We visited the prefectural office because it was the last day that they were going to have the train exhibits on display. So we checked out the train exhibits one last time and made sure to look out onto the city and see if we could see any real trains, which we did!
Daddy picked me up from school today and that gave us a chance to wrap Mommy’s gift and decorate her birthday card. I found some stickers and went straight for the bugs. I put a bunch of those on the card thinking Mommy would like them (and I wasn’t willing to give up my car stickers for the card). Daddy found some other cuter stickers for me to add as well. I hope she likes it!
We did a lot of running at the park. I had fun working up a sweat.
When we got back to school I wore my had really low on my head and told my teacher, “Look! I can’t see!” I like to be funny and make my teachers laugh.
There are so many pretty stars in my bedroom! Going to sleep is like camping out under the night sky!
We had gymnastics class today, and even though our sports day is over, I try really hard to learn everything and do it well. If only I had started earlier I would have had more fun experiences.
We also went to the park today and ran around a lot. We played cops and robbers and I chased our teachers around the park about three times before I caught them. And then I said, “Let’s run some more!”
Today was a very physical day!
This is how I turn on the charm and ask for dessert.
Today we went to go see a puppet show and we got to ride the subway to get there! I was so excited! (About the subway, and maybe a little about the puppet show.) I kept repeating to my teachers, “We got to ride the subway!”
I actually ended up liking the puppet show. It was very entertaining and funny. I watched very intently and seriously and then burst out laughing when something funny happened. I sat nicely throughout the entire show.
Even though the puppet show was really fun, the subway was the real star of the show.
In the afternoon, we went to visit a play area in a department store. After a few wrong turns we got there and first had some snacks. I gave Mommy’s lemon drink a taste and quite liked it! But I mainly stuck with my orange juice and snack crackers.
The play area had this cool pedal bus, that I spend a lot of time in. We went around and around. I wasn’t quite able to get it going by pedaling on my own, so Mommy assisted me around my bus route.
It was so much fun and felt like I was a real bus driver. Luckily at the time of day that we went, there weren’t many other kids there so I could drive the bus as long as I liked.
Mommy and Daddy eventually convinced me to visit other parts of the play area. I first went to the sand box, which was not really sand, but sand-like pebbles. It was nice, because it didn’t get everywhere and irritate your skin. It also had projection mapping that made it look like you were on the beach with waves coming in, fish swimming around, and crabs diving into holes.
Next we went to a bouncy mountain. I was a little hesitant at first, but then had a ball bouncing around and tumbling down. Even Mommy joined in on the fun!
The final area I visited was the train track area. Sure, Daddy and I just played with a train track this morning, but the play area had so many more interesting pieces and props. It was a lot fun to play with and also helped me make a shopping list of all the things I want for my train track at home.
What a fun time at the play area! On the way home I perused a catalog I picked up at the shopping center that had all the newest Tomica listed. I had considered sending Santa the entire catalog and just telling him, “I want all of it!”
Today was a holiday so we enjoyed a second three-day weekend in a row. We spent the morning at home playing with various things. I got a cool new water color book. It was like the brush and paper one that I played with before, but this one had a marker with water in it and plastic sheets instead of paper. When the sheets dried the color would disappear and you could color it all over again. Very cool!
Mommy and I had some rocking play on the couch. It is a baby game that we used to play that has grown with me and become more active and almost like a bit of rough-housing.
Then Daddy and I expanded our railroad endeavors beyond what we made the other day and made super train track!
I wanted to play with my train set today and we went a bit off book. I wanted a bigger track than usual, so we expanded our track and made this huge track. It was really cool, but kind of hard to push the trains around the whole track. I got a bit of a work out constantly changing my position to move the train along.
Mommy had an event to go to, so Daddy and I headed off to go grocery shopping after dropping her off. But we actually were going to do some birthday shopping for her. I found the perfect gift for me…I mean for Mommy. My first choice was a pump fire truck, then a police car.
After some discussion with Daddy I changed my mind and we got Mommy her gifts. Daddy explained to me that we were shopping for Mommy’s birthday and she wouldn’t open it until her actual birthday or birthday party, so I shouldn’t tell her what I bought. As soon as I got home I blabbed. (If you want to see what I ended up getting her, you’re going to have to stay tuned and wait until her birthday.)
Anyway, Mommy’s event was later than she expected so we all had dinner together before she had to go.
While shopping today, Daddy got me a bath ball with a toy car inside. It was so cool to see the bath ball dissolve and then find the little toy taxi inside. This made me very happy and I took the tiny little toy taxi to bed with me.
