Since Rini has turned one, both James and I have tried our best to connect with our daughter more, to have some special times with her, basically having "Mommy Time" and "Daddy Time." Because I leave for work before Rini wakes up, and don't get home until dinner time, these "Mommy Times" are extra special to me.
Weekday Mommy Time:
Sometime in July, I decided to take Rini to a local sento, or public bath house, called Yurara. It's about 5 minutes from our house by bicycle, which makes it really convenient. Every week, generally on Wednesday nights after dinner, Rini and I bike over and spend a relaxing hour and a half to two hours in various hot baths. On an average day/night, it costs 400yen for an adult, and 70yen for a child Rini's age, but there are many specials. For example, it's possible to buy 11 tickets for the price of 10, or there are special days when the price is halved, or when Yurara gives 3 points to the member's point card, making it that much faster to get more discounts.
Once I pay and get our key, Rini and I go into the locker room to undress. I usually leave our towels just outside the bathing area, and take our soaps and sponges in. As we step into the bathing area, right in front of the door, there's a huge "sink" (not pictured here) where people use some small hand buckets to kind of rinse themselves off a bit. So once we've done so, we head over to the shower area. The shower area is made up of rows of seats with shower heads coming from the wall and a mirror at each spot, in front of which people sit and bathe. There are two types of showers: the one that can be seen in this picture has one faucet for hot water and one for cold, and people generally put their little bathing bowl (stacked neatly on the sides in the picture) under it to mix the water temperature as they see fit; and the other ones which have a regular shower head and cord coming from the wall, as well as a main faucet to use for the buckets. I generally prefer this second option, because it makes it easier for me to shower Rini off faster.
Once we're done showering and washing our hair, we head for our favorite bath. Here Rini walks around the little seating ledge, where the water covers half her body, while I soak and follow her in the middle. The middle area is pretty deep; when I kneel down, the water is up to my armpits roughly, so it's really nice and relaxing to float in. The water temperature is not too hot either, around 40C/104F. Lately, I've been trying to get Rini to be more comfortable in the water by jumping into my hands, so I could "swim" her around to another ledge. She cannot quite jump yet, more just steps into my hands, but we have a ton of fun nonetheless.
After we spent a good half hour here, I try to steer us to the water massage seats to the left. This is the same temperature water, and even at the deepest point, the water is only up to Rini's armpit, if even. She doesn't like being in such deep water on her "own" yet, so generally she just walks all over me and the seat ledge, while water jets massage my back and feet.
After about 5 minutes, we head over either to this little wooden edge pool to "cool" off, or head outside. The temperature at this pool changes according to the season; during the summer it's really cold, but during winter it's around 41-42C/106-108F. Rini just likes to walk along the edge, as I sit on the edge myself and soak my feet. We generally don't stay too long, because Rini likes to go to the open air bath. The water here is about 41C/106F, and shallow enough to reach only my armpits when I sit in the middle, and up to Rini's chest as she walks around. The walls and floor of this bath are made up of these big stones, so it's a nice challenge for Rini to practice her balance as she walks around. Also, sometimes she likes to play with the little stones around the edge of the pool, so we both have fun.
There are two more pools in Yurara, which we don't really use. One of them is a scented bath, where the scent is changed once a week, and the other is a really deep "cool" bath (about 39C/102F), with some more jet streams.
Once we're done, we get dressed, go home, brush our teeth, and sleeeeep. It's a really nice way to relax.
Weekday Daddy Time:
Something James started doing with Rini on Thursdays is going to a play group specifically for 1-year-olds. The play group is from 10A.M. to 11:30A.M., where the first hour or so is just the kids playing with each other. Then, in the last 20 minutes, the parents sing songs with their children. I was able to go one time back in August and the play group was really fun.
Every week, I hear stories of how much fun Rini had at this group, all the little things she enjoyed playing with, and how she is developing.
