Last minute upgrading for free to Windows10

I usually wake up at 4am to do housework and write my blog.

I woke up at 4am this morning, too.

My husband was still awake and in the living room.

Since our family will go on a family trip tomorrow, I thought he had to take work home with him to finish it today.

But he was sleeping in front of his laptop.

"What are you doing? Go to bed now, or you will be tired before our trip!"

He always comes home late and has lack of sleep.

"Because I am trying to upgrade my laptop to Windows10 but it is progressing slowly. ."

His laptop is Windows7.

I looked at the screen of his laptop, there was a message which said:

"Please wait for a while."

"When did you start it?"

I asked him and he answered:

"At 2am."

"2am? Two hours has already passed! Maybe it might be because I refused upgrading from "Get Windows 10" before. OK. I will try it. Please go to bed now."

He went to the bedroom.

I wondered why he had not upgrading even though there was an enough of an upgrading period.

Today is the last day for upgrading for free to Windows10.

I thought it is just like him because he is a procrastinator.

It is still upgrading now.

I don't know whether it will finish without any problems before we go to work.

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.
↓

Going on a date with my son

I had a day off yesterday.

I took my 6-year-old daughter to the nursery school, but my 7-year-old son was at home because he is in the summer vacation now.

Wednesdays during the summer vacation last year were the days I helped him doing homework which needs time to finish like painting, book report, and so on.

So we made a schedule of doing his homework yesterday morning.

After that, we went to the library to return and borrow some books.

Then we watched the movie of "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" there,

There are some audiovisual booths in the library and we can borrow DVDs and watch them there.

In fact, he watched part of it at home before, but the recorded video was broken and we couldn't see it to the end.

He was scared of Voldemort, but he enjoyed watching it very much.

After that, we went out for lunch and went shopping.

He was clinging to me than usual.

Maybe he wanted to stick to me because my daughter usually monopolizes me.

He is already 7 years old, but still adorable for me.

He will not go out with me a few years later, so this sweet time with him will be my treasure in the future.

After we came home, I went to the nursery school to pick my daughter up.

My son taught her some incantations he learned in the movie, and they made their wands with disposable chopsticks.

He said proudly:

"Alohomora!"

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.
↓

Have you played Pokemon Go?

The sales representative of the pharmaceutical company came to our house yesterday evening.

I wrote about him in my previous post : http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/03/small-pharmacy-at-home.html

He brought two balloons for my children.

They were glad to get them and said:

"Thank you!"

After I paid him for the medicine, I asked him:

"Have you played Pokemon Go? You told me before that you are the Pokemon generation."

The Pokemon generation means that Pokemon was the trend during their childhood.

"No, I am trying not to install the app because I would get addicted to it."

He answered.

I thought his answer was in character of him.

Maybe he is busy at work and he might not be able to spare his time playing it.

Actually, I was really into playing games when I was a child.

I liked The Legend of Zelda for Gameboy, so I often played it for a long time.

But it caused my eyesight to get worse, and I need to wear contact lenses every day.

I really regretted it from the bottom of my heart, and after that, I never played games any more.

Furthermore, I am not familiar with Pokemon.

I only know Pikachu.

That's why I think the adults obsessed with playing the game seems strange.

I think playing the game is fun, but I think it is worrying and harmful because adults who should have the common sense tend to forget it while playing 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.
↓

Radio calisthenics in the early morning

My children and I joined in the radio calisthenics held by the children's association of our town yesterday morning.

Attending the radio calisthenics is one of the typical events in summer vacation for children.

When I was a child, I had to join in it for a week, but in our town, it is held only once during the summer vacation.

I have heard that it is held at the end of the summer vacation in some towns to fix children's dissolute daily rhythm.

It started at 6:30am and it was a little hard time for me to wake my children's up at 6:15am.

Since I had told them about the schedule so far, my 7-year-old son was able to wake up immediately.
But my 6-year-old daughter wanted to sleep more.

"You aren't going, are you?"

We had only 5 minutes to leave home.

"No! I'm going with you!"

She cried.

"Then wake up now and wash your face!"

We ran to the park near our house.

When we reached there, it already began and there were a lot of families.

