When we arrived in Sweden it was already time to prepare for Christmas. Almost as soon as we had settled in, my son wanted to go by himself with grandmother and grandfather to buy a Christmas tree. When they came back they had picked out the most beautiful pine tree and we decorated it with […]
Ever since we last autumn started to talk about going to Sweden this winter to visit farmor and farfar, grandma and grandad, my son has been interested to know more about Sweden and especially where Sweden is and why it is always dark at our place and bright day is Sweden when we are doing
We have been very fortunate not to have any very serious medical situations with our son. Still, the most difficult and painful part of being a dad I find, is seeing him sick and in discomfort. I cannot count the number of times he has fallen ill with milder or more sever colds and ailments
Our son loves bread. Any chance he has he wants to eat bread, if possible with a slice of cheese (but no butter, he does not like butter). When I ask him what he wants for snacks to bring to kindergarten, he often says bread and banana. His love of bread has become quite well
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