What a misunderstanding!

I took my 5-year-old daughter to see the doctor to ask her to write a recovery certificate of School communicable disease yesterday morning.

My daughter told me:

"I am looking forward to going to the nursery school! I can't wait to see friends and teachers!"

After they called her name, we entered the consultation room.

The doctor came to us and examined my daughter.

She said:

"Good. OK, I will write the certificate, but I am afraid that she will only be able to go to school from tomorrow."

"What? But her fever went down last Friday, so I think that it has already been more than 2 days since then."

"Yes, but pre-school children must stay at home for three days after their fever goes down. Look at this."

"Wow! It is written in the brochure which my husband got here last time. Oh my goodness! I told my coworker that I would go to work today! Do we have to come here tomorrow again?"

"No, you don't have to, I will write it today. I understand your situation. Please put up with staying at home one more day."

I went to the clinic wearing my uniform, and I was going to the office after I took my daughter to the nursery school.

"Oh no! One more day... I am sorry, I misunderstood the day on which you can go to the nursery school. You can go there from tomorrow."

"I wanted to go to the nursery school and I wanted to see my friends and teachers..."

"Oh my poor daughter, I am really sorry."


After we came home, I had to make some phone calls to the nursery school, my son's elementary school and children's house because he didn't have to go to the children's house after school, so I had to inform both of them about it.

Of course I had to call my office to ask to take a day off again.

After I finished calling them, I called my mother to talk about this event because I knew she was worried about us.

She said:

"Your sister also had the flu. I am worrried about you and her. My family members often have the flu this year!"

Actually my husband went to his office because his fever went down last Sunday and he insisted that he had to finish his work by the end of the month.

But his fever went up again after he came home about 5pm. and it was 39 degrees Celcius (102.2 degrees Fehrenheit).

There are not any laws which say that office workers who have the flu are prohibited from going to the office like school students.

But I think he has to take a rest today even though his fever goes down.

The flu for this year is still annoying my family.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

A Warm Day

It was a warm day yesterday.

My husband's fever finally went down in the morning.

Since my 5-year-old daughter had to stay at home for 5 days, I thought it would be good for her to go out and play at the park just a little such a warm day because she was too active in the house.

I told her:

"Why don't you go to the park? It is a very good day today. But actually you should be staying at home and rest until today. So just for a while."

"Wow! I want to go!"

"How about you? You want to practice catching a ball, don't you?"

I asked my son.

"Yeah, I want to go, too!"

My 7-year-old son agreed with us.

So we went to the park near our house with a volleyball.

While we were playing catch, a young sibling whom we knew came to the park.

"Oh, long time no see!"

The elder brother was my son's friend who was in the same nursery school with him and is now in another elementary.

"We are on our way to the snack shop. How is it going?"

He and my son enjoyed talking each other about recent situations.

After a while, his mother came to the park, so we talked to each other about recent sistuations, too.

While we were talking, my daughter came and told me:

"Let's go to the field over there!"

We moved to that place and started playing soccor.

I was surprised that she could kick the ball very well!

Since I don't have time to exersise recently and I played soccor after a long absence, it was really fun and I was able to get refreshed.

While we were talking to the family, another family came to the park.

They were our neighbors and with them was my son's friend who is in the same elementary in the family.

Since she was riding a bicycle without training wheels, my son told me:

"I want to ride a bicycle, too! I will go back home and take my bicycle."

"OK. Be careful!"

Looking at my son, she told me:

"He wants to show off riding a bicycle, doesn't he?"

I couldn't stop laughing listening to her words and said:

"Yeah, you understand him well!"

She asked her father:

"He will come back soon, so I want to wait for him. OK?"

After a while, he came back riding his bicycle.

They started cycling together.

They looked to be enjoying it very much.

I asked her father:

"When could she ride a bicycle?"

"Maybe after she entered elementary shool."

"My son learned to ride a bicycle last month. That's why he wants to show off. But he needs more practice."

"My daughter wants to ride a bicycle alone. I am still worried about it."

"I understand. It is still dangerous for them to ride a bicycle alone."