After exercise, we weeded the park for about an hour and came home at 7:40am.

I was tired but I thought it was a good opportunity to join in our town's event.

In fact, I asked my husband to come and join instead of me at 7am because I had to go to work yesterday.

But he joined in the job training and the drinking party last Saturday and he came home at 4:30am yesterday.

"Again! What age do you act? Stop coming home in the morning without informing me! I was not able to sleep after 3am because I am anxious about you. You don't have to join in the town's weeding today. Forget it. Go to sleep now!"

It was my mistake that I asked him to join in the radio calisthenics and weeding.

I know he is a social butterfly but it is only in his business relationship.

I want him to attend such a town's event more.

Needless to say, I had a lack of energy to work all day yesterday.

 

～～～ Thank you! ～～～

My blog's followers on Google+ have reached 100 people!
I appreciate all of you who read my blog.
I am surely encouraged by you.

And I hope you will enjoy reading my blog.
I will keep writing it to improve my English and leave my memories of parenting time.

I am sincerely looking forward to you coming to my blog again!

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.
↓

My mother's feeling

I went to my parents' house with my children yesterday.

My mother is very patient with my children, so they like her very much.

We enjoyed catching cicadas and butterflies at the yard.

After that, we went to Sushiro (sushi-go-round restaurants) for lunch.

After my children finished eating, both of them started sleeping on the couch.

"Maybe they are tired due to the heat of summer."

My mother said.

While they were sleeping, my mother and I talked a lot.

Since I don't have much opportunities to talk with her a lot because she is busy for playing with my children when we visit my parents' house, I enjoyed talking with her.

She said:

"It is not so long that they (my children) come to our house willingly. They will be busy for playing with their friends or joining the club activities. When I and your dad think about it, we miss them. Children grow very rapidly. We are glad to see their growth, and also feel sweet sorrow."

I found she loves my children very much.

I am proud of her.

I found she is still my dearest mother and I have a lot of things to learn from her.

I want to be a mother like 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.
↓

Yesterday's lunch boxes for my son and me

These were yesterday's lunch boxes for my son and me.

I used the frozen Shumai (one of the Chinese dumplings) , which is my son's favorite.

 My son said:

"The bento (lunch box) is almost same yesterday. The only one dish was just changed!"

"No! I changed two of them. I am not a chef and our house is not a restaurant, so you will see the similar lunch box during the summer vacation."

I am envy with people who like cooking.

They might be happy every day because they have a lot of opportunities to do their favorite cooking.


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 school summer vacation began!

The summer vacation began yesterday.

My 7-year-old son was glad because he didn't have to go to school.

But he has to stay at the children's house when I go to work.

Since the school lunch is not provided, I have to make a lunch box for him.

It is really annoying.

Actually, I have made my lunch box for three and a half years ( since I started working my current job.)

But making two lunch boxes is not easy for me.

My son sometimes complains about the side dish of the lunch box.

I usually put leftovers in it, but he is getting sick of my bento (lunch box).

At the end of the summer vacation last year, he said:

"I am sick of mom's bento! I want to eat the school lunch!"

I also said to him:

"Me too! I am really tired of making the lunch box for you. I do hope the school lunch will start as soon as possible!"

When I was a child, I was really happy during the summer vacation.

There were a lot of fun activities like fireworks, summer festivals, swimming pool, catching cicadas, radio callisthenics, visiting my grandparents’ house, camping, and so on.

But now as a mother, most of them make me tired, but I have to do them.

Because I know my children will surely enjoy them very much!

 

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 result of Eiken and my next objective

I finally passed the Eiken Grade Pri-1.

But my score on the speaking part which I took the interview test for on July 10th was 517 (full marks is 750).

This is the breakdown of my scores.

Reading   634 / 750  84.5%
Listening 605 / 750  80.6%
Writing    673 / 750  89.7%
Speaking 517 / 750  68.9%
Total        2429/3000  81.0%

As I can see from the score, my weak point is my speaking skill, which I want to improve the most.

I just barely passed the exam, but I am still not satisfied with my current English skill.

I want to be able to express my thoughts in English fluently.

No matter how much the total score I get, it is meaningless to me if  I can't speak in English fluently.

