Little J: ‘Exploring a flower meadow’ Wildlife Trust event

Friday, May 20, 2011

‘Exploring a flower meadow’ Wildlife Trust event

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I think the event was actually intended for adults, but the other participants were so knowledgeable (and had huge macro lenses!) that I think I learnt more than everyone else! We found some great things like …

… Tortoise-shell-butterfly caterpillars – so many on one leaf! …

…rare wild Southern Marsh Orchids (that I almost walked on) …

… mutated plantains …

… badger runs …

… and pond life.

Now thinking of changing my name to ‘Bellamy’ and talking in hushed tones!

Just joking! Might change my name, but could never learn to whisper everything!

(May 2011)

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Planting a ...

...actually, we don't know what it is. I picked it up from the shop display, so mummy had to buy it

Hee hee. Think I'll have to try that again, next time from the chocolate display ...

Hope it grows as big as my mini tomato plant (Nov 9)

New toy

Today was a rainy day, so mummy magically produced a new toy for me to play with! It was great fun, even though my trains wouldn't fit through the ball holes

Afterwards I played 'The frog song (kaeru no uta)' on my guitar

Using the potty (properly) for the first time

I sat on potty for half an hour reading a train book. Mummy called me a 'Typical Bloke'. Can anyone tell me what she means? (Nov 7)

Singing 'Kaeru no uta'

I attempted to turn the restaurant into a karaoke bar. I love 'The frog song' (Nov 3)

Karaoke time!

I'm sure it's my turn to sing. Just don't let mummy near the microphone (Nov 2)

ICU (university) festival

I met Winnie-the-pooh ...

..ate chocolate bananas, and watched singing, dancing and other festival entertainment. There were lots of cute girls! (Nov 2)

Eco Festival in Shinjuku Park

Eating a 'fair trade banana'. Mummy says if I eat too many bananas I'll grow up to be a monkey rather than a train driver

Chrysanthemum festival in Shinjuku Park!

Running around the Chrysanthemum beds (Nov 2)

Happy Hallowe'en Everybody!

Yuma's Hallowe'en Party

(October 31, of course)

'Trick or treat?'

Everyone else is holding big bags of candy. I'm holding ... a train!

Making Hallowe'en cookies for my friends

(Oct 30)

This is fun

Quick taste check; I hope they taste better when they're cooked

Shall I make a ghost or a cat or a bat ...?

I know. I'll make them all. All at once.

DJ Junya in the house

Checking out the latest AC-DC disc (Oct 29)

Yuma chan's music room

He's a really good pianist. I might ask him to join my band, but I'm worried the rattle-player, Reiko-chan, might like him more than me ... (Oct 31)

I think the AC-DC riff goes something like this ...

Playground tour #5,388,987

(Oct 25)

What goes up ...

... must come down

I can see a damsel in distress

Little J to the rescue!

Weeeeeeee!

Oh no. Forgot the damsel. (Oct 25)

Hey! I can see a train!

Even better, I can see a Shinkansen Bullet Train!

Bob the Builder

Heard the song. Wore the T-shirt. Time to watch the DVD! (Note the posh kitchen in the background. It is digital heaven! So many buttons to play with)

Afterwards I cooked dinner for everyone

At Jonny and Kokoro's new apartment (Oct 24)

Playground tour #5,388,986

Mum, you're exaggerating. It's only my 5,388,956 slide (Oct 12)

That was fun. Can I do it again?

And again? And again? (OK, maybe mummy wasn't exaggerating.) And again?

Impressive train track!

I made this layout all by myself (Oct 13) although I needed mum's help to retrieve my train from under the sofa, and the fridge, and the bookcase ... I'm the track engineer and driver. It's a guard's duty to find derailed trains. (You're exaggerating again mum; I'm sure it wasn't every five seconds.)

Yamagata potato party

Yamagata potatoes are my new favourite food (Sept 11)

I feel heavy?

That could be because I ate twice my body weight in potato salad!

I think these singers are going to become very famous in future, and then this picture will be worth lots of money ...

Rare picture - little J asleep

Maybe dreaming about potato salad? (Note toy car still clutched in hand)

Reading train books with Aki-chan

The stories were much better when Aki-chan's mum read them to us (Oct 10)

Two naughty boys...

