Soba anyone?

In two days, Max and I leave for the States.  I'm feeling bittersweet about heading home - excited to see family but sad to leave Rich and take away his favorite playmate. We've been visiting different Tokyo neighborhoods on the weekends and last Sunday we went to Asakusa and the oldest shrine in Tokyo.  The heat was close to oppressive.  Here, Rich and Max sample some holy water.  (It was just an excuse to cool off, I think.)

Luckily we found a tiny restaurant and ducked in for a quick lunch of cold soba and tempura. Max surprised us by happily slurping the soba.... perhaps he has a thing for long noodles???

I've been thinking about choosing a Japanese name for Max and my good friend Sayuri is helping me with crafting something that is both harmonious in Japanese and translates well into English.  Rich told me he'd like to call Max "mochi" which roughly means "rice ball." Sayuri said that was definitely NOT ok.  "Motch" is actually the name of a large furry character on Japanese public TV.  Naming Max after him would be akin to calling him Snuffalupagus.

Moch is the white one on the left.  

Spaghetti boys

Miracle of miracles, Max totally dove into a plate of spaghetti and (veggie) meatballs the other night.  I have to give credit to Rich who has the patience and special touch to get Max eat. 

Speaking of Rich and Max...they are definitely growing closer and are developing their own routines together. Mornings are their time together when Max helps Rich make coffee and helps him get dressed.  Oddly, today he wanted Rich to wear a tie (it's summer casual time). And this afternoon when Max stumbled and bumped his nose on his sippy cup, he cried out for Daddy and then gave me the saddest look and wailed "work".