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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

(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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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.  […]

Another video I edited here in Paris http://www.youtube.com/v/4zQvCjuxmAE

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. […]

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

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 […]

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 highlight here to the end for the transcript: Kate: Because his voice is […]

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 […]

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”

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.

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 […]

It’s been a while, Kate finally agreed to take a photo with me for my birthday .  She still refused to be photographed.

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.

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 […]

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 […]

Small boo boo: “Take a picture of this dad”

First, 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 9 fingers! Me: Yeah! As they […]