I try to notice and find happiness in the small things. Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it is easier to overlook the little joys and only see the little misfortunes. And sometimes there is a small small piece of beauty that shines stronger than the midday sun on a hot summer’s day. Lately, I have …
Suddenly Sunday evening the fever appeared, and in the morning there was nothing else for me to do than to take our little guy to see the doctor. Fortunately the weather was perfect for a walk and my boy lay half asleep in his pram. We had not used it for several months and I …
Halloween is a very popular holiday in Japan. A big part of fall is set aside for Halloween and in every store and every nursery and kindergarten there is an abundance of pumpkins and ghosts and bats and other decorations. So also at our son’s kindergarten where we went to a little Halloween party at …
In fall, having a sports day, undokai (運動会), at kindergartens and schools is very popular here in Japan. There is even a special holiday on the second Monday in October called Sports Day. Beginning of autumn, outdoor activities make a big part of children’s daily life and as soon as the summer heat starts to …
The last week our little boy has been having a fever. The nights have been restless, filled with coughing that had him wake up all the time, almost as soon as he got back to sleep. It is of course a bit worrisome and painful to see our little boy in such discomfort, so the …
I give my wife plenty of opportunities to laugh at my Japanese skills (or I should say lack thereof). I can reasonably well talk about the weather with our neighbors, speak about every day matters with my wife, sufficiently communicate with school teachers, other parents and children’s health professionals. I have also come up with …
I often feel like one of those lawn moving robots that have become so popular in Sweden. Nowadays you can see them in every other backyard, spending their days crawling around on the lawn, cutting the grass. What I do is spending all my waking hours crawling around inside a Japanese home instead, cleaning up …
I guess we are in the middle of a big transition phase in our family and especially so in my son’s life – from home life to Kindergarten life, from being a baby to becoming a toddler, from needing his parents’ help to being able to dress and eat by himself, from being at the …
It is getting hot now. Often too hot to be outside without feeling like I have stepped into a sauna. Not a dry one, but one with high humidity that makes me want to change my clothes as soon as I step into it. The Japanese summer has arrived and I am both looking forward …
About once a month, there is an open day at the kindergarten aimed at children who are not yet in daycare. The kindergarten bus, the one and only Thomas the Tank Engine school bus, picks up toddlers and parents at the nearby shopping center and takes them up the mountainside to the kindergarten for an …
It has been a joyful couple of weeks for our son at his new kindergarten. He has gotten used to the place, has started to get new friends and has come to love his teachers. His parents have also been so lucky as to be able to share a few mornings at the kindergarten with …
Every weekday afternoon I go and meet our son when he arrives on the kindergarten bus. It has only been a few weeks but I feel like I already know the life happening on that street corner. My new routine has been added to this piece of city, and like an observer I stand there …