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!

Madison at the Faculty Game/生徒対先生の練習試合

Today was my school's Annual Varsity Team vs Faculty Basketball Game...it is my chance to show my guys how basketball is supposed to be played...unfortunately the last two weeks my boys have been playing much better ball so they were more of a match then I expected...but we still managed to dodge a last second shot from near half-court to win 69-67. Madison seemed to enjoy herself as she let out screams of joy often.
今日は僕の学校で毎年ある生徒対先生のバスケ試合...バスケ部の子達にチームワークのあるプレイを見せる機会がある日...でも最近良いプレイをしていたチームとはいたチームとは最後の最後まで近点数の試合になってしまった。でも結果的には６９対６７で先生達の勝利！時々大声で叫んでいたマディソンはちゃんと試合を見ていたのかな！？

The final two minutes of our nail-biter
最後の２分間は、ハラハラドキドキ

公園！/Park!

今日は午前中にちょこっとホールフーズまでマディソン用の有機栽培野菜、果物、お肉を買いに行って駅から家まで歩いてる時にふと、日向は結構暖かいじゃん！なのでお昼の後にまた厚着してすぐそこの公園に行く事にしました。公園で歩く練習出来るように靴もちゃんと履かせたんだけど公園に着くなり掃除のおばさんに“赤ちゃんの靴片方ないよ〜”と言われて、あらら！落として来ちゃった〜！せっかくすぐ目の前にあった公園を後にして靴を探しながら逆戻り...なんと、もう片方の靴は家の床の上。もう一回公園に行こうか迷ったけどせっかくだから戻る事にしました...少し歩く練習(写真はもちろん無し、マディソンの手を握りながら写真撮れないから)をした後ブランコに挑戦、始めは困惑したような顔をしていたマディソンだけどそのうち楽しみ出して笑顔も出て来るぐらい：）来て良かった！パシのせいでわかりにくいけど一応笑ってる写真を撮りました。
Today we took a quick trip to Whole Foods to get some organic fruits, veggies, and meats for Madison and when we were walking home on the sunny side of the street it felt warm and nice so after lunch we bundled up once again and walked two blocks to the park for the first time this winter...I put shoes on Madison so we could practice walking but when we got to the park the park ranger lady told me one of my baby's shoes is missing... so then even though the park was right there in front of us we had to back track all the way to our apartment looking for her missing shoe! Of course the shoe was laying on our living room floor, Ugh! I wish I would have noticed it! So we started again and got to the park to practice walking a bit (no pictures since I could not take pictures and hold her hands at the same time...) We even went on a swing! She wasn't sure at first, but then she warmed up and started to enjoy it so I took some pictures... She has her paci so it's hard to tell, but she was smiling:-)

リージワッフルが寝ても覚めても食べたくて仕様が無い!!/I can't stop thinking about the Liege Waffle!!

こっちのフードネットワークのチャンネルに“ボビーフレイに挑戦”って言う番組(シェフのボビーフレイが他のシェフの有名な料理を作って挑戦する)があるんだけど特に私が好きでよく見てます。しかもニューヨークのシェフ達に挑戦するのが多いから自分でテレビに出た物を食べに行ける所がお気に入り！最近観たのがベルギーワッフルのテーマの挑戦何だけど、寝ても覚めても頭から抜けないこのワッフル。困った〜！妊娠してないからね！
So I love watching "Throw Down With Bobby Flay"... It's because he challenges a lot of chefs in the city so we can go taste the foods that were on the show... I made "A Salt & Battery" as one of Dave's 30th B-D choose your adventure choice and it was really good! I can't think of any other place right now but I'm sure we've tried more places that were on the show. Well, we DVRed the Belgian Waffle episode and I watched it while Madison was napping the other day and I have not been able to stop thinking about it since... No, I'm not pregnant! BUT I want his(Not Bobby's) Waffle!!!!!!!!!

その挑戦者の人はもちろんベルギー出身の人でニューヨーク中を黄色いトラックに乗ってワッフルを一日中売ってるんです。しかもこのワッフルは普通のワッフルとは少し違ってリージワッフルという名前でトロトロの生地で出来る“軽くてサクッ”とは反対で“しっとりもちもち”パン生地のおいしさ：）もう考えているだけで唾が...
The guy would drive around in this yellow truck all over the city everyday and sell his Belgian goodies... What I want is the very authentic Belgian Waffle called Liege Waffle. The Waffles that we know and love here are actually called Brussels Waffles and they are known for "Light and Crispy"! The Liege Waffles are "Soft and Chewy"!!!!! and it's a dough not a batter:-)


まずこの寒い毎日が落ち着いて来たら早速このワッフルを食べに行かなければと頑張って待っている毎日です...それかオンラインで見つけたレシピを試してみるかデス．この特種な砂糖を見つける事が出来れば良いんだけど：）どっちにしろこのワッフルの報告はまたするのでお見逃し無く！
Once the freezing cold weather takes a break we are out of here to get some of those Liege Waffles in our tummy! OR I'm gonna use the recipe I found online and make them myself! I just have to get to a european grocery store to get some Pearl Sugar:-) Yum!!! I will be reporting back one way or another how good this waffle tastes...

P.S.今日デイブが家に帰って来た時、マディソンと私は台所に居たから“いないいないばー”をすることに。マディソンがパパを見つけた時にパパが手を振ったら、なんとマディソンも真似して手をフリフリ！初めて!!何〜てカワイイんだろー：）
P.S. When Dave arrived home today Madison and I were in the kitchen so we played peek-a-boo with daddy and once Madison saw him and he waved at her she did her first ever wave back...it was a real wave and very cute.

９ヶ月検診報告！/9 month check up report!

昨日はマディソンの９ヶ月の誕生日、なので９ヶ月検診に行って来ました。いつもより混んでいたので４５分ぐらい待ったあとマディソンの順番。背と頭の周囲は予定通り順調に増えて行ってるみたいなんだけど、体重は６ヶ月検診の時から0.45kgしか増えなかったみたい。自分たちでもそうだけど他の人達にポッチャリしてるねってよく言われてたから少しビックリ...もう少しご飯の量を増やさないと！そして、帰る前に１０ヶ月検診の時に持って来るようにと質問用紙を貰ったので、パネラでお昼を食べてる時にチラッと読んでみたらもう既に出来る事が多い！自分一人で掴まり立ちしたり、物と物に掴まりながら動いたり...まだなかなか出来ないのは話す事かな？やっぱり２カ国語毎日聞いてるから大変だよね。１ヶ月もあれば進歩の速い赤ちゃん達は何でも出来るようになると思うけど...がんぱりま〜す！
Yesterday was Madison's 9 month birthday so we celebrated it by taking her to the 9 month check up... After 45 minutes or so of wait in the crowded waiting room we went to see Dr. Madi. Well, her height and head measurements were increasing nicely, but her weight apparently has fallen off the nice growth chart arch... She only gained about a pound since her 6 month check up... Kind of crazy because a lot of people and even we, thought she was on the chubby side... Anyways, now I need to increase her food intake amount, but other than that she is doing spectacular!! Dr. Madi gave me a set of questions to answer for her 10 month check up at the end so when we were at Panera afterwards and Madison was sleeping I was reading the questions over and I can already answer 'Yes' to almost all the motor skill related questions! Very cool! It seems that she is a bit slow on the communication skill area though... Maybe because of two languages that she is hearing daily!? Oh well she still has a whole month to work on it and that is a long time for quick progressing babies.

この写真は先週撮ったのだけど、昨日何にも撮らなかったからその代わり！
I took these pictures last week but I didn't have any pictures to post from the 9 month check up so here you go!