Hanna's last week of school was equally as entertaining. I sent her to school Monday, only to get an email saying one of the children at school had a sibling who had lice. I didn't think much of it, or worry about it, until I went to pick her up, and found out that a. it was a sibling of a child in her class and b.they checked his hair after he had been there for an hour or so, and they found lice in his hair...so, Hanna had been around/playing with him for an hour...not wanting to get lice before our return home, I choose to keep her out of school for a day. Then, she ended up getting a bad cold and staying home the following day as well. Of her last week, she went 3 days! Her last day of school was a performance with all four classes, which included Hanna singing and dancing like a champ, as well as playing a few songs on the keyboard. It was a great performance (she literally danced and moved through the entire show!), that ended in a pizza and ice cream party- great way to finish the school year. That was Hanna's last day at Toyko Union Church preschool, as next year she will attend Yoyogi International...and unlike Maya, she was not one bit sad that school was over (in her words...now, I get to spend EVERY DAY with you Mommy!)...I am a lucky lady :)
This last week in Tokyo before we head back to the States has been super packed- full of lunches, good byes, play dates....I seem to have overbooked us, so we haven't been getting a whole lot of down time! Aside from regular play dates, we went to the Heiwa-no-Mori park on Tuesday, with our friends, Tamie, Alissa and Joey Matsanuga. This park was incredible- full of obstacles (40 I believe) that provided a ton of different physical challenges for the kids. It was a little bit to "big" for Hanna, but she was still able to do the majority of the obstacles, with a little help from me. It was actually quite dangerous, but the kids LOVED it, and we walked away without any major injuries (Maya fell and whacked her face on a log and Hanna fell off a log that was about 4 ft off the ground).
Wednesday found us at KidZania, in Toyosu, with our friends, Miyuki, Maya and Micka Takahashi. Maya T is a good friend of Maya's from ASIJ, and they invited us to join them. For those unfamiliar to KidZania, it is a mini kid-city. There are about 70-80 jobs that kids can pick from to do- doctor, vet, burger flipper, fashion model, gas station attendant, ice cream maker, pizza maker, banker, book publisher, policeman, fireman....you name it, they had it there. The kids pick a "job" and then they actually learn about it and have to perform the job. I mean it too- they actually make their own pizza, ice cream, put out fires (fake ones)...it is actually quite educational, and quite a marketing tool. Each "company" is actually sponsored by the actual company it is. So for example, Coca Cola bottling sponsored the Coca Cola Bottling plant, where the kids go and bottle their own bottle of Coca-cola- actual bottles of real Coke that they get to drink. By doing this, they earn KidZania money, otherwise known as Kidzo's. How much they make is job dependent, just like in real life. And, some things cost money- my girls both went to Driver Training School to get their KidZania driver's license, so they had to pay to get their license. They then went to the Car Rental company and rented a car! They got to drive the car through a little course (driving on the left of course) that brought them through a Car Wash, to a gas station, where full service attendants- also little KidZania kids put "gas" in the car, wiped down the windows and mirrors (yes, they do that here- most gas stations in Tokyo are full service- they wipe down windows, mirrors, and give you a cloth to wipe down the inside of your car while they are filling it up!), and then back to park. At the end, they went to the Bank and opened up their own bank accounts (I tried to go in the bank, and was told that I was not allowed to come in (or, I think I was told..it was Japanese, so I don't know exactly what was said!). They got an ATM card with their name on it, that they can use to withdraw the money they deposited into their account at ATMs all around KidZania. (It was cute, because Hanna had to write her name down and fill in all the paperwork- for her account, for her license, etc., and they thought she wrote Hanma, so she is now Hanma Garrison on all her KidZania documentation!) We had a really great day with the Takahashi's, and are so glad we got to spend one of our last days in Tokyo until August with friends!
Today, the 18th, we had to make an unexpected visit to see Dr. Joe in Shimo Kitizawa. The girls and I were down in the workout room (I was working out, they were playing on the exercise balls and equipment), when I stupidly caved in to Hanna's begging to let her go on the treadmill. I was standing very near it, so I didn't think too much about it, and put the treadmill on 2km per hour. Maya was patting the moving belt, when Hanna decided she wasn't going fast enough and hit the up arrow to go quicker...it then sucked Maya's right hand in and underneath the belt....where it chewed the crap out of two of her fingers. Luckily, she was able to pull them out right away, but she had torn several layers of her skin off the fingers, and they were bleeding and raw...poor kid. I had to take her immediately to the doctor, where we found out that there was no permanent damage, and the layers of skin should start growing back within a few days, but she was in a lot of pain. I was proud of her, because she was really tough about it. I should have know better, for several reasons- Hanna has been having a tremendously tough time listening- in the past week, she got mad at me, wiggled out of my hand and almost got hit by a car, left the obstacle park we were at (literally left it- we were all changing our shoes and getting ready, and I turn around and she is gone. Panicking, I went looking all over, and finally though- hmmm, could she have gone out? And there she was, walking toward the road- and wouldn't stop when we called, so we had to RACE and grab her, and took off at the mall after leaving KidZania- to which, I again, had to find her. So, I should have a. not let them play on the treadmill in the first place, and b. known that Hanna on a treadmill was not a grand idea! Lesson learned, documented and filed away for future "pressure filled" situations!
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