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

Abada

Finally blogging at home (decided to plug in the router regardless of whether they are done or not), but the stress continues. Gmail is painfully slow on my comp for some reason so it took me about 15 minutes to download these pix, should have taken me 2 minutes. Ho hum.

Long weekend, here are the highlights:

Friday:

Jake was asleep by the time we got home from the game. He had fun with nana, but they were both tired.

Saturday:

Ohana Music first thing. Jake was a bit shy, and, much to our chagrin, he had a fever again. He perked up toward the end, but the fever continued. We decided to take him swimming (his fever was slight enough and he seemed up for it) and he liked it. He was a bit down, but he had fun. Afters we had lunch, Shillawon, then went home to clean the dirty, messy, stress-inducing house. We were all exhausted so we napped. Dinner with Myoung-hee and boyfriend for his birthday. Everyone said he was a "great baby because he's so well behaved." He actually was pretty calm the whole time.

Today:
Early AM surf with Matt at Barber's. First time in months. Jake swam, felt good (no fever) and played happily in the sand. Brunch at En Fuego, then we went to the baseball game with Dave and Karen. Jake made friends with the people around us and at one point the guy behind us said, "You have a very well-behaved son, you're lucky." Wow. I guess we are. Dins at home, we were all tired, but b/c Jake had 2 naps, he didn't want to sleep and was pretty wild right before bed. Speaking of tired...I'm exhausted. Out.

Oh, and for some reason, Jake loves to say "abada" whenever he's doing something active. We have no idea what it means.

Song of the Day: The Sugar Hill Gang: Apache

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

Camper Van Jaketoven

Absolutely exhausted after the weekend of camping. Great, great time, will provide more details tomorrow when I don't feel like I'm about to pass out from tiredness.

Song of the Day: Toto (!!!) Hold the Line

The Challenge

What should have been a fantastic day was a bit tough. It was all me, but I had a stressful day with the Jakers. It wasn't that there was anything out of the ordinary, he was his usual self until about 5 when he reached his maximum tiredness due to lack of sleep.

The day started out well; we went to Ohana Music, he was great. He did this amazing thing, he grabbed some other father's shoes and took them over to him. We were all shocked. Only THAT GUY and Jake knew they were his shoes. It was totally amazing. Rather than sharing in the class though, he was taking stuff from other kids. Not maliciously, but he was.

We were to meet Jen and Brian for brunch at 10:30. Long story short, we actually ate at about 12:15. It was really difficult with Jake. He was in no mood to hang out and wait. He definitely wanted to wander. It was challenging.

He should have slept a lot after all that action, but he only did for about 20 mins in the car on the way home. He woke when we got home and think this was a very bad thing. I realize now he really needs his sleep. Odin came over to swim and they had a blast as usual, but at one point Odin wanted to use Jake's shopping cart, but Jake was in no mood to share. We kinda forced him to and he wailed. He was extremely cranky, but it wasn't his fault. The challenge continued.

We finished by eating dinner at Brant and Erica's. It was nice except Jake was in the mood to, well, not stay still again. He needed rest and we basically made him to play all day. By the time we got home we were all ready for a rest.

Today was one of the more challenging days as a parent for me.

Song of the Day: The New Pornographers: Challengers

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

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

Jusy Bake

Full day. I'm tired so it will be a thumbnail version of the days events...
1. Woke at 7:00. Late for Jake. He was cute. After I put him in bed with us, he promptly got out and went to his room. He came back with his bag of mini books. He gave is each one and we all read together laying in bed. Perfect.

2. Mom suggested a walk so we went to get coffee. Jake wanted to bring his alphabet caterpillar. He pulled it all the way to Hawaii Kai Drive.

3. Errands.

4. Dinner at Hee Hing for Val's bday. It was kinda my bday too. Jake as happy and a real ham with everyone. He loved it. Mom loved it. I loved it. Sleep.

Song of the Day: Luna: California All the Way

Spicy

I realized today that I should have written more last night about Jake. While we were watching TV he was looking at an old photo album. He kept pointing out pictures of me and then pointed AT me saying "appa!" (daddy!). It seemed like a breakthrough moment. He was making associations between one dimensional pix and me. These little things make me unbelievably proud. I love him and look forward to all the future proud moments he's sure to provide us.

Today we met J and Seoung Huei's family for the last time at Chun chon dalkalbi. We feasted and a good time was had by all. Jake ate well and enjoyed his time with new aunties. They seemed genuinely happy to hold him and look after him. As parents, we love seeing other people hold and give affection to Jake. We look forward to those future moments as well.

Song of the Day: Vic Chesnutt: Guilty By Association

Eye Gu Jjim

Another day with J, Seong Heui and family. It's nice to have friends around and Jake has taken a liking to being the center of attention, as usual. We ate agujjim at the Frog House. Even Jake wanted to eat it in spite of its uber-spiciness.

We're hoping that last week's tantrums are a thing of the past. We know, however, that it was a stage or that he was reacting to some change at the babysitter's or elsewhere. Today he was all smiles and good mood again. It's a huge relief b/c we thought he had permanently changed. He's not fussy now, but we know that it's not the end. We'll enjoy him either way.

Song of the Day: Hot Hot Heat: Bandages

J and SH

J and Seong Heui arrived yesterday so we got home late. The evening was spent at their sweet vacation rental near Diamond Head and at Gordon Biersch. Jake did not have beer.

Here he is yesterday AM. Love this shirt, but as per usual, we may never see it again b/c his clothes tend to disappear at the babysitters.

Song of the Day in today's later post...

william.he.is

Highlight of the day definitely dinner at Auntie Cyndy’s. Jinzhao is in town so she had a bunch of people over for Chinese “peasant” food. If peasants eat like that, I’m jealous.

Jake got to play with William, who he hasn’t seen in a while. They played well together and I was very proud of Jake. He had opportunities to share and, while he hasn’t fully grasped the concept yet, he did at one point offer a toy to William very gently and sat across from him just waiting to see what would happen. The whole dynamic was interesting, but I can say that I was very that moment. Really sunk in quick.
Leah took this picture at her house yesterday. Great pic.

Song of the Day: The Smiths: I Won't Share You

I Read, I Eat

"He took a nap at 10 (am) and slept for 3 hours."

This is what ajumma told me when I picked up the Jakester at 3:00 this afternoon. This of course meant he wasn't sleeping in the late afternoon like he usually does. So I put him in the car and, as usual, he pointed and grunted at what he wanted to play with. I haven't cleaned the car in a while, so he had a lot of choices: my gym bag, a baby blanket from his days as an infant, CDs, a book, and other assorted chatskis. He pointed at the book and said "boo!" The book it was. He read it all the way to Kahala Mall where we stopped to say hello to nana. Granted, as the picture demonstrates, the book was upside down, but that just reveals Jake's genius. Upside down? I can still read it.

In the evening he met a bunch of aunties and uncles for dinner at Kona Brewing Company. After a meal of veggie pizza and a broiled fish sandwich, he played and had fun with everyone. He fell asleep 5 minutes after hitting his car seat.

It rained all day today, a Kona low that brought typhoon-esque winds and rain to Oahu.

Song of the day: The Books: Read, Eat, Sleep
http://ilike.com/artist/The+Books/album/Thought+For+Food