Christmas Morning

Gage, like usual, wakes up early whenever he doesn't have to go to school. However, it's a struggle getting him to open his eyes whenever I have to dress him for school, hmmmm.....

Since both the wife and her sister had not woken up yet, I entertained him for a while and kept him away from all of the presents under the Christmas tree.

After nearly two hours of distracting the kiddo, he took off and ran into the tree room and jumped on the couch. At first, he didn't really notice anything, but then turned towards the tree and said "Wow, look at the presents daddy!" At that point, the wife was still getting ready, so I had to further distract him and told him to run to mom and tell her about the presents. He jumps off the couch and runs over to our master bathroom and tells the wife "Xuanie, Santa came and brought presents! Come look!!!! Hurry!!!!"

If there's one memoryI don't want to forget, it was the look on his face.

Family

Recently, dad's family from South Africa paid us a visit and we actually met our cousins, Ashna, Roshil, and Yaksha for the first time. Xuan, Gage and I had a wonderful time and miss them dearly, since they had to leave and continue their trip.

Anyway, we spent just about every hour possible with them, since they were only here for 4 days. I've uploaded a few more pictures on the flicker website. Click on the link to your left or send me an email for permission to view them.

Growing up quickly

Yesterday, for the first time ever, Gage told me that he was going potty and then asked me not to help. He walked into the bathroom, turn around, flipped on the lights, again reminded me that I just needed to leave him alone and closed the door. After 30 seconds or so, he came back out, having used the potty by himself, and went back to watching his movie.

Given, he did forget to flush, wash his hands or turn off the light, but I gently reminded him about those details, at which point he turned around and went back into the bathroom and finished his business.

I was so proud of my little man but at the same time, a little sad, that he didn't need my help anymore (I did walk into the bathroom, a short time after, and quickly scanned the area for any mishaps" and cleaned it up). I've run into other parents who have reminded us that we need to be able to cherish each and every day, because time will pass quickly, and they couldn't be more correct.

I think the following post does an amazing job of recounting those moments, that we tend to forget. Enjoy.

A Visit to Santa

This year, Gage finally got the whole Santa thing, including the part of "being a good boy" to get a bunch of presents. We finally got around to the mall for the picture and the little man put on a good show.

Say Cheese

Sometimes, all it takes to brighten my day is one these smiles -- Enjoy.

Chopsticks

There are certain stages that every kiddo has to get through, albeit with some struggle. After several months of practicing, Gage finally mastered the chopsticks. Normally, it's fairly easy with sticky rice, but Gage finished a whole bowl of Pho (including picking up the bowl to drink the broth - with his hands of course) using his chopsticks.

The Halloween Booty

This Halloween was the first one where Gage actually walked around a neighborhood trick or treating. As you can see, he made out like a bandit. We went to his fall festival, held at the Daycare before heading out into our neighborhood.

Wings Over Houston 2007

The airshow has always been a part of Clear Lake, since we moved to the area in 1985. With Ellington Field only about 5 miles from our house, we've come to expect the roar of airplanes overhead, during the two day airshow. This year, Gage was finally old enough to really enjoy the airplanes and a lot of the exhibits. Damion and I took him to the airshow and he soaked in all of the sights and sounds. He even asked to climb the wall but ended up just swining on the rope for about 30 seconds.

War Paint

Man, I'm not sure who loves the Children's Museum more, Gage or me. It's a good place if you need cheap, extended time to burn. Since Xuan had to work late, my parents dropped the little man off at my workplace so that we could hit Luby's (for chicken, corn, jello and coke - of course) and then the Museum.

Gage actually decided to use his charm and flirt with one of my coworkers. Usually, he's going after tall, leggy blondes, but decided that my coworker could be the brunette exception. He decided to promptly share his snack pack with this coworker (after refusing the request of several of my other coworkers) and then just staired at her the whole time.

We hit the Luby's after and then spent about an hour and half at the Museum (Family Night on Thursdays is free - yea!) before heading home. Gage and I decided to throw on some war paint, before we left, for good measure.

