おすかーのおくいぞめ

We celebrated Oscar's Okuizome last weekend. Literally it means "first food", and it's traditionally held 100 days after birth - but ours was a little late. It's a Shinto tradition, and the idea is that it will help ensure that the child will never go hungry. The eldest person at the party symbolically feeds the baby several different dishes, each symbolizing a different hope for the child. My mom did a great job feeding Oscar with chopsticks. The coolest thing he "eats" were rocks, which will supposedly give the kid strong teeth. Of course, he doesn't really eat any of it, even the rocks. We also dressed Oscar up in his first Kimono, which Wakaba's parents sent from Japan. It was a really fun night, and we had a big dinner for grownups that we actually did eat afterwards. Wakaba's sister Hana and her friend Akiyo were here and they helped out a lot. It was nice for Wakaba and I to have both sides of our family together with our friends too, I hope it can happen more. Since the Okuizome ceremony, it's been pretty quiet here. Wakaba and Oscar travelled to Japan on Wednesday, and they'll be there for a couple of months. Maybe Wakaba will be able to write something on Magurobashi about how they're doing soon, but she's pretty busy helping the little guy get adjusted to a new house and a new time zone and all that. We've been chatting everyday using Skype, this amazing free video-chat program that I have become a walking commercial for lately. Oscar is doing great, and laughing a lot with his Uncle Yuki and Aunt Hana. I miss them a lot, of course, but I'm looking forward to joining everybody in Japan - hopefully in late February.