Happy Halloween!
There's not much of a Halloween celebration here in Japan, but I did manage to get out to a costume party at a club on Saturday night. Great time, other than the fact that I lost all of my keys. Might be at the bar still. . .
Masashi had a little Halloween party, too! His friend, Yuzu (girl, same age), and her mom came over to our house today. Masa had a costume I had made for him: he was a cave man, complete with club and bone hair-piece. Unfortunately, he didn't want to wear the animal print cave man suit I made for him. It was a red plastic bag with dots, and he just kept pulling it off. I did get a couple of pictures of him with his bone hair-piece on, though. So, Masashi and Yuzu played together all day. No trick-or-treating, but lots of fun anyway.

New Pictures Up!

Album 2005-10-31 A
Album 2005-10-31 B 

So, today Masashi took Ritsuko on a walk up to a bridge near our house. Ritsuko said it was really weird: they were in the front yard, and Masa took Ritsuko's hand and led her about half a kilometer away to a near-by river that we always go to to play. He seemed to be able to figure out the right direction, taking Ritsuko on a route we had never used before. He just went towards the river and got there!

In other news (about Masa), Masashi seems to be carrying on conversations with us in his own language. He repeats "words," and emphasizes and punctuates his sentences, and responds to verbal stimuli. He does actually say some words, too, which have only recently become more clear. He says more, doozo, choodai, yada, tada-ima (Japanese for here you are, can I have it?, NO!, & I'm home), no, mama, dada, and maybe gochisoo-sama deshita (no good translation, really, but means something like That was a wonderful meal. or whatever polite thing you might say when your finished eating).

Well, it's getting colder in Asahikawa, but Masashi and I are still going to the park everyday for our morning romp. You can find a collection of pictures from the past few days.

Album 2005-10-22

Yes, with about 79 pictures uploaded into the latest album, Yahoo Photos seem to take a little time to process and display everything properly. Eventually, though, all of the pictures showed up properly.

This bunch of pictures includes mainly Masashi, though myself, Ritsuko, and Ritsuko's sister, Seiko, did manage to get in a few of the pictures. There are a lot of pictures of Masashi playing inside the house with his new toys (a tent filled with colored balls, and a little yellow rodeo horse). Sunday afternoon was beautiful, and the outdoor pictures are all from that day.

Here are the links:

Album 2005-10-17
Album 2005-10-17 B

New pictures up:

Album 2005-10-15


click to view larger image

Ritsuko and Masashi came to visit me at work today. No students, so we went at had dinner together (around 4:30pm). Masa got to play at the little game/amusement area inside the mall. He seemed to be having a lot of fun. Actually, Masashi got to play a lot today. I took him to "Crystal Park" this morning and played there for about an hour. It was early, so no one was there, but we had a lot of fun together. We'll definately go there more often (it was our first time to go there in the morning).
New pictures up

Album 2005-10-1

It was a beautiful Fall day, today. Masa and I were able to get out this morning before I went to work and take some nice pictures of the Autumn leaves. Actually, most of the pictures I took this morning were of the leaves and colors in the park behind our house. Masa is in some pictures, though, so check out todays web album!

Web Album: 2005-10-11

Just came back this afternoon from a weekend in Sapporo. Lots of fun: got to go out with some of my old friends, went to see Grandma Yamamoto, and did a little shopping for Masa. We also got to see these two big monster-mascot things in the shopping underground under Sapporo Station. Masa loved them, and wasn't too shy to go up and touch them. You can see those pictures, others from Sapporo, and some pictures from Asahikawa in my web album.

Album 2005-10-10

Today was a beautiful day here in Asahikawa, and I was so lucky to be able to spend most of it inside a windowless kindergarten!  No classes today, though, so I just listen to music and made a big tree.

Masashi is too young to go to regular nursery schools, but one school near our home offers, once a month, a one-hour block for pre-nursery school kids to come and sing and play. Masa had a lot of fun with all the kids, but seemed to especially enjoy climbing on stuff. He even tried the mini rock-climbing wall they had there! You can see these pictures at the following address:
Album 2005-10-05