I was going to play at the park with my children just for a while, but we ended up staying there for more than 1 hours.

But it was good for us to be able to meet friends and enjoy playing with them there.

Needless to say thanks to all that activity, we were able to fall asleep soon last night!

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Yearning for Old Fashion

My 5-year-old daughter's fever finally went down yesterday, but my husband still has a fever.

Maybe because he didn't get the flu shot.

Since they needed to rest at home, I accompanied my 7-year-old son's practice of riding a bicycle.

Then we went to the city library to return and borrow some books, then we went to the bookstore.

I bought him a book named "Doraemon the latest secret tools encyclopedia" as a prize of winning the Karuta competition held in his class before.

(I wrote about it in my previous post : http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/02/good-day-and-bad-day.html )

He had wanted it for a long time, so he was glad to have it.

1600 kinds of secret tools are introduced with their pictures in the book, and he enjoys drawing them looking at the book.


When we went out of the bookstore, I told my son:

"Can I stop by the Seven Eleven (convenience store)?"

"Sure. You want doughnuts, right?"

I was impressed that he was able to guess my idea.

"Yes. When we went to the Seven Eleven before, the doughnuts were already sold out. Do you remember it? I have wanted it since then."

We drove to the nearest Seven Eleven.

"What? Oh no! The store has been already closed! When did they go out of business?"

I was really surprised because I didn't notice the store closing even tough I passed in front of the store by car when I went to work.

We decided to go to another Seven Eleven.

"Oh my goodness! This Seven Eleven was also closing-out. Well, can we go to another Seven Eleven again? I DO want the doughnuts!"

I told him, and he said:

"OK! I want to eat the doughnuts, too!"

He seemed to enjoy this trouble.

We drove to another Seven Eleven again.

We reached there and went into the store.

"Look mom! There are doughnuts!"

"But... the Old Fashion ( a name of the doughnut ) is already sold out. I like it very much. If you are OK, can we go to another Seven Eleven again? After coming this far, I DO want to eat the Old Fashion! I know there is a Seven Eleven which opened recently near here. So let's go there!"

I drove my car about for 5 minutes, then we reached the Seven Eleven.

"I hope we can buy them this time!"

We went into the store.

"Wow! We finally found the Old Fashion! I will take three, please."

We finally bought them!

My son and I were glad together.

After we came home, we told my daughter and husband:

"We bought doughnuts! Let's take a break. But it's already 5pm!"

My children and I enjoyed eating the doughnuts of our wish.

Poor my husband didn't want to eat them as I expected because he still had a feer and couldn't taste.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Who is the next?

My husband also had a fever yesterday morning.

I told him:

"I am sure that you caught the flu from her! Don't go to the office today and go to see a doctor in the evening, so that  you can be checked out to see if you have type B flu."
"Oh no! What am I going to do?"

"You are too busy, but I think you shouldn't worry about your work and ask your coworkers to handle your tasks. In a way, maybe this is a good opportunity for you to take a rest."

My 5-year-old daughter's fever was lower by the morning, so she could stay awake and eat.

Since I had a day off yesterday, I took care of them all day but it was not so hard for me.

My 7-year-old son came home at 3:20pm from school and said:

"Oh, all of family members are at home except me today! I envy my sister. She doesn't have to go to school."

Then he went to the park near our house with a friend.


In a while after going to bed, my daughter suddenly started crying and said:

"I can't breathe because my nose is stuffed up! And I am cold!"

She panicked.

Since she didn't take a bath because he had a slight fever again before going to bed, I took a bath with her to let her get warm.

After we got out of the bath, she fell asleep soon.

But she woke up several times and cried.

Her fever was over 39 degrees Celsius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in the middle of the night.

She said:

"I want to stay with mom! Don't go anywhere!"

I called our team leader and asked her if I could take a day off today.

I do hope that they will recover the flu soon and my son and me will not catch the flu from them, so we always have to wear masks.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

If you want someone to change, change yourself first

Since I had a ploblem at my work which I had to resolve yesterday, my husband took a day off to take care of our 5-year-old daugher.

