Rice grains appearing from everywhere
They appeared again.
Even though I should have cleaned up,
for some reason, rice grains keep appearing.
Table of Contents
1. Where rice grains are discovered
2. Rice grains like the Big Dipper
3. The culprit has been identified
4. The meat sauce incident
5. Rice grains are a sign of growth
6. Nono Papa's realization
1. Where rice grains are discovered
When raising children,
all sorts of surprises happen.
Among them,
there is something that happens frequently in our home.
I'm sure many moms and dads have experienced this too.
That is,
rice grains appearing from everywhere.
Of course,
I understand them falling around the dining table.
When my daughter eats,
it's natural for some to spill.
I vacuum.
I wipe the table too.
Yet they still appear.
"Why are you coming out from there?"
They appear in places like that.
The cracks in the sofa.
Under the desk.
The entryway.
It's practically an archaeological excavation.
2. Rice grains like the Big Dipper
The other day, too,
I found something white next to the sofa.
When I looked closely,
it was a grain of rice.
And it wasn't just one grain.
There were five or six of them in a group.
And they were arranged perfectly.
Just like the Big Dipper,
They have a clean shape.
After my daughter finished eating her rice,
she was watching TV on the sofa.
They probably got stuck there at that time.
And as time passed,
they were discovered in a completely dried-out state.
Sometimes,
several grains of rice fuse together,
and they look like some kind of dark, mysterious life form.
Every time I see that, I think,
"You guys, how long have you been there?"
3. The culprit has been identified
At first, it was a mystery.
Why are there rice grains in a place like this?
How did they travel here?
But recently,
the mystery was finally solved.
The rice grains stuck to my daughter's clothes,
are being transferred to me when I pick her up.
My daughter's clothes.
↓
My stomach.
↓
My T-shirt.
↓
The sofa.
↓
The floor.
A magnificent relay.
In other words,
the rice grains are not moving on their own.
They are being carried.
And what's more, the culprit,
was me.
4. The Meat Sauce Incident
The damage is not limited to just rice.
The other day,
my daughter was eating meat sauce.
That day,
I was also wearing my favorite white T-shirt.
I hold my daughter.
A while later, I look in the mirror.
Then,
there is an orange pattern on my collar.
I look at my daughter.
There is meat sauce around her mouth.
I understood everything.
Moreover,
meat sauce is hard to remove.
The washing machine doesn't even budge it.
The sense of despair at that moment is quite something.
5. Rice grains are proof of growth
But recently,
my way of thinking has changed a little.
These rice grains, too,
might only be for now.
My daughter is still four years old.
She chats while eating.
She laughs.
She stands up.
She asks to be held.
So,
the rice grains move too.
Clothes get dirty as well.
They are excavated from the sofa.
But,
surely they will decrease in a few years.
She will learn to eat neatly on her own.
Requests to be held will also decrease.
Clothes getting dirty will also decrease.
When I think about it that way,
these rice grains,
might just be proof of my daughter's growth.
6. Nono-papa's realization
Of course,
cleaning is hard work.
Every time rice grains appear from the sofa,
"Not again!"
I think.
But,
Beyond those grains of rice,
is my daughter, eating her meal with all her might.
There is my daughter, asking to be held.
There is the time we spent laughing together as a family.
When I think of that,
the way I see things changes just a little.
I'm sure that today, too,
new grains of rice will be discovered somewhere.
I run the vacuum while complaining about it.
But somewhere in my heart,
I find those grains of rice a little endearing.
When you are raising a child,
perhaps even a single grain of rice is packed with memories.