We spent two nights at my sister in-law’s on a short trip to LA after Christmas. On the last night, Suzanne was out late seeing an old friend. I was putting the girls to bed when they asked for a story as they often do. At home, sometime instead of reading books I would tell them stories– some true accounts and some I make up. So, I was looking around at the new surrounding for things to work into my story (I usually make things up as I go) when I saw a ceiling fan. That gave me an idea.

So I made up this story of a boy who woke up and discovered himself all sweaty on a sweltering summer day. He got ready for school, but grew increasingly uncomfortable in the hot morning. He kept complaining about the heat to his mother and didn’t want to go to school. His endless whining throughout breakfast gave her an idea. She gave him a shoe box and told him that it was magic! This magical thing in the box will instantly make him cool and comfortable. But there’s one condition: he cannot open it until he gets to class. Otherwise, the magic will not work. The boy got excited, grabbed the box and sprinted out the house. Along the way, he bragged about the magic box that will make him cool to every friend he encountered.

By the time he got to school the entire class knew about the magic box. As the boy sat down in class, anticipation built and all eyes were on him. The boy excitedly put the magic box on his desk, took a deep breath, surveyed the entire class and then calmly removed the cover. His eye bugged out, mouth gasped as he reached in the magic box with his hand and grabed its magical content: a paper fan which his mother made and inscribed with crayons “I love you, mom!” The boy raised the fan to show all his friends in pure delight. The collective excitement of the students exploded in a thunderous applause.

The end…

Katelyn and Allison were cracking up as I finished the story– just the feedback I was looking for. Allison then excitedly jumped out of her bed, make a fist with her hand, put it on her forehead and said: “Daddy, when you were telling the story I see everything in my head!”

Well with a response like that, I guess that story was magical to me too.

This is cool if you have children like me. The full Wikipedia for Schools selection has been made available on a DVD. It’s a free and community-based alternative to Microsoft Encarta and the likes. Very cool…

K&A may be a bit too young for this, but I’ll make them a copy and check it out.

You can download it via BitTorrent here.

Even at an early age, Allison exhibited stubbornness. She was born in 2003, the year of the goat/ram in lunar calendar. So we sometimes try to explain her stubbornness by attributing her as “stubborn as a goat”, an old saying.

So I was working on my photo book last night when Katelyn and Allison both came running and screaming into the computer room. Katelyn was especially upset and started swinging her arm out of frustration. Though not intentionally, she hit Allison. I promptly sent her to the corner. Intentionally or not, she violated rule #1 “no hitting.”

Later on, I sat down with both to understand what went on. Katelyn claimed Allison started it all by snatching a toy Katelyn was still playing with, without asking. I gave Allison a stern look and I can see her immediate panic in her eyes. Seeing the attention has shifted to her, she quickly sprung up for damage control.

Rex: “Allison, did you grab Katelyn’s toy without asking?”

Allison: “Daddy, but I’m learning…”

Rex: “But you know it’s not nice to grab things without asking!”

Allison: “But I’m learning…”

Rex: “You know it’s not nice, but why did you do it?”

Allison: “But Daddy, I’m the year of the goat! Remember?”

Priceless…

Earlier this year, I resurrected the girls’ fish tank. Took the girls to the local pet store, Allison chose an orange guppy and Katelyn chose a gold fish.

Katelyn named hers Fred; Allison named her fish Rose.

I set up the fish tank in their bedroom and made it a ritual for the girls to feed the fish before going to bed each night. While I still have to remind them, Allison is always happily feed the fish. Katelyn on the other hand isn’t always keen about it. And it shows…

Rose is doing well. On the other hand, we’ve gone through Fred I & Fred II already. I promised Katelyn we’re going to take her to get Fred III later today.

Let’s hope we can fool Rose with Fred III. Perhaps she’s wised up about the situation already…

Last week, the girls helped their mom making me an omelet on the morning of Father’s Day. We then head out to the backyard to snap some pictures before heading out to Suzanne’s sister’s for lunch and then a movie. Caught Indiana Jones finally…

Here’s a snapshot of me & my 2 girls on Father’s day.

Allison is known to be the drama princess in the house. Here’s proof from yesterday when the sisters got into a small arguments:

Katelyn: “Stop that …”
Allison: “You stop it, Je Je (big sis)”
Katelyn: “I said stop it, Allison!”
Allison: “No…”
Katelyn: “Keep your balloon over your side…”
silence… then Allison: “Je Je… you broke my heart!”

We were driving home from L.A. yesterday when Katelyn & her mommy had this little memorable exchange…

Katelyn: “Mommy?”
Suzanne: “Yes baby?”
K: “I love you forever!”
S melts: “Oh… I love you too, sweetie”
K: “I don’t know how to love you any more!”
S: “ohhh Katelyn, I hope so…”
K: “…and I don’t think I can say anything sweeter, Mommy!”

