Today was Zen’s fifth birthday. He woke up this morning early, very excited. Then he had his breakfast, I went off to get the cake for his school birthday party at 7:30, then back home to shower and get Naoko and Zen and go off to work. Whew! Zen had a birthday party at school and ate the cake and gave out goody bags to the kids. Meanwhile I had a pretty busy day at work, but left early at 5:30 to fetch Zen’s bicycle from the shop I bought it from. I got it home, but left it waiting in the entrance area while I went in, ate dinner, had dessert. Naoko took Zen to wash his hands, then I snuck outside and waited with the video camera. I rang the doorbell, and Zen came out and discovered his bicycle. He wasn’t so excited, just kind of checking it out, but he climbed aboard and rode around a bit. It has training wheels, but is a bit big for him so he has a bit of trouble managing. Maybe we should have gotten him something more manageable… Oh well, I think that’s how it was when I was a kid too. Then we went for a spin around the neighbourhood, and when we got back there were a few more presents scattered around the house. He got a few train set parts from his grandparents in Canada, and also from them a big train turntable with five train sheds for his train set, perfect. He also got from us a train colouring book, fun stuff for him. Zen played with his new train stuff, took a shower, then went to sleep on his own. Now that the’s five years old, he will start doing that on his own – we’d been going to sleep next to him this whole time, he was scared (he said) to sleep alone, but now he seems to be ready. Got calls from both sets of grandparents today, and also from my brother Ralph. Thanks for thinking of the day, guys…
Zen and his classmates pose with his Power Ranger cake.
Zen and Naoko ready for dinner.
Zen and his new bike
Peter and Zen’s new bike
