March 8, 2004 - Monday
It's nothing really specific, no obviously memorable moments with my boys, but the last few days since I returned from my relatively long trip (I'd never benn gone a full week before) have been wonderful days as a parent, especially with Harry. He usually misses me, although he's coyer about admitting it now, and now that I'm back he's been interested in and inquisitive about Japan, as much as a four-year-old can be, and constantly talking about long plane rides, traveling to new places, the othert side of the earth (going through the earth), pretending about the bullet train, asking about what they eat there (we used chopsticks at dinner tonight!), and that sort of thing. And, he's been on his best behavior.

I'm sure a lot of this positive interaction has to do with the fact that I've been away. And I'm sure that being away has, for a time, shed much of the day-to-day malaise and the baggage of parenting (the directing, the correcting, and the annoying ruts that seem to breed tension and disconnect). And, I know that those routines - the nagging, the herding, the bedtime negotiations - will return. But, for now, for these few wonderful days when it's all new and/or renewed and we're just being buddies, it's great being a dad.


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