notes

Back during the winter break, Yuki and I took a trip to Tokyo to see my father.  One morning, while Yuki was asleep, I decided to step out to go get some milk from a store about 3 minutes away (rest assured--my father was home).  Just in case she woke up though, I left her the following note:

(Yuki, I went to get some milk from the store.  I will be right back.  Mama)

When I returned 10 minutes later, I noticed that my alarm had gone off on my iphone.  I opened the door and lifted Yuki blanket  up to see if she was awake.  She was.  I said, "Sorry about the alarm.  I went to get some milk. Did you get my note?" to which, she replied (crankily), "YES! I LEFT YOU A NOTE BACK!"  I looked over and just below my note was this note:

 

(Mama, Can you please pick up your phone when you come back? It's one million times. Yuki)

Well, I guess she dutifully responded in the way the initial message was formatted.  I laughed until I was crying.  She giggled with me but then didn't quite know why it was so funny. 

Then this morning, Philip left her a note:

(This one shows up much more clear so I won't translate here)

Here is the back ground: I am currently in rehearsal so Philip in charge in the evenings.  There is a writing assignment that Yuki gets on a Monday which she has to turn in on a Friday every week.  Like any writer, she puts it off until Thursday night, which then turns into a whole mess of fight.  Eventually, she gets it done, but there is a lot of drama involved.  We suggested a while back that she tackles it on Monday so it's done, which she did for a while but now she is back to not doing it until later (which is our fault).  She gets all of the other home work at her after school program (GLSA) but she is convinced that she needs Philip's help (him being the writer and all) and saves it for home.  Hence the note.

She reads it, starts munching on her breakfast, takes a pen and writes the following:

 This one, I did not laugh at. I told her that this was quite rude and explained why Philip left such note and that she needs to at least get the story started at GLSA.  And that whole thing about the more you get it done there, the more time she had to play at home, blah blah blah. She sighed a teen-age sigh and said "OK." Later, I will touch on how to express your thoughts and wishes in writing (which is so crucial before she starts texting, emailing, and web posting) but I did not have the energy or the time  at 7:35 am.

Sass aside, being able to write notes to her that she can read, then write back is super useful and fun.  We have a note book we use when I am in rehearsal where I can leave her a message, and she also writes back:

It does my heart good to come home late at night and to read her little notes. I hope we can keep this up for a while.