Mason Shoma

Happy with Daddy, needing a banana for my banana case, and making sure everyone has drinks.

Not really sure what I’m doing here. Just trying something out. Apparently this is called a bridge.

Daddy always does such a good job of feeding me that I decided to return the favor. I had finished my lunch but as usual wanted to sit on Daddy’s lap as he and Mommy ate lunch. I was interested in his French fries, even though I don’t like to eat them. So I started to pick up the French fries and put them into Daddy’s mouth. I was doing a very good job. Maybe too good because I was so fast that Daddy had a hard time keeping up.

Lunch was so delicious I just had to finish every last bit.

I think I’m entering my terrible twos early. I’ve been experiencing terrible mood swings. I can be having a great time and acting like a really good boy, but once something doesn’t go my way I throw a tantrum.

I don’t want to act like this or feel like this, but it is all just part of growing up. I can’t wait for my terrible twos to be over.

I know a lot of words in English, Japanese, and even ASL. But I get them mixed up sometimes. And once I get confused it is hard to correct my mistakes.

I know “Mommy” and “Daddy” but recently can only say “Daddy”, but I use it to refer to both Daddy and Mommy. It can very confusing. There are times in the middle of the night I call out for “Dada” who quickly responds. Only when I say “Dada” I sometimes mean Mommy. So when Daddy shows up I shy away, shake my head and hand and repeat, “Dada”, while pointing at Mommy. As if to say “the other Daddy.” I think Daddy is a bit disappointed that I mistakenly called for him. I’d better learn the proper way to call Mommy and Daddy individually.

After trying Daddy’s cucumber ume sushi, Mommy and Daddy thought that I might like to try some more at home. So they gave me some. Turns out I only liked it at the sushi restaurant as sushi and because Daddy seemed to be enjoying it. On its own, not so much.

Just doing some shoulder marching outside to put me in a better mood. I needed some fresh air and to move around.

As you know, I love vehicles. I always point them out on our walks and love playing with those kinds of toys and like to read books with vehicles in them too. So it is no surprise that I really enjoyed the YouTube videos of just trains. I was mesmerized by train after train going by on the screen.

There is a park near our house. We walked by it many times before but we have never played there because it is not the cleanest or newest of parks. The grass is almost always over grown and sometimes it doesn’t look very kid-friendly. But today it looked okay so we stopped by to play.

There was a very big slide there that I did not hesitate to try. It is pretty tall, taller than Daddy, but I just went for it.

The first ride was pretty slow, but it got a little faster after that. I really enjoyed this slide! I think I liked the climbing up the steps just as much as going down the slide. I have a feeling that we’ll be coming back here again. Not only to slide, but to work my arms too! Got to work on those chin ups.

Piggy back ride home.

I wanted to go for a walk this afternoon because I was tired of being sick at home. So we went for a short walk around the block. Daddy started to touch all kinds of different surfaces so I started to copy him. I usually see and hear a lot of things on my walks but I got to explore a lot of textures on my walk today.

I had fun at the sushi restaurant today. Sure the food was good, but there was also a train in the restaurant. It delivered some of the special order sushi. I had fun watching it zoom around the restaurant even when it wasn’t delivering anything to us.

I tried a lot of new food today. Some of it was good, some not so much.

I had tobiko for the first time today. You may have seen it or had it at a sushi restaurant. It is flying fish roe and it is tiny little red fish eggs. It should be no surprise that I really liked it! After all, I really like ikura too. While waiting for my doctor’s appointment we went to lunch at a kaiten sushi restaurant and Mommy and Daddy ordered ikura and tobiko. I recognized the ikura and wanted some. Then I saw that the tobiko looked similar so I wanted some of that too! When I had my first taste you could see on my face that I liked it, but it was obvious from my actions.

I also tried some ginger. That I did not like at all!

Then I saw Daddy eating sushi with cucumbers in it and I wanted to try it. Mommy and Daddy warned me that it had ume in it, which is supposed to be really sour. But I tried some anyway and actually liked it!

