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So Long Child Seats

This morning's car ride to the kindergarten bus stop was the last time the boys sat in child seats.

When mama picked them up from the bus stop at 14:20 they got to ride home like big dudes for the first time ever. No more child seat. Just a seatbelt attachment for little guys.


I was in an online meeting from 13:30 until after 15:00, during which Eri's mom stopped by to bring us vegetables, the boys came home from kindergarten, and Eri left for her class. My earbuds were in and I was in a state of meeting flow, so when I logged off and went downstairs to check on the boys I was a bit loopy from re-entry to the actual world I live in. The boys were sitting at the dining table eating ice cream snacks, happy as could be, swinging their feet back and forth on their chairs and laughing about something they were talking about before I entered the room.

It's the last business day of the month so I am up to my neck with bureaucratic rituals. I headed back up to my desk after unsuccessfully convincing Osamu to take a nap. I just made a mental note that he was gonna be a ticking time bomb of drama starting the moment he finishes his dinner. And ohhhh boy he didn't disappoint. After dinner he broke down and I had to go to DEFCON 5: hot towel body wipe-down, expedited tooth brushing, and straight to bed. He was out in seconds. The thumb he was sucking just went limp.

A few hours before that Osamu came moseying into my office and asked me what I was doing. I said, "Working. What are you doing?" I asked him if he wants to be tired and grumpy at bath time or if he wants to be energetic and happy so he can play with Kenzo. He couldn't decide, so he asked if he could lay down and rest on the floor of my office, to which I said yes of course. And he did.

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