Category: Posts Born Here

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JR Tokyo Wide Pass 1: Golden Week Holiday

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Posted from Aisar’s Facebook with improved pictures

Thanks to JR Tokyo Wide Pass, we could travel to as far as Nikko, Izu, and Kusatsu Onsen in Gunma without breaking the wallet!

And seriously all the venues posted here are kids friendly and accessible, by train or bus ride. One thing to note, we got into the bottom of this beautiful 100 m deep waterfall in Nikko, not by foot, but by an elevator! Who would build an elevator near a waterfall, if not Japanese.

I seriously adore this country nature and the people who built it.

NIKKO

Nikko station Tochigi Japan

Nikko station from the front. We could feel the sensation of “heritage site” since this starting point. The stations we passed along Nikko Line are also designed in vintage style.

Shinkyo Bridge - Nikko - Tochigi - Japan

That famous Shinkyo Bridge. We decided to walk to reach this spot because the traffic jam was terrible when we arrived at Nikko station. It’s not far and even interesting to see the stores along the main street which some of them were listed in the walking map.

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Health Check Up for 3 Years Musa

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Another to-do-list for 3yo kid in Japan is.. going to the city health service office for medical examination (3歳の児健診). See his transformation from his 1.5 to 3 yo checkup in a-minute video from my Youtube channel below (better quality than the one uploaded on my Insta)

Di Jepang, buat anak bayi, pergi ke posyandu sekitar 3 bulan sekali plus sekali saat usia sebulan. Setelah itu baru diwajibkan datang lagi ketika usia 18 bulan (1,5 tahun), 3 tahun, lalu 6 tahun. Mayan lama kan jedanya? Emang nggak perlu sering-sering kayanya karena sekali datang bisa ngabisin waktu seharian mungkin untuk persiapan dan pelaksanaannya. Ortu diminta ngisi berbagai angket yang harus diserahkan saat datang, misalnya buat kali ini (usia 3 tahun) ada:

👦🏻 Angket perkembangan anak —> tentang gimana siklus hidup sehari-harinya si bocah, perilaku anak, kondisi mama, dsb. lumayan banyak jadi diisiin papa Aisar biar mama nggak pusing baca kanjinya 😀

👦🏻 Angket penglihatan and pendengaran —> ortu diminta melakukan serangkaian tes untuk mengecek kondisi mata dan telinga anak dengan alat dan metode yang sudah disediakan

👦🏻 Tes urin —> ini juga bukan pekerjaan staf posyandunya, tapi emak babenya.. mereka udah ngasih wadah dan botol kecil buat nampung pipis pertamanya anak di pagi hari tes, buat yang masih pakai popok juga ada alatnya

.. dan ada beberapa yang harus dibawa kaya sikat gigi, buku catatan kesehatan, kartu asuransi, kuesioner buat ortu yang juga mau cek darah (disediakan di lokasi yang sama).

Pulangnya juga dapat oleh-oleh bacaan segepok seperti biasa yang entah kapan akan selesai dibaca semua karena musti diterjemahin satu-satu 😅

potty (toilet) training story copy

Bye-bye, Diaper!

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“Little poop going down” said Musa to his grandpa and grandma when we were in Hibiya park enjoying tulips (2018/04/10)  🤣 I think it was the most epic words from him during his toilet training and also that day was considered as my most thrilling moment with an on-training-toddler because for the first time I trusted him to not wear training pad at all while going outside. He, however, managed to keep his brief (or boxer? or trunk? whatever you say) dry until we touched down home again despite the challenges to find public toilet along our way for the first tour of Datuk and Nenek (Aisar’s parents) in Tokyo: Tokyo station –> Imperial Palace –> Hibiya Park –> Tokyo Tower. Super thankful Japan is very convenient in terms of providing the restroom wherever we go.

tulips in Hibiya Park Tokyo

Who knew that in this pic somebody was actually holding his urge to go to toilet 😀

It took over two weeks to finally I got ready to let Musa move without training pad support the whole day and night. Why me who got ready? Yeah, potty training  or toilet training is not only about your kid’s achievement. The challenge itself could be bigger in parent’s readiness, for example in my case I wasn’t prepared to train him in the winter since it would be bother me a lot to have extra laundry and wait them dry. I imagined to wash his clothes more plus the carpets, blanket, bed sheets, mattress and pillow, etc. which might be affected by pee or poo accidents. So, I waited until the temperature raised. Sadly, I already slipped my target to get him trained in the summer last year due to busy days, thus I didn’t want to wait till the next summer. Continue reading →

Swiss for Real (Part 1)

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Despite numerous travel experience with Musa (now 2y10m) only, I never made plan as detail as our journey to Swiss Alps two weeks ago (3/7-8). Still, I’m not confident to consider it as itinerary because I only wrote down the timing of transportation (travel duration and availability) and rough to-do-list description. Our trips often went impulsively, unplanned, and yielded unpredictable results 😀 At least, starring places in the G Maps application on phone prior to trip is really life safer. We can find alternatives quickly when shit happened at the spot without spending much time to googling. It’s been a habit for Aisar too. Even when three of us are going together, it doesn’t mean the trip will run more organized. No itinerary has been our trip behavior since having kid. LOL.

Okay, let’s go back to my Suisse trip.. don’t let my confession deter your spirit to fly high, especially if you’re a mom like me who has no choice but carrying your kid(s) everywhere 😛

Bulan Oktober lalu, saya terlibat obrolan dengan seorang teman yang anaknya beda sebulan dengan Musa. Kami sama-sama suka kabur dari rumah kalo pas suami dinas ke luar negeri demi mengusir rasa bosan dan kehilangan. Pada saat itu saya memuji dia yang berani main jauh sama anaknya ke Kyoto pakai nginap segala karena saya levelnya cuma menjelajah Tokyo dan sekitarnya aja yang pergi pagi dan pulang malam. Belum pernah kepikiran ajak Musa nginap tanpa suami di usianya yang udah susah dikendaliin ini, padahal kalo diingat, saya pernah bermalam sama bocah aja di Dallas, Texas, selama 2 hari 2 malam karena saya nggak bawa paspor dan nggak bisa balik ke Michigan sehingga kepulangan harus diundur, tapi emang Musa masih setahunan, lebih nurut. Wakakak. Yang kedua, ternyata saat mudik kemarin kejadian lagi menginap dadakan kaya gitu, cuma kali itu di Cirebon dan nggak ke luar hotel sampai dijemput (baca di sini).

Di Swiss ini, barulah bisa dihitung sebagai perjalanan berdua emak dan bocah yang diniatin. Meskipun hanya 2 hari 1 malam penuh, pengalaman ini cukup membuat saya ketagihan. Bedanya dengan pergi sendiri di Indonesia tentu karena nggak bisa dikit-dikit manggil ojek atau taxi, yang mana bikin saya kerepotan kalo anak udah rewel, baterai hape mau habis, dan tempatnya antah berantah. Oleh karena itu, seperti diceritakan di atas, demi mulusnya perjalanan impian ke pegunungan Alpen Swiss, saya benar-benar pelajari medan sebelum pergi. Walaupun masih jetlag karena baru tiba di bumi Eropa kurang dari 48 jam, we did it!

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