The Young-ins of the Neighborhood

We have been here in Japan for a few days short of a month and it's been a quick month...always running around trying to accomplish all sorts of things.  Zack passed his driving test on Thursday and we have found a van that we like.  The cars here are recycled from one military family to another...so each car has a new owner on average every three years.  And it's actually difficult if not impossible to find a vehicle made before 2003ish.  Ours is a 1999 Nissan Presage...Nissan only makes it in four Asian countries. We only want to buy one vehicle while we are here...so we went with a van to hold all of our baby beans...and before you ask...yes we have a number in our heads but we'll be taking it one baby bean at a time...assessing our financial "stuff" and our sanity each time!  We will be completing the paperwork and giving him the check on Monday or Tuesday.  There are many hoops to jump through with the Navy, the U.S. and the government of Japan...it's not like just driving to the license branch...it's a whole series of steps and visiting the same office multiple times.  We are all looking forward to just being able to get in the van and drive to where we need to go on base and not have to mess with bus times.  It's impractical to drive much off base...it's much easier to take the train.  Zack should be able to get off tomorrow in order to help me supervise our household goods shipment delivery and hopefully be able to run down the street to take care of some of the van stuff....so that we can drive it as soon as possible.  And so that this stuff is done before he flies out to the ship.

We have been buying items for the house off and on all week...such as finishing the kids' bathroom upstairs.  It's green and Noah loves it...especially his green stool so that he can reach up and wash his hands in the sink.  We've also gotten a few items for Noah's room...like a hamper.  This fits right in with his OCD tendencies...we help him take off his clothes and he dumps them right into the hamper...then off comes the diaper and he runs into his bathroom...waiting for us to open the diaper genie.  He places his diaper inside and then turns to throw in his bath toys into the tub while we run the water.  He's all about having a specific spot for everything to fit into.  Just the other day...he was playing with empty diaper boxes and I was on the computer.  A few minutes later he comes running in upset and pointing.  I follow him and he's all upset because he has used the large box as a garage for his tractor, bus, and small car...however his large dump truck wouldn't fit into the box and this was just unacceptable!  We did have a small diaper box in the next room and he calmed down after I showed him that he could park the dump truck in this "garage".  Zack came home and was pretty impressed when I told him that Noah did that all on his own...and now when we pick up toys before bath...his trucks all have to go into their garages!  Noah also absolutely loves to be outside...he'd live outside if he could.  He takes his inside trucks outside for now (his wagon and tricycle will come on Monday)...we've bought him chalk, and I fill a small round container up with water and he splashes around.  We were out this morning when it was gray and lightly raining.  He took off into the yard yelling and running in circles...I could see our neighbor's curtains and blinds swish to one side a few times during the two hours we were outside.  We are at the end of a long row of townhouses and we have only seen maybe five kids outside in the yard.  We are shaking up the neighborhood using our yard...and then letting our child run around outside in a shirt and diaper when it's lightly raining!  What bad parents we are!  It's warm with a warm breeze...what perfect weather to play in the rain!  The only downside is that we have ants and have pretty much exhausted the on base resources for killing them...baits, spray, and now ant spikes.  We also have small black mosquito looking things that love Zack's blood!  He is allergic to them and his bites swell up like hive spots.  Noah has a few spots and I have none.  We have noticed that our neighbors all have bug spray on their outdoor window ledge...another reason it was nice to be out in the light rain...the bugs we're all taking cover!  Today we ordered Noah a sandbox, water table, and a small pool...it will probably take a month or so to get here...but I know we'll be outside using them everyday....and he'll be excited!  Although I'm sure that we'll see more curtains swishing as they look out their windows at us!   We'll have to dump the water out everyday so that the mosquitoes don't mistake it as an oasis...but there is no way to keep that boy indoors!  And if we did...we'd only be punishing ourselves.  We have a yard and patio to create a paradise for him now...so why not?!  While we haven't seen many of the families that live around us...we think we can safely say that we are the youngest kids on the block.  Everyone is pretty much at least ten or so years older...not really surprising because we find we fit into that age group better than our own...(we will be 23 and 24 year old parents of two driving a van)!  Again we can't help but wonder how we got this home...it must have been God's intervention...because it defies all earthy constraints...jaws actually drop when we answer questions about where we got housing.
Yesterday we went to an on base bazaar, where vendors come and sell their items...most are Japanese nationals selling "Japanese Stuff"...but some are spouses selling items from their home business.  We bought many items for Noah, Bean, Zack, and the house.  When we have our house set up I will take pictures of our home and then these items displayed.  My favorite is a Japanese silk wall hanging of an outdoor scene in historic Kyoto...I believe they are called Obi.  We got a wooden hand-crafted Japanese doll for Noah-a samurai and then a birthday one for Bean.  A wooden scroll featuring old architecture and cherry blossom trees...and then Zack got a hand blown glass ball...and then we got a bow holder for Bean from a spouse home business.  We are looking forward to displaying these in our home!  Also yesterday we planted four greenery plants in our flower bed.  The options are severely limited on base.  I do not have a green thumb even though I love plants and flowers.  We will be planting more...IF those plants are still alive after Zack gets back! LOL