There aren’t many doctor’s clinics that are open on the weekend, so the ones that are, especially pediatrics, are very busy. Our wait before my doctor’s appointment was more than two hours long. Luckily the clinic is located in a shopping complex so there were things to do to keep me busy. There was even a small like play area complete with slide. Despite being sick, I had a fun time going up and down the slide. I took a few spills walking around and ended up with a dirty nose. But I didn’t mind. It’s nice to be able to have a bit of fun before seeing the doctor.

Once of the unpleasant things about being sick is all the thermometers. People are constantly taking my temperature. It is not so bad when it is the contactless ones that you point at your forehead get an instant reading. But the ones under your armpit take a while and I don’t like at all. I can tolerate them when I’m in a good mood but I despise them when I’m in a bad mood. This morning when Mommy and Daddy were trying take my temperature from my armpit, I was fussing a lot. So Daddy took his temperature, then Mommy’s temperature, then even my stuffed animals. Then he let me take their temperature. I kind of liked that because it made me feel like I was taking care of them. I finally accepted the fact that when you are sick you need to take your temperature and even though people don’t like it they all just do it. I was a big boy and finally let Daddy take my temperature.

Daddy was trying to think of ways to entertain me when he remembered that he had given Mommy an echoing alpaca as a gift. It cracked her up and she was very entertained by it. So Daddy thought maybe I would like it too. He was right.

Mommy and Daddy are in trouble. I can finally climb up onto the dining table chair. That means that now I have access to everything on the dining table. That surface is the highest surface in the house where Mommy and Daddy used to put things to keep out of my reach. Now everything has changed. And yet, when I got up onto the chair I didn’t do anything dangerous or bad. I was just happy and proud to have accomplished the climbing feat. Maybe we’ll be okay.

My medicine started working and my fever went down enough for us to go out. When I’m sick, I feel much better out and about than I do cooped up at home. There is fresh air and nice distractions outside. We went to the park again and I had fun on the slide, rockers, and just walking around. I have to say that I felt much better after our walk in the park.

I woke up early in the morning crying fiercely. It surprised Mommy and Daddy because I had slept very soundly through the night so far. Daddy picked me up to calm me down and he instantly knew that I wouldn’t be making it to school today. I was burning up and he knew that I would not be well enough by school time.

The other night I woke up in the middle of the night and could not calm down on my own. Daddy had to rock me and sing This old man to me to get me to calm down and back to sleep. It worked, but it took a while. Tonight I didn’t want to be carried, but I still couldn’t calm down. So Daddy lay down on the couch with me and sang to me with me snuggly nestled in the crook of his arm. After a bit of tossing and turning, I found a comfortable position and went right to sleep.

It was a relief that I could get back to sleep, but Daddy was worried about my fever. Sure enough, when we woke up in the morning, my fever was still about 38.5°C (101°F). So Daddy had to take another day off to watch me. I’m sure he is torn because he knows he has to work but maybe is secretly happy to be able to spend the day with me instead.

We didn’t even bother trying to go to nursery school. Daddy didn’t even bother changing into his work clothes. This was a Friday off for both of us. My fever made me uncomfortable, but also weak so my tantrums didn’t quite have the same power as they did before. I took some medicine for my fever and eventually started to feel better and Daddy and I were able to enjoy our day together.

Well, I made it to nursery school today! No fever and feeling fine, so I was in the clear. But then I wasn’t. I was still not 100% and had a few tantrums at school. Then I had a pretty high fever so the school called Daddy and then Mommy came to pick me up.

After Mommy picked me up and brought me home, I was fine…until I wasn’t. I was nearly normal until something set me off then I had terrible tantrums. For example, Mommy was just taking pictures of me and then I lost it and started to throw a tantrum. Why? I don’t know. I couldn’t control myself. I guess I’m not quite over my cold.