A Fish Out of Water

An important announcement

Listen upeverybody, my son has something to say:

Motorcycle top

This outfit doesn't look very fancy, but that is the most expensive top I've ever bought for Shuma. We're not talking about designer prices or anything, but when you're used to buying baby clothes at discount retailers (not to mention all the clothes we've received as gifts) it's a big deal to pay full price at Baby Gap. The pants are hand-me-downs though, so I guess they cancel eachother out.

We just couldn't resist the top when we saw it, because it's got motorcycles on it. Or rather, his father the ex-motorcycle racer couldn't resist it.

Ha, dream on kid. That's as close as you're ever going to get to a motorcycle if I can help it.

 

 

More birthday stuff

Between August 20th and October 4th we celebrate Hideaki's birthday, our anniversary, Shuma's birthday, and my birthday as well. We also lean towards "birthday months" rather than big bashes on the days themselves, so please forgive me for kind of spreading out and jumbling up these birthday posts.

So I got a big surprise the weekend after my birthday- a delivery of ten fresh oysters from Akkeshi, Hokkaido! I'd dropped hints last year that, with a brand-new baby taking over our lives, went unfulfilled. This year Hideaki came through, and although they weren't my beloved Akkeshi kaki-emon oysters (which were apparently mostly wiped out in the tsunami) they were from the same brackish lake and tasted quite similar.

Aren't they pretty? He even shucked most of them for me, and I was nice enough to give him one. He doesn't like his oysters raw, so we cooked two in the microwave as recommended in the information that came with the delivery. Amazingly they were really good that way, just liked steamed but much easier.

These oysters are so flavourful that they don't need anything added, but a squeeze of sudachi citrus was nice for variety's sake.

The birthday dinner that followed was a humble but tasty meal of yaki-udon (fried udon noodles) and wonton soup. Hideaki uses fish sauce and ponzu to flavour his noodles and I'm totally addicted to that combination of flavours.

Dessert was a store-bought berry cake, and you can tell it's for my birthday because he hates these sour kind of berries. It's actually quite hard to find a simple cake like this, but since I don't like a lot of whipped cream and goo this is really all I want.

No candles or "Happy Birthday" singng, but then if those were really important to me I would have married a woman.

Then Shuma got a late and wonderful birthday present from some former students of mine who took us out for lunch. It's a birthday cake from Noe (pronounced "Noah", a much-loved cake shop in nearby Shakujii Koen). The chocolate heart says "Shuma-kun,Issai no Otanjoubi Omedetou" (Baby Shuma, Congratulations on Your First Birthday).

He was fascinated by the candle. He's recently learned how to blow but wasn't up for it so I took care of the candle for him (my wish was that he'd outgrow his dairy allergy so he could eat his next birthday cake).

He did get to eat his fill of fruit though, and his mom and dad really enjoyed the rest. Actually Noe cakes are the only ones I'll happily eat, cream, goo, and all. Yum.

Panda legs

Normally I'm thrilled when Shuma takes an unexpected nap. He doesn't nap well or regularly, so when it happens I get to do stuff that I usually don't get to do. Or at least get to do in peace.

But yesterday he fell asleep at the jidoukan (children's centre) while we ate lunch after a playgroup session. I was tempted to try to get him into his carrier as gently as possible and head for the nearest cafe so I could do a little reading and relaxing, but I was sure he'd wake up at some point and spoil my plans. So I put him in the centre's crib (thank goodness they have one) and miracle of miracles, he stayed asleep. And there we were, Shuma fast asleep and leaving me free in the one place I had nothing to do.

Well, not completely. I got to chat with some other moms without being interrupted every fifteen seconds by a baby needing my attention. And I got to take these pictures.

If I'd known I'd get to take pictures I would have chosen a more exciting outfit (he has loads of nifty clothes that I've been trying to get him to model). But the legwarmers are pretty neat, with their stripes, pandas, and descriptive lettering. Just in case you weren't sure what kind of creature that is.

Birthday boy

Shuma's first birthday has come and gone (like, a month and a half ago) without mention yet, but don't think we didn't do anything. His birthday is September 20th, which this year was in the middle of the week so rather than one big party we did a series of things. I don't think one-year-olds are really ready to appreciate major fussing anyway, and even if we allowed him to eat sweets he wouldn't be able to have a cake because of his dairy allergy. So he just had a few mini celebrations, starting with a birthday serenade at TGI Friday's in Shinagawa (see here for the full description and an awful, awful picture).

