Hiking in Sandan-kyo

I really like hiking. It's one of those things my family did pretty often when I was a child, then fell away once we moved to New York City. For a few years now, I've been itching to go hiking, and when a friend of ours told us about this place, I decided that I'd visit it before I leave Japan.

This is Sandan-kyo, or Sandan Gorge. Designated as National Scenic Beauty, of which there are only five in Japan, its beautiful ravine is said to be #1 in the country. Though I don't have anything to compare it to, I have to say it was breath-taking. But let me not get ahead of myself.

Originally, I was hoping to visit Sandan-kyo during July, to run away from the city heat. However, even a couple weeks prior there were no more spaces in neither the hotel nor the ryokan that offered lodging nearby. In the end, that was a good thing, because I think it rained quite a bit that weekend. Anyway, this time around I began looking at rooms for either of the September three-day-weekends back in the beginning of August. The two places where one can sleep near the Gorge is the Sandankyo Hotel and the Kawamoto Ryokan. I was determined to spend two nights at Sandan-kyo, so that the whole trip wouldn't be too tiring for Rini. The hotel was really expensive, so I looked at the prices in the ryokan, which was much smaller. This search and price comparison took me a few days, in which time the ryokan got filled up for the first weekend (September 14-16th). Nervous that the space would fill up for the last available weekend, I quickly booked a room for September 21-23rd through japanican.com. For the two of us, with breakfast and dinner included, cost ￥32,000, which was very nice, especially compared to what the hotel would have cost us. Rini stayed for free.

So the date was set, now I just had to pray for good weather, and figure out when and how we'd get there and back home. Considering how sensitive I am when it comes to buses, because of motion sickness, we decided to take the local train to Hiroshima City, then the street car to Hiroshima Bus Center, and finally the bus to Sandan-kyo. I bought the discount tickets for the train, which cost ￥1,800 per person per way, and we set out on Saturday with the 11:45AM train. Luckily, all the weather reports for the area predicted sunny and slightly cloudy weather, so we set out in a really good mood. We got to Hiroshima City around 1:30PM, grabbed the street car to Ebisucho, because there is a building near there which has three floors of okonomiyaki restaurants, called Okonomi-mura. Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is probably one of my top 3 favorite foods in Japan, and what other place is better than Hiroshima City itself for the soul food of Hiroshima? So off we went to experience a little bit of heaven. I must say, would I live in Hiroshima City, I would eat here every other day, and would shuffle through all the stalls ordering my favorite okonomiyaki, to decide which place was the best. But alas, I had to contend with one stall chosen at random on the 2nd floor. It was delicious to say the least. If there was one food that I'd want to learn how to make from scratch before leaving Japan is okonomiyaki for sure.

Anyways, back to the rest of our trip. There are several buses to Sandan-kyo, but very few that go express. The difference in time between local and express bus is a good 45 minutes, while in price is only ￥200, which made it a no-brainer choice for us. The express bus we were planning to catch was at 3:33PM. Luckily, when I asked for tickets to Sandan-kyo, the person at the ticket counter was nice and told us about a special round-trip ticket that also included some coupons that could be used in Sandan-kyo, without any price hike. These tickets cost ￥2800 per person round-trip, which is the price for the express bus. The bus trip went by quietly, and we arrived at Sandan-kyo just before 5PM.

We checked into Kawamoto Ryokan by being shown to our rooms. Yes, that's it. No paperwork or even a question as to our names. Whatever I filled in during our online registration was enough. That's how small that place is. I believe there were only three rooms. Our room was a really nice Japanese-style room. The rooms were separate from the toilets and bathroom, and it took a bit of Japanese to figure out when we could use the family bath.

First we had dinner, which was really traditional and very good.While we ate dinner, the ladies who ran the place set up our futons in our room. They also asked us about what time we would like our breakfast in the morning, to which we said 8-8:30AM, as we weren't planning to start our hike early.

Once it was over, we took a bath as a family, which was really nice. We showered quickly, then soaked in the bathtub for 15-20 minutes. The bathtub was huge! It was really nice to relax in the hot water. Once we were done, we put on our yukatas and relaxed in our room until bedtime, when we changed into our pajamas. Rini and I fell asleep probably around 8:30PM, James stayed up a bit longer.

The next day I was was woken up by Rini asking to nurse around 6AM, so once she was done, I just got up. Unfortunately, she got up along with me, which made me regret telling the ladies such a late breakfast time the night before. Once James got up, we started packing our backpack for the hike later, since we still had time until breakfast. We planned on bringing with us our ErgoBaby carrier, and my new backpack, which had a change of clothes for Rini, diapers, and food and water.

Breakfast time finally came, and we went down in our yukatas, and enjoyed another traditional meal of fish, rice, miso soup, and a bit of scrambled eggs. It was really tasty. I surprised James by drinking some coffee, but I had access to extra milk and sugar, so why not, I thought? While James took Rini upstairs to get ready for the day, I asked some questions about the hike from the owner to clear some things up. My main concern was how much food to bring and where we could eat during our hike. There is a "restaurant" about an hour up the trail, which offered a few udon and fish dishes, but there was nothing else past that point. Considering the size of our breakfast, I doubted we would want to stop and eat that soon. So, I asked the lady to wrap up the rest of our rice as a simple onigiri for us (ie just put it into a plastic wrap and shape into onigiri), which she did, and even added seaweed to it! I packed our two onigiri and some other food we brought along from yesterday, and got dressed to go. We left around 9:45, Rini on my back in the baby carrier, and James carrying our backpack and water bottles. At the gate of the hike, there was a little natural spring, from which people were encouraged to drink. It was really tasty water, so we filled all our water bottles there, and off we went.

