Mama's friend Monkey (Sarah) came for a two week visit around February 12th (Check out the pics).  We had a lot of fun together.  She is my friend.  Unfortunately, I became very sick while she was here.  I had a very high fever and I didn't want to eat anything.  It was terrible.  The worst thing is not being able to tell my mama or papa how I felt.  They took me to the hospital and the doctor gave me some medicine.  About a week later, I was feeling better, though a little cold remains.  This is probably the first time I 've been this sick!

What a crazy month and a half it's been!!!!     For Christmas, we had dinner with Mika, Yoko and Shun.  (Check out the pictures)  It was very nice.... Momma worked very hard to make an excellent Christmas dinner complete with homemade stuffing and a roast chicken.   The next day we hopped on a train and headed out for Kamisuwa in Nagano.  Here we stayed with Hiroko and Shinya for a week or so.  I went sledding for the first time and we took a bath every night in an onsen.  We spent New Years at a local shrine whooping it up with all of the natives.  Did I mention that Hiroko is an incredible cook?   After Nagano, we went Tokyo.  Tokyo is a big crazy city and we mostly just hung out with Hotaru, Wada and Masashi.  We also visited my papa's old school, the International Christian University.     Next stop was Hamamatsu.  We stayed with my great grandma and my great aunt (Rumi). (Check out the pictures)  I  mostly just hung out and spent time with my family.  I also visited another great uncle (Fujio) as well as my papa's cousin (Jun) and his family.   From Hamamatsu, we went home to pick up Yo Ma (one of my grandmothers).  She was visiting from Colorado, and we were going to do some travelling with her.  From Osaka, we took a ferry to Miyazaki.  Here, I was able to meet even more family, including two more great aunts (Mieko and Sakiko).  Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long and in no time we were in Kagoshima.  From here, we went to an active volcano, Mt. Aso.  To everyone's suprise, it was snowing and we didn't get to see anything.     Next stop was Beppu.  From Beppu, we took a train to Hiroshima.  We spent a couple of days here.  It was actually my second time here!!  We also visited Miyajima again, but this time we were able to spend more time at the temple there.  I saw lots and lots of Buddhas.  From here we finally went home.  All of the travelling was fun, but I was glad to get back to a little stability and familiarity.   Mama's starting school again, so it's back to hanging with papa a lot.  Woo hoo!!

Teeth - 10
New words I can say-	Uh oh!, No!  A-chi-chi (hot hot), Buddha!, moon, me (eye in Japanese), kuchi (mouth), mimi (ear), Shun (her friend), hana (flower and nose), happa (leaf), juice, cha (as in tea)
Bilingual-	I can understand and point to ears, eyes, mouths, eyebrows and noses whether I hear them in English or Japanese!!!!

Last week I was very busy.  First, on Monday, I spent the day with Hide, while my father went and taught English.  I had a lot of fun with him and we had Okonomiyaki.      Later that week, on Friday, we went to Nara, to stay with Aunt Sarah.  We went to an Izakaya with our friend Hiro, then wandered around Nara at night.  Walking around Nara at night is nice because you avoid all of the tourists, though it was very cold.  We also saw a  bunch of shooting stars!  It was very beautiful and  a very nice night.      That next Saturday we walked around Nara again, and went to Kasuga Shrine.  It was  a wonderful shrine set in the hills of Nara Koen, though again it was cold.  That night, a few more friends came over and we had a little party.  I stayed up very late that night.      The next morning we woke up early so that we could get back to Hirakata to visit one of papa's students.  As soon as we arrived at their house, I fell asleep.  I didn't wake up until it was time to go!      Today we had another party to go to.  This one was held by the rest of papa's students.  I was awake this time and I had a lot of fun, eating Nabe,  and playing with all of the ladies.  Mama and papa always say I'm such a ham.

Teeth - 7
Words I can say -	Douzo, Mama, Papa, Kitty (As in Hello), aqua, please (peez), ba!  (the boob please), bye bye, Hiiiii!, Seee You ( Iiiiii youuuu), no, Shune, Pooh san and Ruben are pronounced Foopah,
Words I understand -	Nenne (sleep time!) - She'll kiss papa goodnight and walk to the bedroom and lie down. Suki suki - She'll kiss you if yer lucky.. Furo - She head on over to the bath room.. bye , bye - She'll head over to the door and wait for you Suwari - She'll sit Gomi - She 'll throw away whatever she's holding or whatever she's pointing at. Hana, Kuchi, Mimi, Me - She'll point to whichever one you say.