WIND AND BOTTOMS!

And you'll be relieved to know that I'm talking about the weather variety at least for the wind part... They are gale force today. Our recycle bins are presently sitting on the front lawn, and I am not going out there to put them back because I know they will make their way out there again anyway.

I did a load of washing, and then ambitiously stuck another load of sheets in that I have to do before returning the guest futons back to MIL. BAD idea...I brought in the first load and the clothes, although dry, were covered in "sand", a.k.a. dirt. Damn the wind. So it took me ages to shake it all out, everytime I opened the window, a whole load came in and I am now stuck with a bedroom floor covered in the stuff. Will get the hoover up there when L wakes up from his rare afternoon nap.

Yesterday was H's 3 year check-up. MIL and SIL both had the day off work, so I asked them to mind L while H and I went to the health centre alone. And very glad about that! It took almost two hours. Being weighed, measured, teeth checked, body checked, eye sight, pee, the works. Usually Y would have taken a half-day off to come with me, but after several annoying trips to the Maebashi health centre, where they tried to tell me I should speak Japanese with my children, I decided that not understanding the language well might actually be an advantage...

So we wangled our way through the nine stages of the check-up and H and I actually had a good time. It's rare that we do stuff together, and we chatted, drew and played while we were waiting for each stage. I also felt very proud, because a lot of the other children were crying at having to take off their clothes to be weighed, see the doc./dentist, and I realised again how good H is. The staff were kind and impressed that H sleeps from 7p.m.-7a.m. and has a healthy diet and only dislikes pak choi, food-wise! It was a very positive experience all round. Oh, apart from H's kindie friend's granny trying to give H gum...

Afterwards, because H had been complaining of shooting pains in her bum, Y and I took her to the pediatrician, who referred us to the "bum doc." where there were about 110 people waiting...I got Y to ask the nurse how long it might be, and lucky lucky, she said they could squeeze us in because it was a child. In order not to annoy the other patients (can't say I would be annoyed if someone pushed in, would just think their situation might be worse?), we had to go and wait outside the "brain dept." and sneak in through another door. They only wanted one of us to go in with her due to lack of space apparently. As Y would be better language-wise, he went in and I went out to the car with L. I made sure that Y explained to H what was going to happen so that she wouldn't be afraid. She was apparently very good and hmmm..well I'm not really sure of the diagnosis..as always, but apparently there is some kind of mild infection, so she has cream and antibiotics and we are to go back in two weeks if there are still problems. So it was a "brave girl" day all round.