pinku

Educational tv for kids in Japan

So NHK does a pretty bang up job with the educational kids tv in Japan. We like it and we like that Jake watches it. I would like to think exposing him to tv in a different language does good things to his brain development. I do have a couple of problems with it though. My first is that I can't get the songs out of my head and the other is that I hate the 'Eigo de Asobo' - LET'S PLAY in ENGLISH' segment. It is unnatural and just teaches kids a bunch of lies like how your shadow can catch you and that 'car' is a 'door' word.

One of the most unusual segments is during 'Karada de Asobo' - Let's play with our bodies!' (which is just WEIRD when translated into English. It's a segment called - Odoru Naizo - which means 'dancing internal organs'. They seriously have a man that dresses up and dances around as an internal organ. Check it out for yourself.

this guy is a spleen

Darin's favourite segment is called 'Pythagoras Switch' that showcases a different Rube Goldberg machine everyday among other things. They are amazing. Here are a couple of examples:

And here's that lying song about how your shadow can catch you when you fall:

And last but not least here is a song from Inai inai baa (another NHK kids show aimed at 1 to 2 year old kids) called Guru guru dokkan - Jake and I sing this pretty much everyday and he's started to raise his arms to do the dokkan part - it's pretty adorable. If I fork out and buy a new camera (which I will have to since our other one has not turned up) I'll try to capture that cuteness on video.

It might be quiet around here for a while...

because we've misplaced our camera. I don't want to say lost because that's too sad to contemplate. It was really bad timing too since I lost it the day after my little brother arrived from London for a week. I totally can't even remember what we did on that day so it's hard to retrace my steps. Personally I'm convinced it's in our tiny apartment....somewhere!! I hadn't seen Chris in 2.5 years (way too long)... I did take a few photos with my phone though.

He arrived on my birthday - best present ever!

 

Jake loved having a person other than us to rough house with - Jake officially loves rough housing! A boy to the bone. Um please ignore our less than tidy bedroom!!

 

I discovered an interestingly named bar while he was here. I didn't go in though. Um pee...gross!

 

Jake was a trooper as we dragged him all around Tokyo - my shoulders/upper back got sore from all of that back carry time.

 

We were super sad to see Uncle Chris go back to London. He's the best! Yay for little brothers (and big brothers) and Uncles!!

14.5 months of Jake Taiga

Jake,

Today is the 5th of January and you are now 14.5 months old. With all of the holidays since you turned 14 months old I haven't had a chance to write my monthly letter to you, but I have been making lots of mental notes of your achievements...let's hope I remember them.

I can remember that it was a little hard to come up with stuff to write last month and that's not because you are not awesome and amazing, but I realize now that you were focusing so much on mastering one of your biggest milestones - WALKING - that all the others had to take a back seat. With walking out of the way, this month much to our amazement you started talking - it's only a couple of words so far, but as with all of your other milestones your father and I can't get enough of you 'dog', 'duck', and 'cat' words. You also do a fantastic dog impression and let's just say your elephant impression is second to none. However your pig impression is a little scary!! Your comprehension of what we are saying is also amazing and rather helpful (when you decide that you want to listen and respond rather than listen and ignore). Numerous times during the last month you have turned and looked at your father, pointed, and said 'Daddy'. Wow! You kind of mumble mama every now and again, but there's no mistaking that 'daddy'.

 

This month you also had your first really sick night and your father and I were both a wreck. You were up every hour throughout the night vomiting and eventually it was just dry reaching because there was nothing left in that little tummy of yours. During the day you didn't act sick at all though thank goodness and the doctor thinks that it was related to your cold - we were just relieved that it only lasted one night and didn't get any worse.

 

photo by Martine Cotton

Every day now we take you to the park so that you can run around and explore. You'll walk around the park for as long as we let you stopping to pet dogs, play with vending machines (this is a favourite), go up and down the big kids slide, and just drag your feet on the ground to feel the stones and different textures you are walking on. You also love walking through leaves on the ground and climbing up and down stairs. For some reason you are attracted to rockier areas of the park and purposefully walk over roots and stones, which is good practice I guess for you but it gives your father and I a heart attack every time... The other day we hung out in the park with our buddy Martine and she captured a great moment with her camera - you stopped to pet a little chihuahua in the park and you kept touching his nose - it was the cutest thing, but then the dog turned his head away from you and you burst into tears. The most adorable thing was that once you started crying the dog turned back towards you trying to console you....we love that you love animals.

 

During the past few weeks we celebrated your second xmas and your second new year's eve (you slept through this one too.....although due to a inadvertant mini nap at 6pm you did stay up until 10pm which is actually unheard of these days - it was kind of nice though I must admit). This xmas was a little more sedate as we didn't want to go overboard with the present buying considering we will be moving overseas very soon. It was actually a work day in Japan, but I took the day off and we opened presents at home and then our buddies Maud and Aisha came over for a play before we went to Martine's house for a very lovely xmas party with many of our friends. You loved the attention from everyone.

 

Here's a pic of you and Aisha playing in your new tunnel!

 

So Jake Taiga you are officially growing like a weed. I put a long sleeve bodysuit on your yesterday and had pre-folded the sleeves as they have always been a little long for you, but when I put it on they were just the right length - how crazy is that! You pretty much eat anything we give you and as of a couple of days ago you started LOVING Japanese mikan (mandarins). I used to peel them religiously but gave you an unpeeled piece and you ate it very fast. I then put the rest of the pieces in a bowl and literally came back 20 seconds later and they were all gone. I was sure you had hidden them or thrown them somewhere but it seems you ate them!! I also love going to lunch with you at Pepacafe Forest (we share the Thai style omelette rice lunch), but your increased appetite will soon mean that we'll have to order you your own meal - how crazy is that!

Well that's all I can remember for now. Maybe I'll actually take notes this month when I think of things. It's going to be a fun month coming up with your Uncle Chris arriving from London tomorrow - you've never met him before but I already know you'll get on like a house on fire!! It seems repetitive to go on about how much you mean to us JJ, but your father and I seriously had no idea how much we would love living with you. Sure it's a challenge at times, but we look forward to waking up with you every single day and I cannot wait to see how you change and grow in 2009!

love mama OOXX