Hello Everyone, today I want to review the American lunchbox brand BENTGO. Up until now, I packed my daughter's lunch in a typical Japanese bento boxes. I have always found them very cute, and have been the most happy with the Tak. lunchbox.
But the Bentgo recently caught my attention. I thought it looked convenient and practical, with built in compartments and a attached lid. However, to my dismay, I saw prices triple that of what it cost in America! I couldn’t justify spending 9,000¥ plus for a lunch box.
Fortunately, since my mom was already headed over to Japan, I asked her to pick one up for about 25 or 30$ and she luckily snagged the last one at her Target!
First impressions
The lunchbox turned out to be surprisingly thin but weightier than my initial expectations. What caught my eye were the helpful illustrations on the back, detailing the precise measurements of each compartment!
I later discovered what added to the lunchbox's weight. The built-in ice pack. Also, the fuchsia pink shade wasn't exactly my top choice, so I'm contemplating adding some dinosaur stickers to give it a personalized touch for my daughter.
Features
Upon opening the box, I was surprised by how slim and reminiscent of a toy laptop the lunchbox looked. The key features include its leakproof design, dishwasher-safe materials, a solid 2-year warranty, and the added durability of drop-proof rubber corners.
What stands out the most for me is its playful yet non-character-specific design, making it suitable for my daughter's use over the next few years, unlike her previous character-themed lunchboxes that she will outgrow quite quickly.
Positive Experience
Once again, I appreciate the thoughtful portion-specific compartments. It's a relief not having to purchase additional silicon or paper cups, or those artificial grass dividers. This means no more worries about juices from one food item seeping into another, and my daughter's meals stay neatly separated (She's a bit picky).
What sets this bento box apart is its user-friendly design. Unlike traditional Japanese bento boxes for kids that often feature a rubber gasket creating a vacuum seal effect, making them a challenge to open—even for adults—this one opens easier with minimal risk of spills.
Another highlight is the optional built-in ice pack. Its inclusion means I can do away with the numerous small ice packs I have lying around. It's a practical addition that simplifies meal prep considerably.
Negative Experience
This bento's design suits American-style lunches perfectly, which often consist of drier, finger-food-friendly options. In contrast, Japanese-style lunches replicate complete meals like pasta, curry, or saucy dishes that might not sit well in certain containers.
The difference in design is noticeable too. Traditional Japanese boxes are bulkier and more box-shaped, whereas this one is flatter. This poses a packing challenge—while it's easy to stash sandwiches and chips vertically in a backpack, dishes like fish or curry require a flat position to prevent sauces or oils from spilling into other compartments. The rubberized lid seems like a promising solution to this issue, though.
Moreover, the compartments in this bento are noticeably larger than those in Japanese bentos. It's tempting to fill them all, despite knowing my daughter can't possibly consume that much. To tackle this, I've started using the largest compartment to store her juice or milk box, making more balanced and realistic meal portions.
My Daughter's Experience
She enjoyed having something different, and she didn't struggle with soggy paper cups or have to remove the paper separators, but she didn't quite like the empty space when I took out her milk box. She asked me to put my lunch inside. haha
I haven't let her open the lunchbox by herself yet, but I will the next time I use it!
As I continue to customize this lunchbox to suit my daughter's preferences, I really appreciate its ability to evolve with her ever changing tastes. The Bentgo has certainly earned its place in our lunchtime lineup, promising practicality and ease for years to come. Cheers to hassle-free lunches and happy mealtimes!
The picture above is pretty similar to an average American style lunch box, which includes staples, such as a sandwich with deli meat, and easy to handle fruit. However, you may be surprised to find that Japanese style lunch boxes are much more elaborate, and include food such as fried chicken, snap peas, and baked fish!
Character bentos, or Character lunches, have risen in popularity overseas, and I'm sure you've seen the cute Rilakkuma or Pikachu shaped rice on a bed of lettuce and surrounded by healthy foods. Although I can't say all Japanese parents pack such elaborate lunches for their children, I am challenging myself to create a cute lunch box for my daughter.
My first attempt/trial. Don't mind the furikake, it's just for the photo!
Since we are now firmly in spring, it's the perfect time to go on a picnic and eat good food while enjoying the outdoors. I made my first "bento" for my daughter a few weeks ago, and would like to share just how much start-up material was needed to get started!
Below, you'll find the English and Japanese for the most popular and useful items needed to pack your own "character bento".
Arguably the most important item is the lunchbox, or bento bako. There are tons of shapes, sizes, and designs, such as Pokemon, Anpanman, and The Hungry Caterpillar, so you won't have to worry about finding one your little one would like. I chose Miffy even though my daughter loves Anpanman. I think she'll soon grow out of Anpanman, and Miffy would be a neutral bridge until she gets into something else.
In addition to the lunch box, you can find matching containers to hold sliced fruits or other side dishes or sauces.
You can also find a matching utensil set to match the lunch box as well. I went for a chopstick, fork, and spoon combo set that comes in a case, but I removed the chopsticks because she's not yet ready for them yet. I love how the case neatly holds the utensils, making it super convenient to use! You can find sets for just chopsticks or sets that come without a case.
