Since it is finally warming up, after Maximo's baths in the evening, we've been letting him run around naked, partly because he's cute, and partly to prep him a bit more for our potty-training venture in a few weeks.
As soon as I stepped out of his room to answer the phone, I had a feeling it was just the right mood and silence he needed to do his business. I was only on the phone with Kirsten for about two minutes - she was cackling away about some wacky Georgian democrat. (Who after YouTube "research" turned out to be entertaining and quite an ignorant nut-job.)
If you're squeamish about poop, you may want to not hit "play". Otherwise, enjoy. We did. And we do plan to save this for his first prom date, or future wife or for another time we really need to blackmail him.
I'm not sure I mentioned it before, but when we moved here we both got iPhones. Soon after accepting our positions, we received an email from the school laying out the phone plans. It was nice to get that email because the phone was handed to us as soon as we arrived on the island. In Peru, we rarely used our phones. We shared one before Max and then each had one after Maximo was born, but they were cheap and we always prepaid our minutes. The only time I really wanted one, was when we were out to dinner or away from Maximo, especially when he was little and then it would lay in my lap while we enjoyed dinner out.
Then, we became Almighty iPhone users. Oh, it is so much more than a phone. You can watch podcasts and videos on it, you can listen to music, you can take photos and video. You can search the internet. You can use the Google Maps option and find your location or drop a pin on a restaurant or store you love and want to find again sometime. I can access all my personal files on it. And the list goes on and on...
It's almost always with me, so it's fun to have the photo/video option to capture moments when I didn't have our large (but wonderful) camera with us. Unfortunately, I often forget I've taken pictures on it, until I'm sitting on a train by myself, wondering what I should do and start thumbing through the photos. (Note: this does not happen often.)
Today, I took the day off of work because Max has seemed to have a mysterious illness - which goes and comes, which makes him cough, and often times leak vomit and diarrhea. What fun! He first got sick when we were in Cambodia and we chalked it up to something bad he ate. But, it seemed to go away, then come back again, but a little different. We waited. I planned to take him to the doctor last week, but then he seemed to recover. But, this weekend, we ended up doing about 20 loads of laundry, most of which was covered in puke. Anyhow, the doctor says that he thinks he's at the end of a bad stomach virus going around and he has a respiratory infection as well. After a successful doctor's visit and an uneventful train ride, we came back, I got Max to take his medicines (mixed in a chocolate jelly - which he loved) and then we giddily sat on the back porch so he could eat a popsicle and enjoy the warm weather. This is when I started scrolling through my phone and found these...
Vietnam Air - better than it sounds!
John and Maximo's firsts steps in Cambodia
Max and D riding their imaginary bus!
Max and Flavi in the backyard - used CameraBag Application on iPhone
Max and Flavius playing in the garden
Flavius and our tulips!
Max in the yard on top of the water table.
Our garden looks 100% better than when we moved in, although the grass looks like crap!
On the way to the doctor's today - a beautiful cherry blossom at the shrine.
SAKURA! The cherry blossoms are peaking this week and look gorgeous!
And all was fine and dandy, until Max tripped, fell off the back porch steps (3) landed on his face and got a bloody nose. He recovered quickly, ate a decent lunch, and is now sleeping. That gives me time to blog, make homemade benne wafers (YUM!) and enjoy a cup of tea. I could get used to this staying home bit.
And... here's a gem from my iPhone archive. I took this after wine and chu-his and then forgot about it. John and Jon singing "Y Control" by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs at a karaoke bar after dinner one night:
It has been a long winter. Not ridiculously cold, but l-o-n-g and wet. When you're living in a small Japanese apartment, wet and cold weather really, well, sucks, especially when you're living with a two year old.
Today, the sun finally shone and it was in the 50s. We had big plans for the day, so after boiling a few dozen eggs and getting some laundry on the line, we headed for the "Tulip Festival" on island. It was a small little plot with a few hundred tulips planted on it. Maximo loved walking through the rows and surprisingly enough, he just looked and smelled and refrained from touching or romping through the flowers.
After that we headed off island (barely) to check out some cherry blossoms and go to the home goods store to buy some more flowers for our garden. Maximo loves the "animal" section of this store - it has a huge fish selection and also quite a few (expensive!) puppies and kittens for sale. He bought a toy (a bag of balls) for Flavius and was so proud of himself that he even carried the bag the whole way home. When he got home, he couldn't wait to get out of his shoes and jacket to bust open the package to give to Flavius. He was frustrated at first when Flavius didn't show much interest in the balls, but I think two of them had catnip in them, so Flavius was soon kicking them all over the house which pleased the pants off of Max.
After a nap, we colored Easter eggs with our dear neighbors, Kai, Luka and Eiko. Maximo is in love with Kai and Luka. Unfortunately today, he was a bit fussy and puked while they were here, but I think everyone was overall happy with their eggs.
