Good Boys

Four hours and thirty-two minutes. 

That's how long the boys and I were at the Aeon Mall super play area today. By the time we left the boys were completely exhausted. They still wanted to play, but somehow they also knew that they weren't gonna last much longer, so they willingly got their shoes and we headed back to the car. Kenzo got pretty grumpy on the way home. There was a lot of traffic heading back up the Route 4 to Izumi so it was a bit tedious, even for me. I had an oldies playlist going with Frankie Valli and the Beach Boys and that kept us all nicely calm and happy. 

Non-stop play for four-and-a-half hours.

With a little lunch squeezed in between. I ordered the boys' udon after I told them it was just about time to eat something and they wholeheartedly rejected the idea. When the noodles arrived I called them over, they gulped it all down, stole some of my french fries, and were back out in the zone like it was a Formula One pit stop. 

During all this I managed a bit of massage chair time in the parents' breaktime corner. That by itself is worth the price of admission for me.

I promised Eri I would do something about my insanely erratic sleep habits. Last year I was doing pretty well using this sleep tracking app, but after a while it got too stressful because there are so many things I want and need to do in order to squeeze as much value out of every day. Like writing this. And getting my reading in. And Japanese study time. And catching up on work stuff. And household chores I'm always behind on. Last night I finally got the sofa cleaned. It's leather so it needs a good wipe-down and gentle scrub with some leather cleaner about once a month. The bath drain got its weekly cleaning, a day later than usual.

My anxiety medication has been helping to a certain extent. I've been having less frequent panic attacks over the last couple of weeks. Of course, I've also been off work, so that might have an effect on things.

Hanging out all day with the boys is exhausting but in the best possible way. We had so much fun today. Later on in the evening when I was on my walk I reflected about how wonderful it is to have two little boys who are healthy and energetic and curious and love playing and best of all they love their mama and papa. They get a little out of hand sometimes. Well, daily. But they're good boys and I am trying to slow down time so I can enjoy these times with them more. I don't care about being exhausted today; I just don't want to be regretful when Kenzo and Osamu are teenagers and don't want to hang out with me anymore. If that day ever comes. I kinda think they're going to still wanna hang out and do things with mama and papa even when they get to that stage.