The lunch box would be complete if there was a lunch bag or a bento bako fukuro. You can usually find a set that includes the bag for the lunch box, a bag for a cup, and also a lunch mat/cloth. I opted for just the bag, which is, of course, Anpanman. The little drawstrings keep things neatly inside, and there is also a place to write the child's name.
Finally, the hand towel or oshibori. You can wet the hand towel beforehand and put it conveniently in the case. When it's time to eat or when your child is finished eating, they can use the towel to wipe their hands or mouth. It's super convenient for a picnic.
Now that you have the materials to store the lunch, now you need some materials to jazz the food inside up!
They key to getting those perfectly curated character lunches are with molds and cutters, partitions, and cute food picks!
The most important molds are the rice molds or onigiri kata! All you need to do is put the rice inside the mold and push or shake, and voila and perfectly shaped onigiri pops out!
If you'd like to make sure each side dish is perfectly separated, invest in okazu cups (Looks like cupcake holders), that comes in a variety of materials, such as disposable paper ones or reusable silicone ones. It's also good to invest in partitions, called balan too. Finally, if you don't want your lunch sticking to the top of your lunch box, buying bento sheets, which also serve as an antibacterial sheet as well.
Finally, lunch picks are a great way to jazz up the lunch, and keep hands tidy. If your child is prone to putting anything in their mouth, besides food, I'd skip these until a bit older.
My favorite places to buy these materials are on Amazon, at Nishimatsuya, Toys 'R' Us, and Bookoff!
Now you're ready to start on your character lunch journey. I hope to make an Anpanman one soon, and I'll report back on how it went!
After two years of several close calls and extensive preventive measures, we've finally joined the COVID-19 club. It was a bit strange how it all happened, and although this was one of my worst nightmares for the past few years, we got through it fairly unscathed.
My daughter was showing signs of lethargy and fever one afternoon, and with the advice of her daycare, we gave her an at-home rapid test. It came back negative. A few hours later, her daycare notified us that they had a positive result from one of the teachers or students, so we felt compelled to get a PCR test done the next day at the clinic.
My husband luckily went grocery and toiletry shopping just in case she came back positive, but I, naively, wasn't too worried because we had had too many close calls than we could count. I was pretty sure she was negative. Wrong. She was very positive and that started a domino effect of chaos.
Luckily, her pediatrician is a saint and said that he'd contact the health department for us and that he'd check in with us every day. All we had to do was notify her daycare and my language school.
We were eventually contacted by the health department and they asked us a series of questions and said that they will send us a peroximeter and a box of food to last us the quarantine. Fortunately, my daughter was in great health. Without the test, we would have never known she was even sick. She was bouncing around as if nothing was going on.
After about three days, however, my husband fell ill. He had a fever and a bad stomach ache, but after a day or two, he was back to normal. He lost his sense of taste for a few days, but it returned rapidly.
Then, there was me. I fell ill last, and I had the worst out of all of us. I had every symptom you could imagine except a sore throat. I had a 40.4 fever, body aches, absolutely no appetite, and extreme fatigue, but the worst part was that I still worked and went to school (online) through it all. Fortunately, my husband took over the childcare when I was really ill, but I couldn't seem to get better at all.
I fell into a deep depression actually because I was in the worst pain ever. It felt like my body was on pins and needles. Even my bra straps hurt my shoulders. My entire body felt inflamed. I didn't want to even get up in the morning, and I felt bad for my daughter because I barely had the energy to entertain her.
We did do a lot of indoor activities, but our quarantine lasted nearly a month since every time another one of us got covid, we had to extend it.
Thanks to the government, we didn't run out of food and we were fairly comfortable. Nevertheless, I would never wish to go through it again, and I immediately made an appointment for my booster shot!!
How was your quarantine with your little one? Any tips or tricks to share? Leave a comment below! I'd love to hear them!
My daughter literally attended one week of daycare after getting over Covid before she was showing mild symptoms of something else.
It all started with a low-grade fever upon wakening. It was 37.5/6 and we knew she couldn't go to school. We kept her home, and her fever hovered around 37.4/3 all day. That night, however, she woke up a few times and her temperature was at 38.4 in the morning and she had developed a phlegmy cough.
I also had a mild fever, so my husband took her to the doctors (which is so difficult when you have a fever by the way. It's a nightmare getting an appointment) and they tested her for hPMV, which is something that had been going around her daycare along with RSV. It came back positive, and we were prescribed the same medication she was on for covid. Actually, we still had some left.
I met them at the pharmacy, and she was really feverish but her personality was the same. So, I made her lunch when we got home and she ate about half of it. I put her down for her nap as usual and she had no problem getting to sleep.
After her nap, however, she didn't want her snack and her temperature went up to 38.7. She just wanted to lay around, and it seemed like her throat was hurting. She literally didn't move from the couch. At around 5pm, I took her temperature again and it rose to 39.4.
In America, I'm pretty sure we'd have given her baby Tylenol or an equivalent fever reducer. But Japan really discourages giving otc medicine to babies/toddlers. So we were given suppositories when she was younger as a last resort.