I would like to focus on listening and speaking English from now on to make my dream come true.

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-bye the old washing machine

The delivery staff from the appliance store came to our house at 8:10pm last night.

When I purchased the new washing machine, the store staff explained to me that delivery staff might come after 9pm because the delivery schedule was very tight recently.

8pm was late for us but it was better than after 9pm.

I told my children:

"It's time to say good-bye to the washing machine."

They came and were looking at what they did.

One of the delivery staff said to my children:

"Wow! My heart is pounding with tension if all of you are looking at me! Don't you go to bed yet?"

"They are excited and curious. It is rare that someone comes to our house such a night time."

I answered instead of them.

Actually, they seemed not to be able to sleep.

The washing machine was too big to pass through the doorway of the washroom, so one of the staff removed the door.

Since they looked hot, I brought the fan and turned it on toward them.

One of them said:

"Oh, thank you. It's very cool."

They finished installing the new washing machine about 8:50pm.

I thought their work is really hard, they had to work till night it was a heavy labor.

I told them:

"Thank you very much till late at night. Please drink it on your way home."

I gave them two bottled tea and said good-bye.

I finished cleaning at 9:30pm.

I am glad to be able to finish faster than I thought.

I looked forward to using 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.
↓

The washing machine doesn't work

I was woken up by the error sound from the washing machine at 3am yesterday.

I went to check the reason of the error, the washing machine stopped during rinsing, and I had not ever seen the error code before.

I turned it off and pull out the plug, then plugged it and turned it on and tried it again.
But it stopped at the same step.

I had to wring all laundry, it was really a hard work.

I thought I can't do this in my working day.

I searched the error code on the internet and found that the reason was the drum can't rotate normally.

If we asked the company to fix it, it would need to change to a new drum and it would cost about from 50,000 to 60,000 yen.

But I found the post which said the error might happen again even if the drum was changed.
I woke my husband up and discussed the problem.

We bought it 9 years ago and I use it every day.

It is in summer now and my children need to change clothes often because they sweat a lot.

Fortunately, I had a day off yesterday and it was a sunny day, so we were able to dry our laundry.

But I don't want to bother about the laundry more than this.

We finally decided to purchase a new washing machine.

Since he went to work, I went to the appliance store with my children.

Since we had already decided which one we buy, I asked the salesperson whether they could deliver it to our house during yesterday.

He answered they could deliver it today, so I decided to buy it.

I was relieved that it will come to our house today's evening.

I was sleepy because I had to deal with the problem since 3am!

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 influence of Suzuki wrong fuel economy tests problem

My family visited the Mazda car dealer yesterday to take inspection of my husband's car and my car.

I like to visit there because we can wait to finish the inspection while drinking coffee and reading magazines.

Since various ideas are devised so that children do not get tired of the shop, my children can wait without boring.

They played with Origami and made cranes, rode a small car and moved around the dealer, read books and watched TV.

They were able to drink anything they want and eat snack.

This time, I was surprised that no Kei car was displayed in the dealer.

Kei car is a Japanese category of small vehicles.

Mazda was selling small vehicles which were OEM of Suzuki and my previous car was one of them.

The dealer displayed the Kei cars before.

But they removed them maybe because Suzuki admitted to improper fuel economy testing methods on 16 of its automobile models since 2010 in a statement released in May.

I am not familiar with cars, but I thought they are struggling with sales now.

 
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.
↓
         

You made it!

I wrote that my 7-year-old son drew a picture of Doraemon before and he entered it into the reader's page of the magazine which he reads in my previous post :

 http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/03/my-sons-favorite-drawing.html

I found that a big envelope was sent to my son from the editorial department of the magazine when we came home last evening.

"Could it be?"

I opened it and it said that they chose my son's picture and published it in their magazine.

They enclosed a pre-paid card for purchasing books for 500yen.

"Wow! He made it! Look! His picture is here, in the magazine!"

I literally jumped up with joy and showed the magazine to my 6-year-old daughter.

"Wow! So I see!"

She was surprised to see it.

"Let's go to the park and inform him!"

I said.

My son was at the park near my house to catch cicadas.

