Kokochi

Symbolic pictures

I was looking for a certain picture and reviewed our recent Outer Banks ones, remembering how relaxing and natural the setting was. It truly was special.

And then I saw this one below that struck me in a way it hadn't before. Lately, I've been thinking more and more about peak oil, wondering as a parent what steps I should prudently start to take. I hope we're wrong, but I do think it's best to consider the major upheavals and change in lifestyle that could happen. So this picture seemed symbolic to me right now in terms of the waves coming towards us while Tesla plays. I'm protecting her so she doesn't fall and get overwhelmed by the waves, letting her play freely as much as she can ... just as we want her to have as magical a childhood as we can provide in spite an unstable future.

And then there was the one below - Tesla pulling me towards the waves with confidence. This made me think how I also need to listen to Tesla to guide me about how she sees things. She has energy and excitement to move forward. It'll be hard to watch her learn the many life lessons ahead, but I hope to be a support so that she grows stronger instead of me shielding her too much. Tis a bit more mushy of a post than usual, but yes, we are thinking more seriously about what may be ahead.

[update] T said this morning, "mama stay a little bit?" indicating she was Ok going to pre-school, but wanted me to hang a bit. When I did tell her I was leaving for work, her eyes started watering up. The teachers quickly came to her side, and I made a quick exit, waving and smiling as best I could. Once outside, oi...my heart tugged. I wanted to hug my girl, but it's best to leave quick and clean. I suspect we'll have good days and so-so days for a while...

Tesla on Gizmodo Japan!

To celebrate Gizmodo Japan's 2nd anniversary, they made a post with comments and most favorite posts of the writers and translators. And they included a picture of little Ms. Tesla since she just turned two also!

Last year was this.

Thank you, Gizmodo Japan for including Tesla!!

Tesla on Gizmodo.jp

Gizmodo

Tesla is on Gizmodo's 2nd anniversary post!

She was on their first anniversary post too.

development in scribbling

On Dav's new comic book. I bought washable markers because Tesla loves to draw, but I left a permanent marker on the table right next to Dav's new book by mistake tonight. Later, I noticed Tesla made her mark and thought Dav might be bummed. Instead, he was pleased since her scribbling was much less random than before. We admired it.

Goodies from Mlle. A.

Much to my delight, Tesla received a package from Mlle. A. for her birthday. It's taken me a while to get pictures and post, but I wanted to share. One nice thing I've noted about having a blog is that people know that Tesla is into Hello Kitty (I'll have to keep this in mind for when she's older)...and Mlle. A. filled a bag with Hello Kitty stickers and a super cute tissue package. Tesla immediately recognized Hello Kitty. She's a little inexperienced with stickers, so when we showed her that she could stick Hello Kitty on whatever she wanted, for some reason, she decided her foot was the place. And she was quite determined; kept fixing it when it started pealing off as she walked. Then she got out her boots and still put Hello Kitty on her boot. And yes, her boots are on the wrong feet.

It's so fun to watch toddler behavior. Clearly Tesla had an idea of her own, and why not?

Telsa also got super cute handmade pins. Mlle. A. has a beautiful store on Etsy, and I've always admired her creations. I was going to get just one picture of T with the pins, but I think the double pin style made Tesla look so much like a bigger girl that I couldn't decide which to post so here are all of them.

Thank you, Mlle. A. It was so nice to recieve the package! We love it!

Patrick Roddie (aka Uncle Patrick)

This was from quite a while ago when Mika-san was visiting from Tokyo, and we happened to have an afternoon together when Patrick was visiting too to take Tesla at her 2 year old mark. I was so touched when Patrick called to make sure he got Tesla at this stage. But this time, since Mika was around with her super camera, she got some nice shots of Patrick at work.

Kurara chose me!

The other day, I visited Eddie's blog and found this post. I decided to leave a comment even though I never win anything and felt silly.

But then...I woke up one morning to a delightful email from Eddie that I won! Or, more accurately, Kurara, Eddie's cutie bunny, chose me! I'm really quite surprised! And I just love the way he carried out the drawing : )

p.s. notice how the font & color in my post looks exactly like that of Eddie's post? Um...I told Dav, when he was updating my template, that I wanted the font Eddie used ; )

home dinner

Last Sunday, we finally had a dinner for David M., along with our neighbors since we hadn't seen them for a while`. Good to be back to our frequent dinner sharing and hanging out, and very nice to have time with David M. too. It felt good to be cooking again.

Michelle brought over the most giant bottle of wine that she got via work. We actually made a very decent dent into the wine!

For Elida

Elida is super special to me...yes, having Ms. T has taken up my time and energy so that I miss having gobs of time with Elida. We manage, thanks to Elida's flexibility and understanding, but still. Friendships need time. So we made a date, and I took her out to dinner. I had a strong desire for a French Bistro and pretty much pushed us to here, and it was a wonderful dinner. Elida later took me too the Orbit Room where we got original drinks based on goodies they got fresh for the farmer's market that day. Not just yummy...but very neat to see the bartender and bar very much into appreciating a good drink...organic and fresh too!

Reunion lunch

As I said, apart from the super relaxing time at the Outer Banks, travel was rather crazy. Me being me, during my short stop back in Raleigh before heading to SF, I scheduled to meet up with Jen from my Tokyo high school. Dav picked me up at the airport with all our bags ready to go, then we met with Jen for lunch, then stopped briefly chez Ele & Will to say bye and repack our bags so I had T's stuff as carry-on, then zoomed to the airport thanks to Will's driving.

It was worth it to get to see an old girl-friend who is now a mama too!