Kids Stuff

Here's a post 5 years in the making. Just kidding! More like we've been so fortunate to have dear family and friends who gifted our boys fun and awesome things, and over the years I found some neat stuff as well so I thought to put together this long post about Kids Stuff.

These goodies from Japan are among the first presents we received when my oldest was born. Aside from the super cute and Made-in-Japan t-shirts and shorts, in particular the だるまさんが (Daruma-san ga...) book was a huge hit, much so I sought out the other two books in the series だるまさんと (Daruma-san to...) and だるまさんの (Daruma-san no...). Now both of my boys enjoy giggling to their Papa reading these books in Japanese in a funny character voice.

Hubby and I moved home from Tokyo when I was 3 months along with our oldest, and of course we went shopping for a couple of sets of jinbei for him, which his little brother now wears ^.^ Since then, we've also received more jinbeis from our friends in Japan, and we've gifted plenty a baby jinbeis which were--surprise surprise--big hits because they were just so darn cute.

This growing collection of Edison toddler cutlery started with a single pair of spoon and fork my sister brought home from her JET program in Shizuoka (the orange cream and pale blue at top). There were two pairs of training chopsticks as well but they became more like tabletop toys rather than utensils, so I didn't include them.

 

These forks and spoons are probably some of the best toddler utensils we've tried to date! They're very well-made (made in Japan!), sturdy, easily cleaned, have short handles that fit little hands perfectly (versus the long handles here), and the spoon and fork are curved in such a way that's natural for kids to use. The best part is that they're affordable: 680yen per pair of folk and spoon, and perhaps 900-1,200yen for limited edition collaborations with Disney, Hello Kitty, Thomas the Train, etc. Since then I've added several more pairs because, well, both boys are using these for every meal of the day!

This below was a care package from K., a friend and fellow teacher from my own JET days. K. happens to be in Tokyo with her hubby who's a pilot with Japan Airlines. She and I kept better touch then than now, although we did hang out a few times when hubby and I were living there. For example, K. and I had lunch a few times in Shinjuku, and we visited Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building with her little boy who was about 3 at the time. Hubby and I even helped K. and her husband move into their current home! Nowadays, it's just her most of the time with three kids at home (her husband flies 3-4 days of the week), so I can only imagine how crazy busy she must be! 

This miniature model of a JAL airplane was probably one of my 5-year old's favorite things, much so he used to carry it around with him all day. Then hubby and I had to put our foot down when the poor model plane started to lose bits and pieces, so it now perches on our fireplace mantel, with both tiny landing tires missing. Sigh. 

And of course my little E. also loved this miniature sticker book. So there was a time when there were stickers everywhere in my house, on the walls, the furniture, you name it. And of course he went through the whole book until there was not a single sticker left :(

This ノンタン ボールまてまてまて (Non-tan Booru Mate Mate Mate!) was one of his favorite books as well, and he always wanted me to "read" it to him in English instead of hearing it in Japanese from his Papa. Why? Because I went through the pages and made up a story from the pictures, and he liked that apparently xD

Here's another care package from Japan, this time from T.-san whom I befriended while living in Tokyo. We barely kept in touch, because after some amount of time inactive, LINE deletes my account and all the contacts I have, and each time I'd have to search for those contacts all over again and I don't always find them. This has happened at least twice already, and T. and I eventually lost touch :( But back in the spring of 2020 before the pandemic hit hard, she sent me this lovely care package with snacks and toys for my oldest (because my youngest wasn't born yet then). She had visited Taipei that winter, and she was so sweet to include some Taiwanese snacks for me, and even Korean skincare that was popular at the time as well (will post next)!

This strawberry bath sponge kept my then-2.5-year-old happy in the bath. He tore off the green leaf and the string pretty quickly, but the strawberry itself survived to this day. Now the younger 2-year old happily plays with it. Let's see if it'll survive him as well. Ha.

I'll admit that we haven't touched this at all, because it'll just be shredded to pieces. One of these days, I'll teach my boys to do origami. One of these days.

We own a few pairs of these Munchkin sippy cups, but I think the insulated ones are probably my favorite. They keep the temperatures well, and I especially like that my boys will have warm water to drink in the middle of the cold nights they're thirsty. These don't spill when tipped over, but water will seep out if the cup is left lying down for extended amount of time. So we keep one on the 5-year old's night stand and another wedged in the corner of the 2-year old's crib. Oh, and they have lids, which is nice.