Another quiet day in Aioi

Train spotting from his bedroom window

Today Matt went off to Yokohama to see some clients.  I was going to go too and meet up with my old Japanese friend Fumi, however, even though he said he would drop everything to see me, he didn't mean it and could only fit me in after 5pm - no good when you have a 3 year old in tow (he has a 5 year old boy, but is divorced and hasn't seen him for 3 years and therefore has no idea about children).  Anyway, after yesterday's long day, we thought it wise to give Tom a day off to recuperate.

So Matt left just before 8 and we had a laze around doing nothing much.  He didn't have the best of mornings though, the wind slammed a door shut on his hand (he had removed the bag of nappies which I had put in the doorway to prevent this happening!) and then when we went to the convenience store to pick up some breakfast he fell flat on his face, poor thing.  He recovered quite quickly from both injuries you'll be pleased to hear which means that he wasn't over tired - a good sign.

Tom

I asked Tom what he wanted to do today - he wanted to play football, so that's what I planned.  We did some drawing before we went out, Tom has been showing interest  in writing his name recently.  He has been able to write a 't' and an 'o' for a while, but has been having trouble with the 'm'.  Today for the first day he wrote an 'm' which was recognisable.  He was really proud of himself as was I.

After the compulsory Mr Tumble, we headed outside and got the bus down to Port Park.  We walked along to the supermarket, bought a picnic (a box of karaage, dumpling, breaded things and a boiled egg, then I bought a box containing some pasta and potatoes due to lack of rice in the first box) and went to the park to eat and play.  Opened the first box to find a layer of rice underneath all the goodies - I really should know better - is there ever a meal where you don't get rice in Japan?  Tom played happily in the park - his favourite lunch is a picnic, means he can graze and play at the same time.  He got all shy when some other children arrived, but after some encouragement I managed to get him playing again.  I was hoping he would get the hang of swings this holiday, but I don't think he is ready yet - I have drilled him and drilled him: legs out, legs in etc etc but he doesn't seem to get it.  Oh well, at least he is steady on the big swings, which means we can carry on working on it at home.

Fast asleep with his best friend

We then went to play 'goals' on the football pitch, until a gaggle of old people turned up and indicated to me that they wanted the whole pitch.  Luckily Tom was quite hot and sweaty by then so I didn't have to work too hard on persuading him.  We hung around to see what the old people were going to play - it looked to me a mixture of croquet, boules and golf, hitting a ball around a court, Matt says it is called 'Gate Ball' - was a perfect game for old people: hit, walk, hit, walk, very dull to watch though so Tom and I left and walked up to Co-op for some shopping.

First of all I hit the 100 Yen store to start my 100 Yen shop, but the store wasn't big enough - they do lots of cutters for children's bento boxes at 100 Yen stores which I can use for my sugarcraft, but the store here didn't have much of a selection so I will have to hit the Himeji one to top up.  Then to the Co-op proper to stock up on bits and pieces and get dinner for tonight (I thought I bought chicken, but it wasn't - it was turkey)  Then we got the bus home and Tom went for his nap.  I let him go as long as he wanted as he had his bed, he went for 2 hours - he obviously needed it.

Dr Yellow Bento Box

We then went to the local park for another game of football.  Here we met some children and a lovely mother who came over to speak to me.  She knew Tom, I guessed that it was her that Matt had met at a previous encounter with Tom at the park when I was cooking.  Anyway she was lovely and her son who is 5 and only a little taller than Tom played really nicely with him and his bouncy ball and football and then she invited Tom over to play in the sandpit with a huge array of toys.

And inside

We stayed at the park much longer than expected due to his new friends, which was good, and then it was a quick meal, bath and bed.  A quiet day, but again just what Tom needed.

Oh Matt arrived home just after Tom went to bed with a huge grin on his face.  He had stopped off at Shin Kobe and bought himself a Dr Yellow bento box.  Shin Kobe is the only station where we have found these - we couldn't leave Japan without one - it is a proper ceramic box in the shape of Dr Yellow - it will be well wrapped up and coming home with us.  Let's hope Matt allows Tom to use it.