We kept it pretty simple this past Mother’s Day. The girls dressed up and posed for some pictures with their mother before heading to a BBQ with our relatives.

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather this past weekend, we took the kids & their cousin to a local park for a “bear picnic.” They each grabbed their favorite teddy bears and we spent the afternoon eating, flying kite, taking pictures, biking, reading and playing. I can’t remember the last time I got to nap in a breezy afternoon in the park like that…

I was watching TV the other evening and began falling asleep on the couch. Footsteps woke me up and I discovered Katelyn unfolding a blanket and trying to put a blanket on me. She gently put the blanket over me and made sure my toes were covered. Then she quietly left for her bedroom.

I still haven’t talked to my precious girl about it yet…

Today is a big day for our family. It’s our Katelyn’s birthday– she turns 6. Naturally, she’s very excited. Last night, we took her to a book store to choose a book as a gift for her classroom. And this past weekend she happily went with us getting stuffs ready for her party. We encouraged Katelyn to invite anybody she wants but she indicated that she doesn’t want a big party. So we’re keeping her party small, thank goodness!

Katelyn is doing well in kindergarten; she loves singing, dancing, reading, writing, drawing and coloring. She can do simple addition and subtraction. She’s on the shy side but made two close friends in her class, always telling me things about what she & Alicia or Chaelee do in school. She’s starting to help out with simple chores– she likes rinsing dishes (let’s see how long that’ll last). She’s really into Hello Kitty this year. She likes taking pictures and asked for her own camera, so I got her a pink Kodak digital camera (Valentine’s day makes it easier to buy things pink). Can hardly wait to see her reaction when she opens the present this evening. Looking forward to share with her the hobby of photography. Who knows, we may have a young shutterbug in the making.

Overheard Katelyn to her sister this past weekend that both cracked me up and gave me a jolting reminder:

“I have a purse. I’m a woman now!”

Katelyn is a good girl, I think we’ll keep her…

Any comments of birthday wishes will be appreciated. I’ll make sure Katelyn gets a chance to read them– I’m sure she will get a kick out of them.

I took off a few hours yesterday to attend Allison’s Halloween celebration at her school. She was adorable in her Minnie Mouse costume– yet another hand-down item from her sister. Allison caught me sneaking in her class during story time; she excitedly waved to me and happily blew kisses at me. I motioned her to pay attention to her teacher, but it was obvious her concentration is now broken. Next, she lead the class in the parade which was actually sad for me since it means she’s the smallest child in the class.

Today, Suzanne took off work to attend Katelyn’s party & parade. Katelyn spent the afternoon after school visiting her friend Chalee. I picked Katelyn up and whisked the girls to their swimming class. Next, I went to a local Thai restaurant to pick up dinner. After bathing the girls and dinner, got the girls into their costumes and we headed out trick-or-treating in the neighborhood with their cousin Malia.

Boy, I’m tired…

Two weeks ago, Katelyn takes her first step in her education: she began her first day of kindergarten at Eaton Elementary. The first day of school is monumental in any child’s life. I was excited for her…

I took the morning off work and got her prepared for the first day of school. She was very excited. I figured taking the kids to the school playground often this summer helped with getting Katelyn familiar with the place. Still, I sensed a bit of nervousness in Katelyn when she began lining up for her class. She probably realized that the school is much bigger than her preschool, with lots more kids. But she was happily lined up with the other kids, smiled and blew kisses to her father when her teacher Ms Celini lead the kids into the classroom.

I was happy and very proud of Katelyn that day. I hope she does well, makes friends, and have a fun-loaded 1st year!

…I snapped a few shots for keepsake.

Katelyn: “Knock, Knock”
Rex: “Who’s there?”
K: “Nobody!”
R: “Nobody who?”
K: silence…
R: “Nobody who?”
K: silence again…
R: gets it finally & laughs hysterically

Allison was listening and now she wants to participates…

Allison: “Knock, Knock”
Suzanne: “Who’s there?”
A: “Penguin!”
S: “Penguin who?”
A: silence…
S: “Penguin who?”
A: silence again…
S: didn’t get it but had to pretend the joke makes sense and belt out a hearty laugh…

I was watching the news on TV last night as Katelyn jumped into my lap. The program discusses the coming presidential election. Earlier at dinner, we had a conversion about death which is always a nice topic to bring up at chow time…

Here’s a little exchange I had with Katelyn, about dead presidents…

K:“Daddy, which presidents are dead?”
R: “You mean you want me to name some presidents that you know who are already dead?”
K: “Yeah!”
R: “Well, a lot of the old presidents are dead. Like George Washington, Lincoln…”
K: “You mean Abraham Lincoln? He’s dead?”
R: “Yes, you didn’t know that? He lived a long time ago and he’s dead just like Thomas Jefferson . Do you know him?”
K: “No I don’t.”
R: “A lot of old presidents are dead like John F. Kennedy…”
K interrupts: “Daddy, how come all presidents are boys and there are no girl presidents?”
R: “Good observation and a very good question, Katelyn. I guess no woman tried to be president in the old days. But that doesn’t mean there will never be a woman president. In fact, there’s this lady and her name is Hillary and she is trying to be the president right now. Did you know that?”
K: “No…”
R: “I’ll point her out to you the next time we see her on TV. Anybody can become a president, even you. Do you want to the president?”
K pauses then said: “Nahhh… I’ll become zoo keeper instead!”

