サトコさんとコンラッド君にバイバイの日/Saying good bye to Satoko-san and Conrad-kun

カリフォルニア州のサンフランシスコに来週引っ越してしまうサトコさんとコンラッド君と、最後にもう一回プレイグループをする事が出来ました。マディソン がコンラッド君達と一緒に遊ぶのをせっかく楽しみにしていたのにたぶん乳歯のせいかな、私にくっ付き虫。集合場所に来る途中に予定外のお昼寝をしたせいで 寝むそうなのに寝れないし...困った、困った...仕様が無く私の膝に座らせてピザの耳を齧らせたら良い子にしてくれました。ある時点で赤ちゃん４人の うち３人一緒にそれぞれのピザの耳を齧っていたような気がする...笑！あの２、３分は静かで良いときだったな〜：）
Today we had our last playgroup with Conrad, Masaki, and Sephi in Central Park. Satoko-san, her husband Brian and Conrad-kun are moving to San Francisco next week so this was our last all 8 of us get together for playgroup. I was really looking forward to Madison playing hard with her friends, but she was not having a nice day yesterday probably because of her teething. She took an unauthorized nap while walking to the park and that caused her to not be able to take her afternoon nap even though she was sleepy and fussy. She could not, did not, or would not want to play away from me so she would perch herself on my lap and nibbled on my pizza crust. At one point 3 out of the 4 babies are nibbling their own pizza crusts they got from their mommies and giving their mommies a few minutes of quiet and peace so I thought that was really funny:-)



最初に 言った通り一人で置いてく度にご機嫌斜めでグスグスしていたマディソン、一回写真を撮りたくて赤ちゃん達だけで座らせたらセフィちゃんとコンちゃんを誘っ て赤ちゃん３人で泣き合唱...すごかった...そのビデオをどうぞ！
Like I said Madison got really fussy and whiny every time I left her so when I went to take some good shots of our last get together she would not have it... so she started bawling and in the end she has recruited two other of her friends to do some harmonious crying... Here it is!

セ フィ：困った、困った！
Sephi: (hands on head) "Oh man! I can't take it anymore!"

コンラッド君に最後のプレイグループの思い出をちゃんと覚えて置いて貰おうと密かに計画していた作戦を実行：）
Sephi also wanted to give Conrad something to remember her by:-)

学 校が終わった後セントラルパークに来てくれたデイブに８人のママとベイビー達揃って写真を撮ってもらう事が出来ました...残念ながら泣き疲れてどっか遠 くに行っちゃっているマディソン...でもセフィがみんなの代表で言いたいことを言ってくれてるね、ナンバーワン!!
Dave was able to come meet Madison and I after work and walked up at the perfect timing as we were walking out of Sheep Meadow so I asked him to take our last group shot... Too bad Madison is absolutely somewhere else exhausted from all the crying she did today, but Sephi is making a statement for all of us, We are the best!!

この３ 人のママとベイビー達に会えて本当に良かったです。８人みんなでずっと遊んでいられたらいいけどこれも人生...離れて行くのは辛いけど沢山の良い思い出 と写真があるから大丈夫かな...また次に住む所で良いママとベイビー達に巡り会えると良いな〜！
I am absolutely so happy that Madison and I got to meet these lovely babies and mommies to share and play every week. It will be really sad that this group cannot stay intact, but that's life I guess and I have nothing, but great memories and pictures so I just hope we will be able to meet great mommies and babies like them wherever our next place may be!

最近の出来事.../What You've missed...

最近の出来事...

What You've missed...

No. 1:
マディソンの友達、マサキ君の誕生日会に行った時過去６年間も大事に使っていたカメラが突然カメラ天国に行ってしまいました...
No. 1:
While at Madison's friend, Masaki's birthday party our Sony Cyber Shot Camera decided to pass on to the Camera Heaven after being with us for 6 years...

さようなら...
RIP...

そしてこのカメラで撮った最後の写真は...

そしてずーっと待っていた一眼レフを買う機会が来ました...キャノンリベルXSiかニコンD5000か迷ったんだけど決めたのは...
Then finally I got my wish of owning one of those cool big cameras... We couldn't decide between Canon Rebel XSi or Nikon D5000 but we decided to go with...

