post-bath
Originally uploaded by renfield
long day @ the zoo
long day @ the zoo
Originally uploaded by renfield
Massively successful day of adventure at Zoorasia. Took the bus to Gotanda, train to Shinagawa then another train to Yokohama, then the Sotetsu line to Tsurugamine, then the bus to the zoo.
Totally awesome -- elephants, penguins, a polar bear, sleeping lions and tigers...no dolphins though, sorry.
Tonchan's favorite was obviously the penguins. Plus all the icecream she got to eat all day (have to stay cool and hydrated!). And the most excellent playgrounds.
post breakfast
post breakfast
Originally uploaded by renfield
The Great Tonchabeast was in quite a mood today. By 7am she still wasn't up, so I went to wake her. This in and of itself bodes badly: when she wakes up on her own she's generally fine, but if she is woken up she is an utterly miserable bear.
I tortured her with the stuffed alpaca for a bit, hoping her frustration would be with the it and not me, but as soon as I threw the 'paca across the room she looked right at me and said: "NO! Papa, go away!" Ah, feel the love.
She finally wanted Mommy, who was in the kitchen, so I was ordered to carry her to the kitchen. By then a couple of hotdogs were nearly ready. We sat down at the table and she nibbled hotdogs whilst watching Totoro. Slowly her mood improved, and it got much better when we looked at photos of her and Mookun on my cellphone.
Finally she was approximating human again, so she chose a yellow dress and camouflage socks and got changed. All was well until P tried to fix her hair. For whatever reason, we were having none of it. Strangely enough, she was perfectly content to brush her teeth and wipe her face, after showing off her new pink recorder for a bit.
She also had a near breakdown about her bottle of water. Apparently Aisha at school drinks water out of a cup at lunch, so I was ordered to remove her lunch water bottle and replace it with her pink plastic strawberry cup. Also she did not want Calpis. When we went to the AM/PM she bought a bottle of water.
Since her hair was a mess, she wore her NCSU hat and sunglasses, and I was ordered to put on a hat and sunglasses, too. As soon as we stepped outside the building she gives it the old "I'm sleepy" so I had to carry her most of the way to school.
Getting into the elevator at school we ran into Sophia and by the time we got to school the gang was slowly arriving.
Also apparently she kissed Renzo (boy) at school yesterday. Then again the day before she was hugging Aisha (girl) and the day before that she wouldn't let go of Shuhei's leg. (Shuhei is the Japanese guy who is one of her teachers.)
Final bit of news: bought her a new box of band-aids (Pokemon design -- absolutely refused to buy her the Disney Princesses) and she had one band-aid on her arm for 3 days straight. Finally it got all red and itchy (probably from the glue on the band-aid) so she took it off. The scratch healed days ago, but the band-aid itself left a red splotch on her arm -- and she wants to put a band-aid on it!
bouncy chair
bouncy chair
Originally uploaded by renfield
Unlike Tonchan, he loves The Bouncy Chair. Put him in it, bounce him a bit, and then ignore him: he falls asleep in less than five minutes.
bellybutton!
bellybutton!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Checking out Mookun's belly button. It is getting less inflated and might invert into a normal belly button some day.
new bike seat!
new bike seat!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Got the Tonchan special seat put onto the bike this weekend and she now makes up excuses to ride the bike.
And no she does not have a helmet. I didn't wear a helmet when I rode a bike. And parents these days are too damn afraid of their kids getting hurt. Pain is a great teacher. Sparta!
lunch @ suzis
lunch @ suzis
Originally uploaded by renfield
After playing in the park we met up with P and Mookun for some brunch at Suzi's.
sword attack!
sword attack!
Originally uploaded by renfield
The boys upstairs invited us up to play. Ton got into an excellent sword battle while mom held Mookun and I played with the robots and other cool toys they have.
torturing mo
torturing mo
Originally uploaded by renfield
She likes to nibble on frozen chicken sticks. Frozen. Her hands get cold holding the frozen chicken stick. So she puts her cold fingers on Mookun. He does not like it. She finds it massively entertaining.
band-aid
Took this photo with my old cell because ton won't let me use my current cell for some reason.
Actually when I tried to take another photo of her on the way to school with my current cell, she had a complete meltdown and I carried her to school crying and sniffling like a two-year old.
Anyway the story is: she had a bug bite or something a week ago and she kept scratching it so it just wasn't healing. Asked her if she wanted a band-aid and of course she said yes, but we didn't have any small ones so she got a regular fullsize. Now she looks like a recovering boxer.
dojo
Managed to get to the dojo for the first time in what semed like basically forever.
They had the air-con running full blast so it was surprisingly cool and comfortable.
And fairly empty.
Trained on my own for an hour -- ran through all 20 basic kata plus some other bits and bobs, and a few basics. Was a bit sloppy of course but generally felt pretty good. My left shoulder blade was sore from a picking-up-tonchan incident over the weekend, and I think that helped because I wasn't muscling through much; had to relax or it hurt.
