Christmas Day

...started out with coffee and present opening. Ariana loved her truck, after she got over falling on it and hurting her nose. Now, you may think that a truck is a strange present for a 3 year old little girl, but considering she tries to take any truck she sees in the playground and commandeers any she finds at any home we go into, we felt it best to have one in the house.


Ariana piles her new DVD's into the back for a ride....
...then takes a break to share some Cheerios with Tess....



After a leisurely morning, we made our way into Ginza for Chinese food and "Meet the Robinsons", Ariana's first movie in a movie theatre. She loved both. Baba-san and I both got choked up at the beginning of the film, as there is a heart wrenching (at least for us) scene where the main character is left by his mother in a box securely wrapped in a blanket in front of the orphanage door.



After stopping for some little booties filled with treats for the kids, we made our way over to Jason and Clare's for Santa, singing and sustenance........

Ariana gets a treat from Santa.....

Baba san and our host in a unique rendition of "Bridge Over Troubled Waters". Who knew our first Japanese Karaoke experience would be in the privacy of a friend's home, thanks to Celine bringing the Christmas present she received from her husband.

Adventures in Potty Training

Ariana: poopy........potty.......

Mama getting very excited thinking she may actually be ready to do put the two together and actually poo in the potty.

Mama: let's go!!!!....

Ariana and Mama run to the bathroom, laughing. Mama gets the child seat positioned on the big toilet:

Mama: do you want to sit on the potty?

Ariana: NO!!!!

Mama pulls out the child potty:

Mama: do you want to sit on your potty?

Ariana sits, pushing the horn on the front on it and laughing. After less than a minute, she announces:

Ariana: Finished!!!.........................................Diaper!

There is absolutely nothing in the potty. Mama decides on the next course of action.

Mama: Do you want diaper or potty?

Ariana: potty

Mama: ok, sit down.

Ariana: NO!!!!!

Mama: ok then, diaper?

Ariana: no, potty.

Mama: ok, sit down.

Ariana: NO!!!!

Mama: ok then, diaper?

Ariana: no, potty.

Mama: ok, sit down.

Ariana: NO!!!

Ariana runs into her room and reaches the closet where a massive supply (thanks to Costco) of Diapers are held. Mama pulls one out -a green one with stripes (yes, the Pampers people are getting very sophisticated in their designs).

Mama: this one?

Ariana: NO!!!!

Mama: how about some underpants (a long shot, but what the hell)?

Ariana: NOOOOOO!!!!

Ariana then goes into the closet and pulls out the blue ones. They are put on. She runs away and ten minutes later.....no, not even, more like five minutes....after a certain scent is quite obvious..

Mama: do you have poopy in your pants?

Ariana: Go away mama, go away!!!!

She runs away and around. At this point, Mama is reduced to sitting on the floor, silently apologizing to her own mother for every bad thing she ever did when she was a child, because she knows it is "Mother Karma" - whatever bad thing you did to your mother comes back doubled - that is responsible for her child's behavior.

Mama: Can we change poopy pants now?

Ariana: NO!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

as the child along with her smelly bottom disappear from the room as she races into another part of the apartment. Mama clearly hears the sounds of laughter as she holds her head in her hands wondering if a child can get into college while still wearing diapers........

..........the saga continues...................

Happy Christmas........

..... the sign read as I made my way into Tokyo Hands, an amazing store here in Tokyo that has everything from stationary to camping supplies on 8 fully stocked and always crowded floors. Christmas in Japan - shopping, shopping and more shopping. Apparently, it is a big date night here, while New Year's Eve is meant for family gatherings. We will be spending the early part of the day celebrating the old fashion Jewish way, with Chinese food and a movie. I found an American animated movie showing (in English) and a Chinese restaurant that serves lunch, so we will be venturing into Ginza. After that, we will be heading to our friends house for the Catholic (or in their case, British Protestant) celebration. Yesterday, we stopped by our French friend's house for some champagne and pate - it is fun experiencing all types of celebrations. Last week, Ariana and I made our way to the local children's hall for their Christmas celebration - filled with lots of people dressed in costume and singing songs.

For your viewing enjoyment, here is Ariana at her school Christmas celebration...

Merry Christmas to all!!!!!!!!

