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mayra 14 months

Hello hello. After a loooong silence here’s a little movie that Mayra and I took with B’s new computer. So much fun playing with the webcam features! Mayra is fascinated by eyes and eyelashes at the moment, and loves playing ‘inai, inai, baa !’ (Japanese for ‘peekaboo!’). She was intrigued to watch herself on the screen.

Now at 14 months, Mayra the toddler is walking sturdy steps, has 1 bottom tooth and 3.5 upper teeth, always happily waving hello and bye-bye to everybody in passing. Dogs and other animals are still a favorite, as is playing with sand and water, and climbing stairs and other things. She is turning into quite a little chatter box. “Mayra-go” is still her main language, followed closely by sign language. She knows how to sign about 12 signs, and recognizes many more.
Some of the Dutch words she says (and simultaneously signs if she knows the sign): mama, papa, ‘ba~’ (bal = ball), ‘pphoe’ (poes = cat), ‘dhaa’ (daar = there), ‘appe’ (appel = apple), ‘manana’ (mandarijn = mandarin)
Japanese: ‘wan-wan’ (dog), anpan (= anpan-man, a Japanese animation character)
Spanish: ‘poh-poh’ (popo = poo)

All of this making us very proud of course!

tales of a sunday

Today was a nice relaxed day. Lots of playing and sleeping. And more playing. We caught most of it on tape so can actually tell you the visual story of our go abouts. As you may guess, star is our little lady. Make yourself comfortable for the reading and viewing of ’Tales of a Sunday‘…

Mayra Dilan reached 10.5 months. She likes taking things OUT of something. Socks out the sock basket. Veggies out the box. Toys out the toy bag. Crackers out the tupperware (she is very skilled and with her little fingers chooses the one she wants to eat and takes it out!). Mayra also likes standing and walking. It’s incredible to see how fast she is developing these skills. Two weeks ago Mayra was able to pull herself up and take 1 or 2 wobbly steps holding onto the furniture. Now she’s going round the living room, transferring fairly smoothly between the sofa and the kotatsu and the jumperoo, bouncing her cute body when she hears music play. Very fun to watch. She’s also getting close to running when she walks holding our hands, leaning her weight forward to go faster. And, something that made me feel very proud when I saw her do this a week ago: Mayra is able to stand alone without support for about 2 seconds!

In the below movie it’s early Sunday morning and Mayra usually entertains herself for a bit in her play corner. She is just finishing up with taking papers and toys out of a box, moving swiftly onto the music toy, and some standing. She wants me to hold her hands so she can walk through the room. Mayra knows how to crawl but simply prefers walking. The problem is that she can’t do it by herself yet. This is a test for Mayra’s character (she knows very well what she wants and likes, or doesn’t want, and is very driven and passionate about it); she can get pretty frustrated and angry when we don’t make ourselves available to hold her hands and walk with her…

Then, after brunch it was time for another fun game. BebePod riding! As I was playing with Mayra it reminded me of de ’botsautootjes‘ I used to ride on the ’kermis‘ when I was a child (bumping carts at the carnaval?). Anyway, we have this BebePod low chair for babies. It wasn’t used a lot but we just found a new purpose for it. Watch and enjoy. The BebePod entertainment comes in two parts. After the riding Mayra went onto discovering for herself what to do with it. Excuse the messy apartment by the way, we were sorting out laundry and winter clothes, and still had other stuff to clean away as well. Heh…

Part two is when Mayra had a go at it herself. I think initially she was trying to figure out how to sit in it, before submitting it to her research. The movie is a bit lengthy but I just couldn’t get enough of observing her!

Later in the afternoon we went to the local park (Rinshi no Mori Koen) for some fresh air and a short walk. These days Mayra leads us to the front door herself when she wants to go out. She’s a very determined little lady. In the park she had a play with the leafs and dirt, and we did some more walking. The movie shows when the climax of this outing was reached: Mayra gets totally excited by the sight of animals, especially dogs are her favorite. Where that comes from we don’t know, we don’t have any pets… Anyhow, when she spotted a bunch of dogs at the park, she was on a mission! Hilarious to see her ‘lift off’ to her target. The dogs made her day. I love her laughs and giggles when her face gets sniffled and licked.

