Raising a Lucky Dragon

Tau’aho is coming up on 7 month! SO EXCITING! We love our little man so much. This past month has been a month of growth and change.

He has four teeth now: two on the bottom in front and his two canines on top. So he truly looks like our Lucky Dragon now! (I tell you it is all in the name!) He keeps growing longer and longer. He will only fit into 12 month clothes. I know that there is no way to really predict height, but I hope his long body means he will take after his Bradshaw uncles!

His little personality gets more and more prevalent every day. He is so curious. Whenever we are doing something he watches so closely. He loves to sit up as we go about our activities so he can see everything. He loves tabs—on clothes, toys, pillow, blankets and boxes. He could have a whole bunch of items to play with but always opts for just the tabs. (I guess he couldn’t being my kid without be a little weird! HAHA. He is trying to figure out this crawling thing. He can go in circles and roll all over but doesn't quite understand how to go forward yet. 

He is babbling. He will babble to us like it is telling us something very seriously. 

He loves to read. He will sit for hours while we read to him. He has started to show favoritism for books too. If he loves the book he will sit there and babble along quietly. However, if he doesn't like it he will push it away with his hands or start to wiggle away. We thought it was coincidence but when we read the books he likes he will calm down again. It makes Lady and I both happy that he likes books.

Most of all he LOVES to laugh! He laughs as he plays with his toys, laughs in the tub, laughs and bounces wildly in his excersaucer and in bed! He will laugh and laugh and laugh if there is someone else there to laugh with him. Sometimes I will just sit in front of him and laugh and his little joyous sounds fill the room.

Eating has been a change too. More solids than milk. If he doesn’t get enough solids during the day he acts as if we are starving him. He will watch us longingly as we eat with a look of “Why aren’t you feeding me?” He is now eating yogurt, meats (pureed), and all kinds of fruit and vegetables. This morning I tried to give him some lentils for variety and he didn’t like the non-pureed texture and made gag faces. But he does that with anything new we get him to try. So I finished off the beans he was eating and tried again at the end with another spoonful of lentils and his gags started again.

I repeated something Madre said to Trevor years ago at a Chinese restaurant, “Don’t you throw up!” And just like Trevor as soon as the words were out, so was the food! All over! Poor guy…so I guess we will stick with pureed for a little while longer! Hehe

They Remember--LONG AFTER YOU'RE GONE

So there are some things we do and say that people who witness them remember LONG after we have gone. Some of those things are positive and others, well we would rather they forget. It goes to show that every action we take or decision we make, people are watching (that just sounded like a line to a corny 80s song haha)

Seriously though, there are times we impact others and I hope that the positive impacting outweighs the negative!

Today some of our dearest friends in the Philippines found I was featured in a blog 8list in the Philippines. The blog talked about foreigners that speak Tagalog. It was fun to see me there. I loved speaking the language and the writer is correct, it really created a bond with the Filipino people. It made me a bit nostalgic. We had so many memories and friends there in Manila.

Here is the blog post:
8 Foreigers Who Will WOW YOU With Their Tagalog

(I like how he pointed out my heavy American accent)

Here are some other blog posts and videos of me speaking Tagalog.
Kwentohan Tayo
Radio
More Radio
Television  (skip forward to about 3 minutes 40 seconds)

Turning 80!

It isn’t every day that you turn 80. In fact, many people don’t make it until 80 years old. This weekend our family members celebrated the 80^th birthday of my Grandpa.

It was fun to have the family come into town, even if it was just for a few days. The weekend was capped with a large party celebrating Grandpa’s life. The room was full of family members and friends who have benefited from his kindness and companionship over the years.

Not only has Grandpa made it to 80, but he has retired twice and still running a business (so yes, not really retired), he takes family members on large trips and it still going strong. It was fun to hear all the memories people have of him in their lives.

And as getting old brings all kinds of issues-let me rephrase that, it brings different issues—I liked what one of them said at the party, “Be grateful for old age because many don’t get the privilege of making it there.”

That is so true. Each day we live is a blessing. Sometimes we forget that and focus on inconsequential aspects of life, but we are still here. We can still laugh, and love, and forgive and enjoy. 

About half of the family...I guess you collect quite a few extras after 80 years.

Wishes on the Day of Love

This weekend will be busy with other events, so I wanted to do something for Lady Hiva for Valentines. Normally Valentine’s day isn’t high on my holiday list, but Lady Hiva and I had a great Valentines last year and wanted to have a good one this year too.