I can't really write anything more about this, as it's James's territory. Maybe one day, he will write a post on his own blog. Until then, here is a little video I took back in August:
Once I pay and get our key, Rini and I go into the locker room to undress. I usually leave our towels just outside the bathing area, and take our soaps and sponges in. As we step into the bathing area, right in front of the door, there's a huge "sink" (not pictured here) where people use some small hand buckets to kind of rinse themselves off a bit. So once we've done so, we head over to the shower area. The shower area is made up of rows of seats with shower heads coming from the wall and a mirror at each spot, in front of which people sit and bathe. There are two types of showers: the one that can be seen in this picture has one faucet for hot water and one for cold, and people generally put their little bathing bowl (stacked neatly on the sides in the picture) under it to mix the water temperature as they see fit; and the other ones which have a regular shower head and cord coming from the wall, as well as a main faucet to use for the buckets. I generally prefer this second option, because it makes it easier for me to shower Rini off faster.Once we're done showering and washing our hair, we head for our favorite bath. Here Rini walks around the little seating ledge, where the water covers half her body, while I soak and follow her in the middle. The middle area is pretty deep; when I kneel down, the water is up to my armpits roughly, so it's really nice and relaxing to float in. The water temperature is not too hot either, around 40C/104F. Lately, I've been trying to get Rini to be more comfortable in the water by jumping into my hands, so I could "swim" her around to another ledge. She cannot quite jump yet, more just steps into my hands, but we have a ton of fun nonetheless.
After we spent a good half hour here, I try to steer us to the water massage seats to the left. This is the same temperature water, and even at the deepest point, the water is only up to Rini's armpit, if even. She doesn't like being in such deep water on her "own" yet, so generally she just walks all over me and the seat ledge, while water jets massage my back and feet.
After about 5 minutes, we head over either to this little wooden edge pool to "cool" off, or head outside. The temperature at this pool changes according to the season; during the summer it's really cold, but during winter it's around 41-42C/106-108F. Rini just likes to walk along the edge, as I sit on the edge myself and soak my feet. We generally don't stay too long, because Rini likes to go to the open air bath. The water here is about 41C/106F, and shallow enough to reach only my armpits when I sit in the middle, and up to Rini's chest as she walks around. The walls and floor of this bath are made up of these big stones, so it's a nice challenge for Rini to practice her balance as she walks around. Also, sometimes she likes to play with the little stones around the edge of the pool, so we both have fun.There are two more pools in Yurara, which we don't really use. One of them is a scented bath, where the scent is changed once a week, and the other is a really deep "cool" bath (about 39C/102F), with some more jet streams.
Once we're done, we get dressed, go home, brush our teeth, and sleeeeep. It's a really nice way to relax.
Weekday Daddy Time:
Something James started doing with Rini on Thursdays is going to a play group specifically for 1-year-olds. The play group is from 10A.M. to 11:30A.M., where the first hour or so is just the kids playing with each other. Then, in the last 20 minutes, the parents sing songs with their children. I was able to go one time back in August and the play group was really fun.Every week, I hear stories of how much fun Rini had at this group, all the little things she enjoyed playing with, and how she is developing.
I can't really write anything more about this, as it's James's territory. Maybe one day, he will write a post on his own blog. Until then, here is a little video I took back in August:
Mommy and Daddy Time Alone:
While we both enjoy our alone time with Rini, sometimes James and I need to spend some time being just the two of us. For this reason, I asked a friend to help us find a babysitter service here in Fukuyama. Through her we made a connection with a Family Help Center, who connected us with an older lady, who used to be a nursery or kindergarten teacher. The lady is really nice, and Rini spent a few hours with her 2-3 times already. Luckily, Rini really likes her, and they have a good time together. They sing songs, go to the park, and other fun things. The hourly rate is pretty good too, and I hope we'll be able to set something up, where she could watch Rini for 3-4 hours every other week in the future.
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