Japan trip, Part 2

Tuesday was the first day the girls kept their normal schedule.  We were in dire need of finding some foods that L would eat without issue, so we decided to go to the grocery store.  First, though, we had to see off Great Obaasan as she was going to her daycare for the day.  In Japan, they have this awesome program where you can take seniors to a "daycare" for the day to be cared for while you work.  She goes twice a week from 9am-4pm and gets entertained, can take classes (i.e. painting, origami, history, etc.), is given a very thorough bath (great for her because she can't do it very well anymore), and fed very well.  Anyway, she left and we walked the half mile to the grocery store.  Along the way, we stopped at the playground again, played for a bit, went to my aunt's (by the playground) to clean up, and then headed down to the store.  My mother doesn't understand that when there is a one-lane road and a car is coming, you should probably get out of the road.  But no, she stayed right where she was in the middle of the road, only moving off to the side when I asked her to get out of the vehicle's way because my daughter was walking with her too.  Argh.  Thankfully, we made it to the grocery store (Ozam) and back without issue.  Picked up food, got souvenirs (thank goodness for the 100 yen stand!), paid, and walked back.

E playing at the playground.

L getting into the child seat on the shopping cart.

L "mastered" chopsticks!

At night, though, E kept waking up at 3:30am everyday.  Drove me nuts.  I have a feeling that she probably does this here at home too, but since she's in her own room in her crib, she just plays by herself for a bit and then goes back to sleep until around 6am.  However, with me there, she felt the need to shove her claw-like nails into my nose, mouth, and ears to get me to wake up and play with her.  Do you know how hard it is to hold down a 14-month-old child in the middle of the night so that she doesn't get up and wander away, be quiet while everyone is sleeping in the same room, and keep her happy?  It's exhausting.  Not only was she kicking off the covers (in a 40F room!) and I was trying to keep them on, but she wouldn't go back to sleep.  The first night it was two hours I held her down.  The second was 45 minutes.  The third night she nursed and went right back to sleep (yay!), but after that she would be up for at least 30 minutes before going back to sleep.  All I can say is:  thank goodness I hadn't weaned her yet!!!!!

Wednesday we had lunch at my aunt and uncle's restaurant.  Boy, talk about delicious!  My uncle was a professional chef at a restaurant in Tokyo until he retired about 8 years ago, so they built the mini restaurant connected to their house so he could continue cooking (FYI:  a lot of small businesses in Japan are run out of the house or connected to the house - you see it everywhere, and it's very common).  The food was absolutely fantastic, the restaurant section seemed very well put together, and I was so glad that we were able to go.

Lunch!!!!

L, me, and E at our table in the restaurant.

My uncle, his wife, and my young cousin all came back that afternoon to see us again.  This time they came bearing gifts:  a doll for L and a stuffed Hello Kitty for E.  L was so happy, she played with my cousin Tenei for a long time.  Tenei even played with E this time, and E was thrilled.

E, elated to be able to "dance" with L and Tenei.

Bathing the girls was a trip:  Japanese don't take baths like you or I do.  Instead they have a deep deep tub and a tiled area all in the "bath" area.  You soak yourself in the broiling hot water in the tub, get out, wash and rinse yourself in the tiled area (using water from the tub that you dish out for yourself), get back in at the end as a quick rinse, and you're done.  That way, multiple people can use the tub without having to drain and refill it.  Both of the girls flipped out at how hot the water was (even for me, Miss Hotter-Is-Better), and then they shivered while I scrubbed them.  I am willing to say they didn't get good wash downs while we were there because I was in a hurry to get them warm again, so it was kind of a dip-scrub-dry-throw-into-clothes technique that we adopted.  Thank goodness neither of them cried after the first time.

Thursday and our trip home tomorrow!