What are you?!?! I'm Batman!

Tesshin was Batman for Halloween this year. I was trying to find a cute dragon costume but didn't have any luck. It also didn't help that I was frantically looking for a costume 3 days before Halloween. But it all worked out because he made such a cute Batman. He didn't like the headpiece (What a surprise). It's supposed to come over the front of his face, to cover his eyes. I crossed my fingers but it just wasn't happening. I put it on but tucked the front piece underneath so he wore it that way long enough to take a few pics so we can see his cute bat ears. We trick-or-treated around the neighborhood. I think we went to about 25 houses. When we first started he really didn't understand the concept of trick-or-treating but by the time we got to the 5th house, he would take a piece of candy from their bowl and walk over to me and put it in his Halloween bag. In between houses, I would whisper to him to get a Snickers Bar or some type of chocolate but he would grab the Mike and Ike's or Dots Candy. He was also fascinated with all of the lit Jack O Lanterns. I always had to keep an eye on him whenever we've come up to a door since he would walk straight to the pumpkin and try to stick his fingers through it. My pedometer clocked 7500 steps or so. Pretty cool. Good exercise for me. Overall, it was great night and now my little Batman is in his Batcrib, taking a Batnap.

English or Nihongo?

After we got back from Japan, Tesshin has been trying to speak a lot more. He doesn't say words but his sounds are more diverse now. He can also respond to me whenever I speak to him in Japanese. After I pick him up from daycare, I'll let him roam around in the front yard. When I get tired of chasing after him, I'll say "Let's go inside the house" or "C'mon Tesshin, let's go". He'll turn the opposite way and walk away from me (with a huge grin on his face). But if I say it in Japanese "Tesshin, oide or Tesshin, ikuyo" he'll turn around and come towards me and follow me into the house. Same with asking please. If he's holding the remote in his hand "I'll say "Tesshin can I have the remote, please" Nothing. Then I'll say, "Tesshin, remote choudai". And he'll give hand it over. I'm very encouraged that he's learning key phrases in Japanese since my parents don't really speak English. I always worry that they won't be able to communicate. Yukiko-san gave me some books for Tesshin "The Very Hungry Catepillar" and "Curious George" but they're written in Japanese. I guess I'll be learning Japanese too.

More pictures from Japan

Tesshin on the train to Shimbashi








Tessho and Tesshin holding on during the busy ride









Tessho, Jeff and I at our Yakiniku dinner







Tesshin's GQ model pose









All smiles here

Suzuki Family

During our stay in Shimbashi, Yukiko-san and the family came out to visit us and took us out to lunch on Monday. I worked for Yukiko-san's mother-in-law when I lived in Japan back in 2000-2001. During that time, Yukiko-san stayed with us after having Miki (her second child). We lived together for a few months and developed a close friendship, more like a sisterhood. I hung out with Yukiko-san's sister, Makiko, too. Since then, I've gone to visit them in Chicago (2001). They came out for our wedding (2004). We visited them in Tanashi (April 2005). They came out for two weeks and stayed in Los Alamitos the whole time (July 2005). The girls even attended 49er camp at Cal State Long Beach. Yukiko-san and Maya (oldest daughter) came all the way out to see Tesshin last October. Even though we see each other for a short time (in this case, a couple of hours) it's so worth it. I'm really thankful to have them in our life and to be able continue our firendship even though were thousands of miles apart. They truly are a part of my family. Mahiro (youngest son) really took to Tesshin and reinforced the fact that he wanted a little brother. I can't wait to send Tesshin to their house during the summers. But, I'm really looking forward to the next time we can all get together, whenever that may be.

Uncle Dave's wedding

The real purpose of our trip was to attend David and Harumi's wedding. We had a meet and greet brunch on Sunday. The food was fantastic. It was like a 10-course meal - all small portioned and beautifully arranged. Tesshin tried a few of the dishes. He especially liked the fish. There was about 20 of us (which included our family, Harumi's family and some of David's close friends from San Francisco) and it was nice because we all got along and it was great to see these two families blend toegther so quickly and easily. It also helped that there was alcohol involved. Afterwards most of the group went to Harajuku to check out the farmer's market and also to see all of the young people dressed in their crazy outfits (like the Gwen Stefani videos). Tessho's parents, Tesshin and I went back to the hotel to rest and plus, Tesshin was having diarrhea butt. Later that evening, our family went out for Yakiniku (Japanese version of Korean BBQ). That was really good. We stayed at the Dai-Ichi Hotel in Shimbashi. It was very nice.

