ode to KARATE

Three is the magic age when kids are all the sudden eligible for classes outside of school. Extracurricular makes it seem so serious but I guess that is what they are. I have always assumed it was because people don't want to mess with diapers but I am sure it also has something to do about being able to sit, listen, and follow instructions.

When we knew we were coming to Japan and that Blue would need a good way to use up some of his excess energy on his days off from school I immediately thought of karate. I liked that it was culturally appropriate and I liked that it was all about physical discipline. Blue is very physical but a little lacking on the disciplined side. After a little internet research and some translation help from Graham's coworkers we found a really nice dojo only a twelve minute walk from our apartment. All was going well!

So we show up for the first class and the first bummer is that the parents stay to watch and provide guidance if needed. There is only one instructor so he can't be corralling the one wayward kid the whole time. Which meant that I was a major distraction to Blue. And it meant that the teacher wasn't the authority figure. Another bummer was that he only spoke Japanese.

So the first couple classes Blue ran around pretending to be a dinosaur almost the entire time. The walls of the room are covered in mirrors and he would just practice his T Rex impression. Which, admittedly, is very good.

I was encouraged by the other moms who said it took their kids several months to settle into the class, to listen and participate. One time he ended up with a private lesson when no other kids showed up. And he did so well. Clearly, he knew exactly what to do. But he wasn't interested or patient enough to wait in line and join in with what the other boys were doing. We downloaded Kung Fu Panda on the iPad hoping he could pretend to be a jaguar doing karate instead of a lumbering bracheosaurus. He was into it for a while and would often ask to go to karate. And occasionally in class he would participate. He was a little better when I was bribing him with M&Ms but even that turned sour when all he could think about was the chocolate.

And then he stopped wanting to go. So we have stopped going for now. I had planned to push through til we left for Christmas but I couldn't figure out how I was going to motivate a kid who didn't want to be there in the first place.

In January we are going to try soccer... It is taught by Brits and is a little less structured and controlled. Hopefully a little more fun. Karate might have been too serious for Blue.

happy SIXTEEN months

I used to do these every month for Blue, I think until he was two. I haven't been so regular with Wiley. Sorry, girl. But she hasn't stopped learning and growing so I am picking it back up here.

I guess it was about a month ago when she really perfected the use of "no". For a long time it was mostly just really cute. You would ask her if she wanted a bite of broccoli and she would say no like you had just asked the most silly and ridiculous thing. Very cute and good-natured. I would ask her questions just hoping to get a cute little no in response. But now that she can communicate a little more she gets pretty frustrated when you don't or won't give her what she wants. The no has become a little more of a whine. I'll try and post a video later. It is actually really easy to capture because she has not been enjoying having her picture/video taken recently. I get a no every time.


Yes and No from Micaelan Davis on Vimeo.

Other words she can say. Some of these are quite old developments at this point but nice to have a comprehensive-ish list:
- help, please
- thank you
- socks
- feet
- shoes
- nose
- eyes
- mouth
- baby
- yummy
- bite
- light
- Blue
- mommy
- dada
- milk
- water
- cracker
- meat
- Wiley
- ball
- book
- Pops
- up
- stick
- jump
- nap (pacifier)
- bap ("that"- i think. she often uses it in reference to her puffy pink vest that she likes to wear all the time)
- bye

She is still fitting into most of her 12 month clothes. She has a delicateness to her but she is not skinny. Average weight I would guess. She is not a voracious eater. Still greatly depends on her milk for calories. But she refuses to drink it out of a sippy cup. Blue did the same thing.

She is independent with a defiant streak. She has thrown more tantrums in her 16 months than Blue ever has. In fact, she probably throws more tantrums in a day than Blue ever has. That is just not his style. She loves to sit on your lap and read books for as long as you can last. She loves to watch and copy and do things by herself.

She has started to fight back when Blue picks on her and will pull his hair or grab his toy and chuck it across the room. It has backed him off a little. Graham and I were laughing last night that he is really going to wish someday that he hadn't picked on her quite so much. He isn't going to know what hit him when she finally devises her plan of attack.

Saying goodbye is Wiley's favorite part of the conversation. Not that she is anxious for it to end. But I think she could sit there and blow kisses and wave goodbye for a good few minutes. So bye. And mmmwah.

