He Won!

I had a very exciting morning. I went for walk up "the big hill" to get some exercise. Then I came home and started to clean the hot tub. But then I realized that I didn't have the drainage hose, so I couldn't really clean it. So I started some laundry and then to clean the bathrooms.

I feel like I have to clean the bathrooms an awful lot lately. I have a 6 year old boy who likes to stand up while going to the bathroom, but his aim isn't really that good. He will try to clean or wipe up afterwards, but it's not really clean. So as I'm scrubbing the toilet and everything around it, I'm getting madder and madder at my son for making such a mess. I start wonder if I'm alone in this cleaning battle. There must be a way to get him to either stop making such a mess or get him to clean it himself.

Then the phone rings and I'm annoyed that I have to stop what I'm doing (because I was having so much fun and didn't want to stop), wash my hands and answer the phone.

I answer the phone and a woman asks to speak with me. I'm thinking, "Oh great, what is she trying to sell me now." Then she tells me that she is calling from the local radio station to tell me that my son has won a prize! I nominated him on Monday for the "Kid's Day at the Mariners" and he won! He will get 4 tickets for the Commissioner's Box for this Sunday's game plus a "Prize Pack" and he will have a job at the game. They had a list of a few jobs like honorary score keeper, announcer and things like that. They also said that his picture will go on the big screen during the game! I'm soooooo excited. I'm home alone right now and I have no one to tell. No one to share my excitement! How dare my husband be at work on a day like this! And this should be reason enough to cancel school, don't you think?

Well at least now I told you.

In case you're wondering, I had to submit an essay stating why the child I nominated should receive this "Kid's MVP" award. I enjoy writing and lately I've been wondering if there was a way to generate income by writing. So I though it might worth a shot. I wrote an essay about how my son is half Japanese and half American. He went to a Japanese preschool where 90% of the kids there were just like him, half Japanese and half American. He fit in well and made lots of friends.

Then he entered kindergarten at the local public school. He quickly discovered that being Japanese meant being different. He no longer wanted to take Japanese food for lunch or snack and would deny that he was Japanese. He was embarrassed by his Japanese name.

In May we took both kids to a Mariners game. They loved the food and the excitement that went with the game. Ichiro was playing that night and hit a home run. The crowd cheered for Ichiro. There were some signs in Japanese and some Japanese people cheering in Japanese for Ichiro. It made my son proud to be Japanese at that moment.