Category: parenting
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Protected: I Hope You Are Creating
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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Dim Sum Anytime
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Driving Lessons for Cate
Over the last year, my daughter finally wanted to get her license, hooray for a city kid finally wanting to take the step at 22. I have to say, it’s nerve-wracking the first time to take a new driver on the freeway. She drove from San Francisco to Cupertino for some Bingsu all on city…
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Sharing: “Good Bones’ by Maggie Smith
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones
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Best Christmas Gift
When I get an original drawing tailor to my favorite Teen Titans character from my talented artist daughter.
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Long term investment
Investment thesis Is this business going to be stronger 10 years from now? Is this business dominant and unique in the industry? For every dollar it earns, how much of it does it keep for itself? Do you love the product?
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Advice: For The Person In My Life
This life is your experience, you have control over it, no one else. Meet people, students, faculty! Find your people. Be wrong often. Ask for help Worthy of your time Be Nice Shower your world with the best of you can offer.
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Mom, did you know?
Happy mother’s day. Today, my sister and I told my mom things she never knew. We hung out with kids who had a bad influence on us. Teaching us to smoke elementary school in China. Getting into fights in middle school with kids who bullied me. I bullied kids and was angry. I shoplifted with…
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Wecroak : An app to remind you that everything is temporary
It’s a fact, we will all die. What is important for you? learn more about the app www.wecroak.com Or listen to the co founder on Recode Decode podcast. You can find it.
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Cat person
I am a cat person. My personality matches a cat. I like people watching and lazying in the sun. I move slowly, only pouncing when there is something that intensely interests me. I have a deep-seated fear of dogs biting me randomly. I also raised a cat person and now she is 18!
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Thank me when you are 30
One my favorite movie scenes is when Sydney P., in the movie”Guess who is coming to dinner?” said to his father, something like “It’s your job to raise me, you brought me into this world”. “When it’s my time, I will do the same for my children”. There is no need for children to thank…
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My advice to you, dear daugther
Dear daughter, For your 18th birthday, and on my 48th year, I wish to write down something for you to refer back to in the next 30 years. I wish to tell you a few simple thoughts to help you to build a life for yourself that 30 years later, you would look back and…
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Identity as a father
For the last 18 years, my identity is primarily a father and a software engineer. My daughter is going to be 18 years old in a few days and I wanted to remind myself that a large part of my identity is not lost, but changed. In order for her to be a fully formed…
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Talk About Your Frustrations
Dear future self: Today, you were frustrated at your teenage daughter that she was 10 minutes later in leaving the house for high school. Even though she is the only one affected, you felt that it reflected on your personal value to be early or on time. You expressed to your daughter that you were…
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Saying It Out Loud
This week I learned something new about myself. I learned that what I’m thinking in my head, when not explicitly told to those I love, is not necessarily known to those love ones. This seems like a very obviously point, but I often make this mistake. I think this could be that I…
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My daughter the writer
My daughter is taking up writing and publishing her stories publicly on WattPad. Her current series is based on the seven sins and she is trying to take on seven different writing styles. Give it a try and support her efforts in putting her writing out there 🙂 You will have to sign up for…
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“Pink” College
(old post from 2007) Kate loves watching Blue’s Clues and especially one episode, “Steve goes to college”. So tonight, instead of reading she wanting me to tell her all about college. I used this perfect timing to tell her about learning and doing well in school. Kate: “Is there a pink college? I want to…
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C: Will I hate you when I’m a teenager?
The original post was in 2005 when C. was 5 years old. A few days ago, C asked “Dad, will I hate you as a teenager?” I was a bit caught off guard. I told C that it’s possible that when kids grow into their teenage years, their hormones could change, and they will be testing the…
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link: Your kids will not be grateful until they are 30 years old. NYTimes: All Parents Are Cowards
This article reminds me of how I felt as a single parent with C.. Scared, protective and constantly worried. As she is heading to high school, I wish to teach her to be independent, free thinker, know to fail and recover. For other parents, this article is a great read amd a reminder that being…
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Math Get To 24 iOS App
My daughter C. designed the logo, intro video and the entire app screen for this fun math game. Try it out and let me know what you think. download on The 24 Game is an arithmetical card game in which the object is to find a way to manipulate four numbers so that the end result…
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Pencil Sketch Of C.