I can't say much about the hike, because words just wouldn't do it justice as to how beautiful it was. The trail running along the side of the mountain, the river was so beautiful and crystal clear, I wanted to jump in several times to go for a swim. Rini slept through the first 30 minutes to an hour of it, and I was glad she did, because we were able to go much faster with her on my back. Originally, I planned to have her walk along with us a little, then carried by me a little, and so on, but the trail was pretty narrow with deep drops to one side, which we thought wasn't the best place for a toddler to walk on, even if we were holding her hands.

After about 20 minutes or so, we saw Akadaki, which was a stream that made the rocks red. It was really beautiful, and the best part was that the water was drinkable. I found it even better than the one at the gate, and we made a mental note of filling our water bottles when we came back.

Another 20 minutes or so brought us Kurobuchi, where hikers can take a short boat ride on the river to the nearby "restaurant." Since it cost ￥300 one-way (￥500 round trip), we decided to just keep hiking, and take the boat on our way back.

We hiked for another 45 minutes, then stopped for lunch at Mizunashi.

Rini playing around as we relaxed.

After lunch and a bit of relaxation, we headed west to Sarutobi in hopes of taking a boat to Nidandaki. It took us about a half hour to reach the spot, but because of construction or incoming typhoon, there was no boat service that day. From the shore, it was hard to see what might be so special about the boat ride, and even though we left the place already, I decided to return with Rini on my back to satisfy my curiosity and take just one picture from the river. It looked pretty shallow, and was a nice warm day, so I thought why not? James wasn't feeling too well at that point, so we decided he'd wait for Rini and I to go and explore. When I got back, I took off my shoes and socks, pulled my pants really high, and into the river we went. The stones were a bit slippery, and I had to go really slow, so that we wouldn't fall into the river. At first, where I went in, it got a bit deep for my clothes to stay dry, but after looking around a bit, I found a really shallow way in, where I was able to take a few nice pictures and a video on my cell phone. The water was pretty cold, but kind of nice after 3 hours of hiking. 

As you can see, curiosity did not, in fact, kill the Kat... (cough, smirk, cough) In some respects I was a bit sad that Rini didn't stay with James, because I would have just swam in to see what was beyond. But on the other hand, Rini was probably the only reason I didn't follow through that crazy plan.
After we joined up with James again, we took the trail that lead to Sandandaki, which took about another half hour. At last, we were able to see one of the major waterfalls of this river. It was really beautiful, and I could only imagine just how gorgeous it must be during deep fall, when the leaves are red and golden yellow around the waterfall. At this point, if we wanted to, we could have hiked for another hour and a half to see the very end of the trail, where the Tarutoko Dam was. However, we were already hiking for over 3 hours at this point, and even I was starting to feel a bit tired, not to mention James, whose leg started to hurt, and Rini, who was becoming antsy just being carried around all day long. I never planned to hike farther than Sandandaki anyways, so after resting up a bit, we turned around and headed back down.

When we reached Kurobuchi again, we rested again for 30 minutes or so, then took the 5 minute boat ride. While it's worth taking once, I'm glad we skipped it on our way up, when we had the energy to hike. We got back to the beginning of the trail at around 4:30PM. It total, we hiked 16 km, going up and down and up again in one of the most picturesque places of Japan. Though we were quite tired and were looking forward to our family bath, this hike recharged my soul in a way I didn't quite expect. Sure, I missed hiking, but finding out just how much was a little surprising. If I could, I would take similar hikes every other week for sure.

Our final night was spent similarly to our previous one, except that this time we took a nice hour long soak soon after we returned to the ryokan, and only after that did we eat our tasty dinner.
The next morning was promising to be really early, since we had to catch the 6:55AM express bus to Hiroshima City, so I asked the owner if we could have our breakfast at 6:15, to which she had no objections. Needless to say, Rini and I fell asleep pretty quickly that night.

The next morning we packed up, had our breakfast, payed our bill, and caught the bus back to the city. Before heading back to Fukuyama, we dropped by Costco to shop a little bit and have lunch, but we still caught the 11:43AM train home. We ended our weekend trip with ice cream from Baskin-Robbins at Fukuyama station, then biked home to relax for the rest of the day. It was a wonderful trip, and I'm really glad we went.

The Time We Visited Miyajima the Three of Us

To Miyajima we go!!!

We really like Miyajima. It's pretty, has a nice hike, it's full of deer, and the fried momiji manju with custard cream is to die for. So naturally, when we finally found out when the annual ALT Hiroshima conference is taking place, I didn't hesitate to make plans to visit Miyajima the day before the conference began.