Monday (Oct. 13) was the day of the wedding. This was also Tessho's parent's 35th wedding anniversary. I helped translate my father-in-law's speech into English. It was interested to hear that 35 years ago, when Tessho's parent's got married, David's parents stood beside Tessho's dad to represent the Aoyama family. 35 years later, Tessho's parents are standing beside David representing the Murata family. I think it was a proud moment for all of us to witness and be a part of.

The wedding was at 3:30pm. We started on the 4th floor. Had some cocktails and took pictures with the bride and groom. Then we moved to the 3rd floor where they had the ceremony. It was a Shinto type ceremony. This was my first time attending this type of wedding so it was very interesting and fun. They poured sake to all of the people attending and I finally learned exactly how much a person should get. I was asked to pour sake at Tessho's cousin's wedding. Looking back, I screwed up big time. Everyone must've gotten 10 times what really should've been poured. Oh well. After the ceremony, we had some more cocktails and then we went upstairs to the 21st floor for dinner. What an amazing view! A typical japanese reception will include hundreds of speeches. They had quite a few. Jeff made a speech but I missed it because of Tesshin's diarrhea butt (yes, he still had it on Monday). I was back at the room changing his clothes while Jeff was making his tear jerking speech. I'm so sad I missed it. Harumi changed from the traditional Japanese kimono to the Western style white wedding gown. She looked beautiful in both. There was no dancing but the party continued in David's room. I got to hang out this time since Tessho's mom babysat Tesshin for us. Overall, I think it was a great wedding. I know a lot of hard work and money went into this affair. I'm glad we were a part of it.

Arrival into Japan

We're finally here in Japan to attend Uncle Dave's wedding. The plane ride was 12 hours long! I didn't think I was going to make it. The food sucked, there were no good movies showing and it just felt like FOREVER!!!! Tesshin puked at hour 9 into trip. Poor kid. He had some milk and then I decided to give him a piece of my Almond Cookie. Uggh...big mistake. I guess the crumbs got caught in his throat so he started to cough and then up came all of his milk he had just had. It didn't smell like roses either. Luckily we had some young folks in front of us so when it started to smell, I saw them look back and heard them say "Oh, the baby just puked. That sucks". I'll take that as sympathy. We landed at about 5pm Saturday (We left at 12:30pm on Friday). One perk we got having Tesshin was getting into the "special" short line through immigration. We got our bags, zipped through customs and then met Shizu and Tessho's mom at the airport. It was pretty humid when we got outside. It was such a relief to get into the car and make our way to Tessho's uncle's house. We had Chinese food for dinner. I was so tired, I don't remember what I ate. All I know is, it was really good to see Tessho's family again.

Busy week

This has been such a crazy week. We're getting ready for our trip to Japan! I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow. We were in San Diego this past weekend so my parents could see Tesshin before we leave. My mom and I went shopping and bought an umbrella stroller and Tesshin's outfit for the wedding. I can't wait to put him in it. It's so cute and he's such a handsome boy in it, too. We also went shopping at the outlets in San Ysidro for everyone in Japan. I think I went shopping everyday this week, either at lunch or after work. I got to bust out Tesshin's new umbrella stroller so that was cool. Not cool that all he wanted to do was walk around but I kept him in that stroller. Poor kid - but Mama was on a mission! We went and visited Tessho's grandmother. Tesshin likes to walk around in her room and go from one dresser to the next and pull on the handles. Tessho's grandmother freaks out 'cause she thinks that he'll get his fingers caught but he's a smart kid. If it gets caught and it hurts, he'll stop. Packing has been a chore. I had 6 lists going - things I needed to buy, bills I needed to pay before we go, Tesshin's suitcase list, Tessho's suitcase list, my suitcase list, my own hour by hour schedule for Friday. Within the lists, I has sub-lists. I'm the first to admit that I am one lazy woman, but when it comes to going on vacation or organizing something, I get into a frenzy and lists become my best friend. I thought Tessho was going to kill me if I started one more list, but luckily we got everything done.