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Father’s day card from C.
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I Believe In Consistency And Persistence
Many aspects of my life are based on 2 simple concepts: consistency and persistence. I have been working for Yahoo! as a software engineer for over 11 years now. I have consistently delivered results regardless of what project I work on. My co-workers and management can trust me with the most important projects. Without fail,…
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Be Kind To Yourself
For the past few weeks, I’ve noticed that C. says self-deprecating comments about herself. When I notice it, I would tell her there is no need to put herself down. In the dictionary “self-deprecating” is defined as “belittling or undervaluing oneself; excessively modest”. It’s ok to be modest, but not at the expense of one’s self…
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30 Minutes Of Focus Time For Children And Adults
I spent Christmas night and the day after Christmas with my parents and my sister’s 2 kids. A 2 year old girl “C”. and 4 year old boy “M”. We all spent the morning filled with sounds of the TV and the new Nintendo games the kids got for Christmas. Thirty minutes before we are…
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5 Positive Stories I Read To C. On Christmas
I loved these 5 stories from the Chronicle this morning and I read them to C. for her bedtime reading Castro garage draws out Christmas wishes Yiying Lu makes splash with Twitter’s ‘fail whale’ Bad college grades a tough record to shake Devoted single father grateful for new apartment Dear San Francisco: What I like about…
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Paris 2011, 10th Trip For C.
C. is truly a blessed child. I have been taking C. to Paris once a year in order for both of us to spend some quality time together during her vacation. Also I want her to have a special place that I consistently bring her to so that when she grows up, it will be a special…
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‘If’ Haiku From C 2010
Haiku: ‘If’ Haiku from my 9 year old daughter, C. If If you gotta use the kitchen, that’s just fine with me. If you wanna sit in the living room, help yourself to the sofa. If you gotta use the outhouse, Well… Once I get out, come in and use it. You gotta go bad?…
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‘Unless’ Haiku From C 2010
‘Unless’ Haiku My 9 Year Old Daughter’s Haiku Unless Roses red, larkspurs blue, Daisys white and this paper too. ( Unless you have dirty hands, that is!!! ) Boring (Haiku) more haikus
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‘Boring’ Haiku From C (2010)
Haiku: Boring Haiku by my 9 year old daughter C. Boring Boring,boring,boring,boring.That’s what this poem is.Boring…”Bor” Yawn… more haikus
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Pink Lady Apple Popsicles (archive 2007)
Cate loves loves ice cream. In order to balance her craving against the saturated fats of ice cream, I make her popsicles out of strawberries, raspberries and apples. Her favorite is lady pink apple ones. 1) Take 6 lady pinks, wash and juice them 2) Take a cheese cloth and filter the juice 3 times…
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Happy Mother’s Day : Day With My Mom
This year for mother’s day, I thought I would just spend a full day with her alone (the day before the actual day). No other family members, just mom and son. I hadn’t made any special plans ahead so in morning, I booked a ZipCar just in case we needed it, and walked 20 minutes to…
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Paris Trip Day 4 : Compromises (2008)
I’m usually not good at resolving conflicts. In the dating environment, I would just run away. At work, we’ll try to figure out the ‘right’ way and usually, the ‘right’ way wins. With Cate, usually, the only way that wins is to compromise Last night I was trying to convince Cate to fall asleep sooner…
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fun with light and manual exposure
Cate’s 7th birthday is today. We played with creating art with light and a 15 second manual exposure. The result was pretty impressive. Check out the slideshow http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonytam/sets/72157604433266710/show/
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homemade pizza : first attempt a success
C. wants to cook more with her Dad for 2008 New Year’s resolution First attempt at making pizza dough at home. Pretty simple recipe. 10 minutes of working the dough for both C. and I. let it rise for 1 hour. Pop it into the oven for 10 minutes. She gets cheese pizza, I get spicy sausage.…
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dreaming of father+daughter team
I have this fantasy of playing badminton with C. as a mixed doubles team. The C.+Tony dynamic duo! She is 12 years old, flying at the birdie in front of the net. Father Tony jumping and smashing from the back. We are both enjoying executing what we’ve been training to do during our weekly badminton training…
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Cute Kids Becoming Non-Cute Adults