One of the Moms

Yesterday after school, Ariana and I joined several of the other mothers and children for a visit to the local Jido Kaikan (Children's Hall). About nine of us in all, mostly Japanese except for myself, a woman from Hong Kong and one from India, made the short walk from the school to the hall. It seemed to take forever as seven children ranging in age from one to four years old, tripped and fell and ran and jumped and cried their way there, with the parents patiently herding them along.


We stopped at the local grocery store to buy snacks. Having experienced the kindness of Japanese moms, as they always bring enough to share, I ran to the drink isle and bought enough containers of milk for everyone. Little did I know that in this kind of situation, everyone just bought their own. So, I now have many little bottles of milk (it turned out to be soy milk) in my fridge.


The hall has a room specifically for snacks, so we all filed in, taking off our coats and shoes and settling down on the mats to enjoy what we bought. Ariana had about three of the little bottles and ate her cookies, enjoying it all. The kids ate, drank and ran around, the moms talked and I took in the experience of spending time with women I was just beginning to know.


One of the little boys spilt his drink on his pants and his mother took them off to try to clean them off. While in his underwear, he started prancing around, grabbing various parts that really shouldn't be grabbed in public. We all laughed, his mother blushed, and I said "In the United States, there are women that pay good money for that". No one laughed. They looked at me as if they were trying to understand what I was saying - confused that their knowledge of the English language was failing them.

It dawned on me that here in Japan, male strippers did not exist. Just how I was going to try to explain without offending someone I didn't know, but I bravely made my bravest attempt. When I mentioned that there are places in the United States where men dance for women, one of the Japanese women I was with, looking started, said "you mean men with big chests with muscles?" I said "yes", thinking this particular woman, as demure as she seemed to be, had a wild side that was just waiting to come out - perhaps in the United States.....at a place called "Chippendales".............
.....preferably after a couple of ladylike cocktails.

Hanukkah

Tonight, we lit the Hanukkah candles and Arny, getting nervous about having lit candles on the dining room table in the vicinity of our three year old very curious daughter, asked if he should blow them out. I replied "no" as this a major no-no in Hanukkah rules of behavior - they must go out on their own. The following exchange occurred:

mama san: I just realized that every year at this time you read about fires caused by Christmas tree lights, but you never read about fires causes by lit Hanukkah candles.

baba san: Perhaps you are indeed God's chosen people.

Jetlag Hell

I have been up since 1am. Ariana cried out and I went in to comfort her. She went back to sleep quickly (until 3 that is) but I was wide awake. Every night since we have been back has been similar and every day I swear I will never leave this time zone again.

We arrived on Thursday and actually had the only decent night sleep - I think we woke up around 3am. Ariana had a half day of school on Friday because of parent-teacher conferences, so I kept myself busy until it was time to pick her up and have ours. The teachers love her and while she needs to continue to work on her speech (and her circles, as her drawing seems to be limited to many lines across the page) she is doing very well. Apparently, she follows directions well, so well in fact that she is a role model for the other children. I don't know how beneficial that is at the age of 3, but I am hoping I can use it on her college applications - they like that sort of thing, right?

Ok, so back to my lack of sleep. The weekend passed without me stepping outside, baba san taking up the slack beautifully. I thought by now there would be some semblance of normal sleep pattern, but the only thing that seems normal is that I am learning how to function on 4 hours of sleep a night.

Which leaves me lots of time to complain about the weather. It is cold here. Not so much outside, but in our apartment. While Tokyo apartments are built to withstand fairly large earthquakes, one might actually freeze to death waiting for the "big" one. Single pane windows, no insulation and drafts, drafts, drafts, make for one uncomfortable situation.

While in the bathroom trying to put that foamy tape on the door to block the 5 mile an hour winds that come in through the cracks, I felt a breeze coming from another direction. I opened the cabinets under the sink and there, surrounding the pipe, was a gaping hole - the wind was blowing - in my bathroom!!

No wonder the Japanese invented the heated toilet seat. And may I say it has come in very handy these days.

