Mason Shoma

We weren’t really sure what to eat for lunch today, but when Mommy and Daddy asked me what I wanted to eat I kind of went to my standard answer “hamburger”. I was very happy with my Happy Meal, which I, of course, finished. There wasn’t a toy that I particularly wanted, but I was happy with the one I got. It was a cute little echo microphone.

I was so excited to see that there was construction going on outside of our house and there was an excavator and dump truck right there for me to watch. And watch I did. I just stayed there and watch enthralled. It was the best kind of free entertainment for a kid like me. I was also very impressed by the skill of the excavator driver. He was moving the arm and scoop around in the whole with other workers standing right there in the whole. The movements were so controlled and precise that no one was in any danger. Wow.

Just warming up for the World’s Strongest Man competition. I know that I’m not bending rebar or anything, but I’m working my way up there.

When Mommy and Daddy dropped me off at school today, for some strange reason I felt really sad and started to cry. I kept crying a bit even after they left. After a while I finally calmed down and then we had a bunch of fun dancing and I completely forgot about being sad. I ended up having a very good day.

We had a nice walk today and I had fun with my classmates. When lining up for our walk I told my teacher that I really liked my friend and that I wanted to hold the rope next to him. She was happy to hear that and let us walk next to each other. It was a very peaceful and comfortable walk.

It was a rainy day today, so we decided to go to a play area that we had heard about. When we got there we found that it was a lot bigger than other play areas that we’ve been to. We also found out that a lot of other people had the same idea for a rainy day because the place was packed.

I was a bit hesitant at first. Even though there were a lot of fun looking things to do, I wasn’t feeling comfortable playing around other kids. So I sought out the areas where no one else was playing. I had fun playing there by myself and whenever some other kid wandered into the same area I would look at them like, “What are you doing here?”

One of the new experiences I had was playing in a huge sandbox. It was nothing like the sand on the beaches in Hawaii. First of all, it didn’t really stick to you and was quite cold to the touch. When we go to the park for our walks at school I always enjoy playing in the sand, so this was nothing new. Although I avoided sitting down in the sand for the most part.

There were so many toys that were right up my alley at the play area that it was almost that they were put there just for me. But I had a hard time accepting that they were not there just for me and that other kids were allowed to play with it as well. A couple times other kids came near “my” toys and I gave them the stink eye. While playing with “my” train set a little girl who was younger than me started playing with the tracks that I made and then I started snatching it away from her. She started crying. I started crying. There were a lot of tears around those trains. Eventually, Mommy and Daddy got me to calm down a bit and we moved on to another section where there were other trains for me to play with. But I was always wary of other kids coming nearby and would gather up “my” toys when I thought they might want to play with them.

There was a lot of huge things to play on like a couple of mountain slides, but I didn’t want to go there. Daddy thought that with all the time I spend on the slide at our park that I’d want to try the mountain slide out, but I did not. We did find a bouncy bus that I was really into. I had seen bouncy castles before but was not really keen on them, but this was a bus so I was all in!

Mommy was very into bouncing. I had to tell her to “stop” and that it was “enough”. But it seemed like she was having too much fun to hear me.

It is no surprise that I was into all the vehicles in the play area. I found submarine that I was very serious about driving.

There was a cute little doggy that I wanted to ride but there was always a long line of kids waiting to ride it. Near the end of the day it finally opened up and I had my chance to go for a slow ride on the doggy.

Then came my favorite part. As kids and families started to head home, certain popular sections started to clear out. I finally got my chance at riding some cars. Boy did I have a great time. I was really good at driving! Backwards as well as forward.

I had so much fun at the play area that on our ride home I already told Mommy and Daddy that I wanted to go back to the play area. I even told House all about all the fun I had and all the things I played with.

It was a very busy and fun-filled day. I definitely want to go back again. But you know what? I have a lot of fun at home too! We always find fun things to do with a lot of smiles and laughter.

My cars went off-roading today. I made some mountains with our mat by shoving some cushions underneath and my cars tackled the hilly terrain. It helps that they are powered by a six-cylinder Mason!

Daddy brought back some omiyage from his business trip to Tokyo. He knows how much I enjoyed the Tokyo Banana cakes that he got last time so he got me the same thing again. I was so happy! I really savored it! And I also shared some with Mommy.

After we got back from the park I wasn’t ready to go back in the house, so I decided to squeeze in a bit of driving practice. After all, practice makes perfect.

I was so happy with the new firetruck I got from the restaurant that when we went to the park today, I just had to bring it along with me. I had fun playing with it around the park, up and down the slide, and even on our walk back home.

On our walk back home after the nursery school graduation ceremony we ran into my friends. They were headed out to breakfast/lunch and asked if we would join them. I eagerly said yes. We all headed to a nearby family restaurant. I ate a hearty second breakfast, let’s just call it brunch, and then I had fun playing with my friends. We all got to choose toys with our meals and we all chose firetrucks. I always have fun playing with my classmates at school, but it was nice to hangout outside of school as well.

We had a nice walk home as well. My friend thought we were both going home to the same place but unfortunately we had to part ways. It will be fine because I’ll see him again on Monday.

My nursery school had a graduation ceremony for the elder class, Hoshi (Star) Class. We have three classes of different age groups, from youngest to oldest, Umi (ocean), Sora (Sky), which is my class, and Hoshi (Star) class. It was a very nice ceremony but I was a little sad because that class will not be here next school year (starting in April) and I have a lot of friends there. And I also realized that in a year that will be me up there leaving my nursery school. I think I’m growing up a bit too quickly and I’d like to slow time down just a bit.

*Daddy note: Me too!

Daddy was gone on a business trip yesterday and I was asleep before he got home. So when I woke up I was very happy to see him. I was also very happy to see the toy he got me from Haneda airport. It was a ANA set. I already have a JAL set from a previous business trip. Maybe if he goes on more business trips I’ll get all the airlines in Japan. Nah, I’d rather just have Daddy stay at home.

While eating a mandarin orange I was suddenly struck with the need to show Obachan the picture of me eating the mandarin orange. I asked Mommy to send the picture to Obachan. She said she would but I insisted that she send it NOW. It was so good that I just had to share.

The mandarin orange was so good that I almost forgot that I had said that I was going to share it with Mommy. I gave her a very small piece after I ate almost the whole thing.

I also had a good laugh later on and my first thought was to tell Obachan about it. I guess I was in a sharing-with-Obachan mood.