GRANDKID RECONNAISSANCE

Kasumi and Tatsuya, Kaya, Mitsuki and Miyasa are in Shiga for the New Year holidays, staying at their house across the Lake. They came over for lunch yesterday for a brief first visit; it was the first time since August that we'd seen the kids.

As it always does, it amazed me how much they had grown in just a few months - the miracle of life runs deep, in many more ways than time - though they still had their old characteristics, at which experience has made them more professional. They are so cute I want to take away all their playtime and just hug them. Not fair, either way.

Kaya has graduated from jealous elder sibling to iron-willed mentor of the ignorant undersiblings, which is much easier all around, and suits her thus far. M and M ignore her, anyway (when they're scolded by their mother they just look at each other and laugh), preferring to fight each other to bitter twinly extremes as they battle for unattainable supremacy, the desire for which is slowly waning as time wises them up.

They still make excellent faces, and are much harder to catch now. It was just a warmup visit for us, though, as I said; we'll be ready the next time, now that we know what to expect in terms of speed, bulk and cunning, and have had some time to work out and plan a comprehensive three-pronged strategy we call "Operation Giant Marshmallow."