quasi~crazy

The reason why he learned to SMS, at 70

2010-01-19T21:04:00.000-08:00

My dad will turn 70 this year. In about a month. And he sent his first text message a week ago. They were all addressed to his grandson, of course, but they were obviously sent to my phone. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about the reason behind the text message (why now, for instance?) or the 2 messages that followed the day after. But today, he revealed to me why. He was explained by his good friend (who is ironically a total gadget geek -- by comparison, my dad does not know his way around a computer PERIOD...like you give him a mouse and suddenly your desktop is missing all sorts of things, your taskbar displaced, misplaced or altogether just gone) that text messaging is more or less replacing voice calls, particularly among the younger generation. My dad suddenly became convinced that in order to communicate with his grandson (in the very distant future, but still a concern to him) in any sort of meaningful way, he had better master text messaging RIGHT NOW. In fact, his 2nd SMS indicated "just practicing sending these", which now makes more sense.

I thought that was very cute.

"Poo-poo comin' out!"

2010-01-15T14:20:00.001-08:00

So the potty training is in full force, and I have to say, I'm rather impressed with how quickly David has gotten the hang of things. As with all issues and milestones around parenting, it's very difficult to gauge whether one's child is early or late with anything since the absolute truth is hidden behind a need to compete or brag or over/understate in some form or other for reasons not clearly known.

If I were to be very honest, I'd say that potty training has been easier than expected. There was probably a month of set-up. The potty was purchased almost 2 years ago, just so that its presence in the bathroom would not itself introduce any anxiety from the sheer novelty. But the day I started putting him on the potty with clear expectations of what should happen (though still with the diaper on), I'd say that went on for a few weeks. Then the build-up of a reward (a Hot Wheels size monster truck, new in box) perched ever so visibly on a shelf from where he sits on his potty. The constant talking through the process. The grunting, the making of faces (all by me of course) to help out the product and to make the whole thing light and amusing (perhaps only for my own benefit).

It got to the point where he was sitting on the potty for 45 minutes, just playing with his cars, singing, reading, with no end product.

Suddenly, one day, not just any day, but the day after Christmas 2009, he sat on the potty for what I had assumed would be at least 15 minutes, and he said "poo poo comin' out!" And sure enough - it was a U-shaped humdinger that forced me to see right then and there that my baby made an adult sized poop. There was screaming, there was shouting, there was yelling, cheering, and since it was the holidays, everyone ran into the bathroom to tell David what a great job he had done, grandma, grandpa, ee-moh - there was no shortage of cheers.

Now that 3 weeks have gone by since that wonderful day, it feels appropriate to take stock of how much has been accomplished. He is now in underwear. Honest to goodness underwear - the kind that will soak through completely if he decides to pee in it - and thank goodness has only done that once (during a nap, which is totally understandable). He has upgraded to a seat attachment onto a real toilet - an unexpected development that occurred when he announced a week ago that he needed to pee while I was at a restaurant, totally unprepared (had plenty of diapers on me, though, as I was still in "that mode"). Now I no longer have to clean out a separate potty seat, since he insists on going into the toilet (this is usually a major next step that needs to be worked toward - but he nailed it early. Yay!) He will now ask to go to the potty when he needs to, signaling to me that he's actually paying attention the signals his body is giving him that he has to go. While on the toilet, he'll say "poo-poo comin' out!", sometimes following it up with "a BIG one!" or a modified "a HUGE one!" which is just so totally hilarious. He also understands that closing the seat, flushing, and moving his stepstool from toilet to sink to wash his hands is part of the process (btw: never too soon to connect the whole toilet - handwashing thing). He enjoys pulling his sleeves up, testing the water temperature, and pumping the soap onto his hand. The best part of this whole thing (other than the obvious no-poo-cleanup factor) is that he now only uses one diaper per day (at his peak, he used 15 diapers a day) and that is only for when he goes to bed, and more for my convenience in case he pees. Most mornings, we wake up and look at his diaper to see if he kept it dry (he usually does) and I'll celebrate by saying "look, no pee pee!!" and he beams with pride.

He is all set now to go to preschool (and the top choice has a requirement to be trained by the day he starts), and what started off as a potentially stressful experience turned out to be quite reasonable, and frequently amusing and enjoyable.

Glass shoe!

2009-04-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly, my favorite thing about sneezing (or hearing anyone sneeze around me) is that it's quickly followed up by a "Glass Shoe" (his way of saying Bless you) from any room in the house. He will yell it if he needs to, but damnit, he wants to bless you if you sneeze! And bless himself when he sneezes!

