Just a short post to say that Junya has started to show real signs of progress when it comes to controlling his own head. He can now sit up, supported, but holding his own head up straight. He sometimes “over compensates” so that the head starts to bop back and forth rapidly! But he soon regains control over it.

I can also lift him up by holding him under his arms and supporting his chest on my palms, and sort of make him into a airplane. I can then fly around with him, while he keeps his bodyu completely stiff. I am not sure whether he enjoys it or not though. But we definitely enjoy it!

He has also eaten a couple of tea spoons of mikan juice, which he seemed to like although it was a bit sour.

Yesterday evening it started snowing, and this morning there is snow everywhere!! We have already changed to winter tires.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thorasmund/sets/72157609509071174/

I forgaars, den 19. november, doede Takakos mormor.

Hun blev 95 aar, og det sidste stykke tid har hun vaeret paa et slags hospital/plejehjem for aeldre mennesker der kraever daglig hjaelp. Jeg har aldrig oplevet hende som andet end en svag gammel dame, der efterhaanden ikke engang kunne sige noget forstaaeligt, men Takako husker hende naturligvis fra dengang hun staidg var frisk….

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Today Junya is 80 days! The last 20 days since he turned 60 days has been filled with events, and he has changed a lot in those days. For instance he has started making little clicking/kissing sounds with his mouth as an indication that he is hungry! So now there are five stages in what he does when he wants something to eat:

1. Clicking/kissing sounds with mouth
2. Sticking thumb out
3. Sucking left hand
4. Slightly grumpy
5. Full out screaming!

Another interesting thing is that he has proved to us that he is able to recognise different people’s faces. If he is sleepy (which to him is a bit similar to being hungry) he wants his mum. Period. Dad won’t do. We noticed this as he was sitting in his bouncer and started making grumpy noises, then started screming. I tried to soothe him, but it didn’t work. I held his hand, talked to ham, hummed a tune, patted his back.. no effect. Then Takako took over and did the same. And after 15 seconds he stopped crying. He smiled and laughed, so Takako went back to work.

5 minutes later the same happened. He got grumpy, and I tried to do exactly the same as Takako did. But no. He just started screming even more, tears in his eyes and nose! Then Takako came over, and the instance he saw her, he stopped crying. She picked him up, and he was fine after that.

Of course he can connect Takako’s face with being fed and sleeping, and this is probably why he doesn’t want me to hold him when he needs food or sleep. Even when we bathe him he has started crying when I hold him. I know one shouldn’t take it personally - it is just the way babies are. The positive thing is that he is still happy most of the time, and then it is fun and easy to play with him!

He has also started to outgrow some of his clothes. When I bathe him I can feel he is a lot longer than when he was born. He doesn’t fit on my lap anymore. He is also noticeably heavier! Carrying him around for half a day in the baby carrier, puts quite a strain on one’s back.

The weather report says that it will be snowing on the 20th. So when we woke up this morning we thought we should get the most out of the remaining warm days. Ever since the Iwakuras visited us, we had been talking about paying a visit to their place, and after Takako called and talked to them, we decided to go there as soon as Junya was ready.

They live in a house further down the street towards road 49 and they run the local temple. They have a daughter, Saeko, who is 10 months old, and so unbelievably cute! When they visited us I took some photos, but today I forgot my memory card, so I will be posting Takako’s photos instead.

In their house this morning was also a friend, Yuriko, and her daughter Kouko. She was also very cute; a big Asian baby with a lovely smile! Junya enjoyed being with two cute girls (again!), and behaved very nice. He didn’t hit them in the face or make them cry, like last time we visited someone!

From left to right: Junya, Kouko and Saeko. On the second photo, Kouko is showing that she is now fully aware of her own feet!

Saeko sitting with her grandmother!

They had baked some very delicious cakes with pumpkin topping and whipped cream. The cakes were very soft and spongy, exactly like the ones you can buy at the bakery. I wonder how you get them that soft.. Maybe you need to stir the eggs (a lot) before adding the flour?

There are more photos here. But finally, before I end this blog entry, here is Junya wearing the new clothes we received from one of Takako’s friends today. It is still too big for him, but we just had to try it on him! Doesn’t he look cool?

http://nafai.org/temp/rainbow.jpg

Which translates to something like, ehh, there lives a baker… (It’s from a stupid Danish nursery rhyme, and, I am, sort of, really into nursery rhymes at the moment. I have no idea why.. !)

Anywho, there is a baker here in Yamato - one of the small cities close to where we live. We had heard from friends that their bread should be exceptionally good, and that they actually made Danish rye bread (also called pumpernickel) as well. We went their yesterday (and today) and bought several types of bread and had a small chat with the owners. And then this evening we were mentioned in their blog!

今日は、デンマークの方が見えて、堅焼き黒パンやクリングラ、スコーンなどを買って行かれました。実は、昨日も私が配達に出かけている間にお出でになって、プンパニッケルと堅焼き黒パンを買って行かれたそうで、二日続けてのご来店です。
お連れ合いが日本人で、ご本人も日本語がお上手でしたからお話しも通じましたが、食工房のパンを気に入っていただけたようで、とてもうれしく思いました。(link)

Here is a link to their website:

http://shokuko.com

You can also buy a delicious bread made from real yeast (all their breads are) and with caraway seeds (kommen in Danish) in it. You can even buy a Swedish kringla!

I have uploaded three videos with Junya if anyone is interested

They are taken at Mako-sensei’s place today when we visited her with Junya. Mako works as a nurse and is one of Takako’s former students from when she taught English. She now works at the hospital where Junya was born and that is where we met her. She also kindly wrote Junya’s name with a brush on Junya’s meimeisho after he was born!

Here are links to the videos:

Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

And finally a few images I also took at Mako’s place. The little girl is Mako’s nephew and her name is Yuzuna.

I have been asked to take some photos of the area I now live in. So without further ado, here are some photos from Kaminojiri. Mostly rice fields and old houses

http://photos.nafai.org/album/723

SongBird, the Mozilla powered open source system for organising your music and putting it on your iPod, which has been developed to replace the dreaded iTunes, does NOT (and i repeat NOT) actually support syncing music to your iPod! At least not the latest generations of iPod, iPhone etc. Just a warning to those who thought that SongBird, which has been heralded as the best replacement for iTunes, could actually replace iTunes - it cannot. It is a beautiful product on its own, it just can’t do what it was meant to do…

Of course it is all due to Apple releasing produts with yet another undocumented protocol, so the developers of third party applications are left in the dark. In these days and ages I have stopped being suprised. I am not even disappointed, just… bleh.