I felt like 39.4 was too high for her to tough it out. So, I made her dinner and we decided to give her a suppository before bed. She had absolutely no appetite for anything fancy and ate half a slice of white bread.
Fortunately, the fever reducer must have helped her sleep because she slept 12 hours straight without any wake-ups.
I decided to excuse myself from school the next day so I could take care of her and let my husband work. She was okay in the morning, but her fever went up to 40.2 by that evening. She also had trouble taking a nap and woke up after every sleep cycle.
The fever continued for another two days with her mood getting worst, so we finally took her to the pediatrician again. He was surprised that her fever lasted so long and suggested she might have another infection, so he prescribed some antibiotics and a nebulizer.
Fortunately, her fever didn't go over 38.5 so we didn't have to give her a fever reducer, but her nose ran like a faucet and her cough worsened. Her fever continued for the entire weekend, but it never went higher than 38.
It's been about five days, and we don't know when it'll end. So, I'll update when it officially passes.
Does anyone have any experience with Human metapneumovirus in toddlers? If, so, what was your experience? Share it in the comments below!
It's been a while since I did a major childhood illness post, and perhaps I got too relaxed.
Of course, we've gone through bouts of nasty colds, and even gastroenteritis again, but when my one-year-old daughter's temperature hit 38.5, I was quite shocked.
I got a text from my husband around 3pm that she was suddenly lethargic and was running a fever. Since she was her usual self that morning, I thought maybe she was just teething since her appetite had been low and she had about four teeth coming in at once.
I rushed home from class, and she looked miserable. Usually, she is hopping around and playing pranks, but that afternoon she actually fell asleep sitting up on the couch.
After that, there was a whirlwind of events involving her nursery school where they were short-staffed, so parents were asked if we could keep our kids home if possible. Then, they found a case of covid (maybe a parent or staff's family member). We had planned to keep her home anyway due to the fever, but after the messages and the nursery school finding out that my daughter had a fever, they asked us to take an at-home covid test.
We gave her the test, and it came back negative, but her fever continued and she eventually threw up, so we decided to take her to the clinic in the morning.
I had a massive Japanese exam that morning, so I was super stressed out and sad that I couldn't take care of her. My husband ended up taking her to the clinic and because she had a fever they could only give her a PCR test first to rule out covid.
Because there was a chance it could be covid, the doctor prescribed us a ton of medicine and my husband stocked up on food/diapers. Looking back, I'm so grateful for that.
That night, her temperature went down and a bunch of bumps appeared on her wrist, arms, lower back, and legs. I thought that it was hands, foot, and mouth disease even though the bumps weren't on her palms and feet.
The next morning, my suspicions were confirmed when I saw some bumps on her tongue and she couldn't eat. So, we gave her yogurt, soft fruits, like bananas, and tofu. I was relieved, but that was short-lived.
Around 9:30am, we got a call from the doctor who confirmed she was positive for coronavirus.
Due to being positive, we couldn't get an official diagnosis of the hands, foot, and mouth disease. However, we are pretty sure she had it.
I'll make a different post about the covid because that's a whole different story, but she has actually recovered quite well from the hands, foot, and mouth disease. We think it was a milder case.
The bumps were itchy and I'm sure her mouth was killing her but after five days, she's now completely fine. The bumps are yucky and are still there, but her fever went down and she is eating well.
Her sleep was never disrupted, but she was fairly fussy and grumpy, which was probably due to the sores in her mouth.
Has your little one ever gotten two illnesses at one time? I don't know how we got through it, but I'm glad she's okay now!
Stay tuned for my surviving covid post soon!
In my last blog, I shared about the fun and joy my family and I had at the Japanese amusment resort Hakkeijima Sea Paradise. While we love going out as a family and exploring, there are a lot of days we end up staying inside. Sometimes it is simply due to the weather, or sometimes as severe as needing to quarantine.
Fortunately, we don't need to quarantine, but I did need to recover from walking over 20,000 steps and carrying a 10kg toddler around for longer than usual at the aquarium. Therefore, I decided to stay in the house yesterday. Just she and I while my husband worked.
I'm no stranger to toddler activities, craftivities, or anything DIY, but I wanted to try something new. So, I took to Google and Pinterest and tried a few indoor activities suggested and while I've already written a blog post sharing some of my favorites here, today I will be sharing some of the fails!
While these are fails for me, they might be successes for you or even for me when my daughter gets a bit older, but please keep reading to see what I've learned while trying out these activities!
PLAY-NO
I remember longing for my own big tub of playdough and that McDonald's playdough ice-cream maker. Therefore, I couldn't wait until my daughter was a big enough to experience the joy of playdough!
Things started off great when I found this amazing play dough recipe, and my daughter eagerly poured in all of the ingredients. I thought, "Wow! This is going to be fun!". And it was, until it was actually time to play.
MY daughter had no interest in the dough, and had no idea what to do with it. Alright then, so I bought cutters and more colorful dough. Still no dice. She just hadn't a clue.
And I think it is because she's only 1 and a half. She doesn't have the imagination or dexterity to create something, so she just carried a blob around or put it back in the container. We spent about 20 minutes before we put it away.
Welp, at least making it was fun!
