Will & Tracy

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Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Most disgusting baby product...




Before becoming a mom I thought the easy answer would be to say cleaning cloth poopy diapers...and why would anyone do that? Environmental concerns? How much hot water are you wasting cleaning...wait...no need to bring up that argument - lets just say up until a week or so ago I think I was still voting cloth diapers as #1...that is until I thought I'd give Finn a go at a frozen banana in a "baby safe feeder." Needless to say - he LOVES the thing - damn functional inventions. When I read up on what these thingys were called (this of course was a gift because I sure didn't know what it was), I find out it was invented by a dad whose kid almost died choking on a teething biscuit. Fair enough - but did this Dad have clean-up duty when this kid was finished with whatever was in the netting? I'm thinking not.

My other question is how many times can Finn drop it and I give it back to him with a quick water rinse? My answer - each day I let him drop it at least one additional time and/or he finishes it. But lets be honest -today I just gave it back to him without the water rinse - hey it only hit the chair beneath him and not the floor. People - before you give me grief - can we just keep in mind that statistic on how much dirt we eat in our lifetime without really trying?

I truly have mixed feelings about this...this....*feeder.* The bonus is the kid can be totally entertained for a good bit of time with this thing (minus me picking it when he drops it) but he makes a royal mess of his hands, face, legs, cloths not to mention what goo-y remnants of the no longer frozen banana that is left inside/squished through the netting. So when thinking about baby being self-entertained (and thus freeing up mommy to do something else) versus the time I spend cleaning him and this gadget up afterward, am I really saving time here? I'm thinking the delta T here is negitivo - not to mention the gag reflex that kicked in the first time I had to clean this thing since what is left is about the same consistancy as his poopy diapers. In the end, I will probably keep using it - I mean really - if I get disgusted by this I have no business raising a boy.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Ancient Japanese Secret: Sake cures all!

Just to let everyone in on a little secret - "Baby" (aka Will) and "Sweetie" (aka Tracy) do argue - not that often, but now that I'm thinking about it it is usually in the morning after "Sweetie" has just woken up - hmmm pattern? And I always thought "Sweetie" was a morning person. So after arguing with Will yesterday morning about getting something translated incorrectly, we both realized how out of "control" we felt living in Japan (Sweetie especially feels this way) - we rely much more so on our Japanese friends and colleagues than we ever did in China. Case in point - Will's goal (only recently fulfilled) was to be able to make a copy at work without asking for help - me on the other hand was wanting to be able to take Finn to the doctor for his vaccinations by myself (and have the paperwork translated in advance). Of course, after announcing my upcoming independent adventure to the all Japanese hospital, our friend Toshi agreed but added "okay you can go by yourself, but I'll still follow you just in case." :) I smiled and of course was eternally grateful that he came with Finn and me to the hospital because - yeah of course there were more questions that I would have needed his help with anyway.

I really wasn't so into the independence thing as much as wanting to give Toshi and Kimiko a break from being everyone's Japanese Tour Guide! Seriously - after having all of our visitors come and go - Will, Finn and I are pooped and finally on the mend (Will and I have both been battling a flu bug the last few weeks). So it is amazing to me that Toshi and Kimiko still have all the energy they do. The other day I called Toshi the "Engergizer Bunny." But then had to explain to him that was a compliment (Oh our American commercial culture).

So on our train ride back from the hospital yesterday, Toshi was giving me more tour guide tips on where to go and how to get there. I finally said - Toshi - how do you and Kimiko do it - stay young with all this energy? Is it a lot of walking (exercise) and a lot of alcohol or what? He said "Oh no - no - only a 'reasonable' amount of alcohol is needed." I bite and say - okay - what is reasonable - give me your Ancient Japanese Secret already...

"Well - each evening - I decide what is reasonable. "

Priceless