sunshine and happy smiles

::it's been a while!::

we're back here in the UK (back 2 weeks now to be precise), after 3 months in Kumano, Japan. it was such a great trip.we thoroughly enjoyed our little slice of life there. although we missed Tomo lots! he was able to come out for the last few weeks of our stay though so that made for happy mama, kai and mika and a nice transition stage back to life here.

so many people were so kind and generous to us during our stay there. especially Shizuka-san, Ayumi, Junjun-thank you so much!  Thank you also to Ryosuke, Shiho and Koji! We miss you all !!

If I can figure out how to get photos from my camera on to the computer, I shall upload some here!

xx

 

::the one year old::

miss m turned one last saturday! i can honestly say that this past year has been the fastest of my life. so hard to believe she is 1 already! we had a little family party with auntie zo and baba in attendance to celebrate with balloons, presents and a 'dog' cake.
with a beloved shaker

she's a fan of tiny spaces-she also loves to climb in and out of things (at the moment a big favourite is our kitchen stool..she climb in beneath it and then peek out all happy).

she also loves all bags and boxes and delights in disgorging them of their contents. the phone is another current hit.

we've been swimming every week since august, initially she wasn't impressed with being ducked and having water on her face, but she likes it now!

reaching out to grab on to the side

holding on (and tasting the side!)-she supports her own weight for a short time now

having a kick

going under

swimming up to the surface on her own.

It's such a pleasure to be the mother of this lovely one year old..as well as her sister of course!

 

 

 

::kaikai::

kai has been learning piano with k-sensei for the past few months..she's been enjoying it!

but k is off back to Japan so we'll be looking for a new teacher when we return from Japan in spring. (she's also about to have a baby! how exciting! N-kun is going to be a big brother!yay!)

Kai has also been attending our local saturday japanese group/class. she's been enjoying it. here they sang some xmas songs at the christmas-kai

it's odd not having a working camera! have to rely on others for pics! thanks baba!

this was back at halloween

lovely!


we've had a couple of colds this season..they always hit poor kk the hardest and she gets a not-so-nice cough. mika was watching big sis carefully and has learnt that tissues are for blowing noses and that they do not taste so nice.

playing with a cardboard roll-what fun!

she's quite a daddy's girl these days and is going to miss him IMMENSELY!

::11 months::

miss m is 11 months old! almost 1 whole year! i guess she'd be classed as a toddler now for she walks everywhere. very steady on her feet (it clicked a couple of weeks ago and she now only wobbles and bumps on to her bum if she's overtired/she LOVES inai inai Baa-she initiates it a LOT! and says 'baa' in a loud voice/she learnt how to do 'high five'/she raises her hand and says 'haa' when you say her name/if you ask her for a chu (kiss) she'll come over and bump faces with you/she likes the game where you hide something in one of your hands-she turns them over and when she finds it says 'aaaaa' for atta!/is very good at spotting wanwans-outside and in books..often opens books and seems to be looking for them/very into books-turning the pages, being read them, and eating them!/showing lots of love to dolls/she listens intently and if i ask her where's...? she'll look in that direction or go get it/has figured out that if she climbs up on to the little chair she can see out the window (she spent most of yesterday doing that..climbing up..looking out..getting down, then going up again)/ has figured out how to open cupboards-the kitchen is going to get a lot messier!/likes to pick up the phone and listen..sometimes babbles into it../loves washing her hands and splashing in the water/ is getting very good in our swimming class-she can hold on to the side and when i say 'mika ready go' she knows to close her eyes and mouth because she's going underwater/finds big sister highly entertaining/gets very excited when dada comes home/gets excited to see baba and jiji too/enjoys music class and shaking things/has walked outside a fair few times-she manages well unless the surface is bumpy/puts her hand up for you to hold/developing a love of buckets/bags-anything she can put on her arm and carry!/crawls over the futon  and me! to big sis for mornings cuddles on waking/is lovely just as she is.

::november::

it's november already! how time flies! we've had a good week and I should like to show you photos of all the fun things we've done, but our camera sadly no longer works in a useful photo-taking type way. i'm afraid to say it made it's way into little hands one too many times and got dropped (accidentally of course) one too many times as well. bye-bye camera. thank you for all your hard work. (it's quite strange not having a camera, a few times this week I've found myself reaching for it).

we celebrated halloween by attending a small gathering at a friend's house and then we went trick or treating. Kai was delighted with all her loot. I'm pleased to say that this year too Kai has quickly forgotten about all the sweets. out of sight, out of mind! (i'm not a total meanie. she did get to have one on the night. and another the next day. and even one the day after that! but by today she no longer mentioned them.)  Mika was pleasantly intrigued by the whole affair. we got back into our weekly routine (last week was a school holiday (half-term) which affects us in so much as that some of the activities we go to aren't on).

