Hotaru is growing up so fast T_T I mean, I’m happy that she’s smart, polite and healthy and that she has the kindest heart I’ve ever come across… but she still grows up too fast and I need to teach her how to become a functional human being. People like Minako, who couldn’t cook or clean at all when she moved out on her own at age 23 are the stuff all parents’ nightmares are made of. Ok, perhaps not all parents but mine.
I want her to be able to be responsible, get a job, know her way around a house and a kitchen and be happy. It’s a lot of ask, I know, but mom always taught me to dream big. And I digress… Anyway, considering kids learn to help around the house from a very young age in Japan and that I’m raising Hotaru as Japanese as Argentina allows me to, it is time she learned how to do dishes.
She was only allowed to wash the plastic ones, but we did have a lot of those in the sink today, so I made her an apron out of an old dress of mine and she was ready to give washing a try. I was a little iffy about taking this step because Dr. Tomoe’s mother used to let her wash glass dishes unsupervised on a wobbly stool when she was three and it became one of the trademarks of her negligence though she’s done much, much worse after that.
Still, it was about time this happened. I explained how to rinse cups and spoons to avoid spills and she was beyond happy to be able to do this big girl thing at last. Hotaru has been asking (more like begging) for me to let her do the dishes for years and now I think she’s ready. I mean, she did a superb job helping me with laundry the other day. This can’t be too different, though the other day we spoke in Japanese only while doing the laundry and today it was a very Spanish dish washing session. I could have given English a go but her English is already native and I didn’t have the brains for it. I just want a date… with my bed… for days LOL.
Hotaru’s therapy session went well, though I dislike Helga’s habit of making her play hide and seek with me when I enter to pick her up like we need encouragement. I mean, Hotaru and I spend most of every day together and do lots of things together like crafting and cooking and cleaning (and singing, and going for a walk and having picnics…). I really don’t need to be forced to play with her in front of a stranger. Makes me feel super awkward. Especially because Helga treats Hotaru like a baby and she’s bright as hell.
The house is a royal mess. Umi-san isn’t coming this week either and laundry is piling up while the living room is full of leftovers from the Halloween party crafts. I’ve promised myself I’d clean tomorrow, but we’ll see. I’d like the house to be clean and tidy by the time Michiru gets here, but it will depend on the weather and my blood pressure, probably. Hope it’s better than today, at any rate.
Luckily for me, all the things that need to be done will take under an hour. Thing is I’ve been too busy and then exhausted this past three days to do it. I always end up exhausted (both emotionally and physically) after these court hearings and then there was the party and taking Hotaru to therapy today… I needed a break and cleaning could wait another day anyway. I’d rather work on the cardboard Polly Pocket set Hotaru and I have been devising these past few days. It lifts up my spirit and makes it soar.
The plan for tomorrow includes baking leopard bread, which Hotaru has been crazy about making since we saw SandyaelMikoku’s tutorial for it online a few days ago, buying seeds and starting a vegetable garden, cleaning the house and doing laundry. Everything else will be a plus.
The kid was sad today. It took me forever to cheer her up. It was Jean’s last day at school and also, her birthday party but Hotaru couldn’t attend because of therapy. It’s strange, though. I mean she and Jean had never seen eye to eye in anything and are constantly arguing and now she’s sad because she’ll miss her if she changes schools… It doesn’t make any sense. I’ll keep thinking about it until it does. There’s something amiss and I want to know what it is.
On a totally unrelated note, Jean’s Halloween costume was SUPER flashy. She was a vampire and her tiny lacy mermaid dress was just WOW. Totally inappropriate for a six ear old but amazing. That child’s parents get LOTS of things wrong, it seems. They not only hit their children but they also insult them and dress them like grown ups. Oh, well, whatever. Hotaru won’t be under their influence or their daughter’s any longer anyway.
Michiru had dinner at a friend’s house tonight. They invited her over to meet their baby. She sent me pictures. Oh. My. Goodness. I NEED to have more children. TODAY. More like, yesterday. Seriously. I know I’m always exhausted and sometimes I’m crabby and need a break from my life, but I adore being a parent and I feel better qualified to start again now. Besides, Hotaru has been telling Michiru and I that she wants to have baby sisters or brothers so she can share her obento with them and dress them in cute little onesies. It seems it’s not only Michiru and I who got the baby fever.
On that subject, I had a blood work done this morning and Michiru and I have an appointment at the fertility clinic on the 7th. We’re looking to freeze some of my eggs (embryos, if we’re lucky) so whenever the moment comes in a couple of years, we have both our genetic material ready. You know… in case the 30% that’s left of my right ovary decides to retire or just go MIA like the left one did a few years back.
ALSO… there’s news regarding the Dream House project but it’s a long story and I’m exhausted (which I hope explains why this post is messy and all over the place). There’s one house that Michiru and I both liked as a substitute for our original Dream House, as that one has been reserved by someone else. That plan B house is out of my budget by a considerable sum, so I showed it to my mom the other day at the court house and she loved it but that was it.
I mean, the idea is for me to sell the house I grew up in and use the money to buy two houses, one for my mom and another one for me and my family. Well, mom said she’d be willing to let me use up a part of her share so I can buy that house (that’s big enough to sub rent, which would allow us to never need to work again and can take care of Hotaru and whatever children we have next). The only condition being that she and Leo are allowed to live with us for a while, until she can retire next year and use that money together with her share of this sale to buy something she likes.
I was completely against it at first, because I feel it’s her money and I don’t want to abuse. If I agree there might not be enough money left from her retirement for her to start a business like she wanted. And I don’t want to be the cause of that. But then again, if I don’t have to work another day in my life she won’t have to worry about my economy and ability (or the lack thereof) to make a regular income as a seamstress. I really don’t know where I stand on this but I will wait until I’ve seen the property on Thursday before making up my mind.
The benefit of that place is that I’d get AT LEAST five rooms for rent downstairs with two kitchens and bathrooms and still have a three bedroom house for me and my family upstairs AND the chance to build the kitchen, bathrooms and living room as I see fit. Perhaps even a laundry room in the huge terrace. Dunno. I’ll have to think about it hard, but it’s an option. An option that makes me feel guilty, but an option still.
Bringing up FIREFLIES 