The Difference Between Candid and Posed

Candid.

Candid.

Candid.

Candid.

TAKE MAH PIKSHUR, MOMMY!!!! 

Posed. Heh. 

A Little Piano In the Morning

During the day, I am Mom, Mommy, Mama. After school, three days a week, I am Teacher, Miss LoLo, or Sister LoLo. I teach piano to a dozen or so kids, and have done for the better part of 8 years. With that many students cycling through the house, week after week, year after year, my own munchkins were bound to pick up a little bit of something. It warms my heart when I see my kids naturally doing what they've seen me drill into students, over and over. 

Sit up straight. 

Ignore distractions.

Fingers curved. 

Wrists flat. 

Eyes on the music. 

(My kids, and all of my students, use the Piano Adventure series from Faber & Faber. It is available on Amazon, or in any local music shop. SJ is in the pre-reading books, and I absolutely love them. Lessons take 10-15 minutes each, there is very minimal "homework", and they spend a lot of time just getting the kids to form new levels of hand-eye coordination. This is just FYI, and completely my opinion. Other than having my info on file as a teacher, Faber & Faber has no idea I exist or talk about them. Just so's you knows.)

Why We Love our Local Children's Museum

We buy family membership fee to our local children's museum every year, and in return we have a place to land every time we need to kill time while one parent does "boring shopping" at the mall, or the little kids just need a change of scenery while Ming Wai is at school. 

One of the kids' favorite activities at the museum is the art table. There is always a new, interesting, messy project going down. They just gobble it up! 

Where else will an adult hand you a squeeze bottle of salt and tell you to "go to town"??! 

This idea, though? Seriously, a little genius. I can get a 25 pound bag of salt at Costco for about $3.50. If I set the kids up with a foam mat, like the one in the picture, and a funnel, in the driveway, they could have a lot of fun this summer! 

This Week: December 13, 2013

On Sunday, after church, the kids and I put together a gingerbread house kit, from Costco. And when I say "the kids and I", I mean that I really wanted to build a gingerbread house kit, and I let the kids put the candy exactly where I told them to. Because I'm nice like that. I did, however, give them free reign over the gingerbread men - I put the frosting exactly where they told me to. Again - nice. 

After the excitement of the gingerbread houses, Lo Gung and I went back to church to perform a 30 minute duet/solo set as entertainment/background music during a Nativity Festival. (Our entire building is transformed. There is a room dedicated to the life of Christ, another with activities for children, another showing Christmas movies, another full of nativities that children would like to look at, and the gym was home to 522 nativities from around the world, displayed with dozens of fake Christmas trees and almost as many poinsettias. Absolutely stupendous.) Our 30 minute set was followed by another 30 minute set, with my siblings and their girlfriends/housemates/spouses. It was glorious.  I absolutely love singing with my brothers and sisters!

(Nana W with Ernie, MiMi, Cocoa, and my little Ming Wai as the angel. D'aww. This was taken in the room at the festival that was full of costumes and a professional photographer.) 

On Monday, the doorbell rang during dinner. It was the cousins, and Nana! They were on their want to Great Grandma and Grandpa W's house for family night, and had some extra cupcakes. That looked like reindeer. Because that's how the W family rolls. (My sister and her husband were away this week, celebrating their anniversary, in Hawaii. Nana flew in to take care of the kids, and as near as I can tell, everyone involved was in paradise all week.) Oh, and Lo Gung flew to Reno for a business trip. It was 6 degrees. He wasn't in paradise. 

On Tuesday, I worked on a super secret project (ssshhhh) and forgot that I had a haircutting appointment. But my hairdresser called me, and I was meeting her at a house two minutes from here, so all was good. Kind of love my new cut! 

On Wednesday, Lo Gung came home, and he had Lego sets for the kids. Because he always stays at a hotel that is about 5 minutes from Target when he goes to Reno, and there's nothing to do in Reno besides wander Target...so. Legos. 

