Day 2 of being a blogger

Am I really going to keep this up? I just have a feeling one day Maggie and Arthur are going to want to know what their childhood in Japan was like, and I might not be able to decipher the little daily notes from the nursery school anymore.

So why do we call them tofu-bunnies? I think the term originated with us here in Japan, but several years ago, when we were taking a Japanese class in Sapporo.  We had gone to the movies and  unfortunately, there was only one in English.  And it was a scary one.  Afterwards, I remarked that we need to go see something ridiculously cute with "tofu-bunnies" hopping around.  I guess I just envisioned some really cute Japanese cartoon character that would help me avoid nightmares.  Then somehow this term came to mean babies and small children.  They are all soft and squishy from the time they are born and usually for a few years thereafter.  And they are cute and sweet like little bunnies.

Today I took Arthur to the doctor to get his right eye checked out.  I took him back to the pediatrician at the same Japanese hospital where he was born and had his subsequent 4-week check up.  Since he was born, his right eye puts out a lot of gunk which dries and gums up his eyelid.  We have to periodically clean it with a damp cloth throughout the day.  After I filled out all the silly paperwork, one of the administrators asked me when I had last weighed him.  I guess she didn't believe me that he was 5 kilos.  I told her it was the 4-week check.  She indicated that I needed to weigh him again without his diaper.  Ugh.  He was peacefully asleep in the Bjorn.  But I woke him up, removed his sleeper, pulled out a clean diaper to have at the ready, and slipped him out of his dirty one onto the scale.  The read out said he weighed 5.5 kilos.  Before we could get him off the scale, he sprayed it and the adjacent administrative station down, if you know what I mean.  I did what I could to shield everyone with the clean diaper, but he definitely sprayed a printer or two.  Serves them right for putting the baby scale next to the office equipment.  Serves them right for waking him up and making him get naked in the middle of the waiting room.

This morning, Maggie made me take her for a ride in the snap n go.  She likes to ride around in the bottom of the carriage, as if she's in some sort of chariot.  She also insisted on wearing her daddy's Adidas slip ons that he puts on to run out and get the paper in the morning.  She undoes the velcro (or has me help her undo the velcro) as if they won't fit properly unless she velcros them over her miniscule paw, rather than just slipping it in.  Could anything be cuter?

We also have a tofu-kitty, by the way.  Her name is Buttercup.  As I am typing, she is curled up in her daddy's recliner, lightly snoring.

Here's Maggie, keeping calm and charioting on.

Do these shoes make her bum look big?

A tofu-kitty, looking pretty content.

Arthur, hanging out in the front yard.
And now he's getting a little crazy...

Now I'm a blogger

I am a mom of TWO (2) adorable tofu-bunnies who are growing so fast and doing so many things and have family and friends all over the world that want to know just what they are up to.  So here it is.  I am a blogger.

Maggie is 18 months, or will be on the 13th of May.  She is getting molars.  She goes to bed every night promptly at 7PM, but she varies as to when to start her day.  Lately, it's around 5:30AM.  She goes to a Japanese nursery school, which she loves.  When she's not at nursery school, she enjoys terrorizing her environs by pulling everything off of every shelf and out of every drawer or rearranging things to her liking.  She loves to put things in a bag or basket and then hook it over her arm to her elbow and march about like a lady.  She also likes to push carts, strollers, and anything else on four wheels.  She loves puppies and kitties, and her little brother Arthur.

Arthur was born in the middle of last month at a Japanese hospital, about a 15 minute walk from our house.  He is a love.  He just started smiling at me and getting really excited during his alert periods like he's getting ready to tell me something and just can't seem to gather his words.  Eventually, he sums it up with a big sweet "Hooo..."  I love him!  Matt could not be there for Arthur's birth, but both of his grandmothers came across the Pacific to be there for him and Maggie, and a wonderful doula named Amanda McFadden braved the Japanese hospital to attend to his birth.  We spent the standard 5 days in the hospital afterwards.  It has been quite an adventure!

Today was a day off of nursery school for Maggie.  It is Golden Week here in Japan and she may well have the whole week off.  We'll find out tomorrow!  This morning, after a jaunt to the playground and a snack, we headed for the Vinawalk in Ebina.  Maggie saw all the other kids playing in the "river" with the water spouts.  She wasn't brave enough at first, but eventually she mustered her courage to go down the rocky bank to the "river" and get all wet.  I wish I had a picture of this, but I didn't want to take my iPhone anywhere near there.  Arthur slept dutifully in the Bjorn while all this was going down.  After Ebina, we terrorized the children's floor of the Odakyu Department Store in Machida.  Got home around 5PM.  Everyone's in bed now.  Just waiting for Matt to get home from his flight.

Over and out.