Since I wanted to say the good news to him as soon as possible, we ran to the park.

He was looking for cicadas there.

"Hey! I have a good news for you!"

I shouted.

"What happened?"

He asked me.

"You wrote the picture of Doraemon and entered it to the magazine before, didn't you? It was published in it! I have got the letter from them!"

He was as cool as a cucumber.

Since I guessed that he would surely be excited to hear the news, I was surprised to see his attitude.

He was interested in catching cicadas at that time than the news.

After we came home, I showed him the magazine, but he was not so glad and surprised.

He was obviously glad to get the pre-paid card for purchasing books rather than his picture was published on the magazine.

Anyway, I want to believe that this experience encouraged him.

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.
↓
         

Astro Boy

I go to the library twice a month to borrow books for children.

I have kept the custom for five years because I want my children to become book lovers.

I borrowed the book "Astro Boy" last Wednesday.

It is a famous and popular old Japanese comic (manga) written by Osamu Tezuka.

I have known the little robot named Atom in the comic, but I have never known the story.

Since my children wanted to read it last night, I read it to them.

It was really a nice story.

The comic was first written in the 1950s, it was the era of after World War 2.

I felt the people had a longing for the progress of science and better future in those days.

My children enjoyed reading it very much.

No matter how much the time has passed,  it still stands the test of time.

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 boy who broke his promise

My 7-year-old son's friends came to our house after school yesterday.

Since I have a day off every Wednesday and he doesn't have to go to the children's house, he looks forward to playing his friends.

Two boys and one girl came to our house yesterday.

They enjoyed playing together, and they went home at 5pm.


However, after a while, one of the boy's mother emailed me that her son had not come home yet.

She said she told him to leave our house at 5pm and go home.

It was already 5:20pm, so he should have arrived at home at 5:15pm.

I replied her:

"He already left our house at 5pm with the girl.  Maybe they are walking together while chatting."

But I was worried about him, so I sent her email again and asked her to inform me after he came home safely.

After a while, the intercom of our house rang.

The boy and girl of my son's friends came to our house again.

It was already 5:30pm.

He said to my son:

"Look! I caught the dragonfly!"

"Did you go to the park again?"

I asked him and her:

"Yes."

They answered.

I told the boy:

"You should go home now! Your mother emailed me a short time ago, and she was worried about him. You made a promise with your mother to go home at 5pm, didn't you?"

He turned pale.

Just then, I saw his mother coming to our house.

"Hey!"

She seemed to get mad at him.

"Oh, your mother has come! Hi! He has just come here. What a relief!"

I said to her.

"I am sorry. Let's go home!"

She said.

I was really relieved to know they were safe.

The terrible incidents which involve children sometimes happens recently.

His mother told me that she is going to scold him and talk patiently with him to keep his word.

I also tell my son to be punctual and go straight home and when he goes to his friend's house.

If he couldn't keep his word, I will not let him go to friend's house.

I think children need to learn how important to be punctual.

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 fever again

My 7-year-old son recovered from his cold and went to school yesterday.

But he had still sore throat, so I told him to take medicines.

After we took a bath last night, my son told me:

"I had a stomach ache."

"Really?"

I said and touched his belly, it was hot.

"Oh, do you have a fever again?"

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

"Oh my goodness! You have not recovered the cold yet. Let's go to bed right now."

He fell asleep soon.

It was hot and humid yesterday.

People tend to get tired easily and catch a cold at the change of the seasons.
He talked about Karate practice trip to us a lot while having dinner.

I realized that he really enjoyed the trip, but it made him exhausted, too.

I really hope that he will recover it soon and get through the hot summer.

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.
↓

           

 

An energetic patient

I wrote that my 7-year-old son had a fever, so I took a day off from work yesterday.

Although he had a long sleep in the afternoon, his fever didn't go down.

Since he slept too much, he was not able to sleep any more.

He who was lying on the futon in the Japanese room said:

"Can I go to the living room? I don't want to speak in a loud voice when I want to ask mom something. And the living room is cooler than here."

I thought he couldn't sleep anymore and said:

"OK. I will bring your pillow and blanket, so you should lie on the sofa."

My 6-year-old daughter was watching TV at the living room, so he started watching TV together while lying on the sofa.

