Photos: The Velveteen Rabbit

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Lydia looking back to see if her mom is still there several feet behind her

(SiowFong is sitting on the floor next to this tripod-mounted camera)

Notice that the children are lined up nicely at the start of the chamber opera

In the background, Ivan Arteaga is playing the clarinet on the left while Siva Sankrithi is playing the flute on the right as they are performing the opening piece called music/sense/rhetoric (opus 59) (2005), which was composed by Conan McLemore, who created all the music for this chamber opera

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Kelvin Wallace putting his left arm around Lydia

Note the blue tape on the wood floor that marks the boundary between the children in the audience and the stage where the actors and props are

Photographer: SiowFong

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Lydia and Kelvin


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All of these children had great attention spans throughout the event

(Notice how the children are now sitting a half hour later as the chamber opera nears its conclusion compared to the first photo)

Background: the doctor (played by Mary Buswell) and Alex's Nana (played by Kathy Svajdlenka) wonder where Alex has gone


Note: All these pictures were taken during "The Velveteen Rabbit: A Chamber Opera" on October 6, 2007 in the Multipurpose Room at the Northgate Community Center in Seattle, WA.

The Velveteen Rabbit

October 6, 2007


The Velveteen Rabbit

Two weeks ago, Usha Sankrithi, one of my colleagues, mentioned to me that she and her son, Siva, were involved with the production of a children’s chamber opera that was based on the famous story by Margery Williams entitled The Velveteen Rabbit. Usha explained that one of her son’s friends whose undergraduate degree was in music, Conan McLemore, had composed all of the neoclassical music for the performance. In addition, the twelve singers (several were children), the seven orchestra members, and the one conductor were all volunteers.

Usha informed me that when this opera had already been done three other times the previous month, twice at Green Lake Library and once at Bellevue Library. At the Bellevue Library, when the forty-five minute event concluded, Usha commented that the children refused to leave because they enjoyed it so much; as a result, Usha thought that this event might be of interest to me because Lydia might also enjoy it. When I informed SiowFong about it that night, SiowFong agreed that it would be a good thing for Lydia to experience.

Earlier this week, I bought seven tickets from Usha, three for our family and four for the Wallaces, our dinner guests this evening who wanted to see it also.

We walked into the multipurpose room of the Northgate Community Center just a few minutes before 7:00 PM, the time when the performance began. About one hundred other people were also in attendance. The first ten minutes of the program were three pieces of chamber music that were played by musicians using woodwind instruments. Then The Velveteen Rabbit opera comprised the next half hour of the evening. We thoroughly enjoyed the performance.

Just before the event began, the children were invited to sit in the front of the room just several feet away from the stage. SiowFong brought Lydia there to sit beside several other children. Kelvin Wallace, who sat next to Lydia on Lydia’s right hand side, did a great job of watching Lydia. During those few occasions when Lydia began to inch forward towards the actors and the props, Kelvin would gently pull her back. In addition, since SiowFong was just a few feet behind Lydia, SiowFong’s presence helped to reassure Lydia that she was safe and secure. Lydia sat for the entire performance, and she did not make any excessive noise during those forty-five minutes.

Photos: Lydia and Wallaces

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(left to right): Kelvin Wallace (7 years old), Lydia (almost 21 months old), and Alison Wallace

Our dining room

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(left to right): Kelvin Wallace, Lydia, and Rohan Wallace (5 years of age) sitting on the sofa

Our living room

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Lydia watching Phil Wallace as he plays a game

(left to right): Lydia, Phil Wallace, Rohan Wallace, and Alison Wallace

Our living room

Photographer: SiowFong

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Alison smiling at Lydia, who is laughing

Rohan is playing with a balloon in the background

Our living room

Photographer: SiowFong

Note: All of these pictures were taken on October 6, 2007 in our home.

