A day during parental leave. The story of how I started taking baths on weekday afternoons.

It has been seven months since I started my parental leave.

Recently, my second son's daily rhythm has become quite stable, and a daily routine unique to our family has taken shape.

What do you do every day while on parental leave?

I am often asked this, so today I would like to introduce a little bit of our family's weekday routine.

In the morning, my second son wakes up sometime after 7:00 AM.

He used to drink milk as soon as he woke up, but lately he is often in a good mood right after waking.

Since I also have to prepare my eldest son for nursery school, our morning routine has become lounging around in the living room.

Then, around 9:00 AM, he starts to get a little fussy as hunger and sleepiness hit him at the same time.

"Oh, I guess it's about time for milk."

I prepare his milk with that in mind.

Some days he drinks it all and falls right asleep, while other days he stops drinking halfway through and starts playing with a big smile on his face.

For my part,

"Wait, are you going to sleep or not!"

I feel like making that remark every time. Haha.

Even so, he usually gets sleepy after about an hour, drinks more milk, and then falls asleep.

After a nap of about an hour, we eat baby food or go out shopping.

Then, around 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM, sleepiness comes again.

He drinks milk here too and takes an afternoon nap.

Sometimes he sleeps soundly for one to two hours, and other times he wakes up after 30 minutes.

Since I'm dealing with a baby, things rarely go according to plan.

Something that has recently become the norm in our home is

taking a bath with my second son at 2:00 or 3:00 PM.

I never would have imagined this before my parental leave.

Taking a bath in the middle of a weekday.

And instead of feeling guilty about being off work,

I find myself thinking,

"I wonder how the water temperature is today" while I bathe.

Life is full of surprises, I think. Haha.

Around 4:00 PM, my eldest son comes home.

The quiet house suddenly becomes lively.

And there is a high probability that my second son will wake up too.

It is as if,

"My big brother is home!"

he knows it.

By around 5:00 PM, the whole family has finished bathing, and dinner begins.

Every time this hour rolls around, I think to myself,

that if I were working a day shift, this would be the time I was finally finishing work.

Yet here I am, sitting around the table with my whole family.

It is a strange feeling.

After eating dinner at a leisurely pace and hanging up the laundry, everything is pretty much done by around 7:00 PM.

From there, it's time to eat snacks, play with my eldest son, and spend time relaxing as a family.

We listen to what happened at nursery school and look back at photos and videos.

We don't do anything special.

But I really love those casual moments.

Around 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM, my second son has his last milk of the day.

After that, we put the kids to bed, and by around 10:00 PM, the whole family is asleep.

Before the children were born, it was normal for me to stay up until late at night.

It's a lifestyle rhythm I can't even imagine now.

Perhaps thanks to that, both my spouse and I have been able to get by without getting seriously ill.

I am realizing once again the importance of sleep.

People seem to have a lot of free time during parental leave.

Sometimes that's the image people have.

In reality, I am not working.

But if you ask me if I have a lot of free time, that's not really the case either.

Breastfeeding, baby food, putting them to sleep, shopping, laundry, cleaning, and picking up and dropping off at nursery school.

Before I know it, the day is over.

Of course, a large part of this is only possible because my spouse and I cooperate.

That is why I am grateful that we are able to live this life.

Taking a bath during the day on a weekday.

Eating dinner together as a family at 5:00 PM.

Everyone goes to sleep by 10:00 PM.

All of these things seem ordinary, but in reality, they are not.

I believe this is a daily life I am only able to experience because it is a limited time during parental leave.

Once I return to work someday, this life will also come to an end.

Thinking about that makes me feel a little sad.

That is exactly why I want to cherish this time while I have it.

While savoring the casual, everyday moments spent with my family, I intend to enjoy the remainder of my parental leave.