Mika is walking constantly. she's just always on the go. her new thing is carrying things in each hand. which would be fine and lovely except she is not the most stable on her feet and often plonks backwards, but with this new 'carrying things' development often they are things that are too heavy and so make her wobble forwards or things like scarves of bags that drag under her feet..it all makes for rather treacherous walking. poor love. she's had a few boshes to her head this week. i know it's all just a learning curve, but i wish it didn't have to involve her bumping her head so much. she has also started shaking her head from side to side..which is very funny for some reason..and we're teaching her to put her hand up when we say her name..she does it some times.looks so cute! new 'words' are 'baby' (she just loves carrying dolls around at the moment and giving them little cuddles) and  'boor' for ball.

Kai had forest school today. it rained hard. she came home with tales of mud slides and swinging very fast in a hammock and getting splashed all over. it seems she had a wonderful time! she has been busy writing thank you letters for all her bday presents. we cheated a little bit as lots of letters are a bit much as yet..so she wrote one (minus the name) and we photocopied it and then she just wrote the names in. yay.

it's bonfire night tomorrow. so we're looking forward to seeing lots of fireworks. tomo is playing live so he won't be watching with us. we'll go with bab and jij (as kai has taken to calling baba and jiji!). oh and kai is in urashima taro-a play at the japanese group tomorrow. she has a line (she's a ryugujyo no onna no hito (like a dancing lady?)) 'O-sake ikaga desu ka?' she's a bit anxious about it but has been practising lots. she tends to be very shy in big groups.

have a great weekend!

::10 months::

'helping' with the washing..pulling stuff off

mika moo is 10 months old (or rather she was about 10 days ago!)/ finger up nostrils lots of the time! cute!/she is upright and walking most of the time now-crawls rarely-she is even managing to navigate the step up into our living room and the step down into the kitchen/ not sure how many steps she can do before wobbling back on to her bum. yesterday we counted 20/ 6 teeth now-4 on top, 2 on the bottom/ has started to point/ is enjoying books at the moment.. mostly eating them (and she has damaged quite a few - i don't remember kai being quite so destructive..but maybe that's just my selective memory?) but also being read to, she likes to turn the pages/ gets upset and shouty if you take something away that she is playing with/ loves inai ina baa/peekaboo games and will initiate them herself/ loves the silks we have..likes to walk around trailing one along with her (in quite a dangerous (getting under the feet) kind of a way)/went to london for the first time and got her first japanese passport/pats my chest or says 'nananana' when she wants milk/loves shiny tunnels-especially the shinniness that is our washing machine..she can often be found with her head in it/is often much too busy to nap/she reliably crashes out around 7pm though/enjoys rice. loves noodles. doesn't like daikon. not fussed about bread.loves banana at the moment.not overly fussed about food though-she doesn't like being constrained in her chair, she'd rather be up and moving!/loves drinking water and mugi-cha/discovered the slide at the playground the other day and repeatedly climbed steps to get up to slide to then slide down/trying to climb on anything remotely climbable!/seems to copy words we say/is very sweet and smiley.

10 months young  now is a lovely place to be. enjoying it all.

 

 

 

::the zoo::

watching some animals do their stuff at the zoo

a tiger

we stopped at the  park for a picnic lunch. there was time for a play too!

happy birthday! cake

feeling shy!

penguins

there were lots of interesting animals to see

 

 

 

 

 

::birthday continued::

waiting at the station

admiring the view. lovely morning sun.

mika went exploring and found a hiding place. inai inai

baa!

after all the excitement Mika crashed out.

kai had fun.

inbetween embassy visits there was time for lunch and leaf play in St James Park.

walking through green park.

shoulder carrys are good!

 

 

our hotel room was great! a double and two singles..so plenty of space.

cat came to have dinner with us. thank you miaow! it was lovely to see you!

happy birthday kaikai!!

auntie zo came for dinner too! thank you zo!

::5 years::

5 years since the day she was born. 5 years old! she was so excited about her birthday this year and very curious about her birth and about all her friends birthdays and whether they were born after/before her. she chose to celebrate this year with a trip, instead of inviting friends for a party. she wanted to go to the zoo to see the animals. so we took 2 days and went down to london, spent most of one day at the japanese embassy sorting out kai and mika's japanese passports.that night we stayed over in a hotel. (very exciting!) and had a birthday dinner with cat and auntie zoe. it was thai food and very delicious! the next day we met up with baba and jiji and spent the day at the zoo.

the morning of her birthday-up early to catch our train!-excited to be 5-a whole hand!!

kai was SO excited to receive lego. she had been asking to play with it whenever we went to friend's houses.. and she's been playing with it nonstop. whilst tomo and i were trawling the internet trying to figure out which was the best lego to buy, my mum put up a card in the local supermarket saying 'lego wanted' and someone gave her all of this! and more! so we split it and baba and jiji gave kai lego too! yay!

without the flash. it's quite dark in the mornings here now.

shall have to add more pictures from our trip to london later. am too tired tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

::ichi-ni::

 
teeth!

 
 
ichi

 
ni