Animal sounds sometimes not so cool

2009-01-06T21:38:00.001-08:00

David's new thing is to make animal sounds. So you say "David, what does a kitty say?" And he'll say "meow!" For doggie, he'll do a very subdued "woof" but it's cute because he bobs his head a little when he does the dog sound. For cow, the most recent addition to his repertoire, he'll go "boooo!" (I can't correct him, it's too cute.) And when I say "David, what does a chicken say?" He'll say "bwah bwah bwah bwah".

So, I'm at Trader Joe's thinking about what I want to make for dinner, and I'm talking to myself loudly enough so that David can clearly see that I'm a lunatic, but I do it in such a way where it seems like I'm talking to him, too. I go on and on about the things I see in the aisle. We get to the meat section and I say to myself, "I wonder if we should have chicken tonight." David promptly goes "bwah bwah bwah bwah", and I looked at him and said in as light a tone as possible, "That's so morbid! You can't say that when they're food!" But he sure has a sense of humor.

30 days on the brambly mobile device

2009-01-04T09:39:00.000-08:00

So I've had my BlackBerry officially for 30 days. Is it the Storm? Is it the Bold? Is it the latest, greatest thing ever to come from RIM's labs? No. It's the tried and true Curve, acquired used and by a private party so as not to extend the ol' contract. Do I love it? Unequivocally and emphatically, yes.

It's not just the exceptional call quality and text/email abilities that the phone itself is known for (and by themselves would be enough to garner such praise even if the phone did nothing else) but all the other little things like the camera, media player, facebook app, the Google Mobile Apps (thank you Paul Feng), Opera Mini 4 for those sites that the proprietary browser just won't open, and so on.

Mainly, though, what I realized during this 30 day period during which I've taken countless photos and videos of David (and immediately proceeded to upload those to facebook after snapping said pics), and communicating seamlessly with friends close, distant and long-lost as if they were sitting right next to me, is that this is a tool that I wish I had (perhaps any smartphone would have done just fine, I'm just partial to this here BlackBerry) especially during the time of David's birth and the first several months thereafter. Those newborn days were times of a healthy combination of joy, chaos and quiet bonding, but I admit that there were more than a few moments of isolation and profound loneliness that I feel might have been cured (at least partially) with a small device that could have kept me connected to the world I felt I had suddenly left behind.

Better late than never, though. I no longer have to hear the nagging from certain family and friends to upload some more damn pics of David already because I've now overexposed him on facebook. So there!

David and Tommy -- separate but equal

2008-12-29T11:36:00.001-08:00

So Prince David and the incumbent monarch Tommy (cat) have finally learned to coexist at my parents' house. When David was an infant, I did not see Tommy around, well, ever. He was very sensitive to David's cries, which were as loud as they were frequent. Tommy also quickly learned that all the fussing over this and that was no longer for him, so I'm sure that that influenced him to self-exile himself to "less favored nation status"...to some quiet corner of a closet somewhere where it was quiet and he didn't have to be reminded of why his ears were ringing or why no one was rushing to get him some wet food.

This season, at David's 21 months, the human was able to be taught how to walk and talk more gently. "Gentle" was a term he already learned at daycare, but the cat there is far more tolerant of babies' cries and small toddler noises so he needed no pre-conditioning. Now, we hold his hand and walk gently into the room where Tommy is resting and we say "shhhh", and David gives a complicit and silent nod, sometimes quietly (and adorably imprecisely) mimicking the finger to the mouth gesture to indicate that it's quiet time.

The crowning moment of our apparent achievement was when Tommy actually emerged from his usual spot and came out to the living room one otherwise insignificant evening as we were going about the usual bustle of evening activity. He didn't seem bothered by the presence of "that small but awfully loud human thing" and actually sat quite close to him without much fanfare, behaving rather as if he had been doing this for weeks. We didn't make a big deal about it so as to startle him, but we were tickled all the same. Things won't quite be the same henceforth, as we now get to simultaneously enjoy the company of BOTH, small, spoiled but darling brats of the Chun household.

Odd local flavor that strangely did not disturb me

2008-12-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

David and I try to eat at the local diner each weekend. It has most definitely become a ritual for us. When I'm feeling like I particularly deserve it, I'll go BOTH weekend days, but usually just one.

Usually I love people-watching, observing body language of strangers, and quasi-strangers (those who you feel like you know because you see them every week but you don't really know them from Adam or Eve), trying to guess what it is that they've lived through, whether it's a first date or a prolonged walk of shame that turned into an awkward first (and maybe last) breakfast. However, now that I've got a toddler who can go from elation to meltdown in 1.4 seconds, I'm pretty damn oblivious to the local vibe.

Today, though, this man came up to me as he was leaving and said to me quite simply, "Excuse me. I see you in here pretty frequently, and every time I see you, I'm reminded of one of my really really strict college professors." And before I could offer a courtesy laugh, or followup question, he was gone. There was nothing unsavory about it; it was just curious and interesting and vaguely endearing.