You see it everywhere. People smiling a kids, commenting on how cute they are. I do the same thing on the metro here in Paris. Even when I look at Kate, I sometimes can’t help but smile at her. I imagine what will become of this wonderful human being. When do kids stop being cute…
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Happy 6th birthday my Kate
Kate turned 6 today. Happy birthday my little girl. It’s so wonderful to have you in my life. Having a child has taught me to look at life with a fresh pair of eyes. To look at life in a positive angle. She shows her feelings and her love without reservation and this is still…
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Prayer Of Love
Recently I started asking Kate if she would like to say a nightly prayer of love. I told her it’s when we just say thanks for our health and our good fortune and then we pray for health and happiness for everyone we love. This way it will magically keep the people we love healthy…
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Kate: “I want to be rich”
(photo is Kate’s. Happy Chinese New Years on the right bubble, “Dad” 爸 on the left red envelope, “Maternal grandfather” 公 on the right red envelope, the rest of the yellow I think are currencies?) I can’t recall how the conversation started, but I asked what Kate wants to be when she grew up. She…
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Chinese Dumpling Sunday
I had a craving for fresh Chinese dumplings on Friday and got my parents to pick up the ingredients from Chinatown. Friday my gf and I made a small batch enough to satisfy ourselves. Then this Sunday Kate and I finished up the entire batch. It really did hit the spot. Here is a recipe…
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Close to the heart
In Chinese we have a term 貼心 which literally translates to “close to the heart” and it’s usually used to describe daughters who are very close to their parents and especially their mothers. Ever since my foot injury, Kate has needed to make huge adjustments. Opening and holding doors for me, bringing her dinners to…
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Protected: Unromantic Parts Of Being A Father
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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No coffee for you Dad !!!
Kate and I got into an argument Monday morning, I think it was about wearing clothes or maybe I was slow in getting up in the morning. She wrote me a note “No Coffee For You Dad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I asked her why I don’t get any coffee and she said K : “Because when you are…
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Kate’s sunday conversations
Some random bits of conversation between Kate and me K: “Dad, are you going to die before me?” me: “uhhh, I think so.” K: “but not for a long long long long time right?” me: “I hope so.” K: “Dad, even when you are angry, you still love me right?” me: “I’ll always love you”…
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No Smoking
Fill in the caption 🙂
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Kate: I’m not a princess!
Me: (as I lay a cushion for her on the chair) You are my little princess. Kate: I’m not a princess, I don’t have a prince yet! It’s just you, dad. Me: chuckle.. That is very true, that almost makes perfect sense I love your logic Kate Kate: Why is that funny, Dad? Me: I…
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Crepes for only those you really love
I make crepes for Kate in the mornings whenever she asks. It usually takes me about 15 minutes or so to get some fresh hot nutella crepes in her hands. I usually make then without any butter as I’m a oil/fat freak. Today I read an article on crepes on KQED Food Blog and I…
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Passionate About Anything
It doesn’t matter what you are passionate about, as long as you have the passion in your eyes and your heart. For many years in my life, I was passionless. If I had a weekend free, I would not know what to do with that time. My recent passion is all about latte art, good…
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“King of Boring”
C. wanted to play with me this morning while she was sick at home. And when I said I needed to work, she came up with a bunch of choice words for me. 1. King of boring 2. King of making fun of me 3. King of making my wish not complete The girl can express…
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C.’s PTA meeting
Today I met with C’s French teachers. Some cool highlights Kate is the leader in the advance French group Kate is well liked by all her classmates Kate is like a flower while the others are bees around her. She doesn’t seek out friends, others seek her out She was very shy before, but she is…
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Kate’s PTA Meeting
Today I met with Kate’s French teachers. Some cool highlights Kate is the leader in the advance French group Kate is well liked by all her classmates Kate is like a flower while the others are bees around her. She doesn’t seek out friends, others seek her out She was very shy before, but she…
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Story Of 2 Girls
C. decided that she liked the name ‘K.’ and she wants her alias to be ‘clara’ so we actually changed her name officially in school to ‘C.’. She had me write out this story for her and she supplied the drawings and the words.