Since her symptoms were worse than yesterday, I made a reservation to see a doctor in the morning.

My husband texted me that she was diagnosed with the flu of type B by the doctor.

I was relieved because the doctor prescribed medicine for her and she would get well soon by taking it.

After I finished working, I picked up my 7-year-old son from the children's house and we went shopping together.

While I was putting groceries which I bought in my shopping bag, he found a lucky bag of Youkai watch (Japanese popular anime for children ) which included some merchandise of Youkai watch were sold at the supermarcket.

He came back and told me:

"Look mom. That is a happy bag of Youkai watch. But that's waste of money."

"Maybe they are unsold stocks of New Year's sale. How much is that?"

"Well, It is 2,160yen."

"Really? It is too expensive!"

We went to the bargain basement and looked at the price tag.

"Wow! It's not 2,160yen. Look! It is written 50% off. Do you understand? 50% off means the price is a half of 2,160yen. I mean, it is 1,080yen."

"Really? It is affordable!"

"If you want it, you can buy it if you pay for it out of your allowance."

If he does a chore, I give him 10 yen for his allowance.

He has saved his money in the piggy bank, and it has reached more than 5,000yen.

"Wow! I will take it!"

Since it included a file named Youkai Daijiten which put Youkai medals away and he has wanted it for a lnog time, he was very glad to buy it.

After we came home, I tried not to say to him "do your homework first".

I only asked him:

"How is your schedule tonight?"

"Well, I will do my homework from 7:30 and finish at 7:50!"

"All right. You can do it!"

He did his homework on time.


I have been worried that he can't decide something by himself.

He always minds how I think.

He thinks he has to do his homework because I forced him to do it.

I know I a partly the cause of this.

I have often denied his hopes.

For example, if he told me that he wanted the Youkai Daijiten, I told him it was waste of money.

If he didn't start doing homework, I said: "Do your homework first!" even though he was going to start doing homework.

I did not respect his opinions.

I wanted him to experience not only saving money but also buying what he wanted with his money.

I wanted to respect his ideas and I wanted him to be proud of himself.

The Youkai Daijiten is not watste of money for him.

That's why I changed my opinions.
I tried not to instruct him, and tried to remind him.

Then he changes little by little.

I don't have to get angry with him.

I realized that I am brought up as a mother by my children.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Good day and bad day

I received a call from my 5-year-old daughter's teacher at my office yesterday.

She told me that my daughter had a fever of 38.6 degrees Celsius ( 101.48 degrees Fahrenheit), and asked me to come to the nursery school as soon as possible.

I picked her up from the nursery school, and took her to see a doctor.

She was disappointed and said:

"I wanted to play with my friends more..."

I suspected that she had the flu because the influenza type B is going around in her nursery school now.

But her flu test came back negative, so the doctor prescribed some antibiotics.

While we were going to see a doctor, I let my 7-year-old son stay at home.

I didn't want to leave him home alone, but I didn't want him to take to the clinic with us because the flu is going around and I wanted to prevent him from catching the flu again.

It was the first time that he has stayed at home alone for about an hour in the evening.

I taught him how to make a call the phone and let him practise to call me, so that he can call me if he is in trouble.

And I told him that he must not go out of our house and answer the phone if it rings.

He did a good job!

He was drawing a picture of secret tools of Doraemon while waiting.

After we came home, he told me:

"The Hyakunin isshu competition was held at my class today, and I won the championship!"

"Really? Wow! It is the first time you came first in your class since you entered the elementary school. You are amazing! Good job!"

He was in high spirits.

I wrote about "Hyakuninn isshu" in my past post :

 http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2015/02/bouzu-mekuri-japanese-traditional-card.html

The competition was not as Bouzu-mekuri, it was Karuta competition.

The students in his class had homework of trying to remember 20 poems from Hyakunin isshu in advance, and the competition was used the 20 cards.

Since he was in good mood, it was easy for me to take care of my daughter, because he didn't envy her!

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

I prefer shorter bangs!

My family went to the hair salon for families last Saturday.

