We have snow flakes falling outside right now. Just a few- doesn`t look like it will stick or anything and while today is cold it is not so cold that I would of thought we would be getting snow. Luckily I took the boys out for a quick walk around the neighbourhood earlier.
Had plans to go for a walk alone the Edogawa River with Nic this afternoon but we cancelled due to the inclement weather. Maybe next week.
I actually have nothing of real interest to write but want to try to blog more often.
I am doing a Toddler Busy Bag Swap with some other mums in Japan- with our flights coming up later in March I need all the help I can get with trying to entertain the boys on the flight.What is a busy bag you ask- well check out this post with how one lady did it. I organized the group on facebook, put a call out and have 13 people participating. We have a wide range and age of kids and basically everyone will make 13 of something {of their choice- I, for example, are making a button snake. I already have one for my boys but will be making mini versions with shaped felt pieces for the kids to “button”} and keep one of them for their own kids and send the other 12 items to me in the post or delivery service by a certain date. I will rearrange all of the things in boxes and send them out to all the participants chakubarai {pay on delivery} and each family will get 12 mini activities. The rules were simple- nothing too expensive or time consuming {we set a 300-400yen limit per item made}, be suitable for the age 1.5-3.5 crowd and it must fit in a ziplock bag {no bigger than the gallon size}.
If it is a success I will probably organize another one in six months time as I think these types of things are great. Take some of these activities, some paper and crayons and stickers and a couple favourite books and you could keep the kids busy for awhile I think! They are great for flights, long car trips, to use in waiting rooms or on public transport. I always have a mini magnadoodle, some crayons and either stickers or a couple of cars in my handbag for Noah. Oh and snacks- snacks are VERY important!!!
The early birthday present I got from Shun {an ipad} might help a little as well!! Do need to look into getting a better case for it and a stand so that if I put the data from a couple of their dvds on it they can watch it easy enough.
Shun and I talked about letting Noah or Shion use it and decided 20 minutes a day is enough- not even everyday but when they do use it they are limited to 20 minutes. On the plane this will be different as I am sure I will do whatever I can do to keep the kids entertained even if it means letting Noah play some colour matching game for 5 hours straight 
. Okay- I probably wouldn`t let him play for that long
Do you have any app recommendations for toddlers? What about apps you like for yourself? Noah has tried it twice now {and Shion looked on} and he cries when I tell him it is time to stop. He is going through a throwing things stage when angry so I have to be careful of this. We are working on trying to get this to stop as well- usually if he throws toys I give him a ball and tell him he can throw this instead but that we don`t throw toys/books etc. Food throwing is still an issue.
I have no objections to letting the boys use the ipad though- I think it is good for them as long as it is monitored and there are set time frames/rules in place. I have installed some educational games after reading some reviews and was happy to pay for apps that I thought would be good if it meant they had no ads popping up.
I am also not going to the wedding in Melbourne now. So I will fly into Brisbane but stay in Brisbane for the 3 weeks. That was a tough decision to make but ultimately I think I made the right one. Time will tell. If anyone in Brisbane wants to catch up while we are there send me a mail!
The house is almost finished. It will be completely done in 5 weeks. Hard to believe! We went inside and had a look on Saturday- flooring was down but covered and you can see things taking shape. Still a lot to do before then include pack up this apartment and declutter everything. I refuse to take crap into the new house so we will be dumping a lot of stuff before we move in. This apartment is owned by Shun`s grandma and she said she will probably advertise it again in May so we will have a couple weeks to get our stuff out or arrange for it to be dumped which is handy. Shun plans to take some stuff into the new house while we are in Australia since it will be finished while we are away {Plans say we can move in after March 25th}.
On Saturday night I had a night out with friends for my birthday. Shun decided he would stay home with the boys as we were going to go to karaoke but he is not so into karaoke. Unlike me- I had a blast! It was such a great night and while I may have had a bit too much to drink I got home fine in once piece and was only slightly hungover on Sunday morning and fine by the afternoon. I did take some pictures but they are still on my phone and pretty poor quality. I forgot how much I missed karaoke!!!
The Vietnamese food we ate before hand was also great!
I turn 27 on Saturday….I am getting closer and closer to 30 which is a bit scary. Still a couple years left til I hit the big 3 0 though!
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
Advertising in May… how much for?! Does she like foreigners, lol?!
It is a 2LDK with a small storage room upstaris as well. My guess is it will be advertised for about 90,000 a month. 20 minutes walk from train station, up and downstairs and a car space available. SHe is fine with foreigners and has traveled overseas a lot
Not sure how it would go with a guarantor but maybe if I vouch for you guys that would be enough?
Count me in for the next busy bag swap. I am not on facebook.
No problems! Next time I will try to advertise it here as well! I can whip up an extra button snake for Max if you like though
Would love a button snake for Max. They look awesome.
I would totally let a toddler do something for 5 hours straight on an iPad on a plane!! haha..