Potty Training

Already at 28 months old, we've been trying to get Gage to start potty training, but have been relatively unsuccessful. However, on Monday, the daycare teacher put him in his first new pair of Elmo underpants without a fuss. He went the whole day without wetting his underpants, and even surprised the teacher by going potty when the urge to poo came around, all by himself. The only accident he had that day was during playtime and he just forgot to go. With it being Thursday already, I can say that he's maybe had one accident a day, but realizes that it's happening, and we usually rush to the bathroom to finish up.

Now, we still use pullups at night, but we're going to start transitioning out of those by next week, which should give us time to buy some waterproof mattress covers. I must say, all those books about potty parties, treats, balloons, etc... being used to incentivize the kid should just urge parents to put their kids in big boy underwear and allow them to realize that it doesn't feel good to walk around in dirty underpants.

The one funny thing that's come out of this is that Xuan decided to give Gage my Biography of Mahatma Gandhi while he was taking care of business and I took a few pictures. (I have some pictures andNow, whenever he feels the urge, he goes around yelling "Mata Gandhi, Mata Gandhi."

Nice going Xuan.

I know this was supposed to be tough, but...

It's week three of daycare for the little man and he's been doing quite a bit better. However, since he hasn't been around a bunch of other germy kids before, he's picking up all of the ick that most others have already dealt with at this point in their lives. Gage has been experiencing various symptoms including "a potty issue", fever, congestion, etc... over the last couple of weeks. Last night was bad because his temperature hit an all time high, I'm guessing around 102 or 103 degrees, so he wasn't at all comfortable, nor did he want to take his check his medication. Xuan and I eventually tricked him into taking at least some Tylenol by mixing it with juice and then rocked him to sleep over the next hour and a half.

Luckily, he woke up in the morning, with the fever down significantly but then we had to deal with his nerves because he knew that he would have to go to school. Today was better than yesterday, which was better than the day before... and we're finally able to get him to eat breakfast before going to school. However, after he finished his full cup of milk, I walked into the kitchen to put the cup into the sink and that's when I heard a fairly disturbing gurgling sound coming from his direction. Parental instinct kicked in and I grabbed a dish towel and started running back towards Gage. Luckily, I had emptied the dryer onto the couch next to Gage and it had a lot of clean towels, which I grabbed and put under his mouth. Unfortunately, I was only able to get his third round of vomit, as the other two had already started to seep into the carpet, blankets, my shirts and in between the couch seats. I tried to remain calm the whole time so as not to freak out the little geyser in front of me and asked him if he felt okay after the vomitting stopped. Gage being Gage jumped to his feet, onto the towel on the floor, looked at me and said "Pants are dirty, new pants, new shirt please" and continued to watch Caillou. Most kids his age would start crying and freaking out, but not the the little man. I guess he just realized that the situation could have only gotten worse or it wasn't worth missing any moments of Caillou - not sure which one - but either way - I stripped him of his dirty clothes and walked him into the bath and cleaned him up. In the end, he's back at Papa's house, being coddled and having the time of his life. Nevertheless, tomorrow, it's back to school. Xuan and I are determined to make this work.

Monkey see...

Monkey see...
Originally uploaded by sheilmakan

As if being a parent isn't hard enough, we have to become upstanding citizens as well. New parents will learn very quickly that children watch those around them very closely and learn through their actions.

As you can see, Gage is more than familiar with the workings of a camera and has even on many occasions posed and asked for pictures to be taken. Fortunately, the camera he's holding doesn't work anymore, so it's become his new playtoy. However, it took him a total of 30 seconds to realize that it doesn't work anymore and he began asking to play with the one I'm currently using. Rather than just saying no, I usually get him to sit on my lap and allow him to take pictures of the world around him. It satisfies him, in the meantime, I get to keep my camera functioning for another day.

The Kemah Boardwalk

The Gator Tank
Originally uploaded by sheilmakan

It's been about three weeks since Gage started daycare and he's starting to come along slowly. He still cries in the morning and will continue to ask if he can go to Papa's house instead. He'll even wake up on weekends and say right away, "Papa's house?". Xuan and I are trying to put on a brave face for the little man, but it can be hard some days.