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Time With Mom
Weekend with mom was very fun, my mom just turned 65 this year. Pick her up from SF and drove to Oakland to have a facial together. Had a very nice nap. Mom: “my friends would like to go to Europe next year.. pause” Me: “Do you guys enjoy tour packages?” Mom: “No we hate…
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I Should Have 10 More Kate’s
I dropped off Kate at school and her teacher came up and we chatted a bit. She was telling me that Kate is expressing herself well in French and she wanted to find out how ‘deep’ Kate’s vocabulary was. Since I don’t know French, I couldn’t tell her 🙂 But I’m sure it’s good enough.…
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Keeping entertained during a flight
The flight back from Paris with Kate was very pleasant and we both looked forward to the end of the 2 week vacation. We came up with a few games to keep us entertained. The most fun one was a made up game of ask the 8-ball I wrote up 3 pieces of paper with…
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Kate Asleep On Paris Metro Line
Kate Asleep On Paris Metro Line #1 Nice break for me!
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video: kate no lumps in my crepes
Kate loves crepes, almost every weekend she helps me make them and we talk about lumps <br> <br> http://www.youtube.com/v/avZdr8UxMA4
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single dad traveling with a kid in Paris
Eiffel Tower, Seine River, Louvre Museum: from 5 year old’s perpective, she can care less. Where’s the ice cream place, crepes? tired of walking, not the metro again, are we there yet? Kate is a pretty good traveler, but thinking from her perspective, I can understand. My days with her here in Paris is not…
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Warning
warning Dad! Apparently Kate has learned the meaning of warning from one of the poems in Where the Sidewalk Ends. Then she saw the warning signs about not putting your fingers between the doors in the Paris metro. The entire week, I’m getting warning drawings as I deny her a 2nd helping of ice cream. …
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video: books in kate’s life
Another video I edited here in Paris http://www.youtube.com/v/4zQvCjuxmAE
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The Good And The So So
Kate arrived yesterday, her mom brought her over to Paris while traveling towards eastern Europe. Kate was excited as was I to be reunited after a month. The good. We spent the day visiting a few food places around Rue Lepic, and I was introducing Kate to the vendors. The good The vendor selling tarts…
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Video: Kate Dancing In A Parade
Kate is coming to visit me for 2 weeks in Paris. This will be her 3rd time in Paris, hopefully we’ll get to chill and soak up summertime in Paris my silly Kate last summer dancing to a her own parade. I’m actually getting a bit nervous, I haven’t seen her for 6 weeks now.…
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Falling For ka-plooyeee
another favorite pass time.. falling into a bed of soft pillows.. it’s ka-ploooyee time! Set to the music of Cecilia Bartoli http://www.youtube.com/v/0SjtVVCfcbQ
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video: kate singing coccinelle
Kate is a very lucky girl indee in her exposure to different languages, especially in a country like the US where we are very mono-language focused. It’s rare for a child to grow up being able to speak another language like a native She grew up with Chinese-mandarin as her first language because we didn’t…
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Video: Kate 2005: water tension experiment
I’m beginning to seriously miss Kate, so I’m revisiting her videos on my little 17″ powerbook. Everyone loves the San Francisco Exploratorium. There are hundreds of science experiments here. Kate’s favorite the first time she was there is this “water surface tension” experiment. You try to make as much water stay on top and not…
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Video: Kate: why I don’t want to play with this boy?
Ok, I’m easily amused by my daughter. But when we speak Chinese, it’s even funnier (at least to me). One day I asked her why she won’t play with this boy at school, here is our conversation while she was making crepes [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWTe7cz8zZs] highlight here to the end for the transcript: Kate: Because his voice…
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Does Parenthood Make You Happy?
