Updates from dad

Since I missed my train tonight I have a few moments at work to catch up on my blogging. It's been such an adventure with two kids. things of note...

- when s turned 1 year old earlier this month I took the opportunity to test where her heart lies. It's a Chinese tradition to place several objects in front of a 1 year old and see what they gravitate towards. So we had s sit on the living room floor and I simultaneously revealed to her four objects. The objects included a plastic pen from Commerce Bank, a solar powered Casio scientific calculator from my high school days, a chinese red envelope with a $20 bill sticking out of it and a Hello Kitty note pad. After being distracted a bit with her nearby toys she finally focused on the objects and chose... the pen.

When her mom returned later that evening I recounted the trial and we proceeded to test here again. And sure enough she went for the pen again. Well actually she went for almost all the things individually this time but the pen held onto her attention the longest this time. So I'm declaring the pen the winner again. I'm not sure what that means exactly. Maybe she'll be bookish one day.

As a side note, my mother told me when I was tested at one years old I grabbed everything in front of me simultaneously. I'd like to think that it means I embrace all things in life...or maybe I'm just greedy.

- Since I've been working nights for the last year I've had the extreme joy of bringing g to the Little Gym weekly. For a while we attended a parent/child gym class. She really enjoyed my company running around with her. Then since she was getting older in September we decided to put her into a kid's class only of tap and ballet. Although I don't join her in the class she still clearly can see me outside the door or behind the big piece of glass. Well the last two and a half months have been difficult. G has never really warmed up to any of the other girls in the class nor the teacher. It's odd though since when she gets home all she does it talk about ballet and shows us her dance moves. It got to the point that last week I was already contemplating yanking her out of the class. It has become increasingly frustrating for me to watch her either stand by the doorway disinterested in the class or even throw a tantrum if I should walk more than 3 steps away from the door. But miraculously something in her brain clicked this Monday.

November 26th, 2007 - I had my usual pep talk with g at home before class where I encouraged her once again to pay attention and try to dance. Before we left for class I applied a bit of her new grape flavored chapstick to her lips. She seemed really happy about her new chapstick so I let her put it in her coat pocket and take it with us to the little gym. Once at the little gym I had a talk again with g and told her I wanted her to have fun today. As soon as class began, g went in willingly and started to do the dance exercises by the doorway. I saw that as a sign of improvement. Standing by the doorway myself I told her to get closer to the teacher and other girls...and she did. She spent the rest of the class at the front of the classroom holding onto the hands of the other little girls and dancing her heart out. She was talkative and engaged in everything. She became the crowd motivator and egged the other girls to dance when energy levels seemed down. Every so often she would run to the door where I was standing and tell me "See daddy, I'm not crying anymore." I was so proud of her that day. Little Gym comes around on Monday again. I hope she still has that same enthusiasm. But as an insurance policy I will bring the chapstick again.