これ！
This one!

そしてこの新しいカメラで今日撮った写真は...
Pictures we took with our brand new camera...

写真撮り過ぎ〜！の顔
Tired of Mommy taking too many pictures!

連続撮影モードがあるの〜！！
Now We can do continuous shooting!!

No. 2:
最近マディソンはしゃがんでいる状態から何にも掴まらずに立てるようになりました。そしてそのまま拍手するのが最近のお気に入り：）テレビで誰かが拍手をしているのを聞く度に一緒にパチパチしています。でもカメラが壊れてないのでビデオが撮れなくています。フリップビデオって言うケータイサイズのビデオカメラを買う予定でいるんだけど、もちろん私のデザインした好きな柄をカメラの表面にプリントしてくれるので今急いでそれをデザイン中です。それが終わり次第すぐにマディソンの拍手を撮って載せるのでお楽しみに：）
No. 2:
For a while now Madison can stand up from squatting to standing up without hanging onto anything and then clapping while standing up:-) But since our camera's death we weren't able to film yet... and a little longer since we are getting a Flip Video very soon since our Rebel XSi doesn't have a video function and since I always have to design my own when there is an opportunity to, I'm currently designing something cool to be printed on our Flip Video Exterior... so her clapping film will come once our Flip Video arrives at our door steps:-) Anyways, whenever we have TV on and there is a lot of clapping going on, she LOVES to join in on clapping, it's very cute!

No. 3:
日本語で読んでいる皆さんごめんなさい、ここは訳すのがとても難しいので止めました。頑張って英語で読んでください...
No. 3:
We, I mean Dave, forgot to write this part of an incident in our Raleigh trip post so I'm turning the computer over to him...okay, here goes...as I mentioned we went over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on the way home and with the 2nd longest bridge in the U.S. comes a hefty price of $11.00...and while our EZPass had said low balance on our trip down we had never had a problem and after five days we figured it would have replenished itself...so when we approached the toll booth at the bridge we went to zoom through the EZPass lane, but the car in front of us wasn't moving so we made fun of him for getting in an EZPass lane and not having an EZPass and having to turn around...then we went to go through and the light didn't go green and the arm stayed down...it didn't say low balance...it didn't say anything...the toll booth lady came out and said this is an EZPass lane and we said we have EZPass and the lady said then there must be something wrong with it and Anna said the last guy couldn't get through you need to shut this lane down...CLOSE IT DOWN...and I use all capitals for a reason...the lady all capitaled us back and said make a U-Turn up there...to which Anna responded...CLOSE IT DOWN!! MAKE A U-TURN toll booth lady shouted...I think it was the road noise that made everyone talk so loud...so we made our u-turn and stubborn me was like that toll booth was broken we are going through a different EZPass lane, so I did and the same thing happened...no light, no arm raise...no nothing...so fearful of toll booth lady I did the cardinal sin of toll booths and I backed up...gasp...I know...but don't worry I looked behind me...so we were able to move over to toll booth ladies lane and then Anna pointed out the fact that we did not want to go through toll booth ladies lane so we jetted over to a different booth and met nice toll booth lady who said maybe we had a malfunctioning EZPass or maybe we had changed our credit card and not notified EZPass...BINGO!!! Whoops...when we got home and checked our account we were $34 in the hole...YIKES!!! Sorry toll booth lady...our bad :-)

太陽の下でプレイグループ!/Playgroup in the Sun!