I’ve been listening to an audio book, Stumbling on Happiness The author Daniel Gilbert is really funny and convincing in the thoroughness of his research. He believes that humans are the only animals who can think about the future and have an imagination. I still do not know the secret to happiness, but after listening…
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Say Good Bye To Castro Valley House
I’m moving out of the house I bought and lived in for over 12 years. It’s been through 2-3 remodels but until recently it’s been the perfect house for me. Life of course always change and I want and need to live in San Francisco now. So it’s good bye to suburb living and hello…
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Memories
For all the moms and dads out there, really take the time to enjoy the first 5 years of your child’s life. After they start school and learn how to reason with you, the relationship becomes very different. I miss the days when Kate didn’t question anything. I enjoy her current age, but I often…
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Easy answer to : What’s for dinner?
It’s been the same answer for the past few weeks. She wants fresh pasta, she helps make it. Gather the ingredient, stir in water, break the eggs, measure the flour, mix, help roll the dough, cut into fettuccine or pappardelle, cook the pasta, wash the basil, mix with olive oil, add salt. I’m just the…
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Yes Kate, No Dad
Kate got mad at me for some reason and went back to her table to write me a warning note. She first said I was in trouble 🙁 “From Kate For Tony” “Yes Kate, No Dad” “I am getting mad at you”
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Kate’s Fifth Birthday Party: 23 kids
For Kate’s Fifth Birthday Party At http://mocha.org/ We had 23 kids, probably 18 parents packed into a 2 hour birthday party for Kate. I got up at 6:30am to cut up 3 cantelopes, 2 melons, 1 4lb papaya, 10 apples, 6 pears, 8 bell peppers. The dish I’m most proud of is this big bowl…
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Love from Kate
Kate: Do you know who I love the most? Tony: Mom? K: nope T: Me? K: nope T: Gandmom? Grandpa? Auntie Liana? Your best friend Olivia? You sister Lauren? K: nope, nope. I love all my family the same. This way no one would feel sad. It’s Kate’s 5th birthday this week., how she has…
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How To Talk About Death To Your Children (2006)
Cate has been watching Cinderella and other Disney movies which mention the subject of death of a family member. So she has been mentioning that subject to me. Does everyone die? Kids who are 5 years old don’t die for a long long time right? What does it mean to die? Dad, when are you…
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Kate: I Love You My Best Sister
From Kate To Laren https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonytam/111502423/
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Dance performance this Sunday
I have been taking Kate to her dance lessons ever since she was 2 1/2. When she first started, she refused to participate and we spend nearly 2 months just sitting and watching. How time has flown. She was in a dance performance 2 years before and she frozed on stage. She skipped last year’s…
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Make Your Dreams And Wishes Come True
Kate came up with the phrase for a birthday card for her friend Pauline
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Name That Princesses
Kate did a wonderful drawing and I forget which princess was which. Snow White, Cinderella?? , Auora? Jasmine (jumping out of a bottle), Sleeping Beauty, Ariel
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Non Non Pas Moi
Kate’s drawing of me and her, after she translated my shirt from Paris . I had a big laugh when she wanted to write down what was on my shirt.
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please give me a pink sparkly pajamas
Kate had me open up TextEdit on my mac and asked me to type out these words. “please give me a pink sparkly pajamas” Now where do I find these “pink sparkly pajamas?”
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Saturday Food Day
Kate and I had a day full of good food. Fresh fettuccini pasta, french string beans, basil Chocolate fondue with organic fuji apple slices fresh lemon scones with all 7 color sprinkles Every color sprinkle is put on top of the scone for good measure Kate, the cook, trying out the chocolate Melting Dark Chocolate…
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Kids self portraits made out of paper
Kids are born artists but somehow when we grow up, we lose most of that creativity. These are each child’s self portrait cut out with paper. Absolutely amazing! Check out the flickr photos set
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Kate & Me
It’s been a while, Kate finally agreed to take a photo with me for my birthday . She still refused to be photographed.
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“Stop Taking Pictures Dad!”
My little girl is going through a phase where she doesn’t want her picture to be taken anymore. So sad for the paparazzi dad. I end up sneaking photos when she is not watching, but I can only do that on my Treo when I pretent I’m just checking email. I hope she gets out…
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“Stop Taking Pictures Dad!”
