We used peanut cream instead of good old fashioned peanut butter, but I think it did the trick. At least for me. Next time I'll get some Jiffy or whatever they have in the foreign food aisle.
One of my favorite snacks for as long as I can remember has been peanut butter and banana sandwiches. Today I was walking through the supermarket with the boys and I saw the peanut cream and inspiration struck. The boys were curious and kept asking me what we were going to make, all the way home.
Kenzo decided he wanted to make the sandwiches, so I coached him and he did great.
All week I mentally prepared the boys for today’s dentist visit. They call it the Panda Dentist because for some reason the office and the logo is all panda motif. The front entrance mat has a huge panda face on it. Leading up to the visit I asked Kenzo and Osamu how they were feeling about going. Osamu kept saying he was okay, and in the end he did all right. He complained a little bit, but that was to be expected.
Kenzo told me numerous times that he was scared and nervous. So I asked him what was scary about the dentist. Turns out he didn’t really know. I also told him that when he feels that way it's okay to tell the dentist, which relieved him and in the end helped him not get so upset. I felt weird giving my son advice about expressing his feelings to help resolve a hard situation since I have spent my entire adult life not doing that successfully.
Osamu ended up having to have some cleaning done with the mechanical tooth polisher. Kenzo just had the usual check-up and, even though he still had to have mama sit with him, he did the best he’s ever done. A little nervous sobbing, but no crying and no projectile vomiting.
I talked with him afterward and heaped on the praise. It looks like he may have gained some confidence today. Now we gotta work on going to the barber shop.
Afterward, we went for Chinese food at the mall. The boys always request that we park on the roof, so I obliged them. It paid off especially well this time because when we were leaving and heading for the car the view of the Saturday evening sunset from the top of the mall was amazing. Osamu gazed at it and started naming off the colors he could see.
Bedtime stories on Saturday nights are papa‘s choice. We have it marked on the calendar very clearly who gets to choose stories. It helps avoid chaos and confusion. Tonight I chose a Paw Patrol story. It was the one where Chickaletta discovers gold while panning for gold with Mayor Goodway's prospector uncle, but Mayor Humdinger tries to steal it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I do a great Mayor Humdinger voice.
Later on, Kenzo couldn’t sleep because he had an earache in his right ear, so I let him come down and watch Ted Lasso with me until way after midnight. He loves soccer so he enjoyed that part. Everything else, of course, was just probably confusing for him. He laid down on the sofa and did his best to try and relax because his ear hurt. He laughed when I laughed at the show. There's a little salty language in there but I don't think he caught on. If he ever repeats any of it we'll talk. It couldn't be any worse than the line from Jingle All the Way that he memorized and kept using, about sweating like a cat in a Chinese restaurant.
It was a big day for bread. We haven't been to our favorite bakery Pensee in a while, so after soccer we headed over there for a light outdoor patio lunch. I was craving one of their paninis with their complimentary coffee, but in the end I got a couple of other delicious looking sandwiches.
The peanut butter and banana sandwiches turned out to be somewhat of a dud with Kenzo and Osamu. They liked the bananas and bread, but it was their first experience with peanut butter/cream and they made sad faces after trying it. Osamu took a banana and headed off.
I figure either they'll acquire a taste for it later on, or their Japanese-ness will make the call on their feelings about peanut butter. It's not really a widely eaten thing here. Like cinnamon. And veggie burgers.
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