Refrigerator Art

This evening Uta installed a new show of drawings on our refrigerator. The show includes four transformers in various forms and a blue batman.  

Game-boy

During a marathon of running errands yesterday, Uta contented himself by drawing a video game into his pocket journal. He then proceeded to play it for the entire day: off and on the subway, in and out of stores, up and down the sidewalk. I had a million things to get done, and Uta was my hostage, a situation that would normally elicit more than a few protests, if not nonstop whines. But yesterday, not a peep! 

The game is called 'Star trek letters'. In it, Dr. Spock is on a quest to get smarter. To do so, he travels from world to world capturing letters.  Uta made it all the way to level seven. At that point he got distracted while talking to me and was consequentially frozen by 'Monster Freeze'. Game over. He had to start again at level one. But that was ok, he said, because the game is really easy.

Happy Valentine's Day

A poem for Martin Luther King, Jr.

by Uta

Martin's feet are in my feet.

Martin's legs are in my legs.

Martin's lips are in my lips.

Martin's hands are in my hands.

Martin's arms are in my arms.

Martin's brain is in my brain.

Martin's belly is in my belly.

Martin's back is in my back.

Martin's words are in my words.

Peace and love.

Sometimes he gets away from me 

and that's when I get mad and say bad words, 

like stupid and hate.

Questions Uta asked today

1. Why do sharks have small brains?

2. Is silver a new color? What about black? 

3. How can I make a new color?

4. Is 'What Up?' a bad word?

5. Why do hip hop stars always say bad words?

6. How is my shadow connected to me?

7. Is Hannah Montana real? What about Jack Frost?

8. What are my taste buds saying? (He asked this while eating a curry cracker.)

9. Why is Pop a night owl?

10. Why did someone kill Martin Luther King, Jr.?

11. Is that apple organic?

Uta is officially a teeny bopper

We stopped by the market after school today to buy some yogurt and Uta nearly swooned in the dairy aisle. "Oh, I love her," He said. "Who?" I asked. "Hannah Montana." Don't ask me who Hannah Montana is, or how Uta knows about her, even Uta is a little unclear about the origins of this love. But there she was, Hannah Montana, pictured on the packaging of some horrid yogurt smoothies. Almost immediately he started pining for everything 'Hannah Montana', he even wished his name was Hannah Montana. I said something similar to 'not a chance'. But that didn't phase him. "I've got it," he said "I can write Hannah Montana in glitter on my yankee cap!" I'm not ready for this. Why can't he just love red capes and card board boxes forever? When I asked him why he loves her he said, "I don't know why Mom, even though she's a girl, I love her. She rocks me." Help!

Homework

Last week Uta started a new after school Japanese class. The days of making paper flowers and eating rice crackers are over. Now its down to hard core study. The class is focused solely on reading and writing hiragana and katakana. He even gets homework. But this picture is misleading. Although it is really hard work for him, he loves it. He is so proud of all he is learning. He says pretty soon he's going to quit speaking english all together.

Holy Shiso

By far the strangest gift we received for Christmas this year was a hydroponic garden from Grandpa T. To be honest, I was both horrified and intrigued. Its like an appliance sized green house that's meant to sit on your countertop. I say horrified because of the look of it, its a cross between ET and a microwave, and its just way too big to go unnoticed in our undersized apartment. But having fresh herbs always just a snip away, in a neighborhood where the produce is consistently wilted and bruised, had me more than a little excited. And the opportunity for Uta to grow something from seed to harvest would be well worth the challenge of rearranging the kitchen to find space for it.

And now we have Shiso. Enormous Shiso! Shiso is like Japanese basil. In Japan it is often used as a wrapper for sushi and manju (a sweet steamed cake). At Yakitori Totto (an organic chicken BBQ place on 55th Street) they use it to make the most delicious salad dressing. But my favorite thing to do with it is to make tea. Steeped gently in hot water, Shiso produces a wonderfully warming tonic, especially good for soothing any digestive trouble. I don't know how to describe the taste, the flavors are slow to develop. Its slightly spicy, grassy and soft. And the fragrance! I could truly subsist on that alone. Itadakimasu.

Congratulations Uta!

Check out these seats! The auditorium at Uta's school is really beautiful. It's the heart of the school. Every Friday morning the whole school gathers together here to sing. Parents are invited to come. All the kids cheer because its Friday and then they sing. They sing silly songs about dirty socks and taking taxis. They sing spirituals like 'This little light of mine'. No matter what they sing, I always cry. Today was the 100th day of school and Uta's class did a little performance to celebrate the occasion. When they finished their song they took their bows and then they did it all over again. Uta said the first time around he was scared but the second time was fun.

Demons out, happiness in

Today is Setsubun, the day before the start of spring, according to the Japanese lunar calendar. This is a special day for driving out evil spirits and purifying the home. One way to do this is to decorate the entrance of your home with dried fish heads and holy leaves, this will deter the evil spirits from entering. Another custom, called mamemaki, is to throw roasted soybeans around your home and shout "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" ("Demons out, happiness in"). Afterwards you pick up and eat the number of beans which corresponds to your age. For dinner it is traditional to eat uncut futo-maki rolls in silence, facing the direction of Tokutoku-shin (the good fortune god), which for 2008 happens to be south/south-east.

Uta throwing beans out the window.

Oni-san!

Happy Saturday

Odaijini Baba-san!

This song is for Baba, with love from Uta.

What's a spock? (For Trevor)

Uta wants to know what's a spock. Do I tell him? If I do, then he'll really want to be him. Not sure I can stomach a trekkie in the house. But maybe its already too late.