RICE CRISIS
I am so jealous of those cute, two-tub Ikea sensory tables, and I was absolutely envious of the colorful rice and rainbow colored toys in it. Well, I might not have the sensory table, but I do have loads of rice thanks to living in Japan.
Okay, this should be fun! My daughter is into pouring and would love to just sit with rice, cups, and spoons. So, let's do this!
I poured half a bag of rice in a big tub, and put measuring cups and spoons inside. I was smart enough to put down a tarp, but not smart enough to realize just how insidious rice grains really are.
My daughter couldn't wait to dump the rice OUTSIDE of the tub, and once she accidently flicked it and it landed in her hair, she couldn't stop reenacting the motions over and over again. I loved her giggles and laughter, but...
RICE WAS EVERYWHERE. It's white, which made it even harder to spot!
There's no way I could keep a one year old from getting rice everywhere, and I'm still stepping on rice til this day...
This might be an activity for when she can follow instructions or I just have a huge empty room that she can throw rice everywhere.
CRAY-OFF
Crayons are appropriate, right? Somewhat. My daughter was more interested in organizing the crayons back into the bag. Also, there's always the threat of her writing on the walls or tables, and I'm just not ready for that.
After a few scribbles, she was finished, and we still had 12 more hours together.
While these were a miss, lookout for some of my hit activities in an upcoming post! Leave your activity fails in the comments below!
We are now in the beginning of Golden Week, and if you do not know what Golden Week is, it is as grand as it sounds, usually. Golden Week is a set of consecutive national holidays here in Japan, and therefore, many people are off of school and work and decide to take a vacation. We didn't plan on going on a vacation in the real sense, as it was bound to be hectic and crowded, but we did end up planning a day trip to a nearby resort island called Hakkeijima Sea Paradise.
Hakkeijima Sea Paradise is a resort style amusement park here in Yokohama, Japan. Hakkeijima is actually an island, and on this island there is an amusement park with four aquariums and dozens of attractions, such as rides, a roller coaster, a mall, restaurants, and more! Our main goal was to go to the aquarium and watch the dolphin show.
Due to the pandemic, we needed to purchase our tickets online beforehand. Since our daughter is way too tiny to ride any rides, we decided to buy the ticket that allows us to go to all four aquariums (Aqua Museum, Dolphin Fantasy, Umi Farm and Fureai Lagoon). We bought tickets for the 8:30AM time slot and arrived nice and early! We arrived at the park around 9:00am, and headed straight for the aquarium, as we knew it was going to be the main attraction of the day!
Our daughter loved seeing the huge walrus, and the seals were so energetic and happy. The aquarium wasn't too crowded, and Japanese people naturally keep their distance, so we didn't feel uncomfortable at all. We could let our daughter stand in front of the glass and enjoy the scenery up close! Due to corona, they didn't have any touching or interactive exhibits open, but the aquarium was super engaging regardless. There were penguins, a polar bear, and even sharks. There are free events, such as a penguin parade, 50,00 sardines dancing to music, and the dolphin show. And, there are also paid events, such as feeding the otter, capybara, and more. The paid events need a repurchased ticket and reservation. Because our daughter is still only one, we decided to wait to introduce her to the animals, and instead just attended the dolphin show, which she loved!
After that, it was lunch time. We decided to go to the food court since we packed our daughters lunch, but it was really difficult to find a table. Fortunately, we found one outside and had a chilly, but refreshing lunch. After that, it was time for our daughter's nap time.
Since Hakkeijima is on an island, there's an ample amount of walking trails, green spaces, parks, and quiet areas. She fell asleep in like five minutes of my husband and I just walking and talking. There was just the sound of waves and faint screams from the nearby rollercoaster, which ended up being the perfect white noise for her. She and my husband took a 90 minute nap, and I just sat and watched the water.
My husband and I got some ice cream, and walked around while we waited for her to wake up, and once she woke up at like 2pm, we decided to check out the other three areas. Dolphin Fantasy was small but nice because you can see the dolphins swimming above you. After Dolphin fantasy, we headed to Umi no Farm. You can catch your own fish and eat it, but you do need a reservation and prepaid ticket. If you do not, you can still enjoy feeding the fish for 100 yen, which my daughter loved and was very eager to do. We feel like we won't do the fishing until she gets much older!
Finally, we made our way to Fureai Lagoon, which is great if you have prepaid tickets. You'll be able to touch animals and do activities with them. We're glad we skipped on buying any paid service tickets because she was pretty knackered after the morning activities, and she just enjoyed being held and looking at the animals. The fureai lagoon has seals, penguins, dolphins, and belugas.
We ended the day with her eating her packed snack and buying a penguin souvenir and heading home! We were so happy with our trip, and we can't wait to go again another day, especially because it's very accessible for us.
Our daughter is going through a phase now were she doesn't want to walk, so it was nice just keeping her in the stroller and enjoying the environment. The amusement park is very flat, lots of toilets, amenities, and places for respite!
Next time, we might skip the aquarium, and focus more on an experience that we think she can enjoy.
What are your plans for Golden Week or Summer Vacation? Let me know in the comments below!