On Thursday...oh, Thursday. Thursday, I decided that that was the day I was going to try out a new recipe for bread dough. See, I've been trying for nearly two years to recreate the fluffy, sweet rolls you can get in Hong Kong style bakeries. I could get the fillings, but the dough portion escaped me. Then I found a little blog post about the "tong jung" method - basically, you cook a roux of water and flour until it is thick, cool it down, and mix that into your bread dough. The super-saturated flour acts as a perfect dough enhancer, and gives you awesome fluffy, stretchy dough. Gorgeous. I finally made some yummy buns! Thanks to...old fashioned school paste. 

Thursday night was the Christmas Recital for my little piano studio. 13 students, age 4-14. They all played beautifully, and I couldn't be more proud of them. It takes some serious guts to get up in front of 50 people you may or may not know and play the piano for them. We always wrap up with a potluck style treat buffet, so it's pretty much a win-win for everyone. 

We interrupt this journaling attempt with some gratuitous photos of my cute baby. She gets into everything, and I take pictures of her instead of stopping her. I'm awesome like that. 

Moving on. 

Friday. On Friday, my middle child turned 5. When I asked him how he felt, being 5 and all, he said, "I feel great! I feel like I am...finally free of 4!" 

Me too, buddy, me too. 

We kicked off the day with "just one present, Daddy!" (who worked from home today). That present just happened to be the video game that he and Daddy have been drooling over since Thanksgiving. So, of course, 45 minutes later when it was time to leave to get SJ to his annual doctor's checkup on time, he was still sitting on the floor, moving his Skylander from one obstacle to the next. Good thing he's such a good sport in the morning! I stripped his clothes off him, shoved him into some sweats, put one of yesterday's buns into his hand, and shooed him off to the car. And we were off! It was a busy day. Exam for SJ (perfect bill of health!), Kindergarten vaccines administered (two in each arm- yowch!). Ying Ying got her second dose of the flu vaccine, which she didn't love, but both kids were total troopers. After that, it was off to Walmart for birthday party supplies, and then a well-earned trip to the Children's Museum. From there, it was a Happy Meal from the drive-thru, and home to give the baby a nap. I made a second batch of buns (coconut buns this time - YUM), and SJ's birthday cake. At 3:30, Ming Wai was home and the cousins came over for a birthday party. They decorated paper sacks, then filled them with candy and the cheap little party favors that make a kids party...a kid's party. We went with an Avengers Theme. It was awesome. The kids played, we ate some cake, and then it was time to head out for dinner! Toys Cafe was the birthday boy's choice - he needed him some seaweed salad and "slurpy noodles" (chou min, or house-made udon noodles, in broth). After dinner, we took our traditional Birthday Kid Trip to Toys R' Us so the birthday child can spend the $3 gift card they all receive from the store for their birthdays. This year, SJ chose a small Lego set. Shocking. 

And...more pictures of the baby. Birthday boys aren't good at staying still!

And that...is that. I can't say that 5 years has flown by...but I can absolutely say that I am fiercely in love with my bundle of energy boy. He is curious, and energetic, and passionate, and creative, and smart. Oh, this boy is smart. He lives to build things. Anything. I am so very proud of my brilliant, handsome little man, and excited to see what our next year with him will bring! 

Oh, SJ...

Today? Oh, kids. Today. SJ was just so tired. From about 12:30pm on, every disappointing thing just made him melt into a puddle of distraught tears. By dinner time, I decided it was just time to bump the clock forward and go straight to bedtime. We finished eating, and threw the kids into the bath. After that, it was time for the baby to feed and Lo Gung gave the kids some fruit.

Brushed the teeth...read some stories...lights were out by 8:10. Success! I threw the baby around my hip, and went downstairs to make some cookies for church tomorrow. As I was scooping up the dough, I heard wailing from upstairs. I quickly threw the baby into Lo Gung's lap and ran up the stairs.

I was greeted by SJ, standing in his bedroom doorway, clutching his dirty white blanket, and sobbing. There was a little blood on the blanket, and a little more on his lip. I scooped him up and took him into the bathroom to get him cleaned up. I dabbed at him with a clean towel and tried to calm him down. He was trying to explain to me what had happened, but I couldn't understand him. Suddenly, I stopped. By that point, Lo Gung had made it upstairs. "Dude...where is your tooth???!"

