Last week, I went to the father and mother consultation at the local community center. You can have your child weigh and measure by an experienced nurse. L, now in her 21st month, weighs 9700 g and is 81 cm tall. She grew 4 cm since last October, but these numbers are still below Swiss average. She is one of 3% children who are the most underweight in Switzerland.
My Japanese friends told me I should not judge L’s growth based on Swiss standard, because Asian children are obviously lighter and smaller. So I looked up in books and on Internet and they were right. According to the children’s growth chart by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan, L’s height and weight were perfectly normal… and I’m sure there is a slight difference between Thai and Japanese standards.
I wonder how they carry this kind of “standard” in multicultural USA, because the difference between races is just so enormous! This makes me think… what is “standard” anyways? Does the word exist to make people worry they are not normal?
A few years ago, I could not stand Peter’s grandma always telling me “your teeth look awful! Can’t you do something about it?” and got myself braces at this relatively old age in most expensive place on earth (Switzerland). Four teeth were extracted, and there were days I could not sleep from headache. It took my old teeth to move for 2 years, and tomorrow is finally the day I don’t need to brush between my braces! I can finally eat curry, Mochi, and chewing gum! Let’s see how I’ll end up looking like tomorrow… Sooki-san, I’m taking your advice “wear your retainer religiously!”
Here is the photo that shocked my sister back when we were iSighting in January 2008. “Oh my! I did not know your teeth were so crooked!!”
For Peter’s Japanese, my dad used to send lots of kid’s programs from Japan. PythagoraSwitch is an old TV-program from NHK (Janapese national TV station) and we loooove this program. If you get a chance, please take a look!!
Wishing you good health (stop smoking!), happiness, fun and lots of adventures during your trips abroad this year. Hope you’ll come and visit us soon!!
I think “career and income” are the topics many adopting and adoptive parents discuss about. Who will continue working? How will we support the family? How important is career in my life? For me, those questions are always answered by the question “why did we want to adopt to begin with?”
When we singed up to adopt through Fondation / Stiftung Ouvre tes mains, we were told that the sum of our work hours should not exceed 100% after we adopt a child. We agreed, and Peter decided to work 100%.
Recently, Peter reduced his work hours to 60% (3 days a week) to spend more time with L. I am starting at a Japanese restaurant as a waitress to fill in 40% of income.
I sometimes check 「サイアム系で行こう！」a Japanese blog about T-Pop. There are articles about concerts, new movies and songs I would not have known otherwise from Switzerland.
My recent favorite is Kennet Paew’s “Lazy Sunday“. I don’t normally show TV to L, but as an exception, I watch this MV with L. She likes it so much that she sings along and wiggles her feet to this video.
Last time Henry Rollins had a talk show in Switzerland, I had to work OT and give up my ticket to some lucky guy. When we found out that he is touring Europe again this year, Peter told me I should not miss this opportunity and stayed home with L despite his cold. He has seen his talk show a few times and always told me how he almost fell off his chair from lol. In fact, this was the best talk show I’ve ever seen so far, and he convinced me people like him is the reason I cannot hate America. Keep reading →
Now Peter caught a cold AGAIN!! Since he came home from work on Tuesday, he started coughing and sneezing. Today I forced him to go to a doctor and he decided to take a day off. L is overjoyed that her favorite Papi is at home.
When I prepare dinner, I always involve L in cutting and “tasting”. I noticed she eats more when she gets to see the whole process of cooking. She usually stands on the ladder and eats as I cut ingredients. I let her grab food by hand and explore (=make mess) except dried squid I mentioned earlier. She would have smelled like dead fish for weeks, had she helped me shred the stinky fish.
The article about our adoption based on last year’s interview is finally printed in this month’s Annabelle. Here is the text in German:
