This'll Just Take a Minute

Kenzo has zero problem chickening out of stuff. At the cheapo barber shop he famously panicked and declined a haircut after I’d already paid using the ticket machine and it caused a bit of trouble trying to get a refund. The surly barber guy even gave me a warning. So today I saw the ticket machine for the ski lift and looked at Kenzo and then at the ski lift going up the mountain. There’s no way we’re getting a refund here. So I pulled the boys over, even though Osamu was fully revved to go. I pointed to a nice old couple getting on the lift and we all observed as they slowly crept crept up the incline. I asked the boys if they could do that and they both gave me the affirmative. Eri doubled down. “Are you suuuure ?” Somehow we made it up Mount Izumi with a finicky 6-year-old and Osamu on what I termed a “flying chair”. I just made that up in the moment to assure success. The idea of a flying chair was sure to mentally distract them until we were already on our way. Up to about the ha...

I took a day off work, but still started my day by spending an hour on Microsoft Teams attending to various tasks. It actually allows me to relax for the rest of the day knowing I got certain things done. However, I think I should really just be off when I am off.  Eri went downtown to look at some stuff so I hung around the house enjoying the quiet before heading out for some autumn refreshment. Dounji Temple was especially colorful this morning. Eri picked up some random flowers. Just because. She was also super excited to go downtown with nothing really that important to do except walk around with her new handbag. I had grand plans of an all-day or maybe even an overnight motorcycle trip, but I didn't make any plans so I spent the afternoon tooling around my favorite back roads - the air and the sun with a just a little hint of coolness and that fall time scent everywhere. I was back in time to welcome the boys home from kindergarten and immediately got them all riled up for a t...

Kenzo had his first dip into elementary school life today. Mama picked him and Osamu up early from kindergarten because Kenzo is starting first grade next April and it's time for the public school system to give him and all the soon-to-be 1st graders a look-see to assess what they're gonna be dealing with. Basically he got an extended health check. Apparently he has no cavities, his vision is fine, his oral communication skills are good, and his physical fitness seems to have no problems. Before he went Kenzo was just worried he was gonna get another shot. Last week he got picked up early from school for a "special" trip and he was sorely disappointed when it was because he had a doctor appointment for a regular inoculation for rubella and other stuff. The pediatrician is really good at administering shots to kids, which is great in the moment, but afterward Kenzo was pretty perturbed for a while. He did get some Legos as compensation so he really couldn't complai...

I got a package today with some pretty serious bundling. It went beyond the usual bubble wrap. There were air-filled pouches and bags filled with foam pellets. So of course I knew what to do. The boys were napping when the package arrived, so after I opened it and removed the contents I placed the packing materials on the boys' activity table in the living room. No explanation. I like seeing what they do with stuff like this without being told what to do. Less than an hour later when Kenzo woke from his nap (he doesn't really sleep but Osamu... he naps like an Olympian) he went down to find this stuff and immediately came to me to make sure what it was. I told him simply, "It's yours, and you can do whatever you want with it as long as Osamu gets a chance too when he wakes up."  I still had a couple of more hours of work up in my office and Kenzo knew that. Also Osamu probably wasn't going to wake up for a while, so he set about it. When I came downstairs late...

I love oden . It's a delivery mechanism for my favorite Japanese condiment - karashi mustard .  Eri informed me just before 9 as I was heading up to my office that lunch would be oden. I spent the next three hours of online work meetings anticipating the goodness. She loaded up my bowl with the favorites: satsuma-age, hard boiled egg, konyaku, daikon, chikuwa. The standard way of applying the hot mustard is to paste it to the edge of your oden bowl, but I don't like that because then the mustard slides down into the soup and dissolves. I grabbed a little side dish plate, dolloped a liberal little lump of karashi on it, and enjoyed every bite with a healthy burn of mustardy goodness. Kenzo came up to my office around five and asked for a coloring sheet. Up to recently he'd come in, even during a meeting I was in, and say, "I think I want a coloring sheet." I helped him out a little by telling him it's nicer to ask, "Papa, can you print me a coloring sheet?...

The boys burst out the door this morning to discover that the mantis had moved on to eating the next dragonfly. I don't know much about mantis facial expressions, but he looked pretty pleased to us. I'm glad he's eating.  Since it's back to Monday and the hectic routine, Eri was out at her class in the evening. She prepped some dinner and I cooked it up after wrapping up my work at six. Miso ramen and yakitori. I wasn't really that hungry, but man miso ramen with some freshly grilled vegetables on top hits the spot anyway. Kenzo is our picky eater, though. He didn't like the red spots in the soup. He claimed it was too spicy. Osamu was making Kenzo more upset by exclaiming that he loved the soup and, "It's not spicy, papa. It's so goooood. I like papa." So Kenzo stormed off for a few minutes. He's very good at sulking while playing with Legos. I took his ramen and drained the soup (which I gulped down myself because I love briny ramen soup)...

"I fell down two times."  Osamu was excited to report to mama that he fell off the bicycle twice. Even more importantly, he didn't cry. Today was boys adventure day with papa at the traffic park near downtown Sendai. We played there for three-and-a-half hours. Again. The first time Osamu fell I ran over and he was already brushing himself off. His training-wheeled bike was on the ground and he got it back up by himself. I could tell his knee might be bruised under his pants. I scanned him for head injuries. Nothing. I asked him if he was okay and he said, "I'm okay papa!" I asked him if his knee hurt and he paused a beat and said,"Yeah, but it's okay." The he got back on the bike and rode off. Kenzo had a wayward visitor rest on his leg as he ate a sujiko onigiri. Kenzo made a couple of new friends. The first boy he befriended had to leave with his family pretty quick, but the boy's parents thanked me for allowing Kenzo to play with their ...