2010 New Year's card

Christmas had passed and I intentionally set out not to make another New Year's card. I figured its time to wash my hands and last year was the final one. Well, surprise, surprise! I have just finished this year's card. Thanks to the loving (read: persistent) words (read: nags and threats) from my other half. So without further a due, here we are.

Like last year, this year's theme is about family. A major decision making moment was when we decided to plunge in and bought a place of our own. I'm glad that was over. We are now ready to face our next challenge. So, I wonder what 2010 will bring. Whatever it is, I am sure we will be able to overcome all the odds as one family.

I wish everyone a Happy New Year in 2010.

Pengie Feet table

How often can you say you immersed yourself in your child's world. That's exactly what I did for the last four weeks. You could say it was a labour of love. Some just call it a hobby. Anyway you see it, it was a chance for me to show the kids my artistic skills.

Recently, Phoebe and Ernest got into a children social network activity called Club Penguin. So we decided to paint her avatar she calls Pengie Feet onto her new table. We spent a last few weekends painting. Along the way, the kids learned how good their dad is at painting. And I got some nice words from them too, which I am too embarrassed to say here. Oh, I don't know, there were some expletives like "you're a real artist", or "you're super"... You know, things that make you proud you still have something to teach the kids. Instead of the other way round, which is getting more frequent nowadays.

This was what we intended to paint in the beginning. We added Sensei Penguin which endowed Pengie Feet with a black belt for her skills in a snow, ice, fire game. Phoebe also added a rainbow which was a great touch to finish the painting.

Learning to ride a bicycle 2

I felt really proud when Ernest could finally ride a bike without support wheels (more pics here). I am sure he felt good too. I had the same feeling last year when Phoebe did the same.

A few days ago, we brought Ernest to Phoebe's school compound. The school has this synthetic rubbery compound that will break your fall and reduce its impact. That was a great motivator for Ernest to take off his two supporting wheels and ride with abandon. Phoebe was a great teacher too. We both guided Ernest until he felt confident that we would let go our hands from the handle and he could go in a straight line.

Now, if you ask Ernest if he like to use his scooter or his bicycle. He'd choose the latter. Last week he even borrowed Arlo's bike (his kinder friend) for a ride.

Resonant Minds

Why do people say that you make an impression, good or bad, the first 5 minutes into an encounter. For children, I think it may take longer. The mind is incredibly complex. But out of complexity comes simple things that you can observe daily.

Phoebe and Ernest are very close to each other. Whenever they play together, they usually wreck havoc and lay a trail of destruction. It seems that their minds operate on the same frequency. And do you know what happens when you place two objects of the same frequency very close to one another. Resonance.

It's the thing that happen when you push a swing. If you attempt to push a swing and you want to make it go higher, you have to push at the right moment. You will know if you are doing it right. Otherwise, you'll miss the outgoing swing, or worse get hit when its incoming. In either case, the swing will not go any higher. The timing (or the inverse of it which is the frequency) is crucial. In other words, if you push at the correct frequency, in this case the resonant frequency of the swing, all your energy goes into the swing and you make it go higher. In many case, the resonant frequency of a system is its natural frequency. If we push the swing at its resonant frequency it will absorb most of our energy and go higher. If we are not careful, the swing may go out of control if the applied force is too great and the resistance of the system is very small. Such is what will happen when an unbalanced wheel is rotated at its resonant frequency and it shakes uncontrollably, or when a small band marches along a bridge at close to its resonant frequency and it starts to oscillate violently.

Applying the same concept to children and you will understand the forces created by resonant minds. When Phoebe and Ernest gets together, their mind reinforces one another. If they are working on something constructive, you'll get beautiful results. Lean the other way, and what you have in your hands are two very uncontrollable kids. Worse, if we don't recognize the situation early enough, we'll have a hard time trying to calm the situation. Luckily, nature has a way of dealing with resonant minded children. Eventually, they are limited by their energy reserves and they will (relatively speaking) tire themselves out.

So, you can blame it on your brain if you don't make a first good impression when you meet a stranger. Or, you could make it work out, if you detect the situation early enough and try to rectify it by pushing the right buttons in your brain. Mind you, it will be tough. Just ask any parent of two children.

Finally, enjoy this music courtesy of Julian @ http://resonantmind.com/. I particularly like The Resonance Project - AHU.

Digital Stories

We went to the Victoria State Library last weekend. Mom had signed the kids up for the Sparky Stories event. I just tagged along not knowing or expecting much. The children were supposed to tell a story and make it into a DVD. They started by drawing (a plot) on paper and then recreating that on the computer. Phoebe's already a pro at drawing on the computer so she didn't really need much help. She did took sometime to figure out what story she wanted to tell. Ernest, on the other hand knew from the start what he wanted to talk about. Dinosaurs! His favorite subject. We had a great time, and plenty of excitement was generated when the whole family chipped in at making this production. In short, we walked out from the event feeling very pleased with ourselves. Then mom decided that we should all go shopping next...

Phoebe told a story about Santa on Christmas. It's a charming story with some action from Rudolf.

Ernest had a go at making his own digital story too. He started wanting to talk about dinosaurs at the beach, but ended up with a brave fish helping a wounded shark.

note: Thanks to the kind and patient staff at Experimedia, Terry and Mandy, who made it all possible.

Learning to ride a bicycle

Some weeks ago, Phoebe managed to ride on two wheels on her bicycle. That was after one week of me pushing her on the badminton court.

She learned really fast. To be fair, she had a bit of practice before. But her determination and grit to succeed must surely be commended. They were wobbly at first, but eventually she managed to go on two wheels.

2008 Christmas and 2009 New Year's Card

Following a very, very long absence, I decided to put one post in this blog. An old friend of mine has been urging me to dust off the webs and start blogging again. Well, since I had just finished this year's New Year's card, maybe I should put that up on the web for the world to see. With this post, hopefully more will follow. I'm not sure where to start since moving to Melbourne from Nara. It had been a draining experience for me to say the least. But the kids seem to enjoy it so far. And since this blog is about the kids, I think I should start blogging about them again. Let's see how things goes...

Choo, choo train...

... all the way to school.

At long last, I have found a wonderful solution to get my hyperactive kids to go to school. By making it into a fun activity, of course. Now, why hadn't I thought of that. For years, we were defeated by the kids, and arrive at work beaten and exhausted. Now, with the simple steps that I am going to tell you, no longer will taking the kids to school be a chore.

All I have to say to the kids is, I'll be the head (of the train) and they follow me from behind. And off we go choo, chooing all the way to the car. I get to work on time and spend less time dragging the children to school. And when they get tired playing train, I think I will switch to a cock, bear, mother goose, or something interesting.

Finally, parents score 1 point! Hurray! and ばんざい！to that.

CNY celebration at home (Kuantan)

Where else would you be allowed to ride a bicycle indoor, other than at grandma's place

The kids had a great time back home visiting their grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts, next-door neighbors, pop's favorite barber, somewhat-average-fishball-soup noodle stall owner, and everybody in between.

This Lunar New Year was especially meaningful for us, as we missed the previous family reunion twice in a row. And we made it a point to prepare a special compartment in our belly for all the New Year goodies. Sorry, no after meal photos.

Friendship forever hug, signed Eager Beaver and Bubbly Froggie