two years old

Today our son has his second birthday. Looking at my son sleeping on a mat in the floor, I find myself thinking about all that has happened this past year when we just had moved to Fukuoka and was celebrating his first birthday. Many many memories show up; sleeping on the floor in the kitchen the tree of us before getting the house in order, seeing our son’s shining eyes the first time we went to the beach, seeing his grandfather’s shining eyes when he came to see his grandson, me and my son going mountain climbing together; the loss of his grandfather… It has been a year to remember, to celebrate and to keep alive in our son’s life.

The little one year old baby and the two years old boy now sleeping on the floor with a bad cold, are one and the same; and yet they could not be more different. The one year old would not let me wipe his nose at all (he made that abundantly clear every time) – our two-year-old comes to me and says torka tack, wipe please. One year ago I could not take his temperature without a lot of struggle, now he happily lets me put the thermometer under his arm, counting together until the thermometer beeps. And the two year old now has a strength of will and a physical strength that is ten times that of the one-year-old, something that makes doing anything he is not happy about seem like a big mountain of persuasion to climb with help of patience and persisrtance.

We had been looking forward to this birthday, and I believe our son knew that it was a special day when he would become two years old. We had planned to have a party with my wife’s mother and aunts, but out son’s cold unfortunately made it a much smaller family occasion. We managed a pancake-cake (and our son managed to eat a little piece), a birthday song, and a photo in his kimono that he got from his mom’s aunt when he was born, which made me happy. Our son got a toy car which made him happy. So it became a good birthday after all, and I wish my little boy all the best for his next year of growing (as I wish my wife and I have the necessary abilities to help him).

Our little miracle – we love you. Thank you for being here with us.

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