For no good reason: A mildly Japanese-themed blog

OK, let's get to it. Sunday evening's drawing to a close and we all need to be cramming some more relaxation into the weekend before they put the cap on it and Monday's here again.

If it's already Monday where you are, good morning. Welcome to the first day of the rest of your week.

Harper's one step ahead of us, already dozing like the baby she is. She was a perfect mitsukai (that's Japanese for "angel") tonight when we met our buddies for a sushi dinner. Though she didn't indulge herself in any baby sashimi, she did have some green tea ice cream. Oh and some cheese. Oh and a veggie burger. Oh and some fruit. Oh and some bread. Oh and some Cheerios. Oh and a flaky little Japanese cookie.

Harper's turning into a real Takeru Kobayashi. Speed, volume, this little vacuum cleaner has it all. Somehow in the wake of this newfound passion for grazing, she remains way below the average weight for her age group. Luckily she has her mother's metabolism.

In other news, she sure does fall on her face a lot. It's not that she's bukotsu (Japanese for "clumsy"), it's just that she hasn't quite gotten the hang of the quick step. Walking like a drunk E.T.--check. Moving at any speed faster than a waddle--not so much.

OK, I can't think of anything else and I'm out of Japanese refarensu (Japanese forn"references"), so let's move on to the picture portion of the night.

Hope everyone's well

Domo arigato.

--Harper's Folks

Some things you might like to know about Harper

Some things you might like to know about Harper.

1) She is seriously on the move. She learned to walk and never looked back. I swear she walks with the skill of an upright monkey, and I am not kidding. See action shot below.


2) She is extremely social. Just tonight we went to the grocery store and she had so much fun "talking" to the sushi chef at the deli counter I thought we were going to have to ask him over for dinner. It started with a rather frantic wave that once reciprocated became a very lengthy "conversation" that involved a lot of blowing kisses, smiles and questions like, "dubai, dubai, dada, mammmmaa, aamma, alo?"


3) She is going through a phase where she exclusively enjoys the book, Good Night Moon.
Let me explain how it goes down. Part of our evening ritual is reading a few books before bedtime. I stack up several of her past favorites like, The Pajama Book and My First Book of Sushi and she immediately pushes them out of the way and picks up Good Night Moon strongly (and sweetly) insisting that I read it three times instead of reading three books. It's no joke. The girl loves her Good Night Moon.

4) She's so much fun we can hardly make her go to bed.

Parrrttyy!

Harper's first birthday party was a smash! She was an absolute delight, greeting her hordes of grandparents, her great-grandmother, her various aunts, uncles, cousins and friends with smiles and pure sweetness.

She loved her first Happy Birthday song, she loved having a house full of loving and familiar faces, she loved balloons, she loved presents, and she loved her fabulous birthday outfit, but she wasn't so crazy about the much-anticipated first bite of cake. In fact, she hated it. Please see below.

Well, let me see, this has paper which is extraordinarily fun to eat...




Mom seems to like it pretty well...

OMG! I don't like it! I don't like it at all! I think I hate it!


Regardless, Harper had a beautiful day full of most the people she loves in the world. Thank you to everyone who traveled so far to be with us. Happy Birthday little Harper Mae. Cake will taste better when you're two.

Harper's First Birthday

There was the day we brought her home.
There was the day we played in the front yard.
There was the day let her play in the sand.
There was the day she started waving.
There was the day she started walking.

And somehow, in between those, there were three hundred and sixty other days that each seemed better than the last. 360! Every cliche is true; every old saying is wise. Harper's a year old (see below as she reads her first birthday card) and we can't believe it. Happy Birthday, little one!