August 11th was to be the day, a Sunday, and to my surprise, also a major festival day on the island. I hesitated a bit, thinking about the hordes of people it bound to produce, but in the end, we realized that we will be far away from all the commotion in general, either up in the mountains or down at the beach. So off we went.

We packed our bags, got Rini in the stroller, and caught the local train to Hiroshima city. It cost just under ￥2000 per person to get to Hiroshima city, but it was a nice and easy ride. We checked into our hostel when we arrived and dropped most of our things off, then headed back to Hiroshima station to keep going to Miyajima. At the hostel, we decided to buy a 2-Day Pass (another ￥2000 per person), which included the ferry to Miyajima, the ropeway to the top of the mountain, and free street car for those two days in Hiroshima city. Considering the ropeway by itself was to cost ￥1800 per person, I think we got a fair deal. So once we arrived to the ferry to the island, since we had our passes already, we were able to skip the long lines to the ticket booth, and get on the ferry right away. I really like boat rides and Rini seemed to enjoy herself as well, so all was good.

The best place to get fried momiji manju, I promise!

Once on the island, we could see that there were definitely more people than usual, but it wasn't too bad. Food stalls set up specifically for the festival were already churning out all the festival food goodness one can ever dream of. One of the reasons I like Japanese festivals so much is the food. Other than the usual staple of Japanese foods, like fried soba or okonomiyaki, and festival foods, like cotton candy, there are squid on a stick, frozen pineapple slices, corn, candy apples and strawberries (yes, candy strawberries.... it's mouthwateringly delicious), and a couple other things that I don't know the name of unfortunately, but it was one of the best "unhealthy" foods I ever had, which was probably still more healthy than most foods in America in the same situation. And of course, the fried momiji manju, that I've only ever seen on Miyajima. Momiji manju are these specialty cakes in Hiroshima city, shaped usually as a maple leaf (momiji means maple leaf), and they tend to have fillings of red bean paste, custard, or chocolate, but there are many other kinds as well. We prefer custard flavor the best, but all flavors are worth a try. What's amazing is that on Miyajima, these little cakes get a stick shoved into them and get fried, which makes them oooh, a million times better. One of the things I will seriously miss when I leave Japan, is not having the option to eat these devilishly good treats.

James with one handsome smile after another,
just had to add them all.

Anyways, let's back away from the sweets and food of festivals on Miyajima. Once we were on the island, we headed straight for the ropeway to the top of the mountain. On our walk, Rini fell asleep, and we also happened to walk past our favorite fried momiji manju place, so we picked up a couple to eat as we walked. It was really hot and sunny, so we made sure to use plenty of sunscreen. Luckily, Rini was in her stroller, so she got some shade as she napped. There's a bit of a walk to get to the ropeway, which was doable with a stroller, and in all honesty, we might have been better of with our Ergo Baby carrier, but it was just too hot to even imagine strapping Rini to us. We made it though, slowly, but surely, and Rini didn't nap long anyways, so she was able to walk a bit on her own, too.
Luckily there weren't too many people waiting in line for the ropeway, and we were on our way to the top quite fast. We had to leave our stroller at the station, but it was not a big deal. It was a nice ride, and though the weather was humid and muggy, it didn't bother us quite as much during our ride to the top. Once we arrived, we looked around a bit and enjoyed the view, which was quite a bit limited, due to the heat I guess. 

There was almost no visibility.

Posing at the top.

A quick hi after the ropeway.

The famous Mijayima gate.

We didn't spend a lot of time at the top for three reasons. First, because we've seen it before when we climbed the mountain on our previous visit; second, because it was incredibly hot and sunny; and third, we wanted to make sure we caught the bus to the beach, which only seated 9 people and did one round every two hours or so. We took a few more pictures on our way down, then decided to wait for the bus that moved between the ropeway station and the edge of the town. We were quite lucky, as we were one of the last people who fit on the bus. The bus in general doesn't save much time for anyone who can walk well, but we had Rini and our stroller to deal with, so it probably gave us the couple minutes we needed to make the difference between  missing our beach bus or getting there just in time. We had to rush a little between the two buses, which was hard, as the number of people on the island increased quite a bit, so I decided to run ahead and get in line, while James pushed Rini n the stroller as fast as he was allowed.
Luckily, we got to the bus with a good 5 minutes to spare, but there were quite a few people waiting around, and I got worried, that maybe we won't fit on after all. However, once the bus pulled up, it was plain that no one was interested in our particular bus, as we were the only ones to go to the beach. When we arrived, we rented a tarp to sit on, then changed into our bathing suits. Sadly, the facilities were no where near as nice as the ones at Innoshima, but the beach more than made up for it. The water was super warm, and we spent at least an hour in there just playing and swimming. Rini enjoyed herself much more this time around, too.

After all the hiking and swimming, Rini was out mighty quick.

When it came time to leave, we caught the bus back to the ferry, bought a bit more festival food, and tried to take pictures with the deer. I was a bit sad that we couldn't stay for the fireworks, but with Rini, we had to get back to the hostel and rest. We caught the ferry, and once we arrived to Miyajima port, and saw just how many people were still planning to get to the island, I was glad we left when we did. 

Over all we had a wonderful time, and while we're sad that this was probably our last time visiting, I think we did great at making the best of the day.

