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

Duck Sauce

Tired this eve, but I'll give it a go...

The upside: Took Jake down the street to feed the ducks with nana. He had a blast. I brought him there last year and he didn't get it. He was definitely interacting with the ducks and birds this time. He didn't want to leave.

The down: Omma worked very late and by 5:30 Jake wanted to see her. When this happens he goes to the door, picks up his shoes and cries the saddest cry in the world. I tried to explain that there was nowhere to go, that omma was on her way home. He was inconsolable. He cried until she came home, about 30 minutes. I felt sorry for him...and me.

Song of the Day: Beck: Nobody's Fault But My Own

It's Ovah!

Finally, yes, they finished. It looks good, but it was hell and there's a lot of cleaning to do. Ovah!Running out of battery, gotta make this quick. Dinner in the park with Odin. They had a great time together for sures. Laughing running, playing; it's great to see them play together.Song of the Day: Soul Asylum: Cartoon

Just a Little Bit Longer

We were told today that the work is going to take until at least WEDNESDAY. Crazy. I think though that I'm getting used to it??? No, I'm definitely not.
Posting at mom's work. Jake's with nana; me and mom are going to the baseball game. Yesterday Jake had a fantabulous day after we picked him up. We met Odin and Leah in the park where we ate dinner and they got to run and play. It was just perfect. They both looked like they were having a great time. I ran around with them and they played so well together. They like to hug, or at least like to when we prompt them to. It was a lot of fun, really was.

We're sad not to be with Jakey tonight, but it'll be good to be alone for a while. We'll give him big hugs when we get home.

Song of the Day: The Smiths: Bigmouth Strikes Again

Playing on the Ground

Took the Jakers to the playground with nana. He's not himself today. Looks really down and has no energy (although he did perk up before bed as usual). Nana took his temp and sure enough, he had a fever. Don't know what temp though, because we kept getting different readings. It was obvious he had a fever though. Mom had dinner with friends and Jake mos definitely missed her. At dinner he pointed at her seat and said "Omma?" At his usual time (about 8:10) he actually asked if he could go to bed by sitting on the floor and making the hands to ear signal for sleeping. I took him in and he said, "Appa...Omma?!" I said she was coming home soon and he went right to sleep. I can't explain how happy these little things make me.

Weird thing at the playground; there were 3 kids there, all looked about 8, obviously siblings. Their dad, I assume he was, was off to the side, sitting on the grass smoking a roll-your-own. The kids immediately engaged us, saying "Can he talk? What's his name?" etc. etc. They then approached him and started petting him, saying "Cute baby" and the like. They then kept asking to hold him, go down the slide with him. I politely said that he needed to learn, so it's best to let him do it himself. Nana was bothered by this. I found it strange, but I'm guessing the parents are the type to actually teach there kids to be limitless and "free." The dad had an accent, at one point the girl (no accent) said she called her dad "Oppa," which is hebrew. Interesting experience. Dude never said a word to us and sucked on his cig the whole time.



Song of the Day: Desmond Dekker: Israelites

Sandy Starjakeski

Friday. The good day.

Actually it was a good day. Took the Jakes to Kap'iolani. It's been my thought that he has been sleeping well because I've been taking him to the park, zoo, somewhere everyday. He gets tired out, sleeps better. Don't know if it's true, but he has been sleeping better.


Noticed today that he's getting a better grasp of words. He repeats a lot of what I say, or at least tries to. It's fascinating. He's definitely trying to communicate more. Oe of the things I love is his hand gestures. At dinner he'll yell "Omma/Appa/or Nana!" When we say "What?!" He gestures toward our seats and says "Uh!" as in "Sit there!" It's great. I'm sure when he's 25 and still doing it we may feel different.



Song of the Day: The Cure: Friday, I'm in Love (to obvious?)

100

Wow, hundredth post. Doesn't feel like it; suppose that's a good thing.

Again going to let the pictures speak for themselves today. It's late and I'm thinking about tomorrow's camping trip. I may not be able to post for the next 2 days as we'll be on the North Shore, sleeping next to the ocean. I'll post as to what the activities were whenst we return.