Then I started doing laundry.


About 30 minutes after, my husband suddenly came home to take a thing left behind.

He asked my son:

"Are you OK?"

I said:

"He has still a fever now."

"Why are you watching TV? You have to sleep at the Japanese room, don't you?"

He told my son.

"Because he has already slept too long. He can't sleep any more. Sleeping all day makes us tired. And the Japanese room is hotter than here. That's why he is here."

I explained to him why he was at the living room.

My husband said strongly:

"But how long have you been watching TV? It makes you get tired. You have to go to the Japanese room and sleep. I don't want to spend a time with him whom was an energetic patient tomorrow!"

He went to work again.


I was irritated to hear that.

In fact, I asked him to take a day off today if my son didn't recover his cold because I already took a day off yesterday.

I usually ask my mother to come our house and take care of my children when they are sick.

But she went on the trip yesterday and I didn't know whether she could come to our house today.

Furthermore, I don't want to be absent from work anymore because our company is suffered from the labor shortage.

He might try to finish his work to take a day off today, and it made him busier yesterday.

Maybe he was annoyed to see his behavior because he thought our son didn't try to recover his cold.

But he didn't know how long our son was sleeping in the afternoon.

"An energetic patient" means the state which my son has a fever but it isn't so high.

He has to be absent from school because he has a fever, but he is energetic and he wants to play with somebody.

My husband didn't want to take a day off to take care of our son who is in such a situation.

But I think it is also parent's duty to take care of our children who have a fever but also energetic.

I told our children:

"Stop watching TV now. As your dad said, you should take a rest. You can stay here in the living room, but you should lie down on the sofa, OK?"

I turned off TV.

My daughter complained about it, but I didn't allow it.

I know what he said makes sense, but I think to take care of children is parent's duty.

It is not only mother's duty.

Easy to say, hard to do.

When children are sick, most of Japanese fathers don't want to take a day off to take care of their children and they tend to think it is usual that mothers take care of their children.

I think it is really strange.

Actually, my husband takes care of our children well.

But it is still far from the true gender equality in Japan.

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 second stage of the Eiken exam

I took the second stage of the Eiken Grade Pre-first exam yesterday.

It is the speaking exam.

Examinees need to answer some questions from examiner in English, then they look at a four-panel comic and summarizes the story and narrate in English for two minutes.

After that, the examiner asks four questions to us, and examinees answer them.

First, I was going to enjoy conversation with the interviewer not to be nervous during the interview.

But I was not nervous than I expected.

And the interviewer, who was a Japanese man, didn't smile at all, so I didn't enjoy it.

The topic of the four-cell comic was related to deforestation.

I don't think I did it well, but it was my true ability.

I could answer the four questions, but I was not satisfied with my answers.

I don't know whether I could pass the exam, but if I could not, I will try it again.


I went to the place where my 7-year-old son came back from the Karate practice trip to pick him up with my 6-year-old daughter and husband yesterday afternoon.

I asked him about the tour a lot.

He said:

"It was fun! Most of other children are already my friends!"

I was pleased and relieved to hear that.

He seemed to grow a little for me.

He told me:

"But I am tired. We had a lot of activities, and we went to bed late last night."

"All right. Let's go to bed early tonight. You must be tired."

I said to him.



When I was making dinner, I saw him covering himself with some Japanese cushions on the sofa.

"What's the matter? Are you sleepy?"

I asked him.

"No, I feel cold."

He said.

"Cold? Hey, do you have a cold, don't you?"

I touched his forehead, it was hot.

"Oh, it is hot! You must have a fever. Let's take a temperature."

He had a fever of 39.3 degrees Celsius (102.74 Fahrenheit).

"Oh, you poor thing. You must have a summer cold like your sister. Change your cloths and go to bed now."

I prepared him a cool pillow.

He still has a high fever now.

I will have to take a day off and take him to see a doctor today.

I hope he will get well 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.
↓

Enjoy your trip!

Since my 7-year-old son joined in the practice trip of Karate yesterday, my husband, 6-year-old daughter and I took him to the place to meet up.

The trip was organized by the Karate school which my son joins.

