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Somewhat Selfish

These days I've been staying up too late again - reading, listening to podcasts or music, trying to get the most out of my Apple TV Plus free trial. I'm re-watching Ted Lasso. 

Today was day two of my plan to end nap time for the boys so they sleep more at night and thereby let Eri get more sleep. I don't have any hard data yet on the success of this endeavor, but when I finally rolled out of bed around 7:30 this morning the boys were already fed, dressed, and deep into their play.

It was raining, so our original plan of going chestnut gathering and goat petting in Wakuya Town was out. I decided I was gonna make the most of the day anyway, in spite of the fact that the boys not taking a nap would be challenging and taking them out with me to run errands while carrying umbrellas was gonna be pretty exhausting.

First order of business: get the boys set up with a good task while I got ready.

They love drawing and making paper airplanes at their window desk. One of my favorite things is looking out the window with them and watching the seasons change. 

I'm sometimes amazed we even make it out of the house. On weekdays it's a miracle because there's the added pressure of having a bus to catch. We've gone two-and-a-half years without a single day missing the kindergarten bus. 

Today was Autumnal Equinox Day in Japan, so we were all off and we had no set time schedule. The goal for me on days like this is to just head out with the boys and give Eri some quiet time and the boys some adventure time with papa. When the boys grow up I want them to be adults who have tons of memories, hopefully good, of their early days. In particular, and this may be somewhat selfish of me, I want them to value the experiences we are sharing so that they become people who in turn value experiences, relationships, and their human existence over materials things.

Today did not disappoint. We kind of ran amok in the Tomiya Aeon Mall. I was playing with fire by taking the boys into the game center with no intention of playing any games. I do this with the toy store too. Little by little, through trial and error and a few tears, I'm doing what I can to set the expectation that we're not buying stuff or putting money into game machines every time we go out. I'm like a broken record when I say to the boys, "Those are special things and if we do them all the time they won't be special anymore."

Later on I was cleaning and organizing some shelves and closet space and I came across a box of my old journals. 


Oh boy.

Just like with old pictures, you can spend a whole day sifting through them. I did my best to keep it quick this time. I will make time for retrospection and reflection on these things at some point for sure, but I had the boys "helping" me today so that kept me on task. 

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