Pointless bath

With the weather getting warmer and me being a very warm baby overall, I sweat quite easily. So even though I just had a bath I sometimes end up sweaty when nursing. Yes, the wetness in the picture above is sweat. I was properly dried after my bath and then made it pointless but sweating profusely. Luckily, my sweat is pretty clean and doesn’t smell bad or anything. But it just means that Mommy and Daddy have to dry my hair again before I go to sleep to make sure I don’t catch a cold.

Smiles and envy at school

When Daddy drops me off at school, I am pretty much expressionless. I don’t cry, but I don’t smile either…at least not in front of Daddy. When I’m brought into the play room in the morning, I flash a big smile to my teachers and friends. During the day when my teachers enter the room I always have a smile for them. They really like it when they see me smile!

I like my school life, but I also can’t wait to join the older kids’ group. They do a lot more active things, (probably because they can walk, run, and dance and stuff). Today they had exercise and dance and I watched from the sidelines, very envious of them.

Books, cars, shaking Daddy, and toilet buttons

Not a day goes by when I don’t read my books. Today I again read them teacher style. I tried to put them away properly but gave up on that.

I played with my toy cars this morning. They don’t do much besides roll around, but I find that to be so much fun!

Since it is getting to be warmer, Daddy got out my old napping mat which is made of cool-to-the-touch fabric. I wasn’t too keen about lying on it, so I made Daddy try it out. I made sure to rock him and shake him so that his entire back got the cooling effect.

Then I just started to shake him because it is fun and I like getting reactions out of him.

I later wandered off and noticed that the toilet door was open. Luckily, the toilet lid was shut. So I just examined the control panel on the side. Yes, Japanese toilets have control panels with all kinds of buttons I can’t wait to experiment with. Daddy didn’t let me press any today.

Breakfast: hands and feet

Nowadays I like to feed myself the foods that I can eat with my fingers. So Daddy tears up my breakfast roll into bite-sized pieces and I pick them up and put them in my mouth. I let him serve me my fruit yogurt. All the while, my legs are crossed or my toes are interlinked. Why? Why not?

Please the nutritionist

My teachers made sure to let Mommy and Daddy know that I am a very good eater at nursery school. Not only in the sense that I eat all my food, but I also do so with relatively good manners. I don’t make an unnecessary mess and of course I don’t put up a fight when being fed. Apparently, when the nutritionist at school watches how eagerly and happily I eat, it makes her very happy. I eat to please.

Little boy

I’ve grown a lot in one year. I don’t think of myself as a baby anymore, more like a little boy. But despite how much I’ve grown, I’m still much smaller than Daddy. I have a lot more growing to do to catch up to him. Although, we all have a feeling that I’m going to grow up to be bigger than him…just not in the immediate future. Still, Daddy says that no matter how big I get, I’ll always be his little boy.

First birthday presents

Even after my birthday party finished, there was still some party events left. I still had some birthday presents to open.

I got a lot of constructive toys: blocks, Legos, and magformers! It looks like I’ll be building a lot! Oh, wait. Not so much building. There is a car in the Lego set. It looks like I’ll be playing with this a lot!

Thank you everyone! I love my gifts! You made my birthday extra special just by thinking about me. I can’t wait to see all of you! Until then, Mommy and Daddy are giving me hugs and kisses from all of you! Happy birthday to me!

First birthday party: Erabitori

The next tradition was Erabitori is basically trying to see what kind of future career I will pursue. Personally, I think it is too early too choose. Afterall, I just turned one. I have about twenty more years before I have to make this decision. But this is tradition, so I went along with it. Usually, actual items representing different careers or fields are laid out for the baby to choose. But some of those objects could be dangerous and others would have an unfair advantage. I mean, if you put a banana among any other objects I’m going to choose the banana, but that does not mean I want to be a banana farmer. So, recently, a lot of families use cards with pictures on them.

One of the big problems was that we segued right into erabitori from isshou mochi, so I still had the backpack of mochi on. However, part of isshou mochi is to see if the baby can crawl with the weight. It is a traditional indication of how quickly the babies leave the nest. I was able to crawl, but instead of leaving the nest I crawled desperately to be near Mommy (especially to get her to take the backpack off). Daddy later commented that it looked like a dramatic scene of a wounded soldier in a war movie. Perhaps in slow motion and with the right music it could achieve that level of intense drama. Right now it is just a crying baby trying to get to his mommy.

Everyone tried to tell me and show me what I was supposed to do, but I just wasn’t into it. I thought it was a lot more entertaining to watch all these grownups do everything they could to get me to pick up some cards. Grownups act so funny around kids.

Later, I made my way over to my choices on my own volition and started to make my choices. Since it is so early I really couldn’t land on a single choice so I just picked up the ones that I had an interest in. I chose seven!

My seven choices in order of my choosing were careers related to leadership, research, and art as my first three choices. Then doctor, technology/development, entrepreneur, and teacher. Coming from a family of teachers (Jiiji, Baaba, Grandma, Mommy and Daddy) everyone’s reaction to my last choice was wary pride. They all love teaching, but know that it is a tough career choice. Still, I have time to change my mind and see what really sparks my interest. But for now, at the age of one, these are my selections!

First Birthday Party: Isshou Mochi

After I had cake we did the traditional Japanese Isshou Mochi. Basically, babies are given about 2kg (4.4lbs) of mochi to carry on their back. Why? Well, the short answer is tradition. There are longer and more detailed explanations online. Putting the “why” aside, let’s look at the other Ws.