昨日はまたプレイグループに行って来ました!しかもなんて良い天気だったんだろー：）今回はアッパーウェストサイドの７２丁目の辺に住んでいるノリコさんの自宅で会う事に!やっター駅にエレベーターが付いてた!!もちろん予想して計画した通りマディソンは地下鉄に乗っているうちに寝ちゃったから、ノリコさんのアパートを通り越してすぐそこの公園に行ってちゃんとお昼寝取らせてあげる事にしました。もちろん私はアイフォンで時間つぶし。少し経った後座ってるのが疲れたから、またちょっと歩いた所にあるフェアウェイマーケットって言うホールフーズの次に大好きなスーパーで、マディソン用の有機栽培の野菜と金曜日のターキーバーガー用のブリオッシュロールを買いました。ちょっと嘘、ブリオッシュロールを見た途端買いたくて仕様が無かったから無理(最近バーガー多かったし)と金曜日はターキーバーガーって決めちゃいました。
So yesterday was another playgroup day! and it came with such great weather:-) It was Noriko-san's turn to host at her place on the Upper West Side and yay the 72nd street sybway station had elevators!! Madison fell asleep on the subway as I expected and planned and we were a bit early for the playdate time so we went past her place one more block to a park so I could sit down and play with my iphone while she slept... After a while I got tired of sitting so we walked two blocks to Fairway Market(One of my favorite grocery store after Whole Foods!) and bought some organic veggies for Madison and Brioche Hamburger Buns to go with Turkey Burgers I will be making on Friday... Okay I wasn't planning on making Turkey burgers on Friday(since we've been having lots of burgers lately...) but I saw this bag of Brioche buns and had to have it!

ノリコさんが作ってくれたロールキャベツと合いそうと思ったブリオッシュロールを食べた後お腹いっぱいでご機嫌の赤ちゃんを連れて早速、外にお散歩をしに行きました。さっきマディソンがお昼寝している時に座っていた所はこの巨大な公園の先っちょだったみたい...さっき全然気づかなかったトンネルを越えるとニュージャージーとニューヨークの境にあるハドソン川に沿って作られた長〜い公園が...ずっと南に向かって歩いて行くと一番下にあるバッテリー公園まで行けちゃうらしい...もちろんそんな遠くまで歩かずノリコさんが話していた人工芝がある所に到着。コンラッド君は来る途中に寝ちゃったからそこには良い子に敷物の上にチョコンと座っておもちゃで遊んでいるセフィちゃんと、見た事の無い人工芝に興奮してハイハイしまくりのマディソン...最初の内は何とか敷物の上だけでって捉まえてたけどその内あきらめて勝手にハイハイし放題にさせちゃいました。たまにだし綺麗そうだったからね！とにかくそこからの景色はやっぱり良かったなー、ニュージャージー側ってあんまり見る機会ないんだけどこの公園はとってもきれいだし穏やかだし毎日来れれば良いのになー。自転車用のレーンが別で離れてあるのもいいなー。
After having yummy Cabbage Roll dish Noriko-san made and the Brioche Rolls I donated, we headed outside with our full and happy babies. It turned out that the area I was sitting at earlier was just the beginning of the park and once you go through a tunnel that I didn't notice before you get to the edge of the west side where across the Hudson River you can see NJ and you can just keep walking on this nice walkway until you get to Battery park... Well we didn't walk that far but made it to a nice patch of fake grass area where we can put down some blankets to sit on and hang out... Conrad fell asleep in his stroller so there was Sephi who was sitting so cute on the blanket and happy to be playing with some toys we brought along and Madison who was very excited about exploring this fake grass she's never seen of and me who finally gave up on trying to keep her within the little blanket square and let her crawl free in the end...:-) They looked clean anyways! Oh it was such a beautiful view, I'm not used to seeing the NJ side but I kind of liked it and the whole area was clean and really relaxing... There is even separate bike lane so they can't bother us walkers/stroller walkers!

マディソンはママのヨガポーズを見過ぎかな？
Madison has been watching me do Yoga too much!?

ノリコさんとセフィちゃん、日よけ対策バッチリ！
Noriko-san and Sephi-chan, taking the rays very seriously!

