talk talk talk

We were just looking at some pictures of my nephew John when he was Jotaro's age. They look really alike. What do you think?

Who's who?

Mobile dreams

I have read in my baby books about how to choose a good mobile. I couldn't find any I liked in Japan though. They were all expensive and/or not very good. The cute ones weren't very interesting when viewed from below, which is the whole point of a mobile. My friend Matt said he found a good black & white (babies like high contrasts) mobile on Ebay. I did a quick search on Ebay and found a bunch of great ones. I ended up getting a Tiny Love - Symphony in Motion mobile. It plays 3 tunes by Mozart, Bach and Beethoven. And it was only $15. Can't beat that. Jotaro really seems to like it too. Got to be better than watching my ugly mug all day.

Jotaro's new Symphony in Motion mobile.



We also had a slight scare with Jotaro's ears. One day Yukiko found some discharge coming from one of his ears. We took him to a local ENT doctor and he said, pretty quickly, that the ear was infected. We weren't all that impressed with him though, he seemed pretty cold and his waiting room was a little dark and dirty. He gave us a prescription for some medicine for Jotaro, although neither the doctor nor the pharmacist was exactly sure on how much we should give to a baby?! I couldn't believe this. The doctor also told us that we should bring Jo to the clinic every day for his ear to be checked.

Yukiko spoon feeds some medicine to Jo.



According to all of our children's books, and the internet sites we looked at, an ear infection is supposed to have the following symptons: a fever, runny nose and/or excessive crying. Jo didn't have any of these symptons.
So we went to our local children's doctor, whom we really trust, a few days later. She recommended another ENT to us. This doctor said that Jotaro didn't have an ear infection and that it was just wax in his ear. When Yukiko told him the name of the first ENT doctor we went to, the new doctor said that the 1st guy has a reputation for not telling his patients when they are fully healed up, as he gets more money this way. So it looks like Jotaro is okay and we can stop giving him the medicine. I was really worried though because my brother's little boy, John, has had problems with his ears for a long time and even had surgery.

Yukiko and her friends have a tradition of throwing each other late birthday parties. This year was no different and at the end of May a group of her friends came by to celebrate. This was also my chance to finally try out the complete, inflatable play set I had bought earlier. I had picked up a pump at Costco and it was ready to go.

Kazu

Kaori, Kazu & Yukiko



Hiroko & Miku, Yukiko, Emi & Hiroki, Takami and Kaori.

Takami & Hiroki, Hiroko & Miku

The birthday cake!

Our little family



Hiroki & Miku

Hiroki & Miku, yet again. Are they a couple or what?

One of Yukiko's friends gave us a 'Wee Block'. It looks like a small jock strap and covers a boy's nether regions while you change his diaper. I thought this was hilarious.

Jotaro always manages to turn himself sideways in his bed.

And, like his father, he likes to stick one foot out from the covers. That-a-boy!

Doesn't he look like a mobile phone in a carry case?

At the beginning of the month we went to Yukiko's parents' house. Construction finished a short time ago and they just finished moving in. Wow is it great. It's a little smaller than their old place but it really doesn't seem that way. It's also much closer to our apartment so it will be really easy to stop by and see them.

The front of their new house.

The really spacious dining room.

The new living room - complete with new widescreen TV.

The coolest part of the new house, for me, is that they transported these stones, plants, and decorations from their old garden to their new one. These things had been in their old family garden for generations. What a great idea.

Yuka playing in the garden.



Yukiko & Jotaro

Jotaro & Grandma

Yukiko & Yuka

Yuka enjoying some fresh strawberries!


I also thought it would be another good chance to try out the good 'ole inflatable play set.





I've also gotten a bunch of great photos from my brother of my nephew John. He's growing like a weed.

The bunny of steel.



John's 1st NBA game, and a playoff one to boot. Lucky kid.

Look who's babbling

Jotaro is really warming up his vocal chords these days, lots of gurgling and other noises. It's really cute. You can see that he is trying to communicate. His smiles are still the best method though.

Sleeping with his papa.





Keiko & Yuka-chan dropped by for another visit.



Some time ago I had bought an inflatable play set at Costco. Jotaro won't be able to use it for at least another year but it was so cheap, just $20, that I couldn't pass it up. While Yuka while here I thought it would be a great time to give it a test run. Unfortunately I wasn't able to blow it up by mouth so Yuka could only play with the balls that came with it. She didn't seem to mind though.



Yuka 'hunts' Jotaro


Jotaro does his best Mother Theresa impersonation.








Jotaro loves lying in his baby scale.



To finish off this post in a great way, here's Yukiko singing a Japanese children's song to Jotaro.

The Return of Captain Summer and Humid Boy

This week I finally finished up the last of my projects for my Linguistics course. The last few weeks were a little hairy with two major essays due at the same time. Now I just have to wait a few months for the paperwork to go through and then I can start applying to Universities to work there next year.
The temperature has been steadily climbing here; summer is definitely just around the corner. The good points of summer: World Cup soccer and no teaching. The bad points of summer: the humidy + the humidy + the humidity. The rainy season is not too much fun either but what sucks hardest about it is the humidity. I cleaned out one of air conditioners yesterday so it is ready to roll when it our apartment gets too uncomfortable. For the time being we're just opening our windows and letting the breeze cool us off. The way I see it is if we turn on the air conditioners now, when the humidity isn't really that bad yet, we'll be dependent on them when it gets really hot. The longer we can hold out without them the more we will adapt to the heat and the less we'll need the AC's later. Does that make sense to anyone?
As I said earlier, I finished my Linguistics course this week. After I had sent in my final essay I immediately felt a great weight lifted from my shoulders. I had been really dragging the last few weeks due to lack of sleep, hundreds of pages of reading assignments, and the clock ticking on my essays. I don't think I've drank that much coffee since I was in university. So on top of everything else I was a little hyper-caffeinated and jittery. During the whole ordeal though all my troubles left me, momentarily, when I would arrive home and see Jotaro. There is really nothing better in this whole wide world than seeing your baby look at you and smile :) He is just turning 3 months old and doing great. He is really smiling and laughing a lot. He's awake for about half of each day and his sleeping schedule is slowly falling into line with ours. He generally sleeps through the night but often doesn't fall asleep until late. OK, enough with my nonsense. Just like Playboy magazine, no one looks at my blog for the articles.





A few of Yukiko's former work colleagues from her Mitsubishi days came over to visit one day. Hiroko, who lives close to us, came by with little Miku. Ochan also lives nearby in Ashiya but I had never met her before. Yukiko's friend Tsuji was also supposed to come but couldn't make.

Hiroko & Miku

Ochan & Jotaro

Ochan, Hiroko & Miku.

Ochan and Tsuji gave us this great towel set for Jotaro.









Jotaro loves the Glico Man pose!












Yukiko's friends Hiroko & Emi came with their babies to play with Jotaro. All 3 kids will be in the same grade in school. Here's Miku & Jo & Hiro.


Yukiko & Hiro

Emi & Hiro. Hiro's wearing a Chinese costume.