There he sits with a pin and a yellow bag
He’s a handsome lad
That’s my boy

I walked quietly throughout the halls of Odaiba Elementary school, heading towards the Junior Kindergarten class. I peeked my head into the room to see a small blonde haired boy, clutching onto his bright yellow backpack. I called out his name and his eyes brightened up. “Hi Daddy!” he called out as he hugged my leg. “Hi Yamato, are you ready to go?” He nodded eagerly, took my hand and led me out of the class room.
"Yama? What’s that pinned to your shirt?” I asked, reaching over and taking a small white note from him. He frowned and looked down at his feet. “I didn’t mean to Daddy,” he said sadly. I read the note to myself and chuckled. Yamato looked up at me, a confused look upon his face. “You not mad?” “Of course not Yamato, who really cares if you pinched some boy named Taichi, I bet he deserved it!” I told him. My son giggled happily and ran up to our apartment building. That’s one handsome little boy I got, he’s gonna break a lot of hearts, just like his old man, I thought to myself as I ran after him.

PRLFQ spells mom and dad
Well that ain’t too bad
That’s my boy

"Yamato! Dinner’s ready!” my wife called to him. After a few moments, she looked me with a puzzled look upon her face. “What’s taking him so long?” she asked me. She got up to go check but I gently pushed her back down into her chair. “Honey, you stay here, I’ll go and check on him,” I said as I headed towards his bedroom.
I opened the door and walked in to see him slouched over his desk, hard at work. “What are you doing son? Your mother called for you 5 minutes ago.” He looked over at me and held up a piece of paper. I took it from him and looked at it. On it was three stick figures, one was tall and had short brown hair, one was a bit shorter with blonde hair and a large stomach and then there was a much smaller one with blonde hair also. Squalled out on top of the page were the letters P R L F and Q and also the word Yamato. “That’s a picture of us Daddy,” he informed me. I smiled at him warmly. “It’s an excellent picture Yama, but what does this say?” I asked pointing to the top of the page. “That says Mom and Dad and Yamato,” he said knowingly. Aww well, close enough, I thought as I ushered him out of his room and towards the kitchen.

You can have your tv and your night clubs
You can have your drive in picture shows
I’ll sit here and drink a beer and listen to the radio
Binding my time and watching Yami grow

After dinner that night, Yamato and I went to the living room to listen to the news on the radio. It was something that the two of us did every night and we both enjoyed the quality time together. I sat down in the Laz-E-Boy with my feet up when the phone rang. “Moshi moshi?” “Hey, so do ya wanna come with me and the rest of the guys and go to the club tonight?” one of my friends from work asked. “No, I’m sorry but I’m spending time with my son now,” I told him. “Oh, ok that’s cool. Talk to you later.” he said hanging up. Yamato looked up at me from his spot on the floor and asked who it was. “Oh, it was just a friend Yama, nothing for you to worry about.” He nodded and turned his attention back to his toy cars. I reached over for my beer and took a swing of it, than set it back down. Pretty soon he’ll be driving real cars, I thought. He’s growing up too fast.

Making castles out of building blocks
And a cardboard box
That’s my boy

A small crashing sound broke me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see that Yamato had just emptied out his box of blocks and had begun to build around himself. “What are you up to now?” “I’m gonna make a gigantic castle and be the king of it!” he exclaimed happily. He quickly went back to work and after a bit, he had a small block castle around him that was just past his knees. Almost as if on cue, he began to sing, “I’m the king of the castle and you’re the dirty rascal!” he taunted me. “Oh is that so?” I asked as I got up and crept up to his castle. I grabbed him in my arms and swung him around. “Ok, so maybe you’re not a rascal,” he said, nuzzling his head into my neck.

Mickey mouse says it’s 13 o’clock
Well that’s quite a shock
That’s my boy

I put him back onto the floor and he ran off to his room and then came back with his old Mickey Mouse doll. “Now what are you doing with that old toy?” I asked him. It had been quite awhile since I had seen that doll, since he claimed that he was too old for it. He climbed up onto my lap and held the old doll up to my face. “I was gonna give it to the new baby,” he told me. “Well, I’m sure the baby will love it Yama, just like you did.” Yamato nodded than smiled at me with a mysterious glint in his eye. “Of course he will, Mickey is smart! He knows how to tell time better than me.” “Really? Well, that’s quite a shock. What time is it now Mickey?” I asked. Yamato held it up to his ear and than declared that it was exactly 13 o’clock on the dot. What a boy I got.

In 4 short years I’ve gone from rags to riches
And what i did before that I don’t know
You can let it rain on my window pane
I got my own rainbow
And we’re just sitting here shining watching Yami grow

While Yamato was in the bathtub, I got up and sat in the living room window. It was fairly large and was really fifteen small windows in one. It was raining heavily outside, it was the kind that could put anybody in a bad mood but not me. I guess it was because I had my own ray of sunshine in my life and his name was Yamato. Before he came along, I was always depressed and I drank a lot. Than that day when he was born and he grabbed onto my thumb and looked at me with those bright azure eyes, it just melted my heart. He’s everything I wish I could be, innocent, carefree and lovable. And ever since he came into my life, I’ve had something to live for, and someone to keep me grounded in this thing called life.

Up on daddy’s shoulders and off to bed
Oh sleepy head
That’s my boy

Small little footsteps approached me from behind and than glomped me. He climbed up on shoulders and than looked down at me, his wet hair dripping all over me. “Hi Daddy! I’m all clean now!” “Yes, I can tell, you’re getting me all wet. Well sleepy head, it’s time for bed.” His face fell and he looked at me with large puppy dog eyes. “Do I have to?” he asked, his lip quivering. “Yes, let’s go,” I said as I gave him a piggy back to his room than plopped him onto his bed.

Gotta have a drink of water and a story read
And an old teddy bear named Fred
That’s my boy

I tucked him into his Smurf sheets, kissed him and than got up to leave the room. “Daddy?” a small voice called out. I turned around and looked at him curiously. “Can I have a drink of water?” I sighed and retrieved him one from the bedroom. After that he begged for a story. I decided to read him Goodnight Moon which he helped out with, yelling goodnight to all the items in his room, for his night light to his underwear drawer. “Ok, you’ve had your drink and your story now it’s time for bed,” I told him. “But Daddy... I can’t find Fred.” Oh no, not this again. It seemed that every time that I put him to bed, Fred would disappear. I would spend almost ten minutes looking for that old bear and it would turn out that Yama was hiding it under his pillow like always. This time I decided to get right to it, I lifted his pillow up, and guess who I found? None other than good ol’ Fred. He looked at me sheepishly and than closed his eyes and shortly after he was fast asleep.

What’s that you say mama?
C’mon and keep your feet warm
Save me a place I’ll be there in a minute or so
I think I’ll sit right here
And say a little prayer before i go
Cuz me and God
We’re watching Yami grow

"Honey! Come to bed!” “Yes darling, I’ll be right there!” I called back. I turned by attention back to my sleeping boy. He lay very still and every once in a while, a small moan would escape from his lips. This was one of my most favourite things to do, watch my son while he slept. A smile escaped from my lips, as he let out a cute little whimper.
Bending down on my knees, I asked God to take care of my Yamato, for he was the only person who I could say I could truly love. My wife and I had been have some trouble lately, so I knew that it wouldn’t be able to last much longer. I unblessed myself and than turned to exit. There was one last thing I promised to myself that night, no matter what happens, I’d always be there for him, my little guardian angel.

Me and God are watching Yami grow

Always and forever, until the end of time.