Enjoying a cob of corn on our way back to Hiroshima.

Summer Fun

Part 1:
Over the summer we've been doing a few small things that I just haven't had the time to write about. I'm personally not a big fan of summer, but I like swimming, so my plan for this summer was to go to the beach every weekend. This unfortunately didn't happen, as the weather kept interfering, being nice and sunny during the week and rainy on the weekends. At one point, our friends just decided to hell with the weather, and go no matter what, as it will be one of the last times for all of us to be able to hang out together before some of them left Japan for good. When the weekend came (on July 28th), it was quite hot, but still had a slight rain. Since the beach was some distance away, and it promised to clear up, we decided to go anyways, and take our chances. 

Rini has only been to the beach once last year, when she was still only 4 months old. Being July that time as well, the water was still a bit chilly, and the beach we visited (Sensui-jima, near Tomo) was quite rocky, making it hard for me to hold her and walk while in the water. Needless to say, we didn't much enjoy it, and I was determined to show her the fun side of being in the water this time around. We packed our new bathing suits, sunblock, food, and other small things, and off we went!

This time we went to Innoshima, which holds a Japanese Pirate festival every August with some amazing fireworks. I've visited this island and the festival shortly after I arrived in Fukuyama the first time, and remembered how nice and sandy it was. We arrived after about an hour or so traveling, but unfortunately it was still raining slightly. At least it was really hot, and we couldn't wait to get into the water. My memory for once didn't disappoint, the beach was indeed nice and sandy. 

We changed quickly and Rini and I headed to the water. Unfortunately, it was a bit cold, so I tried to move around a bit with her in my arms. She liked it well, I suppose, and splashed around a bit, but the chilliness of the water and the slight rain was pretty distracting. Rini was also just getting over a cold, so we didn't stay in the water long. After toweling her up a bit, I let her play in the sand for a bit more with James around, as I took a small lap in the sea. After a few minutes, I came to check on Rini and she seemed cold, so we just decided to get dressed again. Luckily Innoshima is one of those beaches that has a hot shower available for a few hundred yen, and I was glad for it. I didn't quite realize just how cold I felt, until Rini and I were standing under the warm shower.

She was walking just like her dad at her age:
hands behind her back.

Once we got dressed, all of us decided to just go. Our blanket was wet, the food was getting wet, the rain just did not stop. It was also quite a different feeling dealing with the rain now that in the morning. In the morning we were hot and it was nice and cooling, but now after the warm shower, it was just plain cold, and all I wanted to do was to stay dry. We headed back to the bus, and while we were waiting, ate some yummy ice cream.

In the end, I'm glad we went and spent time with our friends, and I wish we could have gone again on a nice summer day. Maybe next year!

Family photo on the bus back. Rini passed out almost as soon as we got on.

Part 2:
Next weekend (August 4th) the weather was once again too cool and sunless to swim, but I was still determined to not let the summer just go by. We decided to just hop on the bus to Tomo and spend some time there. Tomo is a nice old town, which is officially part of Fukuyama city. It's famous for quite a few things, like being the inspiration to Hayao Miyazaki for his movie "Ponyo," or boasting of the most beautiful view this side of the country, or the new Wolverine movie being shot there, or finally, some of my past schools being here as well. And they got sea salt ice cream, which is always worth to buy when in the area. So we went and walk around a bit, appreciating the beauty of the old houses, and eating some ice cream.

Rini got to re-try finally the first non-breastmilk food she ever had. She definitely liked it!

Happy 1 and a Half Birthday!

I love this comic nonetheless.

More enlightened people (parents I trust) told me about six months ago that the term terrible twos doesn't mean one has an angelic and easy-going child until she reaches her second birthday at which point all hell breaks loose like in the comic to the right, but in fact that it's the second year of the child's life, the time between the first and second birthday where the difficulties start, and who hasn't heard of the terrible twos with their tantrums and constant "no"-s?

According to a parenting advice book a friend of ours gave us, called Your One-Year-Old: The Fun-Loving, Fussy 12-To 24-Month-Old by Louise Bates Ames, toddlers and children tend to be most unbalanced emotionally during their half birthdays, not when they turn "a year" older. As a child hits her different milestones, there's a time of figuring out how to control the new set of "powers" and a time when they're considered "mastered." In general terms, children master the new skills of their particular age around the time they hit a birthday, making half-birthdays the time when figuring things out is in full swing. This means a whole lot of frustrations between parent and child, with the half-birthday being the peak of this.

Of course, this is a generalization, and each child is different, but my point is, Rini turned 18 months old today! It boggles my mind how much she has grown so far, and I can't wait to see where she will go from here.

Since we visited the doctor for her well-child visit just yesterday, I will include some extra information in this month's development post. Our height and weight measurements between these check ups are done by us at a well stocked nursery area of a local mall, and are probably not quite accurate. The stats below were measured by nurses, so please disregard the apparent shrinking of my child.