... up to no good ...?

On a date with Sudina-chan

Her parents own a Nepalese restaurant which serves great curry. I think we might go steady ...

Little J gets Baptised

It was like a small shower with my clothes on, in front of lots of people. But I was allowed to take my shinkansen train with me, so it was ok. Mummy doesn't usually let me take trains into the shower. Nor cars, books, videos, ... maybe we could swap our bath for an alter? (Oct 5)

Race track heaven

Today I went to Korakuen play center with my mates, (L-R) Ryuga-chan and Aki-chan (Oct 4)

My car's winning ...

No mine's winning ...

Just giving my car a little encouragement ...

Eenie meenie minie moe

Even the tv remote control doesn't have so many buttons to choose from

Afterwards we played chicken on the slides

Do I look like mummy or daddy?

Today we went to sumo

My favourite wrestler, Ama (can you see him in the background?) won so I was happy (Sept 25)

Hanging out with my mate, Aki-chan

(Sept 20)

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?

Aki, no Junya, no Aki, we both stole the cookies from the cookie jar!

Looking cute (as usual!)

Showing a leg before bed

(Sept 18)

Saturday playtime

On a slide. Now there's a surprise (Sept 13)

At the beach with a new friend

And with two more safe friends (hee hee!)

Cruising!

Tonight we had dinner on a cruise ship in Tokyo Bay with some friends (Sep 12)

Ship ahoy! (Little J on deck) A ship's captain might be an exciting job ...

Hand and potato-print painting

I had to make a picture to decorate the Hoikuen day care for the Undo-kai sports day

The finished masterpiece (Sept 10)

Nothing frightens Little J!

Tiger taming at Tokyo Zoo (Sept 7)

The monkeys were definately the best

Here I am with a big monkey

Hee hee, just joking Mum!

Did I tell you I started a band?

Yoshito plays percussion, Reiko is on keyboards and rattle

And I play remote control helicopter

Hmm, maybe I should learn to play the violin instead (Sept 6)

Kampai! Cheers!

Sunday afternoon tea with my girlfriends, Reiko and Rio. (Some grown ups gate-crashed)

Everyone enjoyed my jokes; maybe I'll be a comedian when I grow up

And this looks like the volume button ...

Teaching Reiko chan how to work the stereo

Afterwards we went to sleep

In separate beds, of course

Saturday - Bullet Train Driver!

Today we went to watch Shinkansen (Bullet Trains) at Tokyo station. It was sooooo exciting!

Saturday 23 August

I asked the driver if we could swap vehicles, but unfortunately he didn't have a pushchair licence

Later at home I made my own Shinkansen bullet train

Tuesday - fork lift truck driver

'Helping' in the timber yard

Then I cleaned the street (August 19)

Going ...

... going ...

... gone!

(Aug 18)

First trip to the seaside

The best point about playing in a big bath like the sea is: mummy didn't shout when I splashed water everywhere. Bad point: the water didn't taste so good (Aug 9)

Firework Party

Everyone enjoyed eating my chocolate cake. The fireworks were pretty good too (Aug 7)

Today's menu: Chocolate cake

Better check the taste (again) before we put it in the oven ... (6 Aug)

Cooking lesson

This time I'm making mashed vegetables; very healthy

These are organic right? (Aug 5)

I love chocolate!

Today we went to the flower shop and the lady gave me a Gerbara and a chocolate (2cmx2cm). One of them tasted better than the other (1mmx1m) (August 4)

Picnic and play in the park (of course, play!)

With my hoikuen day care friends. I'm the one in blue shorts (4-R) re-filling a water pistol (Sat 26 July)

OK sensei, I promise not to shoot you ... too much

The first beer is always the best!

Don't worry mum, it's not open. I'm just practicing for when I'm 18 (July 24)

Do I look cool?

(July 21)

Or how about these?

Mum says I'll have to wear them all the time if I sit too close to the TV

Bricking up mum's computer

Well, if I'm not allowed to play with it, why should anyone else be able to access it? (July 20)

Watching Sumo

Go Ama! Go Ama! (He's the smallest wrestler, so of course, I have to support him)

Summer Festival fishing game

The challenge was to scoop floating plastic thingies into a bowl. (Advanced version uses live goldfish)

I was so good at it I could use both hands

But after an hour was so wet I had to take my shirt off (July 14, 15, 16. Yes, I went every day)

I love water!

