Well here’s one way to revive their interest in taking a bath. Conveniently, they enjoyed cleaning up all of the paint with sponges and water just as much (maybe more) as they enjoyed painting the bathtub.

Just need to note a few things, for posterity. Asher is learning his colors, fast. Just last week, everything was “puhpull.” Now, he’s added “ink” and “bwu,” correctly, to his repertoire. He also says many other colors- “yehyoh,” “gween,” “ahnge,” though he’s still working on connecting those colors to their name. The incoherence of his … Continue reading →

Update: I started writing this post almost 2 weeks ago. I’m just a tad behind on the bloggidy-blog… and the laundry… and Daphne really needs a bath. So now I’m feeling a bit hypocritical because this weekend was actually lovely. Two sunny days in a row, even an afternoon at the beach, including swimming, without … Continue reading →

We drove Elliot to the airport on Sunday. The massive crowds, the lines, friends of ours stuck in Tokyo trying to get home to Okinawa, all served as clues for what would come. Still there just wasn’t much we could do. We found out quickly that Elliot’s flight was delayed, so we stayed for lunch … Continue reading →

So…. Cherry blossoms (sakura) are the national flowers of Japan. Once a cherry tree goes into blossom, the flowers remain for only about a week then abruptly fall to the ground, a highly symbolic process in Japanese culture linked to the samurai, the kamikaze, the rebirth of spring, and a general notion of the fleeting … Continue reading →

Isla- “Asher, did you have fun at your birthday party?” Asher, smiling- “yeah.” Isla- “Is it because me and Miki [our 6 yr old neighbor] opened all of your presents for you?” Asher, smiling huge- “yeah!!!” And to think I had been stressing over how to mediate the gift-opening situation…. Isla- “Asher, let’s play Exchange!” … Continue reading →