Today I went to the UH baseball game. As such, I picked up Jake early so we could spend some time together at the park before I went. We went to mom's work where we actually spent an hour before she finished. I went to the game and they went home. The park was great; we played and I took him for a walk on my shoulders around the natatorium. I have a cold and had to spit; he tried mimicking me making spitting noises in my ear. Loved it. Towards the end he kept whispering in my ear "Omma." Don't know why, but I loved it.

Song of the Day: Eddie Vedder: Hard Sun

Oh, Bulsang Korea

Stayed up late last night watching the WBC Kor-Jpn game. Last thing I felt like doing was blogging. Bummed they lost, but I was also tired as heck. Jake only saw the beginning. Too late for him to stay up watching.

The day was good. I picked him up early and we went to Kap'iolani. I got him a smoothie, but, strangely he wasn't interested. We just hung down by the beach and walked around. Enjoyable time it was.

The big news of the day is that he was "accepted" into the UH childcare program. There's usually a waiting list, so I was surprised to get word that he got in for Fall (August 24 ironically). We're excited. I mean, it's pre-school, but we're still excited.

Song of the Day: !!!: Me and Guiliani Down By the Schoolyard (A True Story!)

O' Jake

Yeah, St. Partick's Day. Jake would have worn his IRE jersey but he went to the babysitters and clothes tend to disappear there. Maybe this weekend.

What was special about today? Well, in terms of activities, nothing really special. I took Jake to the park after picking him up. Met nana there. Went home, made pasta for dinner (this is, BTW, Jake's latest word, although it sounds more like "bada!" than "pasta").

What was special? The love I felt for Jake. Yes, I've written about this before, but there is a level of love that I think is something particularly special about a parent-child relationship. I'm feeling things I've never felt before. The kind of love I experience for him when he comes to hug mom and I together is untouchable. I wish I could capture that for all my relationships. Not a certain kind of love, but an understanding, a gentleness, a affirmation within myself that life is so good, that it is so worth living when you feel love.

Song of the Day: The Cranberries: Dreams

Smoothie Operator

Mom’s using the internet so I can’t post this until tomorrow, but I can write it now on MS Word and post it tomorrow. Tired today. Couldn’t sleep last night. Interestingly, Jake woke up in the middle of the night (3:30), full on wake standing up in his bed kind. I went in, he asked for water, drank it and went right back to sleep. I, on the other hand, can’t go back tp sleep in these circumstances.

Picked up Jakers a little early today and brought him for a Minty Fresh smoothie at the café on Montserrat. It’s honeydew, grapes, and mint leaves. I thought he’d be more excited about it, but he seemed to be kind of blah, although he did drink it. We took it down to Kaimana were people talked about his cuteness, boots, and size. We had a nice walk about and picked up mom.

Dinner was corned-beef and cabbage a la nana. Good stuff although Jake seemed kind of full.

Didn’t sleep so great, a little fussy.

Song of the Day: Bonnie "Prince" Billy: Cursed Sleep

Not So Scary

Friday the 13th, but just like any other day, it was a joy to be with the Jakers. We went to the park again (with nana this time). It was only for a bit, but he fun playing in the fountain. He was soaking wet by the time we left.

Song of the Day: Aesop Rock: Water

The Slider

Debated whether I was going to blog this, but then I figured no one is reading this (I haven't told anyone about it yet) and Jake will most likely be the only person who reads every post (I hope), I decided I'd go ahead and do it. I got an email from a friend to day that started like this:

"Jeff,

Jake is one of the most beautiful human beings I've ever seen."

Hey, I gotta admit, I'm proud as hell. I feel the same way, what can I say? Again, I debated blogging this, but Jake, I think you may want to see what your aunties and uncles said about you.

Great day with the Jakers again. It was the first sunny day in a while, so I took Jake to the playground as soon as we got home (took two cars today). He was in such a good mood and obviously so happy and having fun. We played all over the jungle gym, sliding, climbing. All was good until he pointed at his back. I thought he'd hurt it, turns out it was dookie pants. We went home.

On the same tip as Sunday's weird shoe incident (see Sunday blog, don't have the energy to hyperlink here), Jake did another crazy thing today. When we arrived at the lobby, I gave him my keys b/c he likes to act like he's opening doors with them. He grabbed them, headed strait for the mailboxes, picked out our mailbox key on the first try and, this is nuts considering there are a hundred boxes there, walked strait to our box and unlocked it. Obvious question: how the hell did he know that was our box?