マディソンがセフィちゃんの目の前に座っていた時にマディソンを引っ張って後ろにガターン！痛くなかったはずだけどビックリしたマディソンの泣きそうな顔...
Madison was sitting in front of Sephi so she got to pull Madison backwards! I don't think it hurt but surprised Madison is about to cry...
それを見たセフィちゃんも泣きそうになっちゃった!!ゴメンネ、マディソン近づき過ぎたね：）
Watching Madison about to cry made Sephi do the same! Sorry, Madison was in your way:-)


お日様に十分あたった後はノリコさん宅に戻ってお茶の時間...帰る用意をしている時にサトコさんが家まで歩いて帰るつもりって言うからビックリ!だって４０丁(途方時間１時間半)近くあるよー。夜サトコさんから来たメッセージを見ると出来たって、しかも１時間近くで着いたって。すご〜いサトコさん、おつかれさま：）このブログ読んでるかもしれないから一様ここで...読んでなきゃでしょ；）
When we were done enjoying the sunshine we went back to Noriko-san's place for a tea time... As we were getting ready to leave Satoko-san told us that she was planning on walking home, which is about 40 blocks(she was guessing it will take about an hour and a half)! I couldn't believe her but she sent all of us a message later that night saying she did it in about an hour so good job to you if you are reading my blog... which you should...;-)


ボーナス：これは先週マディソンの家でしたプレイグループの写真です。アキコさんが撮った写真なんだけど凄い良く撮れてるから紹介しまーす！
Bonus: These pictures were from last week's playgroup but ones Akiko-san took were great so I wanted to share with you guys!

またまた楽しいプレイグループ/Another Great Playgroup:-)

今日はまた日本人ママとその赤ちゃん達とプレイグループをしました。しかも今日はみんな住んでいるアッパーウェストサイドから遥々ここまで来て貰っちゃいました：）ありがとね！そしてお昼の献立は、ずーっと作りたくても一緒に食べる人がいなくて作れなかったちらし寿司...やっぱりこういう料理の美味しさが分かってくれる人達は良いな〜！
We had another great playgroup with our Japanese friends today... and even though they all live on the Upper West Side they came all the way to our home in Sunnyside:-) Thanks again guys! So I made Chirashi Zushi which I've been wanting to make for a long time but had nobody to make it for! Chirashi Zushi is a bed of Sushi rice mixed with vegetables and on top we put toppings like thinly sliced egg sheets, Salmon Roe, Seaweed, Sesame, Snap Peas, Steamed Shrimp, Denpu(Pink Flaked Sweet Fish Stuff), etc... SO nice to have Japanese friends who can appreciate those Japanese dishes...

もうみんなも知っている通りこのグループはほとんど同い年どうしだからみんなでお座りしてマディソンのおもちゃで仲良く遊んでました。たまにマディソンおもちゃ奪い取っていたけどね...ハハ！最近嫌がって使っていなかったジャンパーだけどコンラッド君が気に入ってくれたみたいで長い時間いい子で入っていました...マサキ君(１１ヶ月)もマディソンと同じであんまり今好きじゃないみたい、でも外から付いてるおもちゃで遊ぶのは好きみたいでそこで掴まり立ちしていたマサキ君は何とデイブのいた所まで初めて２、３歩と歩く事に成功!!!マサキ君のパパがみる事が出来なくて悪い気がしたんだけど観れて良かった〜！アキコさんは旦那さんに内緒にしたかな...
Most of you already know this, but all the babies are really close in age so they just sat around and had a great time playing with Madison's toys and she was really good at sharing... except occasionally she decided to take back some of them though... Conrad tried out the Jumper which is becoming Madison's not so favorite toy so glad someone enjoyed it... Masaki-kun(11 months) is also going through the not liking the jumper stage, but he seemed to really like to play with toys from outside... He even took his first steps(according to his mom) to Dave!!! I really felt bad that his dad didn't get to see it, but it was really exciting to see for us..:-) Maybe Akiko-san won't tell her husband he did it...

セクシーなコンラッド君...

Sexy Conrad-kun...

グループ写真を撮ろうとしたけど...いまいち、誰か良い写真撮れた人いる!?

Attempting to sneak in a group shot... not too successful, maybe someone else got a better picture!?