Allison woke up from the afternoon nap yesterday in a foul mood. As Katelyn & I approached her, she threw a tantrum and kicked us. With patience tested by her all day, I promptly ordered her to her room. Of course she balled as she ran into her room.

Katelyn: Daddy, she’s just cranky after her nap
Daddy: Yes, but Daddy doesn’t like her acting out like that
Katelyn: But she’s always cranky from her naps. That’s normal. She’s scared now when you time her out.
Daddy after a pause, relents: Alright, let’s go get her!

As we went to get Allison from her room, Daddy smiled and felt particularly proud that big sister stood up to her old man for her lil’ sis!

We dressed the girls in their traditional Chinese outfits and took them to the lunar New Year parade in downtown San Jose this past weekend. It was the girls’ first time watching a parade. Despite the cold & gray morning, the girls seemed to enjoy it. The lions & dragons came up right next to the girls! Katelyn & Allison even got to pet a few of them.

There were a lot of photographers there, some of them pro’s wielding very impressive equipment around. I definitely felt inadequate. But here are some of my snapshots. Interestingly, I encountered more Nikon than Canon users…

Katelyn had a little party at The Little Gym to celebrate her 5^th birthday, this past weekend. The kids had a blast doing kiddie gymnastic activities. Katelyn definitely seemed to enjoy the extra attention. Even Allison, who’s normally a bit shy, participated in all activities whole-heartedly. Here some snapshots from the party.

I was happy celebrating Katelyn’s birthday. She’s making great strides this year- constantly surprises & impresses me with things she learns and does. She likes to sing, loves to color and teaches me the names of all sorts of dinosaurs (most of them I really didn’t even know)! She’s getting more inquisitive and can be thoughtful at times. She’s always very active and plays rough sometime. I see a bit of tomboy-ness in her. She can write words phonetically and do simple math. Not as crazy about Dora as last few years, but definitely still way into Disney princesses. Still likes pink but shuns Barbie because she knows I don’t like her getting into Barbie. Still a picky eater, but she’s at least trying new things; she even eats brocolie now. Her best friend is her cousin Malia, who she loves sleeping over with. She’s starting to help out little bit around the house- her biggest responsibilities being setting up the table at dinner time and feeding the fishes. Her face is usually the 1^st thing I see when I come home from work, she’d run to be the first to open the door for me.

But the best thing I saw in Katelyn this year is the little glimpses of her trying on the role a big sister: helping, encouraging and protecting Allison at certain times. I simply cannot be any prouder when I see that…

Unbelievable to me that Katelyn turned 5. At the same time, it seems forever that she’s part of our lives though. I can barely remember the bk era- before Katelyn.

Happy birthday kiddo…

A rarity: we started this past Saturday morning earlier than usual. It was a nice brisk winter morning, wasn’t very cold. After a hearty breakfast at Hobee’s, we headed out to the Children’s Museum in downtown San Jose. It was nice being early birds for once, there wasn’t the usual crowd to fight through. A few minutes into it however, Suzanne began feeling ill. She felt bad enough that we had to abruptly pack up & leave for home.

Later that afternoon, the weather worsened but we braved the rain back to the museum with the mom resting at home. The girls had a blast with all the exhibits, especially with the ever-popular bubble display and face painting. They were well-behaved so I didn’t have troubles without their mommy’s help. We stayed until closing time and by this time, the rain got even heavier and made me regret for parking a bit further away to save a $5 parking fee.

As we got off 280 on Stevens Creek, we came across a man holding a “Homeless, Need Help” sign. I felt bad for the guy for having to brave the cold rain. He looked particularly pathetic and he reminded me of a Cowboy Junkies’ song called “Cause Cheap Is How I Feel”:

“And when a bum asks you for a quarter, you give a dollar. If he’s out tonight, he must be truly down.”

I pulled a few bucks out of my wallet, handed to the guy and told him to take care. As I pulled away, Katelyn was puzzled as to what I was doing and asked me who the guy was and why I gave him money. I explained to her that unlike us, he probably doesn’t have a place to come home to and that he’s probably hungry. I explained that I felt bad that he’s out in the rain and the cold, that I gave him the money so he can buy food for himself.

Through the rear-view mirror, I saw Katelyn was listening intently and occasionally sat up & looked back at the guy. She remained quiet for a while and was obviously thoughtful. As I turned into our neighborhood, she said quietly:

“Daddy, I think you’re very nice.”