Blog posts from the past...

My old blog is defunct, so here are a few posts from the fifteen months I spent rearing a 3-4 year old and a 2 - 17 month old in Japan.


2008/10/02
Bad Mom Redux
I have started making my own baby food. This is not, as some of you might assume, an attempt for me to get off of the "Bad Mom" list. It's a purely economical decision--a jar of baby food costs approximately a $1.50. Granted these appear to be healthy choices, and who can turn down "Kewpie"? In our pantry right now (for those days when I just don't have time or ingredients to make my own food): Rice Porridge with Fish and Seaweed, Stewed Chicken Liver, Risotto with Flounder and Vegetables, Meat Dumpling Stew, Chinese Tofu and Steamed Fish, Tuna Tomato Risotto, Rice Porridge with Chicken and Root Vegetables... What I make is not nearly as good, I assume, but Pink P seems to like it!

If the making of my own baby food edged me closer to getting off the "Bad Mom" list, I am sure the fact I completely missed Pink P's six-month check up places me promptly back at the bottom of the pile! See, here they do immunizations separate from well-child checks, and I didn't really realize this. I had wondered about it but didn't really read the materials the city health center had given me very carefully (it was all written in Japanese, after all). When I finally got around to investigating, it was time for her 9-month check. Yikes! Of course, when I took her for her 9-month check, the doctor was kind enough to point out my error. Thanks, thanks a lot.

2008/7/21
Earthquake!

When we first moved to Tokyo, I received a disaster preparedness manual for dealing with earthquakes. It was at once funny (reminding us to yell "Earthquake! Turn off the gas!" at least three times when we feel a major quake occuring and telling us to begin rebuilding our community the third day--no sooner, no later--after a major earthquake) and quite sobering. It is very specific as to how phone services will work, how traffic will be diverted, where our meeting points and evacuation centers are, etc...At my son's kindergarten, all of the kids have emergency cushions. These crack me up (and frighten me at the same time) because they are very thin square pillows (only about an inch thick) that the kids are supposed to use to cover their heads in the case of an earthquake. Helmets would make a lot more sense, don't you think?


2008/06/23
For the Record...
I should confess that Sky went to school with a princess band-aid on his toe today. He seems to like Ariel from The Little Mermaid the best (he's already used three of the Ariel band-aids). He calls her "the princess with lots of water." If the teacher noticed it when she made him change his mud-filled socks this morning, she didn't mention it.

2008/06/17
Losing the Princess Battle
When we found out Pink P was going to be a girl, I have to admit I panicked a little. What if she was into tea parties and princesses? I mean, I was the ultimate tomboy, and pink is one of my least favorite colors. What would I do with a girly girl? Before she was born, I set out to buy gender-neutral-colored clothes (I did the same thing with her brother), picking a lot of greens and browns. Still, I began to supsect my efforts were in vain when we were picking out plates for Sky's birthday (six weeks before Pink P was even born). He was torn between Thomas, Animal Planet, and Princesses! We ended up going with Thomas, but it was a toss up!

On the day of Pink P's baptism, her brother was ecstatic. "She's a princess!" he said. How sweet, I thought, until I realized his excitement came from the fact that she was wearing a dress. He promptly took a look up her skirt.

Recently he has taken to tying his blanket around his waist so that he can be a princess. [Lest you are worried, he does also tie his blanket around his neck and pretend to be Super Why (from PBS) or Anpanman (a flying beanpaste bun super hero that is popular with his age group here--don't ask)]. Irony of all ironies: the other day, I found myself saying, "Just wait until Pink P gets bigger. Then you guys can play princess together."