Theo

With much anticipation, we await Boky's arrival within the coming week.

Initially, we had planned to name him "Troy" but my Japanese colleagues and friends informed me that this sounds like a Japanese adjective for someone who reacts very slowly. In other words, it is descriptive of a dull person. Certainly, we don't want the child to enter a Japanese school (assuming we stay here long enough) with a label on his forehead shouting "dull."

"Theo" denotes" divine gift." And since his expected delivery is December 25, we acknowledge his arrival as nothing less than a divine gift from the heavens. Boky, or "Theo" is, without a doubt, God's Christmas gift to us. (Whether he'll become God's gift to women when he turns 21 is another story, hehe...)

As of this writing, there are still no signs of Theo's impending delivery. (Let's call him "Theo" from now on; we will retain, however, the title of this blog as "Boky's Adventures.") According to Mommy D's obstetrician, the cervix has not shown signs of dilatation yet as of last week. We will find out on Tuesday, however, if the cervical dilatation has already begun. Optimistic as always, we are assuming that everything will proceed smoothly. Mommy D's own mother and female siblings have had trouble-free deliveries; in other words, that their wombs are "baby factories and conveyors" is genetic, haha...

Allow me to end this post with two quotations on childbirth:

"Childbirth is more admirable than conquest, more amazing than self-defense, and as courageous as either one."*

Gloria Steinem (b. 1934), U.S. feminist writer, editor

"No phallic hero, no matter what he does to himself or to another to prove his courage, ever matches the solitary, existential courage of the woman who gives birth."*

Andrea Dworkin (b. 1946), U.S. feminist critic

Probably, no other quotations are more apt.

As they say here in Japan, "Gambarre!"
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*The Columbia Dictionary of Quotations - licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1993 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.