mushroom head no more!

For the past 5 years, I had been Rey's only 'hairstylist'. I trimmed and cut his hair, out of fun and ah-hemm...out of full confidence with my good hair-cutting sense. We usually cut hair in the bathroom but the cold weather has delayed our hair-cut session until now. Rey's hair just kept growing. As you know, the Singapore family and I nicknamed Rey "mushroom head" and I guess Rey happily accepted this nickname because it is sort of related to Mario, or that's what I think. Anyway, one day, when I casually call out "mushroom head, come here!" Rey responded with a sly smile, "You know, Ikeda teacher called me shiitake no atama (mushroom head) this afternoon!" I was shocked! Now, it's no fun when other people outside the family calls my Rey this nickname. So Rey has his hair-cut debut yesterday!

Hair-stylist: Is there any choice of hairstyle that you want?

I: Not too short, don't change the image so drastically, or well, maybe it's okay to change the image afterall, show the ears, keep the sideburns, slope backwards, make it cool, ...(might as well do it myself instead, hor). Sorry, err... I leave everything to you but I just don't want anymore mushroom head. Thanks!

And then I left the fate of Rey's hair to the hairstylist. Rey kept so still because I told him if he moves an inch, he might get his ear snipped off! hahaa. That works so well, I think the hairstylist was happy with such a good customer. It took them 45 minutes, and I sat in a corner reading magazines, trying to overcome the sad feelings of not being able to cut Rey's hair anymore.

The end result! I like it alot, but I still miss my mushroom head Rey (sob)

Cafe

Went to a nice cafe for a cake set after Rey's Yamaha performance rehearsal. The waitress helped Rey poured a free cup of milk which is actually meant for the coffee.

Now talking about service. The other day, when Rey broke a cup of steam egg at a sushi restaurant, the waitress came to APOLOGISE for the inconvenience, checked if Rey got hurt before clearing up the mess with a SMILE. I don't have to compensate for the broke cup either.

dance battle

As you already knew, it's Rey's holidays. I should be very free these days but I am not. I have busied myself with schedules and places to bring Rey to. Today's schedule was to watch a Dance competition. As we were already late for the show, I nearly stamped the ground till it cracked when I found that the bus we took was wrong! I must have got some short term memory loss that made me want to take bus 3 instead of bus 32! Feeling totally lost and bitterly cold, we managed to catch a cab and catch up with the later part of the contest. I had expected some amateurs dancers but wow! The dancers were so up to standard they will have brought the "Shall We Dance" contestants in Singapore to shame. The highlight of the contest was the Dance battle where the 'best' dancers from each team showed off their dancing prowess. Rey even "screamed" his cat whistles. We are going to watch some band competition at the same venue tomorrow! bus 32 32 32

holiday trip 1

Korea Town

Yakiniku set and bibimba for lunch (not in the photo)

Kid's Plaza. Confirmed that Rey has no fear of heights.

Taichi master

'Stingrey' in the ocean

into a bubble...

can you see the big bubble?

Kid's supermarket

You have to 'buy' a maximum of 5 things and the bill must total up to 1000yen in order to get a stamp. Rey got three attempts before he got the figures right.

Role playing as a Postman. I'd love to have such handsome postman deliver letters to me everyday!

There were about 8 post boxes. You put the postcards into the postboxes according to their postal codes.

Found a Thai restaurant where we have green curry and icecream before we headed home.

The spring vacation starts this week and I plan to bring Rey to many places for FUN!

The 1st stop was the Korea Town in Osaka. We alighted the train at Tsuruhashi and walked for 20 minutes. Rey was great! He didn't complain about the distance but only kept asking me when we're reaching. I baited him with, "In 10 minutes' time." "5 mins" , "Just up ahead.", "going to reach", feeling guilty at the same time because I thought it was too far to walk too, plus the weather was quite warm. We reached the destination just in time for a nice Korean lunch. How I wish to visit Korea again...

The next stop was Kid's Plaza at Tenman station (just 3 min ride from Osaka station). It's a place for role playing, science experiments, computer games and craft work. It was so fun for Rey. I promised to bring him there again.

Rey's hair grows long too fast.

Now I know the reason why he pestered me to buy a magnifying glass...to look for white hair to pluck! That adds on to my list of 20 minute yucky activity for Rey. I'll put it as the last option though. Giving him a cob of sweet corn to eat is a much better choice.

Rey's yellow pansy grew in the winter. He brought this back from school. I tell you, I don't think these flowers will survive long once it's in the house.

Hinamatsuri performance

Rey totally enjoyed his performance. You could see him smiling all the while on stage.

how to read?

The message says, "Please switch on the lights." Written by Rey for papa to see when he comes home in the night.

I: Err, how to read this message in the dark in the 1st place?

Rey: (looks enlightened suddenly) Oh yah! Whahaaha!

Why can we see the moon in the daytime?

Rey asked me this question when we were out cycling. "Why do we see the moon in the day and sometimes we can't?"

Ok, somewhere in my mind, I know the answer to this. But I have to find the simplest, most explainable answer that a 5 year-old boy can understand. I decided to draw the Sun, moon and Earth diagram and teach him all about the rotation of the Earth and the Moon. Maybe you can find the answer on Rey's blog. That, I think will take him hours to type it in.

This is a funny answer I found on the net.

Q: Why is it that we can see the moon in the day?

A: The moon must report to the sun 12 times per year to keep it advised of sinister goings-on on the dark side of the Earth.

Girl's Festival

March 3rd is the Hinamatsuri (Girl's festival). Since Rey is a boy, we didn't celebrate this festival but simply made these paper craft dolls.

The performance will be held this Saturday.