In the paddling pool in the terrace garden (12 July)

Except shark-infested water

Are those teeth real? (At Shinagawa aquarium park July 12)

Mini grape spoon practice

Mini grapes taste good and roll sooooo far! If I'm quick, mummy doesn't see and squeals when she she steps on one. Great game!

I've got hundreds of toys

but this milk carton on a rubber band is definately the best!

Or maybe this box is best ...

Hoikuen Festival

Mummy read 'The very hungry caterpiller' to my friends (July 4)

Then we enjoyed (?) singing performances by the parents. Stop talking mum!

Hoikuen walking tour

of playgrounds! Yahoo! OK, enough photographs. Lets get on with the tour

On the playground swing with mummy (Sorry, scanned pics so poor quality, but I still look cute, right?)

The tour ended with a picnic lunch in the park. (Here I am with my friends and hoikuen teachers)

I'm winning! I'm winning! Won! Pathetic effort mum.

Making cookies

(June 26)

'... and mark it with J ...'

(brush it with butter) 'and put it in the oven for mummy and me'

Afterwards I washed up

It was fun, but I made sure I made lots of mess, in case mummy expects me to wash up every day! (Note from mum: I wish!)

I can find a Tonker-toy mini-car

no matter where you try to hide it Mum

Today I made Niku-jyaga Japanese beef stew

I think it needs a little more soy sauce

Ah, that's much better!

Wow! This Niku-jyaga stew is really good!

Maybe I will be a chef when I grow up ...

Mini tomato plant - status update

I think this one is ready to eat Mum (June 20)

Finger-painting

Quickly progressed to body-art

Then full house-painting (June 15) aka 'How to make a little yellow paint go a looooong way!'

Introducing my new girlfriend(s)

Amelie-chan: she's half French and has long curly hair

Meguru-chan: her parents were students at ICU

Hannah-chan: we picked plums together

Reiko chan: we play bongo duets

Eat your heart out, Elton

This is MY song!

Wonder what Auntie Liz has sent me ...

It's chocolate buttons! My favourite!

What? Only four packets? That will barely keep me going 'til teatime

Church Charity Bazaar

Mum and I worked on the book stall. Here I am recommending good titles to customers. Some people wanted to buy me. (Luckily it wasn't the same day I put mum's phone in the bath or make-up down the toilet, or she might have sold me!)

My reward for working so hard?

A BMW! Cool! Can we do a bazaar again tomorrow please mum?

I wanted to buy the boat too, but mum said she couldn't push my buggy, and carry a BMW, a dumper truck, a train (yes, I'm spoilt!) AND a boat on the train

I think my 'mini' tomato might be a triffid

I asked mum to bring it indoors during a typhoon

Multi-tasking

Getting ready to pitch?

No, I'm ...

Today we went plum picking in ICU campus orchard. (I know 'orchards' are usually apples, but mummy couldn't tell me what the collective noun is for a group of plum trees.) (June 1)

Picking plums!

Here's some I picked earlier

The only boy who can pick plums from privit!

(Auntie Liz: note the cool threads!)

Hey Beckham!

Shall we practice dribbling? No! I mean dribbling a ball!

I found the ball, Beckham, but ...

... wait a minute. Help! I'm stuck!

Surprise!

Peter Rabbit was surprised to meet Little J in the park this afternoon

The bad news is, I caught a cold

The good news is, the doctor told mummy to mix the medicine with chocolate ice-cream. I think the dose should be increased to 5 times a day, for at least a month

Today is Boys' Day (May 5)

(Or to be politically correct, 'Children's Day') so I'm expecting lots of presents - are you reading this mum? So far all I got were training chopsticks (but it's easier to use my fingers)

Walking

Go on, tell me how cute I look! (Wed 30 April)

Running

Next week Tokyo Marathon? (Thurs. 1 May)

Grown-up umbrella

I hate the plastic rain cover. It makes me look like a baby and I can't see anything that might need investigating, so I persuaded Mum to give me her umbrella (by complaining loudly) and she used the plastic tent. (17 April)

Sushi

Tasted OK, but I think I prefer strawberries and pen lids. (April 12)

Mountaineer

I've been thinking, instead of a pianist, maybe I could be a climber ... meanwhile, I need to rewind my ABC video (April 7)

Or maybe a gardener ...