While there is no brightside in living in a drafty apartment, there is one in getting up so early - watching the sun rise:


and then watch while the fall folliage comes into view right outside our window:

"We Go Grandma's House"

We were able to visit with nana and gramps in Naples for a lovely lunch. Ariana charmed the staff and received candy and two bracelets for her adorableness. Add this to the gifts given by her admirers at my mother's place and she made out quite well. Frankly, I was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea of her getting gifts for just being cute, but it gave the older gift givers so much pleasure to see her face as she took each thing and said "thank you!" ........or at least smiled................ok, so sometimes she would just take the "thing" and run away, leaving me to sheepishly say "thanks".

Ariana really enjoyed grandma this visit - asking where she was was she wasn't with us; looking in on her and quietly announcing "gramma's sleeping"; putting on her nightgown and using her cane to walk around the apartment, then putting the cane back where she found it, which led my mother to announce "she is brilliant!" and greeting her with a big "morning gramma!"

Now that we are back, we will miss grandma, and nana and gramps too. That's the hard part about living here - we are so far away. While we keep in touch by phone and email, I regret that Ariana cannot spend more time with her family as they all enjoy each other so much.

While it seems that Ariana has been with us forever, it was actually one year ago that we were in China meeting this most incredible little girl. Wednesday was, in a way, just like any other day - filled with errands and phone calls, eating (or in Ariana's case, not eating) and other mundane tasks.

I thought about celebrating, but how do you celebrate such a thing? Every morning when I see her little face; every night when she yells "baba!!!" as he walks in the door; or when I pick her up from school and she smiles a big grin and says "mama"; every time she makes me laugh; every time she jumps up and down with excitement; every time she walks in the door and says "hi dog" as Tess runs up to be pet......

every thing.....
every day.......
every word......
we celebrate

Florida

As some of you know, I am in Florida visiting my mother. The trip was kind of sudden, as her health was suspicious, but all is well, so Ariana and I are now being able to enjoy the sunny weather and the ridiculous amount of attention she is getting.

Old people love children and Ariana has been at her adorable, personable best so far and result has been many complements, a quarter, a banana with her name written on it, a flower and a doll which we have not seen yet, but has been promised by one of the women who lives here. We were supposed to get it last night at dinner, but since we are just beginning to get over the jet lag, we were sleeping when my mother went down to the dining room, not waking until after 9pm. So, not only did we miss the doll, but we were up until about 1am, waking at 6 this morning. Ahhh, the joys of jetlag - the irregular sleep, the bad tempers, the headache that will go away around day 6.

Other than that, all is well in the sunny state.......

Nara and Kyoto, part 2

Ariana running among the ruins in Nara...

"mmmmm, tea.................yummmmmmm........
fellow photographers in Nara Park....

Eating with chopsticks VS eating the chopsticks...
Philosopher's Walk in Kyoto.....

The Ryokan

Traditional Japanese Inns - where you are waited on hand and foot by kimono clad women - don slippers as soon as you walk in the door, robes when you arrive in your room (sans slippers that you leave on the wood entry way prior to stepping foot on the tatami mats) , drink tea and are then treated to a sumptuous meal of many little courses and then watch as those kimono clad women expertly unfold and make up the futons you then sleep on.

This is when it turns nasty. Because for the price of a room at your local Four Seasons, you are sleeping on the floor in order to get a taste of traditional Japanese culture. I don't care that the meal was presented by two lovely ladies. I don't care that the room was quite beautiful in it's simplicity (ok, I could have done without the tv in the corner) and I don't care that we had a lovely view of the perfectly manicured Japanese garden outside our window.

We were still sleeping on the floor and every minute of the night I was reminded of that floor, in all of it's polished beauty. Beautiful Japanese floors are not comfortable. For those who think about what a wonderful experience it would be to sleep in a Ryokan, be warned. No matter how nice, how beautiful, how serene, how private - you will pay not only in cash but in pain as you struggle to get up off the floor in the morning while holding your back in agony, swearing on your next trip to find the hotel with the biggest, softest beds and stay there, no matter what the decor or service is.

Otherwise, our trip to Nara and Kyoto was lovely. Nara is the original capital of Japan, home to several amazing shrines and many deer, one of which butted baba-san in the butt as we strolled along the path.

The weather was beautiful, so we spent two days walking around, visiting shrines, taking pictures of the various shrines, the fall foliage, and the other people taking pictures of the fall foliage.

Fall is a unique experience here - everyone is out taking pictures with everything from cell phones to huge single lens reflex Nikons with huge lenses. The behavior is the same:

There is a tree.