Some days, you just gotta chill. We didn’t have any special plans today. Of course we played a lot, but for the most part we just chilled. Nothing wrong with that.
On our walk today we visited the prefectural office again to check out the train display. It was pretty awesome. No matter how many times we see it, we never get tired of it.
At home I revisited an old puzzle that I hadn’t played with in a long time. It was way too easy. I can’t remember how it was when I first got it. I must have been pretty little and must have struggled a bit. Not any more.
We had another fun English class today. We sang the apple song and learned about fruits.
Later we decorated squirrels with stickers. We all had the same base cutout but each of our squirrels were different because of where we put the stickers and it gave them each their own personality.
On the way home from school I thought I saw a local stray cat but it ran away before I could say hi. I’ll try to say hi tomorrow.
Today Daddy brought some finger-paints to the bath for me to play with. I usually do enjoy finger-painting because I don’t like getting my hands dirty, but I was in the bath and could wash my hands after every colorful stroke so this was the perfect art studio for me. I painted a lot on my own and I asked Daddy to paint a lot for me too. In the end I went for more of an abstract art style.
It is not easy being sick. I had a day of a lot of ups and downs, but the downs were pretty rough. When you are sick you realize how much of your mood is affected by your health. I was good, smiling, and happy at parts during the day. But most of the time I was very demanding and disagreeable. When I get like that I can’t let go of things and dig myself into holes that I can’t get myself out of. Mommy took the day off to take care of me, but I was not listening to her a lot and was whining a lot. I wasn’t well behaved at the doctors and even at home would not listen to her. At one point I demanded to watch YouTube, which Daddy had erased from the TV because of a tantrum I through some other day. I asked Mommy to watch YouTube but when she reminded me that it was erased I got upset and wouldn’t let it go. It is just hard to try to be good when you are not feeling good.
After dinner I was feeling better and my fever had gone down. So I was able to end the day in a better mood and better behaved. Being sick is rough.
I had an interesting hairstyle this morning thanks to wearing my hat on the way to school
On our walk we visited a greengrocer and picked up some nashi for us to eat at snack time.
Unfortunately, I developed a fever after lunch and Mommy had to come and pick me up early from school today. I guess I had too much fun on our mini trip this past long weekend.
Since we were in Kitakyushu, we visited a very popular kids’ play area, Genki no Mori. I immediately took to it and rushed around from place to place trying out all the fun and experience to be had. My first stop was the slides and train.
Then I headed to the wood block toys.
They had a lot of wooden toys that I had never seen before. There were these wooden balls that I could drop in a tower that bounced around making music.
There were also these wooden racers I could let go down a ramp.
The sponge pit was like a ball pit, but I could build towers with the cubes.
I surprised Mommy and Daddy by spending a lot of time at the graffiti wall. I don’t really spend much time at home coloring or drawing, but I was really into the graffiti wall. Along with asking Mommy and Daddy to draw things, I added my own artistic flair to the wall, drawing with both hands in broad strokes and then minute detail.
I had a lot of fun at this play area and it is too bad that it is so far away or we would definitely visit more often.
While we were in Kitakyushu City, we stopped by Mommy and Daddy’s friend’s house. They hadn’t seen him in four years, and he had actually never met me yet. I was a little clingy and hesitant at first, but I warmed up very quickly thanks to their hospitality and their little boy’s nice toy collection. He was so kind and sweet and not only shared his toys with me, but showed me how they worked and played with me.
Mommy and Daddy talked a lot with the boy’s parents since they had a lot to catch up on, but I also feel that they were taking notes and getting hints on how to raise a bilingual child in Japan. They boy was such an awesome kid, he immediately became a role model for me and example on how to raise a kid right in Japan for Mommy and Daddy. The last time Mommy and Daddy had seen him he had been younger than me. We was very pleasant, sociable, and obviously had good taste in toys because he had a lot of Tomica and Paw Patrol toys.
It was a great visit and we hope it is not another four years before we catch up again!
I woke up in Kitakyushu in a very good mood. I had had a very nice sleep in the hotel room and barely stirred at all through the night. Daddy zipped off to get us some breakfast (twice). First he went to McDonald’s to get me some pancakes and the Tomica car prize. Then I said that I wanted to eat some fruit, which is part of my daily diet so he then zipped off again to the convenience store to pick up a banana and mixed fruit for me. While he was gone and I was getting ready I was serenading Kitakyushu City, singing while looking out upon the cityscape.
After breakfast, and finishing up the Paw Patrol movie, we packed up and checked out. I prefer to be at home with all my toys, but I really enjoy staying in hotels and all the new experiences that come with it.