Have you had the pleasure of reading Meredith? Have you?
Funny, subtle, thoughtful, adventurous, real.......and very, very pregnant.
In fact, little Henry should be making his appearance any time now, changing big brother Eli's life forever. Or maybe Eli will be too busy stomping to take very much notice. Stomp. Stomp.
Let's get back to Meredith. She makes me smile inside. This is just a guess, but I am almost sure if we met we'd have an immediate connection. I think we'd make each other laugh...a lot. She's as quirky as me, but funnier. It makes me a little sad, actually. Why does she have to live in Japan?!! Not fair, Mere. Not fair.
But the point is....we are having a baby shower. Here....online. Right now. My wonderful co-hostesses are Meredith's cousin, Momma K, and Marie of Practigal. Please make the rounds to their places, play our games, and then go visit Meredith and wish her and her family well.
If you are interested in contributing to a gift for Henry, there is information at the other websites.
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My theme is Japan.
A while back, my husband came across an article explaining that traditionally, Japanese babies did not wear diapers. Instead, Japanese babies were toilet-trained as newborns. Remembering this, I did a couple of internet searches.
This is something that came up in an image search for "diapers in Japan." Please explain it to me, Meredith.
Are those diapers? Do boys wear diapers when they play baseball in Japan? Expound.
Anyway, I spent way too much time searching for evidence of a diaper-free Japan and didn't find much. I did find out that Japanese disposable diapers are softer than ours, and possibly smaller due to smaller baby bottoms. No evidence, though.
There is a diaper-free movement, not based out of Japan, that claims to base their philosophy on Asian traditions.
Excerpts from Diaper-Free Baby.
"In my many years traveling throughout Asia I saw almost no babies with diapers. Yet I commonly saw infants who would seem to eliminate on command. Their moms would hold them over a gutter with their pants down, whistle a quiet hiss, or grunt, and then the baby would go.
"In traditional societies, cueing sounds for peeing often resemble the sound of flowing water, or urination itself.... In Japan, the childhood euphemistic equivalent of pee-pee is "shii shii". A low whistle is also sometimes used in Japan, and a steady whistling sound is the primary signal in China.
"So, what do you think Henry? Do you have to go "shii-shii?" Where the hell's a gutter when I need one?"
This method actually is somewhat attractive to me....for like a second. And then I imagine holding Rachel or Hannah, as newborns, over the toilet every morning from 5:00 until 8:00 as they grunt their way through a poop due to underdeveloped bowels.
But let's move on. I wanted to find a nice Japanese children's song for Henry.
I found this sweet and wonderful site and tried to choose a song.
This one sounded promising...so cute. The title is The Little Elephant.
The first two lines are adorable
"Little elephant, little elephant,
You have a long long nose."
But being a mother, I was put off a bit by the next line.
"Yes sir, my mother has a long nose, too."
So I tried another one. A lullabye. It's called Lullaby in Edo.
The first verse was as lovely and nice as can be.
"Sleep, baby, sleep,
Oh, my baby, sleep,
How lovely, how lovely,
How nice you are!
But then it got all weird and panicky on me.
"Where's the nurse, where's the girl?
Where's your nurse girl?
She's gone, she's gone,
Far across the hill!
So I chose this one. If you want to listen to the melody, go here It's pretty darn sweet.
A Rolling Acorn
An acorn rolled down and down,
He suddenly fell into a pond.
Then came the loaches [a kind of fish],
Hi boy! Come play with us!
The acorn enjoyed playing with them.
But he soon began to cry,
I want to go back to the mountain.
The loaches didn't know what to do.
My assignment for you? Henry is an American that will grow up being able to say he was born in Japan. How cool is that? I think he will grow up having a sense of adventure and love of travel like his parents. Let's give him an early start by teaching him a bit about the world. Write him a short letter in my comments describing something about the place where you live (locally;not nationally) and what you like about it. I will compile these into a little booklet for Henry. That he can treasure always. Or....look at and say, "Who the hell are these people, mom?"
