Daily Jake

I figured things would slow down a bit post-Korean cousin days, but alas, the dudes are as busy as ever. Cousin Kate is in town, so last weekend was lots of hanging with her, nana, and Kate’s friend from home Alison. They were staying at a Waikiki hotel so it was a good chance for Jake to head down for some beach and pool time; he took advantage. I also took the whole gang to Ho’omaluhia for a little botanical gardening. Wes in particular was giddy with joy at being able to gallivant around the grounds, feed the ducks, and get dirty, which, as far as I can remember, was his first time to get genuinely muddy.

He also started back up at school last week, but it was unofficial as they were technically still on break. He didn’t really get a chance to see old friends and only spent a couple of days there. Yesterday he hit it full time. It was interesting to see his change in personality. Like most of us, having some structure and daily goals seems to make him more centered and calm. In terms of his behavior, he was incredible yesterday. I took him swimming afters and he was all smiles.

According to his teachers, after Christmas break is when the social structure of the class will start to change. In the beginning, they are cliquey with same sex friends, but post-break they said that they may start to form “families” in which they will assign each other familial roles. Sure enough, on Sunday night Jake told us that he was going to get married and that he needed to “have a budget.” When we asked where he heard about budgets, he said “HGTV.” Yikes, all kinds of stuff going on there. As always, omma and I are taking it all in and rolling with all that life’s rich pageant has to offer. I just hope he doesn’t ask to borrow money anytime soon.

As for the Nez, he’s growing a little more independent every day and seems also to be challenging his sleep routine. Omma thinks it’s temporary, but it’s been about a week of restlessness at bedtime. He also threw up this AM—projectile style—just as I opened the car door at the babysitters. As far as I can tell, because he likes to put his fingers in his mouth, he made himself vomit…a lot. It was all milk and bile and whoa, it smelled horrible. He’s been fine all day so hopefully he realizes now what chewing your fingers will do.

SOTD: Mudhoney: Touch Me, I’m Sick

Posted in aunties, babaysitter, beach, busy, cousins, family, fun, good day, Jake, nana, omma, play, school, sick, sleep, swimming, uncles, Wes

Mondo sad times in the jip these days. Yesterday morning all the cousins left and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house…except Jakes’.  I wasn’t there, but heard via nana and omma that he never once shed a tear during the farewell session at the house. I was not that surprised as I had noticed the day before that he started to act a little weird late in the day. First he told me that he really wanted to see nana, then he told me that he did not want to go to the airport; he wanted to go to school instead. I realized then that he was basically in denial about their impending departure.

Of course with this realization came the knowledge that he was going to experience the emotions at some point in the day, we just didn’t know when. After the tearless goodbye, nana took him to hang out with Kate, who arrived the day before (thankfully, it’s softened the blow). All day he played and had fun. I arrived home first with the Nez at about 5:30. As soon as I put him down he ran into the room looking for the cousins. He kept saying “Omma?!” which is his go-to beckoning call these days. It was sad and cute. Omma came home sooneafter, then Jakes after dins. He was fine. Then, somewhat out-of-the-blue as I got him ready for a book session in his bed, he lost it. He bawled and it was hard to console him without sounding too sad as well. He cried until he konked and kept saying, “It’s so hard to say goodbye to people.”

I wasn’t surprised at his reaction—I knew it would hit him—but I was taken aback at the way he suddenly became a mature little boy right before my eyes. He has an air of goofiness about him that he carries around constantly. When he started to let his emotions take over it was as if the veil was ripped away and he was no longer able to hold on. It was fascinating because he’s not an unemotional child, but this was one instance where he seemed to try to avoid a big emotional weight. The fact that he gave in is a relief. To me it’s an indication that he’s capable of being open and honest. I hope he always knows that we will be there for him when he has these times.

SOTD: 3: Swann Street

Posted in aunties, bad day, communication, cousins, emotions, family, growing, Jake, learning, love, nana, omma, sad, Wes

Wow. I literally walk around with a tinge of guilt for how lax I’ve been in trying to write more. No big excuses, but having a house full of kiddies plus the regular rigmarole of the holidays, well, it actually is pretty difficult. Nez and Jakes, you understand, I’m sure. I think I may attempt to go back to daily blogging once things settle down in February. Until then I’ll be mega-busy with work stuff and visitors. We’ll see.

The dudes are in full-on play mode these days with the cousins. It’s going to be tough on Jake when they leave, very tough. As per usual, he gets attached very easily and it’s been no different with Jae, Un-bin and Su-bin. He literally spends all his waking time with them. In addition to the joys of unwrapping all the cool new stuff on xmas day, they have been all over the island, including the Polynesian Cultural Center and the water park (twice). Nana’s taking them to the movies tonight; I’m sure Yogurtland will be involved.

As for the Nez, well weekdays he’s been spending at the babysitter’s because it’s way more comfy for him. Being dragged around the island kinda sucks when you could care less about the beach. He also is just getting over a fairly major chest cold and bout with hives. It was a fairly weird week last week. He had such heavy congestion one night that I was contemplating a ride to the hospital. I ended up taking him to the dox, but not for the cold. He had red blotches all over his body that would come and go over night. Rashes are of course hard to diagnose, but the dox said likely hives, probably from being sick. Didn’t really go away though.  So over the weekend the babysitter calls and says that she thinks it’s the new milk we started buying at Costco. Kinda coincided with the onset of the red-blotchy/itchy spots. Stopped the milk that day and the hives have disappeared. Weird, other milk is fine for him. He only drinks organic, so there’s something fishy about the brand at Costco (raising red flag). Otherwise, the Nez is as cute as cute gets. His new favorite thing to do is clap. He’ll start clapping, then wait for everyone else. When we respond, he just keeps doing it. Cracks us all up.