With lots of red leaves.

One person stands to take a picture.

Another person arrives.

Then another.

Others notice a bunch of people standing taking a picture and assume it is a good shot, so then they all go over and jockey for the perfect spot. Here are some of ours:

This one's for you Judy - "socks drying - the next generation"
to be continued................................

"Are you going to have grandchildren soon?"

I pondered the meaning of the meaning of this as I sat in front of my computer, staring at the email that contained this most inflammatory question - one that was posed to me by a lovely Japanese woman I had met at a meeting the day before. She herself was leaving in January to visit with her daughter and new grandchild to be born sometime between now and then.

Having a conversation with a Japanese person is an interesting experience. Their age, ability to speak English, whether or not they actually lived outside of Japan all determines the kind of conversation you will have. For those whose English is not completely fluent and whose experience outside of Japan is limited, so is the conversation - in general, the conversation will be very general - the weather, something about the place you happen to be (nice place, lunch, play, etc.). For example, in the US, a common greeting is usually "how are you?". In Japan, that is something considered too private, so the greeting is usually "nice weather" or something benign like that.

This woman clearly fell into this category, so I chalk up her comment to an extremely awkward attempt to converse and find something we have in common. So, I said nothing, answering only her other points in the email.

I did however, for my own amusement and reference should this question ever come up again, come up with the following responses:

1) "I sincerely hope not. I have a three year old and two step-children; 18 and 20 and none of the three are even close to being ready to be parents."

2) "Me???? Soon-to-be grandmother???? I guess the gray roots are showing more than I thought!!!"

3) "No" (better schedule the Botox/face lift/(pick your plastic surgery procedure).

4) Are you *(&%&*)!!!!ing blind???!!!??!?!?!?.....I'm not OLD ENOUGH TO BE A GRANDMOTHER!!!!!! (my own personal favorite

And by the way, I did make the soonest possible appointment with the hairdresser.

And wore a hat until I could actually get there.

On a brighter note, one of the playgroup mother commented that she thought we were both around the same age - 38.

I feel much better.

Halloween

Ok, so the Halloween costume I made for her started to fall apart before we even got out the door. While Halloween is celebrated here in Japan, it is very difficult to find costumes for children. Having procrastinated enough to run out of time to have one sent by Auntie Marilyn, I opted for the homemade kind after picking up a pair of Panda ears at the zoo. She did look cute, but as you can see I'm not sure she was so keen on the idea.

The first party was at school last Friday. The moms were invited (along with a dish for lunch) and everyone arrived, excited to be celebrating and watching the kids. I dressed up in a fashion (a red wig and a straw hat) and realized right away that I was just about the only one who had. Well, there was one woman who dressed in a sari, but since she is actually Indian, I don't think that counts. And, there was a woman dressed just like her 15 month old daughter, but, well, I don't even know what to say about that, other than it is very Japanese.

I put my big, American sized bowl full of pasta salad on the table and went about my business socializing, taking pictures and watching the kids as they finished up with their "school day". They gave a little singing recital - Ariana mostly looked like she was about to cry, and then it was time for some games and lunch.

Lunch - can I just say I must do better next year. One woman, apparently with way too much time on her hands made little pumpkins out of rice, smoked salmon and seaweed paper. They were not only pretty, but delicious too.

Once the party got started she did seem to enjoy herself - here she is with her teacher Erica and some of the other kids.

The second party was with her playgroup and she (ear and pigtail less) was much happier.

See how well children wait patiently when candy is involved - "please sir, may I have some more??"

Now I sit with a paper mache pumpkin holding Ariana's take for the day. She is standing beside me whimpering, looking pitiful because after opening and not eating two pieces I said the rest was for tomorrow when she wanted me to open more.

Ok, I'm a pushover...........I let her have the little pack of "Goldfish" - they're somewhat healthy right????

Not Learning Japanese

After over a year and two previous feeble attempts to learn Japanese, I have started, yet again, to take lessons in the hope that I will actually be able to have a conversation where no pointing or pantomime is necessary. Unfortunately, I am not holding out much hope, as I am beyond bad when it comes to learning languages. I actually failed high school Spanish and had to go to summer school where I barely passed. Hard as I try to memorize vocabulary, days of the week and numbers, the words leave my mind just as soon as I think I've got it.

