3Y1M 1Y3M ほっと一息 What a nice cupper!

ここ10日程、タカラから始まった熱＆下痢と嘔吐がアラタに移り、最後は私まで具合が悪くなった。ロタウイルスが疑わしい。この週末でアラタカラは回復して、ほっと一息。

ほっと一息、ほうじ茶をおいしそうに飲んでいる二人。タカラもオープンカップで上手に飲めるようになってきた。

In the last 10 days, our family has been suffering from suspected rotavirus. (We didn't go to see a doctor, though.) Takara started with vomit followed by temperature and diarrheas. He passed it to Takara and then at last to me. Over the weekend, Aratakara got fully recovered.

Aratakara is having Hoji-cha, Japanese tea. Takara is quite good at drinking from an open cup.

3Y0M 1Y3M 下ネタ? Talking about....

男の子二人は楽しい。（強烈？）

二人ともお風呂の中では引っ張って喜んでいる。アラタがトイレに座っていると、タカラが入ってきてアラタのを触った。きゃーって大騒ぎしたアラタ。でも、次の時は、「オリ、触って～」とアラタ。な、なんなんだ・・・。

ママと久しぶりにお風呂に入ったアラタ。ママはないねえと言った後、「ママもおしっこするの？」と言っていた。ないから出来ないと思ったんだろうか。（写真はアラタのパンツをはいてみているタカラ。）

I often get shocked by 2 boys behaviour. I should call it as a 'fun'??

During bath time, Aratakara pull willies and looks happy. One day, when Arata was sitting in the toilet, Takara came in and decided to touch it. Arata screamed. But next time when Arata was in the toilet, he called for Takara saying, "Oli, touch it!"

I gave Arata a bath last week. I hadn't done it for a while and Arata remembered that I have no willie. He made a comment, "You don't have one." Then he went, "Do you wee-wee, too, mama?" He must have thought I can not because I don't have it! (In this photo, Takara was trying to put on Arata's underwear.)

3Y0M 1Y3M 耳 Ears

タカラは耳掃除をされるのが好き。ところが、アラタは嫌いだからもうずうっと掃除してない。いったいどのぐらい詰まっているのかしら。

実はタカラの耳にも何が詰まっているのかわからない。タカラは耳の中になんでも入れようとするからだ。

食事中にマッシュポテトを詰めだしたり、おもちゃを入れようとしたり。この間はカップのスパウトを突っ込んで、耳からジュースを飲もうとしていた。写真はブドウを入れて嬉しそうにしているところ。

Takara loves to have his ears cleaned. But not Arata. I don't know how much deposit Arata's ears have now!

Well, actually, I don't know what's in Takara's ears either. He always tries to put things into his ears. At dinner time, he once tried to put some mashed potatos. He often tries with toys. I saw once him trying to drink juice (?) from his cup's spout by putting it into his ear.... (In this photo, Takara is happy to put a grape into his ear!)

3Y0M 1Y3M 疲れた～ So tired!

成田に前泊、月曜日に帰って来た。今回は温泉に行けなかったので最後の夜は大浴場のある旅館にみんなで泊まる予定だった。ところが、アラタカラ、Jasonに続き、父まで風邪で倒れたため両親は不参加。

アラタが経由地のアムステルダムまでの12時間のフライトで寝たのは最後の30分だけ。それでも、大人しく本やシールブックで遊んでいたからいいけれども、タカラは昼寝以外は機内を走り回り、同じようにぐるぐる回っているお友達と意気投合。ばったりと会うたびにキャーと興奮し合うからママ達は「すみません・・・」と謝りながら後を追う。

乗り換えの待ち時間の間、日本時間では夜中の2時頃なのに、子供達はハイテンション。まあ、ロンドン行きに乗り込んだ瞬間に、私までも爆睡しましたが。家に到着したのは8時半だから、日本はもう夜明けだよ。よく起きていたなぁ君達！翌日からは仕事とナーサリーでみんな普通の生活に戻ったが、しばらくは夜になると、子供達と一緒に私達も着替えもせずに寝てました。

We stayed in a Ryokan, Japanese style inn, in front of Narita shrine, one day before coming back to the U.K. During our stay in Japan, we didn't have time to go to hot spring and we were all going to stay in Ryokan with big bathes for the very last night. But after Aratakara and Jason, my dad came down with flu and my parents had to cancel it.

To Amsterdam, where we did transit, Arata only slept in the last 30 minutes. It was about 12 hour flight and that means he was up until about midnight in Japanese time. Well, Arata played with a couple of sticker books and behaved well. On the contrary, Takara was really a problem for me. Except for his nap, he kept walking in the airplane, making noises especially when he bumped into another 1 year old boy who was also walking around. We mothers kept saying "sorry" to everyone who seemed to be annoyed with the noisy little toddlers.

