It’s hard to believe that our little sticky one is no longer a baby.
We make pancakes together, she can crack eggs without getting the shells in. She adds all the ingredients and stirs, and we’re working on measuring one cup of milk.
She speaks Japanese fluently, Chinese close to and understands English. She’ll translate questions from me in English to Chinese for her mother and the Chinese answers back into Japanese. Getting more English is our next project.
She’s a wonderful older sister, and even shares toys with the intruder. Her level of understanding of the world is gaining daily. She’s got a great personality, with a great level of independence (today only the yellow shoes will do) combined with a quick acceptance of rules (we don’t hit Didi on the head and never touch the stove).
And we have a blast together. The world is a fun place to explore when you’ve got a three-year-old along. We can be silly at times and still get the necessary things done.
We’re doing toilet training now, and she’s just starting to tell us when she needs to go.
I’ve been very fortunate to be in a situation where I can spend a lot of time with my kids, an investment well worth getting off the corporate rat race for.
She loves to sing and dance and thank the gods that she didn’t inherit my tone deafness.
Three years ago today was one of the most special days of my life.
Thank you. She gets her eyebrows from me, but her good looks from her mother.
I look at her and I see me. Ian had a lot of me in as well, but Didi looks more like his mother, which is not a bad thing. Very fortunately, Didi doesn’t look a thing like the next door neighbor, so I’m not that worried.
We really are enjoying this. I’m fortunate to have flexibility for work so I can spend a lot of time with the children, and we’re close for it.
This time of year is always bittersweet. I’m really glad that Pough’s birthday is first because that gets that over with first and then we have Beta-chan’s birthday and then Didi’s. I come as an afterthought later in the month, but once you have kids, their priority is infinitely higher.
I really appreciate all the support from everyone during that very difficult period. There were some rough times, and the support from the board was tremendous. I always think back to not only the support for Ian, but also how hard everyone was sending sticky thoughts across the ocean for Beta-chan.
I’m afraid that I tend to spam the boards with my issues, and I must apologize for that, but it has been a really good way of processing the “stuff.” Hopefully, I’m not too whiny.
I think that there are two miracles when a child is born. The first is the start of a new life and the wonder of how a blob grows into an actual human and learns not only how to walk and talk, but becomes a complete person in their own right. We’re right in the early stages of that development and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.
The second miracle is that nature’s beckoning to the parent, transforming a selfish, narcissistic jerk into, what I hope, is a caring, loving father who learns how to put someone ease’s needs ahead of his own.
We all have a lot of work ahead of us, the kids have to grow up and I’ve got to continue my progress, but we sure as hell are enjoying the process.
