The sweetest thing...

It happens quite often.


Two chubby hands joined affectionately.

Jackson Sings Happy Birthday

It was my mom's birthday last week. So Jackson sent some birthday greetings.

Filthy Little Street Urchin

Kiran's eating finger foods now. That means she has to try to get food from her tray to her mouth. Sometimes it makes it into her mouth. Most of the time she gets pretty filthy.


She's also learning how to move around. Problem is, she hasn't mastered crawling yet. So she's doing this inchworm/commando crawl. And she loves being outside at school. The ground outside doesn't get the nightly bleach applications standard of the floor inside.


That was a brand new shirt this morning.

Sometimes after we bring her home from school, we just want to throw her in the washer.


She thinks that's a funny idea too.

Clarice

Does he look like Tom Selleck?

A stunt coordinator for whom Ian has worked is coordinating an action comedy featuring Tom Selleck. Since Ian is the same height as Magnum PI, he decided to remind the coordinator that he could possibly double Mr Three Men and Baby. What do you think?



Clarice

Happy Easter!

Now that Jackson is getting older, we are attempting to get him more involved in the special events that we remember. So this year we decided to decorate Easter Eggs on good Friday.


Not bad for a 3 year old...and a set of parents.

We dressed Kiran up in her Easter finest (thanks, Aunt Amy!)


Not sure how she liked being in a dress.


Kiran got dropped off at children's church so that Ian and I got to sit through a full church service...the first time since Kiran was born. And it was a refreshing one!


Jackson got to hear the Easter story at children's church and had an art activity to remember the day.


We tried to take a family picture to mark the day. This was the best we could get using our tripod.


We had a very....unique Easter dinner.


Jackson showed us some of the bounty he picked up in his Easter egg hunt at church.


Then he got to enjoy the special surprise that Tia Ceci from Mommy's work gave him.



He liked that part.

Happy Easter!!

Clarice

Kiran's New Tricks

Here's our little one at 8 months of age performing most of her recent tricks.



Clarice

Mommy, We're Snuggling

I was in the kitchen cleaning up after breakfast when Jackson called out to me. "Mommy, we're snuggling", he declared. And this is how I found them...



...enjoying some TV time together. Big brother and little sister.

Clarice

A Trip to Chuck E. Cheese

Yesterday was President's Day. We had the day off work and daycare was closed so on Sunday we made plans to go to the Grove with another family. We told Jackson of our plans on Sunday night so he would have something to look forward to in the morning. He got excited, talking about the fountain (a smaller version of the one in front of Bellagio in Las Vegas), the trolley, and the various toy shops.

When we awoke on Monday morning the sky was dark and rain poured in torrents. Since the Grove is an outdoor shopping center, we knew there was no chance of going. We talked to the other family, canceling our original plans, and made an alternate plan to enjoy our family time at home. We ended up watching a movie together and taking a short post-nap walk around the block when the rain stopped.

But just when we were planning to get dinner ready, Jackson had a mini-meltdown. "I want to go to the Gwove! When are we going to the Gwove!" I was amazed that he remembered. We didn't mention a word about it once we canceled our plans. "I'm sorry," I told him, "we couldn't go because it was raining this morning. We'll go some other time." He was inconsolable. I realized that he had probably been waiting all day long to go to one of his favorite places. And I felt like this was a dilemma to work through. Ian and I have been wanting to let our no's be no's. We want to be clear with our boundaries and let him know that we can't be manipulated when it's important. But at the same time, we also want Jackson to understand that our yeses mean yes. We want him to know that our words can be trusted.

So Ian and I conferred for a moment and tried to think of a fun indoor place where we could grab a bite to eat. After running through a few options, I had an inspiration. Wasn't Chuck E. Cheese supposed to be heaven on earth for little kids? I didn't know. I had never been there. We did some online sleuthing and made a plan to head down to the nearest location, just 5.4 miles away.

I was a bit overwhelmed when we arrived. Kids everywhere. Games everywhere. Noise. Jackson was so incredibly happy. He ran from activity to activity, calling out to us to come and see what he had found. We ordered our food, got some game tokens, and followed Jackson around feeding tokens to whatever game caught his fancy.

