Grown-up Conversations

It has been a busy week. 

On Monday, June 11th I started my job with UniversityNow.  I'll be working with professors and professionals to design engaging and interactive online content for college students.  The first week, which focused on training, was amazing, but not without some challenges for someone who has spent the last year side-by-side with a toddler. 

I'd expected that I'd be waking up earlier.  Sumie and I were able to secure daycare for Mimi (which has been excellent, thank goodness!), but getting her there, and then getting myself to work, has meant rising a about an hour earlier than we were used to.  Even after just this first week, Sumie and I are experiencing a new-found appreciation for the weekend.  What utter bliss it is to sleep in until 9:00 on a Sunday. 

I had thought that with going to daycare every day, Mimi would miss me.  Hmm.  Not so much.  She still wakes up every morning asking for Mama.  Papa's a second-class citizen, if that.

That's OK, though.  Deep down, I knew Mama would always be Mimi's favorite. 

The one thing I didn't expect with going back to work was just how difficult it would be to talk with people.  For the past year I've spent the majority of each day communicating in simple sentences, hand gestures, baby talk, and grunts.  While perfect for a toddler, this communication strategy is somewhat shunned by corporate America.   The first few days were by far the toughest.  Words just wouldn't come.  I suppose that's to be expected when the toughest intellectual challenge I faced each day was how to strap a diaper on a screaming, squirmy, obstinate two year old. 

While I've been slowly coming out of my linguistic regression, Mimi's language skills have been growing my leaps and bounds.  She's got her numbers 1-10 down quite well, in both Japanese and English.  She's even learning how to write them.  I consider this one a perfect 10!

But it's her sentences that have come the farthest the fastest.  Several weeks ago, the best Mimi could do was a basic two-word phrase.  Self-interest, though, plays a pretty strong role in language development.  And Mimi is always looking out for number one.  She's now mastered the "I need..." and "I want..." phrases.  Several days ago she ran over to Sumie, who was reading the news on her iPhone, and proclaimed: "I need my iPhone!"

Despite these advances, she's far from becoming an adult, as this past Saturday showed.  By 10:00am we were on the Stanford campus, and thankfully in the relatively cool 95 degree shade, watching Sumie's brother's graduation from his LLM program in corporate law.  

Shuhei, Shusaku's son, made for a pretty good graduate as well.

After Pomp and Circumstance finally wound down we headed out to lunch (fantastic sushi and traditional Japanese dishes at Tomi Sushi in Mountain View) and then back to Shu and Kayo's place for some ice cream.  We eventually made our way out back to play in the sprinklers.

As Shuhei attempted to beat the water into submission, Mimi adjusted the hose for better spray and Asuka timidly watched from a safe, and dry, distance.  Mimi couldn't get enough of the sprinkler, giggling manically as she doused her head in one of the streams.  She's an odd girl.  Pour warm, soothing water over her head in a bathtub to wash away the shampoo, and she'll scream bloody murder.  Give her access to a stream of freezing water in the backyard, though, and she'll soak herself to the bone in a matter of minutes.  

And if there were any doubt about Mimi still being a toddler, she immediately removed it this morning by dressing herself, complete with underwear on her head.  

Before I started work last Monday, I thought I'd feel a bit conflicted celebrating this Father's Day after putting Mimi back into daycare full-time.  At first blush, one might think my role has been diminished.  I couldn't help but feel this at first, too.  But after a week, I don't really think so.  Mimi is growing in her new daycare situation (and enjoying it) and we're playing and learning together just as much in the evenings and weekends as we ever have.  I think we were both ready to take that next step.  And that, I think, is my real Father's Day present from Mimi.  She's grown so much in the past year that she's ready to let her Papa grow a bit as well.  Just not any wider.   

School's Out for Summer, School's out Forever

This past Saturday we celebrated my Mother's retirement from teaching.  40 years in the making, it was a bitter-sweet event.  The retirement is well deserved and welcomed, but I know she's going to miss the classroom and the students. I think she'll find some consolation in her grandkids, though. 

Alder, Mimi's cousin and partner in crime, came down from Oregon to help us celebrate.  

Alder brought his mom, Julie (my sister), along with him.  Here she is talking with my cousin Alisa, whom we just don't get to see enough of.  She brought her son Frankie and daughter Lilly.  Unfortunately, her husband was working (just like my wife).  That meant she was charged with watching both her little ones (Mimi alone was more that enough for me). 

At one point, Lilly, who is about to enter Kindergarten, walked over to Alisa and handed her an empty juice box.  "This is mommy's trash," she proclaimed.  This was a rather brilliant maneuver.  It had been Lilly's while there was still juice in it, but as soon as that juice was gone, it instantly became her mother's.  Alisa didn't agree.  

 

Handing off her garbage gave Lilly the opportunity to run off and play with Mimi's cousins, Nana and Lilly (they can't get over having the same name).  It's rather amazing just how much 5 year old girls conspire together.

Mimi was a bit more reserved than her older cousins that afternoon.  

She did attempt the slide all on her own...

...but, true to form, chickened out at the last minute.  

That was OK, though, because before we knew it the time had come for Randy, Julie, and I to give our speeches celebrating my Mom's retirement.  Mimi and Alder cuddled up with Grandma in the world's largest camping chair. 

The speeches over, Mimi insisted on sitting in her own chair.  Both Grandma and Mimi kicked back.  Grandma thought about what her retirement years might bring...

 ...and Mimi contemplated how she might take over the world. 

After the party, Julie and I stayed over at my Mom's (joined by Sumie, who had had a light call day) and enjoyed some quiet family time, much like we used to after she'd come home from school 20 years ago.  My Mom was, and still is, an amazing teacher.  Over the years she's equipped countless students with the skills, support, and inspiration to make their dreams come true.  And no two students more than her own son and daughter.  Sumie and I are so thankful that with this next chapter, Grandma will now have the time to play an even larger role in Mimi's life.  We're almost as excited about it as Mimi!