The most frequent piece of advice I received as a new mom was to "get into a routine" as soon as possible. At first it was to regulate my daughter's circadian rhythm, and then it was to help her learn sequencing, and now at 18 months, it is to help promote independence.
Although I am not new to schedules, routines, and regiments, it can be challenging to establish one with a curious, rambunctious, and sometimes rebellious toddler! Not to mention, life happens, things don't go as planned, or I am just downright too tired to persuade a one year old to clean up at exactly 11:00am.
While I would love for her to just drop all of her awesome toys to come eat lunch or walk away calmly after having a blast at the park, more often than not, it takes a lot of warnings, persuading, and sometimes even tears. To help mitigate the tears, tantrums, and power struggles, I added music to our transition and routine.
Using music is a great way to help toddlers transitions. While, we as adults can mentally prepare ourselves for a transition (we can tell time, etc.), to toddlers, transitions can feel abrupt, frustrating, and sometimes even threatening.
I use music to help keep things fun, lighthearted, and gain cooperation. When the music starts, it's not me "the sometimes scary authority figure that I think it is funny to run away from and rebel against" telling you what to do. To a toddler, the music started by a random abstract entity that is asking them to spur into action, and it isn't something easy to fight against.
Why I use music instead of words (Five more minutes, we're going to clean up soon, etc.)
It's obvious that time means nothing to a toddler, and half the time they are so used to your voice, they end up tuning you right out!
Music may be repetitious and follows familiar patterns, but this structure, much like a routine, equals safety. A change in intonation and tempo can easily grab a toddlers attention, and instinctually get their body moving. Therefore, music is also great at helping your child transition between high energy activities (running around) to low energy activities (sitting down and eating or getting ready for a story) or vice versa.
What type of music I use
Using music with lyrics that reflect what should be going on will help your child know what to do and what to expect. Although your one year old may not understand the lyrics 100% at first, it still goes a long way to play appropriate music, which will then help them connect the vocabulary with the action down the line.
How do I incorporate music into our routine?
I typically use the same song every time. There are tons of clean-up songs, teeth brushing songs, etc., but I pick one she likes and stick with it.
I ask my husband to also use the same songs as well, and we communicate when it is time to start the music.
I try to choose songs that are available on YouTube. This way, I can access the songs anywhere, from anyone's device if need be!
I don't use music for every little task. I choose music for typically challenging transitions, such as teeth brushing, cleaning up, etc. I don't have a "Let's play outside song" or "let's drink tea" song.
The most important thing is that we all respect the song. When I play the music, I also spur into action. I don't just push play and sit down. When it is time for her to clean up, it is also time for me to clean up.
What songs I use
Since our daughter is bilingual, we use a mixture of English songs and Japanese songs. Some songs I made up, but most of them you can find on YouTube. I started using music from day one, starting from a good night song, good morning song, and a trigger song for nap times.
Good Morning Song
I created a morning song to the tune of "Frere Jacques". I use this song to wake her up in the morning.
"Good Morning. Good Morning. How are you? How are you? Very well, Thank you. Very well, thank you. How about you? How about you? I then switch and sing in Japanese "Ohayou gozaimasu. Ohayou gozaimasu. Ogenki desuka? Ogenki desuka? Genki desu. Arigatou. Genki desu Arigatou. Anata ha? Anata ha?
On the way to nursery school, we use a Japanese song called 朝の歌. This song gets her prepared to enter nursery school, and it's also great that her nursery school uses this song as well during their morning circle.
Changing Clothes
Recently our daughter started crying when changing her clothes. It first started with her running away when it was time to change her diaper, but then it escalated to completely hating changing her clothes. While I let her help as much as I can, such as asking her to get her diaper, throw it away, or slip her arms into her shirt, there's still so much she can't do on her own, which frustrates her. So, we started playing a "changing clothes" song that literally makes changing her clothes a breeze! I oscillated between two songs, "Put on Your Shoes" by Super Simple Songs, and おきがえのうた by ドレミちゃんアニメ. Eventually, we stuck with おきがえのうた. For now we don't have any issue getting ready to go outside, as she loves getting her socks, bags, etc. So, we just use it for big clothing changes, like in the morning or after a bath.
Time to Eat
I tried playing a song to eat, but it seemed like overkill. Her meals are regimented, so she is usually hungry when it is time to eat, so not much fight there. So, just singing a simple jingle was enough to get her transitioned to sitting in her chair to eat. This song is to the melody of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".
Chew, Chew, Chew along everything you eat. Chew, Chew, Chew, Chew, life is what you eat. Let's Eat!
After the jingle, we say "みんなでパチン!*Clasp hands together* いただきます!", which is what they say at nursery school.
Bath Time
Our daughter loves bath time, but she doesn't like transitioning to bath time, which consists of cleaning up, taking her temperature, and changing out of our clothes. So, we decided to use a popular bath time song from the famous Japanese television show いないいないばぁっ! The song is called ボンボン・シャボン . This song is short, sweet, and fun.
Clean Up Song
The reason we decided to use a clean-up song wasn't because she refused to clean up, but because she didn't understand the concept of cleaning up at first! We played the song and she watched us clean up, but now at 18 months she helps... sometimes. We decided to go with the very famous English Clean-Up song.