Because he's been so wonderful throughout this transition, we've been taking him out on the weekends to places like the Children's Museum, the Boardwalk and the Circus that was in town last week. As you can see from the picture, Gage isn't afraid of too much. He even fed the stingrays in the tank next to the gators.

Only my son...

Well, as you know, Gage is currently within his first week at daycare, and he's progressing relatively well. Anyway, he's not quite in tune with the feeding, sleeping, cleaning (yes, I said cleaning) schedule as are all of the other kids.

Anyway, as new parents, both Xuan and I have taken to watching the kid on the live webcam at the daycare. I'm sure it will eventually get old and we'll stop peeking at it (after the initial two weeks, we have to pay $25 a month, which will help kill the habit). However, today Gage again proved to us that he is a very "unique" two year old. If you look closely at the webcam still shot, you'll notice that Gage (is by himself because all of the other kids are sleeping like they should be) has decided to take this opportunity to spritz the tables and clean them up. Besides fixing things at home, his secondary favorite thing to do is clean up...

The first day...

One of the most obvious facts about grownups to a child is that they have forgotten what it is like to be a child. -- Randall Jarrell

Today was Day 1 in getting Gage into daycare. As anticipated, Gage realized about 3 minutes into it that we were leaving him there for the day. It's a good thing Xuan was holding him, because yours truly was starting to rethink the whole idea. As Gage started to cry, I started started to... really feel bad for the little man. The quote at the top helped me somewhat remember just how difficult it was for me to adapt to the changes I had to go through as a child. I've never been a big fan of change so I could understand what he was going through. I know that this is a good thing and the crying will soon pass and Gage will just flourish. I'm sure of it.

**Update**
Well, it's now just about time to go to sleep, but I wanted to add that Gage did amazingly well in his first day at daycare. I couldn't have been more impressed with his behavior because he acted so incredibly grown up. Day 2 will be easier...

Happy 4th of July

The 4th came during the middle of the week this year, so we decided to spend hump day at The Children's Museum in Houston. The weather in Houston was horrible, so we didn't have too many choices. He had a blast at all of the exhibits and really took to those that involved "fixing" something. After a couple of hours there, we grabbed some lunch and headed home.

I finally have a new camera, so I've been taking a bunch of pictures over the last few days. You can enjoy a few more on the Flickr site. There are a some more of Gage at the museum, as well as helping Daddy "wash" the car this past weekend. All in all, we had a wonderful day, with the exception of the 10 minute meltdown at the mall while he was getting his hair cut. Strangers were coming up to us trying to help calm Gage down. Nothing worked. We've learned our lesson and will continue to take him to the Snip and Snails where the hair stylist has perfected the art of cutting kids hair.

New Camera and More Milestones

Sometimes you see other blogger's post and just think, yeah, he's described my feelings about little man Gage just perfectly. Take a look at the post and enjoy the read.

So - the last few posts on the blog have been somewhat light on pictures of the little man because I'm currently on the hunt for a new camera. I just ordered a new one this morning, from Circuit City, so it's just a matter of time before new pictures of the stinker is posted.

There were a couple of new milestones this morning that just got me excited. First and foremost, as we drove by Daddy's favorite place in the whole wide world, the little man pointed it out and said something that just about made my year - "Oh Daddy look, BEST BUY". I nearly pulled over and walked into the store - too bad it was 7:30 in the a.m...

The other milestone was registration for daycare. I visited the local Children's Lighthouse and was anxious about transitioning Gage into the place, after two years with my mom. Based on the first 2 minutes, I'm not even slightly worried. Not only did he want to make friends, but he started showing off, like usual, and made a few fans with the staff members. The first day of class - July 9 - the countdown begans...

Swimming Pool

Those two words have been Gage's favorite since he was first introduced to it. We bought a small backyard pool with an inflatable slide from Target a few weeks ago and since then, not a week goes by that Gage hasn't used it. With the community pool now open, Xuan's been taking the little man there and they usually don't leave without having been there for at least 2 hours. He's become somewhat of a dare-devil and actually likes to use the big pool because he can't dive into the baby pool anymore.