The Karate school has a lot of branch practice venues, and more than 60 children and 25 adult took part in the tour.

I was worried about my son because it was the first time for him to go on the trip without parents and only my son would attend the trip from his branch.

I asked him before I pay the travel fee:

"Are you OK? There will be no friend there."

"It's OK! I want to go!"

He told me that he was looking forward to the test of courage which would be held at the temple on the night of the first day of the trip.

I was surprised to hear that.

In my case when I was a child, if no friend participated the tour, I would not join in it.

We reached the meeting spot and I said hello to the man who was in charge of there.

"My son is going to join in alone. I am worried about it. Please look after him."

I asked the man.

He said:

"OK. Adults will participate a lot, so please don't worry."

There were about 10 children there and some of them already seemed to know each other.

My son looked nervous.

Two college students who sometimes join in the practice at my son's branch found my son and came to him:

"Hi! Are you looking forward to the test of courage?"

"Yes."

He answered with a small voice and looked shy.

Other children started riding on the tour bus.

I told him:

"Have fun! Don't forget take the medicine before you ride on the bus tomorrow, OK?"

 He nodded and rode on the bus.

When the bus has left there, we waved our hands.

He smiled and waved his hands, too.

After the bus has gone, my daughter, who was looking at it, suddenley started crying saying:

"My brother has gone! I am lonely!"

I couldn't stop laughing to hear that.

She turned down the corners of her mouth and cried more.

"Hey! Why don't you go to buy the donuts? I found the store over there."

I told her.

She stopped crying and said:

"Really? Let's go!"

It is not difficult for me to change her mind.

I hope my son will enjoy the tour and make new friends there.

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.
↓

It's too late

My husband came home at 7pm with a branch of bamboo grass.

Since he usually comes home after our children go to bed, they were excited that he came early.

But I was disappointed to see the branch of bamboo grass which he had, because yesterday was Tanabata (Star festival) and it was too late to bring it home.

We were not able to decorate it only one day and we will have to put it away on July 8th.

Furthermore, it was nothing more than an increase in my work because my 6-year-old daughter would need a help to make the strip of paper and ornaments.

"You should have brought it home more early. We have already made the strips of papers for her nursery's Tanabata festival!"

But my husband didn't give up, and started making them with my daughter.

I was surprised at him because he didn't sleep yesterday because he was too busy for his work.

Nevertheless, he tried to enjoy the Japanese events with our children.

He and I have the same parenting policy that we want to let our children experience Japanese traditional events.

He must be tired and sleepy, but he helped that my daughter made the strips of paper.

I am proud of him as a good father, and our children loves their dad very much.

But I want him to get a enough sleep.

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.
↓

My 6-year-old daughter's wishes for Tanabata

Since the Tanabata festival will be held on July 7th at my 6-year-old daughter's nursery school, she wrote her wishes on the strips of paper last night.

Tanabata (Star festival) is on July 7th.

It is the festival based on a story from legend.

A beautiful weaver princess named Orihime (Vega) and a young cattle herder named Hikoboshi(Altair) fell in love with each other at first sight.

They had been absorbed in each others love, and they did not perform their duties well.

Then God got angry and decided to separate them by The Milky Way.

And they were able to meet once a year on July 7th.

We decorate branches of bamboo grass with strips of paper, celebrating reunitign of Hikoboshi and Orihime.

When we write a wish on the strip of paper and hang it on the branch of bamboo, it is said that the wish will come true.


Her first wish is "I want to be a pastry chef (ぱてぃしえになりたい) ".

The second one is "I want to be more punctual (じかんをちゃんとまもれますように)."

Since she can't wake up in the morning even though I wake her up so many times and she takes too long for breakfast and dinner, I often scold her.

I was glad to know she also wants to improve her own habit.

The third one is "I want to live in peace getting along with everyone (へいわなじだいでみんなとなかよくくらせますように)".

I was surprised with her third wish, but I knew why she wrote it.

Because when we watched the TV drama before, it was a story during World War 2.

She learned the fear of war from it.
She said:

"War is scary. I want to get along with everyone. I love everyone! I love mom, dad, my brother, friends, teachers...."

I really hope no more war and no more tears from losing their families.

