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.....

Now and Then

They smile.
They laugh.
They giggle.
Rosy cheeked and healthy, they zoom around the pool, oblivious to the adults staring at them in wonder. Only nine months ago, their faces were frozen in fear and apprehension, seeing our faces for the first time. Confused and suspicious, they were silent and still, or cried out for the familiar that was now gone forever. They watched. They slowly came out of their shells to explore the new world they were taken to. Their personalities exploded in the loving environment they were now part of.

We saw six of the families we traveled to China with while in New York at the lovely home of Eliza, her parents and siblings. Ariana was looking quite the fashion plate in her lovely, but slightly large, bathing suit that was a present from her big sister “Kesey” as she called Kelsey. The drooping shoulder straps did give her the opportunity to flirt with Zack, the older son of our hosts.



There seemed to be some memory of the girls and it was apparently not the best one as Ariana mostly ignored them, preferring the company of the older kids and adults. And they all seemed a little shocked at being put in yet another group picture.

But they are all adorable. And happy. And thriving. And the parents - well, we are all ecstatic at having these lovely ones in our lives, despite the lack of sleep, the hissy fits, the "not" eating, the worries over speech, and everything else parents of toddlers usually obsess over.

How wonderful.

Mrs. DiLaura

Mrs. DiLaura
That is who I am now.
Mrs.
DiLaura.
While visiting nana and gramps, Ariana and I were walking along the beach and ran into one of baba san’s parent’s very polite 12 year old neighbor. “Mrs. DiLaura, this is my friend…” Of course I don’t remember his friend’s name because I was stuck on the fact that he called me Mrs. DiLaura – that is baba-san's mothers’ name, not mine.
Oh.
Right.
It is my name now.
How weird.
Not the name. It’s a nice name. I like it. The weirdness comes when I am reminded that I am a Mrs.
In Japan and with most of my friends and their children, no matter how young or old , I am Jennifer. Some people ask how I would like their children to address me and I always respond “Jennifer”. In turn, I refer to all of my friends by their names “say hi to Julie”, “we are going to see Clare today”, etc., etc.
But, to a twelve year old boy on the Canadian shore of Lake Erie, I definitely am a Mrs.
It is so grownup.
So adult.
So not me.
This time, no one asked.
They just said it.
I just was.
Mrs. DiLaura.
How weird.

The second part of our trip found us, visiting baba-san's parents. Thanks to some intense coordination and lucky arrival times, baba-san, Ariana and I met on the plane at Kennedy, baba-san having flown in earlier that day from Tokyo and Ariana and I flying up from Florida. We arrived in Buffalo where we met up with nana and gramps as well as Kelsey and Jed, who flew up from DC to see us. Again, it is a miracle that we all made it at the same time, given the giant seemingly normal delays experienced by many here in the US.

We had a wonderful reunion with cousins, great aunts and friends, spent a lot of time at the beach, one night at a bonfire, went to the zoo, got our fill of beef on weck, and generally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

the very polite Daniel, Ariana and Kaitlin..
Ariana and Clare hanging out with the monkeys....
"Jeeeeedddddd"
"Kesey"
many DiLauras and nana playing a very, very good sport as Ariana wants to put a bag on her head. Sensing some hesitation..


Ariana demonstrates...
Nana follows....
"which hand has the sand in it?"...
"this place is cool, can we come back next year?"

We're Back....

................safe and sound. While too tired to write much about our trip as we have been traveling for close to 24 hours, it was wonderful. I'll be posting over the next few days with lots of pictures, so stay tuned.......................

Florida

Well, here we are in sunny and horribly hot Florida, where the temperature during the day has been getting dangerously close to 100 degrees – every day. Ariana has learned a new meaning for “hot” as getting into a car that has been sitting in the sun for hours is a new experience for her. Baba-san solved the problem by telling me to put a towel over the car seat – now why couldn’t I have thought of that? Probably because I am in the middle of “jetlag hell”, sleeping one night 12 hours and the next 3, waking at 4 in the morning with an obscene amount of energy. It did, however, provide me with enough alone time to finish the new Harry Potter book, as gratefully Ariana stayed asleep.

 

Ariana has been having fun with all of the old people here – teasing them, doling out attention to only the chosen few. The more they demand it from her, the more she ignores them, only rewarding the calm and collected with a smile or wave. It is amazing how competitive they are with her “she smiled at me!”, “I think she is starting to recognize me”, “can I have a kiss? (to which Ariana replies with a serious, very serious glare)……..well, maybe next time”.

 

I do think it would be great if every senior residence instituted a program with the neighborhood schools because just seeing her makes most of them smile. And they don’t do that all that often, because their complaining takes up so much time. Mostly about the food – which deserves it, it is awful. You know there is a problem when even the instant mashed potatoes are inedible.

 

Olive Garden – here we come!!!