Birthday Post

Hiroki Skyler Fingerhut was born on February 19th, 2008. Michiyo and I could not have expected nor asked for a more incredible little boy--this past year has been more enjoyable every day, even though not every day was easy. Since before he was born, Michiyo had this stuffed animal, a ladybug, which I always mistakenly call a caterpillar. Whatever the creature, Michiyo wanted to take a picture of Hiro with this toy on the 19th of every month, to show his progress. Ladies and Gentlemen, please enjoy the first year of Hiro!

2/19/08 Yawning at the hospital

3/19/08 Eyes wide open

4/19/08 Crying in a Circus Onesie (Thanks Josh!)

5/19/08 Spit Happens in May

6/19/08 Skinny legs and a smile

7/19/08 Happy Hiro filling out slowly

8/19/08 I Heart Mommy

9/19/08 Hiro likes red

10/19/08 Halloween growth spurt (look where his feet are!)

11/20/08 Not the 19th--we were on a plane from Japan

1/19/09 Bansai boy

2/19/09 The Big 1!!!

To anyone and everyone who has visited this blog, thanks for sharing a memorable first year with us. Please check back now and again for updates, not to mention some "retro" posts; there are still many fun pictures to share from the last year.

Knee Blowout

With the wide range of activities in which I have participated, I have always thought of myself as healthy. Two broken elbows and some stitches in grade school notwithstanding, major issues seemed to be avoidable. On February 10th, my good fortune had a hiccup. My brother Mark and I had joined a basketball team, and the presence of actual referees and a scoreboard was going to be an exciting deviation from the pickup runs of the last several years. Five minutes into our second game, I found myself on the floor unable to feel my right knee. After running, planting, and jumping off of my right leg, something I have done thousands of times since I was probably five years old, the ligaments in my knee had a nasty disagreement with the muscles connected to them. A truce was not reached, and by the time I came down, neither side was speaking to each other.

I'll go ahead and answer some questions to save time.
1. What happened/how did you do it? In basketball terms, I had the ball at the top of the key, a defender stole it from me and dribbled the other way for an easy layup. Determined not to make it easy, I sprinted after him with the intention of fouling or blocking his shot. I approached with great momentum, jumped off my right leg, and neither of us ended up on our feet. He was okay, and never even got the shot off--no doubt intimidated by the footsteps behind him, the guy had fumbled the ball and been whistled for traveling. My defense, let alone my injury, had been unnecessary. I spent the rest of the game lying down, watching my team lose by a lot (not that my play would have made much difference).

Can you tell which one is injured?

2. What will happen now? The Orthopedic doctor has me on a 3-part plan: three weeks of hobbling around with crutches if needed, while wearing a knee immobilizer, three weeks of physical therapy to build full range of motion with a healed MCL, then surgery two weeks after that--he will take the Achilles tendon from a dead body and put it in my knee (give it up for recycling!). He said I could be running in three months, playing basketball in a year, but I am in no hurry. The doctor recommended this plan over two others: either do nothing, let everything "heal" on its own, but never play basketball or virtually any sport again (not an option for me), OR have immediate surgery, which he deemed as "overkill surgery," and be active again in six months. So I am going the patient route, and hopefully I will be back for the NBA free agency frenzy in 2010.

3. What about work? No problem--well, not really. Besides the physical part of performing, a large part of my living is made in sales. Since this time of year is slower than others, I have been able to focus on sales for the future. But I haven't let my knee slow me down too much, because, hey, somebody's gotta keep rice on the table. Three days after the injury, I performed a Magic Show. Four days later, on Valentine's Day, I DJ'd a rockin wedding reception. For both of these, I required a lot of assistance, mostly from Michiyo. We have spent a lot of time together, and Hiroki has gotten to see me perform more than a few shows, like this one.


There are few better feelings than getting Hiroki to sleep; it feels even better when he's right next to me. My leg has kept me at home more than before, and I am loving the time with Michiyo and Hiro.

Valentine's Day was relatively low-key, but Michiyo made my night. Coming home from the wedding reception, I had two cards and a custom-made Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich. What a great night!

