Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Star Trek

Chikara and I have been wanting to go and watch Star Trek ever since we heard about it. I watched Star Trek and Star Trek: TNG when I was younger. I wouldn't call myself a Trekkie, but I enjoyed the shows and know most of the character's names. Chikara has also watched enough to be interested in seeing the movie.

Problem: I have never been able to get a babysitter. You know, a teenager who will come and watch your kids so you can go out with your husband and then you pay them. I've never seen it done here in Japan. Usually what we do is trade babysitting with our friends but they're all going through various difficult things right now so we didn't want to ask them. Our only option left was to ask Chikara's parents. This isn't necessarily a horrible option but they are busy on Sundays and Chikara's mom can get tired easily because of her kidney problems so this is usually a last option. But Chikara called his mom and she could come so we were really excited.

We bought our tickets online and I put the kids to bed while Chikara picked up his mom. I showed his mom where all the good snacks are and off we went.

The movie was awesome. We talked about it all the way home.

When we arrived home, I went into the living room and no one was there. We had seen Dad's car down the street so we knew both of them were at our house. I called out hello and mom came tiptoeing down the stairs. I turns out that Natsuki had called for me about 10 minutes after we left for the movie and when my MIL went in to see what she wanted, Natsuki freaked out. They tried everything to calm her down. They let her watch videos, gave her popsicles and juice, moved Misaki into another bed so Natsuki could be with Emi (her "other" mommy) but nothing had worked until about 10 minutes before we got home and she finally went to sleep. It was 11:30 at night and Emi was still awake, sitting beside Natsuki who was a knot of sweat and blankets.

I sighed and then moved everybody back to their own beds and laid beside Natsuki until she was asleep. It took only 10 minutes to put everything back the way it should be.

After the high of watching the best movie we've seen in awhile, coming home to the chaos brought us back to reality real fast. I can't decide if we should feel bad for my MIL or not. We rarely ask her to do this for us and she is their grandmother but basically she spent two and a half hours trying to figure out what to do for a crying and screaming Natsuki.

Next time we'll just ask our friends to watch the girls.

7 comments:

Nooh said...

Oh, sorry to hear your exciting night didnt end so well. I know from taking care of my sister's girls for so many years that kids pick up on anxiety, so if your MIL was feeling out of her comfort zone or worried, then no matter what she did Natsuki wouldn't settle anyway. Maybe the reason why things work out with your mum friends is cos they are used to kids and take everything in their stride. My guess is MIL is feeling a bit dissapointed(in herself) too...??? It is a shame you dont know any young teenages or uni students to do the babysitting, but maybe the same thing would have happened with them? Hope something works out for future date nights anyway!

Sarah@mommyinjapan said...

Thanks for the encouragement, Nooh!

Kim said...

Ahhh, what a bummer end to a great evening, huh? I left Jun with Grandpa to take Grandma to lunch for her birthday - thinking nothing of it. Talk about a clingy toddler for the rest of our trip. Took me months to figure out the connection, though!

illahee said...

oh no, what a bummer. and poor natsuki and your MIL, too. the lack of childcare (well, babysitters) is difficult, i agree. i am glad you enjoyed the movie, though.

Hannah said...

At least you got to enjoy the movie without knowing about all the drama. It's hard when you think about all the work that goes into a night out and have to decide if it's worth the effort.

Gina said...

Sarah, I love that you and Chikara went to go see that! I have seen the previews to that too. And it looks SO good! A young Kirk and a young Spock, ha ha ha! I think that's very cool you and hubby went on a date. : )

It is a bummer about what your MIL went through. But like you said it rarely ever happens. So hopefully nobody is any worse for the wear. : ) Glad things settled down after you got home.

Have a great week! : )

Gaijin Wife said...

I think if I left Granny K in charge to babysit we would come home to a house burnt to the ground. Good on your MIL for not ringing you during the chaos though. At least you got to enjoy the movie :)

And love that 'you were born to help' conversation you had with your daughter. Crack me up.