Mason Shoma

Watching some early morning kids’ shows on the couch with Daddy while enjoying our respective drinks. Kanpai! (Cheers!)

Sometimes I wake up way too early in the morning because I am so excited to start the day! Well, actually, I’m usually just hungry. When I wake up this early I usually point Mommy or Daddy to the kitchen and ask for some food.

With all the grumpy grumbling, growling and crying I did at dinner last night, it is surprising to see me so happy at dinner today. What changed? I don’t know, maybe just my mood. Or is it my want for independence. Mommy let me feed myself with my spoon today and I was much more agreeable. Maybe I wanted to have that independence yesterday and was frustrated when I was being fed instead of feeding myself. We can’t be sure. But I definitely look like I enjoy feeding myself. Anyway, I need the practice. Looking at the mess I made, I definitely need the practice! And here, my teachers were just complimenting me for how cleanly I ate with very little mess. I’m a different kid at school and at home.

Another hand off at school without tears. I’m soaring at school! Not only when I play with my teachers, but in my learning and developing new skills. My teachers said that I am the best at my class when it comes to grabbing food and feeding myself. I don’t drop much food and definitely don’t waste any food. I literally clean my plate, making sure I get every morsel of food. And often, like today, I get seconds and finish that off as well. When it comes to food I have always soared!

Now that I’m back in the swing of things and like going to school again, I get antsy in the morning and want to leave for school. I point outside and tell Daddy that I want to go. Instead of going to school really early in the morning, Daddy took me outside and showed me how to drive the car. I had a lot of fun turning the wheel and pulling on all the levers. It was pretty easy to learn how to drive. I think I’m ready for my license now.

Oh no! Mommy and Daddy are in trouble now. I can open doors now! Daddy was using the toilet and the next thing he knew the knob turned and then the door began to inch open. I knew how to do it for a while but now I’m tall enough to do it. Man oh man this opens so many doors for me!

I didn’t cry when I was handed off at school today. I had my normal blank face as I leaned over to my teacher when Daddy brought me to school. It made everyone happy to see me back to my old self.

I had a great time at school playing with my teachers and classmates. I was playing peekaboo with one of my classmates as we hid on opposite sides of a bookshelf and popped out saying “Bah!”

We also had fun watching the older kids having their dance lesson. I can’t wait until we can do that one day!

For some reason I was not happy today. I wasn’t in a good mood during dinner. I still ate quite a bit, but first I was grumpy and complained a lot and then I got really sad.

Yep, I cried again when Daddy brought me to school today. I’m still not back into the swing of things. When he tried to hand me off I arched my back so much that I almost flipped out of his arms. He safely handed me off to my teacher but I cried all the way into the play room. I eventually calmed down and of course had a great day.

On our walk we saw a lot cool cars and then at the park there were some of dragonflies and were very interested in them. It was another hot day so we made sure to stay hydrated. Good thing Daddy helped me put my sunscreen on instead of leaving it all up to me.

Part of my morning routine when I get ready for school is to put on some sunscreen. I’m a big boy now so I figured that I don’t need Daddy to do it for me. I showed him that I can do it myself. Well, sort of. I’m just practicing by going through the motions.

I woke up a bit confused today. I kind of forgot that I was back in Japan. “Oh that’s right.”

I just want to play a little more before bed. You can hear me saying “more” or “one more”!

Back to my normal bedtime routine with a familiar bath.

Even though I had a good time back at school, I was happy to be home. After a good dinner which I devoured, I had a lot of fun playing at home.

Having been away from home for so long (I’m talking about Hawaii, not nursery school) I took some time to get reacquainted with my toys and kids’ shows.

I even spent some time playing with new toys. These were toys that we got for the airplane that I never got around to playing with. These stacking cups were highly recommended to entertain little babies like me, but we never took them out in fear that the cups would go rolling around all over the floor of the airplane. Maybe I’ll be trusted to play with them on the airplane when I’m older. But for now, I’m happy to play with them at home and have them roll around all over the place as I try to stack them on my head.

Today I went back to nursery school for the first time in nearly two weeks. When Daddy dropped me off I cried… a lot! I guess that is to be expected since my routine had been broken for nearly two weeks. I cried and tried to cling on to Daddy, but I was quickly handed off and whisked away to see my classmates. After a short while I calmed down and was back to my old self. I played with my teachers and classmates, ate all my food, and of course was very curious of everything I saw on our walk.

I hope to get used to my routine again as soon as possible. In truth, I love nursery school, but I just had been out of practice and was a bit surprised by the change. I’ll do better tomorrow, I’m sure.

Despite the long day of travel yesterday and time difference, I woke up fine without suffering any jet-lag. Sure, I was a bit tired, but I was in a pretty good mood considering the circumstances.

After a very long day of traveling we arrived home safely. After having slept during the last leg of the trip I was quite rested and alert when the taxi arrived at our home. It was nice that I was awake because that meant that I could have a small meal, bath and change before going to bed. I think I surprised Mommy and Daddy by going to bed pretty easy despite the long day of travel, messed up schedule, and time difference. But that is what I have been doing on this trip: pleasantly surprising people.