Groundhog Day

What a Groundhog Day it was! Lots happened, beginning with Hiroki's first pair of shoes. The little guy has been walking so much, Michiyo decided it was time to protect his feet. He seemed perplexed yet amused at the new material on the two parts of his body farthest away.

He spent a few minutes looking at them and touching them, trying to comprehend the additions.

Then he looked right at the camera for a nice pose. He and Mommy had a play date to get to!

While St. Louis is not exactly a bastion of transplanted Japanese folks, Michiyo has been able to build up a solid network of friends here. Everyone is in a different situation (sort of like the JET Programme, where Every Situation Is Different), from mixed couples who have settled here to families that are here temporarily for a year or two or more. Generally, these families have been transferred here because the Father is doing some medical research at Washington University, or something similar. Generating these friendships has really made our life in St. Louis a lot more comfortable, especially for Michiyo. Of course, getting together with these families produces scenes the cuteness content of which would be hard to top.

From left: Hiroki, Maya, Yuki, Aoi, Kouta (boy with Mom), Shyota (little guy), and Keita (smiling boy in front).

Unfortunately, the reason for this "play date" was the sayonara-party for some friends. Hiroko, her husband, and their two kids Maya and Keita, are moving back to Japan tomorrow, which explains the empty room in the picture. We will miss them very much, but both of our families will now have friends to visit in the future!

After the party, Michiyo and Hiroki stopped at a nearby park to take a picture of the incredible snowman we worked on for hours!

Just kidding, I WISH! This picture is not an optical illusion. Some ambitious folks in Maplewood, using ladders, put this amazing creation together. I learned about it earlier in the day and insisted Michiyo go see it. Hands down, it's the most impressive snowman I have ever been aware of in St. Louis. (St. Louisans, in case you're wondering, it's the park several blocks North of Manchester and Sutton. Go see it before it melts!)

Basketball with Grandpa Joe

We have been spending a lot of time lately with Hiroki's Grandma and Grandpa, my Mom Julie and Dad Joe. If you have spent any time around the Fingerhuts, you know we love basketball, and Hiroki has picked that interest right up. He has a nose for any ball, no matter the size, shape or color.

Mom and Dad met at Benedictine College, and Mom pulled out a bib for Hiro to show his Ravens pride. I wonder if Benedictine (near Kansas City) has a crawling race?

Papa Joe has always been a basketball coach. He coached high school teams before he had kids, then he coached or assisted with all four of us kids in not only basketball, but practically every sport we played in grade school, and even some high school rec teams. These days, he doesn't have any kids young enough to coach, but he has stuck with several teams at St. Paul School in Fenton through their grade school years. Since the beginning of the season, Dad has requested that Hiroki get to meet his eighth grade girls team. So on Friday, we went to their practice, and Sunday, we went to their game. Hiroki had a blast.

Papa Joe held him for a bit while the scrimmage was going on, and Hiro was riveted!

Then Coach Grandpa called everybody together to wrap things up, and Hiroi was surrounded by bunch of smiling teenage girls. He was more interested in the ball, and I'm sure he will laugh at this picture someday.

Sunday, the girls played a league game at Holy Redeemer school. Hiroki watched the whole first half, then enjoyed lunch fed to him during the third quarter. The St. Paul girls fought hard against a tough Holy Redeemer team, but were down in the fourth quarter. Hiroki would have been into it I'm sure, but he was under the Hooter Hider drinking dessert from Michiyo. We cheered as Papa Joe shrewdly called a timeout to get his girls to focus on a full court press and as many 3-pointers as they could handle. They cut the score to 19-16 with about a minute to go, but ended up with a 23-16 loss. They were not too down about it, nor was Papa Joe, who got to watch part of the next game with his grandson.

Michiyo noticed that Hiroki had matching colors with Grandpa.

Funny moment: While this young women set up to take the first of two free throws, somebody's cell phone went off, but she swished it. Right as she was launching the second free throw, however, Hiroki decided to unleash his own ring tone, letting the entire gym know he can say, "DaDa!" in a very loud voice. The poor girl airballed the free throw. Sorry, chica!