My children and husband had their hair cut.

My 5-year-old daughter told me that she wanted to have her hair cut like her friend who has a very short bangs.

So I asked the hair stylist to cut her bangs short.

After she finished cutting, her bangs were so short she could see her eyebrows?

That night, I was so sleepy that I went to bed earlier than other family members.

I woke up early as usual yesterday.

My daughter woke up about 8am with my son.

When I looked at her, I thought her bangs had became shorter than before.

But my husband told me after he got up:

"She was cutting her bangs with sissors by herself last night. I didn't notice her doing it. "

I was so surprised to hear that and looked at her again.

Oh my goodness!

Her bangs are too short and jagged!
I asked her:

"Why did you cut your bangs by yourself even though you had your hair cut yesterday? Did you want to shorten your bangs more?"

"Well.... yeah... I just wanted to be like my friend."

She was about to cry.

"If you wanted to be like her, you should have told the stylist yesterday! I can't fix your bangs because I am not good at cutting hair, it might make it worse!"

"But you are pretty."

My husband tried encouraging her, but he couldn't stop laughing.

"Why are you so funny?"

He laughed and stroked her head

It will become her funny legend story,  she just wanted to be prettier!

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Why is this Yakiniku so delicious?

Since Japanese black beef and pork were being sold at special prices at the supermarket, I decided to buy some for dinner yesterday.

"Today's dinner is Yakiniku!"

I told my family members.

Since Japanese beef is usually expensive, so I rarely buy it.

I cut some meat and vegetables, then spread newspapers on the table to prevent oil stains.

It is not really ideal, but I think it is a practical way.

We started grilling the meat and vegetables on the hotplate.

I was surprised that our children ate the meat and vegetables heartily, in paticular, my 5-year-old daughter ate a lot of beef even though she doesn't like meat.

"Why is this Yakiniku so delicious?"

She asked me.

"Well, maybe because you are having dinner with all of your family members."

"Indeed! Today's dinner is like a Yakiniku party!"

She likes parties very much.

Actually my husband comes home late at night on weekdays, so we are not able to have dinner together.

Maybe our children were glad that all the family met at dinner.

My 7-year-old son asked me:

"Why are there so many vegetables even though today's menu is Yakiniku?"

"Yakiniku is oily, isn't it? If we eat vegetables, it can cancel-out its oily and strong tastes out."

I never said that it was because beef is expensive!

But I think it makes good nutritional sense (It's a kind of excuse!).


Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

A severe but common treatment of Japanese companies

I sent a text message 2 days ago to a friend who was my classmate in high school.

She told me that her family purchased a new house and they would move there in December, so I told her that I would like to visit her new house with another friend if she finished unpacking.

They are my best friends, but all of us are mothers and have a job, so we don't have much opportunity to meet.

Actually it was last year in January when we met last time.

She replied that she has not finished unpacking yet because her husband was transferred to Tokyo after they purchased the new house.

I thought I experienced this as well.

Because my husband was also transferred to Tokyo after we purchased our house 8 years ago.

He bought our house two months before we got married.

Six months later, he got a transfer order.

I couldn't believe it, I had just started working.

Since we had not had a child, I decided to quit my job and follow him unwillingly.

At a result, we lived in Tokyo for 2 years.

Our Tokyo life was really fun, my son was born during our stay and I made friends there.

I still get in touch with some of them.

It is not rare that an employee who has just purchased a new house gets a transfer order in Japanese company, because they take out a housing loan to buy a house and have a duty of loan repayment, so the company thinks that they can't refuse the transfer.

At that time, I blamed his company.

But it was a good opportunity for us to live in Tokyo.

It depends on the situation, but I learned that we need to be opne to new experiences.

It depends on how you look at it.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Koala's March

My 5-year-old daughter ate Koala's March for a snack yesterday afternoon.

It is a bite-sized cookie snack with chocolate made by Lotte corporation.

It is in the shape of a koala, and  a picture of a koala is drawn on the surface of each cookie.

It has various kinds of pictures of koala.

