Dancing in my dreams

Violet told me she wanted to sleep in her ballet shoes tonight so she could be dancing in her dreams. She also wanted to sleep in her Christmas Eve dress.

Tonight before dinner she asked to put on her Christmas Eve dress and butterfly wings because she wanted to do a performance. She also put on her butterfly wings and said she was the Butterfly Princess. I was to be the Bunny Prince and she was going to save me.so I put on my bunny ears.

She set up all her friends to watch and narrated the story. "Once there was a Bunny Prince and he got into trouble. He fell down and broke his ear. Then the Butterfly Princess came and saved him. Then, once, the bunny prince and butterfly princess danced a beautiful dance and then they got married...." The story went on and on with rescuing and trips to the doctor. Finally, she ended it with "then butterfly princess turned into a baby and the prince turned into a mommy and she had milkies." And she crawled into my lap to nurse.
Such fun pretending together and watching her create her own play.

This morning she wanted to play with her "Jesus House" and she said she wanted to put it out to show that we love everyone. She pulled out her nativity set and a mini tree and then decorated it. I was cooking breakfast when I heard Away in A Manger begin to play. I came in and found her with the lights on the tree turned on and setting up her manger scene. Precious memory.

Her little heart is so tender and I love how she respects all living creatures. Upon finding a dead worm she asked if we could pray for it. She wanted to make sure it wasn't in pain anymore. She wants to pray every time we find a dead insect or worm. Also at the grocery store tonight she wanted to say hi to the fish (which are all dead already but she likes to talk to them). One had blood on its back. She said "oh mommy that one has a red spot on her. What is it?" I told her it was blood from being caught. But it wasn't in pain anymore. I explained that the fish gave up its life so that someone could eat it and grow strong. She then said,"mom I think we should pray for the fish and thank it for giving it's life up." So we did.

Another funny thing she told me tonight after I bumped my arm. "Mom, you need to get a shot in your bottom and have your head checked!" Hahaha

Goodnight all! May you all be dancing in your dreams tonight.

Hanamatsuri May 8, 2013

On Wednesday of last week, Violet participated in the Hanamatsuri at her nursery school. I was fortunate enough to be able to take the afternoon off to go and watch.

Hanamatsuri is a celebration of Buddha's birthday. The children pull a white elephant statue down the street to the temple and then learn about Buddha's birth and give flowers. They also did a little dance and drank "amacha". Amacha is a tea made from fermented hydrangea leaves. It is an herbal tea. The children had a chance to drink amacha and then they each took a turn to pour some over the head of a statue Buddha, like bathing a newborn baby.

 I took a taxi from my office so that I could be there at the school when they started. The taxi driver was one I had used before. I use the same company every time I take a taxi and the drivers all know me and Violet pretty well. This particular driver was in his mid 60's I think. He always trys to use simple Japanese with me and trys to talk a lot. He started off by asking where I wanted to go and I told him Ofunato Hoikuen (Violet's school). He smiled and said "oh you're going to get your daughter." I told him that I was going to see her Hanamatsuri. He smiled so big and I could see that he was thinking about something. Then he looked in the rear view mirror and said "When I was a small boy I did Hanamatsuri too! I always thought the elephant was so big. It seemed huge to me. I was so surprised when I saw it as an adult how small it really is." I smiled and tried to think of memories that I had like that from my childhood. He then told me about where in Ofunato he grew up and how the temple is in a different place now. He lost his childhood home in the tsunami that occured here in Ofunato in 1960. I can't imagine living through 2 tsunami's in one lifetime, but I have met many people here in Ofunato who have. He talked to me about his memories and I enjoyed listening. When we arrived at the hoikuen the children were all lined up and waiting to walk. The elephant statue was standing behind the long lines of children and the taxi driver smiled as his eyes fell upon it. "Natsukashii..." was all he said. Natsukashii means to feel nostalgic or fond sweet memory. I saw in his eyes that he was remembering.

Here are some pictures of Violet's Hanamatsuri. I took A LOT of pictures so feel free to scroll through or skip through if you like. I also made a little movie but I haven't uploaded it to a video server yet so that will be added later.

I was so pleased to see that Violet was standing in line right in front of her two closest girlfriends in her class. They have been in the same class since Violet started going there. Yoshino chan and Nowa chan. They seemed to be having such a good time together. Violet didn't see me when I first walked up to the school. I stayed back a little because I was worried she would want to leave her group and stand with me. Yoshino or Yo chan as she is called by her friends, saw me right away though. She smiled and waved. She has an infectious smile.

The children did such a good job staying in their line pulling the elephant statue. Cars still passed by along the road and when the first car came my heart started pumping because I was worried one of them would step out of line and try to cross the street to see their parent. But they all stayed closely together and no one let go of the rope they were pulling.

Violet did so well. She started to get tired towards the end of the walk. It took them about 20 minutes I think to walk to the temple. When we got there some of them started to cry from being tired, as it was getting close to lunch time for them. But they all did their best. Violet danced with her class and then once it was time to go inside the temple she started to cry a little. By the time I met her inside (I had to go in a different entrance) she was crying pretty hard. Other kids were crying too. Her teacher said she could come and sit with me. So she stayed with me the rest of the time and we went to drink the amacha together and I walked up with her to pour the tea over Buddha's head. She decided to wanted to nurse a little too. So we did that at the back of the temple.

After it was over we decided to walk home for lunch. We had a nice long walk home and saw some beautiful flowers and she really enjoyed seeing the Koinobori that were still flying. (Carp streamers for children's day)

This first pic accidentally got out of order but it is one of my favorites from the day so that's ok. :)

Looking at this picture makes my mind fast forward to her senior year in high school, and I have put this picture is in the back on the senior pages parents can make for their kids. How is my baby growing up so fast.... This is Violet with her best friend Yo chan. ♥

Now for the pics...