There is a particular type of torture involved in learning Japanese. Tops on the list is the counting system - there are over ten different ways to count, depending on what you are counting. Take the number 5 - one could say "go" for the actual number, if you were telling someone your phone number; "itsu-tsu" if you were asking for 5 cookies in a bakery; "itsuka-kan" if you were referring to the number of days, etc., etc., etc. There is a different word to be used if you are talking about people, age, thin or long objects, cups, books, minutes, weeks, months - the list goes on and on.

Various words are used to say "thank you" and "I'm sorry", depending on who you are talking to, and just how thankful or sorry you are. And then come the words themselves, constructed of little bits intended to confound anyone trying to figure it all out.

And let's not even get started in the actual reading of this most complicated language - there are three different written alphabets I will need to learn - and to make it worse, they can all be used in the same sentence!!

Friends of mine who have lived here for years and whose work involves speaking Japanese just started taking a class in formal Japanese, as that is an entirely different language!!

Worst of all is the amount of space you need in your brain for all of this new information. It seems my brain is full - in order to remember anything, I need to forget a bunch of stuff. So, if the next time I see you, I can't remember your name, where we met or something I told you last week, don't see it as a bad thing.

It means I may finally be able to speak Japanese.

Ya Gotta Love Japan....

.........not that I have seen this yet. But then again, perhaps I wasn't paying attention.

Big Tush

Ah yes, the sights of Sumo. If you ever want to feel better about your aging body, take in a sumo match and check out the mounds of flesh on these boys. Wow - I felt positively svelt!! In all their glory, these guys strutted around proudly on the stage, displaying their attributes (and glutes) for all to see. Part sport, part theatre, it was definitely worth the trip.

And, my fears of Ariana blurting out "tushie, tushie" were unwarranted. Instead, she kept pointing the program where pictures of all the sumo wrestlers were printed, saying "boobies, boobies". So much for not being embarrassed in front of Arny's coworkers. Fortunately, they thought she was adorable so we were safe. At one point when Ariana and I went for a walk, we stopped by the area where the wrestlers come in and out. A friendly group, they will stop and sign autographs and pose for pictures. Of course, I left the camera with baba-san, so I did not get the shot of Ariana shaking hands with one of the wrestlers.

The only problem was sitting for hours on a little cushion on the floor, as each seat is really one of four little cushions in a box. A tiny little isle runs between each row of boxes and you are required to tuck your shoes, bags and anything else you can fit (which is not much) there. While not as close a view, the seats further back are regular seats, so what you miss in proximity you gain in comfort. We may try it next time.

Riding on My Bike

After a few days practice, Ariana is now riding by herself (except for those pesky hills, where she still needs a push). Baba captured the moment for your viewing enjoyment.

G.N.O.

Girls' Night Out that is.

I had one.

Last Saturday.

My cohorts and I ventured into Roppongi, the sleazy neon part of Tokyo, where every other establishment is a bar with a suitably pushy man outside handing out flyers, free drink tickets and complements in order to get you inside.

After the required greasy bar snacks and a couple of margaritas, I was ready. Our first stop was "Motown I", where not a Motown song was played for the entire time we were there. We did dance, even if it was to bad 80's music. A silver haired gentleman definitely eligible for medicare, dressed in the only suit and tie seen in the club (and probably in all of Roppongi)took his turn with a few of us, swinging us right and left , whether we wanted to go that way or not.

We then moved on to "Wall Street", receiving drink tickets from the doorman only after we assured him we were sufficiently "wild". We stayed there for awhile and then moved again to "Motown II", again disappointed at the lack of Motown songs. We did dance with some Sikhs, the happiest people we ran into that night. There was another stop at another rather unknown and empty bar, but probably the one with the best music, where we enjoyed shots of tequila (at least I wasn't mixing) complements of our hosts. Back to Motown I (or II - at this point they all looked alike) we danced some more, finally calling it quits at about 3:30am.

What I learned:

1) Every bar in Roppongi has it's "hour" - for some reason you must go at exactly that "hour" or else (else what I never figured out).

2) You must not stay at one bar for more than an hour. Moving is the name of the game. Staying too long, especially after dancing with the same person leads them to believe you are there for something other than dancing.

