Sorry for lack of updates. I’m way behind on uploading pics — got a few more sets coming… just need to find some time. For now, here’s one.
Tag Archive for 'slide'
One of the nice things about living in Japan is not knowing when the national holidays are. Today was one and I only found out about it yesterday! Suh-weet!
The weather today was perfect so we headed down to the local park. Layla hadn’t ridden her bike in a while so was anxious to get on her hog and be free of the social shackles of the three-year old’s life. She strapped on her helmet, adjusted her bell, and headed for the road.
I chased after Layla as she sped towards the park. Tamie was left in the dust but caught up surprisingly quick at every red light. By the time we got to the park, I was pooped and wanted to go back home and have a beer. I couldn’t say that though, so I smiled and played with Layla. And play we did.
Layla accomplished something great today – she’s been trying to master the tires, a set of platforms that kids hop from one to the next on, mario style. There is one particular pair of tires that are so far apart that she usually chickens out and hops on the ground and then climbs up. Not today. Take a look at the video.
The park was packed, full of kids and parents alike. It’s actually a wonder how chaotic such a place can be – kids hanging upside down on monkey bars, climbing up slides, jumping on each other and chasing one another. All of it, though, is a controlled kind of chaos, as the kids generally watch out and avoid each other… most of the time…
Layla went down a covered spiral slide just as some bright kid decided to climb up and in it. All I heard from the top was the sound of my daughter wailing. I saw Tamie pop up off the bench she’d be sitting on faster than any pregnant lady should move. Apparently the kid climbing up had his head down and got Layla smack in the mouth. Blood gushed, tears flowed. But within three minutes, she was fine again. Tough kid, that one.
As the day wound down, Layla started getting tired so we headed back to the bike for the ride home. We decided the day at the park wouldn’t be complete without the ritual Starbucks, so split up – I took Layla home to drop off the bike, Tamie took a shortcut to the coffee shop. Layla was so fast on her bike, we ended up arriving at the same time!
Pictures here:
Click for Park Pictures
Sunday pictures
Tamie needs to wake up in 5 hours to catch her 6:20am bus to get to the airport to catch her 11am flight. Fun times. Even funner is the week I’ll spend looking after Layla. Tamie’s folks won’t get her until Friday, so it’ll be a busy time for the next few days… not as busy as Tamie will be in India, mind you!
Friday I went out with some former colleagues and had a good time catching up. Tamie ended up staying at her parents’ house due to her dislike of seeing me inebriated, and I ended up sleeping on the couch due to aforementioned inebriation.
Saturday, I ended up meeting Tamie after her dental appointment and we headed to the grandparents’ house to pick up Layla together. Once we were reunited at the house, Tamie suggested we head out for an unplanned picnic up in Shonandaira. Sounded like a good idea to me, not realizing she meant up in the mountains instead of down on the beach. We drove through McDonald’s (what better picnic food is there?) before heading up to our picnic spot. Layla fell asleep on the way, lucky kid.
After we arrived, Layla wasn’t a very happy camper – judging by the volume of her snoring, we woke her up right in the middle of a deep sleep. She clung to me and tried to sleep as we ate, but after that she was quite happy. Especially after discovering a swing set and a double slide! She had a blast playing on the playground equipment!
We ended up exploring the area a little bit, hiking down a path quite a ways. Tamie didn’t want to go too far as she was worried Layla wouldn’t be able to make it back up and I’d have to carry her. We ended up going down a lot farther than I think she’d have liked, but much to both our surprises Layla made it down and back with little trouble. Only at the end of the hike back up did she stop and ask me to carry her — had she gone a few more meters, she’d have done the whole hike herself!
On our way back to drop off the car, we stopped to shop for some more clothes for Layla – she outgrows everything in a matter of weeks sometimes. Right now, it seems like all her pants don’t go down much past her knee! I think there must be a collection of long pants at the daycare or in the laundry, but for the life of me I can’t find it! So we went to the nearby baby store to pick some up… the kid chose PINK pants. I was shocked. PINK! Of all the colours… The only consolation was she also chose some camouflage cargo pants too.
We ended up staying for supper at the grandparents’ house, as they were worried their poor daughter would miss the taste of sushi in her week in India. I was thinking the same thing, taking Tamie for sushi back in Ebina, so it all worked out pretty well!
Sunday was a lazy day, as Sunday’s usually are. We shopped around for some things for Layla’s planned graduation into the next level of daycare and for some last minute things Tamie needed to pick up for her trip. Not very exciting, but at least it was somewhat relaxing.
New pictures, as always can be found in The gallery.
Or specific galleries here:
Pics from the long weekend
Pics from Hiking
Pics from Sunday
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.