In Amsterdam, we had 3 hours before catching the flight back to London. It was already after midnight Japan time but Aratakara were really active and as soon as we got on board, they, and me as well, crashed out. When we got home after 8 pm, it was already dawn in Japan... On the following day, I went back to work and kids were back to nursery. In the first week, Jason and I went to bed with children, although we didn't intend to do so, though.

3Y0M 1Y3M 美味しいイタリアン Good Italian restaurant

とっても慌しかったのだけれども、大宮にご主人の実家があるゆうこさん一家と例の

アマレット・ヒロ

でランチした。アラタカラと同じ年齢の開きのケンタくんとテツ兄弟。お行儀よく沢山食べてうちのちびたちよりも大きく元気そうだった。他にお客さんがいなかったからよかったものの、子供達はレストランの中を走り回っていて大変。いつもながら料理は美味だったけど、落ち着かなくて、やっぱり子供無しで行くべきだわ。

It was such a short time. But we managed to meet Yuko's family for lunch at my favourite

'Amaretto Hiro'
.
Kenta and Tetsu were so well behaved and ate well. On contrary, Aratakara kept leaving table and I was so tired! The food was gorgeous as usual but we should go there without kids next time.

3Y0M 1Y3M 日本語が通じるから？ Because everybody speaks Japanese?

アラタは日本に来て以来、あまりシャイでない。普段よりすぐに私の友達やらに打ち解けてニコニコ遊んでいる。今日も、弟が遊びに来ると、嬉しそうにおしゃべりしたりして、「ひろおじちゃんと一緒にねんねする」と言ったり、「ひろおじちゃん、明日帰らないよぉ！」と主張したり。日本語が通じるから嬉しいのかしら。そういえば、帰国直後、成田エクスプレスの中でのアナウンスをきいて、「あ、日本語！」と興奮していた。

Arata hasn't been so shy since we came to Japan. He's been more friendly than usual to my friends or relatives. When my brother Hiro came to visit us today, Arata was very happy and chatty. He even said, "I'm going to sleep with Uncle Hiro tonight!" Or he insisted, "Uncle Hiro won't go home tomorrow!!!" Is it because Arata can understand Japanese better than English? Just after we arrived in Japan 2 weeks ago, the guard was speaking about scheduled arrival times on Narita Express. Arata excitedly said, "It's Japanese!"

3Y0M 1Y3M 散髪上場 Sampatsu Jojo

いとこの聡が２軒目の床屋、「散髪上場」北上尾店　（桶川市神明2-19-14　048-772-1914）を開業したので、元旦から頑張っている彼の新店舗に行ってきた。アラタは「今日は泣かないよ。」勿論最後までじっとして、ハンサムボーイにしてもらった。聡曰く、

「前に来た時は、（激しく泣いて）椅子の上で踊っていたもんねぇ。」

My cousin Satoshi has opened his second hair salon, 'Sampatsu Jojo' - Kitaageo-ten (Okegawa-shi, Jinmyo, 2-19-14 048-772-1914) His salon was even open on the new year's day, which was so impressive. We took Arata to have his hair cut. When Satoshi cut his hair last time, Arata kept crying. This time, Arata was saying, "I'm not going to cry."

Satoshi said, "Last time, Arata resisted and cried so hard as if he was dancing on a chair."

3Y0M 1Y2M しまじろう Shimajiro

あけましておめでとうございます。あの後、Jasonとタカラも数日熱でダウンした。私の風邪も再び悪化。もう、こうなってくるとどうでもいいや。

みんなが元気な数少ないチャンスに、しましまタウンへ行った。前回の帰国時にはアラタはしまじろうが怖くて嫌いだった。今回は、逃げたりはしなかったが、積極的に近寄って行かない。対照的に、タカラは興味津々で、ほかの子を押し分けて、しまじろうに触ってはニコニコ。かぶり物を脱がせてしまいそうでハラハラした。

Happy new year! After my last weblog update, both Jason and Takara came down with flu like temperature. My cold has been getting worse again.

While all of us were not so ill, we went out. We went to ShimaShima town. Last time, Arata was scared with Shimajiro, a catoon character, and he hasn't liked him since. This time, he didn't run away but wasn't brave enough to go close to him to touch. On contrary (as we can easily expect??), Takara was so curious to those characters. He pushed other children aside and touched them one by one. I was a bit worried when he pulled the mask of Shimajiro. It was about to come off!