And that was all, folks! After this the day was over and we went for a bowl of udon. Mayra is enjoying noodles as well. No movie of it though.

~~~~~~~~~~

chiba mini-getaway

This week there were a couple of national holidays and since M and I just had our 2-year wedding anniversary we planned a little getaway celebration. Destination: Boshou - the south of Chiba peninsula. Only a couple of hours drive from Tokyo (Mayra hates being strapped in the maxi cosi car seat), with mountains galore, and beaches at Tokyo Bay and Pacific Ocean coasts. For some reason Chiba is not a popular destination--people tend to go to Izu instead. We’d never really been before either, and figured this would be the time to go check it all out.

Unfortunately Mayra developed a bad cold and got sick over the weekend, with a snot factory up her nose, a nasty painful cough and up to 38.5C fever. All this especially bad during the night causing waking up many many times. ...Thank you, kiddies at the daycare center!
In case anyone wonders: no, we are not afraid it is the Mexican flu and the fever went away after a day.

On Wednesday Mayra recovered enough for us to be able to take off, even though we had canceled the original rental car and hotel bookings (we were lucky because they kindly waved us the 100% cancellation fee). Ended up finding a hotel/spa while on the road, with a super nice ofuro bathing area. I took Mayra there at night and she loved it! We had the whole place to ourselves and the sight of all that water made her very excited. 41C Degree baths turn out not to be a problem for Mayra anymore (she hated hot baths when she was smaller). It was great fun to splash around in the outside tubs together. I think all that steam might have helped the still ongoing process of ridding her cold as well.

It was the first little outing in Japan with the 3 of us. We enjoyed it, although Mamma B and Pappa M still have to get used to the fact that spontaneous getaways are not (yet?) as relaxing as before. Having a child with you means that the whole trip revolves around the kid. Some examples: playing finding accommodation by ear becomes a grander risk (you don’t want to get stuck all having to sleep in the car). Baby has dirty nappy or is hungry: she must be attended to in foreseeable time. That’s no problem since I’m breastfeeding, but outing means new things/sounds/environment, means distraction for curious baby, means baby doesn’t nurse well, means she gets thirsty (read: cranky) again later. Baby keeps on screaming in her car seat because of heat, tiredness or other: very stressful to drive and navigate in Japanese at the same time. You see a nice spot to get out of the car, but fussy baby JUST finally feel asleep and will wake up when you stop the car. We try to not let the little lady rule our lives, but sometimes that back stabs us… haha. Anyhow, it’s all a good practice in being flexible and practicing patience.

Favorite moments:
Walks on the beach, enjoying nice view, space and fresh air. Ofuro bathing times. All clean, warm and dressed up in yukata, cuddling on the big hotel bed. Sleeping with the balcony door open listening to the sound of the waves.
Once you reach Tateyama in the south point of the peninsula, it’s pretty. Nice beaches with clean blue ocean water, and land-inwards there’s lots of lush green mountains that beg to be hiked in. All best accessed by car, and you can reach Chiba in no time via the Aqualine-tunnel. Much faster than going to Izu! We decided Boshou is worth another visit.

Mayra’s developments of the past week:
• sleeps on her belly (after rolling over several times to get comfortable) with one or two legs pulled up and her cute bum sticking up in the air.
• a nasty high-pitched, angry cry (= she is really upset about something and/or really wants something NOW). It could be due to the fact that she’s not feeling well, but if this cry stays on we must get it out of her system. Tantrums are a no-no. Besides that I think the forced pitch is also bad for her voice and probably painful to her throat if persisted.
• new words: ‘taa-da’ (sometimes whispered), ‘maa-ma’, ‘dhee’, ‘bhah’
• clap hands!

drill fire

It’s Wednesday morning and here I am, in the cafe waiting until it’s time to pick up Mayra from the hoikuen. A (second) announcement in Japanese followed by one in very-Japanese-sounding English sounds through the speakers: “DRILL FIRE, DRILL FIRE! The drill fire is still burning on the 8th floor cafeteria. This is order from Security: even floors go to north stairs; uneven floors go to south stairs. Walk to Hibiya Park. DRILL FIRE, DRILL FIRE!...” etc.