Since February is the entrance examination season, I bought the Koala's March which theme was "aim to pass the exam".

The koalas pictures drawn on the cookies were related to the exam.

My daughter liked the Hina doll koalas!

Actually Hina dolls are not related to the exam, but Girls Festival (March 3rd) is in the same season as the entrance exam, maybe that's why they were included in it.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Instead of the child care diary

It was the performance day at my 5-year-old daughter's nursery school yesterday, so I went to see her play.

I recorded the play of her class with a video camera.

We watched it after we came home in the evening.

First, we watched her play which they did yesterday.

Then we watched the play which my son was in when he 5 years old.

Because boys in her class were too active and some of them didn't sing and dance, so I wanted make it clear that that's the way boys around their ages behave.

The boys in my son's class were also too active like boys in my daughter's class.

It was very interesting to watch the past videos, we could compare nowadays with the past.


We also enjoyed watching videos which I recorded before.

Since writing a diary of my children's daily life was a hassle for me, I often recorded them with a video camera after they were born.

It was very funny to watch my son and daughter fights from 3 years ago!

My 5-year-old daughter has been hit by my son since she was born!

I sometimes send a DVD of our children to my parentsin-in-law who live far from here, so that they can know about our children's growth and daily events even if we can't go there once a year.

I thought it was good for us to record them with a video camera.

They liked watching themselves on TV very much.

And it keeps me from forgetting events from when they were young.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Hina-arare ひなあられ

I asked my mother to come home and take care of my 7-year-old son yesterday because I have to go to work.

When I came home with my 5-year-old daughter in the evening, his temperature had already gone down.

My daughter said:

"I want to eat the Hina-arare!"

"Hina-arare (bite-sized rice crackers) is an offering to Hina-dolls. You can eat it on March 3rd, because the Girls festival (Hina-matsuri) is on that day."

I explained the reason why she should wait until eating them.

"Oh no! I can't wait!"

She likes Hina-arare very much.

I heard that it tastes different in each region.

Those which I had bought so far included sugar or soy sauce tastes.

In fact, I told her the same explanation last year, but she asked me whether she was able to eat it every day or not.

At last, I allowed her to eat it before March 3rd because I couldn't be bothered to explain the reason to her every day.

How long will she be able to put up with eating Hina-arare this year?

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

What happened to him on Valentine's day?

It was a warm day as if spring has come yesterday.

The highest temperature around here was about 23 degrees Celcius (73.4 Fahrenheit)!

When our family went outside, it was so warm that we took off our jackets and changed into light cloths.

My children practiced riding a bicycle in the morning.

And my husband and I displayed Hina dolls in the afternoon.

We could display the Hina dolls one week earlier than last year.

And it was Valentine's Day yesterday.

It's a Japanese custom that is completely opposite from other countries, it is the day in which women give chocolates to men.

One of my 7-year-old son's classmate's a girl came to our house to give him chocolate which she made.

But since he wouldn't go to see her, my 5-year-old daughter received it from her instead of him.

My husband said:

"He might be shy."

My 5-year-old daughter said:

"I want to eat it!"

"Come on! Let's eat it together."

I told him, but he answered:

"No, I don't want to eat it."

"Why? You like chocolate, don't you? She went to the trouble of making chocolate for you."

"No, I don't like chocolate."

He answered in a bad mood and didn't eat it at all.

I wondered why he was so contrary and what happened to him.


When eating dinner, he said:

"I don't want to eat. I have a headache."

I took his temperature, it was 38.3 degrees Celsius (100.94 degrees Fahrenheit).

A fever again!

I understood why he didn't eat the chocolate, because he wasn't feeling well.

His temperature went up 39 degrees Celcius (102.2 degrees Fahrenheit) at 11pm.

He looked terrible.

When I touched him in the early morning, he was not so hot.

But since I didn't take his temperature, I am not sure if his fever has gone.

I really hope he will recover soon.


Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

A nice Japanese children's story

Since I had a headache and a slight stomach ache due to persistent diarrhea, my husband took a day off and he took our 5-year-old daughter to the music school yesterday morning.

