T's Lunch Boxes and the Obsession with Everyday Trivialities

Baby-size rice ball

It has been quite a task to put T to bed. Even if he is obviously sleepy, he always shows this urge to stay awake. He does everything to distract my attention from putting him to bed and everything to keep himself busy and therefore sober. He would explore every corner in the bedroom, such as taking diapers piece by piece from one place to another. He would bring me as many books as he wants to ask me to read and simply wander away to find another task to keep himself occupied without a single intention to listen. We are quite amused by his persistence and wonder why he is so eager to not to fall asleep.


Last night, he was obviously sleepy, so together we lied down head to head on a cushion.  He was continuously calling me, in his innocent and marshmallowy voice, "d'ya d'ya", the way he always uses to call me or his dad. I answered by calling his nickname, and he looked all smiley on his sleepy face.

It felt like talking to a little lover before bedtime. A kind of innocence without reservation and pretense.

Last week, I had lunch with another mother whose baby is also going to the same nursery as T. My "mother friend", "mamatomo" in Japanese. We talked about how we forget how busy we are, and how we both try very hard not to be late for the nursery but always fail, and how we are always so busy but still cannot remember what we have done to make us late and late again everyday. We couldn't even recall what happens a night ago, or even an hour ago.

There is a long list of trivialities which give patterns to our everyday life. They are so trivial but important, but they still cannot be committed to our memory.

I started keeping record of what I have done for work, for the house, and for T on my diary, so that even if my social diary has been barren, they will not look too blank as if I simply idle my days away.

One of the trivial things, but tremendously important, for me now is lunchbox-making early in the morning. I started my photo journal of T's "obanto" (lunchbox in Japanese) some time ago but was only reminded again after the lunch date that I should start writing about it until it's too late for me to recall anything at all.

T has a tremendous appetite as an 1.5 year old. Since he eats everything, it is not difficult to assemble a sort of varieties for him. I am the one who is the hindrance to my efficiency rather, as I dislike repetition. Although in the end a lunchbox consists of roughly the same elements: main meal, side dish, and fruit, I do try my best to come up with something interesting once in a while.

(descriptions of the lunch boxes below might come later when time allows.)