Story Time
This story time song is just so that she can calm down and begin the nighttime routine. It's a jingle and we sing it right before opening up the storybook of the evening
Story, story, story time. Everyone sits for the story time. Quiet, quiet, quiet time. Everyone is quiet for the story time.
Night Time Trigger Song
I've been singing the traditional A,B,C song as a trigger for sleep since she was a newborn. I used to have to sing it a dozen times, but now I only sing it once while we gather her sleeping buddy, turn on her white noise, and I put her down in her crib. I don't know if I'll change this one, but I'm pretty sure if she ever hears it in school, she might just fall asleep.
Good Night Song
I can't really explain the melody of this jingle, as I modeled it off of another melody I heard from someone without knowing the origin, but we've also have been singing this one since she was a newborn and my husband and I created it together.
Welp, that's our daily playlist! We hope that these can help inspire your own playlist, and that transitions go smoother and are more upbeat in the future! As you can see, we don't have songs for every little thing, which allows her to still get experience following our directions, but these songs really help a lot!
We are thinking once she turns two, just like she would at school when entering a new class, changing the songs to match her age and abilities, but for now, we have these songs on repeat!
When I think of Easter, I am reminded of the anticipation of opening my Easter basket after Easter Sunday worship. Carefully putting on my white tights, as to not create a run, and the smell of jelly beans and for some reason, circus peanuts wafting in the air. I remember the frantic Easter egg hunt with my cousins, and my mom leaving the peeps out because she liked them hard.
Since Easter is a Christian holiday, you won't find much fanfare regarding the traditional holiday here in Japan. However, you may, right after Valentine's Day, see a few Easter bunny motifs and plastic eggs.
While my husband nor my daughter are Christian, I still wanted to share a bit of my culture with them and taught them about the Easter bunny and some of the activities children enjoy on that day.
One of my favorite memories of Easter was coming down in our brand new Easter dresses and seeing my and my sister's Easter baskets, wrapped up in plastic, and filled to the brim with both traditional and our favorite sweets and snacks. While, my daughter is still too young for sweets, I still got her an "Easter-like" basket, and bought her a special Easter outfit that she could wear on the day. I bought the "basket" at Flying Tiger and the outfit and hat at Nishi Matsuya.
The day before Easter we painted Easter eggs. In America, I told them we dye real hardboiled eggs, but because our daughter is still young, and I don't have any egg dying kits, we'll paint eggs instead. I found these paintable craft eggs at Daiso, and we used a water color set from Seria to paint the eggs.
She enjoyed painting since she is learning the colors, and often should "赤" and "青"! Because we used water colors, it was pretty mess free and I didn't have to worry about anything being stained. She enjoyed painting so much, I let her paint on paper and we made Easter bunnies by gluing a single pom-pom on the back as a tail!
Once the eggs were dry, I placed them in her basket and hung the bunny art up on the wall, and that was waiting for her in the morning!
The main activity on Easter day was the egg hunt! We live in a wonderful neighborhood with a lot of green space, and I knew if we went early enough, we'd have a whole field for ourselves! I bought plastic eggs from Daiso, and my sister gave me the idea to put stickers inside. The stickers were "snow-globe" ones, which I knew she'd love to shake and look at.
I had my husband go ahead and hide some eggs. He didn't understand at first and hit them too well! So, she didn't get it at first. So, once we helped her find those, I hid the rest by just throwing them around the field. She loved picking up one, and then immediately finding the next. Finally, we let her open them and she put the stickers in her sticker book.
My husband also enjoyed the egg hunt, and would like to do it again one day outside of Easter! I also hid an Easter egg for him around our apartment. He has yet to find it!
How was your Easter? Anything cool to share? Leave it in the comments below!
You don't know how shocked and delighted I was when my daughter, 13 months old, instinctively started rolling the mini lint roller on the carpet. I had given her the roller as a distraction and a moment of fascination, as I tried to eat my lunch in peace, but here she was cleaning the carpet for me. Ever since, my husband and I have been giving her little jobs here and there, and the look of satisfaction on her face every time she completes something is priceless.
These tiny tasks are easy ways your toddler can feel proud, accomplished, and self-sufficient. With repeated practice, your child's skills will explode.
So, I decided to compose a list of things that my toddler daughter does consistently over the past 6 months from age 12-18 months.
DIAPER DISPOSER
With us doing diaper changes at least four times a day, she figured out pretty quickly where the diaper pail was and what goes inside. Therefore, after every change, she takes her diaper to the diaper pail, drops the diaper inside, and then locks the lid. The diaper pail has a lock on it because it was hard for her to discern that it's only for diapers and not a storage bin!
WELCOME TO THE WASHING MACHINE
We have a front load washing machine, and in order to air it out, we keep the door open. The entrance is nearly a toddlers height, so she was naturally very curious about what could be inside that huge, dark, shiny chamber. So, to help satiate her curiosity, we allow her to walk to the laundry room and throw her own laundry inside. She has yet to start throwing other things inside, or trying to climb inside, but we are bracing ourselves for that one day!