Since I took a pain-killer, my headache had mostly gone away after about one hour.

While they were going to the music school, I vacuumed the rooms, cleaned the toilet, and did the laundry.

After that, I read with my 7-year-old son books which we borrowed at the library two weeks ago.

He can already read books by himself, but I think this is a precious time with my children.

I like listening to their impressions of books.

In particular, my son often can't understand the story deeply even though he can read it.

One of the books I read with him yesterday was called "Hanasakiyama (花さき山)".

The story was like this:

A ten-year-old girl named Aya who went into the mountain to harvest mountain vegetables  for treat of the festival bumped into Yamanba which is Japanese Yokai who is like an old woman, lives in the deep mountain and is said that she eats human.

They saw beautiful flowers bloomed all around.

Yamanba told Aya:

"These flowers bloom when people who live at the foot of the mountain do a good thing. The red flower bloomed because of you.

You gave up your hope for new Sunday best cloth for the festival because your younger sister Soyo also wanted it but you knew your family was poor and you understood well that your mother would be at a loss if you also wanted it.

These flowers bloom when people give priority not to themselves but for others and they give up with their hopes with tears.

That's why they are so beautiful."

"What do you think about the story? I read it when I was a child. It left a great impression on me."

"Well, the Yamanba looks scary!"

"Was that your point? Anything else?"

"Well, it was interesting!"

It will take a long time for him to understand the story.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Over 40 degrees

When my 7-year-old son got up yesterday morning, he said:

"I have a headache."

I took his temperature, it was 38.3 degrees Celsius (100.94 degrees Fahrenheit ).

I told him:

"Oh, you have a fever. Are you OK?"

"Oh no!"

My 5-year-old daughter and my husband ran away and they wore masks.

"Did you see them? You found out who worries most about you, don't you?

"Yeah. Only you!"

I took a day off and took him to see a doctor.

The children's clinic uses the internet reservation system and it opens at 8am, so I made a reservation for seeing the doctor in the morning.

But the reservation system was closed after 15 minutes though it is usually opened until 11am.

I thought maybe it was because the flu is going around and too many people tried to make a reservation for seeing the doctor in the morning.

Children who are suspected of having the flu or other infectious diseases have to wait in an isolated waiting space, but all of them including my son were waiting for their turns in the isolated space, so there were no children in the normal waiting room.

I was relieved that his flu test came back negative.

The doctor prescribed some antibiotics and cold medicines.

But his temperature went up 40.2 degrees Celsius (104.36 degrees Fahrenheit) in the afternoon.

I guessed the timing of flu test was too early, so the result was negative, but maybe he had the flu.

His fever wasn't likely to go down.

So I made my children wear masks and I prevented my 5-year-old daughter from approaching my son.

He had medicines and went to bed at 8pm.


My son went to the wash room at 11pm.

He was not hot when I touched him.

I took his temperature, it was 37.3 degrees Celsius ( 99.14 degrees Fahrenheit ).

"Good for you! Your fever went down. How do you feel now?"

"I don't have a headache."

He went to sleep again.


His fever had gone down this morning.

Actually, I have had persistent diarrhea since last Wednesday, and I had a headache this morning.

But I have recovered from both of them.

Mothers can't relax when children are waking up.

Everyone who are reading my blog, please take care of yourself.

Nothing is more important than health.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Happy Birthday Granpa!

My children and I went to my parents house yesterday to celebrate my father's birthday.

I bought a birthday cake on our way there.

My father was glad to see the faces of his grandchildren.

He said:

"Welcome! Nothing could be more wonderful than you come here to celebrate my birthday!"

"Let's have the cake!"

My mother said.

"Happy birthday grandpa! Happy birthday grandpa!"

We sang a birthday song.

My children and my father blew out the candles on the birthday cake together.

My children are the apple of his eye because they are his only grandchildren.

I have a sister who is married, but they don't have children.

We say it "目に入れてもいたくない（めにいれてもいたくない）" in Japanese.

 Its literal translation is : If you put them in your eyes, it would not be hurt.