...AH! The “fire” is where I am! Should I evacuate...? I decide not to, since it’s a bit of a hassle and usually I’m not here anyway. Plus, the view from where I am sitting is fabulous: huge big windows looking out over the park, and it’s fun watching all the staff gather down there, with their safety helmets on. They look like ants marching towards sugar.

The daycare center evacuated too. A colleague of Manuel recognized Mayra and took this photo:

hoi-ku-en

Yesterday Mayra started hoikuen (daycare). Hibiya Kids Park is where she will be going 2 days a week from October, allowing me to get back to work again (part-time). Or if there is no work out there --the crisis is noticeable in Tokyo as well-- then I have more time to myself to go swimming, clean the house and finally sort out all the piles of paper and stuff that are filling up our apartment. As long as they don’t shout at her, Mayra loves hanging out with other kids, so it’ll be good for her too.

I am really grateful that my girl has been at home with me until now and am still totally enjoying the fulltime ‘non-paid’ job of being a mum. When I was still pregnant I thought I would go back to work sooner but that didn’t happen, and I haven’t missed working for one bit. Instead I’ve been able to witness Mayra grow and develop, and am getting paid in hugs and many toothless smiles. I feel for the mothers (and fathers) who have no choice but to go back to work after 3 months (or sooner), with no option but to leave their little one behind all day. ARGH!…

Hibiya Kids Park is the hoikuen in Shinsei Bank, Manuel’s employer. Lucky us, because it’s already part of his package--until March 2010 anyway: we just found out that this benefit will be scraped. We yet have to figure out what to do next year. It’s really hard to get a spot in the government-supported kinder gardens, and the private ones are seriously expensive. For me I don’t see the point of working if those earnings are more or less going to even out the cost of daycare. Staying in the work-loop would be good for career development, but right now I care more for my family than for my career. Anyway, we’ll see.

Kids Park is a place with positive atmosphere; nice, bright, clean and spacious. Kids can easily play, sleep and eat. There is a space to shower and change nappies, a special lavatory with mini toilets and mini wash basins, and there is even a breastfeeding room. And Hibiya Park nearby (coincidentally the same park Manuel and I got married!), where they take the kids for walk and play once a day at good weather. There are currently 3 other babies, and about 15 kids between 1~3 years old. Caregiver to child ratio is about 2:4, pretty good!

All is very well organized at the daycare: Mayra has a shoes box, a basket for her daily set of spare clothes, a basket for her other things. All marked with her name and a strawberry which is now her personal icon. They have a little cap for her (all kids wear a cap when they go out), also tagged with her name and the stawberry. This wouldn’t be Japan without strange unbendable rules though...: the hoikuen only accepts disposable nappies (at home we use cloth diapers) with Mayra’s name written on each of them. Also they don’t administer medication, including sunscreen! This sounds a bit extreme and paranoia to me, but then again in this day and age where people sew one another for the smallest thing, I would probably do the same if I were them.
The one rule I really don’t like is that they don’t accept expressed breastmilk (due to hygienic reasons), forcing Mayra to drink formula. I was initially a bit upset when they told us, as I really don’t see why this should be an issue as long as is made sure the breastmilk is cooled, stored and warmed up properly. Daycare centers in the Netherlands do this without problems. Anyway, not ideal but certainly not the end of the world, and at least they have the breastfeeding room so I can nurse her there.

September is training month, meaning Mayra is going there every day, starting with 1 hour, and the next day 1 hour longer until she is used to going all day, from 8am~4pm in her case. Manuel will take her in the morning and I will pick her up in the afternoon. This week I am joining them for the drop-off, and waiting in the cafeteria until I can go and pick her up. Hence I now have time to write all these blog entries!

