced that I have small lungs since even at peak fitness I have struggled to take in enough oxygen.

After finishing I made my way to Shinjuku and the Kinokuniya book store. Steph had shown me this shop a couple of weeks ago and I had been impressed by the large selection of English language books. This time I wanted to see what kids' books they had. I was amazed by the huge collection they had - thousands, for all age groups - and wished I had known about it long before. I could have saved a fortune on postage from the UK and the prices in the store were about the same as they would cost at home.

4 October 2010

Renate had organised a TMG trip to Toy Kingdom so I decided to take Emily along as we were at a loose end, it was a damp and cloudy day, and she loves that place. We ended up staying for four and a half hours and I was worn out by the end, as was Emily, evidenced by her laying her head in my lap on the train home. I wish I had encouraged her to nap as she was a real handful for the final hours leading up to bedtime. We spent a large part of the time in the Sylvanian Families room playing with the little dolls houses and their cute occupants. I am glad that she prefers that to the saccharine Barbie-lookalike doll with its own section next door. Unfortunately she was too absorbed in play to listen to her body and we had wet pants twice. Before bathtime she also wee'd all over one of the sheep cushions, which I had inadvisedly let her sit on to watch a little TV - again, too focused on pleasure to stop for a loo visit.

3 October 2010

Nick was really exhausted, so we left him to a very long lie-in and went to Tamagawa wth Charlize, Cliff and Roy. Despite a forecast for cloud it was sunny, very warm and with not much breeze, so I regretted my thick jeans and heavy trainers. The girls loved the big open green space and explored a lot. In the long grass on the banks there were many grasshoppers and big, brown insects that flew a long way when disturbed (not sure what they were).

A little way along a few men in their sixties were flying homemade kites. One offered the girls a small kite each that were made from plastic carrier bags. They flew really well, excpet when the kids forgot to tug on them to keep them aloft. We were pleasantly surprised that he would not take them back and said we could keep them.

Back towards the station we stopped for lunch, at a great place which Nick and I have passed many a time and thought about visiting. Fish and chips and London Pride! No beer for me but will return soon with Nick on a Saturday (one of my two allowed booze days a week). The fish was very tasty and not a bad attempt at the British version. Deep-fried garlic cloves were an unusual and delicious addition, and it was even garnished with flash-fried rosemary sprigs. Not so good for my diet, though!

We carried on up to the wooded ridge for a play in the playground but Roy and I were beset by mozzies and the girls were getting tired anyway so we only stayed twenty minutes; Charlize dropped off before we even got on the train.

Once home, Emily did another huge poo in the toilet. The two-day cycle seems to be setting in. She has not used the potty for several days now and has had no real accidents either.

2 October 2010

It turned quite warm again - perhaps 26C. While I disappeared for my class Nick took Emily to Hon Shiba and they had a playdate with Charlize, Cliff and Roy. Then it was my 'shift' in the afternoon. I didn't feel like straying far from home so I took Emily up to Kamezuka park. We had lots of fun, exploring and finding many berries and leaves, plus a huge green grasshopper. The toy plane flew well but then got stuck in a tree. A boy came to the rescue and shinned up 10 feet to dislodge it. Due to the return to warm, humid conditions, there were many mozzies on the attack.