Height: 77.8 cm

Weight: 9.84 kg

Head Circumference: 48 cm

Chest Circumference: 47.2 cm

Vaccinations: So far Rini has finished her Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hib, PCV7, Measles, Mumps, and Chickenpox vaccines. She still needs her booster shot for Polio, which we'll get sometime in November, probably along with her influenza shots. This will complete all her shots while we live in Japan.
We've decided no to get her the BCG or tuberculosis vaccine, until we know for sure where we will settle down for good after Japan. If she would get the vaccine, she would have to have a chest X-ray every year in the US when she's in school, because she would always test positive from the vaccine, and that's not something I'm quite prepared to deal with just yet. I will have to do research into Hungarian vaccination practices as well as US ones, sometime before we leave Japan, just to be clear on what is expected.

Clothing size: 80 cm

Shoe size: 12.5 cm - She's been slowly outgrowing her little size 3 sandals we picked up for her in the US in the spring, so I'm glad the weather is turning cooler, and she can wear sneakers now.

Diaper size: For night-time and going out we still use Moony, size M (6-11 kg), but it's starting to feel a bit short on her back. The next size up is for 9-14 kg, and I expect we'll switch up before the end of the year. At home, she still wears FuzziBunz Mediums, and will continue to do so for some time, I'm sure.

Teeth: All 12 of her teeth broke through fully. While a couple are only half-way to completion, they are all visible and well formed. I do have to note, that it's been much harder to catch the exact day a new tooth breaks through her gums, mostly because my husband is the one brushing her teeth and I keep forgetting to ask for updates. Speaking of brushing her teeth, Rini began using a small, but regular toothbrush a couple weeks back, which she seems to enjoy much more and is more willing to brush her teeth, than when she had her baby toothbrush. She's getting better every day at brushing her teeth on her own, though as I mentioned just before, my husband does a once over in the end just to make sure every one of her little teeth is pearly white. So far, we've only insisted on brushing her teeth before bedtime, but lately, she wants to brush with us when she sees us brushing our teeth in the morning, too, so I guess, it might be time to settle into the twice-a-day routine.

Food: Now that Rini has some molars, we've began giving her more textured foods, or at least, we don't cut them into quite as small pieces as before. She's also been getting much better at manipulating her spoon, so that she doesn't spill quite as much liquid, whether it'd be soup, or cereal and milk, as before. This helps a lot in broadening her pallet into the wonderful world of soups and stews, just in time for fall and winter.
On a slightly different note, I should mention that she quite prefers adult spoons and forks to her child size ones. So much so, that sometimes the difference between a happy meal and a not-eating child is the size of the utensils we give her. Oh, and she tries real hard to use chopsticks and can hold them to scoop up bits of food, like with a shovel.

Nursing: We're down to once a night nursing, not counting bedtime of course. As for the time she wakes up, it can be any time between midnight to 5:30AM, though generally it's most common around 3AM. She might wake up after 5:30AM, but I'm usually out of bed by then. If she wakes up before midnight, she usually goes for her sippy cup. There has been one or two night lately, when she woke up before midnight for her sippy cup, then slept through the rest of the night. Those nights were glorious for me.

Sleeping: Rini is still a "nap enigma" as James puts it. The only thing he can tell me about Rini's napping habits, is that if she wakes up earlier in the morning (around 7:30-8AM), she is more likely to nap earlier, too (around 1PM). When she wakes up a bit later (8:30-9AM), then she's more likely to nap after 2PM if she naps at all. Going out in the morning to play in the park or to playgroup will make her napping more likely. Generally speaking she either falls asleep during the bike ride home, or comes to James to nap in his lap. Both times James is usually able to put her down on the bed once she falls asleep, where she sleeps for about an hour. Then she wakes up a bit, looks for James again, and snuggles into his lap for another 30 minutes to an hour of napping. In any case, we make sure she doesn't nap past 4PM (even if she hasn't napped yet), as that interferes with bedtime.

Milestones: Two major milestones that happened this past week are walking backwards intentionally (as opposed to stumbling back and falling), and being able to throw and kick a ball. I think she learned how to play with a ball when she spent some time with her new babysitter, because the next night she brought her big yellow ball to us after dinner, dropped it into my hand, then stepped back a little and waited for me to throw it to her. Then she did the same thing with her dad. The three of us played pass-the-ball for a good 10 minutes or so that night, and a couple more times since then! It's quite cute, and a new entertainment for all of us. This was also the night I discovered she is able to walk backwards.
I just missed where she kicked the ball all around... she seems rather tired here.

Another new thing is she (sometimes/when she wants) sits down on the diaper changing mat and waits to be changed. This is mainly after her bath, when she's naked and needs her diaper, not from a dirty to a clean diaper, but still. She also lifts her legs up when it's time to put powder on her. Also this past month she started asking for soap and soaping herself up during bath. She usually tries to wash her privates, her feet, and her hair, and is not doing a bad job with it either, though I do re-scrub, just to make sure she didn't miss a spot. I'm hoping to help her to find her underarm and her neck, and then we'll be more or less set for her to wash herself on her own. She also tries to brush her hair, and is getting better at it.
Finally, there's a little nursery rhyme in Hungarian about walking that goes like this:
Sétálunk, sétalunk, egy kis dombra lecsücsülünk, csüccs!
It means roughly "We're walking, we're walking, we sit down on a small hill, plop! (here we squat down)" Point is, whenever I say this little rhyme, even before I reach the word csüccs, which she knows already as the act of sitting down, she squats down for a second. Even if I stop saying the rhyme after the first two words, she waits a couple beats and squats, like I've never stopped. There are times I absentmindedly say the rhyme as I walk with her, and she squats down and doesn't get up until I squat, too. It's really cute!


