A Fish Out of Water

Fall Colours

Fall is in full swing and the local leaves are looking pretty. These are some of the sights I see on my regular walking route (plus one gratuitous baby shot- just couldn't help myself).

Froggy

This is Shuma's frog kigurumi, used when he's in his stroller on cold days. I like it because it has no arms, so his hands stay nice and warm.

Kigurumi refers to a warm, loose, costume-like coverall (usually with arms), almost always with an animal theme. Kigurumi are not just for babies, and plenty of adults in Japan enjoy lounging around while disguised as a stuffed animal. The word comes from okurumi, which means swaddling blanket.

If you're in Japan and want to buy kigurumi for your baby, check out Nissen (in Japanese). Shuma's armless one, here, also comes in leapord, rabbit, bee, cow and panda.

Think pink

It takes a man who is very comfortable with his sexuality to wear pink (especially in combination with purple, turquoise and yellow). Well, Shuma is just such a man, and in celebration I changed the usual background to pink. It suits him very nicely, I think.

Puma

This Puma ensemble is perfect for the active baby. It includes a onesie, a coverall, a long-sleeved top, a pair of pants and a hat, so can be layered to allow for all-weather sportiness.

Shuma likes to show a little skin at his aerobics class (his gym is a bit of a meat market), so he wears the onesie alone.

For trampolinig he adds the coverall and top.

The pockets are great for warming up cold hands while jogging.

This outfit is also perfect for boxing, both for practing, above, and in the ring, below.

Just think of the sponsorship deals he could get. "And in the left corner, in green shorts, is featherweight champion Shuma the Puma!"

Salmon-don

Leftover steamed vegetables; abura-age to negi no nibitashi (fried tofu simmered with long onion); salmon-don (chopped salmon sashimi over rice). The latter two dishes were inspired by a recent episode of the NHK cooking show Kantan Gohan and turned out to be super-easy and tasty. The original recipes (in Japanese) are here and here, and here are my versions:

 

Salmon-don

2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sake
2 tsp mirin (sweet cooking sake)
200 grams sashimi-grade salmon
1 stalk negi (long onion), white part only
A dash of sesame oil
Two bowls of steamed white rice
A handful of kizami nori (thin strips of nori seaweed)*
2 egg yolks, optional

Add the soy sauce, sake and mirin to a microwave-safe bowl, microwave 30 seconds, let cool.

Chop salmon into small pieces, finely slice negi. Add salmon and negi to a bowl, pour in the soy sauce mixture and a dash of sesame oil, mix well.

Sprinkle the bowls of rice with kizami nori. Arrange the salmon mixture over nori, top with egg yolk.

*Kizami nori can be bought already sliced, or you can just make it with sushi nori: cut nori into 2 cm wide strips, cut strips widthwise into thin slices.

 

Abura-age to Negi no Nibitashi

3 sheets abura-age (fried tofu)
1 stalk negi plus green half of negi from recipe above
200 ml dashi
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp sake
1 tsp mirin

Bring a kettle of water to boil. Place abura-age sheets in a strainer in the sink and pour the boiling water over them, rinse with cold water to cool. Squeeze out excess water then slice widthwise into thin strips. Slice negi diagonally into 5mm slices.

Bring the dashi, soy sauce, sake and mirin to a simmer in a pot, add abura-age, bring back to simmer and cook for one minute. Add the negi and simmer until wilted.

Remove the abura-age and negi with slotted spoon and arrange in bowls, serve.

Mismatch

Shuma doesn't look too happy here, and that's because we just had a little fight. He saw the outfit I had selected and protested: "But Mom, monkeys don't go with caterpillars and stars!"

I told him that he's too young to worry about matching his underwear to his clothes, and because he is tiny and defenseless he had no choice but to wear the ensemble I'd selected.

