September 13, 2007
Ten Percent Already ?
Eighteen years equals two hundred sixteen months. The significance of eighteen years is that it not only usually marks the age when a child graduates from high school but also represents the age when a child generally leaves home.
Lydia just turned twenty months old recently, so she has one hundred ninety six months to go before she reaches that milestone. Looking at the numbers another way, however, shows that she has lived almost 10 percent of her life already prior to turning eighteen years old (e.g. 20 months divided by 216 months is 9.26 percent).
A Matter of Death and Life
When I was sitting in a chair in Lydia’s nursery after I placed her in the crib for her afternoon nap, I began reading a book entitled The Little Red Book of Wisdom that related to those numbers about Lydia. Authored by Mark DeMoss, the president of a public relations firm called the DeMoss Group in Atlanta, Georgia that does work for a number of America’s largest nonprofit organizations, the book’s first eleven chapters focus on advice for one’s professional life, and the last twelve chapters deal with wisdom for one’s personal life.
Chapter 1, which is titled “A Matter of Death and Life”, speaks about the fragility and fleetingness of life as Mr. DeMoss describes how he lost his 53 year old father, Arthur, in 1979 from a cardiac arrest and his twenty-two year old brother, David, seven years later from a car accident.
He writes, “At age forty, his wife [my mother] was a widow with seven children between ages eight and twenty-one. Certainly I had known people who had died during my still-young life; but death was supposed to happen to older people, in other families. . .
After my father died, I somehow believed that early death would pass over the rest of my family. Why I thought that, I don’t know: actuarial tables, common odds, maybe – certainly not the Bible because, if anything, it underscores life’s brevity.
As I write this, I am a handful of years from the age my father was at his death and twice my brother’s age when he died. The math in my head is unavoidable. I have a wife and children. I’ve had the thrill and challenges of building a career. I’ve had adult years and all that comes with new eras in life. . .
When my father died, I thought I could never ever hurt that way again. Then we lost my brother David. Since then, I have been privileged to share the sorrow of other families during loss, and I know from my marrow and tissue what is important. People are. God is. Time is – important, fleeting, priceless. . .
I cannot remember that my father ever wasted a minute. Not that all he did was work; he frequently played tennis or Monopoly with us, went swimming or took us to professional sporting events. He was also a great conversationalist. It’s just that he didn’t waste time. He didn’t watch TV, and he went to bed at a reasonable hour. . .He rose early each day. His strong sense of purpose and life fully included time to think, plan, dream, and pray.
We all are wise to invest life’s most precious commodity for the greatest return. When I die, whenever that moment comes, I hope my passing will echo the psalmist’s saying ‘Teach me to number my days, that I may present to You a heart of wisdom’ – not least because my father’s life and death have shown me that it is possible.”
(Source: Mark DeMoss. The Little Red Book of Wisdom. Thomas Nelson Publishers: 2007. pages 1-6.)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Photos: Color Blocks and Hands
DSC_0058Lydia is using her left hand to try to fit the green squirrel into its slot.
Lisa Taylor, one of SiowFong's colleagues, gave this 7 inch long x 7 inch wide x 7 inch deep puzzle cube as a gift to Lydia in January 2007. Lydia enjoyed playing with it, but the toy frustrated her for months because she could not successfully put a number of the puzzle pieces into their slots. This Saturday was the first in which she was able to accomplish that feat with most of the puzzle pieces.
DSC_0063Lydia is receiving some help from her mom's right hand as she tries to rotate the blue D puzzle piece so that it will properly into its hole.
DSC_0064With the puzzle piece aligned correctly, Lydia is using both hands to put it in the puzzle box.
DSC_0067Lydia is employing both hands to position the blue flower puzzle piece so that it fits in its slot.
Photo note: The hands of little children, particularly infants and toddlers, are so delicate, plump, and unblemished that they are wonderful subjects for pictures.
Note: All these pictures were taken on September 1, 2007 in the upper landing area of our home.
Day Care Update
September 11, 2007
Day Care Update
Lydia may be in the midst of a turnaround at day care.
SiowFong emailed me the following brief summary of Lydia’s day this evening:
“Lydia did GREAT today! She only cried for < 10 minutes for the entire day. She even ate some lunch and ate well for her 2 snack times. She even played with the other kids [five of them: Atkas (a boy), Calvin, Joey, Mia, and Zachary. . .Lydia is the oldest child] today and before she left, she patted all their little heads !!! She was smiling the entire time.