Words: She started using "bye" regularly this past month. When she wants something she uses the sound "datdat," which I take is a form of "that." Finally, she started using the word "stinky" with the hand gesture in front of her nose. This usually happens, when her diaper is changed, but also sometimes when she pooped in her diaper.

Favorite toys: Balls, books, blocks. Also, her little wheeled animals she got from her grandma in a care package a few months back.

Likes: She really enjoys listening to Japanese children's songs, like the ones she hears during playgroup. These little songs usually have simple words and hand gestures, and I'm thinking of buying a CD or something so that we can play it together. It's so interesting how much I've forgot from my own childhood, when it comes to rhymes and games. I'm hoping to learn them back soon!

Dislikes: She not really into eating fried rice anymore, which even just a month ago was quite crazy about. Outside of this, there's not much else new.

Mommy/baby update: We've been spending more time together, which I'm really happy about. I've also started looking into places we could visit on a nice day as a family, like the zoo and amusement park. We're planning on visiting one such place tomorrow, in fact.
Last, but not least, we were able to sign up for a family helping service in the city, which basically means, we got paired up with an older lady to watch Rini when we need some time for ourselves. This older lady is (or used to be) a kindergarten or nursery school teacher, and she is really nice. She watched Rini only once for us so far, on the weekend of our anniversary, for about 3 hours. That day, I dropped Rini off at her house, stayed about 25 minutes or so, then said goodbye, and went to enjoy our time off. When we came to pick Rini up, she was happily playing away, listening to children's songs and doing some gestures as well. The lady told me they went for a walk around the block a couple times and have been just generally playing little games. Overall, Rini seemed to have had a nice time, and I'm hoping to set something up for every other week for 3-4 hours, just to give James and I some "us" time. Of course, there's a small fee, but it's very reasonable, especially when it's calculated into our monthly budget.

17 Months Down

I have to say, I'm really glad I started keeping monthly update blogs on Rini. It helps me remember all the little things, and I just wish I had started doing them since her birth. So without further delay, here's Rini as a 17 month old (up to August 15th).

Height: 78.5 cm

Weight: 10 kg

Clothing size: 80cm

Shoes size: 11.5cm (or 3 in the US)

Diaper size: medium

Teeth: Most of those teeth I discovered last month have come in quite nicely. The top two molars (#4s) have a full surface now, as well as her left bottom #4. She's currently working hard on the bottom right #4, and bottom left #2, which was discovered on August 10th. This brings her up to the total of 12 teeth! She's halfway there!

Food: Rini really LOVES corn on the cob. She devours a full cob on her own easily, and keeps asking for more. Another big hit are peaches, and can anyone be really surprised? The ones here are really delicious, even if a bit annoying to part with their pits. Broccoli came back recently, too, after a few months of indifference.

Nursing: We shift between 2 times a night to 3 times a night, including bedtime nursing, depending on Rini's mood, and how tired or thirsty she is. Generally after bedtime, she nurses between 1 and 3 AM, them sometimes around 5AM.

Sleeping: Lately we've been having a little problem with her napping really late, and then not falling asleep until past 9PM, sometimes almost at 10PM. My husband tries to make her nap soon after lunch, but she refuses to do so. This past month she mainly napped around 4PM for an hour, if she even napped at all. This is especially hard on me, because trying to wait her out at bedtime, after she nursed, guarantees that I fall asleep before her. This is not very helpful when I'm hoping to work a bit before going to bed. So many times have I waited patiently 30 minutes or more for her to nurse herself to sleep, just to be wide awake as soon as I move away... On days when I know I really should stay awake and she needs to be asleep before 8:30PM, I started to take her for a walk or to the play ground in the evening, right after dinner usually. This works most times in tiring her out enough for her to fall asleep fast.
However, the question of nap-time eludes me still. The main problem is that I can't tell if we're the ones at fault, not doing something right to get her to nap, or she is just leaving her nap stage behind. She has never been a great napper. Until her first birthday, we were surprised if she napped more than 20 minutes at a time, twice a day. Then it slowly started getting longer to 30 to 45 minutes, but dropping morning naps pretty quickly. She has always been the type of child who was wide awake and playing until she was not and asleep. We couldn't make her nap when she didn't want to, and when she did, she would crawl to us, and fall asleep quite fast in our arms on her own. Now that we, as parents, got used to this behavior, and she coming to us later and later in the day, I wonder if a change of attitude and tactics is necessary.

