Saturday, May 31, 2008

Jackson's Inventiveness

Jackson has a unique, creative, fresh view of the world and he expresses it in fun ways with his limited vocabulary and understanding of grammar. For instance, he has recently started making words plural even if they are already plural. When he wants mommy to sing him to sleep he calls out; "I want songses."

Pictured is Jackson's latest creation: "I made a taxi."

And my favorite is when he wanted more Parmesan Cheese on his spaghetti: "I want more cheese waterfall."

Ian

Peek-a-boo

Children go through phases of learning and one of them, I've heard, involves the understanding that when an object can't be seen, it's not necessarily gone. Hence the game of peek-a-boo helps kids learn object permanence; that when he covers his eyes, the playmate within eyesight did not disappear, but the vision was blocked by the hands.

A few weeks ago Jackson and I went to a pool party and I was diving and flipping into the water. Each time I would swim immediately for the surface and look to Jackson to see if he was impressed by my gymnastics move. However, Jackson's reaction was not what I expected. He would cry every time I jumped in the water. Apparently, Jackson didn't like seeing his daddy disappear under the water.

A couple weeks ago I went bungee jumping with some friends at the Bridge to Nowhere (bungeeamerica.com). Last week in Atlanta, I was showing my family the video we shot. Jackson was enjoying the video until I dove off the bridge toward the water 150' below. Suddenly, Jackson burst into tears event though I was right next to him and holding him. Apparently, Jackson doesn't like his daddy doing stunts.

I'm glad my boy doesn't want his daddy to disappear or fall off bridges. But I'm going to wait a few more years before showing Jackson my stunt reel.

Ian

Canadian-American

Today I passed the U.S. Citizenship test and was approved to become an American. If you didn't know, I was born in Toronto. I've always considered myself a North American. Canada is part of America, right? So after my TBD future swearing in ceremony, I will officially become a Canadian-American. Oh, I also have my Irish passport, so that will make me an Canadian-Irish-American.

However, part of the Oath of Citizenship that I will take contains these words; "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen." In the words of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) Manual for Citizenship; "If you take this oath in true faith you are a true citizen of the United States of America. You are not an Italian-American. You are not a Spanish-American. You are not a German-American, nor any other kind of a hyphenated American. YOU ARE AN AMERICAN. There is no prouder title than 'Citizen of the United States of America.' It is now yours. YOU ARE AN AMERICAN."

Going through the naturalization process reminded me why this country is the best country in the world. As President George W. Bush says in the welcome video, "America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American."

I'm almost there...a true American. I look forward to my increased privileges and duties. But, I'll always have fond feelings for Canada and Ireland.

Ian

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Outed at 28 weeks

Among the things I had heard about second pregnancies was the idea that I should get bigger faster than the first. I was fully expecting to be huge really early, but it didn't really happen. For the first few months I was pretty much on the same weight gain curve that I was with Jackson. That meant I didn't really start showing until about the fifth month of pregnancy. People who knew could tell that I was showing, but there were certainly plenty of people who I didn't know well enough to include in my news-breaking circle. I'd catch these folks stealing furtive glances at my belly and then avoiding eye contact because they didn't want to have to ask if I was pregnant and be caught in an embarrassing error. But I can say that it was at 28 weeks when I grew to a size to be clearly pregnant.

See, I meet with a group of 6 other faculty members every other week. We've been meeting since September, as part of a Medical Education Fellowship. In the beginning, I didn't tell them that I was pregnant mainly because I didn't feel like we ever had an appropriate moment to announce something like that without sounding self-aggrandizing. And then at about the point that a room full of doctors should have recognized that certain anatomical changes were taking place, I decided to just see how long it took them to notice. Finally, at 28 weeks of pregnancy, when I clearly no longer fit into normal clothes, and strangers would walk up to me and rub my belly, one of my colleagues smiled broadly at me in class and asked when I was due. It was kind of funny to hear the other two women exclaim, "I thought it might look like you were pregnant, but I didn't want to say anything." And even funnier to hear the one guy (whose wife just delivered their first baby) say, "Oh. I really don't know how I didn't notice".

Altogether, it's been an interesting sociocultural experience to see how people respond to my growing belly. By the way, I am now growing bigger faster than I did with Jackson. I think my last two weeks of weight gain put me a few weeks from where I was when I delivered Jackson. I can't believe I still have 9 more weeks to grow. When this one comes, I'm going to look like a python after swallowing a small animal.


Clarice

Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Grandma


My grandma celebrated her 95th birthday in February. She's quite an amazing woman with fascinating stories. She was born in China, and chose to leave her Buddhist traditions to follow Jesus as a youngster despite the vehement disapproval of her family. She fled to Hong Kong when the Communists came, just a few days after delivering her first child, my father. She worked as a teacher (Bruce Lee was one of her students) and elementary school principal when few women held full-time jobs. She sent all four sons to the US to study, then uprooted herself at the age of 59 when my grandfather decided to join the sons (and the first grandson) in the US. She learned English, learned how to navigate public transportation in Los Angeles, then in New York. But what's really remarkable is her selflessness. She always thinks of others, to the point where it's almost annoying. She has endeared herself to her 7 grandchildren with her good humor. Here's a picture of her 10 years ago (at 85), good-naturedly letting her two grandsons play dress up with her.


I admire her longevity, clear-mindedness, humility, and good humor. But last week, I was caught entirely by surprise by her adaptability. My aunt told me that she was learning to use email (at 95!). So I sent her an email to see what would happen. Here's her reply to my invitation to a Mother's Day dinner.


Of course, I can only read my name, a few words like "you" and "I" and "thank you", but I'll probably email her again just for the novelty of receiving an email from my grandma. Ain't she something?

Clarice