This weekend was fairly busy, as Xuan's cousin, Tran, and her husband, Dejim, came for a visit with their two year, Caden. Check out their blog on the side. We hit the pool on Friday night and then yesterday with Colleen and Tiffany. We were lucky enough to get invited over to Tran's parents house on Saturday night and got to enjoy some of her mom's amazing cooking. Gage even ate for an hour straight and actually has gotten really good with chopsticks as he at Pho noodles by himself.

Anyway, I haven't been able to add any pictures lately because my camera's currently being repaired. Xuan took the camera to New York, in fine working condition, and returned it in exactly the opposite condition. As soon as I get the camera back from Canon, I'll post some new pictures for all to see.

New York, New York

Well, it's Day One since the wife and kiddo have abandoned me for NYC. I got home last night and house was just so quiet that I turned on the TV while I surfed the web and check my email. I didn't get to sleep until midnight because it just felt really strange being there all by myself. I really just miss the heck out of them...

However, with all this free time, I'm definitely going get a lot of those errands done around the house. We still have a bunch of boxes in the garage that we haven't emptied since moving into the house last November. The study is still in disarray with books and boxes everywhere. The lawn needs addressing, my car's just about filthy, and we have laundry that needs to be put away. With it being a long weekend, I don't have any excuses for not getting all of these things done before Xuan and Gage get home.

I've also decided to party like a rock star for the next few days, while my time still belongs to me. It'll be nice to get it out of my system.

D&G Weekend O'Fun - Part 1

Well, both Xuan and Gage are heading to New York this week for about 6 days and so I'll have to fend for myself during that week. This will be the first time I'm away from both of them since Xuan and I got married and Gage came into our lives. I'm going to miss them tremendously!!!

In anticipation, I decided to take this weekend, part one of our Daddy and Gage's Weekend O'fun. The little man and I hit the Kemah Boardwalk on Saturday morning and rode a bunch of rides, including a train (Thomas the Train ChooChoo - as Gage refers to it), a plane and zebra (the merry go round). We walked along the pier and waved to a bunch of rich people heading out to Galveston Bay on their million dollar boats. After his nap, we went to my sister's house for several hours of partying. Gage was up to his usual antics of wooing my sister's friends for a couple of hours before we headed home for the evening.

The next day, Gage and I took off for the local Starbucks and then La Madeline for brunch. As I've said before, the little man doesn't like to waste time eating. He focused primarily on eating a pat of butter and then proceeded to spread jam/butter onto the strawberry crepes that I bought for him. I soon realized that he wasn't going to eat and was only interested in "cutting" the crepes with the butter knife. You should have seen the looks on all of the mothers sitting within viewing distance of our table. By the stares I was getting, I might as well have given Gage a machete. Anyway, I gulped down my coffee and brought over two to-go containers before we headed to my mom's house.

After reaching home, Xuan's friend Michelle called and invited over to play with the girls. We accepted and headed over, after realizing that Gage was not going to take his afternoon nap. After getting to their house, we thought it was a good idea to take the bikes out and put the kids into the little pull along attached to the bike. It was at that time we found out that Gage 1) hated the idea altogether, 2) thought that Xuan was leaving me behind, and 3) wayyyy past his afternoon nap time. He screamed out loud and made a certain high pitched noise that we had never heard before. We took him home, after calming him down, and put him to sleep.

Later that evening, after he awoke, we decided to put together his backyard pool that consisted of a large whale slide that connected to the actual pool itself. I haven't seen him have that much fun in a long time. Since the big community pool just opened as well, we decided to take him there next weekend. Soon thereafter, we received a visit from both Masi's and Masa's. Gage was gracious enough to give them a tour of the house, complete with hand gestures and garbled english. Before long, they headed out and we prepared the little man for bedtime. I had such a long weekend entertaining the kiddo, that I passed out at 9 pm alongside him.

I can't wait for Part II...

