Fumio made the kids a go-cart. They LOVED it! And had a great time riding around the neighborhood.
We went to Mineko's house and she gave us a calligraphy lesson and a wonderful lunch. Her onigiri (rice balls) were just as delicious as I remembered!
It was a beautiful spring day.
We visited the
Ryuyoen, the orphanage where Takumi lived before he came to live with me. This is the room where most of the older kids ate.
Here are two of the cooks who are justifiably proud or the food that they cook. Every meal the kids have five or six different dishes with many kinds of food.
Every meal had soup and usually when a kid wouldn't eat something, it would get added to the soup and then the kids would eat it!
This is one of the many beautiful bulletin boards in the main play room for the older kids (those who can walk). The bulletin board shows the Ampanman gang celebrating Boys' Day (also called Children's Day).
These are cribs in the baby room. There are usually about 23 children at the Ryuyoen. They have children from 0-24 months. At two years old, children move to a different facility.
This is the play space for the babies (those who can't walk yet).
More Boys' Day decorations in the baby room.
These are the cribs in the big kids' room.
Decorations above the big kids' cribs.
These little walkers were Takumi's favorite toys when we lived in Japan.
Here Ryoko finally got Takumi to smile and play with the Dokinchan mobile. This is the second play room which is sometimes used as an infirmary if several children are sick at the same time.
Here is the little sink that the kids use before meals and after they play outside.
And the potties. They start kids sitting on the potties at about 13 months old. There doesn't seem to be any expectation that the kids will be out of diapers by two years old (when we left Japan) but at the orphanage and Takumi's daycare, they put all the kids on potties with some success several times a day.
These are the Japanese soaking tubs. Just like big people the kids all get a scrub off outside the tub using a shower head on hose and then they soak in the bathtub. The nannies hold the kids standing in the bathtubs. The water comes all the way up to their shoulders.
This is the birthday bulletin in the hallway. It was great to see all of the people who work at the orphanage again. Takumi was shy, as usual, when we got there. But he talked a lot about going before we went and after.