Tokyo day 4

Peter had to work today, so Robin and I had breakfast at the hotel by ourselves before heading to an aquarium. As we were getting ready though, Robin wanted a breastfeed and a late morning nap. We didn’t end up leaving the hotel until midday. We caught the subway and the JR train out to an area near Tokyo Disneyland, and then walked to the aquarium.

Robin was very excited to see the fish in the first tank. He really loves watching fish, especially large colourful ones! He was giggling and kicking his legs with joy. We walked around for quite a while looking at all the different tanks and displays. There was a very large tank with a sunfish that came close to us, and another with lots of large tuna swimming really fast. Robin didn’t like the tuna and got a bit scared. Fair enough, they are big, shiny, and move quickly!

We stopped for lunch at the cafe, then headed out to the penguin enclosure, where they were feeding the Penguins. I held Robin up so he could see them, and he was entranced! Just loved watching them dive in and out of the water. We stayed there for a while before heading to the “touch tanks” where they have some small sting rays (with the stings removed) that you can touch. We didn’t touch any, but Robin put his hand in the water and was interested in the Ray.

Our last stop was the gift shop, where Robin picked out a Turtle toy to play with. He is getting a bit sick of the toys we brought on the trip, so I was happy to get him something new. We then headed back on the train and subway to the hotel, where we met up with Peter. We had a drink and some Edamame, which Robin was very keen to try. We gave him a few of the shells, and then he spilled the whole plate on the ground! Luckily, we had already finished eating them.

For dinner we found an excellent shabu-shabu restaurant, with tatami seating in a private room. It was great to let Robin roll around and play on the mats while we ate, and not worry about him making too much noise. Eating can be difficult in Japan because none of the high hairs are designed for babies smaller than about 1 year old. A lot of them have no harness or tray, just a raised seat. We have better luck when the seating is either a booth or tatami (sitting on the floor) because he can lay down and play while we eat. He is very ‘grabby’ and has spilled a few things already when we’re not careful.

He wants to try everything we eat, even if he can’t eat it. We give him pretend drinks of beer or plum wine, where we put the glass to his mouth but don’t give him any of the liquid. He pretends to drink and is happy with that. He has also learned how to drink water out of a water bottle, though he spills it sometimes, he knows to be patient and we’ll pour a little bit into his mouth for him. Sometimes he forgets to close his mouth though! Often we give him some pumpkin or other mushy vegetable to eat. He just wants to be part of it all 🙂