Sometimes I am woken up at six am by a little finger poking my face and a voice energetically saying bumbum bumbum, and before I have time to properly realize it is already morning, my son is pulling my arm, urging me to go and open the cupboard where the vacuum cleaner is charging. He […]
Being a parent of a baby going to hoikuen, kindergarten, is a very labeling experience, literally. Every room at the hokiuen has a name, and in the entrance to our baby’s classroom they have provided a little basket with our son’s name, and in this basket we are to make sure that there are diapers
When I saw the image of the bicycle on the used items sales site, it was love at first sight. When imagining what bicycle me and our son would be riding around on, a pink ladie’s bike never came to my mind, but seeing this photo took me to a very happy place, and following
Kindergarten. Daycare. Dagis. Hoikuen. Many names. Many experiences. My wife have happy joyful memories of when she was a little little child, going to hoikuen. She had friends, she learned a lot; consequently she wants our son to experience the same happiness that she did. I on the other hand have sad painful memories from
One year ago I was sitting on a bench in an empty car park outside a big children’s hospital in Tokyo waiting for news about my wife and our yet to be born baby. Today I am sitting in a beautiful house in Fukuoka with a sleeping wife and one year old son in front
I had almost given up my efforts to keep my clothes clean from yellow stains; instead, a few months ago, I narrowed down my home wardrobe to a few pieces that I did not mind too much getting all stained from everything having a baby in the house brings with it. Thinking about yellow in
Our son has started to walk. From one day being able to stand on his own to the next happily walking across the room with a toy in his hand – the speed of learning of a child is incredible. I wish I could mimic him as well as he is mimicking me – imagine
Our son has really started to show an interest in learning new words, and he understands more and more – when I ask him if he wants to go out in the baby car, he gets really excited and starts to crawl towards the front door. When I tell him that we shall vacuum the
The vacuum cleaner is a powerful home appliance. Not only does it clean floors, carpets, air cleaner filters and camera bags with cereal from a little accident during breakfast this morning, vacuum cleaners can also inspire both awe and fear in babies. When I was a child my younger brother really disliked the sound of
I like to call myself a photographer. Before moving to Japan I worked with photography, and apart from my art photography, I still manage to do the odd photo jobs here. My family aside, writing and photography are my passions in life. I remember when I was a kid and my dad showed me his
My stomach is always cold. My wife’s hand is always warm. My wife is always quick to fall asleep. I am more of a slow-sleeper. Like so many other differences between me and my wife, these ones also turn out to be a perfect combination, in this case for me – when I have my
Since our son now is old enough to start to eat normalish food, we got a pamphlet in the mail with some easy recipes and tips for how to prepare and cook home made baby food. On the cover of the pamphlet it says easy even for dad, which made me laugh and at the