under the weather

The cold season has come to the DiLaura house as both Ariana and I are sick. Baba san has been doing an excellent job of taking care of us, making food and basically keeping Ariana occupied so I can sleep.

We have also been making use of one of the more brilliant Japanese drug store items. Ariana is wearing it on her forehead - it's a gel strip that cools (for fevers) and also has menthol to ease breathing. Ariana loves them and actually knew she had a fever before I took her temperature. She went into the medicine cabinet and got one (I can do this myself, thank you very much!!) and then said to me "I have a fever". I took her temperature and sure enough she was right.

As you can see, Simba has not left her side for a minute since Christmas. She has taken it to her friends house and to the movies and slept with it every night. In fact, one night she woke up asking for it (silly me, forgot to put in into bed with her). She knows Santa brought it and fully understands the "ask Santa, get from Santa" concept. What she is having a hard time understanding though, is that Santa only comes once a year. She will say "I think I want to ask Santa for....", and I explain that she has to wait until next year.

Needless to say, she is not happy.

Christmas As Planned

Simba showed up just in time and so, early Christmas morning, I watched as Ariana slowly opened.....
the well wrapped doll with a sense of wonder......

and then...................................................... a big smile!!!
She carried it with her the entire day, as we went for Chinese food and then to a movie. The movie had to be postponed though, because it was sold out. Who would have thought on a Wednesday here in Tokyo there would be a problem seeing a movie, as Christmas is not a holiday here (proven by the symphony of hammer and drill that greeting us at 9am!!) . But, sold out it was, so we made our way to friends Clare and Jason's for a bit of champers.

On the way there, Ariana got a lesson in saying "please don't touch" and "you can look, but please don't touch" as she was adamant that Rhianna and Tom could not touch Simba. I explained that it was always good to share, but she wasn't' having any of it. She wasted no time playing with all of their new toys, forgetting about Simba as he sat on the couch, feeling ignored I'm sure.

Simba was reclaimed as we left and she carried him all the way home. She spent the evening putting him to bed, wrapping him in the new Mickey Mouse blanket that Santa brought. It was all very sweet....

....and happy holidays to all!!!!!

Moving Christmas

Finding a Simba doll here in Japan has proved impossible. After a trip to the Disney store where the shelves were full of everything but, I discovered the reason for the absence of anything "lion king like".

Apparently, the original story was written by a Japanese person years and years ago. Disney made the movie and was promptly sued and the resulting settlement prevents any merchandising from being sold here.

So I ordered one from the United States and here is where it gets sticky. If it doesn't arrive by Christmas, what do we do? I don't want to ruin Christmas and Santa for Ariana especially after she bravely sat on Santa's lap and asked for it. Imagine her getting up in the morning and looking high and low for Simba only to find nothing. Too sad.

Baba san and I have decided that our Christmas will be celebrated exactly the day after Simba arrives. We will be celebrating Hanukkah too and it is very late this year, starting just a few days before Christmas, so she will be preoccupied with candles and little gifts.

Now, off to finish packing.......Bali here we come!!!

Hello Santa!!!

After a sugar laden lunch at TGI Friday's (yes, we do still live in Tokyo and yes, there is a Friday's here) we headed over to the Tokyo American Club for a meeting with Santa. All week long we had been preparing for the big event, with me explaining to Ariana that she had to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas. Since she is normally very quiet around strangers, we were practicing in the hopes that she would feel less overwhelmed by the big guy in the big red suit.

It worked!! She walked up to the big guy a little tentatively, sat down a little more so, but was able to answer when he asked her what she wanted. We all heard a soft little "I want Simba". And then a big smile when she realized she did it!!!

Now, she did get a little put out when she realized that she couldn't get the Simba doll right there and then. I had to explain that Santa (me) has to go back to the North Pole (Shibuya) and make the Simba for her (has to fight my way through the crowds in the Disney store and pray there is a Simba doll - or Simba something). Then if she is a good girl (and I find the time to do this before Christmas sometime before we leave for vacation next week) when she wakes up on Christmas day, Simba will be there waiting for her.

Ahhhh, the joys of Christmas!!!!!

Have Turkey Will Travel

It pays to have a resourceful husband sometimes........................and a very large stroller.

On Sunday, my friend Darla and I decided to have a belated Thanksgiving. Since I had the larger oven, one that could actually fit a turkey, it was decided to have it at my house, so early Sunday morning, I put the turkey in the oven and started on the rest of my dishes. Darla would bring her stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie over around 1pm and we would eat.

Everyone was dressed, the table was set and stomachs were beginning to growl when the phone rang about 12:45:

Ryder was running a fever.

Now for all of you who have children, you know what that means. The balancing of two thoughts: "I must take care of my child" with "can we still make it?"

Having been in this situation many times myself (and with the turkey just about ready to come out of the oven) I said we would just wheel the turkey over there. Luckily Darla lives close - about a 5 minute walk.