But its rough translation is : They are everything to you.

We enjoyed playing a board game and walking aorund the house together.

Visiting my parents house with my children makes my parents happier.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Whose Oanmaki??

When I went to the kitchen around 5am, I found a box of Oanmaki.

Oannmaki is a Japanese sweet pancake that Chiryu-city in Aichi specializes in.

It is like Dorayaki, red bean paste is covered with hot cake dough.

I love it very much!

I guessed that my husband bought it for me because he knows I love it.

What a kind husband!

If I ate it, I would surely get fat!

But I don't care.

Let's eat!


But, wait a minute.

He left a note for me saying that he will go to Tokyo for one day business trip today so he wants me to wake him up at 6:30am.

It might be a souvenir which he will take to Tokyo.

I thought I should ask him about it after he wakes up.



"Are you going to take the oanmaki as a souvenir to Tokyo today?"

I asked him.

"No, I happened to find the store which sold Oanmaki yesterday. I guessed you would like it."

"Oh, you are the best!"

I rarely eat such a sweet thing in the morning.

But it was so sweet and delicious!

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

See a doctor

I wrote that my 5-year-old daughter had burned her hand on a frying pan last week.

She had gotten a small blister on her hand the next day, and it had broken last Saturday evening.

But clinics are usually closed on Saturday evenings and Sunday and I had to work last Monday and yesterday, I finally took her to see a doctor yesterday evening.

The doctor prescribed ointments to her.

While waiting, my 7-year-old son was drawing a picture of dinosaur on a piece of paper.

A nurse who looked at his picture praised him:

"Wow! You are a good painter!"

He was so glad to hear that, and he kept drawing it enthusiastically.

If there is a pen and a piece of paper, he can wait for a long time.


There are several public medical insurance systems in Japan and we have to take out one of them.

In our family's case, since my husband is an employee, we take out the Employee's Health Insurance.

Employers are legally obligated to enroll employees in the Employee’s Health Insurance program and Employee’s Welfare Pension Insurance program.

Those who are self-employed, and so on, take out the National Health Insurance.

The public health insurance covers 70% of medical and dental costs for us and our family members.

So we only pay 30% medical costs at hospitals and clinics.

But our city provides a health care subsidy for children, so the city covers 30% of medical costs until they graduate from junior high school.

It is a great help for families which have children.

Thanks to this system, I only had to pay 50 yen for the cost of the container of the ointment.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

Who is the best painter?

My 5-year-old daughter asked me last night:

"I'm going to draw a frog. Can you draw it, too?"

"Sure."

We started drawing without looking at samples.

"I want to draw it, too!"

My 7-year-old son also joined us.

We also drew a monkey, a cat, a fox and the sun.

It was unexpectedly difficult to draw with only my imagination.

I thought they were better painters than me!

After that, my son was drawing something eagerly.

"Mom! Look at this. I drew how water circulates. It is only my guess. First, mud is removed from ditchwater. Then it is cleaned by air and wind. Then it is used at the bath and the washroom of my house. And..."

"Wait a minute! Why did you want to draw this picture? Are you interested in it?"

"Yeah. It's interesting!"

I was really surprised by him.

As a child, I had never been interested in such a thing.

Boys are completely different from girls.

They are interesting for me like an unknown world.


Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

I did it!

Since my parents had another appointment yesterday, I had to take my children to my work.

I asked our team leader if I could work only for our busiest time of 30 minites and she agreed.

I told my children near our office:

"There is a waiting space in front of our office, so please wait for me there for 30 minutes. These are books and notebooks. You can read them and draw a picture. But please be quiet. If you have a trouble, please open the entrance door. I will come to you."

"But I will be worried if mom is not with me..."

My 5-year-old daughter said.

"Don't worry. I will be with you!"

My 7-year-old son told to his sister.

"OK. See you later."

I took them to the waiting space and went to work.

They could keep quiet while waiting for me for about 40 minutes.

My colleague praised them and gave them Origami cranes which she made saying:

"Sorry for keep you waiting, your mom will finish working soon. You were able to wait for her as a good boy and girl! Here you are. This is a gift for you."