Oh, and kudos to his most awesome babysitter for catching the milk allergy.

SOTD: The Hives: Antidote

Posted in aunties, babaysitter, busy, Christmas, cousins, doctor, family, fun, holiday, Jake, love, milk, movie, nana, omma, play, Wes

I’m sitting on the lanai of a Waikiki hotel. We’re staying here for a little pre-Christmas fun because Jake and Wes’ cousins are in town from Korea. As I write this the sun is setting and it’s a perfect reminder of why Hawai’i is such a nice place to live. It’s 74 degrees and there is a perfect trade wind blowing. Perfect.

The cousins being in town made Xmas come early for the dudes. It’s interesting to see Jake’s interaction with them because they are all older than him. The dynamic is different and the he gets all the attention. I don’t think he could be happier at the moment. So far they’ve spent time at the beach and hotel pool; over the next week or so they’ll have Xmas together and will do some island touring, etc. Smiles all around. It’s the cousins’ first time outside of Korea so they are loving the new surroundings.

SOTD: Vampire Weekend: Cousins

Posted in aunties, beach, busy, Christmas, cousins, family, fun, Jake, play, swimming, Wes

Probably wasn’t a good idea to take both the dudes to the dox on the same day. They happened to both be due for a check-up, so we brought both of them on Friday last. Jake was awesome about the entire process, Wes unfortunately  not so much so.

This was the first time Jake had a series of tests outside of being weighed and the usual throat, chest, etc. exams. He did a hearing and an eye test, the latter requiring him to read letters. I knew he could read letters but I thought he might be nervous about the test and hence flub it. He passed both with flying colors. Gotta say, I was even a little proud of the boy for being so calm and mature about the process. I thought he might get a little bummed at the end when I informed him (always wait until the end) that he was going to have to get shots. Not even that frazzled him. Quite the trooper. (BTW, he’s also apparently a little overweight. He eats a fairly healthy diet, but the thing is he eats a lot. Not worried at the moment, but as an overweight child myself, it’s a goal to make sure he doesn’t have to go through what I did. He’s active, so we’re going to monitor the amount of food intake for the moment.)

The Nez had a harder time with the doxperience. He’s smart in the sense that as soon as we got out of the car and he saw the building he started to well up and he hugged me tight. By the time we got inside he was crying and basically didn’t stop the entire time. It would have been easier if both omma and I could have stayed with him, but because we were with the Jakes too, we had to split the duty. The worst, of course, were the shots. He had three and I had to hold him for all three. As a parent, it’s one of the worst things to have to watch. Your heart hurts when you know he is experiencing pain. Read on.

Ironically, the next morning was perhaps the hardest and most heart-wrenching pain experience yet with Wes. Long story short, he burned two fingers and a small spot on his hand. He stepped up on the oven drawer and put his hand on a burner that had been off for a few minutes. Who knows how bad it would have been had it been on. We all know what burns feel like. The pain comes in waves and he cried for about an hour. We put it under cold water, had him grab ice, and blew on the area a lot. Both omma and I took turns holding him. We both wanted to cry and take the pain away for him. It was tough. Since then he’s been completely fine, but he has two blisters that we are monitoring.

By the afternoon he was in good spirits so we went to the park to ride bikes with Odin and Keegan. Jake is a full on speed demon on the bike. Amazing how fast he can ride. Down side is that he may be doing jumps any day now.

SOTD: Bombay Bicycle Club: What If

Posted in Ala Moana, bad day, bicycle, bike, emotions, fear, fun, hospital, Jake, omma, sick, sunday, Wes

Jake finished his first Korean class today. Aside from this certificate, he also got pizza, which, by the way, is the same word in both English and Korean (and Italian).

Posted in Jake, language, learning, school

Jake decided to make a dish for his lunch tomorrow: Brussels sprouts, red pepper, lime, Lilikoi, jelly, cheese, tofu and Perrier. He tasted it and said it “tastes really good.”

Posted in food, Jake

I don’t know if this goes for all parents, but I often wonder if I’m doing enough with my kids. They are the most precious things in my life and I care deeply for them, but am I “doing” enough with them? Our daily routine is simple: wake, wash, go to our respective places to spend the day, go home, eat, rest/relax, bed. Sure, there are small variances to the routine, but in general that’s the way it goes. On the weekend we try to accomplish one big task. For example, this weekend we’ll get a Christmas tree and put it up. Sounds simple, but with Jakes’ moods and Wes’ want to walkabout wherever we are, it becomes quite a task.

My wonder is about the small things. Are we spending enough time with Jake doing academic stuff? He’d much rather watch TV, but I’m—at this point—not worried that it’s too much. Are we encouraging him to pursue his hobbies? He likes a lot of things, but I’m not sure we’re spending enough time letting him explore them. We seem not to have the time to put towards these things and they are obviously important.

I don’t necessarily think it’s a problem at this point because we’re so busy and Wes is actually at an age where simply walking out the door is a task in itself. Omma and I just wish we had more time and I honestly think that we’re doing as much as we can in terms of breaking the regular routine. We’re both very aware of making their lives as fulfilling as possible and will strive to do that.

Bottom line here: When is Jake going to learn to surf?

SOTD: Casiotone for the Painfully Alone: Holly Hobby

Posted in appa, emotions, family, Jake, missing jake, missing wes, play, sad, Wes

http://www.flickr.com/photos/redjef25/sets/72157628168870831/with/6409517139/

Posted in aunties, holiday, Jake, uncles, Wes