ANGRY

Feeling kind of bothered at the moment. No, not at Jake. I DVR'd the US Men's Soccer Match and found out that they decided to move it to another ESPN when it was supposed to air. Really disappointing. Tried to email a complaint, but their contact form is defective. Figures.

Good day otherwise. Ate dins with nana, although she didn't actually eat (ate earlier). Jake was in a pretty fussy mood all day. As soon as he woke he cried and followed by crying about everything that didn't go his way, which he felt was pretty much...yep, everything.
These pictures are courtesy of nana taken on Saturday. Nice pix.

Song of the Day: The Stranglers: Golden Brown

Week...end

Saturday, dinner, Lina, Sunhee, Peter, soju, tired, hoi, Jake, Lina, fun, morning, Ohana Music, nana, botanical garden, picnic, bread, ducks, nap, dinner.Sunday, me, surf, Jake, omma, home, bathers, home, clean, play, Costco, Kate, birthday, Tiki's, dinner...sleep.

Song of the Day: Pigeon John: Hello Everybody

Roh More

No post yesterday. Went to the baseball game. Tournament, so the game started late (and finished late). Bows lost a heartbreaker in the bottom of the 9th. Won today though.

Did take a pic of the Jakers early in the AM. He asked to "pee pee," but didn't actually go. He likes sitting on the pot.
Today we went to Lina's for dinner. I think we were all exhausted. I know I was. Jake ate well (chun-chon, we eat there A LOT). He played with Lina and all was good. Slept on the way home.I had one of those moments this evening when I looked at Jake and it just totally amazed me that he was my blood, my family, my son. He IS Sujin and I. It's amazing. Blows me away. I can't put in words how much love I have for him.

Song of the Day: The Walkmen: In the New Year

Same Same

Today's post could be very similar to yesterday's, but rather than rehash the whole thing, I'll just say that I tried a little harder today when things got difficult. Example later.

Today was a unique day in that I spent the entire thing with Jake. The babysitter was moving so it was all me. The gist: breakers at Whole Foods, school to get my papers to grade, oil change, home for nappers/cleans, lunch with omma (ramen), park for slides down the hill (Kakaako WP) on cardboard boxes, and dinner with Lina at chun-chon. That's where the fun began.

As per usual these days, Jake has about 5-6 bites of food, then gets antsy and starts saying "Omma" in a whiny voice whilst out-stretching his arms (toward omma). We usually take him out of the highchair and he proceeds to, well, do whatever he wants. Today it was open the cooler door, run around, pull stuff off the table, etc. etc. In light of what I wrote yesterday, I decided to try a new tact. I took him outside and for the first time used the dreaded "timeout." I told him what was appropriate behavior, asked if he was ready to go in the restaurant, etc. He kept saying "ne" (yes), so I took him in. He went right back to refusing the highchair/eating. I took him back out, except this time to the car, and talked to him. He listened to me, answered when I asked him questions, and showed he wanted to go back in. I did this about 4 times. I think it was a success. He knows what a timeout is now, and did sit and eat nicely for a while. Patience.

Sunhee suggested that he was too young to get right/wrong. He is in many ways, but he's also understanding what we're saying. He's smart. I think based on this fact it's OK to introduce limits, and that was my goal tonight.

An example of his intelligence: He has a box with 12 miniature Disney (Lion King, Cinderella, etc.) books in it. Each book is about 3"X3". This afternoon we were sitting on the couch and he said "appa" and pointed at a picture of one of the books on the back of the box (all 12 are represented there) and said "No!" I turned the box around, looked for the book, and sure enough, there were 11 books; the one he pointed to was missing. Freaked me out.

Song of the Day: Jimmy Cliff: I Can See Clearly Now

Pre-Birth

Whew. Juts got back from omma's birthday outing at Bucca di Beppo's. The company (Leah, Odin, Leah's dad, Matt, Kate, Cyndy, Eric, Sunhee and Lina) was great, but overall it was rough. One of those dinners that just was weird from the beginning. The waiter wasn't around, he didn't organize the birthday song, and Jake was not having the sitting down stuff. Can't blame him, sometimes he'll just be bored sitting there. I took him out several times. Once I just spoke to him like he was older, like he should understand why he has to sit nicely. It was interesting, I gave my talk, he listened and answered "yes" to every one of my questions. I asked if he was ready to sit and eat. He said yes, and he did. He ate, very well, and then wanted to get up again. Overall it was more the restaurant's fault than his.

