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
The start of Kindergarten life is a big event for a little toddler, I believe. Suddenly no more lazy days with dad at home, no more play days at the community center, no more weekday mornings in the park, but instead lots of new friends to play with every day and a new structure to
Our son is growing fast, although he lost some weight the last months thanks to all the illness he had to go through. But I am sure he will get it back soon since he has found his appetite again. At the three year checkup the other day, we saw that he is well above