catch up

Happy monkey doing the happy monkey pose for Halloween. Trick-or-treat back is on his head.



Little man art:



Reading The Little Prince in Japanese:

October Faces

In all the glory of October:





Another evil face:



Self portraits:





Preschool has begun (T/TH only). This is what his lunchbox looks like:

Summer's end

A new hairstyle forthe Brazilian festival:



Saying please in St. Louis:



Helping a certain someone find cake:



The little man drew a portrait of someone:

summer

The little man's best friend (who is, at times, on the receiving end of his kisses):

faces

The little man's favorite character is Thomas. A friend brought a mask to the park and it was, well, becoming.



Another friend (not in the picture) taught the little man the art of the "evil face" (悪い顔):



Another evil face:



And with a yell:

afternoon

The usual state of affairs on the road:

祭だ！祭だ！

We went to the "official" loudest festival in Japan. The little man liked it a lot and exhaustion couldn't keep him from dancing:

awhile

Not much coherence, but here are some summer pictures.

At the beach with cousins:



Self portrait:



In our neighborhood, the little man still behind the lens:





Swimming pool cap:



Muscle shirt:

there and here

The little man is learning to ride a bike with training wheels:







There are plenty of breaks:

teeth

The little man was invited to the Shibuya Ward Good Tooth Gathering. It was quite an honor. In the three year old division, only those children without cavities received certificates and bags of toys.

A chorus sang to warm up the children for the main event:



Crowned and certified:





Gifts:

Birthday

Another year, another party.

Not quite sure about what's about to happen:



Cheese and cousins:



On to the pond:



New friends:



Soccer:

bluegrass

(I forgot to post this before we moved.) The little man has a bit of his mother's joy of performing. Bluegrass is a new favorite:

words

In our last apartment, the little man practiced reading while I packed:
d

a break

Moving is finally done and now to more important matters.

Usual play:




For a school project, O'mi's cousin Marley sent a flat version of herself to tour Tokyo. Here she is under cherry blossoms:

peanuts

Bobbing for peanuts:

History

After nearly 3 years on this strange earth, it was time for a haircut. With the assitance provided by a DVD player and wide screen, the little man didn't mind a bit.

A little nervous:



The potency of cartoons:



Almost done:



Not quite ready to leave the cartoons:



No problems with the little ladies:

Dunking for...

Cheerios.

He was doing this for a while on his own, but needed prompting when the camera was out.

New

New favorite face:



This was supposed to be a picture of the entrance to our new apartment building, but the little man decided he wanted in the picture:

odd and ends

The little man took some more pictures:





A self portrait:



Happy as a clam (in a train):