Nothing But Words

Crummy Cell Phone Pictures, Part II: Fun on the Oreo

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai

Eidan on the Awakening statue at Villanova	Eidan and Kai on the Awakening statue at Villanova
Eidan on the Awakening statue at Villanova	Kai on the Awakening statue at Villanova
Kai on the Awakening statue at Villanova	Eidan plays dead on the Awakening statue at Villanova

Last month I killed some time with the boys at Villanova for about an hour, while we waited for Maria to finish a meeting. They gravitated to the “Awakening” sculpture, known more commonly as the Oreo. We ran around on it for about 30 minutes. Then it was on to the pine trees nearby, where we tried to knock down pine cones by throwing already fallen pine cones at them.

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Crummy Cell Phone Pictures, Part I

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan

Eidan at Kai’s back to school picnic

Eidan was the only miniature beach ball wielding, Mexican wrestler mask wearing toddler at Kai’s back to school picnic a couple of weeks ago. Every day for the past month or so he has insisted on wearing some kind of crazy outfit. This mask is his current favorite. He doesn’t even let us take it off for bed sometimes (we take it off after he falls asleep). He goes to bed each night with a different assortment of objects - last night it was rubber bands and a flash light. More typically it’s action figures or matchbox cars. Anything but a soft fluffy stuffed animal.

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Memorial Day Weekend

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai, Philadelphia

Eidan sprays Kai with water on the first hot day of Spring

Eidan sprays Kai with water on the first hot day of Spring

Today was the first hot day of the year, so the boys went at each other with spray bottles in the back yard. And it wasn’t long before they turned their sights on the cameraman (me).

On Sunday we took a trip to Franklin Square so the boys could enjoy some miniature golf. An unexpected sight while we were there was a freshly completed sand sculpture, celebrating Philadelphia. It was no Fukiage Beach Sand Festival, but it was fun to see, and reminded me of our time in Japan last year. Then we ended the day with dinner at Pho 75 in Chinatown. It all made for a very pleasant day.

Kai on the mini-golf course at Franklin Square Park	A sand sculpture at Franklin Square Park
Kai and Eidan getting the cameraman (me) wet

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Give Me A Race Car and an Earlobe, and There is Nothing I Cannot Do

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan

Eidan’s preschool picture, April 2008 (2 years old)

Eidan’s preschool picture, April 2008 (2 years old)

Eidan got his report card for pre-school the other day. One of his teacher’s written comments was: “Eidan continues to be a joy in our classroom. His strong willed demeanor made potty training easy, but it also makes it difficult for him to be cooperative when given commands he doesn’t agree with.”

Yup, that’s our boy.

He was slow to start talking at first, but now he’s a chatterbox. We can’t always understand him, but that will come with time. My current favorite expression of his is “you scare me,” which he’ll say with a big smile anytime you show up unexpectedly.

Most kids get attached to a stuffed animal or a blanket, but not Eidan. He’s very attached to his Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks toy cars right now (from the movie Cars - he calls them “kachow” and “chicka chicka,” since those are their catch phrases). He carries them everywhere, and even sleeps with them. He was also very attached to Maria’s earlobes for a while, rubbing them as a way of comforting himself. She finally made him stop when it got the point where he was rubbing her ears raw.

He also really enjoys going to Kai’s karate class. While Kai’s doing his class, I’m with him on the side, helping him practice his own version of karate. The teacher is kind enough to let him borrow a helmet, a small padded practice sword, and a kicking pad. He has a great time flailing his little arms and legs wildly, pretending he is a karate master.

He loves books now. He doesn’t know how to read yet, but he’ll happily flip through the pages and look at the pictures. His current routine is to go to bed with a stack of books (this is after Maria and I have already read to him) and look through them by himself until he’s ready to sleep. He’ll usually sneak out of bed at some point too, and bring some toys in bed with him. Tonight it was a toy hammer and goggles. He’s asleep now, with the goggles still on, a race car in his hand, a stack of books on one side of him, and a big toy fire engine on the other. I’ll go in soon to take most of it away, so it doesn’t all crash to the floor during the night.

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Eidan Rocks Out

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan

Eidan rocks out

Who knew he’d develop a taste for heavy metal at such a young age. Click the image to watch.

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Summer Beach Pics From Newport

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai, Newport, Relatives

My sister’s boyfriend Paul with Eidan

My sister’s boyfriend Paul with Eidan

In honor of yesterday’s unexpected early winter snowfall here in Philly, I decided it’s finally time to post pictures from our trip to Newport this summer. The first couple of pictures below are from a performance of the Navy Show Band at the Newport Art Museum. The Museum hosts a summer evening picnic series of musical performances. The tourists come for the Jazz and Folk Festivals, and the locals go to the Art Museum shows. The rest of the pictures are from Hazard’s Beach, where the boys spent most of their days during our week and half stay in August. My sister was visiting at the same time, so her kids - Matthew and Alex - are in some of the pictures. They live in Texas, so it’s nice for the kids to have a chance to get together in Newport. I spent my childhood summers at Hazard’s, so I think it’s great the boys get to spend some time there too.

Folks settling in for a performance at the Newport Art Muesum	The Navy Show Band performing at the Newport Art Museum	Hazard’s Beach in Newport, RI
Kai and his cousin Alexandra	Kai, with his cousins Matthew and Alex	Alex, Matthew, and Kai
Kai on the beach with charcoal on his nose	Alex and Kai	Eidan at Hazard’s Beach
Paul pulling Kai and Eidan across the sand	Kai (with charcoal on his face) and Alex enjoying s’mores

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Cheap Thrills

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai

Just like the foolishness that’s on the cable news channels’ political talk shows every night (people in suits yelling at each other about the days events), these videos of the boys are cheap to produce and always get good ratings. And hopefully they’re more fulfilling.

