Fall 2012: Mamiru Hoikuen

I LOVE this new school Reina and Kaiya are going to. What's so great about it, is they treat everything like a school, rather than a daycare. Is there some down, unstructured time, sure. And this is what characterized Reina's old daycare and every other daycare I've been too. Mamiru is more like a preschool, where I know they are reading books in Japanese, rehearsing for performances, and learning how to swim. Speaking of Japanese, Reina has officially surpassed Chris and I in comprehension and speaking. She will say things to us and neither of us know what she is saying! So, after summer, where we were nervous she had forgotten everything, 9 weeks later, she's past her previous spot.

I bring up the daycare again, because they put together another event: their very own undo-kai (sports day). I spoke about the elementary school in our neighborhood doing their sports day a few weeks back. We went and watched the neighborhood girls participate in many of the same events that our daycare put together for yesterday. We showed up around 8:30 with our tent; 30 minutes prior to start time and we still struggled to get a good spot...these people take their sports day seriously. Just about every family had a tent, bentos ready for lunch, and extended family show up. And this is for the preschoolers! It was very clear how many classes there are, since each different age group got a different hat color. In blue, with a class size of 2 is the 0 - 1 group: Kaiya and Alisu (Alice, who I have decided is 1/4 white, 3/4 Japanese). They got to participate in their very own event: a walking race, with assistance Poor Kaiya, who has not started walking yet, got beat pretty badly. We forgive her though, since she tolerated her blue hat so well and all of the commotion without one tear. The next class was 1 - 2 years (Tanpopo Gumi - the dandelion class). They wore pink hats. They were the most pitiful, as 50% of the class cried the whole time they were without their parents. Then it was the yellow hatted class 2 - 3 year olds(Sakura gumi). Reina's class (3 - 4: Churipu - tulip) wore green hats and the oldest group (himawari gumi - sunflower class)wore orange. This April, everyone will move up, with the orange hatted class off to kindergarten.

Getting ready to march out.

Undo-kai started with all of the classes marching out to the center of the field then doing a collective dance. After, each class did races, usually in groups of 5 at a time by gender. Then there were individual dance performances by each class. There was also a part where I had to "dance" with Kaiya and run with Reina in a relay race. Reina was not the fastest nor the strongest. But she was one of the better dancers, who knew most of the moves by heart. As a matter of fact, her tug of wore performance was pretty pitiful. We'll have to practice that. Despite a rocky start (Reina complained of a tummy ache), both girls did amazing and we were very proud. Oh, and check out the quick stitching on their shirts - their names in their coordinating color. Yep, I did that the night before.

Chris is working on posting all of the video footage we took. I have to admit, I admire the amount of work the daycares must have put in organizing and practicing this event. The kids did a great job, and were clearly practiced. However, many of the dances and events would have been better had they been about 1/2 as long. But, I'm not going to complain.

We were at Undo-kai (Araha beach) from 8:30 till 1pm. When we got home, all four of us took the best aligned nap in the history of our family. It was amazing. Then we woke up a 3:30 and got dressed for a Halloween party. Reina easily made the decision to skip gymnastics (we havent' been in weeks) and go to this party instead - she kept asking me what present we were bringing, since I think she thinks all parties are birthday parties. The party was a blast. Ms. Sarah McKinney really out-does herself with the treat bags, games and decorations. Everyone had a great time. Reina is very excited about carving pumpkins with the neighbors this afternoon. We bought 5 pumpkins, one for just about everyone. We also made caramel apples, my first ever. We'll see if they turn out. Reina is also very excited for Halloween. Ako, Rana, and Skyla will go to Kadena with us on Wednesday to officially trick-or-treat. Reina will be Cinderella and Kaiya will go as sushi.

Kaiya's "race"

Line leader.

Kaiya is 11 months old! She turns one in November. Dang it went fast. She is teething a lot lately, which I am hoping is why she is sleeping so terribly. I even found a small amount of blood on her blankie (she stuffs the satin part in her mouth when she is sucking her thumb). Poor girl. I also think she is sensitive to everything, which has made making dinners and feeding everyone a bit challenging. Right now I think she is sensitive to all dairy and eggs. I've also eliminated chocolate (since it has milk in it), pancakes, and caffeine You all know those are some of my favorite things. Oh the sacrifices of a mother. I think I could mangage without everything minus the cheese and chocolate. Kaiya also stood in our little tent at sports day yesterday. I know this means walking will be coming up. I'm so excited for dresses.

Dad and Romeni are coming for Thanksgiving and Kaiya's first birthday. I am debating on whether we should just put some candles in a apple pie for her cake or if that is cheating her out! We'll see.