Dinner with Phil, Alison, Kelvin, and Rohan

October 6, 2007


Dinner with Phil, Alison, Kelvin, and Rohan

With respect to friendships, length often correlates with strength. Since 1991, SiowFong has been friends with Phil and Alison Wallace, whom she met at work, and over the last sixteen years, they have a lot of shared memories and experiences. For example, SiowFong knew them before they had children, and they knew her when she was still single. She still fondly recalls playing with Kelvin, Phil’s and Alison’s first son who was born in 2000, when he was an infant and a toddler. Time passes so quickly. Now Kelvin is seven years old, and Rohan, his younger brother, is already five years of age.

The Wallaces promptly arrived at our home at 4:30 PM. They also brought gifts for Lydia. Phil and Alison gave Lydia a large Elmo balloon, and Kelvin and Rohan gave Lydia a Thomas the Train videocassette. Kelvin and Rohan also brought separate bags of toys and games, which they showed Lydia. Kelvin was particularly proud of his coin collections.

After a dinner that consisted of meatloaf, stir fried shrimp with onions, baked chicken breasts, cauliflower, steamed rice, grapes, ice cream, and apple pie, Kelvin, Rohan, and Lydia played together in the living room under the watchful eyes of Phil, Alison, and SiowFong while I cleaned the dishes.

Two hours flew by, and by 6:30 PM, everyone left our home because all of us would be attending a performance of the Velveteen Rabbit, the third special event of the day.

Photos: USA Map

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Lydia standing on Washington state

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Lydia examining South Dakota



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Mom holding Lydia while standing on Washington state

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Dad squatting on Virginia while holding Lydia

Note: All pictures were taken on September 15, 2007 about 30 minutes before sunset at Bitter Lake Park in Seattle, WA.

Follow the Instrument Road

October 6, 2007


Follow the Instrument Road

At 9:30 AM, SiowFong, Lydia, and I joined about 500 other parents, grandparents, children, and grandchildren as we sat in the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall for Follow the Instrument Road, the first of five concerts for children from birth to 5 years of age in the Tiny Tots concert series at Benaroya Hall. This series of concerts for young children, which has five performances on Fridays and five on Saturdays, is extremely popular, and they consistently sell out.

Before the concert began, SiowFong, Lydia, and I sat next to Sandy, a grandmother who has been bringing her three grandchildren to the Tiny Tots concerts for the last five years (ever since her eldest granddaughter was 2 years old). As a musician who has played the oboe, violin, and piano, Sandy explained that this concert series is one of the best ways to introduce young children to music. She also highly recommended the Discover Music series, which is designed for children who are 5 to 12 years of age, as well as Soundbridge, a 2000 square foot, hands-on interactive facility in Benaroya Hall that is Seattle Symphony’s Music Discovery Center for children. She also said that because of her grandchildren’s exposure to all of these musical activities, they not only enjoy music but also can sing well for their ages.

When the concert began, Lisa and Linda, twin sisters who comprise the duet of music educators called Identical Harmony, walked onto the stage dressed in burgundy costumes with ruffles that reminded the audience of the classical era. Today’s concert focused on the works of Beethoven and featured the brass instruments (the trumpet, trombone, and tuba, which were played by three members of the Seattle Youth Orchestra). Lisa and Linda did a great job of engaging the attention of infants, toddlers, and preschool children because they used games, sign language, songs, and stories to introduce the children to some of the most familiar pieces of classical music. Lydia was smiling and clapping intermittently as she sat on her mother’s lap, and SiowFong was showing Lydia how to mimic the sign language and singing. The thirty minutes passed quickly, and we are looking forward to our next visit to Benaroya Hall.

Photos: Daniela's Baptism

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A Hispanic boy and Lydia playing with handbells at the altar after Daniela Sara Tejada's baby baptismal service concluded

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Angelica Rosa's daughter and Lydia in front of a window near the infant baptismal pool


Note: Both of these pictures were taken on September 8, 2007 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Bothell, WA.