My little girl is going through a phase where she doesn’t want her picture to be taken anymore. So sad for the paparazzi dad. I end up sneaking photos when she is not watching, but I can only do that on my Treo when I pretent I’m just checking email. I hope she gets out…
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Crepe Saturday With Kate
Just wanted to document my very long but leisurely day with my little girl so I don’t forget. Saturday morning started at 6:30 when Kate bounced up and asked me whether she could make crepes. Of course, I love crepes. She ran into the kitchen and got all the ingredients ready. She measured the flour,…
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Lice! Lice!
Just got this email from Kate’s school, it doesn’t sound like the next few weeks will be fun. Time to give Kate a good scrub down just in case. Unfortunately, there have been some lice found in MK so we’re asking everyone to please stay aware so we can minimize any spreading. If you’re not…
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A Constant Force In Kate’s Life
I usually drive Kate to school on the day I work from home. But this last time I was late by 10 minutes. I had to fill out a little tardy slip for Kate with the reason of ‘traffic’ as an excuse. I strolled leisurely to class with Kate and as I stepped in, 5…
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A Constant Force In Kate’s Life
I usually drive Kate to school on the day I work from home. But this last time I was late by 10 minutes. I had to fill out a little tardy slip for Kate with the reason of ‘traffic’ as an excuse. I strolled leisurely to class with Kate and as I stepped in, 5…
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Children Book Review: Grace Lin
Kate since she was a baby, we’ve come across many books that she loves. I thought I’ll start sharing those. I would love to hear suggestions as well from other parents on what books they love. Anywhere from 0-6 years old reading material. Grace Lin illustrated many books on the Chinese culture. It’s really fun…
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First Discovery Book series: Great Designed Books?
The “First Discovery Books” are the best designed children’s books I’ve ever seen. These books are very hard to find brand new in the US. I’m not sure why. Do a search on Amazon and give all the books a try. These are very detailed illustrations of various topics like The Egg , Penguins, Weather,…
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Kate’s Back In School
Kate doesn’t like paparazzi Dad I finally figured out the immunization stuff for Kate, she is back in school and her teachers love her! She is speaking French to her teachers, doodling, playing with the seesaw, eating lunch with her classmates, pretending to nap, and building sand castles.
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Kate I Let You Down 🙁
Kate’s teachers tell me that it so nice having Kate at school, she is really happy there. Today Yahoo! let some of us leave work at 2:00pm to get started on the long weekend. So I decided to pick up Kate from Berkeley and take her to get her shots so she won’t be kicked…
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Kate’s first day of school
Happy parents, happy kids, crying kids whose parents left too fast, socializing with teachers, proud parents, excited Kate. The first day school for Kate, I’m so proud of her. She will enjoy learning at the French American school so much. But I think she will love the corn meal sandbox the most
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my 4 year old is smarter than I am
4 year old Kate is way smarter than I am She spots every little detail in her story books, facial expressions of all the characters in the page She remembers that there are 6 strings on the guitar without looking at it, I thought there were 7 She learns foreign languages so much better than…
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my 4 year old is smarter than I am
4 year old Cate is way smarter than I am She spots every little detail in her story books, facial expressions of all the characters in the page She remembers that there are 6 strings on the guitar without looking at it, I thought there were 7 She learns foreign languages so much better than…
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A Small Boo Boo
Small boo boo: “Take a picture of this dad”
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C and ice cream
This kid is hooked. She doesn’t get ice cream when she is with me. But when my sister, Liana is with us, somehow cate usually works in ice cream after a nice meal with veggies. Here is us enjoying a nice break from the heat at the local Loard’s ice cream parlor
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Fun Math Game To Play Anywhere
Neat game to teach addition and subtraction We agree on difference of 2. Kate: (hides a certain number of fingers) Me: It’s less than how many fingers? Kate: 6 Me: you’ve got 4 fingers! Kate: yup Me: ( I hide my fingers ) Kate: It’s more than how many fingers? Me: 7 Kate: You’ve got…