A Walk in the Park

In Japan, babies are supposed to be strictly kept indoors for the first month, and for the next few months after that brought out only for short trips around the neighborhood. This isn't the only culture to do so, and there may be a few sensible reasons to keep both baby and mother at home in the beginning, but I'm surprised at the extent to which it is followed here. I didn't notice until Shuma came along, but you never ever see newborns out in public. So, since Shuma's been going out since he was two weeks old, I get some interesting reactions. Here are some of the best:

• While carrying Shuma in his sling (in the cradle position, so you can't see him from the outside) an older lady passes by, looks at the sling, and asks "Wan-chan?" (Is that a doggy?). I say no, it's a baby, and she gives a rather disappointed sounding "Ah so" and keeps going. It's tempting think that the fact that it's more common to see people carrying dogs (yes, they do have little doggy carriers here) than babies says something about this society, but I'm going to just assume that the lady was a little daft.
• Passing two older ladies who were waiting for a bus while carrying Shuma in his mei tai carrier (so the top of his head is visible), one notices him and gushes "Akachan da! Kawaii!" (It's a baby! So cute!). The other joins in and I walk past to a chorus of kawaiis. I look down and realize that Shuma was facing the opposite direction, so the ladies had only seen the back of his head. Is the top rear quadrant of his head especially attractive? Or maybe they were talking about me?
• An older lady coos over Shuma in his sling and asks how old he is. When I say one month her reaction is so surprised I might has well have said five minutes. She doesn't angrily scold me or anything (as I've heard is a frequent occurrence), but looks genuinely shocked and warns me not to let him catch cold (it's 23C and sunny).
• At my dry cleaners I leave Hideaki outside with Shuma in the stroller while I make a pickup. Shuma is crying quite loudly, as he is wont to do when the stroller is not in motion, and can be heard inside the shop, which prompts the clerk to ask why he's crying. Now, this is my regular dry cleaners and it's always the same lady behind the counter, and after months of her seeing my big pregnant belly while bringing in dry cleaning, this is her first time to see me post-birth. But no "Oh you had your baby" or congratulations or anything- just "Why is your baby crying?". I don't feel like answering a question that isn't her business, so I just say I don't know, which is a mistake as it leaves the answer up for debate. So the clerk and the man in front of me begin a discussion about why my baby, who they can't actually see, is crying. The conclusion, eventually, is that he's sleepy.
• While at the park in his stroller, Shuma gets hungry and as it's a bit far from home I decide to find a secluded bench and feed him. Soon I notice that my bench is not as secluded as I thought and there's an older lady watching me from a nearby bench, which weirds me out a little (not that there's anything shameful about public nursing, but being stared at is a bit icky). When I finish she walks over, asks if I'm done, then sits down right beside me and asks if she can hold him. I haven't even answered before she's snatched him from my lap, and she cuddles him for about five minutes before giving him back and thanking me, explaining that it's so rare to see a newborn and holding one made her so happy. I'm still not sure what I think about this incident: on one hand I really don't like strangers grabbing my baby without waiting for permission, and even asking for permission doesn't help much as it puts me in a difficult spot. But on the other hand I know that exposing him to as many people as possible from an early age will help strengthen both his immune system and social skills. I kind of like the "it takes a village to raise a child" philosophy, and love the idea of my kid being passed around by lots of people- it's far better than raising a sheltered germaphobe child. And the lady was right- it's so rare to see newborns. If it makes people happy, I'll just consider letting strangers hold him to be a public service.
• Two older ladies passing by admire him enough that I stop and let them them get a better look at Shuma in his stroller. They ask lots of questions and are friendly, but upon hearing he is a month and a half old one of them says "Kawaiso, tureteitte" (Poor baby, being taken out). The "poor baby", meanwhile, is smiling and relaxed for the first time that day.
• Two older ladies (I think I'm starting to see a pattern here) stop to look at him, and among the many compliments they lavish on him are "Ikemen da!". I'm not sure how to translate "ikemen": literally it means "good looking man" but is more than that. It's a very trendy word that combines ikeru (cool) and men, which cleverly refers to both the English "man" and Japanese word for "face". It is used to describe a hot young man of a very specific type (it's all in the hair really, and I suspect that the longer it takes a man to style his hair the more likely he is to be called an ikemen). A type that I sincerely hope Shuma never turns into, so I thought it was pretty funny that he was called that.
• At Costco Shuma was Mr. Popularity. We took him out of his carrier while we were eating at the cafeteria, and when I was holding him up on my shoulder I could hear a symphony of "Kawaii!" behind me. When it was Hideaki's turn to hold him, literally everyone behind him was looking at Shuma and making faces, and a few people even came and posed for pictures beside him. Like with the grabby lady at the park we're a bit unsure how to take this. It's a bit of an invasion of privacy, especially since nobody asked permission to take pictures, but then again I'm not sure how much privacy I can expect when I'm out in public. If we were in North America I'm sure I would be obliged to worry that the picture-takers were pedophiles planning to abduct him or share his pictures on their pedophile websites. But mostly I just got a kick out of people's reactions. If people are so unused to seeing little babies that they freak out over mine, then great. We're happy to oblige.

