This'll Just Take a Minute

Osamu and I have started to make it a habit to meet outside at 7:35 with the neighborhood kids and walk a bit with them as they head off for elementary school. Now that it's springtime the mornings are cool and comfortable and Osamu is loving it. He runs and jumps and laughs and circles around cars and the apartment building next door and chats up the big kids and the moms.  We head up to the end of the block and stop at Ogata-san's house since they have three kids going to elementary school this year and they join the caravan at 7:40. After some loitering and parental chit-chat and some cars going by we wave the elementary schoolers goodbye. Once that's done Osamu loves to race me back to the house. He almost always wins. I let him, sort of. He really is fast and I'm not wearing the right shoes. Technically, I guess, neither is he. He won again this morning and stopped in front of our house as I was coming in second. Eri was congratulating him from the living room wind...

Osamu was off from kindergarten today, so he was Eri's helper all day while Kenzo was at school. The first stop was Costco, where Osamu got to have a special pizza lunch date with mama. Later on he made himself useful by helping with household chores, including vacuuming my office room.

This app that Eri and I use to store photos and videos of the boys sends us a free video every few months. They're of course trying to get folks to subscribe and get more, but I'm okay with the free one. It also inspires me to make my own videos, which I think I can do better. I figure I'll have time when I retire. I timed my after lunch walk poorly and Kenzo ended up walking all the way home by himself. When I got back I ran upstairs and Kenzo was already on the top bunk for nap time. I started asking him questions like hey are you okay and good job dude and Eri told me to be quiet and get out. Later when I apologized for being late to meet Kenzo on his way home she said that’s fine and she was actually irritated because I was chatting up Kenzo when he was supposed to be trying to sleep. I called Abukawa-san at lunchtime and said we need to meet to pick out flowers for the neighborhood flower boxes. She said she would alert the other two folks in our committee and set a me...

The boys love it when I do my cheesy magic tricks. I can't really do magic, actually, but since Kenzo and Osamu have underdeveloped observation skills I can pretty much get away with anything being "magic." In the bathtub they always request the trick where I make a super ball disappear from my hand and it ends up coming out from behind one of their ears. Osamu called me "a good magicker." He doesn't know the word magician yet. I think I like magicker better. I spent all morning at the neighborhood association meeting. I brought my coffee thermos but man next time I'm bringing a banana too. I'm one of two vice-chairpersons so I actually have to pay attention. I made a proposal about changing the date of the neighborhood grass cutting cleanup because it's on the same day as the elementary school sports festival, but my alternate date was quickly shot down by the other vice-chairperson, Abukawa-san. She's a feisty old lady whose name translates...

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 ...

Even though Kenzo said he’s totally fine walking all the way home by himself, today I still timed my after lunch walk so that I could meet him halfway and walk together. The first graders all leave school in one big group and as they pass each block a couple of kids turn off down to their respective streets. Two little girls who live on our street actually got ahead of the group and hurried off home together. When I met up with Kenzo he was walking with his new friend Hidekazu. Kenzo wasn’t not pleased to see me, but since he was with his friend and they were having a great time walking together he kind of just pretended I wasn’t there. I also sort of pretended I wasn’t there. I walked a little in front of them and let them have their space. I was enjoying observing how they walked along and chatting with each other and peeking into things like the change dispenser in a vending machine and old people's gardens. Kenzo really wanted his friend to come over and play. He reminded me t...

This guy had his big debut as a 2nd year kindergartener today. He was up early and brimming with confidence as he and mama headed to the bus stop. All the mamas rode the bus today along with the kids since it was the opening ceremony for continuing students. Plus there was the obligatory parent meeting where the teachers explained all the details of what's expected going forward. It's pretty intense. The school isn't messing around.  Eri got dressed up and was looking particularly enchanting. Osamu prefers the playground to picture time. I took a late lunch break and went to meet Kenzo on his way home from elementary school. Today was the last day that the teachers were walking home with the new first graders and making sure they know the way and to look both ways before crossing streets. I could hear Kenzo's laugh from a block away. He's having the time of his life. When he saw me he shouted, "Papa!" The old guy who was leading the kids confirmed who I wa...