This particular performance was actually going on for quite a while before I got the camera. What really got me was the boys disappearing between each vignette - if you listen closely you can hear Kai whispering to Eidan about what to do next. Click the image to start the video.

The Kai and Eidan Show

The Kai and Eidan Show

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Halloween with Spidey and Soldier Boy

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai

You knew these were coming: Halloween pictures of the boys (along with a cute but random picture of them in a laundry basket). Halloween is my favorite holiday, as it’s the only one that makes us go out and see our neighbors (but I suppose this is only true if you have kids and live in a kid friendly neighborhood). So much of modern life keeps our focus on just work and home, so I think it’s a good thing that we have occasions that focus our attention on our community once and while, even if it’s just the few blocks around our home.

For Kai’s solider costume, we had trouble finding a toy gun - the big retailers don’t seem to carry them anymore. But the huge inflatable gun we found in a costume shop turned out to be much better than a regular toy - it’s ridiculously over the top. Eidan’s spidey costume is a hand-me-down from Kai. Eidan loves it, and has worn it at least once a month since he discovered it in a closet after we returned from Japan, so it was an easy choice for Halloween. Kai painted and carved the Frankenstein pumpkin you can see in the background of the first picture - it won 2nd place in his grade’s pumpkin carving contest. The weird thing was he predicted he’d get 2nd place when we were on the way to school.

Our time spent hitting up people for candy was surprisingly brief. Both boys decided they’d had enough after about half an hour. But they had a lot of fun, and that’s what matters.

Spider man in a precarious situation, yet he seems unconcerned	Kai mugging for the camera with his ridiculously large gun	Eidan in goofball mode
Spidey comes in for his close up	Kai in his soldier costume for Halloween	Eidan and Kai enjoying some juice in the laundry basket

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Signing Off For A While… But With One More Look at the Ruffian and the Dilettante

Topic: Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Kai

Maria and I came back from Japan several months ago with a fresh perspective, and a few new ideas. We’ve been kicking those ideas around, and we’ve decided to pursue one of them. I hate to be mysterious about what it is, but it’s not something I should discuss publicly just yet. I will say it involves building a web site, so I need to devote what spare time I have to working on it. Which means I need to give up blogging for a little while . I will provide an update in about a month.

But before I go, I should provide an update on the boys. Kai is the dilettante I’m referring to in the title of this post, and Eidan the ruffian. Kai is turning out to be a very bright but lazy boy. The other day when we got home from school, he rejoiced - “it’s sitting time!” I always thought of six year olds as inherently active, but Kai usually acts more like a bored teenager. If I can get him going on something - whether it’s playing legos, baseball in the yard, or something else - he usually has fun, but it’s like pulling teeth to get him in motion. Someone who’s better at getting him in motion is Eidan, who won’t hesitate to grab something like a toy plastic sword and chase Kai around the house with it, with Kai screaming in semi-mock terror.

Here’s a moment that captures both of their personalities: a few weeks ago when it was really hot out, Eidan stripped himself down to his diaper. Kai climbed in their red wagon, and Eidan grabbed the handle, straining with every ounce of his strength to pull Kai down the sidewalk. Kai laid back in the wagon with a juice box in one hand, pretending to crack a whip with the other, shouting “faster, faster!” They both couldn’t have been happier.

Eidan’s vocabulary has exploded in the past few weeks. It’s still hard to understand him, but that’s ok, because it’s very cute. For example, “big truck!” (his favorite expression) comes out as “zhig tuck!,” and “Kai” is “die.” When he’s feeling a sense of urgency he puts “aw” in front, so when he really wants Maria, it’s “aw mommy!” What I found really funny was hearing him repeat phrases that I don’t even realize I’ve been saying: one time when I put him in his chair and pushed him close to the table he said “there ya go!” I asked Maria where that came from, and she pointed out that I say it all the time.

Anyway - enough talk! Here’s a picture and a video of the boys to get you through the next month:

Eidan and Kai sharing my desk chair Eidan and Kai sharing my desk chair

Kai reading to Eidan, with Eidan providing sound effects Kai reading to Eidan, with Eidan providing sound effects

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The Devil’s Curly Hair

Topic: Japan 2007, Kai and Eidan
Tags: Eidan, Japan

Eidan pretending to crash into posts, at the park adjacent to World City Towers in Shinagawa

Eidan pretending to crash into posts, at the park adjacent to World City Towers in Shinagawa

I shot this video of Eidan at the park adjacent to the gargantuan World City Towers residential complex in Shinagawa. From Kai he learned the trick of pretending to bump into a pole and exclaiming “unh!,” as if he’d hurt himself. And here he’s doing it repeatedly. This park was a short walk from our apartment, and during the spring it was a daily destination for Eidan and I in the mornings. We’d play in the park after Maria left for work and Kai left for school, then I’d do our daily shopping at the wonderful Maruetsu grocery store. We’d go home for lunch, Eidan would nap for two hours while I worked, Kai would finish school, the three of us would go somewhere for a few hours, and then be home in time for dinner with Maria.

I enjoy doing write-ups of the parks we visited in Tokyo, but this one isn’t worth much commentary - it’s main attraction was that it was nearby. It’s a new park, and is quite large, but with only a few play structures, and an enormous, smooth gravel area in the middle. Every morning a workman came by to empty the trashcans, and sweep the entire gravel area with nothing more than an old fashioned Japanese broom. The one astonishing thing is that the grassy sections are strewn with rubble. It’s peppered with small pieces of broken concrete and tile, from the recently completed World City Towers. It’s just another idiosyncrasy of the otherwise fastidious Japanese: in so many ways they have the most exacting standards, but when it comes to parks, they’ll just throw grass seed down on top of the rubble and call it a day.

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