After training, Salty came by and we headed out for some dinner and late-night bitch-moan.
They had the air-con running full blast so it was surprisingly cool and comfortable.
And fairly empty.
Trained on my own for an hour -- ran through all 20 basic kata plus some other bits and bobs, and a few basics. Was a bit sloppy of course but generally felt pretty good. My left shoulder blade was sore from a picking-up-tonchan incident over the weekend, and I think that helped because I wasn't muscling through much; had to relax or it hurt.
After training, Salty came by and we headed out for some dinner and late-night bitch-moan.
at school
at school
Originally uploaded by renfield
Have been walking Ton to school recently, as P uses the babyMo stroller with the Ton-stand to pick her up in the evening. Usually she doesn't want to walk down the hill from the apartment. She starts by saying "I'm tired" but when that doesn't work she goes to the old stand-by: "It's dangerous with cars on the road. You better carry me."
Smart girl. So I carry her until we get to the flat back street, and then she walks, holding my hand. As her current fascination with bugs continues, she points out all the bugs on the ground and flying in the air, stopping to pick up the occasional piece of rubber or random detritus.
If I've forgotten her Calpis, we'll hit the AM/PM to stock up before heading up to school -- have discovered that if bribed with a cup of Calpis after lunch, she almost always finishes her bento.
smilin no-neck
smilin no-neck
Originally uploaded by renfield
I am The Neckless Wonder. I am the smiling Mookun. Fear my stinky diaper.
big sis holding mo
big sis holding mo
Originally uploaded by renfield
TonSis holds BabyMo as one watches The Backyardigans DVD and the other screams "I WANT MILK!"
lifesize gundam
lifesize gundam
Originally uploaded by renfield
Tough to gauge the scale on this badboy. Easily 5 stories high. Pretty sure it waved at me, or at least winked...
goddamn! gundamn!
goddamn! gundamn!
Originally uploaded by renfield
Me and the Ton met Uncle Jorge in Shinagawa, took the Yamanote to Shinbashi, and got on the Yurikamome monorail to Odaiba.
We followed the geek crowd to a muddy field and there rising from the mist and humidity: a 1:1 scale Gundam.
Damn.
climbing on uncle jorge
climbing on uncle jorge
Originally uploaded by renfield
Dinner with Uncle Jorge at Uokatsu in the Jyuban. Most excellent fishes.
@ dry cleaners
@ dry cleaners
Originally uploaded by renfield
Typical Saturday morning trip to the dry cleaners. This time put Mo's rental stroller to work.
maguro unagi don
maguro unagi don
Originally uploaded by renfield
Quality lunch. Buried beneath the rice: ikura, tamago, ebi...and topped with a raw quail's egg in the shell.
So. Good.
formal mookun
Mookun
Originally uploaded by renfield
Fat Little No-Neck. Formal photo taken at Suitengu Shrine after the traditional 1-month blessing.
Attempted to take a family photo but Tonchan was having nothing of it.
Barely managed to wake up Mookun for the photo.
The kimono was from grandma, the bib and hat provided by the photo studio.
And no, I do not know what he has to wear a dorky bib and hat.
But I DO know this photo will serve most excellently to some day embarrass him immensely.
"no photo!"
"no photo!"
Originally uploaded by renfield
The hot, wet season is upon us. And so come the bugs. Recently Ton has discovered bugs. She has discovered that she does not like them. And she is amazingly good at spotting them; ants, flies, mosquitos...she can spot an insect meters away and is none-too-thrilled about their existence.
And with good reason: woke up this morning and she had several bites on her legs. Didn't want the anti-itch muhi treatment, which doesn't seem to work for her anyway. Didn't want any skin cream or lotion, which at least has a placebo effect. Did not mind P's ancient Japanese ninja treatment: soapy water.
But what she really, really wanted was band-aids. Lots of them. You can see a couple on her left leg and there are more on her right. I also had to re-apply one three times to get it just right. She likes stickers, but she LOVES band-aids.
Also can't find her pink sunglasses (they must be hiding with her watch, various hair bands and ribbons, an old wallet of mine, and who knows what else) so she sported her alternative shades today.
And was in no mood for photos from the papparazzi. I took this shot and she got all huffy: "No Papa! No photo!"
holding hands with big and little cheapie
holding hands with big and little cheapie
Originally uploaded by renfield
Yesterday spent the day with Tai and the Cheapies. Met for awesome Dimsum and stuffed our selves silly, then got lost attempting to avoid the rain by navigating to the downstairs Starbucks. Tai and Ton ran and screamed and played, Mo napped heavily in the ergo carrier.
Finally took a taxi home as the rain wouldn't stop, then took a loooooong late nap and woke just in time for dinner.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)