We all celebrate a birthday, and of course there is the build up to and excitement of Halloween, Christmas and Japanese New Year. We close off the 'holiday season' with Valentine's Day and White Day a month later.
Honestly, it was all a bit much and Shin and I have been looking forward to some respite from all the organizing and merry making. However, after only a month and a half, we're back at it again.
Last year when I wrote about 子どもの日 (Children's Day) I mentioned how relieved I was that we were able to persuade Shin's dad not to buy Kio one of the traditional samurai helmets that parents display around this time of year; it was just too much money for something that is not really our kind if thing. On the other hand I and still in love with the 鯉のぼり(carp banners / flags) that he got instead.
Children's Day is on May 5th, so a couple of weeks before we hung Kio's fish from the balcony. With that, my Grinch like holiday burnout disappeared, and I happily went about making plans for Kio's second 子どもの日.
Last year Shin and I decided that for Children's Day our tradition would be to buy Kio a toy and a new outfit; our dearly departed Mushi-san and The Very Hungry Caterpillar book were his present last year.
My choices of course.
And Shin picked out his outfit.
This year we decided to leave out the clothes. Not because we're slackers who can't keep up with the traditions that we have started up on our own (at least that's what we tell ourselves), but because we just bought him a mountain of new clothes when he started nursery school.
One of the things that I really like about Kio's daycare is that they send home a little letter everyday outlining his reactions / participation in the activities of the day (from what I hear, this is a pretty standard practice across Japan).They also let us know if we need to stock up his diapers or clean clothes, and if he pooped or not.
All the essentials really.
Anyway, just after he started we got a note saying that his clothes have too many buttons. I guess during one of the information sessions we attended they told us not to dress our kids in onesies or pants that button / zip up; I had been too busy trying to get Kio to, "Please be good for just another 15 minutes!" and missed that little tidbit.
The button thing is totally understandable when you think about the time it takes to snap a super wriggly toddler into their clothes; then multiply that by ten. They also said that he'll need to be button free when potty training season comes around.
I don't even want to think about that at this moment.
Being one that tends to follow the rules (Shin seems to think that everything is a guideline - this can be noted by the number of parking tickets he's received) I headed out that night and restocked Kio's wardrobe with elastic wasted, button-free, snap-free, zip-free clothing. I also bought him a 'good' outfit for his daycare entrance ceremony - a button up cotton shirt and pants that have both a zipper and button.
It takes me ten minutes to get it on him.
As Kio was set in the area of clothes, we put all of our efforts into choosing an awesome toy.
At this point I'd like to slip in the fact that the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions.
On Children's Day we dressed Kio in his 'good' clothes and headed to Toys R Us.
Last year my mom suggested taking a picture of
Kio beside his fish every year on Children's Day.
Love it!
Shin had decided that Kio needed a 'ball-toy' - not to be confused with your garden variety ball, but rather something that comes with several balls that go down slides etc.
You'd be surprised at the number of 'ball-toys' out there to choose from!
After narrowing down the choices, we had decided to show Kio the boxes and let him make the final decision. Then we passed one of those little video player advertising things, and it was showing what could only be called the king of all 'ball-toys'.
Without hesitation we bought the toy and raced home to try it out - I'm sure Kio was wondering what the hell had gotten into us.
In my mere one year and three months as a mom, I have learned hundreds of parenting lessons. And I can say without hesitation, that on Kio's second Children's Day I learned one of the most important ones...
If the toy isn't on display, and there is a video making it look like the most amazing toy in the world, then it is guaranteed to be the loudest, most obnoxious, 'what the hell were we thinking' toy on the planet.
Because seriously, no one in their right mind would buy one of these contraptions if they knew what it was capable of beforehand: loud repetitive music, irritating animals noises, balls randomly shooting across the room, all topped off with the deafening sound of the motor.
You may want to turn the volume down on your computer for this little clip...
The fact that Kio loves it does make it a little better, but seriously that toy is the devil reincarnated.
We topped off Children's Day with a homemade egg-less cake and spaghetti - Kio's new favourite meal.
As I was relaxing on the sofa with a much needed post-celebration glass of wine, two things came to me:
1. Books really do make the best gifts.
2. Mother's Day is next week and Father's Day is in June.
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