Progress

A red-letter day in the Tokyo American Club swimming pool, as Arno bravely pushed off from the wall this afternoon and swam about 5 feet to me! A first, after months of swim lessons last year and 2 lessons this spring. Then he swam across the lap lane about 40 times. Very exciting!

Lucinda, meanwhile, says TAC's Mini-Mudsharks swim team is "likable" - much more likable, in fact, than expected because I signed her up without asking. She has 3 smooth, relatively efficient strokes so far (butterfly is TK) and likes swimming on the clock. L has so far not enjoyed games with hard-to-identify rules and strategy (like soccer), but she seems to enjoy the self-directed, self-control of swimming - and maybe running? We'll see what develops.

Lucinda types: "I LOVE SWIMMING ALOT!"

Night out

Blaine and Lucinda went to the Father-Daughter dinner dance at the Tokyo American Club last night.

Lucinda's red-letter day

Lucinda had a great day today in reading and swimming. She has always been cautious about new challenges, but I think her kindergarten teacher's approach - that "Ms. Amies wants you to make mistakes" - has given her a heap of confidence to try new things even if she can't do them immediately.

First, reading. Her teacher bumped her up two reading groups today to join the girls in the top level, which is just thrilling for her and for us.

When she started kindergarten, Lucinda knew the alphabet and letter sounds, but she showed zero interest in trying to read, and I think she was surprised that other kindergarteners were already excellent readers. It had not occurred to her that other children might do what she could not.

Nishimachi and her teacher, Penny Amies, take a very structured approach to reading. Reading and handwriting homework every night. Flashcards. Letter "blends". Lucinda gradually picked it up, but had trouble recognizing - scanning - letter combinations without getting stuck. (My main contribution was to suggest putting letter combos - th, sh, ch, ee, ea - on flashcards, to groove them in her brain.)

And in the last 2 weeks, her reading ability has just exploded. Suddenly, she is reading quickly and fluently - and enjoying reading in a way that will stick with her for life. She sees words more broadly, recognizes a longer list of words instantly, and sounds out mystery words with confidence. Ms. Amies noticed, too, and rejiggered the reading groups to put Lucinda with Lani, Saki and Emily, the class's three strongest readers, and a few other kids, too.

Next, swimming. She's been sharing a private lesson every Thursday with another kindergartener, Sylvan, at the Tokyo American Club. Lucinda started swim lessons last summer, but her teachers in Seattle were tougher with her, and I often had to press her to do those lessons at all.

But today, after a month of no-cry lessons, Lucinda did two of the three tests required to be a "Super Swimmer" - to swim by herself in the pool. She did one lap (25 meters) - dog-paddling, but a lap is a lap. And she treaded water for 30 seconds. She still has to retrieve a flipper from the bottom of the shallow end; she hadn't ever tried going completely underwater before, so we started practicing today.

Lucinda's other new, entirely self-taught talents: Jump-roping forward and backward. Next milestone: Lucinda's 6th birthday party - 1 week from Sunday - at our house.

Trailing Spouse: Flu shot edition

Finally getting back to the blog...

Blaine hoped to come back tonight (Saturday), but his editors told him to stay in Thailand to crash a big story about Burma - which could be on the WaPo's front page on Sunday or Monday.

He had a grueling week: 7-hour flight to Bangkok on Monday and interviews that night; six-hour drive on Tuesday, plus more interviews; a foray into Burma and back on Wednesday; six-hour drive back to Bangkok on Thurs; then reporting and writing until 1 a.m. on Saturday morning. He couldn't catch his flight today, so we hope to see him Sunday night.

The kids have grown progressively more mellow since their rocky days early last week when Blaine, Grammy and Granddaddy left town. On Friday, they were relaxed from morning till night, a huge relief for me. I wanted today (Saturday) to be equally easy.

We started with flu shots (their second dose in 10 days), and they were brave and calm, thank god. We are going to a group of English-speaking family doctors who are favorites in the expat community.

The medical office is at the foot of Tokyo Tower - think Eiffel Tower, paint it orange, eliminate any romantic vibe. The MD's brick building is in the backround; the Tokyo Tower's foot is in the foreground.



Tokyo Tower, straight up.



The kids played happily in the tower's tragic little holiday display and pretended that the "train" engine was the bulldozer from Bob the Builder.



Just before we left, this fuzzy phallic character showed up. Lucinda insists it's a girl because "it's pink," but I'm not so sure.



Then on to the American Club for pancakes (I said I was taking it easy!). Blaine called from Bangkok during our breakfast - and Arno took the call while chewing on pancake and sipping juice from a Thomas the Tank Engine sippy cup. The executive 3-yr-old.

Littleton vs. Moses Lake

Today Blaine and I tried out our brand-new membership at the Tokyo American Club. We rode our bikes to TAC, as it's called, for a midday workout in the gym.

When you live in the expat bubble of international schools and investment bankers, as we do, TAC is part of everyday conversation. Most moms in my world belong to TAC because their husbands' banking, hedge fund, legal, manufacturing, tech, etc. companies pay for membership in the corporate "package."

(Hey, I'm not crying in my soup here because the Washington Post makes our lives very pleasant - thanks, WaPo!)

To some who don't join, though, TAC is a symbol of close-mindedness, a place where lame Americans flee Japan and Japanese culture to dine in mediocre restaurants. And (some say) where unhappy expat wives go to drink the day away.

I did my reporting, and asked members and non-members what they think of it and what they use it for. And I decided we should join.

Why? 1) The gym; 2) Childcare while we're at the gym; 3) The big outdoor swimming pool; 4) Makes our lives easier; And 5) did I mention the pool and Tokyo's sweltering summer heat?

So Blaine and I had a big debate about TAC and, like many of our discussions involving luxury vs. practicality, this boiled down to advice from an ex-therapist about managing coupledom: It helps to recognize that each person comes from a different "country," that is, a different family, a different way of seeing the world.

Our "countries" are Littleton, Colorado (my suburban hometown) and Moses Lake (the rural Washington State town where Blaine grew up).

Moses Lake sees the 1 million-yen pricetag and the masters-of-universe membership and thinks, Are you kidding?

But, but, but - Littleton can rationalize all of that away. We are nanny-free. Our life here is heavily subsidized. A basic gym membership for both of us would cost $250/month - without anything for the kids. And wouldn't it be great for me to take the kids swimming when I'm solo parenting on weekends?

In the end, Littleton wore down Moses Lake - or maybe I just drank the expat wife Kool-Aid?

I plan to make the most of our expensive investment - without running up the bill. Blaine still isn't sure we've done the right thing, though he did seemed to enjoy the gym today...