Still cooking

Recently somebody (I'm talking about you, JoeinVegas!) left a comment saying he knew this would turn into a baby blog. I was sure this would never turn into a baby or mommy blog (in fact I remember promising exactly that right on this blog), but there you go. Guilty as charged. But how did you know, Joe?

To be fair though, I don't think my blog was ever really a food blog- it had too much other stuff thrown in. I guess it's a regular "a slice in the life of" blog, and for a little while it's going to be very much baby focused, reflecting the fact that I myself and very much baby focused. To those who aren't keen on endless pictures of babies (and I know I wasn't before this particular baby came along), I apologise. Come back in a little while and there might be something a little more interesting.

And just to show that I do still manage to cook, here is a recent dinner:

Steamed rice with shimeji tsukudani (shimeji mushrooms simmered in soy sauce); steamed vegetables dressed with ponzu (citrus soy sauce): red and white skinned potatoes, broccoli, golden cauliflower, sweet potato, kabocha squash, renkon (lotus root) and negi (long onions); and miyeok guk (wakame seaweed soup with beef).

Miyeok guk is a Korean soup based on the highly nutritious wakame, said to be good for helping nursing mothers increase their milk production. So it is often eaten by new mothers, as well as pregnant women and on birthdays. This was the first time I made it, although I'd had it once before- this summer my brother's girlfriend Sherry made it for me when I was home visiting.

It's a simple soup but really really tasty and will show up on my table often from now on. I think it deserves a post of its own, so more about it another time.

Beware of Lions

This outfit is adorned with little sheep, but they better watch out- lions are lurking nearby (oh how I wish I had wolf socks).

7 Mile Bridge

This cute outfit is adorned with green and blue cars and the phrase "7 Mile Bridge". Now, as far as I can tell, there is a Seven Mile Bridge in Florida, but I'm not quite sure what it has to do with this coverall, so I'm considering this to be Shuma's very first Engrish clothing item. Don't worry, he's wearing it ironically.

Clean and Dry

Shuma liked bathtime pretty much right away, which was a big relief as bathing a reluctant baby doesn't look fun. Occasionally though, he'll have a little cry after the bath if we don't dry him off quickly enough, so this hooded towel comes in handy. I received it as a shower gift and actually thought it was kind of silly- on top of all the stuff babies need, do they really need special towels? Well yes, it turns out they do, and these hooded towels are brilliant.

I like them so much that I want one for myself- I wonder if they come in big people sizes?

Bunny and Piggy

Shuma is not just a pretty face, he's also highly intelligent, and he's already learning his alphabet with the help of this onesie.

On top he's wearing his piggy coverall. If you look up close you'll see it says "Boo Mart" in tiny letters. That must be where piggies do their shopping.