Update:
I forgot to talk about her teeth! She has the top two and bottom two. About a month or more ago her top left molar came in. The top right one is now peeking through. Next came the bottom one to the right of the two on center. It looks like the two on top are about to come through as well. Weird, huh! All over the place. She had that first molar almost all the way worked through before I noticed. I was just not expecting a molar before the ones in front. It does help with chewing. She never fusses about them though.

OCTOBER in instagram

Hope everyone had a great October. Ours saw us through a birthday party all the way to Halloween and generally just starting to feel more settled here in Tokyo.

1. Karate. This deserves its own post... Coming soon.

2. Training chopsticks. These are so much fun. He doesn't eat his raisins without these now. 

3. His pads make him a jaguar. 

4. The boy is three!!!

5. Her crazy hair got even crazier. 

6. Three going on sixteen. Insisted on sitting in his own seat. 

7. Garage (sidewalk) sales!

8. Watching for mom.

9. Helping dad get a used bike. A bit of a fail. Also deserves its own post. 

10. Enjoying their new bikes. Err, scooter. We call it is a bike so everyone is happy. 

11. New neighbor friend. 

12. School children.

13. Took a seat to watch me get ready.

14. Happy Halloween. Roar. 

a DAILY indulgence

Our neighborhood seems to be filled with pastry shops. Everywhere I go I find a croissant staring back at me. So Wiley and I have taken to sharing one for breakfast.

A little daily indulgence goes a long way...

an OH face

Blue and Wiley, in many ways, could not be more different. But they both seem to like this face!

a FISHING adventure

Another from Graham:

I miss fishing. So on my day off a couple of weeks ago I went in search of a fishing experience. Amazingly, there was a fishing pond just a 5 minute walk away in my neighborhood, hidden at the end of a residential road (the open entrance on the left in this picture).

Inside is a fishing pond. Click here for a 360 photo I took: http://360.io/PFamdy.

To be honest, it's more like a swimming pool filled with pond water and stocked with tons of carp. It was the middle of a work day, so there were only 3 other men there, spread out evenly around the perimeter.

The technique was fairly straightforward. I rented a pole (with no reel) and some bait. The bait was a golf-ball-sized mass of green dough. I would pinch a bit from the mass and roll it into a pea-sized ball to thread onto my hook. Then lower the line into the water and wait for the bobber to move - which usually took about 10 seconds. In this photo you see the required equipment (left to right): sitting pillow, pole, pole rest, fish net, bucket to hold the bait, and bucket of water to rinse off your fingers after rolling a bait ball.

Unlike fly-fishing, there was no skill required to find the fish, select the bait, or cast the line. The only skill was in setting the hook, which involved some degree of timing and understanding of the bobber's movements. Clearly there was a skill here, because the guy across from me caught 30 fish in the hour it took me to catch 5. The bait came off the hook easily, so 9 times out of 10 the hook was empty when retrieved from the water. I quickly learned an advanced technique from observing the other fishermen - roll the bait into pea-sized balls while casting the line and waiting for a bite. Having a few "peas" waiting ensured maximum hook-in-water time.

Success!

While the experience wasn't near as satisfying to me as fly-fishing, I do appreciate there was a degree of therapy in the repetitive process. Perhaps it would be more satisfying if I thought of it more as a meditation than a sport.

a GUEST blogger

Below is a post from Graham:

A couple of weeks ago I took Blue to a free neighborhood "petting zoo" 20 mins away by train. The zoo had guinea pigs, rabbits, and dogs.

In the guinea pig pen, children sat on a bench with a towel on their laps, and an adult put a guinea pig on their laps to pet. Blue was very sweet with his guinea pig, and a little nervous. He was very careful, as always.

The rabbit was in a pen. I couldn't read the signs, but nobody else was getting into the pen, so I assume they said something like "stay outside the pen." We stayed outside and wished the rabbit would come close enough to touch, but the rabbit knew better.

My favorite animal was the dog, who reminded me of Lucy and was very sweet. 

I rarely see animals here, much less touch them. I'd forgotten how therapeutic it is to pet a dog. I've heard of places in Tokyo you can pay by the hour to play with cats. Before moving here I thought this idea was crazy, but now I understand why such a business exists.