In the still and quiet morning

Obviously the children aren't awake yet.

I'm waiting for them to wake up because our job for the day is to re-arrange the upstairs toy closet, and hopefully toss several bags. I bought 12 closet boxes yesterday to do the job, in hideous day-glo blue and yellow like 1980's zinc, but they'll be hidden in the closet, so I closed my eyes to that small detail. They were cheap, 17,000 for all 12, and the large size too.

I HOPE to be finished by lunch time - or Erica won't have anywhere to take a nap. So the kids had better wake up soon or we won't be finished. Then I intend to goad them into finishing some of their summer homework or the craft activity, while I finish editing some essays.

A trip to Oita was on the books for today, sadly cancelled due to Erica's asthma. She went down again over the weekend - same circumstances as last time - a minor cold combined with an evening outing. I nearly thought I was going to be admitted to hospital and have to cancel the party again, as she was heaving, and doing the hee-hee-huu-huu breathing like last time, but the doctor on duty on Saturday sent me home with oral steriods.

So Sunday the party was on! I made loads of food, and guests arrived in shifts as it was an all-day event. I didn't drink, as I had to watch Erica and maybe drive her to the hospital for more nebulizer treatment if she got worse. She held up - she fell asleep on my lap in the late afternoon, very unusual as she usually insists on going upstairs to 'Dorothy' (her bed with the Dorothy the Dinosaur pillow). When she woke I forced some more medicine into her and she perked up after that.

I met some lovely people and had some nice chats with them and other friends. The party was to farewell Emily, who has decided to leave Japan. I will post photos as they are posted on facebook.

The party was all over by 9:30, early for me, but I was glad of it, as I wanted to sleep next to Erica. In the end she slept like an angel, which doubly pleased me since not being able to sleep is the cue for hospitalization. I was so chuffed I made sure I wrote 'slept well' on the symptoms note we have to write before seeing the doctor! I wanted to underline it and write 'therefore don't admit her' but I don't know the Jpaanese word for 'therefore'.

An elephant just thumped down the stairs. I don't know how 11.6kg of toddler can make SO much noise on the stairs, but she can! Time for morning cuddles...