When our dinner arrived we sat down and ate. Ian was looking contemplative, and Jackson's gaze was captured by the flashing lights and buzzing sounds all around us. Kiran was happily sucking her knuckles so I was alone with my thoughts. I couldn't believe I was there. I couldn't believe we just made up an impromptu plan to bring Jackson to a place that many families reserve for very special occasions.

Then Ian piped up. "Did you eat out much when you were a kid?" He was on the same train of thought I was. We both grew up experiencing some financially tough times. Both of us remember having mostly home-cooked meals, with meals out only on special occasions (and only Chinese food and Red Lobster all-you-can-eat crab specials for us). We learned to think of meals out as luxuries and enjoyed them as such. But our current lifestyle hasn't been like that. We eat out quite often - at some pretty nice restaurants. And we enjoy traveling and some of the finer things in life (like massages and spa days).

And so we rejoiced in how blessed we are that an impromptu trip to Chuck E. Cheese can take place without concern to budget. But we desire to also convey gratitude so that our children don't take these things for granted. ...and don't expect that any random day will end up with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

Clarice

After Lights Out

I have fond memories of those bedtime moments stolen after lights out but before slumber would arrive.

Before I married Ian, I actually shared a bedroom with a roommate, Cal, who loved philosophizing about everything and nothing as much as I did. We shared many a late night pondering the mysteries of the universe in our shared bedroom.

And I remember sharing a bedroom with two other girls in college. We would giggle about who liked whom and who was dating whom.

And of course there were the nights during church youth retreats where dozens of girls in sleeping bags would whisper their secrets into the darkened ceilings of a communal cabin.

I can even include a short period sharing a room with my younger brother when my grandparents were staying with us. Who knows what we talked about, being separated by gender and 4 years. But I remember significant moments lying in our side-by-side twin beds with only inches of walking space surrounding us, trying to reconcile our separate lives as little league star and honor roll geek.

Such intimate, fun, memorable moments.

I didn't expect to witness my children engaging in such moments until well into the tween years, but it happened last night. Both kids were lying in their beds awaiting slumber, a bit unhappy about being unable to play or be held. Kiran started whimpering from her crib in the corner of the room. Jackson made some funny little sound from across the room. She laughed - that sweet little baby chuckle. That must have encouraged him because he made another little sound. She giggled in response, prompting his own laughing fit. Before long, the two of them were just giggling together. Ian and I just listened from outside their door, enjoying their shared moment. I wanted to grab a videocamera to capture the moment, but I didn't want to miss the moment myself either. So I'll just have to remember the delightful sound of the infant and the toddler sharing a moment of laughter after lights out.

Clarice

What happened to your face?

Last month I went to pick Jackson up from daycare. As I looked across the room, I could see that his cute little face had been marred by some activity during the day. He ran over to greet me. After I hugged him, I asked "What happened to your face, Jackson?" He got very serious at this point. "Mi-ko scwatched me". "You got scratched?" I asked. "Yeah. Mi-ko. He scwatch my face."

No signs of a scratch on his face. But I lifted him up to a mirror so he could see for himself what I was talking about.



"Oh," he said, "I need a towel."

The dry erase board outside his classroom indicated that they had done some painting in the morning. How did he go the whole day looking like that?

Clarice

The "I want" cry

It's been so interesting going through infancy this second time around. We're much more relaxed and comfortable. We're also far more in tune to Kiran's needs than we were to Jackson's in the early days. In fact, a few months ago, Ian and I were bragging about how Kiran didn't cry much. I think we had learned really quickly how to recognize her needs and her way of communicating needs. Up to about 5 months of age, it's pretty simple. They need to eat, to be burped, to sleep, to have their diapers changed, and to be held. That's about it.

Then about a month ago, the honeymoon ended somewhat. She started crying at bedtime. It was so easy before. She would yawn twice, we would put her in her bassinet. If she turned to her right and started sucking her thumb, we knew it was safe to let her fall asleep on her own. If she started crying, we would feed her a bit, then try again. But this crying thing.....