Next we got him an indoor playset. I mostly wanted it for the swing, as I still haven't found a park with a baby swing nearby, but I kind of misjudged how huge the thing is and it doesn't fit in our apartment with the swing addition (it doesn't look that bad above, but there was no clearance at all).

So the swing is packed away and will come out when we finish converting our office into Shuma's bedroom. Which I hope to god is soon because even without the swing this thing is huge.

He also got the walker seen in this post, which will convert into a scooter when he outgrows it. Yes he is completely spoiled. When I was pregnant we swore we wouldn't buy him much stuff, and now our place is completely overrun by tonnes of plastic baby crap. The thing is, he really likes it all, and since he still doesn't really nap I figure the more distractions he has, the more chances I have to cook, clean, and relax in peace.

On September 18th a bunch of Hideaki's relatives got together to honour his grandmother for Keiro no Hi (Respect for the Aged Day). It was a really nice gathering and Shuma got to meet some cousins and great uncles for the first time, and although we weren't specifically celebrating his birthday he did get a cake. Or rather, he got to watch us eat a cake. It says "Shuma-kun Omedetou", which means "Congratulations Baby Shuma".

Also not specifically for his birthday, but on September 23rd Shuma and I went to Enoshima with Hideaki's sister and her family. Enoshima is a small island in the Shonan area of Kanagawa Prefecture, near Kamakura, and although I've been to the beaches nearby I've never actually made it to the island. That's Katase Enoshima station above, one of the cuter station buildings I've seen. 

We first went to the Enoshima Aquarium, which focuses on the marine life of the neighboring Sagami Bay. It was a public holiday so the place was packed and it was hard to get close to many of the exhibits, but they seem to have done a great job recreating the amazing biodiversity of the bay. I'd like to return and spend more time there (I say this about every aquarium I visit, but I really really mean it this time).

And of course there are seal and dolphin performances, which the kiddies love. I like the way they designed the dolphin stadium (theatre?) with a view of the bay and Enoshima.

Shuma was a good boy and mostly enjoyed watching the sea mammals but is still a touch too young to really get into it. Or maybe he's like me and prefers the fishes in the aquariums.

Lunch was a big treat, as shirasu (baby sardines) is the local delicacy. I had tsukimi shirasu-don (moon-viewing shirasu rice bowl, with a raw egg yolk as the moon), which came with pickles, grated daikon and miso soup. Shuma loves shirasu so we both loved this.

 

And this past weekend we all got together again for a multi-purpose celebration- Shuma's birthday, Halloween, and cousin Yuuki's birthday (he'll turn one in December, so it's halfway between each of their big days). Again we had the staff bring free birthday desserts and sing (along with the nearby diners) happy birthday. Yuuki was excited, but Shuma was kind of scared- a bit disappointed as he'd just loved the same thing the month before. Oh well, at least we all got to share some yummy dessert.

Happy Halloween!

I lamed out this Halloween and bought Shuma's costume. I don't generally approve of store-bought costumes, but after looking forward to Halloween for months Shuma and I both got sick in mid-October, and stayed sick for two weeks. Despite being "just" a cold, it was the sickest I can remember ever being, and in addition to my cold Shuma got a nasty case of pinkeye that was resistant to the first of antibiotics and thus stuck around for much longer than it should have. Yuck. So I think I'll go easy on myself for not making what surely would have been the coolest Halloween costumes ever.

We're both mostly better now, aside from lingering coughs (and a general foul mood on Shuma's part), but we had to miss our playgroup's Halloween party which we'd been really looking forward to. We did get to go trick-or-treating in an even organized by a play centre- the first time I've ever heard of trick-or-treating in Japan. Shuma was still a bit grumpy from his cold, and is also still, you know, a baby, so of course it didn't go as planned. He was scared by the noisy older kids and wouldn't walk by himself and would cry if I even put him down for a second. What was I thinking bringing a thirteen-month-old trick-or-treating?

But back at the play centre he recovered and even though he probably didn't know that those colourful plastic packages were filled with candy (nor does he even know what candy is) he was really excited about all his loot.

We also got together with my sister-in-law and her family, to celebrate both Halloween and two birthdays (Shuma and Yuuki were born less than three months apart).

Shuma did manage to enjoy himself, although as you can see above he wasn't crazy about being caged in the playpen with Yuuki while the rest of used carved pumpkins. Or rather, some of the rest of us carved pumpkins. A certain someone chose to nap instead (bonus points for spotting him in the picture above).

That's my pumpkin on the right, and Hisashi-san, my brother-in-law's, on the left. Not bad, huh!

Here's mine again back home, along with another I did at as a guest at an English school's Halloween party.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!