So far so good. Mayra cries a little when we leave, and also when I pick here up ("HEY, WHERE WERE YOU!!!!"), but other than that she seems to be fine. Sleeps, eats and plays with the other kids. All of them super cute and sweet.

summer holidays 2009

We were fortunate to be able to go to Holland and escape the summer heat & humidity of Tokyo.
It was the first time for the three of us to travel together, and for Mayra a time to meet some of the family in Holland.
We had a wonderful time.

To me the highlight of these holidays was to be close to Mayra for days on end, as opposed to only a few hours when I’m working. It gave me the opportunity to witness how my daughter discovers the world one bit a time… the beach sand; the sea and the fun of swimming in cold water on a hot summer’s day; the colourful flowers; birds and puppy dogs and a multitude of other things. Things that we hardly notice during our busy lives. It is such a joy to experience life through the innocent eyes of a curious child. The simple things in life are often the best-- no question about it.

the name game

Mayra Dilan Viasus Zoet
For those of you who didn’t know yet, that’s the full name of our precious girl.
We’re being asked often what the meaning is (of Mayra) and how we choose her names, so here goes an extended entry on the topic.

Choosing a name for our baby was a fun challenge. We started working on it about halfway through the pregnancy, though my list of baby names already came to existence many years ago (...!), always adding whenever I came across a nice one. Manuel and I agreed that we both would compile a list of 10, one for boy and one for girl. Then we’d compare the lists, create a shortlist of it and choose from there.

Nice concept but it didn’t quite work out that way. By the time it was time to start comparing lists, M had *one* name, and I had, as you might suspect, maaaaany. We ended up selecting a shortlist of my list, then adding new names, followed by re-creating the shortlist. And that a couple of times more until we narrowed it down to about 4 options per gender.

We wanted to meet our baby first and decided on the names the day after she was born. ‘Mayra’ jumped out to both of us. ‘Dilan’ is for added spark.

Inspiration
The list of names was a compilation out of name books (disappointing results...), the internet, but mostly from the Olympics 2008 and from watching movies—great to see many names coming by in the credits! Both the name Mayra and Dilan are from characters in a documentary and movie. 

Requirements
One other challenge were the requirements. Manuel only had one: the name must sound beautiful. I agreed and added the following:
• must be pronounceable without problems in at least Dutch, Spanish, English and Japanese (speaking from experience!)
• has to be unique, at least not conventional
• must go well with the middle- and surnames
• should look good when spelled (I am a typographer after all. Love the letter ‘Y’)
• and the name should have a positive meaning

Speaking of the latter, it turns out that there are plural (international) meanings for both Mayra and Dilan:

MAYRA (pronounce mah-ee-rah)
Australian-Aboriginal: spring wind
English: beautiful
Irish: variant of Maire (Mary); star of the sea
Latin: myrrh, unguent (balm, ointment)
Hebrew: rebellion, overthrow
Gaelic: form of Mary; bitter
Spanish: form of Maria (Mary)

DILAN (pronounce dih-lan)
Welsh: born from waves; born from the ocean; son of the sea (spelled ‘Dylan’, originally a boy’s name)
Irish/gaelic: like a lion; loyal; faithful
Kurdish: to dance
Turkish: full of heart, full of fullfilling desires

VIASUS ZOET (pronounce vee-ah-soos zoot)
Following Latin-American tradition, and because we like the fact that it indicates our daughter is indeed a child from the both of us, we decided to give Mayra both our family names.
Viasus has no particular meaning. Zoet is Dutch for ‘sweet’.

So there you have it. Mayra Dilan Viasus Zoet: our beautiful daughter born from waves, full of heart, our sweet little rebellion.

mayratalk

Mayra has started babbling her own language. It mostly consists of “gheeghee, googoo, ghaaaaa” at the moment, and she tells us her stories with a very serious and convinced look in her eyes. So cute. It’ll be interesting to see how she will cope with the trilinguality (is that a word?) of our English-Dutch-Spanish household. Anyway, that’s still months away. Until then we speak Mayratalk.