Song of the Day: Peter Tosh: Get Up, Stand Up

The Long and Winding Weekend

Not only did I not post on Friday, I didn't even take a picture! My apologies Jakey. It was a long day and I didn't get home until late. Jake went with omma and nana to eat dinner while I went to the baseball game. Apparently it didn't go well. He was fussy the whole time. They left early actually. Jake wasn't feeling well and we thought he was getting sick. He woke up Saturday OK, although he does have a cold.

Saturday was long and fun. Ohana Music in the AM. Jake was pretty active this week and behaved well. I love watching him interact with the other kids. There are too many though, they shouldn't have such a large group. Afters we met nana, went to Target and had lunch in Kapolei, where we went to a store for organizing stuff. In the afternoon we went to the AMST picnic for a short time. Omma wanted to meet Sunhee, so I went to the baseball game. Afters I went over to their place. It was 9:00 and Jake was still awake. He was obviously tired, but kept playing. He eventually went into Lina's room and laid in her bed (she was sleeping in the living room). Jake asked me to lay next to him and I sang while he fell asleep. It is and will be one of the greatest memories I have with him. Incredible.

Today was Leah's baby shower. Jake got to play with a lot of friends so he was happy. He was also pretty fussy too though. He threw a couple of tantrums, mostly for not getting what he wanted. Worries me when that happens. Don't like to see him so emotional. Seems like it was just a today thing though. I hope that's the case.

Song of the Weekend: The Verve: Lucky Man

Bizzy J

Internet was down last night (again), so no post. No worries, yesterday's pic is below.

Busy 2 days. Yesterday nana and I took him shopping and to Whole Foods for some chow. Nana made dinner for all of us.

Today was the typical busy Saturday. Ohana Music first thing, then swim. Jake was up for the music, but he gets tired at swim time. We're not going to sign him up for next session. He's still too young for it. At Ohana Music Jake was kind of shy again, but he warmed up toward the end. He's a good kid. We're really lucky. I can't express enough just how blessed I feel to have him in my life. I love him and I love Sujin. I'm very, very lucky.


In the eve we went to see Jang, Sa-ik at the Korean temple in Palolo with Lina and 'rents. It was fun. but Jake wasn't too interested. He got to play though, so he was happy.

Song of the Day: The Fixx: Red Skies

Edit

Jake, dad, park, jungle-gym (hate that word for some reason), little league baseball, mom, Dalkkalbi-jip, Lina, spice, chicken butt, noodles, play, fun, soju (no), water (yes), goodbye, sleep.

Song of the Day: Camper van Beethoven: All Her Favorite Fruit

East of Ewa

First time since I started this thing that I didn't blog for two consecutive days. Couldn't help it, the house is still all messed. Did take the pix though and will post them here.

Saturday he felt better for sure. Started his Music Together back up (switched to Saturday), then we did some shopping and such. He was definitely more fussy, perhaps it was the post-sickness mood. We got a new washer and dryer at Sears in the late morning. Admittedly it was perhaps one of the most trying times I've had with him. He wanted to wander and pull stuff off shelves and such. I lost my patience because I realized he has very few limitations. He does what he wants and when he doesn't get it he screams. I decided then that we have to start being more stern with him in terms of not getting everything he wants. I don't know, maybe he's too young, but he's in the beginning stages of being spoiled, and I don't think that's a good way to be. He slept several hours during the day, which at the time was great, but Saturday night was perhaps his worst night ever in terms of sleep. The first time he woke was about 12, then he never really slept for more than 20 minutes after that. It was bad. He had no fever, so we thought maybe it was just that he wasn't tired, perhaps hungry (he didn't eat a big dinner), or just not feeling well.

Sunday was Easter, and his fever was completely gone. Had brunch at Duke's in the AM. He was still fussy though and made Lina cry several times by taking stuff away from her while they were playing at Odin's house. We went there for egg coloring and dinner. It was fun, but his fussiness is worrying us a little.

Song of the Day: Sea Wolf: Middle Distance Runner

The Many Faces of Baseball

Busy, busy day.

The AM seemed quite tame, but things ramped up in the afternoon. Jake woke at 6:00. I was on the couch because he got up sometime in the middle of the night and wanted to sleep with mom. I figure it was the weekend, so it wouldn't matter. When he woke he came into the living room to wake me up. I was so intent on sleeping more. Oh well, such is life with the Jakers.

