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Lots of Parentheses In This One

I fell asleep at my desk chair last night. It's not rare. When I used to travel all the time for work I regularly fell asleep sitting upright in the hotel desk chair. Even those crappy ones with the low back. I never once fell backwards. Usually I came to either sitting upright or with my head on the desk.

The boys were hosting a sleepover friend, though, so the circumstances were a little different. After they finally fell asleep I also dozed for a short time, though I was still in a sweaty and barbecue-smelling jinbei so it was easy enough to get motivated to go take a bath. 

After all that and checking on the boys and taking a quick walk (in the rain) to make my daily steps goal I went back to reading and fell asleep at my desk again. But around 2:30 in the morning I became sentient and brushed my teeth and went to bed for real. Eri reminded me that the boys were extra prone to waking up early on this particular day and especially high maintenance, so I needed to make sure and be ready for an early call. Oh boy.

It turns out after I conked out the boys got a bit needy in the night and Eri didn't get much sleep.

So she was a little out of commission today. Except she made an awesome pancake breakfast that these guys are hopefully gonna remember for the rest of their lives. 


We all have crazy random memories from our childhoods. I'm not trying to manufacture memories for the boys, but I am actively trying to clear the path for amazing memories to be achieved. 

I have insane neuroses (citations upon request). I'm a neat freak (citations upon request). I have clinically diagnosed anxiety. This mix, plus the other middle-age stuff, makes it challenging for me to deal with kids. But not in the way you're thinking.

In spite of all the stuff I mentioned above, I am a laid back person. Weird, right? How can you have clinical anxiety and be laid back? 

I do not know. But that's me.

(I realize it has something to do with anxiety not being the same as being anxious; kind of like how weather and climate are different. Possibly. I don't know.) 

It occurred to me today (not entirely for the first time) that I take a lot of things too easy. I don't freak out about things I should freak out about. Eri, on the other hand, takes every moment completely seriously and freaks out about everything.

(There are exceptions.)

We rounded out the boys' first sleepover hosting with some paper airplane shenanigans and bicycle riding in the street while papa finished his coffee. The kid three houses down is a major bug collector and showed us his box of mantises using a pro set of calipers. He's in first grade.




Eri needed rest so I took the boys out after our sleepover friend went home. We hit up Marumatsu. The boys love that place in the same way I loved Denny's when I was a kid. They have kids sets that the boys go crazy for, mostly for the jackpot coin that they come with. I love it because it's kid-friendly and the food is (and people laugh at me for this) not bad. The first time I met Eri's mom was at a Marumatsu. I think that may have been my first time at a Marumatsu. Maybe that's why I like it. 


Kenzo got the curry rice. Osamu got the ramen. I got the plate of fried chicken,

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