There is a Mandarin speaking teacher Alice who teaches the older kids. During her break, she went over and talked to Lydia in Mandarin. She said that Lydia’s face lighted up immediately when she heard Mandarin spoken to her. Abida [Lydia’s teacher] is most happy as well.”
SiowFong later informed me after I returned home that Lydia slept during the entire afternoon nap time, which was three hours in length.
Day Care Update
Lydia may be in the midst of a turnaround at day care.
SiowFong emailed me the following brief summary of Lydia’s day this evening:
“Lydia did GREAT today! She only cried for < 10 minutes for the entire day. She even ate some lunch and ate well for her 2 snack times. She even played with the other kids [five of them: Atkas (a boy), Calvin, Joey, Mia, and Zachary. . .Lydia is the oldest child] today and before she left, she patted all their little heads !!! She was smiling the entire time.
There is a Mandarin speaking teacher Alice who teaches the older kids. During her break, she went over and talked to Lydia in Mandarin. She said that Lydia’s face lighted up immediately when she heard Mandarin spoken to her. Abida [Lydia’s teacher] is most happy as well.”
SiowFong later informed me after I returned home that Lydia slept during the entire afternoon nap time, which was three hours in length.
Photos: Drawer
DSC_0073Lydia is reaching for a flosser since she loves to floss her teeth each night after supper.
DSC_0074Lydia scrutinizing the contents of the bathroom drawer
DSC_0075Lydia is looking for something interesting.
Note: All these pictures were taken on August 9, 2007 in the main bathroom (the one on the upper floor).
Balancing Work and Motherhood
September 10, 2007
Balancing Work and Motherhood
I read an interesting article today entitled “The New Mommy Track: More mothers win flextime at work, and hubbies’ help at home” in the September 3, 2007 issue of US News and World Report. Below are some excerpts from that special report.
“Mothers today are more likely to negotiate flexible schedules at work and demand fuller participation of fathers in child raising than previous generations did, giving them more time to pursue their own careers and interests. . .Nearly 26 percent of working women with children under age 18 work flexible schedules, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with 14 percent in 1991. . .
Working mothers increasingly say part-time work is their ideal situation. Survey data from the Pew Research Center demonstrates this trend when it asked working moms this question: ‘What’s ideal for you?’
In 1997, for example, 32 percent preferred full-time work, 48 percent desired part-time work, and 20 percent wanted to not work outside the home. When the same questioned was asked of working mothers in 2007, 21 percent desired full-time work, 60 percent preferred part-time work, and 19 percent wanted to be full-time, stay-at-home mothers.
‘More and more companies are hip to [flexibility], but it’s still not the norm,’ cautions Michelle Goodman, author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube. . .
On the company front, 31 percent of organizations allow employees to work fro home or off site on a regular basis and 73 percent allow extended career breaks for family responsibilities, according to a survey by the Families and Work Institute. . .Many agencies within the federal government encourage employees to work from home and to have flexible hours. Daniel Green, deputy associate director in the Office of Personnel Management, says such arrangements increase loyalty and motivation among staff. . .
Most women don’t have access to such corporate and federal programs, and that leads some of them to decide combining motherhood and work is impossible. A recent survey of almost 2,500 high-achieving women by Sylvia Ann Hewlett found that 37 percent of women stop working for a period, or temporarily ‘opt out’ of the workforce. . .
Women working in low-skilled jobs. . .usually find flexibility only by lucking into employers who accept it, says Leslie Morgan Steiner, editor of Mommy Wars. ‘Men and women at the lowest income levels don’t have any leverage,’ she says.
Partly as a result of those continuing difficulties, a growing number of mothers are deciding that starting their own business is the answer. . .’Women are trying to have it all but are trying to regain control over their time,’ says Conway, who helped conduct the poll [A 2006 Lifetime Television poll]. ‘That’s why many women are busting out of the traditional workforce and starting their own businesses.’”
(Source: Kimberly Palmer. “The New Mommy Track,” US News and World Report, September 3, 2007. pages 40-45.)
Balancing Work and Motherhood
I read an interesting article today entitled “The New Mommy Track: More mothers win flextime at work, and hubbies’ help at home” in the September 3, 2007 issue of US News and World Report. Below are some excerpts from that special report.
“Mothers today are more likely to negotiate flexible schedules at work and demand fuller participation of fathers in child raising than previous generations did, giving them more time to pursue their own careers and interests. . .Nearly 26 percent of working women with children under age 18 work flexible schedules, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with 14 percent in 1991. . .