Lo Gung found it on his bedroom floor. SJ apologized over and over, but all I could do was hug him. "Uhh...dude? It doesn't matter how sorry you...I can't fix this. You won't have a tooth for the next three years!"

The story finally came out - He was jumping on his bed, and must have decided to land face down on his pillow. He miscalculated, and instead landed teeth-first on the corner of his bed stand, which sits at the head of his bed. (Well, it USED to. Now it's across the room, tucked away in a corner. We're contemplating taking away his entire bed. He has had bad luck with mattresses - two years ago, he wrapped his neck in the cord from some window blinds, and jumped off a bed. He had a scar around his neck for months.)

We're lucky that our dentist is a family friend. I called him up, just to see what the next step was. There is no next step. A little Tylenol, another hug...and a tooth in a baggie. We haven't decided if we're going to present this one to the Tooth Fairy for her blessings. We're still just a little peeved!

Full Disclosure - I typed this up while watching ANTM, and there is so much in my head that isn't translating to paper. It's so hard to see your kids make mistakes...and so heart-breaking that there are no do-overs in life. I just keep telling myself - at least it was something that will grow back. No broken bones. Yet. With SJ, you just never know. But now...his outsides match his crazy insides! *sigh*

Pictures of the new smile will come later...

The YanYan Principle

This afternoon, my in-laws disappeared for a little while. Neither of the big kids knew where they had gone, so they took turns asking me every 3 minutes if I knew where MaMa and YehYeh were. Since I didn't realize they had left, I certainly had no idea where they had gone...a notion that didn't seem to faze them. 

When MaMa and YehYeh did return, however, they were carrying a few bags of groceries, from our local Asian market. Apparently, it was time to replenish the larders. Tucked into one of the bags were two containers of little YanYan crackers - sweet-ish biscuit sticks with frosting on the side for dipping. Ming Wai squealed out a thank you, and then turned to me. "I'm going to put this away for later, so I can share it with MaMa!"

Siu Jeun grabbed his, ripped the paper off the top, and immediately started scooping out the biggest globs of frosting he could manage, as quickly as he could. 

"I like the frosting, Mommy."

Yes, my darling boy, I can see that. 

And honestly - why ration out the best part across all 12 crackers if you don't want the crackers. Just eat the best part, as quick as you can, and move on! We will call this The YanYan Principle. 

Siu Jeun had A Day

Today was one of those days that I just felt like hiding from my middle child. Bless his heart, he has loads and loads of ideas. And I have loads and loads of reasons why those ideas aren't great ones. Unfortunately, for both of us, his brain works way faster than his mouth. By the time he's verbalized his idea, his brain has already decided to go through with it, so he never hears my protests or explanations.

This boy stretches me in so many ways...I think to myself, often, that Women raising Little Men has to be one of the best jokes in the cosmos. The one person in the house who may be able to relate to this brilliant little engineer of mine spends the majority of the day at an office ten miles away. Leaving me to fend for myself!

Let's see...today's examples.
1. On our way to the kids' gym class this morning, Siu Jeun turns to his sister in the car and says, "Let's have a foot fight!" They start kicking each other, laughing, and yelling. It was all in good fun, but...seriously. We all know that something called a "foot fight" can't end until someone is crying. I started to explain. Please use your inside voice. Please keep your hands and feet to yourself. Please calm down in the car, the baby is trying to fall asleep.
"Yes, ma'am."
A few minutes later, he takes a small blanket he was holding, and threw it over the seat in front of him so it landed on the baby. I pulled over and asked him to take the blanket OFF of the baby, as I couldn't see if it was covering her face and, besides, it made her cry to have stuff thrown onto her.
I look back in the rearview mirror, and see that he is completely serene. Too serene. Serene as in...every thing I've said in the past five minutes about not throwing, not kicking, not yelling...it's gone. And he's starting the Foot Fight game again with his sister. *sigh* I pulled out my calmest inner zen, and said, "Siu Jeun...buddy....in a few minutes you're going to be in trouble, and you're going to have no idea why. Please just be calm." I continue talking, and check the mirror to gauge his reaction. Well, his "reaction" was to pick up his blanket, grinning, paying no attention to me at all, and throw it onto the baby again.
Would it surprise you to find out that he got in trouble? Well, it certainly surprised him! Suddenly, Mommy was Mad. Really mad. Yelling mad. "You are in trouble now! Just like I said! You can't throw stuff onto the baby's face! You can't throw stuff at all!" And a lot more stuff along that line of reasoning. Again, the completely surprised face. I'm pretty sure all he hears all day is "blah blah blah blah blaaaaaaah no nonono blah blah blaaaaaah".
We made it to gym class, and he had forgotten all about it.

