Influenza and Noodles

It's almost bedtime. The twins are running around with their toothbrushes, and the toothbrushes are talking to each other. Anything can talk in their imaginary world, but their favorite talking items are crayons, chopsticks and toothbrushes. Of couse, actual toys talk, too. Reia is asleep. She's been fighting the flu for the past two days. We took all the kids to the doctor's office three weeks ago for vaccinations. At that time hardly any cases of the flu had been reported. A week ago we took the kids back for a booster shot, and we still didn't have any friends who had the flu. Now it seems every family we know has at least one sick child. All of them, like us, are hoping the rest of the family will stay well. Just now Hitomi says one twin has a slightly high temperature. But what about all the money we paid for those vaccinations...

On Sunday I went to an Udon making class that lasted all morning. This was my second time taking the class. It's pretty fun, a good chance to practice Japanese and meet people, and you get to eat a LOT of good udon. I signed up with a friend who I met in the same class last spring. We were going to have an udon eating party with our two families afterwards, but my daughter and his son had the flu. Next week we'll go back together for part two: a Soba making class. So afterwards we'll all go to his house and eat soba! Personally, I like soba better than udon -- more character, like I'll take whole wheat over white bread most of the time.

Last night I temporarily locked myself out of this blog. I erased the default "author" of the blog, thinking that MT (the software that powers this site) wouldn't let me do something that would damage the blog itself. I was wrong. After a long time trying to fix the problem (using MT-Medic), I contacted my hosting provider's technical support and asked them to restore my database using a previous backup. I was HOPING that they automatically keep backups. Fortunately, they do. The person from technical support was very friendly, and with his help everything was fixed in no time. This site is hosted by Westhost, by the way. They have always provided excellent support, very little down time, and all the features I need for a low monthly price. Today I give them two thumbs up.

The picture above has been in the gallery for a long time, but I've never posted it on the blog (I don't think). When kids first learn to write a few letters, they are so proud -- and their parents are proud, too. Anyway, our daughter had just started going to Japanese preschool. She didn't speak or understand much Japanese, and she's pretty shy by nature, so I knew every day was pretty hard for her. One day, though, she took the initiative to write her own name on her "indoor shoes" (the shoes above, which are what the kids wear inside the building). It wasn't just pride in writing that motivated her. She had figured out that the other kids could only write their names (if at all) in Hiragana (Japanese script). She wanted everyone to see her name spelled out in letters this way. If she was older and "showing off" I might have reacted differently, but in this case I was so happy that she could celebrate and take confidence in a part of herself that was unique. So I took this picture and hope ya' like it.

One more post is coming tomorrow, and then things will be quiet for until the end of the month. I'll respond to comments though.

Posted by jw at February 7, 2005 09:38 PM