My mother confessed that this was another one of those trips that she worried about. She always worries - and of course, I have inherited that gene, but some trips we've taken, coincidentally, those beginning with "C" - Cuba, Colombia and now Cambodia have put her a little more on the edge, than say a trip to France or Canada.
This photo montage is of Maximo's highs and lows in Cambodia. Surprisingly, it was a great place to take kids, especially a two year old who likes nothing more than rocks and dirt.
Kansai Airport - checking out the planes with Daddy.
The pool and floaties! Necessities for our 95+ ° days!
Romping around Ta Prohm - our favorite!
Silk worms at the farm!
We got to watch the whole process,
but Max liked the caterpillars the best!
Either a stomach bug or something
he ate started to get to him...this night was spent naked
in the bathroom with lots of bodily fluids,
let's leave it at that.
The elephant ride up the "mountain"
to Phmom Bakheng.
He loved it!
Future Explorer entering Angkor Wat
On Pub Street, playing with the
"dead-skin eating fish" while waiting for dinner.
John titled this well...
TEMPLE TANTRUM! Too hot!
But his dump truck got him through.
He does not handle the heat well.
We were out one day and some tourists
were gushing over him, and one said,
"El esta el color del tomate!"
He's never really had jewelry before and
he covets this soccer ball bracelet we got at the old market.
THIS IS MAXIMO'S FAVORITE THING TO DO RIGHT NOW! He has finally gotten good at it and he just loves tooling around on his little bike. Last weekend, we went quite far with him riding his bike.
I won't be posting this week, not that that's a big change from any weekday since we've move to Japan. We're heading off to Cambodia tomorrow, and I'm leaving my computer at home.
John and I went to our first sumo match on Sunday. An email went around from the Elementary Social Committee and all I had to do was hit reply, type "2 people" and go pay a colleague for the tickets. For me, this was perfect!
We got a babysitter and went just the two of us (with 30 other colleagues/families). It was a really fun experience. We sat in the first two rows of chairs, which was a bit far back, but the gym was not too big. We got a good English guide book which explained the rules and the history of sumo, which made the experience a lot more understandable and enjoyable. It was the first day of a 15-day tournament held annually in Osaka. It's definitely something we'll do again. Next time, we'd like to sit on the tatami seating next time and bring a picnic and maybe in a few years, drag along Maximo.
We had a nice outing, unfortunately, the pictures aren't so great. Next week we're off for Spring Break and on Saturday, we're off to Cambodia! Yipee! I may not post until we get back from that trip.
Here's the rather long video made from clips while we were at Max's daycare yesterday. They had an open house type thing on Friday and Saturday for the kids to show us the songs they've been singing and dancing too and they did a little play. On Friday, all the kids from the daycare were there, so it was a more complete play. On Saturday, there were about 7 kids there with their families.
We weren't sure how Maximo was going to do with us there. He was a bit worried when we rolled up to daycare, but was quite the performer once we got there. He danced and jumped his heart out.
It was a fun time for all and it was nice to get out of the house because it's been raining all weekend.
The video on top seemed a bit hard to stream. If that doesn't work, try the one I uploaded on YouTube (same video):
Yes, I know I haven't posted in over 3 weeks! WOW! That's been the longest I've gone since I started blogging a couple days after Maximo was born. My excuses: 1. Work is hard. 2. Parenting is hard. 3. I am tired ALL OF THE TIME.
I often think of what I want to say or write my blog in my head as I ride my bike on the way home from school or while I'm fumbling through the grocery store, but then by the time I can sit down after Maximo has gone to bed, I've got nothing. I can barely make my Scrabble moves on my online games and make myself a cup of tea,
Unfortunately, I've gotten into a bit of a funk with many things I enjoy doing - blogging, exercising, sometimes even being positive is a lot of work.
But we continue to trudge... The first year in a new school, new position, new country, new language is difficult. It's been a good, but sometimes challenging transition for Maximo, and this, on top of his tumultuous toddler emotions.
Anyhow, I'm back. And hopefully more consistently. Today we went to the end of the year (school year is April - March for Japanese schools) Parents' Day at Yume Club - Maximo's daycare. It was really cute. I have a ton of video I'm trying to post, but it may take another day, because it's a bit long. Here are a couple of pictures from our day:
Miho, Maximo and Evan ready to start
He jumped almost the whole time we were there. He now jumps all the time, especially when he's happy!
Today we went up Mount Rokko to celebrate Evan, Kiyona and Allie's birthdays. They are all teachers' kids that also go to Yume Club with Maximo. We went to a "park" that has a man-made ski slope and sledding area for kids. It was fun and really the first time Maximo saw snow - except for a flurry on a back of the bike last weekend. Max had a good time, but was a bit out of sorts because it was his first day out of the house in about four, since he's been battling a respiratory infection.
Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures. But here are a few that I got. Happy Valentine's Day! His bibs - so cute! I'm hoping we'll get a couple more wears out of them!
Max and Daddy sliding down the slope!
I packed a L-O-V-E- inspired lunch. I LOVE my "hard boiled egg shapers". Only in Japan!
