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Another Artist in the Family

I was greeted by Nathan’s primary teacher, Ms. Taylor, and told how amazed they were at his artwork.  Their amazement did not stem from his surprisingly advanced techniques or pleasing aesthetics, but rather from his ability to distinguish characters in his drawings.  It’s the conceptual understanding and implementation of that understanding that amazed them.  His pictures were carried throughout the facility to show the other teachers – all praised him.

Ok, so I’m bragging, but what’s a father to do.  Check them out for yourself.

 

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The Monkey - Notice the use of hair, a specific nose, and even pupils.

The Monkey - Notice the use of hair, a specific nose, and even pupils.

 

 

The Tin Man - Notice the robot-like qualities to the eyes and mouth.

The Tin Man - Notice the robot-like qualities to the eyes and mouth.

 

 

 

Day to Day

Those who know me well, or at least well enough to know what’s been going on in my life, are probably amazed at the seemingly continuous barrage of crisis that comes my way.  I, too, am intrigued by this incredible play of karma in my life.  Does this crisis create stress, sure it does, but stress is a result of the inability to manage crisis, not a direct result of the crisis itself.

I was reminded of a quote by Anton Chekhov (Антон Чехов) the Russian playwrite and author of short stories.

Any idiot can face a crisis – it’s day to day living that wears you out.”

How true is that?  I can tell you that the short-lived crisis come and go, and with each we become a little bit stronger and wiser. These moments of crisis are character builders we’re told.

That day to day living, the stuff we refer to as the drudgery, the chore, the mess, that stuff builds character as well.  It’s build a stability within our character that helps to support us in the times of crisis.  Remember the Karate Kid – wax-on, wax-off, paint-the-fence, scrub-the-floor – those chores gave him the tools for the crisis; and in the end he got the girl.  Cool points awarded: 8-)

The day to day stuff is what gets lost in the shuffle when we’re under crisis, but that’s the last thing that should happen.  We shouldn’t abandon our firm footing in favor of catching the wind.  I’m not just talking chores, either.  The same goes for the care and feeding of our “self” – or at least how we understand our self.  We should continue to work towards self-realization and improvement.  What that actually means is different for everyone.

Relationships too, require the day-to-day care.  Let it sit to take care of itself, it becomes dusty, rusty, and eventually fades.  Hard lessons learned.

I’ve studied living in the moment, I’ve talked the talk, but it’s time to walk the walk.  Living in the moment means not taking things for granted.  What’s here today may be gone tomorrow and with that comes an acknowledgment that one must be with the now or lose it.  Each moment passes quickly – in fact, the first sentence of this post is already well behind us.

I think back to those friends that I’ve lost – Elizabeth and John.  Both were here one day and gone the next – no warning.  Like a novel, I can turn the pages and re-read the previous chapter, but I know the ending and cannot change it.  I can, however, change the future; that’s in my grasp.

An old Buddhist saying:

“If you want to know who you were in your last lifetime, look at what you are doing in this lifetime. If you want to know what you will become in your future lifetime, look at what you are doing in this lifetime.”

This refers to the karmic effect across  lifetimes, but it also shows that there is a link to your past actions and where you are today, and what you get in the future is a result of what you’re doing now.  It also tells us we cannot change our current situation by focusing on the past.  And while, we can hope for a specific future, we cannot get there without working in the present.

Dreams (future) and regrets (past) buy us very little in this world.  Focus and resolve (present) is what matters and is what dreams are truly made of.

 



The Boy is Potty Trained

Well, I think it’s official.  Nathan is potty-trained.

The daycare center had started marking his daily sheets with a large PT to indicate that he was potty trained.  I was a little more cautious at home.  Out of nowhere, he just started telling me, “Daddy, I need to go peeps.” He would run into the bathroom and go.  He’s also stayed dry at night for the most part (sometimes he has too much juice at night).  He also let’s me know when he needs to go “poops,” but is more willing to put that in his pants than the potty if he has to.

He’s been going from morning to night in his Cars underwear and has been staying dry all day.

We’re proud of the little man for this important milestone.

I’ve also been informed that he is ready to move to the next upper class for daycare.  We are waiting on an opening.

Sorry for the short update… but it’s been busy times.

 

Watching Life Grow

I spent most of the day asleep.  I’m still trying to get over my cold and had a difficult time sleeping last night.  Luckily Cailin watched the boy for me so I could sleep.

Tonight, however, as I sit here with my laptop in my lap, I am sitting back watching Nathan do his thing.

First he decided he wanted to draw pictures.  He’s been lying on the ground with his blank sheets of paper and color pencils in hand (though he seems to prefer the orange highlighter).  I asked him what he’s  drawing.  He tells me, “I’m drawing a pirate, AAAARRRRRR!  Dad, can you draw a parrot and a cracker?”