3) Be prepared for the United Nations - I met people from the UK, Brazil, Nigeria, India, Japan (and that's only what I remember).

4) Do not go stereo shopping at Yodabashi the day after a night in Roppongi. For those who don't live here, Yodabashi is a very large, very loud, very bright, very crowded store that one should never enter with a hangover. Even a little one.

5) Sikhs are fun.

I love woo....

Yes, even in Japan, children (and I'm sure dogs too) dress up and parade around in costume. We went to the aquarium and they had a Halloween corner. Ariana loved the witch's hat, and I must admit she looks adorable. She will have a party at school, another one at the children's English program where I used to volunteer and possibly a neighborhood parade depending on how "Halloweened out" we all are. The question is what should she be????
Baba has started reading "Winne the Pooh" to Ariana at night. She will actually sit for more than a few minutes and listen. I tried reading to her while she was sitting in her bed, but as soon as I stopped and said "sleepy time", she propelled herself into my arms, so it was baba dancing time again. Hopefully, by the time she is in high school, she will go to sleep on her own.
Ariana has a new little boyfriend, Jack, who is in her playgroup. They are about the same size (I think that's part of the attraction)
The nose..................at the Teien Museum, a small one near our house, they have a lovely garden that is great for kids. The nose sculpture is a particular favorite, because they can climb around.

On another note, she is riding her bicycle better and better, pedaling like a big girl most of the time. She had her first fall, cried, got up and climbed right back on and kept going. Unless she gets stuck, she no longer wants help, turning back with a fast "no" or "go away" at the first sign of assistance.

But the highlight was the other day when I was holding her and looked into her eyes and said "I love you". She matched my gaze and replied "I love woo"....hee hee hee hee................

A Brief Note

One year ago today, we got a very early morning (3 am) phonecall instructing us to open our email. There was a picture of a very little and serious person looking out at us....boy, have things changed.......

Continuing a long held DiLaura tradition (ok, so maybe just since Jed)of learning how to ride a bike at a very young age, we splurged and bought Ariana a bike for her birthday. Not just any bike, but a Hello Kitty bike, fully decked out with a very cool bell and basket.

We took her out on Sunday and while she mastered steering very quickly, the pedalling was another story. So far, she is riding it like a glider, pushing on the petal with one foot and letting the bike glide.... pushing again with the same foot, letting it glide... she was having a ball, we were trying to figure out how to get her to understand that the bike would go a lot faster if she pushed down on both pedals, but then again, maybe going very slow is a good idea.

We were in the park for awhile and then on the way home, were invited to join in the neighborhood parade.

Ariana was given a red sash and we fell in behind the other kids as they helped the adults pull the movable shrines up and down the main street. Every year, each neighborhood does this, taking their shrines out for a walk. Some parades are major events, ours, well, it really was a neighborhood thing. Halfway through we stopped and they gave out treats and juice for the kids, Asahi beer for the adults - which was very welcome as it was probably 95 degrees in the sun.

It's one of my favorite things about living in Tokyo - in the middle of this very large city, every day you can see the traditions that are still very present in everyday life. Neighbors take time out of their day, with Gucci purses in hand (designer bags are very big here - I think I'm the only one without one - I don't think the diaper bag, even if it is highly acclaimed, counts) to march in a parade. Children get away from their computers long enough to do what their parents and grandparents did when they were young, instilling a bit of respect for their culture and heritage, and having fun in the process.

As I sit printing out pictures of Ariana's birthday party, I notice everyone seems to be having a great time. The kids are smiling, the parents are drinking, the food is getting eaten. I don't remember any screaming fits (ok, just one at the beginning, but it was over pretty soon after the party started and all was well), nothing was broken, no child was bloodied - I think it was a success.