Tooled around from 6-11. I made grilled cheese for Jake and mom; we read some, cleaned some; had a shower. It was a wonderful morning. At about 11 we went to Costco for mom's work stuff. Afters, we planned to go to the baseball game.

Wasn't quite sure how the baseball game was going to work out considering Jake is a wanderer. It was fine, but he was restless at times. The 'Bows won, so a good time was had by all at Jake's second ever baseball game.

We then went to Peter's work to work out bathroom stuff, Home Depot to pick out appliances, and dinner at Shillawon (kalbi) with Lina and her grandparents. Fabulous Sunday. Couldn't be better.

New notice today: Jake's facial expressions. Today he frowned a lot. Yeah, frowned. It was funny. He looked so deliberate in wanting to let us know he didn't like something. Funny because it was obviously fake. He was doing it purposefully, like he was trying out a new thing he just learned. He took it to the next level a couple of times and cried when it wasn't called for, like when mom ran into the house for a sec (he's never done this). He's obviously testing his own emotions.

He also expanded his vocab. On the way in at the end of the day I grabbed the apples from costco, which I carried into the house with Jake on the other arm. I said once, "Jake, what's this? SA-GWA," which is "apple" in Korean. By the time we reached the building he was saying "ah-pul!" repeatedly. I have no idea where he heard apple before, but he said it over and over, "Ah-pul!!" Blew me away, as he usually does.

Song of the Day: The Faces: Ooh La La

Swim With the (plastic) Octopi

Saturday; tired. Gonna make it short. Jake had swim lessons in the AM and went with mom to Odin's place to hang out and play. Lina was there too. Dins with nana (pizza).Song of the Day: Mudhoney: Into the Drink

Nene for the JJ

Went to the zoo to kill a little time before picking up mom. As per Jake's modus operandi these days, we only walked about 1/4 of the grounds due to his fascination with water fountains and now benches, which he loves to climb on whenever he sees one. We did see the elephants, monkeys, turtles, and the nene shelter/duck pond. He had fun, but he HATES riding in the stroller now and seems to hate walking in a strait line as well.


Dinner with Lina and Sunny at choon-chung. Delish, but Jake was, you guessed it, restless. Had odaeng-guk and rice for eats.


Song of the Day: Pixies: Monkey Gone to Heaven

Shiftful When He’s Swimless

No blog last night. Mom and I went to see a k-pop concert with Peter and Sunhee. We didn’t pick up the Jakers until 10. He was awake when we arrived at the babysitter’s place. He was probably waiting for us to get there before sleeping. Sujin swears he was angry when we dropped him off. Not so sure about that, but it’s possible.

The day was fun. In the early AM we went to the KCC farmer’s market. He had no swimming due to a scheduled day off. We didn’t know that until we got there, but it was cool; he slept in the car on the way home. We hung out at home until we left at 3.

Today was a typically fabulous Sunday. Last Ohana Music of the semester in the AM. It was weird b/c there were only 3 other families there. Usually it’s like 10. Nice though b/c it was intimate and I think everyone there got into it a bit more than they would have otherwise. There was an atmosphere of finality to the class, which translated into a carefree feeling that was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone there. Jake even got into it in terms of the dancing part. He usually wanders, but today he was really involved. He danced all around and by the end of the class all the kids were playing a running and falling game. It was kind of sad; I think everyone, including the teacher, wanted to stay and hang out, just watch the kids play. Jake is fond of the teacher (Stephanie) actually. During the “sleep song” he went over and climbed on her stomach. He doesn’t usually do that. He’s not shy, but he’s timid in the sense that he has to get a feel for the person before he commits to doing something like sitting on their stomach.
Afters we had a hamburger at Teddy’s, then came home for a nap and rest followed by some cleaning. Nana came over after work and we went to the park for some playground fun. Afters we got hungry and had kalbi. A fabulous, fabulous day with our Jakers.
Song of the Day: Led Zeppelin: Ramble On

Kaimana Kid

Great Sunday. Fabulous day.

1. Started with a nice sleep in. He slept longer than me, a first in his life I think. Granted he woke in the middle of the night crying, but he slept until 7:45-ish.

2. Ohana Music in the AM. As per usual he kind of wandered around and got into it at the end. I think he loves it, but is the kid in the corner who dances in front of his mirror at home but can't bring himself to do it in public. Lina was there so he spent a lot of time with her.

3. Toys R Us afters, where we bought him his first computer and trike. He's obviously a novice at both, but he'll grow into them.

