i really meant to post over the weekend, but tommy got sick on saturday night and i've been dealing with puke and runny diapers for the past two days. yeah, yoshi had to work yesterday, so even though he got home at four, it's been a shitty weekend. ha.

the silver lining seems to be quite a few lurkers coming out to say hi! yay! so, i will answer some questions here.

corinne asked: What kind of singing do you do and is there ever a possibility of getting a video of you singing on your blog?? I was thinking about goig on that show where amateurs sing and get gonged or go on to the next round just for fun!

i guess i mostly pop songs. i prefer ballads at karaoke, which is kinda boring, i need to learn some upbeat songs! i am too shy to do the singing show on NHK, though yoshi has tried out twice. i guess the closest we'll get to me singing on the blog is this little baby song for tommy:



GW asked (though i'm sure it was rhetorical): Is today offical delurking day? It's a bit scary asking everyone to delurk.

thursday was offical delurk day, but being in japan, i guess i missed it. kinda. but one can ask lurkers to come out any time!

helen asked: I love your crafts, so maybe I'll ask a question about crafting....is there a craft that you don't know how to do, but wish that you did?

hm. good question. i can't really think of anything, except some kind of felt crafting. i am not very good at the things i can do (i mean, i REALLY want to knit a pair of socks, but can't!) so i would rather improve my skills before trying something new!

clare maree asked: What are your thoughts on keeping your children bilingual as they start school? Our situation is the opposite to yours, trying to keep our children as fluent as possible in Japanese while living in an English environment, so I'd love to hear views from the other side of the fence.

for now, we are going with minority language at home. yoshi speaks english very well, and this is working for us. the kids still play in english even though hiro's been in school for over a year. sometimes he uses japanese, but sasha and tommy are not picking it up. also, the kids don't have any japanese playmates (our neighbors' kids are either too old or too young) so besides hiro's school time, they have no need for japanese. hiro is improving, apparently, getting along really well at school now and picking up japanese quickly. this is what i expected, so so far, things are going smoothly. we're not reading or writing yet, and this may be something the kids will be weak in (reading and writing in english). this is normal, though i have high hopes for sasha.

well, i guess that's it. unless you have more questions for me. don't be shy!