Kirkland formula and diapers...behind the curtain

2008-11-29T20:28:00.001-08:00

I'm a pretty analytical, observant, alert, detailed consumer. Plus I'm a Costco fanatic/whore/evangelist. So, for all you new parents out there or veteran parents who haven't figured it out and are just curious: Kirkland brand formula is Similac. It just has to be. If it's not, I'll tell you what it isn't: Enfamil. Kirkland brand diapers are Huggies. Not the regular white/red ones. It's just a repackaged version of their "Supreme" line that's sold in burgundy bags. Which, if you think about it, makes it a pretty fucking incredible deal.

I could be wrong, and I'd accept that, but I've tried a LOT of stuff, and there's nothing like the ol' empirical way of determining things and my conclusions just have to be right. Anyway, by the time I figured this out, we had outgrown formula and I just didn't care either way. But some people might care. So there it is. Have fun.

20 months, and 29.7 lbs

2008-11-29T20:26:00.001-08:00

He is huge. What do I do about this? My limbs, back and neck are all sore, and I have to think of creative ways to meet David's needs without completely handicapping myself. Most 20 month olds are not this heavy, and even 2 year olds are rarely this big. I must think of something sustainable soon...a fitting topic, since I have to lift him out of the bathtub right now and my arms are not looking forward to it.

Sin Neck Doh! Key

2008-11-22T14:25:00.000-08:00

A sign at the Piedmont Theatre box office. It was originally meant as a public service guide on how not to make an ass out of yourself to the ticket agent just 'cuz you want to watch Sin-Neck-Doshe.

Love it.

From quasicrazy

Who are you, kiddo?

2008-11-20T21:55:00.000-08:00

Tonight was one of those nights where you look at this creature that you've been with every day of his life and yet you feel like you're looking at him for the first time in a year because of some monumental changes that occurred seemingly (and in some cases, literally) overnight.

This morning, right when David woke up, I changed him out of his pee-pee diaper, and I, in my typical fashion, wadded it up and threw it onto the ground where I was going to pick it up and take it to the diaper champ in the other room. No need. He climbed down the bed, picked it up himself, and walked to the other room and threw it into the diaper champ. Profuse praising ensued.

Then, this evening around 5:45, right when we got home and indoors, I said "David, shoes off." So he promptly sat down, let me take his shoes off, and then he took his own socks off (which is the usual routine). Then, he threw his socks into a pile, then got up, picked up those same socks, and ran into his room and threw them into the hamper. We've been working on that trick for 4 days, and now it's like he's been doing it his whole life. Profuse praising ensued.

Then, after he finished eating dinner, I got some wet paper towels and started wiping up the floor below his high-food-dropping-traffic area was and was very vigorously wiping in circular motions. I looked up to notice that he was copying me by vigorously wiping down his kiddie table with the same motion, and with a different dry paper towel that was already on his table. The best part? He went to the trash can right after and deposited the used paper towel. The trash part involved manually lifting the lid and then closing it once deposited. Profuse praising ensued.

I tell ya, some days, I think I'm going to drop him off at a fire station any minute, and other days, it's like OMG! How much freakin cuter can you be???

A FWD: FW: fwd: fw: that made me laugh

2008-11-20T14:23:00.000-08:00

An email that was forwarded ad infinitum, but finally got to me by way of my friend (who also has a son).

Subject: You find out interesting things when you have sons, like...

1) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can i gnite.

3) A 3-year old Boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.

5) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.

7) When you hear the toilet flush and the words 'uh oh', it's already too late.

8) Brake fluid mixed with Clorox makes smoke, and lots of it.

9) A six-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36- year old Man says they can only do it in the movies.

10) Certain Lego's will pass through the digestive tract of a 4-year old Boy.

11) Play dough and microwave should not be used in the same sentence.

12) Super glue is forever.

13) No matter how much Jell-O you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

14) Pool filters do not like Jell-O.

15) VCR's do not eject 'PB & J' sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

16) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odor is.

19) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.

20) The fire department in Austin , TX has a 5-minute response time.

21) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.

22) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

24) 80% of Women will pass this on to almost all of their friends, with or without kids.

25) 80% of Men who read this will try mixing the Clorox and brake fluid.

Racist bastard - how does he get away with it?

2008-11-18T13:23:00.000-08:00

Actual lunch conversation had at 12:42pm, outside on Montgomery near Washington
Herm: Whoa. That was the trippiest thing I've ever seen.
Nayan: What?
Herm: I just saw -- get this -- an Asian driving a UPS truck.
Nayan: So what?
Herm: I just, you know, thought there was an unwritten rule that they were never allowed behind the wheel of commercial vehicles.