(April 6)

Greenfingers

This tomato plant is growing faster than me! Maybe I should drink water instead of milk.

Play center tour #8

Don't worry mum, when we've run out of slides in Tokyo we can start in Osaka.

Hey! Look what I found!

The only baby with a built-in piano-seeking device (April 3)

Thomas the Tank Engine racetrack

Grandma sent me a new bathtoy. (March 31)

It's almost as much fun to play with as the plug. Oh no, caught red-handed. It just jumped into my hand Mum, honest. I've no idea how it came out. Hey! Where's all the water gone?

Hana-mi party

Today (Sat 29 March) we had cherry-blossom-viewing/hana-mi party with Mum's friends from RIKEN

Junya senior meets Junya junior (me)

(Left) with Yoshito and his father, Kippoh (right)

Piano time!

Afterwards I taught Junya senior how to play the piano

Then played a duet with Yoshito

Cherry-blossom viewing

I could fill my blog with 'Cherry-blossom-viewing' pictures (March 25) What does that silly face mean, Mum? Oh, right. If I eat any more cherry-blossoms I'm going straight to bed without any dinner. That doesn't include milk, does it?

I don't care if I never eat another Cherry blossom in my life!

I wonder if that tree is Yamazakura?

Or maybe it's Yaezakura?

That one's Shidarezakura

Right Pa? (March 22)

Today we went to the park

With the students and teachers from Mum's Japanese class

For Cherry-blossom-viewing, of course

Note the cherry blossom behind us (March 25) I'll soon be able to tell you what each species tastes like!

Push Chair

It's a hard life when you have to push your own chair

Born to slide!

At another play center. I'm hoping we can do a 'Tokyo play-center tour' and visit them all. Don't worry mum, I heard there are only 683, so if we can visit one every day, it won't even take two years. (March 15)

Little-bics

Today I went to Littlebics exercise class (March 4). Where am I?

"Helping" the teacher

Afterwards I cooked everyone lunch

Play time!

(Mum calls it 'dinner time'.) Wearing my dinner - food everywhere, except on the plates. (March 2)

At the play center

With my girlfriends. Later I took my favourite babe, Reiko chan, for a spin ... (Feb 29)

Train driver

Don't look so worried Reiko chan. I know it's my first time, but I've watched lots of Thomas the Tank Engine videos (Feb 29)

Hang on Reiko chan

I'm going to move up a gear

Racing mum

I won of course

By miles!

I found another piano

At the play center (Feb 29)

Piano lesson (basic)

I tried to teach mum - first you have to take your hands out of your pockets ...

Piano lesson (Intermediate)

Teaching my (other) girlfriend, Riruha, how to play the piano.(Don't tell Reiko chan.) "First you turn it on, like this..."

Piano lesson (advanced)

"Then, if you want to annoy mum, you turn up the volume, like this." Sorry mum, I can't hear what you're shouting; the music's too loud. (Pics from my Christmas party - hence the Santa suit.)

Talking of mum

Here she is, holding superbaby. Oh no, forgot the red pants. Back to the phonebox.

Writing my blog

Just want to download one more pic, then we can call it a night. (J climbed up on the chair by himself. Feb 10)

Play it again Sam

(Feb 8)

And again

(Feb 9)

And now for the grand finale!

Did I hear you say 'encore'?

The aliens have landed

"I come in peace." Can you think of a better caption? (Feb 9)

I love strawberries!

I could eat a whole punnet. Oh, I did. (Feb 2)

I love bananas too!

T-shirt by Auntie Liz. Plate by Auntie Pat. Banana by mummy.

Actually, I"ll eat anything ... pens ...

Bricks ...

Laundry balls ...

A particular favourite!

Wearing Auntie Pat's sports suit

I mean, the sports suit Auntie Pat sent me.

I"m ready!

What time does the aerobics class start mum?

Bathtime

Those turtle critters get everywhere! (Feb 1)

With my treasure!

I fell off the sofa and landed in toy heaven. (Mummy was hoping I would land in my cot and go to sleep. Sleep? What is this sleep thing everyone keeps talking about?)