Today was supposed to be a hectic day with a full schedule, starting from the early morning… Unfortunately (or perhaps not), things didn’t quite go according to plan.
We started out this early Saturday morning with a daycare thing for Tamie to go to, a hospital visit for Layla, a remembrance ceremony at a temple for Tamie, a lunch with the grandparents, and then dinner. It started out well enough – Tamie made it to the daycare and I got Layla to the hospital on time. We even bumped into one of Layla’s former inmates as they were leaving. That was about the only smile I saw on Layla’s face the whole time we were in the hospital.
Layla clung to me, telling me that she didn’t want to see any nurses. She freaked out when one nurse came over with a scale to weigh her… I’m not sure why it’s at all important to her lung condition (and they have never weighed her before, plus I could have told her if she’d just asked), but instead we had to not only put the screaming kid on the scale, we first had to fight to take off her shoes.
We waited in the waiting area with all the other sick kids, some wearing masks, one screaming at the top of his lungs. Layla quietly sat on my lap sucking her thumb, watching closely every time a hospital staff walked by. When we were eventually called, we met the doctor (who speaks no English to go along with my not speaking any Japanese). She asked “Genki?” (meaning, “Healthy?”). I said “Yep.” So she listened to Layla’s breathing and checked her throat and told me she was okay but to come back again next week. Easiest check-up ever.
Just as we were wrapping up, Tamie knocked on the door and the proceeded to talk for a while… turns out the doctor wanted to see Layla again next week because she’s pregnant and not going to be there at what would be the regular scheduled time. Come March, the doctor we’ve finally started feeling comfortable with is going to be gone for a year. Something to consider when you get a female doctor, I guess…
After the appointment, I took Layla home and Tamie headed off for her temple ceremony. We were to meet at noon in Isehara when everything was done to all go out for lunch. I took Layla to the pet store so she could look at sleeping dogs through glass cages before heading off to meet. We waited for over 30 minutes before bailing. Turns out things were backed up at the temple, but Tamie wasn’t able to send or receive calls. So, unfortunately, we missed the planned lunch.
Instead of going to lunch, I took Layla back home for a while so she could take a nap – she was starting to fall asleep in my arms on the train. We played for a bit before I decided a trip to the park might be fun. The sky was blue, the wind was cold, but the day was still young.
When we first got to the park, brave Layla looked at it and blanched. She saw the big playground and instead of feeling happy or excited, she was scared and wanted to be held. I was a bit surprised as she used to love this place, pre-hospital stay. So I picked her up and carried her over to the playground and she slowly started warming up to the idea of actually playing… so long as I held her hand.
She eventually dragged me all over the place, getting her ‘playground-legs’ back under her. She was very timid to climb the steps and ladders and things at first, but by the end she was telling me she wanted to go by herself and to only wait and watch. That’s the independent Layla I remember, and I was quite happy to see her getting back to her old self. I’m not sure, though, if she didn’t want me around because she wanted to be independent, or because she was enamored with all the boys running around and didn’t want me to embarrass her…
As the sun set, the wind was getting cold and we came back home to meet Tamie. Apologies were said and accepted before she showed us the bags of loot that she brought home. Leftovers from the big lunch became our dinner and a bunch of souveniers from her parent’s latest adventures (thanks for that, ba-ba and ji-ji!) became our dessert before the two girls went to play in Layla’s playroom.
I posted some pictures today (as requested). Check them out here:
Full set of Layla in the hospital
First day out of the hospital (it rained… then snowed!)
Results of snowfall
Park Today.