Begining Another Phase of Life

With October 1st in Japan comes something called Koromogai. It means it`s the time of the year that it gets colder, so people change to warmer clothing. Yep. There is a name for it, cool, eh? Ritsy said she didn`t know there was a set day, but since the companies observe 'cool biz' in the summer, they need to designate a certain day to change to warmer uniforms.

This Year October 1st also marked the end of Ritsy`s maternity leave. I must admit, in the beginning it was tough to adjust to always having her home-- but I really grew to appreciate it quickly (and not just because I broke my leg 2 weeks after the mat leave started) and was sad to lose that.

On top of that Ken will start to use the Daycare at her hospital as I often work late and early, so even though there is some time when I am home, I can`t be here long enough to see Ritsy off or wait for her to return. I think it is good for him to learn to be away from his mommy, he has some days where if she leaves the room he starts to cry (and some days where he doesn`t). This separation will make it easier on him in the long run, we have some kids we teach at ESL College that are 5 years old that start crying as soon as their mom leaves the room!

It`s a very exciting time, we have entered into phase 2 of parenthood after just a fantastic year of having a lot of time together. But it`s also a bit of a hollow feeling, on Wednesday in the afternoon the house was so quiet- but I will grow to try and make the best of that quiet time.

Anyway on Thursday I had no classes so I could spend a day with just me and Ken. It was very busy but nice.