For my daughter’s first birthday, I gave her a pair of rain boots, a matching umbrella, and the book “Umbrella,” by Taro Yashima.
In the book, the 3 year old NYC girl “Momo” (which means “peach” in Japanese), gets a pair of boots and an umbrella for her birthday and then can’t wait for it to rain so she can use them. It used to be one of my favorite books when I was little. The book has wonderful illustrations that I have always remembered. The use of color and shading– it’s a child-like vision of the world but created by a master illustrator.
My daughter loves her boots almost as much as Momo; she puts them on in the house, barefoot, and runs around in them. I bought the boots a bit big, so they are just starting to fit well now, 3 months later. She’s still a bit small to carry the umbrella by herself, but she tries. Anyway, it was raining, but not freezing, a couple days ago, so we decided to take advantage of the moment.
When blowing out daughter’s first birthday candle, I made a wish for her, since she was too little to make her own. I wished that it would never rain on her parade, but if it did, that she’d always have the most fabulous umbrella. In many ways, I think she does.
