Maya's Blankie

These are my old sketches of Maya and her blankie.


The day that I've never thought it will come has come. Maya stopped sleeping with her favorite blankie! Since she was a baby, it was her best friend. When she sleeps and cries, it was always with her.
It is embarrassing to say, but she still had a habit to suck her thumb. She promised us that she will stop her thumb sucking, when her 6th birthday comes which is coming in one month. Then, she figured out the way to stop it. It was the blankie! When she sleeps with it, she couldn't resist to suck her thumb. So one night she put the blankie to her toy box and said "Good night." That was it. After that day, she doesn't hold the blankie any more. It seemed like she said Bye-bye to her babyhood...

永遠に来ないであろうと思っていた日がとうとう来ました。マヤが赤ちゃんの頃からの一番のお気に入りのブランケットと一緒に寝るのをやめたのです。（教育テレビ『いないいないばあ！』の”もうふ”が大好きで、”もーふ”と呼んでいました。）これがないと寝られなくて、泣いたときも慰めてくれる一番のお友達でした。
ここに書くのも恥ずかしいですが、実はまだ指しゃぶりが直らず、６歳になるまでにやめようねといつも言っていました。そして、誕生日があと一ヶ月で来てしまうのに焦ったのでしょうか、ある夜、どうやったらやめられるのか自分で見つけました。それは”もーふ”と一緒に寝ないこと。すたすたとおもちゃ箱にいってもーふを入れて、「おやすみ」と言ったのが最後、おもちゃ箱から取り出すことはありませんでした。何だか、赤ちゃん時代にサヨナラしたみたいで、母としてはちょっと寂しく感じるのでした。でもおしゃぶりやめられてよかった！

Conversation

We are a trilingual family. My husband and I speaks our native languages to Maya and English between us. Until recently, we didn't have conversation all together. Now Maya is getting better and better in English. She just wants to get into our conversation at dinner time and dictates it! She doesn't understand all of what we talk. But once she finds one word she knows, she joins us and talks nonstop, forgetting to eat! It is great to have family conversation finally, but also a little bit annoying.....

Cherry flower petals

There is a cherry tree in the courtyard of the preschool Maya had graduated last year. She still goes there three times a week for Japanese after school program. So this it third year for her to see cherry blossom of the tree. I wonder how many kids this tree has seen by now? Kids graduate the preschool and after school each year and new kids come in, but this tree remains the same. Every year, it gives pretty pink petals for them to see and play with.

マヤが去年まで通っていたプリスクールの庭の真ん中に八重桜の木が一本あります。マヤは今も週三回アフタースクールに通っています。この桜の花を見るのは今年で三年目。この木は、どれだけ多くの子供たちを見守ってきたのだろう。子供たちはプリスクールやアフタースクールを卒業して、そしてまた新しい子供たちが入園して、、、でもこの木はかわらずここにいる。そして、毎年、子供たちに満開の桜の花を見せて、花びらで遊べるように散っていくのです。