The Happenings

On Sunday, we had a great time going out in town and having lunch with a friend.  I remembered to bring along Noah's new lunch box with his child size chopsticks...and I was finally able to eat a meal without fighting him for the chopsticks!  This was our third time visiting the restaurant and the waitress remembered my order!  Haha!  We then walked down a few stores and visited a 100Y store...this is like an American Dollar Store.  And then down to the craft store.  This store is amazing and I could spend the entire paycheck there!  It's one of those places where you walk in and you want it all...even though you have no idea what you'd do with it or where you would put it...but you want it!  They have a small children's area that is American/European based.  Noah runs towards it and plays with all the samples they have out on a little table for children to use while their parents shop.  I picked up Noah's turtle backpack there.  All the children in Japan wear backpacks.  The moms carry their purses and the children carry their own things.  Zack had been wanting to get Noah one...saying that the Japanese kids can carry their own stuff so Noah can too!  The little Kindergartners wear yellow backpacks and then they also have yellow hats that is part of their uniform...so cute!  All schools have uniforms...and it can cost thousands of dollars just to get your child registered, pay the fees, and get uniforms.  It's serious business here.  That evening I ended up taking Noah to the ER because he had hive spots that weren't responding to Benedryl.  He hadn't eaten or been around anything new that day.  But he does occasionally get them for no reason at all...but this time they were not responding to the Benedryl and some little bumps kept popping up.  It was bedtime and I decided that I was just going to take him in so that I didn't have to worry all night about him.  The hospital here is small and unlike Navy Medical Center Portsmouth(NMCP) when you enter the ER or go to the pharmacy you are called up immediately.  These people are in the back bored out of their minds and jump at a patient coming in!  The Dr. thought that it was a mix of hives and a virus showing in his skin.  So we were in and out in less than an hour.  And all the spots were gone in the morning.  It was new for us to have spots that didn't respond to the Benedryl which makes sense with the Dr. saying he thought it was a virus.  Chicken Pox and Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease is going around young children here on the base as well.

Monday we hung out in the morning because it was the second day of raining(yes the grass I just mowed was now full of growing weeds popping up above the grass).  Then after nap it had stopped raining and we ventured to the P.O. and had six packages waiting for us!  I had to drive around the back to pick them up at the loading dock!  The pump for our pool finally came, which I think we might use this afternoon.  Then we went to the library and returned a few books...and checked out more.  Then it was off to the park next to the water.  It is under a giant shade canopy and face the waterfront.  Noah wanted to swing for most of the hour we were there...just watching the water, boats, and birds.  He loves the sight of water...most likely from looking out the doors in our apartment in VA Beach.  He sat swinging and we talked about everything going on around us...and had a good time playing when he was finally ready to get out of the swing.  Later after supper we headed out on a long walk around the base.  Noah walks the entire way on his own...except the occasional times where I have to pick him up.  He has to hold my hand when we cross the white lines(crosswalks).  He usually does a pretty good job of staying on the sidewalk and not going off on too many "walks to smell the roses".  This time though he was all over the place running and exploring everything.  I know he was excited just to be out again...especially with all the rain we'd been having.  He took a while to go down as well...and kept asking for Zack...and going through the dad is at work earning money thing over and over again.  It's been almost three weeks and he's still holding onto it and hasn't forgotten.  I tell him that daddy loves him and he blows kisses back to Zack.  He also sits on the couch and watches Zack on TV reading him a book.  We did two stories before he left on deployment in May of 2010 and then he made two recordings during this deployment through the Navy program United Through Reading.  So Noah has four total stories of dad reading to him.  He really enjoys it...and this was actually how Noah learned who Zack was and the sound of his voice during the May-Dec. deployment of 2010.

Today(Tuesday)
We did PT Tots this morning and Noah is making friends with a few kids his age.  Today it was a little boy, Kanto(I believe that's the spelling...it's so hard with many spouses being Japanese and then the children usually also have Japanese names).  They had fun playing and sharing together.  He's 17mths old..Noah's 18mths old.  While I was watching Noah play and helping him play...I noticed that in the room there were 20 or so children and parents were speaking...English, Japanese, Spanish, and another language I couldn't identify!  A very diverse group...which is pretty consistent with the base here.  It was one of those days for many of the children and it seemed like at any given time there was a child crying!  Noah did really well and has become familiar with the routine and participated more in the group activities.  Children are not forced to participate but can go and play instead of joining the circle times or parachute....just more practical with children from pre-walking to age 4 all doing the activities.  It's a great program and I'm not sure why more parents don't bring their children.  Later that day we went with a friend to a shop on base that imports items from all around the Pacific...VERY cool place with tons of things I would like to have.  Just a lot of it isn't practical to have around with young children!  I picked up two Chinese/Japanese style silk lanterns from Thailand to hang in Bean's room.  One is pink and other is purple...I'm thinking about having Zack hang them in the corner of the room or above her bed as a mobile...another item on Zack's to do list!  The first being hanging the curtains!  This place is slowly becoming more of a home...it still seems so white though.  I'm thinking that after the curtains are hung it won't seem so white anymore...or I hope so!  And I'm looking forward to not have the sun coming into the room at three in the morning!  I do have a date for Zack coming home...but because of OSPEC I cannot share it...as they say...loose lips sink ships.  And going along with that...during our AOB the NCIS agent came and spoke to us and told us that just like in America there are foreign operatives outside the gate...saying that at that particular time he knew of Russian, Chinese, and North Korean operatives trying to gain information about the base and how it operates.  And he wanted to remind us that we need to watch what we speak about outside of the gates, to taxi drivers, and little old ladies...or anyone that seems to be asking too many questions.  The same was true for Norfolk...the 9/11 terrorists were caught on tape in Norfolk before the attack.  It's hard to think about the reality of the target on the American military...but it does exist.  I've noticed that I now have readers outside of family and friends in foreign countries...so I will continue to be careful about what I post...details about the base, operations, or procedures.