(Her wishes written on the stips of paper which includes some mistakes.)

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.
↓

Children in bad shape

When I went to the nursery school to pick my 6-year-old daughter up, a teacher came to me and said:

"She has a high fever and is lying in the bed in the teacher's room."

"Really?"

I was surprised because she was as usual this morning.

I took her home, then my 7-year-old son told me:

"Mom, I had a stomach ache and feel sick."

He also had a slight fever.

Since it wasn't during the clinic hours, I called the clinic whether we could see our family doctor.

They accepted our appointment, so I took my children to see the doctor.

On our way to the clinic, my daughter threw up.

After we got to the clinic, the officer told me:

"Please use the room. There is a bed, so they can lie down."

I appreciated their offer.

The doctor came to the room and examined my children.

"I think she has a summer cold. She will recover it for about 2 days."

I was relieved to hear that.

"And he is constipated. We are going to give him an enema from now, so that he will feel better."

After it finished, he said:

"I am hungry!"

I was also relieved.

When we came home, it was already 18:30pm.

My daughter's fever went down this morning.

Maybe she will be able to go to the nursery school today.

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 very irritating day

I went to work yesterday.

My work shift was from noon to 5pm, but we had a trouble and had to deal with it.

As a result, I had to work overtime for one hour.

Before I left home, I asked my husband:

"Can you prepare dinner today? I will come home at the latest by about 5:30."

"OK."

He said.



Before I left home, he e-mailed to me and saying that he and our children were at the shopping mall.

I called him and asked him:

"Haven't you finished making dinner yet?"

"Not yet. We are at the appliance store and we will leave here in 30 minutes."

He answered unapologetically.

We usually have dinner at 6pm, after that, I do housework and take a bath with my children at 8pm, and go to bed with them at 9pm.

If the time we go to bed is later than 9pm, I know that my children will not be able to get up at 7am the next morning and it will be a hard time for me to wake them up though the morning is the busiest time.

I really want to avoid that situation.

And my 6-year-old daughter takes a long time to finish meals, for example, she always takes about an hour to finish dinner.

That's why I want my children to finish dinner.

I was really upset to hear his answer, but it can't be helped.



I came home at 6:20pm.

I was surprised that my 7-year-old son had not put his toys away and the room was messy.

To make matters worse, the window at the stairs wasn't closed and it had rained strongly.

The stairs were soaked with rain, so I had to wipe them with a cloth.

I tried to contain my anger and made dinner.

They came home after seven.

My son had not finished his homework yet and my daughter took for a long time to finish dinner because she was playing while eating.

It is needless to say at that point that I was most angry.

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.
↓

Swimming practice

Since it was too hot, our family went to the municipal swimming pool yesterday.

It was a good opportunity for me because I am out of shape.

Elementary school students learn how to swim at school, so my 7-year-old son has learned how to do flutter kick and do the crawl.

He told me:

"Let's go to the bigger swimming pool!"

There are three swimming pools there and each water depth is different.

He wanted to swim in the deepest swimming pool, so I had to go there with him because he couldn't stand at some deeper areas.

"Look! I can swim! I am going to try to swim alone!"

He started swimming, but it just looked to me like he was drowning.

I tried to grab his arm, but he said:

"Don't do that! I can do!"

Then he started doing flutter kick with a kickboard.

But he seemed to struggle desperately.

"Are you playfully on purpose or trying desperately??"

I asked him, he nodded when I said "trying desperately".

"Why don't you go to the shallow pool?"

I asked him, but his answer was "NO".

He swam 3 round trip in the 25 meters pool.

After finished swimming, he said:

"I am tired, but I did my best. I want to do it again!"

I told him:

"I think you should do it after you learn how to swim again,"

I tried to teach him how to swim before, but he didn't like to be taught by me.




We went back to the shallow swimming pool.

My husband and our 6-year-old daughter were playing together.

He said:

"She can put her face in the water and swim with flutter kick. I taught her and she was able to do it soon!"

"Really?"

I was surprised.

"Look at me, mom!"

She said and started swimming.

It was a short distance, but she was able to swim.

I was impressed with her.

She always can do anything skillfully than his brother.

