Upstaged

Kenzo started elementary school. Today was the opening ceremony and there was a lot of neighborhood fanfare. New first-graders from around our area walked to school all dressed up, with moms in kimonos and dads in suits.

Kenzo was super excited, though when he got up in front of a gymnasium full of people he kinda froze up a little.

Less than ten minutes into the ceremony Osamu decided he was gonna be a complainer and started whining over and over that he was hungry. We just ate lunch right before walking to school. He's been doing this thing recently where he jumps from one random complaint to another. I'm trying to ride out this phase with patience and quiet dignity.

I didn't have any snacks on me, so I kept him distracted the best I could. Luckily we were seated in the very back. Eri was sitting in front of us, nervously trying to hold it together.

I crashed out on the living room floor last night. I'm up late reading anyway and Eri needs more uninterrupted sleep. My snoring and tossing and turning isn't good for her light sleeping ways. Plus, the boys love coming downstairs and finding papa. They're a way better alarm clock than my phone.

Eri booked a kimono lady to come to the house and get her dressed up this morning. The boys and I were taking off to the home center to shop for weed killer and visit the pet shop to see the cats and dogs when the kimono lady showed up. What a character. She was a super energetic old lady who was built like a keg of beer. The boys helped carry her things up into the house.

Osamu upstaged everyone all day all at once when he decided he was gonna wear sunglasses.

There's a girl two houses down who's also a new first-grader, so we walked with her and her mom to the school. Eri was wearing old fashioned kimono shoes and was wrapped up super tight thanks to beer-keg-built old kimono lady so she had to walk pretty slowly. She couldn't even eat more than a couple of bites for lunch.

Everyone was tired afterward so I ended up, as is often the situation, carrying everything home.

The boys changed clothes and we settled in for an afternoon of relaxation. Sort of. I took the day off work but I had to check in on some stuff. My boss texted me that we needed to have an emergency meeting first thing the following morning.

Somehow I got Kenzo into knock-knock jokes. He loves it.

Eri was listening as I rattled off a bunch of jokes that I found online. Kenzo laughed hysterically at all of them. Eri was visibly confused and asked Kenzo why the jokes were funny. Even after his explanation Eri was nonplussed, which for me made it all even funnier.

After lounging in the living room and playing in the park we headed down the hill for a celebratory dinner at the Steak Palace.

They have a salad bar, which is not something you find a lot around these parts. They also have a robot waiter that the boys love. I'm always fascinated by the fact that a restaurant with robots also has bathrooms that haven't been renovated since the 1970s.