LAUNDRY HELPER
After my daughter, the days of doing laundry had doubled, and we pretty much do laundry every other day. So, my daughter developed a natural curiosity about me hanging clothes out on the balcony when we choose not to use the dryer. Before, she would walk around with the hangers or play with the pinchers, but after turning one, she started handing me the clothes out of the hamper. It's great and helps my back tons!
WHERES YOUR SOCKS?
Refusing to be dressed or undressed is pretty natural for a toddler, and while she isn't full on tantruming, she does run away from me when she sees me coming with her clothes for the day. So, in order to teach her that getting dressed is a partnership, I have her get her own socks (She loves getting ready to go outside). To make it easy for her, I just taped together two milk carton bottoms, and I keep her sock "cubby" near the door. In order to help her learn listening skills, I tell her to get specific ones, like "Get your banana socks!", or "Get your pink socks!". She looks so cute toddling down the hall to go get her socks.
TRASH, PLEASE
Once she mastered throwing her diaper away, we started introducing throwing away actual trash. Here in Japan, we have to separate all of our trash, we have about four trashcans. Naturally, she was curious about them and wanted to play with the lids, and throw things inside (or take things out). So, at first, we did what any other sane parent would do and locked them. She lost interest after that, and even locked them herself, but one day she got a runny nose and I felt like I was going through a box of tissues a day! I wanted to keep the lids unlocked because they are seriously a hassle. After a few days, I had the bright idea to have her throw away her own tissues, and she loved it. She would walk back and forth, back and forth, and now when I saw "Trash", she knows exactly what to do with the item I handed to her.
WIPE IT OFF
While my daughter is not the messiest eater (yet), she still gets quite a lot on her tray, hands, and mouth. Before, my husband and I would wipe her off with mouth wipes, but she started resisting and trying to do it herself. Great! It was so cute, and maybe she learned how to do it at school, but we have her wipe her mouth, hands, and tray by herself as much as she can, which then allows her to tolerate us touching up afterwards.
LIGHTS OFF, DOOR CLOSED
One of my daughters first jobs was to turn off the lights. It started as a mere distraction while we transition, like from the bath or a diaper change. We have these push type light switches that light up when they are off, so she was naturally very curious, and I think "Turn off the light." was one of the first English commands she learned. After her bath, she turns off all of the lights (to make a dim environment) and closes any open doors. She even checks the door bell camera (It's also a button). She used to be so proud of herself, and it became a routine. One day, she'll be tall enough to do it herself, but for now I'm okay with holding her.
OPEN AND CLOTHES THE CURTAINS
This was one of the earlier tasks we had her do, and she's been doing this since she was about 8 months old. We have this huge floor length curtains that slide back and forth. What I would do is make her grab the end and while holding her, I'd just walk back so the curtains would open up. I really like this task because it symbolized for her the end of the day, so it's time to wind down or it helped her understand that a new day was about to begin.
HANG IT UP
We had went on a trip one day, and in most Japanese hotels there's some low hooks with shoe shine rags or shoe horns hanging off of them. My daughter was fascinated by them and was really proud of herself for being able to hang something by herself. Hanging is a great motor skill, so I installed some hooks around her place, and she loves hanging up her hand towel, and her coat. I am thinking about hanging up another for backpack and her tiny broom and dustpan I bought for her!
While my daughter does tons of other small things, these are some of the bigger tasks that help raise her self-esteem, and I love to encourage. She's becoming more and more independent each day, and I can't wait to see what new skills she learns in the next six months, as she'll be two years old!
Let me know what tasks and things your one year old is up to! I'd love to hear about them in the comments below.
March 3rd was Girl's Day, and if you have no clue what that is, you can find my short intro to the Japanese traditional festival in the previous post!
Last March, I had just returned back to work full-time, my daughter was still waking up during the night, and I was breastfeeding. So, Girl's Day was just another day on the calendar. We ate chirashi sushi and called it a day.
This March was equally busy (in a different way), but I wanted to at least put in the effort to learn about the origins of Girl's Day and properly pay homage to my daughter's growth.
You will start seeing Girl's Day decorations in Japanese stores around February after Setsubun. You can find very cheap decorations at stores like Daiso or you can buy more elaborate displays and decorations at upscale department stores and even Toy's R Us.
Since my daughter is still very young, I was not ready to invest in such a large display of dolls since we live in a small apartment, and she's at the age where she wants to touch everything.
I instead bought a unique display that doubles as wooden toys. Girl's Day dolls were originally meant to be played with, and so, I thought buying a display that my daughter could play with was really neat. Also, because they are blocks, the display can be rearranged every year to create a new unique display!
I then bought a few cheap decorations to refresh our apartment. I really love the aesthetic appeal of hanging scrolls and wooden banners. I bought the hanging tapestry at Daiso and the wooden hanging banner at 3coins.
I then wanted to buy her an outfit, so I bought a very cheap, but super cute yukata to take pictures in! She loved the outfit and she didn't mind the sash at all.
We spent the day just playing her favorite games and reading her favorite books. For dessert, my husband and I had hishi mochi and hina arare.