4. Lunch at home (mac and cheese) followed by a nap. He had trouble sleeping, but I'm proud to say I got him to sleep with my soothing voice (hardly).

5. Nana came over and we went to the beach. He had an absolute blast playing in the sand and making sand castles. It was great to see him so happy.

6. Dinner at Buca Di Beppo's, where I had one of those moments. He was just awesome the whole time, eating and smiling. This is kind of rare b/c these days he's all about wandering. Tonight he sat the whole time, smiling and making faces. At one point it hit me that, this is my son; my only son. He brings such unbelievable joy to my heart. I felt so joyous. I could have cried. Seriously. (Maybe it was the wine :)

Song of the Day: The Beach Boys: God Only Knows

The Museum by the Zoo(/Aquarium)

Whereas I would have usually spent the whole day with Jakey (and Mommy), I in fact spent it at HiSAM as a docent for their 2nd Saturday festivities. I was a tour guide for a downtown historic buildings tour. It was a rainy day so there were very few people interested in walking around downtown. Fun nonetheless.

Whilst I did this Jake had swims, lunch with Sunhee and Lina, and a play date at the zoo. Due to the rainy-ness, it got changed to the aquarium. After my tours, I met mom and Jake there, but I arrived a little too late to justify paying $6, so I waited outside. From the looks of it, he had a grand time as he usually does with his buds and budettes. Sorry I missed it but glad Jake looked so happy when I met him.

Dinner with me and Mommy at home followed by deep sleeps.

Photo credit to Mommy for what I think is a pretty incredible pic.

Song of the Day: The Jesus and Mary Chain: Dirty Water

Hot...Chicken

Went to the dalk-kalbi jip for dinner with Peter, Sunny, and Lina. Lina is Jake's babysitter mate and oldest friend so they get along great. His tolerance for sitting at the table in a restaurant before letting us know that he's not happy with is roughly an hour. However, this evening Jake met an ajusshi that kept him busy for two hours. He had unbelievable energy and both Lina and Jake were rapt by his clown-like antics. It was a little much to be honest, but actually he did keep them busy so we could eat and talk. He slept in the car, woke at home, drank water, and is sleeping again.

Song of the Day: The Dickies: Killer Clowns From Outer Space

Jake's Boutique

Valentine's Day. Started with Jake's first swim lesson. It was great. He was a hot with the instructor and pretty much knew what to do already in terms of what he learned. We've already done the stuff alone, but I guess it's a process. We went to Macy's prior to to the swim and he got some new clothes. He got a Puma track jacket that reminded me of the Beastie Boys, so we played some in the car. It was great, he danced.

Lunch with Lina and to the zoo for some play time. Mom and I went for dinner so he spent the evening with Nana. Looks as if he had Pizza Hut for dinner (the empty box is on the table).

He's a bit sick, so he's a little fussy.

Song of the Day: The Cure: Just Like Heaven

Friday? The 13th?

Not a scary day today.

Before picking up Jake I decided to take a jaunt up Koko Crater instead of 24 Hour Fitness. Enjoyed it thoroughly and was in a great mood whenst I picked up the Jakers. We went over to mom's work where Jake had someone to play with. Dilly happened to be there so they had a blast pouring water out of the bubblier, chasing each other, eating tangerines, and giggling all over the shop.

We called Su-hee and Peter before leaving and decided to head over for some dinner and drinks. Jake and Lina had a blast playing with all Lina's toys. All was good on this FT13th.

Song of the Day: Buffalo Tom: Tangerine

Lina Girl's Back

Jake's best friend, Lina, came back from long trip to Korea this week. Today they finally got to hang out. They went to the Children's Discovery Center, a favorite pkace for kids here. They had a blast, playing, learning, goofing off. We finished off the trip with lunch at Nico's. We even had dinner together at Chun-chon Dalkalbi. He only slept for a short time in the car, so he should be tired as I write this (8:23PM), but he's still pretty wired. At least he'll sleep late.



Perhaps the most exciting part of the Discovery Center was when I was watching Jake on the boat replica. These places tend to make kids get a little wild, and rightfully so considering it's a place to let loose a little in a space designed for them. I was standing there just watching Jake and a kid of about 9 came running up to me and started WAILING on me. He's just going apeshit and ends the assault with a swift kick, full on, right to my shin. I looked around for mom and dad, not surprisingly, they were nowhere to be found. If Jake EVER does that he'll be up shit's creek for weeks. I really was kind of shocked.

Song of the Day: The Damned: Fish