Where's Ken

The mass media have been ringing the phone off the hook, desperately searching for an update on Ken. Gosh, it's like the paparazzi and Britney Spears. Okay not really, but I thought I would update anyway.
We have been making a lot of stops to thank people for their nice gifts (apparently the norm is to give back a gift valued at about 30% of what was given to us), so here he is meeting Keiko- her old colleague from the Red Cross hospital...
And meeting her co-worker from her current job (forgot her name), whose husband owns a local Japanese pub.
Here is a bit of a new perspective, you can kind of make out his toes in this one, big foot- and he doesn't seem to have the abnormal baby toe like I do...
And of course sleeping is still a big part of his life...

On a side note, Ken's cousin Mac, is now 2 years old- happy belated birthday Mac!

Heaven and Earth

Last week my Wifi router died on me. Much like my printer about 2 months ago. When turned on all lights were on, and there was little to be done in the way of troubleshooting. I could still link in with a LAN line downstairs, but it meant a lot more work for me, saving stuff on my external hard drive and running upstairs to print it out. I have a new router now and am back in business.
I was very shocked by some bad news at the beginning of last week. One of my colleagues suddenly passed away. I was taking over the class and the office told me the situation. I had met her when we worked in the same building and Ritsy and I have gone for food and some drinks with her husband and her in the past. She was quick with a joke and very friendly and funny. The news was a total surprise she was still fairly young and we had exchanged e-mails shortly after Ken was born, we would have met up one day in the future. Her loss definitely brought about a lot of reflection about life and our frailty. She was a great person, and we will definitely miss Karen.

On a much lighter note, Ken is 2 months old now. He had his measurements and is now sitting at 6.6kgs(14.6 pounds) and 62 centimeters(about 2 feet). Ritsy says he was bigger than a 3 month old baby that was in the midwife clinic office. He is no longer overweight (first month he was a bit) and seems to be completely healthy. He has just started trying to turn over on his left side, so in no time will become even more of a handful. Ritsy has been a great mother and always seems to be enjoying the time spent with him.

Life is a precious gift and we walk a thin line, something we often forget. I will do my best to ensure that he is able to enjoy as much of it as he can, as we all should, and savour each and every day.

Shinenkai & Farewell

I want them to bring back Santala!

We got a great little canucks toque and mitts from Jon in Hamamatsu whom I do a little work for sometimes. Anyway- we had the toque on Santa one day perfectly but he slipped it by time the camera was ready... too bad- it was funny.

Here the tradition is to hold "forget the year" parties- known as shinenkai. As December was pretty hectic for me and I was a bit hobbled- I wound up attending no parties at all! Well, one class that I was finishing up after teaching for 2 and a half years- we felt it was important to still have a year end party- so we held a shinenkai party(or New Year party) on Saturday night.

Tom, Chie, Mr. Yamamoto

We met up at a place called Fujiichi, where he had the traditional round after round of extremely delicious food and were able to all share a laugh for the last time together.

Miyoko, Mr. Ito, Tomo, Taeko

I had to quit the class to claim back a little peace of mind and some rest, as I was through the end of the year working 13 days in a row and then having a day off (the class was held every second Sunday). I decided it was important to ensure that I had at least one day to spend with Ken and Ritsy, so I had to move on.

Emperor Shu and Keiko

It was a tough decision though, they were the first regular class I started to teach in Hamamatsu and were always very fun to talk with and to teach. So if any of you are reading, thanks again for everything and don't be strangers!

The always serious Chris and Pete

Chris was out that night too, hosting his friend that was visiting from Macau. I forgot his name, but it was nice to meet him and catch up with some of the boys briefly before heading home.Upon getting home I was greeted by Ken giving the "what's up" sign.

More Ritsy's camera

Did I mention that little Ken is becoming quite charming? He often smiles at some of the most unexpected times. Yesterday, he was breastfeeding and then just started smiling at his mom (of course he was returning Ritsy's smile- but it was still pretty cute). Also sometimes when he is sleeping, his eyes will open and he will get a big grin on his face.
The cats are working hard to stay competitive in the cute department. The basket we had bought for Santa originally, but he was never interested in it until Lanma had declared it her throne.
The book I have been reading talks about how babies these days aren't spending as much time on their stomachs as before. Mainly because parents don't have the babies sleep on their fronts so much anymore out of fear of SIDS. So they recommended some supervised stomach play time. I call it crawling practice.
He really has the feet kicking down pat, but he doesn't use his arms very much- usually Ritsy or I have to move his arms in front of him to show him how to push himself up.
Ah, here he is paying his compliments to his chef, very polite young man.
And finally, here he is telling me a delightful story about "agoo" and "legyu"- it's one of his favorites to tell.

Stolen from Ritsy's camera pt 1

Lots of good news this year. My former student, Satomi, is going to get married soon and will be moving to Tokyo! Congratulations to her. Also someone I know told me they are now pregnant- I won't disclose the name as they might not want me to- so just a big happy congratulations to you. I look forward to our children playing together! Another student will also be getting married this next weekend also! Might be a good year for good news!
I have fallen off a bit on the taking baby pictures, but I know that Ritsy has dusted off the old camera and has been taking lots of baby pictures, and cat ones too, of course...
Not to mention that sometimes her camera is more convenient for a good shot for me to take like this one...
Maybe we are just a little bit blinded by our parenthood (our little angel is such an incredibly handsome genius!), but I think he is already developing some good charm! Even when he is yawning- a little reminiscent of Billy Idol in this one...
Or when he is having a nice little pre-meal snack on his hand...
More to come tomorrow...