New Bedroom Furniture, Part II

Well, we finally got the bedroom furniture delivered and setup this weekend. In an age where most people refuse to pay for shipping, if you purchase a minimum amount of goods, I wasn't too happy with the cost to just deliver the furniture to the second floor of the house. The cost was over a hundred dollars and that didn't even include assembly. I was up until 3 am in the morning putting together the bunk bed...

So now, we have it all setup, except for the mattresses. I just don't remember my parents ever agonizing over distance between coils, padding, hypoalergenic materials, etc, when they bought my twin sized mattress when I was a kid.

The experts say that it will cost approximatley $250,000 over the course of their eighteen years at home. In my two short years, as a parent, I think the experts are way off! A quarter million won't even cover college, let alone the expenses you incur as a new parent. Regardless, I'm sure the all decisions about the quality of wood, allergenic properties of a mattress and the "best" paint type (Consumer Reports is hardly ever wrong) are incremental enough to add up to something significant.

Oh, by the way, having a new house means that you become fanantical about HGTV. Nothing beats Design on a Dime! Even if you're never selected for these shows, no matter how many sign up for it online, at least it was nice to see family being selected to appear on the show. Dejim and Tran - the bathroom looks nice.

Happy Monday All!

Visit with the duckies

Gage and I decided to head outdoors this weekend because the weather was just so cooperative. We ended up getting some leftover pound cake from Starbucks and went to Nassau Bay to visit all of the ducks. What I didn't prepare for was the agressive family of ducks. These fowl (pun intended) creatures started to creep up onto us when they saw us with a bag of goodies.

With one of the ducks bigger than Gage, I placed him on the bench by the lake and sat right next to him, so that he would at least have some elevation. Being naive and everything, I actually thought this would protect the little fella. After we threw out a couple of pieces of the pound cake, the whole flock started to walk towards us. It was like a scene out of a zombie movie, except with a bunch of waddling ducks rather than dead people. One in particular, who had about 6 inches on Gage, started to make a bee line right towards us, and it was at that point I decided to make a quick exit with the little man on my shoulders.

The scary part was that the duck started to follow us towards the car. As I was strapping Gage into car seat, I kept on pearing over the edge just in case that duck got too close. I felt like I was in a movie, where the bad guy's coming after you and the car (carseat, in this case) won't cooperate right. I almost threw the remaining pound cake in another direction to distract him, but I got the little man strapped in and we took off. I just don't ever remember ducks ever being so aggressive...

A whole conversation

The most special thing happened this evening while we put Gage to sleep. With it being my last week at UTMB, my coworkers threw me a team happy hour, so I got home right at Gage's bedtime. As we layed down together, Gage turned around and looked at me and had the following conversation.

Gage: Hi Daddy.

Me: Hey Gagey. How are you?

Gage: Fine. Went to playground

Me: Oh really, with Mom

Gage: No, with Popo (grandma in Vietnamese)

Me: Wow, did you have fun?

Gage: Uh huh, with popo.

This doesn't seem like much, until you realize that he's a 2 year old that couldn't even control most of his body parts, much less anything else, a year ago. Tonight, he just had a mini conversation with me, and this blows my mind!

This coupled with the fact that yesterday, he asked for the stethescope laying my dresser, and said "doctor" - I'm thinking early retirement may not be just another distant dream...

New Bedroom Furniture

Xuan, Gage, my mom, and I went furniture shopping for the little man this past weekend. It's been about 5 months since we've moved into the new house and it's way past that time for Gage to get used to his new room. Currently, he's still in our room, either in his crib or in our bed. A queen size bed doesn't get any smaller, especially with Gage sleeping on our pillows or sideways on the bed. It doesn't get any better having to wake up with the little mans but right up against your face.

However, after having hit Pottery Barn for Kids, IKEA, Babies R Us, and Fingers Furniture, we realized children's furniture is either expensive or unbelievably cheap. There is hardly anything in between, unless you want to buy theme based furniture, which is cheaply built but highly priced (damn licensing fees), and doesn't really grow with the kiddo. Oh, we also found out that there's another word for particle board these days - engineered wood. Simply put, pressed wood is pressed wood, regardless of the method used to press it.