２時半ごろかな？いきなり赤ちゃん４人眠そうになったからマディソンはクリブでお昼寝を初めて、セフィちゃんとコンラッド君は交代でベッドの上でちょっと休む事が出来ました...またいろいろとお互いの事を知り合う事が出来た私は大満足です...：）もう次ぎに会う予定もさっそく決めちゃいました。
At around 2:30 all the babies seemed to hit the nap time sleepiness so Madison hit her crib and Sephi was able to use our bed to take a quick nap and switched with Conrad... Moms got to share and got to know each other more which is great and already made a plan for next playgroup...:-)

もう少しで忘れる所だった好奇心旺盛マディソンのした事と言えば...水の入ったコップを低いテーブルの上に置いて行った私がいけないんだけど、見てないと思って目を離した隙にそのコップをサトコさんのバッグの中に空けてしまってさあ大変!大慌てで中に入っていたカメラ、アイフォン、お財布などなど水たまりのバッグから出したりとタオルを取りに行って走り回っていたんだけど本人のサトコさんは心配してないみたい...カメラとケータイはちゃんと使えそうでホッと安心の一息!でも本当に目が離せない私に似たオテンバっ子：）
Oh I almost forgot what our trouble maker did today... I set two glasses of water on a table where Madison can reach and walked away thinking she didn't see that I did that, but she did so I came back and saw that she had dumped the water into Satoko-san's bag that was on the floor! Her camera, Iphone, wallets, etc were all soaked sitting in a pool of water!!! I freaked out and was running around to get a towel and to dump the water into the sink worrying that they were all ruined while Satoko-san acted like she wasn't worried at all... and her camera and Iphone still worked, thank goodness! But that little crazy girl is one to watch because she will surprise you:-)

最初はマディソンと２人で見学してたんだけど...

First Madison and I were just gonna watch but then...

やっぱりオムツ替えパーティーに加わる事に!お互いの状況を見合っているマサキ君意外の３人：）
Decided to join the party! Everyone is checking out someone else except Masaki-kun:-)

いつも通りあっという間に家に返る時間が来てしまいました...またすぐ会えるのを楽しみにしていま〜す！
Too soon it was time for everyone to head back to UWS homes...Looking forward to seeing you guys soon!

アッパーウェストサイドでプレイデート/Playdate in UWS.

今日マディソンはコンラッド君とマサキ君とアッパーウェストサイドにあるコンラッド君の両親の家でプレイデート...朝のお昼寝をいつもより長〜くしたマディソンのおかげでママ達は４５分も遅れちゃいました。１時間近く地下鉄に乗って到着した後コンラッド君のママ(サトコさん)が作ってくれたおいしいお昼をみんなで一緒に食べました。
Today Madison had a playdate with Conrad-kun(8 month) and Masaki-kun(10 month) at Conrad's parents' place on the Upper West Side... We were about 45 minutes late since Madison decided to take an extra long nap this morning and I didn't want to wake her up in case she wouldn't be able to take her afternoon nap. After about an hour of taking subways we got to the apartment and we were able to enjoy a yummy lunch that Satoko-san prepared.

マディソンの新しい友達マサキ君、笑い声がすごいカワイイの！
Madison's new friend Masaki-kun, he has such a cute laughter!

また会えたね...：）
We meet once again...:-)

この前来た時に凄い気に入っていたこの歩行機、でもたしかまだ足が着かなかったような...でも今日は余裕で着地で動けるだけ動き回って楽しんでいたマディソン：）

Last time when we were there she really liked the walker, but I don't think she was able to reach the floor and move, but today she could! So she really enjoyed moving around as much as she could:-)

マディソンとマサキ君が一緒に仲良く遊んでいると思ってビデオを撮り始めたら、マディソンがおもちゃを独り占めしてるだけ...ハア〜、何処でいばりんぼ覚えて来たんだろ？エリーとココが一緒に遊ぶのを見過ぎてるカモ！
Here I thought Madison and Masaki-kun were playing nicely together so I started to film but all I got was Madison pushing him off to the side and hogging the toy! Where did she learn that!? I guess that's how Ellie and Coco play with each other!

マサキ君のママ、アキコさんが毛布を使っていないいないばー！をし始めたら、３人とも良い子に座って釘付け状態！
Masaki-kun's mom(Akiko-san) is doing pick-a-boo with a blanket and all three of them were just having a great time with it!

