Thank You Kenzo

Today was the last "regular" day for a few weeks. The holiday schedule starts tomorrow. 

The boys got home as usual at 14:35. I timed my break to go down and meet them since there's often drama upon their return to the castle. I always ask them, "What's the first thing you're going to do?" and they know the answer is wash your hands but somehow that rarely is actually the first thing they do.

By 14:45 the boys are in their room, sorta settling in for a nap. Osamu needs multiple high-fives and bye-bye hugs from mama. Mama is trying desperately to leave on time without leaving me with a crying Osamu. By 14:50 I'm back at my desk, Eri is closing the front door, and I can hear her locking it. The boys can surely hear it too. Osamu thinks mama can still hear him, so he calls out, "Have a good day at school mama!" When there's no reply I can hear him sobbing from the next room. 

Kenzo doesn't like naps. I get it. If I was an energetic, growing, curious six-year-old I wouldn't be into naps either. There's too much to see and do and think about and imagine. Naps just get in the way.

He knows when Osamu falls asleep. And when that moment comes and he has closed his eyes for what he thinks amounts to "sleep" he climbs down from his top bunk and comes next door to my office.

Today when he came in I tried to not give him a hard time about not napping. I just reminded him that if he gets tired and grumpy later it's because of no nap. Kenzo told me again, as he always does, that he won't get grumpy. This is always just two hours before he gets super tired and grumpy.

However, since he was up and it was nearly 16:00 I told him, "Let's go downstairs and I'll get you your snack." I had to refill my tea anyway. This is our usual routine.

I unwrapped a cookie and some other cracker-like goodie that Eri had set out and placed them on a tissue so that after he finished he could wipe off his hands and mouth and clean up and toss it all in the trash. I gave him a peach flavored jelly pack too. He devoured it all in about a minute and cleaned up and set about his tasks: coloring, legos, and Netflix.

About forty-five minutes later Osamu woke up. That guy is a champion napper. He came strolling into my office and said, "Hey papa." He rubbed his head in my lap and gave me a hug and asked about his snack. I said let's go downstairs and I'll get it for ya, buddy.

He was a little quicker than me. I was wrapping up an email so I needed an extra minute. 

I knew it was a matter of moments before Osamu was gonna start calling up to me that he's hungry, so I hurried down.

Kenzo met me at the foot of the stairs. 

"Papa, I got Osamu's snack ready. See?"

He did. Osamu was already at the dining table gobbling his cookies and jelly.

Kenzo proudly said he copied how I got his snack ready.

I looked at Osamu. He looked at me. I told him to say thank you.

"Thank you Kenzo!"

Thank you Kenzo.