Anyway, stay tuned...

New Words

Gage has gotten to a point in his life where he just about absorbs everything thrown at him. I've noticed that he will actually sit still for a minute or two and take in whatever stimuli has interested him at that point which is somewhat new. Prior to this, he never sat in one spot for longer than 5 seconds before something else grabbed his attention.

While this gives us old folk a breather, I've realized that we have to be more careful about what shows he watches and even with the language the wife and I use on a daily basis. We've gone from watching CSI and the Sopranos to the Food Network, HGTV, and PBS Sprout (Alton Brown scares the little man - go figure. But he loves Emeril, Rachel Ray, and Giada de Laurentiis). While I actually enjoy Curios George, I can't seem to get that theme song from Caillou out of my head. I even caught myself humming it a couple of nights ago. If it wasn't for the invention of the DVR, I would be hating life.

There are a million stories about the embarrasing things that kids will say and I have a couple to add to that list. It's my job to take the little man to and from my parents house on a daily basis and so we get to share a lot of car time and unfortunately, I've let a few words slip from my mouth in that time. Although I've cleaned up my language around Gage, he still throws out the F-bomb on occassion and has repeated those words in public. The last time we went to the Olive Garden (which by the way puts all of the families with younger children in one room like we have the plague or something), I had to rush Gage out because he decided to start screaming out the F-word.

He also has the bad habit of pointing out women (and some men) who are dressed in tight fitting clothes (or as we walk past Victoria's Secret) and says "Booobies" and then breaks out in laughter. Now, as good parents, we aren't supposed to laugh, but his use of this word turns me into a 12 year old. Usually, Xuanie shoots us a dirty look and I get "the talk" which tends to settle us down.

Anyway, this week has been really tough for me at work. With it being my last week at UTMB, I can't seem to find the motivation to do much of anything. The only thing that keeps me going are all of the various luncheons and happy hours planned for me. I guess I can't complain.

Let me leave you all with this - be forewarned - once you start...

http://www.addictinggames.com/kittencannon.html

What a week!!!

Well, it's been a very hectic week in the Makan household. First, I happened to land a job with Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston and will be starting at the end of the month. I've been with UTMB in Galveston for over 6 years and it's going to be hard leaving it behind. I have made so many friends in my time on the rock.

The second, and most important milestone, is that Gage went to his first dentist visit. I chose a pediatric dentist because I just knew that Gage wasn't about sit on a chair while some stranger probed his grill. Based on a recommendation from a coworker, I setup an appointment and was quite happy with the result.

The forms that you have to initially complete, before the first exam, freaked me out. I had to consent to various forms of tortu... uh, restraint that may be used to properly exam the kiddo. I could just imagine myself having to hold down the kiddo.... Anyway, the place looked like a Toys R Us exploded in a dentist office. They initially took the little man aside and distracted him with a toy, while the dentist explained what they were going to do to prep both him and me. They had an elmo doll lying on top of the chair and demonstrated to Gage how the light has to shine into his mouth because it's dark inside. They explained the mirror to him and how they have to look inside into his mouth with it. Gage fell for it and actually got into the chair without a struggle and even laughed and tried to talk as the dentist examined his mouth. After about a couple of minutes of probing, the examine ended and the assitant took Gage back to the playroom so that the dentist could discuss the exam with me. As far as I can remember, this was the most uneventful visit to the doctors in a long time. Dr. Taylor - consider me a lifetime customer.

By the way, it's amazing how parenthood transforms us into creatures that are able to withstand vast amounts of snot and stinky poo. Gage has had a runny nose for the last several days and it seemed like he was just getting over it. While I was completing the forms, Gage sat patiently next to me (which is a first) and then all of the sudden he sneezed. The next thing I know, there's along string of snot hanging down from his nose and stretching all the way down to his knee. I've never seen so much snot before in my life, all at one time. Since we were not alone, in the waiting room, I immediately scooped the snot into my hand and started to look around for something to wipe my hand. Luckily, the dentists office is prepared for snotty kids and had a box (with a trash can next to it) sitting right by the receptionists window. I must have used half the box before I was able to clean all of the snot of my hand...

