Last week was Owen’s final few days of his first year in Japanese school. We all felt sad about the year coming to an end (the Japanese school year ends in March and begins in April). We’ve loved his teacher, Hirose Sensei, so much. She has been a great encourager, and ever-patient as Owen has gone from speaking almost no Japanese to being able to make friends and play in Japanese. On her last day, the moms all came to the school and we gave her presents.

Lots of the little girls in Owen’s class were crying about saying goodbye; Owen went over to one of his good friends Suzuka and started patting her head and comforting her.

The sweet thing about this past week was seeing new sides of our little boy’s heart. Owen had his first crush on one of his classmates! We’ve known it for some time, but this past week it was achingly obvious. Yui-chan and five other friends and moms came over to play on Wednesday. Her mom took a bunch of photos; Owen came over and whispered to me, “Mommy! Take some pictures!” I asked, “Of who?” “Why, Yui-chan.” Here’s just one (of numerous…)

and then, on the last day of class, her mom gave Owen a packet of photos. The photo of just Yui has since been framed…and that frame and all the photos line Owen’s windowsill. It’s become quite the — altar! He carries the frame up and down the stairs with him…

Oh, the pitter-patter of little hearts. How much wisdom we will need in the years to come…And we will probably not be able to write about our children’s loves much longer on a blog when they become old enough to know we are doing so. In the meantime, here’s to spring in the air and all that means…