Working mothers increasingly say part-time work is their ideal situation. Survey data from the Pew Research Center demonstrates this trend when it asked working moms this question: ‘What’s ideal for you?’
In 1997, for example, 32 percent preferred full-time work, 48 percent desired part-time work, and 20 percent wanted to not work outside the home. When the same questioned was asked of working mothers in 2007, 21 percent desired full-time work, 60 percent preferred part-time work, and 19 percent wanted to be full-time, stay-at-home mothers.
‘More and more companies are hip to [flexibility], but it’s still not the norm,’ cautions Michelle Goodman, author of The Anti 9-to-5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube. . .
On the company front, 31 percent of organizations allow employees to work fro home or off site on a regular basis and 73 percent allow extended career breaks for family responsibilities, according to a survey by the Families and Work Institute. . .Many agencies within the federal government encourage employees to work from home and to have flexible hours. Daniel Green, deputy associate director in the Office of Personnel Management, says such arrangements increase loyalty and motivation among staff. . .
Most women don’t have access to such corporate and federal programs, and that leads some of them to decide combining motherhood and work is impossible. A recent survey of almost 2,500 high-achieving women by Sylvia Ann Hewlett found that 37 percent of women stop working for a period, or temporarily ‘opt out’ of the workforce. . .
Women working in low-skilled jobs. . .usually find flexibility only by lucking into employers who accept it, says Leslie Morgan Steiner, editor of Mommy Wars. ‘Men and women at the lowest income levels don’t have any leverage,’ she says.
Partly as a result of those continuing difficulties, a growing number of mothers are deciding that starting their own business is the answer. . .’Women are trying to have it all but are trying to regain control over their time,’ says Conway, who helped conduct the poll [A 2006 Lifetime Television poll]. ‘That’s why many women are busting out of the traditional workforce and starting their own businesses.’”
(Source: Kimberly Palmer. “The New Mommy Track,” US News and World Report, September 3, 2007. pages 40-45.)
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Photos: Edmonds Music
DSC_0106Lydia gazing at the a set of drums
DSC_0107Lydia touching the strings of a cello
DSC_0110Lydia stooping to inspect the cello more closely
Note: SiowFong took all of these photos on August 4, 2007 at the Saturday Street Fair in Edmonds, WA.
Cougar Mountain Zoo
September 9, 2007
Cougar Mountain Zoo
The Spanish word “puma” means cougar, and after church and lunch today, we made a trip to the Cougar Mountain Zoo because yesterday SiowFong had read about the two Bengal Tiger cubs that have been living at the zoo for the last few months. Since one of Lydia’s nicknames is “si lofu”, which means little tiger in Chinese because of the way that she used to crawl, SiowFong was looking forward to bringing Lydia to a zoo where Lydia could easily see the tigers.
Within minutes of arriving at the zoo, we proceeded to the World of Tigers where a zookeeper had just begun an informal presentation at 1:00 PM about the two tiger cubs, one of which is a white Bengal tiger and the other of which is a cinnamon Bengal tiger (instead of having black stripes, this tiger has brown stripes). Then one by one, another zookeeper brought out the tiger cubs, which frolicked in the pool within the enclosure and walked around the cage to the delight of the thirty spectators, several of whom were of preschool age.
Later we saw cougars, lemurs, cranes, alpaca, deer, reindeer, macaws, and wallabies. When we visited the alpacas, a Caucasian girl who was three years old kindly gave Lydia some food that her mom had purchased from the zoo to feed the alpacas, so Lydia had a chance to feed them too. Lydia also enjoyed seeing the herd of reindeer that was huddled in a shaded area of their enclosure because of the bright sun this afternoon.
One toddler-friendly characteristic of this zoo is its compact size, which maximizes the observation time at the animal enclosures and minimizes the transportation time. Within the two hours that we were there, we were able to tour most of the facility. Another attribute of the facility was that it was constructed such that a visitor could easily see the animal(s).
Cougar Mountain Zoo
The Spanish word “puma” means cougar, and after church and lunch today, we made a trip to the Cougar Mountain Zoo because yesterday SiowFong had read about the two Bengal Tiger cubs that have been living at the zoo for the last few months. Since one of Lydia’s nicknames is “si lofu”, which means little tiger in Chinese because of the way that she used to crawl, SiowFong was looking forward to bringing Lydia to a zoo where Lydia could easily see the tigers.