Milestones: This past month was more about fine tuning skills she already has, instead of gaining major new ones. She can now build blocks up to 13 blocks high, for example. She also holds onto us and lifts her leg to put ON pants, not just when we take it off. She's trying hard to put her own sandals on, and at least half the time manages up to the buckle part. In the last few days, I've seen her try to put on her own pants and shirt. Though she can't really manage it without help, it's the first time I've seen her wanting to try. Furthermore, when I hold her PJs out to put on, she holds her legs, then her arms out automatically.
Now, with 17 months of age comes the reason terrible twos are terrible: tantrums. Yep, our quiet and sweet little girl has entered full tantrum-mode this past month. It's been slowly building up for a couple months, but until now we were able to quickly distract her or quiet her whenever she started crying because we wouldn't give something to her. Now, many times she throws herself down the bed wailing, or hits things (sometimes even us), if she doesn't get her way. It's been hard on both my husband and me to deal with it, mainly because we're still learning how to balance that fine line of letting her deal with her emotions without bottling them up, and trying to make her understand that at the minimum, hitting is not allowed. I also have a feeling that since our parenting styles are somewhat different, we might confuse her as to what's allowed and what is not for her to do. Finally, we're trying our best to learn the possible signs of an upcoming tantrum and counteracting it in time, like has she had a snack, is she tired, does she need to go outside and work some energy off, and so on. It's so hot now in our city, that going out seems like a chore, and I just hope the weather cools down soon, so she'll have more space to explore and play.

Here's Rini after we tried several times to stop her from trying her best to crawl behind the TV. In the end, we gave in to see what happens. Beware, the video is LOUD!


Last little bits of milestones: she likes playing with our tiny broom and to sweep the floor with it. She also uses wipes to clean up around herself, and whenever we accidentally leave a child-lock open, she goes and tries to close it back up. She seems to have a great tendency for cleanliness, which I appreciate and hope we can cultivate in her.

Rini loves to help out whenever her Daddy does anything on the balcony, whether it'd be laundry or beating the futon.
 
Sorry about my reflection in the door glass. I didn't want to open the door, in case I startled her away from what she was doing.

On a final note, for a couple months now she has been bringing books to us to read to her, like Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear..." and "From Head to Toe." The reason why I'm mentioning this under milestones is because she has been able to do all the gestures "From Head to Toe" now for a couple weeks at least, even when we don't read the pages to her in order, or show her the pictures. I've been meaning to catch the whole thing on camera, but with no luck so far.

Words: She keeps on babbling as usual, many times imitating words, but I'm not convinced she knows how to use them regularly, yet. However, there are a few words she has been using more consistently, one of which is "így" from Hungarian. It means, "like this," and I have been using it around her quite a lot when I show her how to do things. Another expression she started using lately is "oh-ooh." She uses it whenever she drops something, or something goes wrong. It's quite cute! Finally, she's been saying "hi" regularly now, whenever she meets someone familiar, and sometimes she even waves bye, though that's still somewhat rare. Finally, she's also been saying "csüccs" a lot, which is the sound we use in Hungarian with kids when we sit down, so I guess it kind of means "plop."

Favorite toys: Books, blocks, and crayons. She loves flipping through books for pictures, and brings all kinds of books to us to read to her. She still loves playing with blocks as well, so I'm really looking forward to getting Legos for her for Christmas. She loves to explore and be outside. A week or so ago, we bought a little inflatable swimming pool to put out in our balcony, and she loves playing in the water.

Finally, just short of a month ago we've received a care package from my mother-in-law, and with it came crayons that can be used during bath time! She loves scribbling on the bathroom walls with them. Though initially we were worried that she would start scribbling on other walls as well, she's been pretty good at avoiding them, except for the one curtain in the living room, but luckily those were done with washable crayons, and caused no lasting damage. Speaking of which, she loved those bath crayons so much, and taking away my pens to draw, that we ended up getting the washable crayons for her to draw with. She still needs adult supervision, just in case, but it's been one of her favorite past times.

Likes: Besides the things I just mentioned above, there's not much new going on. Luckily, she's not a picky eater, and generally eats anything in front of her, if not everything. Fruits, like peaches, watermelon, and Asian pears, are 9.5 out of 10 are a big hit; corn, including popcorn, is 10 times out of 10. She loves feeding us as we eat, and sometimes she actually waits to see if we eat the food, before she eats some herself... almost like if she's checking to make sure we didn't put poison in it.
Oh, by the way, though this is old news, I don't remember mentioning it before, but she's getting great at blowing things that are hot before putting it into her mouth. She's done this for months now, maybe even since she's turned one, but it's quite cute to see how she went from pretending to blow, because she just didn't get the mechanics behind it, to now, when there's actually some air coming out.

Dislikes: Recently we switched Rini to a "big kid" toothbrush, and she seems to be a bit more enthusiastic about the prospect of brushing her teeth, so that's good. She's still not thrilled about being in deep water, but more about that in another post.

Mommy/baby update: I've been trying real hard lately to spend more time with Rini, partially because I really want to, and partially because I know that once school starts up again, I won't have much time to do so again. The biggest thing that I've started doing with her is to go to the nearby public bathhouse with her once a week. I'll write about the details later in another post, but it's been a lot of fun! I hope that I can keep our relationship close while we're still in Japan, because I don't want to miss a single precious moment, if I can at all help it!

Enjoying summer on the balcony. Glad we got this little pool!

The Person that I Am...

The last few days I've been feeling a bit down due to stress most likely, but it just could be that time of the year for me. These bouts of blue come and go every so often, so it's nothing special, and I'm hoping that by writing about it, it will leave sooner rather than later.