This is amazing

2008-11-13T15:51:00.000-08:00

Obama headlines

Genius toddler

2008-11-09T11:44:00.001-08:00

This week we skipped church because David has been feeling under the weather (I'll blog about church later, once I've had time to gather my thoughts about the whole experience in general), so we went out for breakfast for the first time in a while. It used to be a weekly thing, but other competing priorities of late have forced me to hastily make breakfast while we mad dash out the door.

Today, though, was nice and relaxed, as we eased back into the familiar ritual of breakfast at the local diner, where they all know your name (okay, not mine, but everyone knows David's name because apparently I don't have huge cheeks and a double chin that people seem to adore on him). As we strolled out the diner, we headed to the market, where we passed by a small white dog on a leash. David squealed, and then said "doggie doggie!", followed by a "ooof!" I thought that was so freaking adorable, and I said, "yes, that's right, doggie goes woof!" And just to make sure it wasn't a fluke or lucky guess, I said "what sound comes from kitty?" and he goes "mao!" If it didn't take so long to unstrap and restrap him back in the stroller, I'd have picked him up and eaten him up right there for being so darn smart and cute.

Really seeing the potential to exploit David's new talent

2008-11-08T11:31:00.000-08:00

Prior to the period of time between 2 years ago and now, I generally answered my phone all the time. Lately, though, that depends on a lot of factors that stem from one monster toddler.

This morning, my dad called me and my cell phone was ringing from some pocket of some jeans in some room somewhere, and not only did I not hear it, but even if I did, I couldn't possibly get to it. Suddenly, I hear the pitter patter of little footsteps and the cell phone is getting louder and louder. Once I begin to realize what is happening, I put it all together: David FETCHED my ringing cell phone and brought it to me. Eeeeeeee! Once I can get him to go get the mail and make me a cup of coffee, I'll be set.

And now, a message from David. Translation: No, no, no, no

2008-11-03T17:53:00.000-08:00

www.tokbox.com

Really enjoying Picasa 3

2008-11-03T14:22:00.001-08:00

I neither loved nor hated the original Picasa, so I kinda tossed it aside. I revisited, and now it's Picasa 3rd gen. And wow. I love it. No offense, Steve, still love the grommit gallery -- I'm not comparing them because they are very different and serve distinct needs. I just love how I'm able to sync the local app with the web album since I get harassed about David pics on a regular basis by the family. Now that I have a laptop with an SD card slot (yes, I've joined this millenium finally), it's a breeze. All the pics I want to post are online in a few minutes. I feel like I'm gaining time! Great tool.

My favorite new thing about David

2008-11-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

So a misguided combo of unenforced bedtime policies and overly indulging a certain someone's nocturnal sissiness has yielded a 19 month old who requires assistance falling and staying asleep. Translation? My bedmate is a kicking, fitful, sensitive thing who can be awakened at the sound of a pin drop (so never you mind about the middle of the night peeing, just hold it til the morn and pray you don't get a UTI!) Yes, I am frightened of this creature who stands 32 inches tall. My hair can stand on end when I hear him shrieking and I'm sure it's only 1:30am.

But, there's a silver lining, as there always is. Some weekend mornings, I can talk him into sleeping in a WHOLE HOUR by nuzzling him close to me so that he's sleeping in my arm pit (cuter felt/seen than read) and he hugs me while sleeping. I hug him back, but here's the kicker: if my hand is resting on, say, his belly, or his arm, and he feels me trying to move it, he will (IN HIS SLEEP) grab said arm and put it back where it was. How freaking cute is that. Totally makes up for having to get up at 6:30 all other days.

David relishing his new furniture

2008-11-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

2008 Oct New Table

Seattle trip photos

2008-11-01T08:42:00.001-07:00

Seattle

Some recent pics from a pumpkin patch

2008-11-01T08:33:00.000-07:00

2008 Oct Pumpkin Patch

No, no, no, no, no!

2008-11-01T08:29:00.001-07:00

So many have asked: has he hit the "no" phase yet? I was happy that he hadn't, though interestingly, he has hit the "Mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom" phase. You know, in the tone that a 7 year old would use when at a toystore and really wants Mom to pay attention to the object in question. So, considering he had hit such an advanced phase, I thought maybe he was so evolved he wouldn't hit his no phase.

But he did.

And guess how he said it. Yup, just the same way he does the repetitive Mom thing. Sometimes he challenges himself to do it super turbo charged so it sounds like "Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-nooooo!" which makes me want to laugh, but I don't dare lest I encourage this obnoxious yet still deliciously cute habit.

David and Goliath

2008-08-28T09:49:00.000-07:00

Rob is 6'10". David is not.

Happy 1st Birthday David!

2008-03-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

Prince David turns one today. That is all. Thank you.
Pictures!