“Sure thing son.”

Then he draws some more pictures and folds/rolls the paper up as best he can.  He hand delivers it to me, “Here, daddy-man.”

I take it, waiting to see what he wants me to do with it.

“Open it up, daddy-man.”

I unfold it, he’s drawn a picture of a giant head with little arms and legs.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“It’s a hat.”

So, now he’s drawing hats on his faces.

I look over at him a little later.  He’s organizing his pencils on the floor.  Hes lining them up end-to-end – pointed-ends to pointed-ends and flat ends to flat ends.  I notice he likes to organize things a lot.  I suppose that’s why he likes puzzles so much.  It would be nice if I could direct this energy and desire into cleaning his room.  I think he prefers orderly chaos.

He’s watching Ni-Hao Kai-Lan.  He likes this show.  It attempts to teach the standard life lessons – not to get mad, try and you’ll succeed, etc…  It also teaches basic Chinese phrases.  Tonight he counted to three in Chinese – Yi, Er, San.  Adding that to his use of Spanish, I’m just amazed.  His vocabulary in general seems to grow leaps and bounds every day.  I think I’ll bring back the flashcards to work on spelling again.  He wasn’t really interested the first time we tried.

We measured him again today.  He’s about a 1/2″ taller than he was in August.  He is 3′ 2″ exactly. Wow!

Watching him walk around the house, puttering here and there, is one of my favorite pastimes.

Each day he grows;  he day he exemplifies what life is about.

Growing up strong!

Growing up strong!

The Creeping Tortoise

One of my favorite books is “There’s a Nightmare in My Closet” by Mercer Mayer.  It’s about a small boy that decides it is up to him to face his nightmare once and for all; a classic story with a classic message.   Mooky and I picked this book up at the Allen Library and have read it over and over again.

The young boy sets up with his pop-gun in hand and waits for the nightmare to come out of his closet.  The nightmare comes out and the boy shoots the nightmare.  When the nightmare begins to cry the young boy tries to get the nightmare to calm down before he wakes up the kid’s parents.  It ends with the boy tucking the nightmare into his bed and they go back to sleep, wondering if there is another nightmare in the closet.  On the last page, while the two are sleeping, another nightmare sticks his head out.

Mooky refers to the second nightmare as the “hippo nightmare” because of its oblong shape.  Ok I get it.

The "Hippo Nightmare"

The "Hippo Nightmare"

He started referring to the first nightmare as the “Creeping Tortoise.”  I was a little perplexed by this one.  I mean I don’t see it; where did he get tortoise?  And even then, why tortoise and not turtle?

The Creeping Tortoise?

The Creeping Tortoise?

Then one day, it dawned on me as we were reading the story and Mooky corrected me.

Not Creeping Toward Me, Creeping Toward Us, Daddy!!!

Not Creeping Toward Me, Creeping Toward Us, Daddy!!!

What a couple weeks…

I’m ready for some relaxing time…

Let’s see… First the Ford Focus died. The combination of slipping off the shoulder of the road and bottoming it out on the asphalt and the lack of oil in the car did it in. The estimated repair cost was $7000 (parts and labor). I donated the car to Texans Can!”Cars for Kids,” and organization that provides alternative education to at-risk youth.  I thought it very appropriate.

Despite the new challenges of being without a car, Jessa has been working hard at school.  She’s on track and being very responsible.  Cailin has jumped in and helped with the transportation issues.  I’m proud of both of them.

Cailin got her first ticket today – speeding.  I know, I know.   I remember when she first started driving and we couldn’t get her past 5 mph.  The speeding was one thing, but it was the fact that she didn’t have her drivers license or her insurance with her that didn’t help the situation.  On top of that I had failed to pay attention to the fact that her vehicle inspection and registration had expired.  Actually, I thought it was good because I just paid it and put the sticker on.  The police recognized my mistake.  I paid for the 2005 Honda Accord and put that sticker on the 1996 Honda Accord.   We’ll work to get it all fixed tomorrow, but I won’t even begin to tell you what the total fine is.  Ouch!

Jessica got a job working with an event planner.  We’ve not quite figured out how to make this all work with only two cars, but we’re taking it a day at a time.

Little Nathan seems to have made a big jump in his speech recently.  His sentences, vocabulary, and concepts are always amazing us.  He’s also been really good with his potty training.  He’s been staying dry at school and for the most part in the evenings as well.

He has been completely off his pacifier for about a month now.  We just got rid of them.  A few nights of asking for them, but otherwise, he’s been completely fine without them.  He’s just a big boy.

He’s been really good at school also.  He has no problem leaving me in the morning to go to class, and he’s always excited when I pick him up.  He runs right over and gives me a hug.  Yesterday, though another kid came running up to me just to say hi.  “HE’S MY DADDY,” said Mooky.  He is actually really polite.

