- The mamachari!
- Alexa fiddling with the back wheel. James nowhere in sight!
Alexa has always been a bit more of a daredevil – climbing out of her cot in the middle of the night, climbing out of the highchair and just climbing (and falling) in general. James never showed any interest in climbing out of his cot and even when we lowered the mattress to its lowest position and had the side rail down so it looked like a toddler bed with a low side rail, he never attempted to climb out despite being only inches off the floor. Alexa loves to be held upside down, but James hates this kind of rough and tumble, though he loves to use my bed (and mummy) as a trampoline!
On Saturday there was a sayonnara party in our building(in the meeting room which is more spacious and better for kids to run amok) for Kumiko and her kids and Miki and her son. Both have bought new apartments in the local area and so will be leaving our mansion. I was made very welcome 4yrs ago when I moved into the building and will be sad to see them leave. I hope our paths will cross regularly, but I know as I have returned to work, I hardly ever get to see my neighbours anymore…(sniff sniff). It was interesting to see James and Alexa play with these Japanese kids. James was as big as the 6yr olds and at one point as we were clearing up, James was clearly very tired and was curled up on a zabuton (floor cushion). The older kids tried to drag it from under him, and a tug of war followed. James being the victor not before some 6 yr old attempted to kick him in the head as a last chance ditch at defeating the 3yr old. I did lose my temper at this point, but only briefly as didn’t want to appear like crazy foreign bitch in front of my neighbours. The 6yr old retreated when I yelled at him and nobody seemed to bat an eyelid anyway thankfully. Funny how other kids assume James is the same age as them too. I am anticipating all manner of “come and have a go if you think you are hard enough” kind of scenarios when he starts real school in 3 yrs time. It was an enjoyable afternoon actually and seeing as Tadashi was upstairs playing on his pc it was easy to take Alexa back home when she got a bit tired and return to the party to sup beer and champagne. Am seriously considering this “venue” for Alexa’s birthday party at the end of the month. Collapsible furniture that is stored in the closets leaving a big empty room suitable for all manner of party games like musical chairs. I know the carting food stuffs down stairs will be a pain whilst trying to entertain the kids, but might be worth the effort. Must have a word with the warden down stairs.
Noriyuki was in town again this week and he popped over yesterday afternoon for a cup of tea. Always lovely to see him and he got to witness the chaos that ensues in a home with two toddlers. Both kids were really shy when he arrived, but soon warmed to him perhaps because he came armed with Tim Tams. Anti-social Tadashi decided it best if he vacate the premises before Noriyuki arrived so as not to appear rude!?? His first idea was to close the sliding doors that separate our bedroom, where the pc is, and continue working on whatever project for work he said he had to finish. I told him he could at least leave the door open as I’m sure Noriyuki wouldn’t mind if he was busy doing work. So he decides that going to the library would be less rude. Unfortunately for him, they bumped into each other as he was leaving and Noriyuki was arriving. Anyway, I’m sure Noriyuki (infact all my friends) already knows how rude and anti-social Tadashi is and I hope he doesn’t take it personally.
Another bike ride today to Sun Street shopping Centre where I discovered the joys of mooching about the shops with two toddlers on the loose. Managed to persuade Alexa into a baby shoppingcart push chair thingy in Toys R Us, but the 100 yen shop (pokey little one at that!) was a no go area for two reasons – crowded narrow aisles overstocked with paraphenalia and a dog pushchair with two pooches sitting at the entrance to the shop. My two went wild when they saw the dogs and at first just gently petted the dogs. Soon they were woofing then screaming at the dogs, which set the littlest and most aggressive pooch off into a frenzy of its own. Despite clearly being barking mad and dressing her dogs in pink tutu like clothing, the owner, when she came out of the shop to investigate why her dogs were yelping, was fine about the abuse my kids aimed at her dogs. Anyway, we didn’t find any suitable pencil cases in the 100yen shop and so ducked into the 315 yen plastic crappy cutesy Disney-esque store opposite. We got lucky and found a small Elmo plastic handbag type thingy that was not much bigger than a pencil case and James decided he wanted this to put in his new coloured pencils. I got one for Alexa too and we also picked up two Sesame Street alarm clocks. May have to go back to this shop as they seemed to stock a lot of Elmo goods. You can never have too many items with Elmo’s face plastered all over it in my children’s opinion.




