Locutus in Japan

Since we've settled in to a quieter rhythm in Fukuoka, there aren't as many sightseeing related things to share, so I thought I'd do up a quick post just about how Locutus is doing in Japan.

What some of you might not know is that Lance and Locutus caught a pretty rough cold shortly before we were supposed to go. Locutus's cold symptoms had mostly cleared up, but since babies are susceptible to ear infections following colds, we were slightly concerned. So the Friday before we left, Grandma R took him to the doctor's office as a walk-in. The doctor checked, saw that they were slightly red, but not enough to warrant antibiotics yet. So she instructed us to come back on Sunday (the first Sunday the clinic was open for walk-ins) to have them looked at again.

So off we went on Sunday. The doctor who saw us that day was very nice as well. He looked at his ears, saw some redness and some fluid and hemmed and hawed a bit. Locutus wasn't cranky and hadn't had a fever. Normally he'd tell us to wait a couple of days and come back if he seemed cranky or developed a fever. But we were about to hop on a plane to Japan. So he gave us a prescription for antibiotics that didn't require refrigeration and instructions to use them if he seemed cranky or got feverish. Luckily Locutus has been totally fine so we haven't had to use the medication at all - yay!

The plane ride was totally fine. We did give him a bit of Advil before taking off but totally forgot to for landing. He noticed the pressure in his ears, but we did some nursing and lots of miming of yawns and gulping to give him the idea.

He has been very good on train rides as well, though the long narrow aisle seems to be too inviting for him. He just can't resist being on his feet and running up and down the entire time. It's more tiring for Lance and I as we try to keep up with his energy level.

We've been trying to keep a mix of on the go sight-seeing activities, that keep him more-or-less confined in the carrier, and some relaxing wandering at places he can run around and explore. Japan is great for this since a lot of temples and castles have an area around them with flat wide-open spaces with little fences, stone walkways, trees, and temple stairs (we've been doing lots of stairs). He loves the sumo stadium too and actually claps when we go inside. I think it's because of the many stairs he gets to climb and because there are so many people there who smile and wave at him. Even a few of the lower ranked rikishi (wrestlers) have been enchanted with him (and vice versa as well . . . he was so busy staring at one he almost walked into a wall - hehehe).

Food has been fairly easy to handle as well. I never made the connection beforehand, but we are in Japanese orange season, and guess where they come from??? Yup, Japan! Plus we've picked up some kiwi here. So he gets some fresh fruit every day. Yoghurt is readily available along with bread (though it's mostly white bread). We can get cheese here but it's either yucky processed stuff or super-expensive good stuff (like regular cheddar being $10 for a small cube). The most difficult thing for any of us is vegetables, but we try to get that at different restaurants and such. We've even had a bit of success with a few of the places offering a kids meal that he enjoys. Not necessarily the healthiest options, but not bad for vacation food either.

Locutus seems to have decided that he'd like the distinction of a few teeth that are 'made in Japan.' And boy are we glad that we brought along the Advil! We do feel a little guilty about the noise for our hotel neighbours when he does have a rough teething spell though. One neighbour in particular we gave a small peace offering to the morning following. We had heard him stumble in rather late and are pretty sure Locutus's crying interrupted the few hours of sleep that he got.

He naturally gets lots and lots of attention from everyone everywhere we go. We've probably mentioned it before, but people here tend to bundle up ridiculously in colder weather. When we're still wearing t-shirts, or a light jacket, they are parkas and wool scarves. As such, we've gotten lots of comments on how cold he must be. I did forget to bring along the gloves I bought for him, but I doubt that we'd have had much luck in getting him to wear them.

We didn't bring many toys along to Japan. We had a couple of puppets, a book, and one 'busy bag' full of plastic lids. We haven't really needed to break them out much at all. He manages to keep himself amply entertained playing with the hotel mugs, tea bags, various drawers, the small fridge, empty bottles, hot water kettle, and any bits of paper he can find. We also got a set of bottles from our first hotel with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash from our first hotel that I brought along and that he's been using as bath toys. They are the perfect size for his little hands to play with and since they are partially full they float at different levels.