On the contrast, my son is so clumsy and he always has a hard time to be able to do something.

I hope he will have a strong mind and not give up easily.


After that, we went to Karaoke.

I wrote that my children and husband went to Karaoke before in my previous post :

http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/06/karaoke.html

I have wanted to go to Karaoke since I heard their story.

It was really fun!

I was surprised that my son didn't hesitate to sing and my children were so excited and energetic.

Maybe It has been more than 10 years since I went to Karaoke.

We enjoyed singing together.

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 Scramble for Randoseru

I wrote that we went to the bag shop to look for my 6-year-old daughter's Randoseru (school bag) in my previous post:

 https://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/06/going-over-new-randoseru.html?showComment=1467405901921#c78504010547554661

The shop started accepting reservation of Randoseru for children who will enter elementary school next April on their website at 10am yesterday.
My yesterday work shift was from 11am to 4pm, so I thought I would be able to finish reserving the Randoseru for my daughter.

So I tried to access their website, but the website was too crowded to open.

I was surprised at this unbelievable and unexpected happening beyond my expectation because I was able to buy my 7-year-old son's Randoseru in August of two years ago at the same bag shop without any troubles.

I tried to reload the website many times for 25 minutes, but the error message was displayed on my computer screen and I couldn't finish reserving before I went to work.

I was worried whether my daughter's favorite Randoseru would be sold out until I came home.

I came home at 5pm and tried to access their website, but it was still crowded and wasn't opened.

I asked my daughter:

"I am sorry I have not finished reserving your Randoseru yet even though I have been trying to access their website. If the Randoseru has already been sold out, are you going to look for another one?"

"No! I want that Randoseru! Because it is the same as my brother!"

She insisted.

"OK, I am going to continue."

Since my 7-year-old son was going to the Karate practice from 7pm yesterday, I wanted to finish it until 6:40pm.

I tried to reload the website many times while I did housework.

At last, my reservation was accepted at 6:35pm!

"Yes! I made it! Hey! I could reserve your Randoseru!"

I shouted.

My children came to me and looked at my computer screen.

It said;

"Your order was completed."

"Wow! I am happy!"

My daughter was glad.

I was really happy to see her smile.

It took about a half and an hour to finish ordering.



This incident was put on one of the news headlines of Yahoo last night.

Most of comments from viewers were critical against parents like me.

One of them said:

"It is ridiculous. Recently the prices of Randoseru are too expensive."

I agree with it.

I definitely think it is ridiculous, but I just did not want to disappoint my daughter.

In our families case, my panrets offered to pay for her Randoseru.


When we chose my son's Randoseru two years ago, I had no idea how to choose the Randoseru.

One of my friends posted the article on her Facebook that she went to the bag shop to choose her daughter's bag.

Since I didn't know the bag shop, I serached their website on the internet.

I learned it was a long-established bag shop and its handmade leather bags made by craftsmen are very popular among those who value its quality.

Furthermore, I liked the design of their Randoseru because they were really simple Randoseru which didn't have any extra decorations like embroidery, emblem, rhinestone, and so on.

My mother advised me to choose the Randoseru with good quality.

She said cordovan was the best, but I refused her advice because it was too expensive for children's bag.

But she insisted that I should not choose a Randoseru made of clarino.

She believed that the quality of clarino was bad, but it has been improved nowadays, clarino Randoseru is lighter than cowhide and enough durable to use for six years.

I told my son to try carrying the clarino Randoseru and the cowhide Randoseru.

He said:

"Either is fine. I don't feel both of them heavy."

He was not completely interested in deciding his Randoseru.

So I accepted my mother's opinion, I chose the cowhide one.

After we received his Randoseru, I was satisfied with its quality and design.

We have not been any troubles yet for more than one years after he started using the Randoseru.



But actually, I think this trend is not good.

Randoseru is Japanese traditional bag for elementary school student, so I hope this tradition will last as ever.

But I think children don't need expensive school bags.

I think children don't need to choose its color, material, and decoration of Randoseru.

I recall my old days that we used similar Randoseru.

Maybe today's children also don't care what kind of Randoseru their friends have, and they will treat it roughly.

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.
↓