This'll Just Take a Minute

By the end of this month Eri will be done with her web design career course. We were talking the other night and she commented, "These past few months doing this course just flew by." We locked eyes. I counted a few ticks of the second hand on the living room clock. Eri started laughing. It hasn't flown by for me. However, I did say, truthfully, that I have gotten used to the flow of things over these past few months. There have been some pretty hard days to be sure. I'm positive the reason I started going back to see my old psychiatrist and getting back on the Zoloft was in large part related to me barely being able to handle taking care of the boys while managing my work. I've been officially diagnosed with clinical anxiety, which is the real culprit. I wonder every single day, "If I was a more mentally healthy person would I be able to cope better with interpersonal challenges?" When she was considering doing this course, Eri asked me what I thought o...

The boys were off from kindergarten today since their school had a big orientation event for kids' parents who will start in April. So I worked upstairs in my office room. I could hear the fun downstairs, and also the occasional scuffles and Eri's mama voice telling the boys to share and be nice. Around 10 a.m. Kenzo came upstairs and crept up next to my desk and told me Osamu wasn't sharing toys. I told him I would consult with Osamu and that maybe in a case like this it might be good to start a new project, which he did. He hauled a box of train tracks from his room all the way downstairs and constructed his own railway to compete with the non-sharing Osamu railway. I walked down to Izumi Chuo to have lunch with friends. Barbecue at Daidoen .  Eri took the boys out to play in the afternoon so I was able to work in peace for a few hours. When they got back Osamu wanted to hang out in my office with me, which I fully promote. It relieves Eri of the brotherly bickering in th...

This afternoon Eri walked up the street to the elementary school for a big orientation and explanation meeting for parents of new first-graders. Kenzo starts in April and there's a lot to think about and prepare for. She came home with a big envelope full of paperwork and a plastic bag full of school supplies. I don't remember exactly how we did it when I was in elementary school. I think families just got a list of stuff the school said they needed and then they go buy it themselves. Here you just pay the school and they give everyone a bag of the necessary supplies. It's convenient and ensures all students start off uniformly. There was a little drama because Eri and I decided to opt out of joining the PTA for now. Apparently it's not a mandatory thing but everyone joins. After the parent meeting the head of the PTA went up to Eri and asked why we weren't joining and Eri just said we don't feel like it. I love her confidence and the fact that she rarely feels ...

Kenzo's class was supposed to go sledding up at Izumigadake a few weeks back, but the trip got postponed due to a lack of snow. It had been a light winter snow-wise up to recently. Mother nature is making up for that now. So today was the big day. Finally some real mountain snow sledding. Not just papa pulling our sled through our little neighborhood park while constantly pausing and quietly cursing. Kenzo took it super well when the original field trip was canceled. He's learning little by little how to roll with things. When the announcement came that field trip would on the 31st he was so excited. I wrote it on the calendar on the wall by the kitchen. He loves looking at the calendar and figuring out what things we'll be doing and how many days it is until they happen. After all his anticipation and telling Eri and I pretty much daily how he can't wait to go on the sledding trip, this morning as we were set to get in the car and head to the kindergarten bus stop he ...

Eri was a little surprised that I ate all the tripe out of the stew last night. Not a bite was left. There was plenty of vegetables and soup left, though, so for lunch today she added some champon noodles and we did another hot pot. Eri left for school and the boys took a pretty good nap. Even Kenzo. When he came downstairs I gave him his dried potato snack with a jelly and a little chocolate pie thing. The boys love the dried potatoes.  Kenzo sat across from me munching while I was working at the dining table. He took his time today and was observing me. It dumped snow like crazy after five p.m. Eri's school apparently doesn't have windows so when she went outside at eight she was pretty surprised. She took the subway back up to Izumi and drove safely home, making it back just as the boys were getting in bed. Perfect timing. They are always so happy when they hear the car pull up in the driveway and the front door unlock. Kenzo ran down to greet mama and growled like a monste...

More snow last night. We awoke to a fresh layer of powder everywhere. Eri and the boys headed out to Izumi Chuo to play at Nobisuku and find new books at the library while papa had some quiet time. After all that and snack time and nap time and clean up time the boys and I headed down to 1-Chome Park for the second straight day and enjoyed dusk while snow sledding. Even though she spent most of the day with Kenzo and Osamu and was thoroughly exhausted, Eri made a motsunabe for dinner that made me feel like the luckiest person in all of Japan, perhaps the world. She even made it all pretty so when the lid was opened at the table we all oooohed and ahhhhhed.  And the smell. Ohhhh the aroma that fills the house when a good tripe hot pot is on.

Soccer club was pretty cold this morning. Zero degrees and snow falling. Thankfully the kids play on a covered field. Kenzo scored two goals. Osamu is getting there. He just loves chasing after the ball and kicking it. He doesn't care which way. Eri was pretty exhausted after getting up at 4 a.m. to study for her internet marketing exam this afternoon, but when she came back she made crepes for the boys. This was their first crepe experience, and they didn't miss a beat in joking around and calling them "grapes". Eri whipped up some fresh cream, skillfully fried the pancakes, and added colorful sprinkles and strawberries. Kenzo is a huge fan. Osamu not so much. Eri ended up eating a lot of leftover crepe. The snow is partly melted in places that get direct sunlight, but it's still piled up pretty much everywhere you look. The park in front of our house is super shady all the time so the snow is still mostly pristine. A little snowman that some kids must've mad...