Crazy, Jake.

Song of the Day: The Postal Service: Such Great Heights

Kapiolani Kid

No blog yesterday b/c I didn't get home until 10:30. Mom watched Jakers while I went to Kona to hang with AMST folks. Pretty full day yesterday: swimming, hanging out, dinner with Lina and fam. Good day. (Pic above from yesterday, below from today.)

Today was just as good. No Ohana Music today (scheduled by them), so we went to the park to hang with aunties and uncles. Jakers had a blast with Jon and Angela. Jon is great with Jake. He's going to make a good dad someday.

Dinner with nana at home. He hadn't seen her in a couple of days and was over the moon about it (seeing her today, not that he hadn't seen her in a few).

Song of the Day: Spoon: The Underdog

Pak Mon-day

It's hard to make a Monday special, but Nana and I tried. We picked up Jake and took him to Kapiolani. I took a jog and Nana took him for a walk. Of course she took him to get some food. At least it was healthy fare. Dinner was spaghetti. Jakey thoroughly enjoyed it.



Song of the Day: New Order: Blue Monday

Sunday Sun day

Jam-packed day for the Jakers. Started with his first Ohana Music class for this "semester." The class is a chance for him to let loose a little by singing, dancing, and playing with instruments. He doesn't sing too much, but he likes to move and most of all play with the instruments. He also likes to stare at the other kids and parents. The teacher, Stephanie, is great and makes all the kids feel happy.

It knocked him out so mom and dad snuck lunch at Islands Burgers. Decadent as hell, but delish. Jake had sushi from Shirokiya when he woke.

Rested at home for a while and waited for nana to come over. Decided to go to he park for a walk and to play and run. Went to Kapiolani, brought some balls and big plastic golf club/ball. From the time we hit the grass, Jake was BEGGING for the camera and whining when he didn't get it. One thing is clear, as of right now, he is definitely more interested in gadgets and pushing buttons than anything else. I really wonder it's a sign of things to come. It'll be great if he is interested in machines, but I hope he's well rounded and likes to romp outside as well.

Song of the Day: Daft Punk: Da Funk

Park Ca-ma-ra

Took the Jakers to the park down the street around 5 for a little jaunt before dins. As of his almost-16-month-"birthday" Jake is far more interested in playing with stuff that has buttons than running in the park. He played with my camera for the first half. He's talented. How else did he get these shots of himself.

Ate much better today, but he's still in fussy mode. Nana thinks he needs to go to the doc for a checkup, we think he's just changing. Either way, we're keeping an eye on him.

Song of the Day: Josh Joplin: Camera One

Non-stop Jake

Mom had to work all day so it was Jakers, me, and Nana from morning until late afternoon.

//We started at Toys R Us, where we bought all Jaker's xmas gifts. He slept the whole time, which was perfect. He got a bunch of books and puzzles and...I'll wait until xmas to reveal the rest.

//Afters we got some delish fish at Nico's. Jake got his own plate (see above). As per usual for the past couple of days, he wasn't hungry. This has been worrying us a bit b/c he's usually so voracious. After eating we ran around Ala Moana, where we brought the fish for a picnic. I looked at Jake's mouth b/c he's had some pretty bad breath lately. There was blood on his tongue. We did some investigating and it appears that he has two new teeth coming in. This explains the eating (lack there of), restlessness, and breath. Although it would have made things easy to give him some whisky, we instead took him home for a nice nap.

//When mom got home we headed down to the marina to watch the boat parade. Jake wasn't into it and to be honest, neither was I. I was a bit surprised at how adult the boat themes were considering everyone watching seemed to be under age 16. Bizarre. We left early for Outback Steakhouse. Jake was absolutely not in the mood. Spilled a giant glass of water, which was a blast.

//I predicted he wouldn't sleep til 11 since he was so wired and had such a late nap. He made it until 10, so I lost the bet with mom. Not sure what it is I have to do, but I'm sure she'll think of something good.

Song of the Day: Fishbone: Everyday Sunshine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNkCtQo3Z0c