The Perfect Storm

I love the shenanigans that occur daily, but I also love Saturday mornings, when the boys get their soccer uniforms on super early and find something to do together that keeps the peace and allows mama and papa to get some stuff done.

This morning it happened to be their English app.

Kenzo is usually busy with writing or drawing or something crafty that Osamu can't really do yet without annoying his big brother. So pretty much every time I go upstairs for something, whether it's to turn off a light or close curtains or look for insurance paperwork, I invite Osamu to go with me. And he usually says yes. He follows me up the steps, checks to see if what I'm doing interests him, which it usually doesn't, asks to spin around a few times in my office chair, and finally requests the iPad so he can watch his English songs and stories.

This morning Kenzo followed close behind and they hung out on the bottom bunk for a good long while laughing and talking and making fart sounds while they watched videos.

When my biopic is made there will be a smash cut from the peaceful morning of brotherly love to the epic tantrum Osamu threw at the mall after soccer club this afternoon. It was so dramatic I transcended being an annoyed parent and was actually proud of his commitment to the drama. I greeted people walking by with a smile and a nod as Osamu screamed and carried on nonsensically, in English mind you which I'm sure made it even more curious to the denizens of the mall, at the bottom of the escalator that goes up to the rooftop parking.

As usual for a Saturday, I wanted to take the boys to a park after soccer and eat lunch and play, but it started raining. So the Aeon Mall it was. I loaded up Kenzo and Mu with udon, curry rice, fried chicken, shrimp tempura, and rice balls with salmon inside at the food court. They ate until they were full and there was just enough left for papa to have a satisfying lunch that didn't make me feel food regret.

They played in the arcade (no actual coins went into the machines), ran around the mall, and we ended up at Toys "R" Us. Kenzo and Osamu love Tomica cars. Love doesn't describe it. They enter a state of flow when they play with those things and build ramps for jumping and have races and crashes.

So of course, like I was when I was a little boy, they didn't want to go home. Well, Kenzo was cool with it. He was tired. Osamu had entered the perfect storm of being tired, excited, and four.

Later on I walked and got my steps in while the boys and Eri napped. I wore my slip-on walking shoes and they got wet, but I didn't care.

Next to the boys' soccer club field is a batting center. Osamu is very interested in it. He announced that he'd like to be a soccer player and a baseball player.

Comments

Mr. Blue Sky

Man, I conked out so hard on the living room floor tonight. Right after bath time, before story time. I barely remember. Completely exhausted. Big adventure day. Another in a long series I hope the boys will remember when they’re older... our first IMAX movie, a downtown city outing, and some life lessons in the game center. We left the house at 9:15 a.m. and didn’t get back until nearly 6 p.m., totally spent but full of pizza and memories. The Wild Robot in IMAX was totally stunning. The scale, the colors, the sound. We could feel every gust of wind and rustle of leaves. I made sure we had prime seats, row G, right in the center. Two big buckets of popcorn too, which, according to Kenzo and Osamu, I absolutely should not be sharing. “You should get your own!” they kept saying. I think a little bit of popcorn thievery is well within my rights as the papa. After the movie, we headed through the cold and wind across to the game center on the other side of Sendai Station. Being...

Not About Baseball

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