Goggle Phobia

October 4, 2007


Goggle Phobia

My dental appointment for a routine cleaning occurred this morning. Although Lydia had visited our dentists’ office a few months ago when SiowFong and I had our teeth cleaning appointments, Lydia sat in her stroller in the lobby with one of us while the other person was in the back of the office with the dentist. Because SiowFong was working today, I brought Lydia in her stroller to the clinical area with me.

After entering the back of the office, Lydia first turned her attention to the reclining dental chairs. Unable to explore the dental chair while seated in her stroller, Lydia stood on the stroller’s footrest and made some noise until I extracted her from the stroller and allowed her to walk around the dental chair. She especially liked the lower half of the dental chair since she thought that it was a small chute, and when I placed her on the dental chair, she would wriggle free and slide down to the floor.

A few minutes later, Dr. Kim, who is of Korean descent and who was wearing her protective goggles, greeted us. When Dr. Kim slowly extended her hand towards Lydia to say hello, Lydia stared at her face with a concerned look on her face, immediately moved away from her and moved towards me, and uttered some sounds of fear.

Later when Dr. Siew came to clean my teeth and after I reclined in the chair, Lydia again made those fearful noises. As an experienced clinician and father of two sons, Dr. Siew suggested that I place Lydia on my lap to watch him do his work to calm her fears, and during the next half hour, Lydia quietly sat there and studied him as he cleaned my teeth with the ultrasonic water cleaner.

Photos: Lydia and Animal Statues

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Lydia is hugging a statue of a giraffe

September 12, 2007

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Lydia is sitting atop a crocodile statue

September 9, 2007

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Lydia touching a statue of a lionness

September 9, 2007

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Lydia touching the face of a statue of a lionness

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Lydia touching another statue of a giraffe

September 9, 2007

Note: All of these pictures were taken at Cougar Mountain Zoo except for DSC_0081_large, which was taken at Woodland Park Zoo.

Sleep Pattern Changes

October 1, 2007


Sleep Pattern Changes

It is a well-known fact that working in a day care can be exhausting. From a child’s point of view, going to day care can also be fatiguing. Ever since Lydia began her three days a week day care experience in September, she has been more tired in the evenings. On a few occasions, she will even walk into the bedroom and place her hand on the playpen to communicate to us that she is exhausted and wants to go to bed.

Her bedtime has shifted since day care began. From January 2007 through August 2007, Lydia’s bedtime fluctuated between 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Beginning last month, however, her bedtime changed to 8:00 PM to 8:30 PM, and she had a night or two when she went to sleep at 7:30 PM.

In addition, SiowFong, who stays in the room with Lydia after our family prayers until Lydia is asleep, has noticed that Lydia’s bedtime ritual following our prayer time has also changed. Prior to September 2007, Lydia frequently played with the stuffed lambs inside her playpen for about twenty minutes or a half hour before falling asleep. In addition, she occasionally asked her mother to bring out the Paddington bears that are sitting on SiowFong’s end table to play with them also. Since she began going to day care, Lydia neither plays with the soft toys inside her playpen nor asks for the Paddington bears as she quietly lies in the playpen for a few minutes before sleep overcomes her.

The only thing that has not changed with respect to Lydia’s sleep is her awakening time, which ranges from 6:30 AM to 8:00 AM depending on her level of fatigue.


Another Contributing Factor

In addition to the increased amount of activity that occurs at day care, which induces fatigue, the other key factor in modifying Lydia’s sleep pattern has been the absence of a morning nap at day care. In Lydia’s class, the children are allowed only one nap per day, which begins around 12:30 PM and ends whenever the child spontaneously awakens. During the weekend and during the two weekdays when Lydia is not attending day care, SiowFong and I have noticed that if Lydia is not engaged in a stimulating activity, she has a tendency to fall asleep around 10:30 AM. If she has this morning nap, it usually lasts 45 minutes to an hour.