There have been a few things floating through my mind, with the most significant one being the comparison of me present and 6-8 years past. It's quite shocking just how much has changed, and trying to figure out if I "grew up" or just hit a temporary stage in my life is something that only time will tell. But don't let me run ahead of myself.

To make things clear, this is what I remember about myself from 6-8 years ago:

First and foremost, I dressed completely differently. It was relaxed and casual, where T-shirts, jeans and black took the front seat. I also played video games a lot (sometimes through the night), read manga all the time, went to geeky conventions, played tabletop RPGs with friends, knit, and was just generally up to date on what was happening in the geek world.

This is how I see myself today:

I have a work-self and a mommy-self, two personalities that my wardrobe makes painfully obvious. I also have a bunch of T-shirts, some a bit geeky, some music related, and some just cute, which I almost never wear anymore. I never play video games or read manga anymore, don't play RPGs, forget conventions, and live quite in the past when it comes to anything geeky, due to lack of time I guess. I can barely hold up my end of the conversation in anything that doesn't relate to my work or being a mom. I still knit, when weather permits, and I've been "reading" a lot more novels through Audible.

Now, before I go any further I have to say that I like my job and becoming a mother is one of the best things that ever happened to me. I guess, what I'm trying to say is, I just miss my old self, and I keep wondering, can I still call myself a geek, like I used to, even though I don't do anything anymore that could warrant the label? I can't tell if this is just something that happens to every working parent, or it's mainly me, though in all honesty, I feel it's mainly me. I also don't know if this is temporary until our child(ren) become older, or it's more or less permanent. Maybe I should just accept that from now until the foreseeable future I'll be this two-dimensional person with nothing but work and children on her mind. I can imagine people telling me to just change what I don't like, but I just don't have the time or the energy. The fact that I have to choose between sleep and having some me-time in the morning is simply mind boggling to me. 

Could I read manga during my commute to work? Maybe, and only when I walk or take the train, but it would cut back on what precious time I have for knitting.

Could I play more video games if I really tried? Only when my daughter was asleep, which in turn means sacrificing my own sleep as well.

Could I go back to reading webcomics? I don't have that kind of screen time, either. 

Could I dress differently? That I'm not sure I really want to. Rather I'd like to dress more feminine, without my clothes screaming "work" or "mother."

Could I play boardgames or RPGs with friends? Only if someone watches Rini.

Could I ask someone to watch Rini? It'd have to be someone from the group who I would want to hang out with.

***

I looked at myself in the mirror last night after going out for an hour, and I saw a tired and old-looking girl in there. No, not a woman, just a girl. The makeup, the accessories, the clothes... none of it helps. There is something very wrong with my self-image, something I don't even know how to begin to fix. Sure, it may be temporary, but honestly? This is nothing new. I don't feel like an adult, I don't feel like a woman, I don't feel like a geek, and I barely feel like a mother. Who was I? Who am I now?

I feel like I'm waiting for this miraculous change, where I'll know I'm an adult woman. It's like I'm this character in a video game who just keeps gaining experience points, but is perpetually stuck on Level 15... out of 100.

Who am I really? Beyond my work and being a mother, I feel like I have nothing. I feel like I've lost something, or I'm missing something that I should have had by now. An identity, my identity. The identity that should be there at least when work is over and Rini is asleep. But I have nothing. I go through the motions, like a robot, and while I enjoy many aspects, when it's done, there's nothing but emptiness...

This one is for Audible...

Honestly, my mind is a bit of a mess. There are many things I'd like to write about, but none of them are quite clear yet, so I decided to go with an easy one. I'd like to talk about how Audible changed my life for the better. It sounds silly, I know, but it's true.

I've been interested in signing up for Audible for a few years now, but felt it was too expensive to do so. Then last year, after the years of competition between my reading time and my knitting time have gotten too tiresome, and the pile of books I wanted to read have gotten sky high, I've decided that I would take just one more look. My birthday has just passed (without any presents), so I thought to myself that if I found at least a handful of books from my list, I would sign up. 

So I did, and it was one of my better decisions of late. It is really convenient and the narrators are generally great. Not to mention, the price thing has worked out well, too. To date I've spent 20 out of my yearly 24 credits, downloaded 97 books (not including my free daily NY Times subscription, and theatrical performances), and listened to 27. While 27 might seem quite small compared to 97, quite a few of the books that I've bought were books I've read or listened to prior to signing up for Audible, which I wanted to have because there's a high chance of me wanting to listen to them again in the future. Also, 27 books is more than 2 books a month on average. Before Audible, I was lucky to finish a single book in a couple of months, so I went from 3-6 books a year to 27 books. That extra 20 is why I love Audible so much.

True I could download a lot of the books for free from a torrent site, but when I divide up the $230 I've paid for my 24 credits with the 100 or so audiobooks I've got this past year, I've paid less for these books than most people pay for their morning coffee, or what I pay for my morning commute. And have I mentioned the quality and customer support? Another great thing about Audible is that while they provide listening samples of each book to help with the decision of purchasing something, if for some reason I'm not satisfied after I have bought a book, I can return it and get my money/credit back, no questions asked!

Anyways, this is my small love affair with Audible.