You see, I don't remember any of it. I was too busy remembering to take out said food at the right time (I do have loads of cookies and cheese I found in their respective places a full two days after the party though), re-closing doors that were supposed to be closed (a very smart 9 year old said, when I mentioned that someone had opened it, letting the dog out in the process, "why don't you lock the door?" - duh. You see, every door comes with a lock with a key, which I did once I found the key) and generally making sure all was well. Here, see for yourselves:




"would you please stop taking pictures and let me eat in peace?"
" The Candle"
very smart 9 year old and Ariana opening a present....
"look ma, no hands"
"yes we're here in Ariana's room, totalling destroying it, but we have adult supervision, so no one will get hurt......now leave"..
"please get me back to the safety of the bedroom....and this time, lock the damned door!!!! - don't you know these kids are big enough to reach the door handle!!"
"I have a balloon, I have a balloon, I eat a balloon!"
"Yes, it's my forth one - what are you going to do about it??"

Other than buying wildly inappropriate things for the gift bags (ok, so I forgot most of the kids were under 3 and ordered a bunch of stuff that when I got it said "not for children under 3 - woops!!!) I think I did ok.

Most importantly, Ariana spent most of the party running around laughing with the biggest smile on her face.

It was a "happy day!"

Happy Birthday To Me

Yesterday was Ariana's birthday. She had school, so I arrived at 1pm for the party with cake in hand. Clearly confused, Ariana didn't quite know what to make of the candles (and the cake for that matter), so her teacher and classmates helped her blow out the candles.
She was just as bewildered when they brought out the presents - each teacher in the school gave her something.

She clearly enjoyed all of the attention though and I sat back and watched, knowing this was definitely the first time she had celebrated her birthday.....ever.
At home, we played in low key as the big party is Saturday. We did let her open one present - from big sister Kelsey. It was a big hit.............
By the time the night was over, she was saying "happy birthday" (she actually says "happy day", which it was) over and over.

Little does she know what is in store for her on Saturday. What started as a casual gathering is now over 30 people (including the little ones). I have already had the great "meatball disaster" and am gathering all of the stain removers in the house, given we are about to have 12 children under the age of 4 in an apartment with white carpeting.

But I am looking forward to it. All of the people coming are good friends and we have known most of them almost as long as we have been here. Baba's family will be represented by cousins Chris, Keiko and Ryoshin.

I was good at the class party - not crying at all when they started singing Happy Birthday. Taking picture after picture, I kept myself busy enough to avoid the tears.

I'm not sure I'll be so good on Saturday.

I'm not sure I want to be.

What a Difference A School Makes

Ariana started her new school last week and it is amazing the difference in her reaction. Today, her third time going to class (she is enrolled only two days a week), she joyfully walked up the steps and waved goodbye, with a big smile on her face - something she never did at the old one. She also ate - almost all of her lunch, which she also never did at her old school. She is one happy little girl....and will be happier on Wednesday when there is a cake to celebrate her birthday. I have been calling around and trying to find a place to get said cake - here in Tokyo it's not so easy. Finally taking the easy way out, I ordered one from Baskin Robbins - yes, I know, not very Japanese of me, but I am too busy working on finding cupcakes for the party we are throwing her on Saturday to spend too much time on the "school" cake.

When I was young, cupcakes were served for every single birthday in every single class I was in- vanilla and chocolate. The chocolate ones were the first to go - in fact, some kids would say they were allergic to vanilla in order to ensure they got the chocolate ones. As much as I wanted to say that I was allergic too, I never did, taking my chances and eating whichever one I got.

At home, it was a big Carvel cake every year. I just loved the cookie crunch between the layers of ice cream. There would always be some left over and my mother would put it in the big freezer in the basement. Sometimes we would eat it and other times it would be forgotten, only to be discovered way in the back months later.

There is no way that will happen here as our freezer is one of those side by side ones I have grown to really hate - there is hardly any room. However, it does come in handy when it comes to not loosing things, especially anything of an ice cream nature. Not that ice cream lasts that long, or is ever forgotten, in this house.

New York, New York

a swing with a golf club...
barbecued chicken thanks to baba......
a black & white cookie......
"uncle" Kevin...................
a run through the sprinklers on the upper west side....

hanging out with Mia......
the view of the old neighborhood from our hotel window...
round and round and round......ok, get me off this thing....
max'n molly..........
cousin Woody - thanks for the maple syrup!!!!

........and dinner at PJ Clarkes, bagels on the upper west side, Chinese take-out, dinner at Landmarc, cocktails at the Mandarin Oriental, a trip to Century 21, dinner at Rosa Mexicana, margaritas, a trip to Duane Reade, a swing with a golf club.........and friends, friends, friends.....