In the zone...

Last night, Xuan had to work late and so Gage and I had the chance to hang out again and it was just the most amazing night. There weren't any tantrums and he ate dinner in his high chair without any issues. He didn't throw his food and politely asked me for a drink when he was thirsty. Since he's always been a picky eater, this was a big accomplishment and I do mean BIG. After, I gave him a bath and got him ready for bed and just hung out with him. We watched Barney and Curious George (got to love DVR's) until mom came home. And right before he went to sleep, Gage sat up in bed, leaned over and gave me two unsolicated pecks on the lips and layed back down. The night couldn't have ended on a better note.

Weekend at the Frog Exhibit

With mom volunteering this Saturday with her company, I decided to take Gage to the local Natural Science Museum for the Frog Exhibit. For those of you who don't know, Houston has one of the finest museum districts in the United States. We ended up at the Cockerel Butterfly Exhibit for a few minutes before and watched over a hundred different butterflies flying around the rain forest like setting within the glass pyramid. Kids gobble this stuff up!!! Afterwards, we toured the frog exhibit and just were in awe at the number and variety of the frogs that coexist with us.



As we were leaving the museum, Gage pointed over to the fountains within the Japanese Tea Gardens. We headed over and found this really cool statue of Gandhi. Gage sat by the statue for about 3 seconds before he got bored and decided to wander away. I was still excited about the statue and proceeded to take a few more pictures before I looked over my shoulder and saw the little man peering through a fence that borders the garden. Before I could get over to him, he decides to stick his head between to posts and gets stuck. I've already reached him by this point and am working his head back and forth trying to get him unstuck at which point he starts to struggle. I start to get panicky and start visioning myself sitting at the CPS office while Xuan's comforting Gage who had to have himself cut out with the jaws of life by a bunch of firefighters. Luckily, I managed to position his head and pull it through and pick him up as he started to cry. We made our break, before the other parents could get their CPS cards out. Close call !!!! Next week, we're scheduling to visit something a little safer for all ages, the Houston's Children's Museum - wish us luck!

Sooooo Tired!!!!!

We had a BUSY weekend with all of the errands we had to run! I never knew just how much work it is to have your own home. At least little man decided to help out with mowing because Daddy had a bad back.

First Youtube Video

I've attempted to upload and post the first personal video of the little man riding his motorized 4x4. There's just something about the video editing software that came with my camcorder that's just so... horrible! While I'm searching for more appropriate video editing software, please enjoy (what is up with that background music!?!?!?!) what I created last night.

Update: I found the right software and the video's so much better - enjoy.

Booster Seats for Older Kids

As a parent, I thought this was important and so decided to post the video. Once you stop tearing up and compose yourself, make sure you pay attention to the point of the video. Remember, purchase a seat with a 5-point harness, which secures the child more effectively than the standard, and more widely available, 2-point harness.

It's just amazing how quickly the little man has grown up. He was sitting at the desk for a full minute having a conversation with my dad. You could mistaken him for a 3-4 year old given his mannerisms.

In the Jungle...

There's just something about a dog and a hippo singing that just makes me want to sway back and forth and sing along. Also, it's my first attempt at trying to embed a Youtube video. Kudos to me - it worked!

The Third Second Birthday Party

We just had Gage's third second birthday party this past weekend and I'm so happy that we're finally done. The little man made out like a bandit, again. It's no wonder that he's come to expect so much...

Even though Daylight Saving's Time shortened my weekend, Gage and I made it out to the local Krogers for our weekly Daddy/Son time early Sunday morning. You can't start off a Sunday without "Coffee" from Starbucks and a ride on the Fire Engine.

The first post

This is officially the first post of the blog. I must admit, it will be a lot easier to send along the link to this site rather than sending large picture files to everyone. So, enjoy the features, and feel free to peruse the Flickr site for a fairly extensive set of Gage's pictures.

Gentleman, start your engines...