Well, hopefully it wouldn’t come to that, but…
The particularly “memorable” plane trip I had was when younger son was nearly 2, and in his “screeching” phase. But he wasn’t interested in books (yet… now he loves them!) or coloring (neither of my kids ever took to coloring). He also hadn’t yet entered his big “sticker phase”. This was 10 years ago, so no iPads or whatever. Of course I took some activities and books, but the only thing I could think of that was guaranteed to get his attention was snacks. So I had a whole bunch of baggies of various snacks… He didn’t screech once, but he only slept 2 of the 9 hours and I was exhausted at the end, from entertaining him! Luckily big son was good. Then we were told that instead of a 1-hour layover, it would be 3 hours. I felt like crying then! But I walked them around the airport for most of the time, and they slept the whole 4-hour flight afterwards. I don’t even remember the trip home, so I guess it went well (?).
But yeah, on flights, both my kids have permission for “yarihoudai” on any and all kinds of electronic stuff!! IMO there is no need to make Noah stop using the iPad on the flight! Hopefully he will lull himself off to sleep with it and the time will be limited that way
One thing I did was to turn the seatbelt over (hiding the buckle), and not let him down for a walk around the aisles until quite some time had passed, because I knew that once he realized he could unbuckle and walk around, he would try to insist on it all the time and make a fuss.
Lots of good tips. I agree that SNACKS are the way to go! Having done two trips with Noah so far {4 flights together, luckily direct flights} snacks worked well.
I really think Shion will be more of a problem on the flight there and back than Noah but that is just my feeling. Nothing really interests Shion- he just wants to get down and play and walk around but hoping on the way there they sleep a lot.
I plan to take an extra “belt” type thing that we use when out and about to get the boys to sit in highchairs with no straps. One to keep Shion attached to me a bit better and the other to put around Noah as an extra belt but only if it looks like he will keep trying to open the plane belt. Hoping we have a spare seat but no that it won`t be a given.
Shion will be on my lap and Noah next to me. Luckily though they both like books but there is only so many books I can take
DD
I honestly think that the flight to Australia will be pretty easy – well at least with Noah anyway. He *should* sleep for the majority of it. Fingers crossed you have an easy flight there like I did… Leilah slept for basically the whole time bar 1.5 hours before landing. Then she had some breaky, read a book and we were landing. Coming back was a different story and if allowing the boys to play with your ipad for 5 hours is going to keep them quiet I would definitely do it!! Our portable DVD player’s battery lasts for that long and I was more than willing to let Leilah watch as many movies as she could in that time. Luckily we didn’t need it. As I said on FB playdough was my saviour. She enjoyed all of the activities I packed but it was the playdough that kept her entertained the most. Snack – yes – as many as you can bring. But don’t be surprised if they stop working after a while… there is only so much you can eat before you just don’t want them anymore. That’s what happened with Leilah anyway. In the whole 9 hours I think Leilah only walked up and down the aisles for about 30 minutes and that was after lunch and after her nap. She screamed (or whinged really loudly to be truthful) for about 2/3 minutes every few hours or so. Despite her being so easy on the plane though it was stressful for me. I don’t envy you taking both boys back by yourself. In fact I am dreading our next flight home…
GOOD LUCK!
Oh and so jealous of you and your snow! Leilah is yet to see snow
Nay’s being very optimistic there
I predict Noah to be harder. On a flight home with Ryu at Shion’s age I let him go up and down, up and down, up and down a lot. Getting some good apps for the flight is a great idea. So much more entertaining than just a dvd player – and so much less bulky. What a great birthday prezzie!!
I’m not sure if it will work with Noah yet or not but here, when the kids are on the DS and both wanting a turn, I set the kitchen timer. 4 minutes each and then swap – long enough for them to get a good go but not long enough for them to complain. We usually do a few rounds of that and the timer going off works better, mentally for them, than me screaming at them to play nicely and give each other a turn. Works better for me too
Hearing about the house is so exciting!! I can’t wait to see pics.
And happy birthday for tomorrow. I wasn’t even married yet at 27 and you’re seeing light at the end of the small children tunnel already!
xxx
Here’s hoping the flight will be as painless as possible. Ha ha like gaijinwife I wasn’t even married yet at 27 (28 actually )!
my kids love this cake making app on my iphone… not sure if they have it for ipad but it’s cool… you have to shake in ingredients, crack in eggs etc then you get to back, ice and decorate a cake!
I’d totally let my kids play the whole entire plane ride if it kept them happy!
Freddy is totally in the throwing things phase too so I wouldn’t let him anywhere near my ipad (not that I have one lol).
I agree that Noah will find the trip easiest because he is at an age where you can distract him with food / activities / cartoon etc but it’s much harder for Shion. We did an 8 hour flight when freddy was that age and it pretty much ended up with me walking around the plane for 7.5 hours – take off and landing were bearable but not easy. I don’t really have much advice other than to try to locate someone with a child about the same age and let them play together in the wide bit next to an emergency exit.
Good luck xxx