So, as I was starting on the gravy, baba san rigged up the "turkey delivery devise" and wheeled it over. I followed once I had finished the gravy and a wonderful dinner followed, with a revived Ryder partaking just a little bit.


Sometimes it really does pay to roll with the flow, or should I say turkey..................

A Moment of Graditude

Today is Thanksgiving. As concerned as I am about the state of the world, our status here in Tokyo and the frightening sight of our 401k's, I also look around and see how much I have.

Two years ago (today!!!!!) the powers that be placed a beautiful (despite the fact she was screaming her head off) daughter in my arms. Today she surprises me regularly with her inquisitiveness and her humor. I have a loving husband who is caring and compassionate and who cooks and even cleans up (ok, not all the time and not everything, but enough). I have two step children that occasionally surprise me with their insightful observations and constantly amuse me with their antics, two of the best in-laws a girl could have (even my mother thought so, so you know they have to be great) and friends - oh, where do I even begin to explain where I would I be without my friends......

Life is good......

Food Glorious Food

After spending an afternoon at a Japanese cooking class, I have come to a realization. I really don't like Japanese food. I eat it and enjoy most of what I eat, but not enough to take the time involved to actually prepare an entire meal.

Part of the problem is finding the ingredients you need. The teacher will show us a bag of something and everyone will pull out their cameras to take a picture of it, but if that brand isn't sold in your local store, you may never find that store's equivalent. I have tried to write out the kanji, but sometimes there is so much writing on the label, I can't find the word that spells out the actual contents.

The labels on fish are truly confusing. Written down is everything from where the fish came from to how to cook it. I have a little cheat sheet and still I can't figure out what I have. I routinely answer the question "what are we having for dinner?" with "possibly tuna" or " some sort of white fish". Baba san has gotten used to it. The only major error was buying the saltiest of salmon (salmon comes in 4 different ways - unsalted, lightly salted, medium salted and mouth puckering salt with a little bit of salmon). Up until then, I didn't know this and afterhaving to swear up and down that I didn't put too much salt on the fish, we went 6 months without salmon at all, least I risk having to go through that experience again.

I can do better with Miso as I actually know what that looks like in the store, but then again, there are something like 17 different kinds, so I'm not sure exactly which kind I am buying. I found out on Saturday that there is actually "chunky" miso - just like peanut butter. Which is exactly what it looks like on the shelf. And yes, I will make miso soup, if only because you need a cute little gadget to make it.

The cooking tools are great though. Skimmers and knives and pans and other gadgets that anyone who gets "called" to that section of the store will appreciate. Little graters just for ginger or Daikon, strainers used exclusively for making miso soup and rectangular pans used for making the sweet omelets that are found in every bento box. - these are all on my wish list.

Next week I have a trip to Kappabashi planned with some of the moms from school. Kappabashi is actually one long street filled on each side with stores catering to people who like to buy kitchen gadgets. A former wholesale area for restaurants, it is now basically a place for people like me, who get a thrill from seeing store after store filled with bowls and plates and cookie cutters and knives (there is one store devoted to nothing but) and a bunch of things that I don't know, but feel certain I will need. Which is why I am happy to be visiting with some of the Japanese moms, who will be able to explain these enticing little items. Of course, they don't actually shop there, finding out long ago that it is far more convenient to do one's shopping on line.

Ah, The Magic of Christmas

"I want Simba doll......................I want Mickey Mouse doll........................where's Simba shirt?...........I tell Santa I want Simba shirt.....................can I buy this at the store? (sitting on toy firetruck at friend's house).......................where's Santa?..........................we go Santa tomorrow...................I want to buy this...........................I get money at the store......................I have money for Santa.....I want to buy this DVD and this DVD and this DVD (pointing to the insert in one of the DVDs she already has)...................we go see Santa tomorrow?..........................I think I want to buy this (different truck at friend's house)......................I think I want to tell Santa about Mickey Mouse boots.......Mama, we need a Mickey Mouse Telephone. We don't have one and this one (pointing at our perfectly good land line) doesn't work...........I need a Mickey Mouse back pack. I ask Santa for one .............. I think I want to get Mickey Mouse gloves and shoes and boots"........................ah yes, such a magical season...

The Fun

We had a visit from Arny's cousins on Sunday. As you can see, Ariana was feeling chipper, entertaining us all with her jumping skills. Bob was happy they were so good, as his knees wouldn't have been able to take a hard landing.
Ryshin is getting big - at two, he is almost as big as Ariana. They played happily most of time and had several lessons in sharing after they were not.

The energy of the weekend disintegrated into illness after I received a call from school saying Ariana had a fever. She has been fighting off a cold for quite a while and it finally got the best of her. About a third of her class was out sick yesterday and two of her other friends were home so something is definitely going around.


But, we have vaporizer pig to provide much needed moisture in the air. You gotta love Japanese design. We named it Goldie. Last night Ariana slept on the couch right next to it and had her first almost full night sleep in days. I did too, which is even better. Thanks Goldie!!!

More Happy Pictures...