First Win

Both of my kids had a baseball game tonight. I don't understand it. The majority of their games are on Saturdays. They have have 2 weeknight games the entire season and they both have to one on the same weeknight. Luckily my husband was able to come home early enough. He took the younger one to his T-ball game. I took the older one to his baseball game. I'm the scorekeeper for his team, so I really should be there.

As the scorekeeper, I know that my son's team doesn't exactly have the best record in the league. In fact they hadn't won a single game... until tonight. They won 9-1! Ok, so maybe tonight's opposing team also hadn't won a game yet, but a win is a win!

The kids were just thrilled. And I'm happy to say that it was a team effort. This was first game that each member of my son's team hit the ball at least once. No one player struck out every time they were at bat. And that's a first!

At one point during the game, our catcher got hit in the thigh with the ball and he was crying and had to come out. The coach had to make a quick call to get someone to play catcher. My son was playing outfield so they called him to come in and play catcher. My son yelled from the outfield, "I don't want to play catcher!" And he didn't move. The coach called for him again to come in and play catcher, but my son still refused. It was another proud parent moment. The coach was staring at my son, the players were staring, the other team, the parents... (sigh) Lots of other kids raised their hands, excited to play catcher. So the coach eventually gave up and picked someone else. The other catcher just got hit with the ball. He was hurt! No way my son wanted to over that position.

Good game.

Impromptu Math Lesson Goes Awry

Today in the car my 7 year old announced, "This family has 8 legs."

I had no idea what he was talking about. "What?" I asked.

"This family has 8 legs," he repeated. "Mommy, daddy, brother and me are 4 people. We each have 2 legs. Double 4 makes 8."

"Yes, that is right," I said.

My husband wanted to expand on this impromptu math lesson. "So if there were one thousand people, how many legs would there be?"

"Two thousand!"

"And if there were one million people, how many legs would there be?"

"Two million!"

"How about about if there was one hundred million people?"

"Two hundred million!"

Then my 5 year adds his own thoughts on the subject. "What about if someone doesn't have a leg. Not everyone has 2 legs. Some people are missing a leg."

"That is true," I agreed.

My 7 year old liked this idea. "How about if you had no arms and no legs?! You would be so lucky!"

My husband and I looked at each other and asked, "How is that lucky?"


"Because you would get to watch TV all the time!" he replied.

If only things were that simple.

Spring

It feels like spring outside. I decided to do some yard work. First I pulled all of the pretty yellow flowers out of the lawn. Then I pulled some grass out of the garden.

Why is my lawn full of flowers and my garden full of grass? Where did I go wrong?

Baseball

Saturday was a busy day. My 7 year old had a baseball game at 10am. That meant we had to be at the field between 9:15 and 9:30 to help set up the field and do warm ups. I took my 7 year old and my husband came later with our 5 year old.

I'm the official scorekeeper for my son's team. I had no idea when I volunteered what scorekeeper entailed. I thought I would simply make a note of the score at each game. But that would be too easy. I was given an official score book. Inside it is filled with some kind of funky geometric shapes carefully spaced on tiny graph paper. It also has numbers everywhere.

I wasn't able to attend the one night of training for scorekeepers. I wanted to attend, but the 5 hours notice wasn't enough for me to get my husband home in time to watch the kids. And no, I'm not still bitter about that. I mean only a month has passed since then. Why would I still be bitter?

So I keep score the best I can. I write down all the players names and numbers and then copy what the scorekeeper for the other teams writes. This keeps me busy the entire 2 hours of the game. Did you get that? 2 hours?!

On Saturday, my 7 year old caught a ball with his eye. He was ok, but crying a lot and wanted to go home. I couldn't really do much to comfort him because I was busy making up a score. After some ice and some candy, he was feeling better and went back in the game.

My 5 year old's T-ball game started at noon. I took my 7 year old there (we showed up late because his game wasn't over till 12:15). My 7 year old found some rocks to play with along the sidelines. A toddler saw him playing with the rocks and wanted to play too. The toddler picked up a rock and threw it. My 7 year old started screaming and blood was running down his head. I rushed him to the car and after a few minutes, I finally discovered that it was a lot of blood, but a small cut and not very deep. Luckily we still the ice from his eye catching the ball in the last game and put that on his head.

He was still very upset and hungry so I took him home for lunch. I think I got to see my 5 year old up to bat just once in his very first T-ball game. My husband said he took pictures, but I haven't seen them yet. He looked so cute in the uniform. T-ball is a very cute sport and I remember from last year, that it's very fair.

There is another baseball game tonight. This time I get to bring snacks for the team, make up keep score and watch my 5 year since my husband will be at work. I hope I can manage to survive the 2 hours without a trip to the ER.

A Few Things

I'm still trying to sort through all the pictures of my recent trip to Japan. I wrote a few notes on a paper chop sticks wrapper. I folded it and kept it in my pocket during the trip.

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Sitting at the table in my son's great grandmother's house, my 5 year read a short children's book to his grandmother. When the book was done, his grandmother wanted him to keep reading. So she found a piece of paper and helped him to read it. I watched and told my husband that I was surprised that my son was able to read so well (he can 2 of the three "alphabets"). He asked if I knew what he was reading. No, I didn't know what the paper was. It was a sake label. My MIL was helping my son to learn about sake. Wonderful.

