Sleepwear for your hip hop baby

Actually this is just a shirt and not pajamas but unfortunately living in small town Kentucky, we can't dress Ren in this when going out so they are only used as sleepwear. I can see the woman behind us at the grocery store now,"Cute baby! And that's a really nice fuckin' shirt he's got isn't it?" maybe it would be more acceptable if it were a tattoo. Or maybe I'm looking at this wrong. Maybe I should see this as a golden opportunity to peak the locals' interest in all things Japanese.

Okay so this is not incoherent and neither are most of the rest of the Engrish discoveries to follow but it doees have that -only something they would make in Japan- smack to it.

Japanese Baby Bibs

Aya just got another care package from home. Because Ren is a champion drooler (teething or not) and needs to constantly have something to catch it before it soaks his shirt we have lots of stylish bibs. After looking at the baby bibs Aya's mom sent us I was convinced (my suspicions confirmed) that what Babies r us in Lexington has to offer are no more than rags compared to what babies in Japan get to wear. Not only do they have designs on both sides, but they even come in the ubiquitous incoherent English variety. Example below:
*Status*
The traditional beauty beyond age

The Tradition is now being reconsidered

Let the incoherent-English-on-Japanese-baby-apparel posting begin...

Two Front Teeth

And here they are, the long awaited upper teeth. Look out shoulder those are sharp! They've actually been there for a bout a week now but getting this picture was not easy. We were tipped off by the strange grinding sound he was making with his mouth. He still does this and it drives me crazy, like finger nails on a chalk board or Styrofoam squeaky crazy. Hopefully the novelty will wear off soon.

Vacuum Monster 掃除機怪物

Pictured here is Ren trying to hide and make light of his insecurities and secret fears of the vacuum Monster. This strikes me as the type of picture that bear hunters might take, posing with the beast that, just moments ago, almost took their lives but is now inanimate and docile. Ren has conquered the Beast for now.

掃除機怪物に対して押さえて隠してる恐怖や不安な心境を頑張って笑ってごまかそうとする蓮の写真。数分前命を奪いそうだったのに今は死んだばっかりの熊の前にポーズする熊狩人のようだ。とりあえず獣に勝ってる。

Chocolate Cake

いつもあやが焼いてくれるガトー・オー・ショコラ。うまいで。
This is the chocolate cake that Aya always makes for me. Delizioso.

大好物 Favorite Food

蓮の大好物は確かにパン。特にパンの硬いみみ、ピザの皮やナンが好きみたい。硬くて口の中で溶かすのが時間がかかっても何よりパクパク、集中して食べる。今日は新鮮なペストウを塗ってるトーストのみみとパスタを食べてた。
Bread is unquestionably Ren's favorite food. He especially likes the crust, pizza crust and nan. Despite the hard to dissolve aspect more than any anything else he munches away at it without getting too sidetracked. Today he had toast crust with fresh pesto and pasta.

Big Red Stables

Went Horse back riding today. I usually ride the horse they named Mason but this time I ended up with Dixon. I'll bet this is not the only southern stable with this play on names. It seems a lot of southerness is being derived from something that originated as a reference for the original boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania. Pictured here is neither Mason or Dixon but rather Seymour.

The horse riding, as usual was great. We started out around 10am and got back a little before noon with a big thunderstorm following us back to the stable.

Ren's Giant Panda

We got a video about Pandas where Mutsugoro-san himself goes to China and tells us all about giant pandas, ムツゴロウのゆかいなパンダ物語 or Story of Mutsugoro's Delightful Pandas. Ren's reaction to the narrarator saying "Panda" over and over was priceless. He would look at the Pandas on TV and look around for his Panda. When he finds his Panda he always rushes over to it and gives it hugs. Maybe the video drove home the idea that Pandas are real animals for the first time.

Global Stuff

Some nice Infographics brought to us by the INA of Princeton.

Weekend Visitors

Another American husband, Japanese wife couple came to visit us this weekend. Since K. (the wife) is an acquaintance from my Waseda days, the meeting brought back lots of memories of living in Tokyo and Kawagoe almost 10 years ago. Thru some odd twists of fate she ended up married to this guy who was also a Waseda student a couple years after me and also now lives in Kentucky more for the work than the wonderful lifestyle. It impresses me how magnetic Kentucky must be- it must be the"unbridled spirit".

This State slogan (which aptly replaced "It's that friendly") comes to mind and drives me crazy evertime I drive into the county I live in, past the liquor stores that advertise "last chance for liqour for the next 100 miles" and in general with the wave of religoius opprersion I feel when I forget I can't get any alcohol anywhere all day Sundays. There is definitely somebody with a tight grip on the reins!

Anyhow somehow the air mattress is all out of shape, wont deflate and I have no idea what they tried to do with it that left it miserably useless.

The baby sign language book has arrived! I'll be signing with Ren and chatting it up in no time! I can't wait. I can't wait to see him signing "let's not take a bath and go to bed- let's throw balls around till morning".