Within minutes of arriving at the zoo, we proceeded to the World of Tigers where a zookeeper had just begun an informal presentation at 1:00 PM about the two tiger cubs, one of which is a white Bengal tiger and the other of which is a cinnamon Bengal tiger (instead of having black stripes, this tiger has brown stripes). Then one by one, another zookeeper brought out the tiger cubs, which frolicked in the pool within the enclosure and walked around the cage to the delight of the thirty spectators, several of whom were of preschool age.
Later we saw cougars, lemurs, cranes, alpaca, deer, reindeer, macaws, and wallabies. When we visited the alpacas, a Caucasian girl who was three years old kindly gave Lydia some food that her mom had purchased from the zoo to feed the alpacas, so Lydia had a chance to feed them too. Lydia also enjoyed seeing the herd of reindeer that was huddled in a shaded area of their enclosure because of the bright sun this afternoon.
One toddler-friendly characteristic of this zoo is its compact size, which maximizes the observation time at the animal enclosures and minimizes the transportation time. Within the two hours that we were there, we were able to tour most of the facility. Another attribute of the facility was that it was constructed such that a visitor could easily see the animal(s).
Photos: Catch
DSC_0007_largeBrimming with joy and excitement, Lydia is ready to receive the ball
DSC_0009Lydia holding the ball, a 4-inch in diameter Walt Disney rubber ball that SiowFong purchased for Lydia that has the main characters from the Winnie the Pooh books painted on its exterior
DSC_0010Lydia trying to use her left hand to secure the ball
Note: All of these pictures were taken in the upper landing area of our home on August 12, 2007.
Daniela's Baptism
September 8, 2007
Daniela’s Baptism
Because of Daniela Sara Tejada’s baptism today, we spent an enjoyable eight hours of our day with the Tejada and Gonzales families today. At 9:40 AM, we arrived at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church so that I could familiarize myself with the layout of the sanctuary and take some pictures of the church’s exterior and sanctuary for this auspicious occasion. At 11:00 AM, the service in Spanish started. During the mass and baptism, which lasted an hour, two Hispanic priests officiated it for the six or seven Latino children who were baptized today.
Lydia comported herself appropriately this morning even though this was the first time that she ever experienced a service at this church. Three factors contributed to this result. The first was that SiowFong brought the magnet doodle toy and a Curious George stuffed animal, two toys that Lydia really likes. The second was that Lydia had sat through a few Sunday morning services at our home church, Shoreline. The last was that Norma, a good friend of the Tejada family, was drawing on Lydia’s magnet doodle toy, which captivated Lydia’s attention.
After the service ended, we drove to Daniela’s home for lunch. During the tour of Daniela’s nursery, Lydia began playing with Daniela’s toys. During the five hours that we were there, several guests also played with Lydia. Before we left, Sonia, Daniela’s maternal grandmother, gave Lydia three balloons, which brought a big smile to Lydia’s face because she likes balloons.
Daniela’s Baptism
Because of Daniela Sara Tejada’s baptism today, we spent an enjoyable eight hours of our day with the Tejada and Gonzales families today. At 9:40 AM, we arrived at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church so that I could familiarize myself with the layout of the sanctuary and take some pictures of the church’s exterior and sanctuary for this auspicious occasion. At 11:00 AM, the service in Spanish started. During the mass and baptism, which lasted an hour, two Hispanic priests officiated it for the six or seven Latino children who were baptized today.
Lydia comported herself appropriately this morning even though this was the first time that she ever experienced a service at this church. Three factors contributed to this result. The first was that SiowFong brought the magnet doodle toy and a Curious George stuffed animal, two toys that Lydia really likes. The second was that Lydia had sat through a few Sunday morning services at our home church, Shoreline. The last was that Norma, a good friend of the Tejada family, was drawing on Lydia’s magnet doodle toy, which captivated Lydia’s attention.
After the service ended, we drove to Daniela’s home for lunch. During the tour of Daniela’s nursery, Lydia began playing with Daniela’s toys. During the five hours that we were there, several guests also played with Lydia. Before we left, Sonia, Daniela’s maternal grandmother, gave Lydia three balloons, which brought a big smile to Lydia’s face because she likes balloons.
Photos: Swim 3
DSC_0039Lydia in her blue raft; in her left hand is an orange rubber shark and in her right hand is a pink rubber shark
DSC_0079Mom and Lydia
DSC_0085Lydia stretching out her right arm to touch the stream of water coming down from an archway
Note: All these pictures were taken on August 24, 2007 in the Leisure Pool section of the Mountlake Terrace Pool.
Photo note: None of these photos was taken with the use of flash.
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