  • Who: babies
  • What: about 2 kg of mochi (equal to 1 shou) *Actually, we only used 1/4 of the mochi, so about 500g)
  • When: first birthday
  • Where: on their back
  • How: very difficulty and with desperate cries of “why?” and being answered with “tradition”

So, as you can see, I was not a big fan of this tradition. Apparently almost all babies in Japan go through this. Not only was it heavy, I have never really worn a backpack before so I’m not used to it. I don’t particularly like surprises. Unfortunately, we didn’t really have time to help me get used to just the backpack because the order only arrived today. Still, considering the weight, pressure, and trauma of the experience, I think I bore it quite well. But I must admit, I prefer the birthday tradition where I get to eat birthday cake instead of have to carry rice cake.

First Birthday Party

Today we had a party celebrating my first birthday! Decorations, presents, cake, and family all for me! I was so happy! Although I did cry a bit when I saw Jiiji and Baaba. It had been a while and I still am wary of unfamiliar people. But then I calmed down fairly quickly and started reconnecting with them. I made my rounds saying hello and playing with Jiiji, Baaba, and Obachan. It was nice to see all of them again!

Baaba and Jiiji were so excited to see me that they gave me my presents right away. I got some cool outfits and a magnet writing board. Thank you! I liked the outfits and was quite into the magnet writing board. Unfortunately I didn’t know how to use it. I don’t know how to write yet so I didn’t use the pen. I liked the stamps but I liked putting them in their holders, since that is what I’ve been trained to do with all my other toys where I put discs in slots or pegs in holes.

While the grownups ate lunch I played with everyone and showed off all that I can do as a one-year-old. But with all the excitement I started to get sleepy and so Daddy took me to the bedroom for my nap.

After a nice nap, I woke up to find that it was just about time for my birthday cake. I get a cake! I never had cake before! I was quite excited, but also quite controlled. A lot of babies would reach out and grab a handful of the cake, but I didn’t. Especially because I didn’t really know what it was.

We called Grandma and Grandpa on FaceTime so they could virtually be there for my first birthday cake! Everyone sang for me and then it was time to for me to blow out my candle. I didn’t know how to do that. Mommy and Daddy helped me. And then it was time to eat the cake. Boy, did I enjoy that part!

It was a special cake mix made for babies so it has safe ingredients and less sugar than a normal cake, but I liked it just the same. I have never had real cake so I can’t make a comparison, but Mommy agreed that it tasted pretty good!

Next there were some Japanese birthday traditions waiting for me. I’ll just go ahead and tell you, I’m not fond of them. You can check them out in separate posts: Isshou Mochi and Erabitori.

After being a good boy and going through the traditions and rituals of my birthday, I went back to my favorite part of my birthday party: the birthday cake. I pointed out which bits I wanted to eat and Jiiji was happy to oblige me. He kept saying playfully, “Okay, but this is the last bite,” only to follow up with more and more “last bites.” I like Jiiji!

I had a great birthday party! Sure, the cake was awesome and I liked my gifts, but it was really nice to spend the day with family! Jiiji and Baaba were very happy to see me after some time and were eager to make plans for our next get together. It was nice to se Obachan again and even she saw a lot of growth in me even though it hasn’t been long since I saw her. I guess time is really flying by. I can’t believe I’m already 1 year old. It has been a great year filled with love and joy! I look forward to the next year…and the next and the next…

First haircut

Somebody is getting a haircut today! Oh, wait, it’s me. *gulp*

Mommy and Daddy decided to give me a haircut. Not only because I often mistaken for a girl, but also because my hair is getting to be unruly. It gets in my eyes, curls in all directions, and it is pretty hot in the warming weather. Time to get rid of it…some of it.

The first step is to cut a couple of locks for prosperity. But I sensed something was different and was not cooperating. I would not just sit still. Maybe it was the newspaper laid out under me that made me suspicious and wary.

I started off in my new kids’ chair, but wouldn’t stay seated. Then I was allowed to sit on the floor but I kept crawling away. Finally, Mommy and Daddy put me in my high-low chair and buckled me in. That kept me in one place, but it didn’t keep me still. And it was harder for Daddy to get to my hair, but this was the only way it was going to work, so they went all in. Let the haircut begin!

I was coerced to stay relatively still by and endless supply of mini egg biscuits and some fun videos on YouTube.

I did my best, but after a while I was getting restless and my cut hair was getting poky and itchy. (Mommy and Daddy tried to get me in a covered up but I wasn’t having it and opted for freedom.). Just as I reached my limit, Daddy was finishing up and declared that we were done. I was whisked away to the bath to be rid of all my hair sticking to me and poking me.

Daddy is not a hairdresser or barber. He has no license or training in haircutting. He is not qualified to do this in any way other than having skimmed through a couple of videos on YouTube. Hey, should he be doing this?

Fast forward to tomorrow and you can see the result of my haircut. Not bad. At least my head is a lot cooler and I don’t have hair in my eyes.

Pretty with pigtails

You can see why I’m often mistaken for a girl. Look how pretty! When people mistake me for a girl, they don’t even ask, “Is she a girl?”, they just assume with 100% confidence that I’m a girl with comments like, “She is definitely going to grow up to be a beautiful woman!” I wonder if it is all about the hair? Do people think I’m a girl because of my long hair, even when it is not in pigtails? We’ll see…