I should have known it was coming. She started getting social around then and looking around for us. I think the crying at bedtime was basically because she didn't want to go to bed. She wanted to be with us. Jackson specialized in this "I don't want to" cry. It was pathetic. He would stand there in his crib and cry at the top of his lungs. But as soon as we walked back in the room, he was all sunshine and smiles. Come to think of it, he still specializes in the "I don't want to" cry. If it's time to wash hands for dinner, or clean up after dinner, or go visit the potty, or get in the bath, or get out of the bath, or change his diaper, or put on his pajamas.... It's a very loud "EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh", kind of like the sound you hear when a big rig slows down. It's sometimes accompanied by jumping up and down or a rapid stomping-in-place dance, kinda like what Jennifer Beals did in Flashdance. Once in a while we get the throw-the-body-on-the-floor trick. We know the "I don't want to" cry. It's a part of our life with our stubborn....er, uh...very determined and resolute boy.

But a couple of days ago, Kiran introduced us to something new. She was happily playing with a toy when another infant crawled over and took it out of her hands. She ramped up slowly, then looked at me with a hurt look on her face, and unleashed one of the most heart-rending cries I'd heard from her. The whole room of parents we were visiting with stopped for a moment and stared. It was nothing like an "I need" cry or and "I don't want to" cry. We are now faced with the fact that our little girl has a profoundly manipulative "I want" cry. I guess we're going to have to steel ourselves for life with a little girl.

Clarice

A Dangerous Moment

We've been trying to teach Jackson to be safe. He's not allowed off the sidewalk. He has to hold hands to cross the street. He has to check both ways before we cross. And if there's a car coming, he has to make sure the driver can see him. We've been working so hard at teaching him these street safety rules. Most of the time he remembers these rules.

Well we had a dangerous moment this afternoon. Somehow Jackson ended up riding his tricycle down the middle of the street. Ian just happened to have a camera rolling.



OK. Just kidding. Ian was messing around with greenscreen effects. Funny, huh?

Clarice

Who says dentistry is a boring profession?

This video has gone viral. Over 4 million hits in a week.



Yup. Sometimes we need a little pharmacological assistance to help us treat kids.

Clarice

Legacy

I'm doing a study through the Bible on the word "lead" and I recently read Numbers 2 where the twelve tribes of Israel are assigned camp positions around the tent of meeting. Each tribe is headed by a leader of the sons of the twelve fathers. These twelve patriarchs lived over 400 years prior and yet they passed on family legacies that exist today.

I think about my role as leader of two children of Eyre, my boy Jackson and my girl Kiran, and I think about the other sons and daughters of Eyre and Law and the legacies that have been passed down to my kids through my wife's family and mine. My dad was a lay pastor and his dad was a pastor. Both my parents are prayer warriors and now missionaries. My mom's parents were first generation Christians. Clarice's parents are third generation Christians that originated in small villages in China and Hong Kong. God has blessed our kids with a strong Christian heritage.

As I consider how to pray for Jackson and Kiran and their future children, I wonder exactly how their grandparents and great-grandparents prayed for them. I know that the blessings in my life, the relational riches especially, are a result of the faithful prayers of previous generations.

I desire to only pass on blessings and promise, not generational sins and hang-ups. I desire to teach my children how to follow Jesus Christ with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. With Christ and the answered prayers of so many before us, Clarice and I can give our kids a great spiritual legacy!

Look who's excited about eating

Here's daddy introducing her to her first "solid" meal. It only took a few spoonfuls before she got the hang of it.

Clarice

It's a great day!

I woke up yesterday a bit melancholic. I've been thinking of how bittersweet it must be for President Bush to be ending his years in office. In the 7 years since 9/11, other countries have had horrific attacks at the hands of terrorists, but we have remained safe. Many on the African continent credit him for contributing more to the fight against HIV/AIDS than any other American President. And Iraq is on its way to democratic freedom. Yet he has endured such vitriol from his critics. Although I have been quite disappointed in many of his decisions, I feel for the guy. And I admire the fact that no matter how vile the criticisms have been, he has not deigned to return tit for tat. He has managed to be rather gracious in how he treats the media and other critics.