Overall it was a really successful and fun Girl's Day. My daughter also ended up bringing home a Girl's Day craft she made at nursery school that was so cute!
Well, that concludes this year's Girl's Day, and I hope all girl's over the world have a healthy and prosperous 2022!
Until next year
One of the downsides of being a outside of the home working mother is the added risk of being exposed to the Covid-19 virus. It is a risk I take everyday as I board the train, as I take my daughter to nursery school, and as I interact with others outside of my tiny family on a daily basis. So far, after doing this for a year, there hasn't been any close calls. Unfortunately, however, my luck ran out, and due to a possible exposure at work, we all needed to quarantine at home for 10 days. Fortunately, my test came out negative, and with none of my family members exhibiting any symptoms, we were able to quarantine quite comfortably.
By comfortably, I mean most of my energy was spent keeping my daughter happy by staying busy and having fun! She is a very curious and smart 16 month old, who loves the outdoors and playing in the parks, but with all of that off the table, I took the chance to try and expose her to new activities. I took this quarantine as a great opportunity to spend some quality time with her and see what kind of new interests and skills she has acquired now that she is well over one year old.
Below, I will share some cheap, easy, adaptable, and fun ways to keep your little one happy on a rainy day, or in the unfortunate event of quarantine. All it takes is a bit of prep time and sometimes a few yennies to get the ball rolling!
Please note, most of these activities need adult supervision!
FRESH START
If you do not do this already, I recommend starting now. That is, rotating your child's toys and books and refreshing their play area or room! Rotating toys is an easy way to get your child re-interested in the things around them, especially if they have become bored with the same toys and layout. Also, it can save you some money by not needing to buy a whole new set of toys every few months! My daughter is always so excited when I bring out the books and toys that have been hiding for a month. It is a great way to start off the quarantine or rainy day, and you can sit back for a few minutes as they excitedly explore their "new" items.
STICKER COLLAGE
Before the rain and before the quarantine, I recommend you run to your nearest dollar store and grab a pack of stickers, chalk, markers, playdough, sketchbook, and cheap, fun looking doodads to keep around for times like this. These are items that you can keep stored in your closet, that you can pull out for a quick and fun "surprise" activity. I had a pack of stickers lying around and tons of bows from Christmas that I didn't mind her using up. My daughter had a blast peeling off the stickers and placing them (mostly) on the paper. She didn't need much supervision because their wasn't any ink involved and the stickers were quite big and chunky, and therefore, easy to peel off of the table or floor. She was super excited with her masterpiece!
DRAMATIC PLAY
Toddlers are quite observant, and while they may not know the ins and outs of a sequence, they can definitely recognize one when they see it. Therefore, pull out the plates, pretend food, utensils, and they will happily indulge you by serving or feeding you. It's quite fun to just sit with your child and act out a scenario without any other distractions. If you'd like, you can bring out the real bowls, pots, and spoons and have some added fun as they get to finally touch and play with usually taboo items. While older toddlers can engage in more intricate dramatic play, such as pretending to work at or go to a post office, hospital, and grocery store, a one year old would be more familiar with simpler dramatic play, such as eating (restaurant), patting a baby to sleep/pushing a baby in a stroller (nursery), talking on the phone, holding a bag/briefcase and pretending to go somewhere (bye-bye), and playing an instrument (banging/blowing/shaking).
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
Living in an apartment can be challenging when it comes to having an energetic little one that doesn't yet understand walking feet and indoor voices, but that didn't stop me from getting my daughter's little body moving. On the sunnier days, the balcony was a great place to get some fresh air and chase and catch some bubbles. On colder, cloudier days, we stayed inside and instead of balls, we played with balloons, and we also turned her swimming pool into a ball pit! We had some boxes lying around so we made a tunnel/fort and also a mini ramp that she enjoyed walking up and down. If you live in Japan, you can usually get free boxes from the nearest convenience or grocery store!
SENSORY PLAY
My daughter loves water and anything squishy or slimy! First, I experimented with playdough. She got to pour in all of the ingredients, which she enjoyed doing, and had more fun if the playdough was at a softer consistency. If you have little playdough cutters and toys, that's even better. Another day, I made gelatin cubes. Super easy, but a bit messier than playdough. She enjoyed squishing the cubes with her hands and feet. If you don't do messes, stay away from the sugary gelatins because they are super sticky, and you might want to do this activity in the bathtub! If you don't have time, your child might even enjoy just standing at the sink or sitting in the tub (parental supervision advised) and just going to town with water and some toys! I bought a few bath bombs to set off, and she was super excited!
Quarantine can be a very scary and stressful time as a family, and I felt really blessed that we were able to keep our health and use this time to bond with each other. I hope that the next time you and your child are stuck indoors, it is not for quarantine, but if you happen to be quarantined and healthy or it's just your average rainy day, these are some great activities to try out. If you have anymore tips and tricks on how to survival a day indoors with a tiny toddler, please leave a comment below! I'd love to read them.
Welcome to Actually Angie! I'm a mom, a wife, a student, and a writer living in Yokohama, Japan. Actually Angie is dedicated to sharing my experience as a foreigner in a culture vastly different from my own!