"Thank you!"

My children were glad to hear her compliment.

I was really thankful for her consideration.

We had lunch and came home.

After we came home, my 7-year-old son told me:

"I want to ride a bicycle!"

"But your bicycle has it training wheels taken off. Why don't you practise riding a bike?"

Actually, he had not been able to ride a bike without training wheels yet.

"No! I don't want to practise it! I can't ride it without training wheels! Attach them to my bike!"

"You don't have to use training wheels because you can ride the kick scooter. It also only has two wheels. It is similar to a bike."

Since he didn't agree with me and took his kick scooter to the park, I took his bike and went to the park.

After a while he rode the kick scooter, he said:

"I  will try to ride my bike."

"OK. I assure you that you can do it!"

I told him tips for riding his bike.

I assisted him at first, but I tried not to support him during the practise.

Then he could ride it by himself!

"Wow! I did it! Look mom! I can ride a bike alone!"

He was so excited and rode around the park.

Looking at him, my 5-year-old daughter said:

"I envy him. I want to take my training wheels off!"

I tried to take them off, but they were too tight to take off for me.

She tried to ride my son's bike, but it was a little difficult for her.

"After your dad comes home, let's ask him to take the training wheels off and practise on it!"

She was about to cry because she is a sore loser.

My son was in his element riding the bike.

We went to the airport to pick my husband up.

He finally came home.

He said he was tired but he enjoyed the events.

Maybe I was irritated by events more than him.

But I was relieved that he came home safely.

At last, our days cango back to normal.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

The follow-up report

This is continued from yesterday's post.

The flight which my husband was supposed to take was finally canceled though they had been kept waiting for 6 hours!

The reason was surprising.

The aircraft had been fixed and they announced that they had been ready for departure.

But after a while, they announced to the passengers that the flight was canceled because the captain would have to work overtime if they flew to Japan.

He was forced to stay overnight in the US.

The airline company prepared an extra flight for them, and it is flying to Japan on schedule now.

Unfortunately, his connecting flight in Japan is already full, so he will have to take Shinkansen (bullet train).

But he will come home tonight at last.

The event will become an unforgettable memory for us.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click the button below and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

When on earth will he be able to come back?

I got a message from my husband this morning.

He said they missed the connecting flight and it turned out that they missed the flight to Japan because they took too much time to take a security check of their baggage.

They could catch the next domestic flight, but the flight to Japan has not been able to leave the US because some troubles were found on the aircraft.

They have already been kept waiting in an airplane for nearly five hours!

This should not happen!

If I were there, I couldn't put up with being kept waiting for such a long time.

My husband and I have been exchanging messages since 5am.

Thanks to iPad, I can know his current situation.

He said he was hungry because he ate only two small bags of peanuts.

Oh poor my husband!

My children and I planned to pick him up at the airport, but we will not have to do that because he may not be able to come back today.

They looked forward to going to the airport and seeing him, so they will be disappointed to hear that.

But the safty is more important.

If he can't come home today, I will have to ask my parents to come tomorrow because I have work tomorrow.

Actually I also go to work today and my parents will come and take care of my children.

Anyway, I really hope he will be able to come home safely.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click these buttons and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓

The effect of TV

I went to the supermarket with my children yesterday afternoon.

I wanted to buy some chocolate which contains high amounts of cocoa, but most of them had been sold out except one.

I bought the chocolate because of the good effects of chocolate with high amounts of cocoa were introduced on the NHK morning program "Asaichi" 2 days ago.

I also watched the program.

It said that chocolate has a lot of good effects like relieving constipation, preventing dementia, and preventing high blood pressure.

It often happens here in Japan that products are sold out after they are featured on TV.

I bought the last one.

The chocolate includes 95% cacao.

I know it is very bitter and it isn't sweet and delicious.

I ate one with coffee this morning, but actually I didn't like it.

Maybe I will not buy it next time even if it is good for health.

Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!
If you enjoy it, please click these buttons and vote me!
I will be encouraged by you.
↓