Lady was still at work (she is taking some professional training courses) and I have an hour and a half to put something together to surprise her. I had some ideas and off I went to the stores with a happy little man in tow. I found a place that was selling balloons half off and some other fun items. As I was going to the store my creative side started going and usually that means it won’t stop until I finish whatever I am working on. For example with a story I am writing until I get it written down. The same goes for making something. I have a picture in my mind of what I want it to turn out like and sometimes it falls short, other times I am pleasantly surprised.

Lady always says that I am the corny one in our relationship…so if you gag at  sappy love stories you should stop reading now, it gets pretty corny.

 I decided on the theme of “If I Wished Upon A Star…”  bought some fun items to describe how I feel about our relationship. It was fun to look through the aisles and come up with anecdotes to them.

I packed 20 helium balloon into the car with Lucky and we came home. I had one hour to put it all together before Lady Hiva came home. Out came the “craft box” and I went to work. The first step was the welcome to the house introducing the theme. It was a race against time and I was coming up with ideas as I went.

Next was a red carpet (made of plastic table cloth) and a bowl full of riches. I made a sign complete with a red carpet and stanchions that matched the décor in the house. It read, “If I wished upon a star…I would wish if we rich and famous I would get to walk down the red carpet with you.”

Getting started

The crafting begins! I can work and watch the clock

Then I made a “medal” and the message read, “…You would receive an award for being so AMAZING!”

Next was one with a jester hat and some fun items, “…We will always have fun together and laugh at each other’s corny jokes.”

Then I used two other table cloths (they were buy one get one free! Haha) I made a makeshift beach area. Time was really getting short now, thankfully my Lucky Dragon was entertained by all of the balloons because  I was trying to get everything done before I had to leave. I purchased some long balloons to make palm fronds and planned to have a few palm trees. However, as I tried to blow them up I strained so hard my stomach is still sore and they STILL wouldn’t blow up! I tried the bed pump for the airbeds but it too didn’t work. Sigh. After trying to blow up two of them and sweating profusely I gave up and just cut some green fronds and used the fake tree in the apartment. This message read, “…I’d sail the ocean blue and enjoy the beach sunset with you!”

Lastly, was the mirror and I bought some neon white board markers and made a big heart that said, “If I wished upon a star…I would want to be right where YOU ARE!”  I had about 11 minutes left and I used spoons to weight down all the balloons to the desired height. I then had a few packs of normal balloons to blow up. I simultaneously blew up balloons and tried to hide all of the mess I made in the bedroom. Sadly, I rushed so fast that two of the balloons that were full sputtered out of my hands and went flat as they flew away! So much for multi-tasking to save time. My cheeks and lungs were burning, but I had to finish!

It turned out alright, I didn’t quite get to do all that I wanted but for a one hour deadline, I was happy there would be something! I put the TV onto one of those corny love music channels to set the mood (as if it wasn’t sappy enough)

When we came home I tried to do everything possible so that Lady Hiva was coming into the house before me. She walked up and saw the “If I wished upon a star…” sign on the door and said, “Interesting.”

She opened the door and said “WoW!” as she was overpowered by all the balloons.  “Did you do this?” I laughed, of course I did. Did she think the love bird Menehunies broke in and did it? Haha! After she took off her coat and shoes I had her read the first message and I gave her a bowl of coins, a sparkly tiara and put two huge jewel rings on her hands.  We then walked down our red carpet to the next place.

I gave her the medal for being amazing. I tried to take more photos but holding a squirming dragon and taking photos aren’t two tasks meant to be done together.

Fixing her 'bling'

Showing off her bling...yes, we are a humble bunch! haha

She put on the jester had and huge sun glasses to commemorate all the fun times we have together. At this point she was laughing and really having fun! I was happy to see that.

The photo shoot after her award acceptance speech!

We went to the “beach” and I gave her a lei. She went paddling in the “ocean”  before we moved onto the next portion.

The big mirror with the heart was so we could stand there and see us both in the heart. Trying to take that photo was hard too! I gave her a big bouquet of flowers to finish of the tour! It was fun to do. We then spent the next hour with me telling her about choosing what to make and my race for time. Overall, I was happy that she was happy! She is truly my valentine—I love you Lady!

I love my LADY HIVA!

"Money-eye!"

"Stop Playing around! I'm hungry!"