Hippos

This little number was a freebie that came with a nursing top my mom bought me on my visit home this summer. It is extra long and has an open elastic bottom, which would theoretically make dressing and diaper changes easier, but unfortunately the opening is too tight. Perhaps it is meant for supermodel babies.

I do love the hippos though. If I were smarter I would have cut off the elastic bottom, dug out my sewing machine, and turned this into a shirt, but it's too late now as he'll probably outgrow it soon.

This also came with a cute hat, which has joined the pile of hats he doesn't wear, hats being one of the three things he won't put up with no matter how much we try (the other two being soothers and bottles).

Giraffe hugs

Today will probably be the last time Shuma wears this onesie, making it the first item of clothing he's outgrown. I'm a little bit happy about that, and a little bit sad.

On top he's wearing his polka-dot giraffe cover-all, which hopefully has a month or two left to be worn.

If you look closely at the giraffe patch, you'll see it says "I love hugs". And you know what? He does love hugs! How did they know?

Frogs and Monkey

I'm still getting the hang of cloth diapers- they leak all over the place and I can't tell if it's because my covers are too big or if I'm doing it wrong or what. So we usually use disposables, but for practice I try to use cloth diapers at least once a day while we're at home. This frog pond cover is is my favourite.

One problem with cloth diapers is that they're huge, so the clothes Shuma wears on top need to be one size bigger than normal. Here he is in an oversized monkey onsie- nothing top, because I don't want him leaking through two layers. Someone please tell me cloth diapers get easier!

Dragons

This is what Shuma wore for his audition with the local bosozoku (Japanese motorcycle gang). It turns out that they don't accept babies, but they loved his look.

Hadagi

Here is Shuma in his hadagi. Hadagi is the general term for "undergarments" and for babies usually refers to a white kimono-like robe. I had no idea how and when to use hadagi at first (in fact all baby clothes confused me in the beginning) and I had him wearing them all day long, usually inside out. Now I'm pretty sure they are meant to be worn under regular clothes or for sleeping, but even if I knew that I'd probably have had him wearing them all the time in his first few weeks anyway, just because they're so easy to put on. And diaper changes are a snap in hadagi!

What really had me confused were the seams- they are usually on the outside so as not to rub against sensitive baby skin. But not always, and the only way to tell which side is which is by the ties- there is one set on the inside, and two on the outside. Unless it's a short, shirt-like hadagi, in which case there is one set of ties on each side and no way to tell which is the inside and which is the outside. You can see why I was a bit confused.

I like the simplicity and ease of hadagi, but I have to admit I'm not crazy about the ties. I'm pretty sure those ties would be considered a strangulation hazard back home, and while I hate the North American obsession with safety (the list of everything that will kill your child seems to grow longer every day), it does worry me a bit. I don't think the ties are actually long enough to do any harm, and they tend to stay tied up (hadagi seem to only be used for newborns, who don't have the hand coordination to untie them), but I still wish I could buy hadagi with snaps or velcro instead of ties.

Snoopy

This Snoopy cover-all is still a few sizes to big, but that's OK because Shuma digs the baggy look. Here he embellishes the outfit with this season's must-have accessory: a drool stain.

Fashion Show

With a baby that seems to want to nurse all day long, I've had to learn how to do everything one-handed. I can manage to use a computer, even type a little, but I don't see any wordy posts in the near future so I think I'll just put up pictures for a while. And since we've been fortunate enough to have been given some very spiffy baby clothes, I think I'll treat you to a daily fashion show.

Let's start with the basics. Any guy can look good in fancy clothes, but it takes a special man to pull off a plain white t-shirt. Obviously Shuma has what it takes.

Before Shuma was born, back when we didn't know he was a he, the clothes we received were all gender-neutral. Now they are all boy themed, like this one. And of course nothing says masculinity like a dinosaur on a skateboard.

Here Shuma demonstrates that it really is the accessories that make the man.

Well, I don't think it gets any lamer than taking pictures of a baby in (adult) sunglasses, so I'll stop now before I start posing him holding a beer bottle or typing on the computer or something.