Where's Waldo?

I chose this picture because of the beautiful trees beginning to bloom, William loves riding the buses, and if you look really closely, Tim has gotten off the bus at the last bus stop, and is walking towards us.  He is in a tie beyond the car you see.  So, I have a picture of Tim!

We're getting more into daily life.  We are still looking for houses, but it is a well-known fact that May is the big move month around here.  Some are moving now, but it gets crazier later!

We are hearing of houses... open in May, after people move out!

Tim has gone to a 'Go' club meeting tonight.  Go is a Japanese board game where you use white and black stones in squares to capture land.  If you surround an area, it's all yours.  The person with the most amount of their colored stones in squares, wins.  He used to play with his dad a lot.  Something fun to do.

William and I went to a play group today.  William was hesitant to play until he knew the rules.  He did love the parachute games.  Fun!  We walked to lunch and I let him run around at a small park area, and then back on the bus.  Yes, there are other pictures, but how many close-up pics of blossoms do you really want to see? 

We are agonizing over whether we should put William into Japanese kindergarten.  Their school year starts in April (very soon).  They get 6 weeks off at the end of July and August, and resume in September.  I think it would be great for him, but a mom I met today at the play group says the first three months is really hard because they don't understand anything.  Her daughter (would be in William's age group) speaks Japanese really well now, but for the first three months, cried every morning before going.  She'd always come home happy, but going was hard.  It's funny to see a little blondie speaking Japanese with confidence.

William can be soooo silly, I don't know if I want to inflict him on the Japanese peoples.  Like tonight, as we're walking back from dinner, he starts singing, "If you're happy and you know it, slap your butt..."  That song (normal words) was sung today at the tot play group, and he's changed the words for his own enjoyment.  Of course, I have to scold him for saying such things, but it does crack me up.

Tim said the nice part about American school, is that our holidays are on off-Japanese holidays, and therefore we can go to Disneyland on those days.  Hmmm... He does have a point.  Ah, what to do?  :)

One of the arguments for him going that has me about sold (but how William will manage the stress has me still on the edge) is that since we'll be living amongst other Japanese, he will be able to go play with the local kids if he learns enough Japanese to negotiate play.  He won't be isolated, or need me to interpret.

Some Japanese words are easy, like cheeks are hoho.  Easy to remember.  If you eat a lot of Ho-Hos, you'll have fat cheeks.  But some are so similar sounding to me.  I am learning a bit of slang.  I try to catch what the Japanese say to the driver as they get off the bus.  Older folks say different things than the younger ones, but I'm not sure of all the nuances.

We've been enjoying sunny days, and it sure helps posting pretty pictures!  William got to run outside a lot tonight, and learned how to climb a chain ladder up to a wooden landing.  An older child was using her wheeled shoes to go really fast down the steep slide.  You know the type of tennis shoes all the kids have, with the wheels in the heels, so you can roller skate a bit, or walk on your toes.  William wanted to know when he would get his wheeled shoes.  I can't keep up with him now with regular shoes...  no, he's not getting any!  And, no, Aunt Diane, I won't tell you his shoe size!!!  :)