2. Back home from gym class, it was time for lunch so we could get Ming Wai off to school. The kids went outside to take care of the chickens. When Siu Jeun came back, there was some mud on the hem of his pants. "Mom, can I take a bath? I'm all dirty!" "Uh, buddy...it's time to get into the car to take Ming Wai to school. You can have a bath when you get home." "Awwwww, Mom!!!!! FINE. I just have to go potty!" He races up the stairs, to use the bathroom. A minute later, I give the final warning - time to get in the car. "But Mooooooooom!!!! I want a baaaaath!!!!" My genius has removed all of his clothes. And it's time to get in the car. He forgot about all of that. I swear he didn't do it on purpose. He simply forgot between the first stair and the last that we were leaving in 90 seconds. He wanted a bath.
We made it to school on time, and he got his bath when we got home.

Then it was noon. The rest of the day went a lot like the morning. He needs fewer words. A LOT fewer words. Unfortunately, that would mean that all I'd say to him is "no." All. Day. Long. *sigh* Being four is tough.

(Photo by Simply Sonja Photography)

PhotoOp: Siu Jeun “reads”

Ok, this video is several months old at this point, but I just found it on my video camera…and I had to share. (Sorry – my blog, my rules!)

 

So, around the time I recorded this, Ming Wai had memorized her entire Sleeping Beauty story book. She loved to “read” it to herself, and gave special emphasis to the part about how Sleeping Beauty DIES. After pricking her finger on a SPINDLE.

 

As you can see, it had quite an effect on her little brother.

My Dudes

 

As of right now, my home is evenly divided. Two dudes, two girls. I hear, quite often, that Ming Wai and I look alike. I just grin and say thank you. I think it’s quite a complement!

 

I have heard from my husband’s relatives that Siu Jeun looks just like him at that age.

 

 

(This face just kills me. He’s always been such a ham, and he’s trying to look “upset”, but the look never makes it to his mouth. It’s pretty funny.)

So, I leave it to you guys. Do my two favorite dudes look alike?? Honestly, I think Siu Jeun looks quite a bit like my brothers.

The Problem with Jewelry

Jewelry is a funny thing, right? I mean you get it, and you’re all happy. You wear it around, show it off…you get a little rush.

But then…that rush starts to fade. What was once your most treasured bauble becomes just commonplace. Everyone has seen it, nobody is impressed…and you’re feeling a little blue.

Then, the unthinkable happens. It’s gone. And you. want. it. back.

Mmm…delicious, Mommy! Mommy, it’s all gone. Can I have another one?

……

What do you mean, there aren’t any more??!

Life’s just not fair, kid. Especially where jewelry is involved. And candy.

Actually, especially where candy is involved. Remember that. It will serve you well in a few years.

Sincerely,
Your (mean) Mama

PS – Yes, I’m awful for taking, and posting those pictures…but I want to save them for posterity! SJ’s temper tantrums are short-lived, but quite animated. We’re talking 2-3 minutes of fist pounding, face smacking, floor stomping crying. And then? He’s done. You’ve just got to get through those three minutes without giving in…

PPS – Did you see what I did there? His was blue…and now he feels bl….oh, never mind.