Here are some of my favorite Mooky-isms from recent weeks…

The other day he came up to me, “Daddy, can I have a sucker, pleeeeaasse?  May I have a sucker por favor (while rubbing his tummy in sign language)?”  He got the sucker.

AAAAACCHHHHOOOOO!  “Daddy, I just bless-you’d on my hand.”

“Daddy-man, daddy-man, I have big green poops…  BIIIIIIG poops!”

 

Riding

 

Latest Blog Changes

Again my apologies for all the SPAM sent your way on the recent changes I’ve been making to the site.  I’ve been trying to clean things up a bit and was able to accomplish quite a bit.

The biggest task I had was migrating the old site content to the new site.  As usual I failed to RTFM and didn’t realize there was a simple two-click solution to the problem.  Of course, when I did the two clicks I sent you all over one hundred emails (yes, I got them too).

The good news is that all the adoption and other blog entries from the old site are now migrated completed into this single site.  I realize there are a few posts that are still missing some photos and I’ve got that on my task list.  The majority of the items are intact with comments as well.

I have added the calendar to the page so that you can easily look up older posts.  There are several ways you can find older posts now.

  1. You can use the search feature in the upper left sidebar.
  2. You can select a category from the left sidebar.
  3. You can use the calendar on the right sidebar.

I’ve also made it easier to subscribe/unsubscribe yourself from the blog.  If at anytime you wish to stop receiving email alerts, simply enter your email address and click unsubscribe from the main page.

I’ve been making some other modifications to the theme design to make things a little easier to read.  These may not be so noticeable.

If you experience any problems with the site, please email me.

Violence at Fort Hood

I’ve read with great interest the stories coming out of Fort Hood.  I can only assume others have read these as well.

Such events are devastating to so many; the individuals that lost their lives and their loved ones who will miss them dearly, those injured and survivors who will likely forever be haunted by the experience, and the family members of the suspected shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who will struggle to grasp the situation and may very well never understand or find true closure.

The media is ready to jump all over this story from every angle possible.  The obvious story is that the shooter was a Muslim.  Some journalists have opted for the “Heroes at Fort Hood” view on the events.  Some will focus on the victims, further humanizing the sadness of the event.

We can see already the anger against Muslims as a result of the suspect’s own religious affiliation.  This concerns me greatly.

I’ll come right out and state that I don’t doubt the danger of Muslim extremists.  But let’s be honest, are they true Muslims?  If an individual bombed an abortion clinic and said, “Jesus commanded me to do it,” would we claim that person to be a true member of the flock?  Not likely.  The act does not match the words and teachings of Jesus, so Christians can easily disavow themselves of any responsibility.  But Christians are eager to all jump up against the Muslim community for this man’s act.

Granted, we can show a pattern of malicious acts carried out by “Muslims.”  Ok, I’ll buy that.  But then can’t we do the same for Christians?  There were the Crusades, the Salem Witch Hunt, and even Slavery was supported by churches in the south.  I will concede on the last one that Christian abolitionists were key to the movement to abolish slavery.  But still, Christians have just as much of a history of violence under their banner as do Muslims.

And let me tell you, us Buddhists are not immune from this either.  Sri Lanka has had its share of violence at the hands of militan Buddhists (ok, that just doesn’t even sound right).  Muslims and Christians were forced from their homes in Sri Lanka by these “Buddhists.”

In the very heart of the matter is the individual.  As an individual we all seek the same thing – happiness.  The majority of us have absolutely no clue how to achieve it.  We try everything from buying that nice new Mercedes to spending a week long vacation in Maui on the credit card.  Some of us even commit crimes out of the need to satisfy what we believe will make us happy – sometimes what makes people happy is making others less happy.

We must always be vigilant when it comes to our judgments.  Are they based on reality or fear?

And on that note, what is reality?  Do we even know, or is it simply the illusion created by the reflections of the media, our past experiences, and the inability to see beyond our own faith.  All these elements (and more) feed into our fears and we can then justify the reality we’ve created.

Think about it.  We all know someone we just don’t like.  We think they are the worst person on the face of the planet.  But when you look closer, you see that individual has friends and people who think quite the opposite of what we believe.  Can we both be right?  Of course not, we’re both wrong.  The truth is always somewhere in between.  I am not the person you praise, nor am I the person you criticize.  Those are just your perceptions of who I am, and they are likely based on small bits of knowledge and not the whole picture.

Are we doing the same thing with Muslims?  Are they doing the same for Christians?  Of course, and that’s the problem.