日本人プレイグループ/The Japanese Play Group

今日行ったプレイグループが今までで一番！！昨日も言った通り今日はアッパーウェストサイドまで１時間かけてお出かけしました。多分１時間以内で着けたと思うけど、間違って'A'電車に乗っちゃったから降りるはずだった１１０町目を通り越して１２５丁目まで行ってしまう結果。また下町行きの電車を待つはめに...そして、駅から出た後この綺麗なマンション(写真無し)に到着して受付の人が名前をチェックした後やっとサトコさんと７１/２ヶ月のコンラッド君に会う事が出来ました。もう一人来るはずのママ(ナツコさん)と１８ヶ月のコナツちゃんを待つ為にマンションにあるプレイルームへひとまず移動して待つ事に。この部屋はヨガにも使うからか部屋中鏡で囲まれていてマディソンは入るなりとっても嬉しそう早速ハイハイ...マディソン鏡大好きなの言ったっけ!?そこにあった赤ちゃん用の滑り台も使った見たけどマディソンの履いていたタイツのせいで静電気がバチバチ発生しまくり！とまた鏡の壁に戻る事にしました。

The play group we went to today was the BEST!! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, we made an hour trip to the Upper West Side to meet up with the Japanese Moms and babies! Well, It could have taken a bit less time, but I got on an 'A' train by mistake so it sped passed my stop(110th) and went straight to 125th so we had to get on another train to come back a few stops... We walked up to this beautiful high rise(no picture) and after the concierge checked off my name that was on his list we took an elevator to meet with Satoko-san and her 7 1/2 month son, Conrad on 2nd floor public lounge... One more Mom and her 18 month old daughter were supposed to show up, but were running late so we then moved to the play room that this place had and waited/enjoyed exploring there. This room was surrounded with mirrors(since it's also used as a Yoga room) so Madison was quite excited! Did I mention she LOVES mirrors!? She also sled down a baby slide that was there but her tights and the slide were making static electricity so she went back to looking at herself in the mirror after that.

待合室のソファに座っている２人...初めてコンラッド君に会いました！

On a couch in the public lounge... Meeting Conrad for the first time!

コンラッド君とおもちゃで遊んでいます！
Sharing her toys with Conrad and showing him how to play with them!

鏡大〜好き！自分に自惚れ過ぎ!?
Love, Love, LOVE the mirrors! or Herself!?

ナツエさんとコナツちゃんが到着した後サトコさんの部屋へ移動し、早速うろうろ／遊び開始...マンハッタンのマンションって聞いて想像していたよりもとっても大きい、綺麗なお家で景色がまたすごい！目の前に巨大なカソリック教会敷地が...
After Natsue-san and Konatsu arrived we went up to Satoko-san's apartment and started to explore/play... It was a one bedroom apartment but much bigger than I expected for a Manhattan apartment and the view was great, over looking this huge Catholic Church complex.

マディソンは早速窓際で景色をチェック...最初はそんなに窓際まで〜って心配の私...
Madison loved looking out from the window... I knew she was safe but it still kind of made me nervous for a while...

今日のプレイグループのテーマはお気に入りの絵本を持って来てみんなの前で読んであげる事...交代で読みました、良い子に聞いているコンラッド君(コンちゃん)。マディソンはただ聞いているよりも味見する方がいいみたい！
Today's playgroup had a theme which was to bring the baby's favorite books and share so we took turns and read them...Here is Conrad sitting nicely and listening, all Madison was interested in was taking a bite of all of the books!

ナツエさんの１８ヶ月の娘のコナツちゃん...ベビーカーでのお昼寝から起きたばかりで見慣れていない赤ちゃん２人をジーッと見つめていました。直ぐに慣れたみたいだけどね！
Natsue-san's 18 month daughter, Konatsu... She has just woken up from taking a nap in her stroller and was standing staring at the stranger babies... She soon warmed up to them though!

コンちゃんのウォーカーを使わせてもらいました...目の前にあるいろんな音楽やボタンが気に入ったみたい：）
Here is Madison trying out Conrad's walker... She is not walking with it, but quite enjoying the fun buttons and music:-)