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When leaving Japan, you have to go through Passport Control. Passport Control has a line for Japanese passport holders and another line for foreign passport holders. I got in the line for foreign passport holders. 2 American looking and English speaking businessmen got on line behind me. My 5 year old pulls on my coat and says very loudly, "Mommy, see that guy behind us?"
I looked at the man. He was looking at me and obviously heard my 5 year old too. I smiled at him, turned to my 5 year old and nodded.
Then my 5 year old said, in the same loud voice, "He's bald."
I wanted to run out of that place. But the line inched for another 20 minutes. Great.

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When flying from my in-laws house in Nagasaki to Tokyo Disneyland, we had to wait at the Tokyo airport for the shuttle to the hotel. I went to use the bathroom while we waited. In the stall there was a TV. A TV?! I thought, "I wish I had my camera with me so I could take a picture of the TV in the bathroom stall." Then I thought, "would I really have the guts to take a picture inside a bathroom stall?" That sounds a little creepy, No?

Blogiversary

Today marks one year since I stared my blog. So bear with me while I reminisce for a minute.

Here's my first post about my cute dentist. And here's a great story about how my son learned English. (My son is such a "fast learner.")

There have been many proud parent moments in the last year. Like when my son figured it was better to use glue than gum on the tee to defeat your opponent in a game of T-ball. Or when he had a spelling test. The importance of brand recognition. There was also the presidential election. And kids just playing games.

This blog has been full of helpful information too. Like how to play basketball, how to wear falsies, decorating tips and a few recipes.

Did anyone but me actually go back and read all of those???

One More Again

I found this picture tonight. We went to visit an old castle in Okinawa. I found this sign in the bathroom.
I'm used to seeing warnings about not leaving babies unattended on the changing table, but this was just seemed extreme. As if staring down your baby might keep them from rolling off. I wonder how the mom in that picture was able to shoot arrows from her eyes. I'm jealous!

Things Have Been Busy

This week has been extremely busy. We got back from Japan last Thursday and I did laundry all day.
Friday was my son's birthday. We went to toys r us and did some stuff at home to celebrate while trying to get over jet lag.
Saturday was the town Easter Egg Hunt in the morning. It was raining. It rains ever year. I don't understand why they use the chocolate eggs that are wrapped in foil. The foil never keeps the chocolates completely covered. The chocolate eggs (and some plastic ones too) are placed on the school lawn. The kids love it. Even the wet chocolate eggs.
Sunday was Easter. We had a quiet Easter at home.
Monday my 7 year old went to school and my 5 year stayed home with me while I tried to sort through 2 weeks worth of mail, clean the house and get information on refinancing my mortgage.
Tuesday I volunteered at my son's school in the morning and got another estimate on the mortgage refinance. Both kids had baseball practice after an early dinner. I tried to go through pictures of our trip after the kids went to bed. But there are just too many pictures! I ended up spending over one hour just looking at them and not sorting or emailing any.
Today, Wednesday I had a dentist appointment and then a doctor's appointment. I picked up my 5 year old late from preschool and then came home to throw the laundry in the dryer and have some cereal (no time for lunch). Then I helped out at chess club after school. The dentist said I need to replace some old fillings and blah blah blah. I hate going to the dentist.
The jet lag is gone. We've all adjusted back to Seattle time. But my 5 year old is having a harder time adjusting to sleeping alone again. For the last 2 weeks, all four of us (my husband, 7 year old son, 5 year old son and me) slept in the same room. There wasn't really any other choice. The kids liked it. Now my 5 year old wakes up at night saying he's scared. He's always "scared" of something different. Once it was the door that scared him. Another time, it was the heating vent. I think once he even said his pillow scared him. He's been sleeping alone in his room through the night since he was 6 weeks old! I'm not used to this. But last night was the first night that he stayed in his bed all night. I hope it's starting a new trend.
Now I'm ready for another vacation.

One More

Here's one more picture that I took while I was in Japan. I found this at a toy store in Nagasaki.

Those bears do have devious smiles.

What is This?

Here is a picture that I took while I was in Japan. Can you guess what it is?

Does it help if I tell you it's an instruction sheet for something in my hotel room?

Does it help if I give you a picture of what it's the instructions for?
It's instructions for the control panel. The control panel in the bathroom. For the toilet. I still have no idea what all those buttons are for. I was too afraid to try any. But I did learn that the yellow arrowing pointing to "push" is telling you that's where to push to flush. And when you walk in front of the toilet. The lid opens automatically. The kids loved that. I thought it was a little creepy. Like someone is watching you. Gotta love high tech Japan!

A Few Things I saw in Japan

Things have been busy since we got back yesterday. I have so many things to blog about my trip. To get started, here are some pictures I took.




The first was on the entrance to a restaurant in the mall. It's nice to know their English learning isn't just about spoken words.

Here's a sign above a different restaurant. It says something about Italy on the first half. I already forget what. And the second sentence reads, "Wewould like to spread out shop such." I like how they took the initiative and made "we would" one word. Very creative!

I'm not really sure what "Lick Bit" means, but doesn't it sound yummy?

I know everyone takes a picture of the trash cans while they are on vacation. Here is a container for "combastibles" and another one you can put bottles that were used as pets.

Her shirt is hard to read in the picture. It says, "You are dumbhunted." I think that's supposed to be English.

Her shirt says, "Perfect Mix Draw a directly little wave on the shore noseriding." It sounded peaceful until the "noseriding" part. That sounds painful!

Hello from Disneyland

Today is my last full day in Japan. We are going to Disneyland in Tokyo today. It has been a long trip and the kids are getting spoiled. But isn't that what grandparents are for? ;)

I'll post some pictures and write more details soon!