Good-bye, Mom

On March 12, 2009, mother passed away from cardiac arrest. It was quite unexpected. We're still dealing with the shock. Ironically, she died on my dad's birthday.

She lead quite an eventful life. I might write about some of her exploits one day.

Kazuyo "Lucy" Higashi

I love you mom, and miss you very much.

Girl's Day

I'm a little late in posting this, but March 3rd was Girl's Day in Japan. After last year's fiasco (see March 3, 2008) with the dolls, I decided not to put out our Girl's Day dolls, but instead we went to my friend's church that was having a Girl's Day celebration.


Although it was cold and rainy, I dressed Emi-chan in a new jimbei (she's out grown most of her other ones). Usually one wears a jimbei during the summer months, but since she/mom doesn't have a chance to show off all the nice Japanese items people have given Emi-chan, she gets to wear them (mom gets to show off) when ever possible.

At the celebration, we sang some cute songs, danced around, ate snacks, and basicallly socialized for a couple of hours. Then we went home.


It didn't feel right not having the dolls out, so I gave in and let Emi-chan play with the least fragile dolls I had: a Hello Kitty Emperor and Empress set. They're sealed in a plastic box so that should deter Emi-chan for about a week or so.


I also tried dressing Emi-chan up in a cute yukata I found at a children's clothing swap. It was cute, but Emi-chan didn't like it at all. I wish I had the yukata I wore when I was a toddler, but NO. I found out earlier this year, my mom gave away all of our (me and my bro) baby and toddler yukatas years ago. I guess she thought no reason to hang onto them when there's no grandbabies who can wear them. I'm so hurt. I think I'll go drown my sorrows with puffed sugar rice and See's chocolates.

A funny story about my Girl's Day dolls. According to ancient legends, once Girl's Day is over, you have to put the dolls away right away, or your daughter(s) will not get married. My mom kept the dolls out for decades, because she didn't believe in the superstition (we live in the US. Japanese supersitions shouldn't apply to us here, right?) and it's a pain to unpack and pack the dolls up just for one day of the year. So, what happens? I never really dated or had a boyfriend. Finally, after about 20 years or so, she decided she's going to put the dolls away because she was tired of looking at them. Within a couple of months, I meet Rick, and the rest is history. I guess there's some truth to the legend...

Birthday Parties!

I realized yesterday, that I posted Emi-chan's birthday one day late. Oops! Oh, well. She won't mind.

She had 2 little parties to celebrate her birthday. The first one was at her Parent-And-Me class. Both she and another little girl turned 2 years old a day or two apart, so I made some mini-cupcakes to celebrate (see the other blog for the trials and tribulations of making these cupcakes).

It was a nice relaxed day. We had a visitor who brought in a lizard and a parrot for the kids to see. At first, the kids, except for Emi-chan, flocked to look at the animals. Then they kinda wandered away (toddlers have a short attention span - so do some adults). When the young man was getting ready to go, then Emi-chan started showing interest in the animals.


The cupcakes went over well with the kids, except for Emi-chan, of course.


Then it was recess outside. The teacher tried to take a picture of the kids and moms, but Emi-chan wouldn't (couldn't) co-operate. She was more interested in being a firefighter. Why, oh why, does my little one have to do things differently than the other kids?


On Saturday, we had a family birthday party for Emi-chan. Grandma and Grandpa came up and we had dinner at Gran-Gran's place. Emi-chan had 1) temper tantrum and then 2) had a good time ordering everybody around. She did a good job blowing out the candles on her cupcakes (I knew she'd learn something useful from the Elmo DVDs).


We had a good time eating and socializing, and watching Emi-chan opening her presents. It was a busy weekend.