According to reports on the Fort Hood tragedy, Major Hasan, experienced a lot of ridicule for being Muslim.  In fact, I would bet that most people that read the story of Fort Hood responded with, “Ah, but of course,” when his name was first revealed.  We’ve predetermined that Muslims are evil.  We no longer look to the individual, whether they’re standing in line next to us at the bank, at the airport, in our schools, or on the news.

I don’t want to give the impression that I feel this individual’s actions were justified.  By no means is such violence justified.  But if we are to put a stop to the violence, we must understand what feeds it.

This was man caught in the middle of a conflict, and I’m not just talking the conflict between Iraq and the U.S.  He was a Muslim in a military organization that was presently fighting against Muslims (ok, we’re really fighting the terrorists, but I can guarantee you that’s not the term being used in the military – they’re fighting the Muslims).  He was a psychiatrist who was supposed to be the calm and rational mind that could help those whose battle stress required such professional help – who did he have to turn to for his?

Perhaps our own fear creates the very nightmare we’re afraid of.

Mooky Rockin’ Out!

After cleaning out the car, Mooky wanted to rock out!!!

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

Halloween

This year was a very different Halloween.  Jessa was sick, and Cailin went out with friends.  It was up to Mooky and I to hit the town.

This was Mooky’s first Halloween.  At least it was the first Halloween he dressed up for and went out for.

Mooky, after much debate, decided on the Tin Man.  Very close to the original idea of the Scarecrow – at least it was from the same film.  He liked the Tin Man because it was “like a robot.”

Here is Mooky doing the Tin Man “De Niro Style.”

“Hey, you talking to me?”

mooky-tin-man_02

It started off at work.  Every year we have a parade that everyone comes out to see.  The children from the daycare and from associates who’s children are not in day care will walk through the office complex.  Stationed strategically throughout the parade route are tables where candy is given to the little “trick-or-treaters.”

Mooky and Brenna are ready to go.  They’re great friends and Mooky always looks forward to seeing Brenna at school.  Gotta just love her curly hair.

Mooky and Brenna

The parade went well.  Mooky really got the hang of it – “Trick or Treat – Wow – Thank You!”  Dad also taught him to play the crowd.  He smiled and waved to his endearing fans.  Most just yelled, “oh, look the Tin Man.”  Every now and then he was greated with the scream of, “Mooky!!!”  He is so loved.  He had all the gals at work “oohing” and “aahhing” I started to wonder if he was not the Tin Man, but a Chick Magnet.

Here he is blazing the trail.  His teachers, Ms. Taylore (left) and Ms. Annabelle  (left) just behind him.  Dad forgot to bring a treat bucket, so he had to slum it with a Target bag.

Mooky Blazing the Trail mooky-tin-man_05

After completing the round for the parade, we looked over and saw our friend Shelley and her daughter Cate.  Cate was dressed as Abby Cadabby, a fairly new character on Sesame Street.  They called us over and Mooky got to get a second round in (read – lots more candy).  Every now and then someone would say, “hey didn’t we see you already.”

Mooky and Cate…

Mooky and Cate

Overall it was a good experience and a fun event.  Some families get really into it and bring their kids in wagons that are decorated as an entire scene for their characters.  We’re already looking forward to next year.  Maybe we’ll decide to go all out with some fancy setup.

On Halloween, we decided to not do the normal neighborhood haunts and opted for a couple of the local events, both of which occurred during lit hours so we didn’t have to be out too late.

We went to Scare on the Square first.  In old-town Rockwall there are the historic buildings that house some really neat mom-and-pop shops and other stores.  They all hung outside and offered the trick-or-treaters candy.  The cake shop was the big hit, however.  They had made cookies and brought out sprinkles and frosting and let the kids decorate their own cookies.

There was a cotton candy machine and they were handing it out to the kids (and parents luckily).  Mooky did not want anything to do with eating fuzz.

Overall this was a nice event on the old historic square.  He came away with a large amount of candy and had a really good time.

We then went to the Firewheel Mall (an outdoor mall) and attended an event put on by the First Baptist Church of Garland, The Fall Festival.  This one was kind of a bummer.  It was very large with games, ponies, bounce houses, and  Radio Disney.  Heck even the Six Flags Guy was there (maybe not the original, but an official one).

The games were simple carnival style – throw the hoop around the stick, toss the bean bag through the hole, etc…  Play the game, get the candy – simple  enough?  Well the problem was that there were so many people there it took forever to play the game.  Mooky and I would wait in line for 5-10 minutes on a game and they would give him two small pieces of candy.  Nice concept, just didn’t work well.

We decided to walk the shops and get candy from the shop owners, but by the time we did that, many were out of candy.  Victim of their own success.  In the end he got tired of walking and got a little cranky.  So, being the dad that I am, I treated him to some ice cream and cookies. :)   That woke him up enough to get him back to the car and home.

I think he enjoyed the overall experience of Halloween and will be excited when it comes around again.