The melancholic mood continued as I heard excerpts of Obama's inaugural address. He said many encouraging things, yet at the same time, included many thinly veiled jabs at President Bush. I understood that criticism of Bush was all part of the campaign process, to distinguish how he would bring change. But I didn't think it was necessary in an inaugural address. It just didn't seem Presidential.

So I entered work stewing a bit. But then the first person I encountered was one of my colleagues, who wears his bleeding heart liberal convictions not just on his sleeve, but across his forehead. He was absolutely beaming as he bounced down the hall toward me. "Happy Inauguration Day!" he declared. Taken by surprise, I returned, "It's a historic day," because I truly believed it was. "No," he replied, "It's a GREAT day!" And he continued merrily along his way.

All day I took in the excitement of the people around me, particularly those who are underrepresented minorities in the dental school. And as I took my usual news break at lunch time, I was pleasantly surprised by how positive the conservative blogsphere was about the historicity of this event. And so I started focusing more on the mere fact that this country, which is reported to be hindered in some ways by the stain of slavery, just swore in a black President. I started telling myself that it WAS a great day. Now don't get me wrong. I still have some serious reservations about some of President Obama's policy stances, particularly that of the Freedom of Choice Act. But those reservations are irrelevant to his race. I am hopeful that this moment in history will communicate something significant about the attitudes Americans have about race and that we can start putting the past (and some aspects of the present) behind us to move into the future that this election has hinted at.

At the end of the work day, I made my way down the hall toward my parking lot and heard the familiar jovial greeting of the elderly black gentleman who collects my trash. "Hello Dr Clare," he drawled, as is his habit. "Hello, Mr Jackson. It's a great day, isn't it?" I offered instinctively without stopping to consider to whom I was speaking. "Yes it is," he replied, flashing a demurely triumphant smile. And I was so glad that my greeting had come without pretense.

Clarice

My President

Congrats to Obama on becoming my president. According to Romans 13, God has placed him in this position of authority. I pray for him regularly, especially for his journey as a Christian and his search for a church for his family to worship at in Washington. I pray for his family as they find new friends and community in their new environment. I have many doubts, but I'm also hopeful and expectant, trusting in God foremost and the power of the checks and balances built into our government process to limit the most extreme policies. I will give him the benefit of the doubt because I believe he is teachable and has a desire to let God transform him daily into a person more like His son Jesus. God bless you Mr. President and God bless America.

Bringing in the New Year

Happy New Year!!!

We celebrated the New Year in Atlanta for the third year in a row. Spending New Year's Eve on Eastern Standard Time is always interesting when dealing with a young child. Jackson usually goes to bed around 9:00 PM at home. He also has a hard time with changes in time zones. I don't remember being allowed to stay up to bring in the New Year until I was around 8 or 9 years old. Since Jackson keeps himself on Pacific Time while we visit Ian's parents, he has been up to celebrate the New Year with us every single New Year's Eve of his young life.

We figured we should have some evidence of this feat for posterity.



Clarice

Pretty in Pink

Thanks, Auntie Mich, for the hat.
Thanks, Ms Moore-Miller, for the blanket.
Thanks, Harper Jo, for the overalls and socks.
Thanks, cousin Keilah, for the shirt.
Thanks, God, for the cheery smile.
And finally, thanks, Target, for the diaper.

Blessed

Today was my birthday.

I'm getting old enough that I don't really need to celebrate. And, much as I love going out to eat, the kids complicate things enough that I preferred staying home for a simple dinner with my nuclear family tonight. It was a peaceful, relaxing evening. And my husband bought me the perfect gift. He figured out a little luxury that I would really appreciate.

But the part that warmed my heart was receiving text messages and email messages wishing me happy birthday. They came from all over the state (and two from the other side of the world) from people whom I love, but don't keep up with as much as I would like. I felt blessed that they remembered my birthday and took the time to send birthday greetings. Thank you, my friends and family, for blessing me with your well wishes!

Clarice