COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 45
She really didn't want to go... and I really didn't want to force her. We eventually made it out the house... and started our mile run... hoping to best our 10 minute mark.
Halfway through... she needed to stop and walk. I slowed down to a walking-jog. Then as we made our final turn... I heard her footsteps start to pickup. My Nn was pushing herself.
At the final stretch... she said, "Bah-B... I can't do this." So I reached out and grabbed her hand... "We'll do this together." I didn't pull her. I simply squeezed her hand tight, hoping to pass some of my energy to her. And as we were about 100 feet away from the finish line... I decided to let go and let her sprint her way to the end.
Put that into a life analogy.... do it.... I dare you not to. 😭
Thursday, April 30, 2020
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
Nui-stones and SW-stones
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 44
Nui-stones and SW-stones in the past 2 days....
Yesterday... SW's friend wasn't able to have their Google Hangout session for whatever reason. SW ended up typing "😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭." To which his friend responded with "}:}:}:" So pure. So sweet.
Last night... I accidentally read NN's chats with her friends. Turns out she's asking them if she's bossy, jealous and hot-headed. She asked all her girl friends. To have the courage to ask that... and to take the answers straight on. That showed a lot of guts and a lot of determination. I was proud and heart broken at the same time.
This morning... I forced SW to try drinking some milk to go with his cinnamon toast crunch cereal. Not only was he reluctant... he made every face and came up with every excuse to not drink it. At the end... I got him to take two sips. Immediately... he complained his lips were itching. Placebo effect. I thought. I made him take two more sips... and he started to hack up phlegm. Geez..... and then I said a few things I shouldn't have said and SW ends up crying. Failed.
Later this mornin... Joyce goes into work cuz her laptop died. I had meetings up the wazoo so SW didn't have a snack. He finished all his work. He finished his zoom session. He was bored and hungry. He finally built up enough courage to come in and ask, "Are you done with your meetings? I'm hungry." Geez... what kind of father am I?!?!???
Later in the afternoon... SW's friends pinged him to hangout. He was so happy. He grabbed his iPad and ran into his room. To him... this was the highlight of his day. To him... this was making up for what didn't happen yesterday. But to Joyce... Tuesday and Fridays are off-limits. Rules are rules. I ended up explaining to Joyce that there could be exceptions to the rules - especially if the little guy's been going through a rough couple of days. Lighten up...?
Early evening... I once again begged NN to run with me. She's borderline rebelling but I'm still hanging on to our father/daughter relationship... albeit by the thinnest of threads. And this time... SW didn't come with us. I said... let's not run two laps. Let's just run 10 minutes to see how far we go. Well lo and behold.... in 10 minutes, we ran two full laps around our neighborhood - non-stop. She can do it!!!
During dinner... SW pulls out his 7th tooth. Why??? Cuz the wiggly tooth is bothering him. And he wants to be able to eat his pizza and Modo Donut on his birthday. I pack his tooth in a little sandwich bag.... wrote a note documenting the date and the tooth... put it in some drawer and by golly... I'm so organized... there lied his other 6 teeth. All in bags. All with a note. All written the same way. I'm so predictable. He's so brave.
Right before bed... I map out our route on google map. Each lap was approximately 0.53 miles. Which meant.... two laps is about 1.06 miles. Which meant... NN did her 10 minute mile. The best thing wasn't her meeting her goal... the best thing was... she wants to demolish her goal. Project 21 goal - ACCOMPLISHED!!!
Nui-stones and SW-stones in the past 2 days....
Yesterday... SW's friend wasn't able to have their Google Hangout session for whatever reason. SW ended up typing "😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭." To which his friend responded with "}:}:}:" So pure. So sweet.
Last night... I accidentally read NN's chats with her friends. Turns out she's asking them if she's bossy, jealous and hot-headed. She asked all her girl friends. To have the courage to ask that... and to take the answers straight on. That showed a lot of guts and a lot of determination. I was proud and heart broken at the same time.
This morning... I forced SW to try drinking some milk to go with his cinnamon toast crunch cereal. Not only was he reluctant... he made every face and came up with every excuse to not drink it. At the end... I got him to take two sips. Immediately... he complained his lips were itching. Placebo effect. I thought. I made him take two more sips... and he started to hack up phlegm. Geez..... and then I said a few things I shouldn't have said and SW ends up crying. Failed.
Later this mornin... Joyce goes into work cuz her laptop died. I had meetings up the wazoo so SW didn't have a snack. He finished all his work. He finished his zoom session. He was bored and hungry. He finally built up enough courage to come in and ask, "Are you done with your meetings? I'm hungry." Geez... what kind of father am I?!?!???
Later in the afternoon... SW's friends pinged him to hangout. He was so happy. He grabbed his iPad and ran into his room. To him... this was the highlight of his day. To him... this was making up for what didn't happen yesterday. But to Joyce... Tuesday and Fridays are off-limits. Rules are rules. I ended up explaining to Joyce that there could be exceptions to the rules - especially if the little guy's been going through a rough couple of days. Lighten up...?
Early evening... I once again begged NN to run with me. She's borderline rebelling but I'm still hanging on to our father/daughter relationship... albeit by the thinnest of threads. And this time... SW didn't come with us. I said... let's not run two laps. Let's just run 10 minutes to see how far we go. Well lo and behold.... in 10 minutes, we ran two full laps around our neighborhood - non-stop. She can do it!!!
During dinner... SW pulls out his 7th tooth. Why??? Cuz the wiggly tooth is bothering him. And he wants to be able to eat his pizza and Modo Donut on his birthday. I pack his tooth in a little sandwich bag.... wrote a note documenting the date and the tooth... put it in some drawer and by golly... I'm so organized... there lied his other 6 teeth. All in bags. All with a note. All written the same way. I'm so predictable. He's so brave.
Right before bed... I map out our route on google map. Each lap was approximately 0.53 miles. Which meant.... two laps is about 1.06 miles. Which meant... NN did her 10 minute mile. The best thing wasn't her meeting her goal... the best thing was... she wants to demolish her goal. Project 21 goal - ACCOMPLISHED!!!
Monday, April 27, 2020
Amazing Race - Parents Edition
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 43
Heh... the kids designed an Amazing Race for us tonight. It was really good!! They copied some of the challenges I came up with... but they also took some creative independence and spun things in an unexpected away.
One of the best part was... SW used his iPad to chase after the action. I joined in the fun by taking some self-videos and pretending to be interviewed. Ended up making an entire video with sound effects and everything.
Half way through the race... you can easily see who wanted it more, who was relentless in pursue of victory. And you can also see who was pouting and grumbling at the sure eventuality of losing. To a point where... the judges were scared that one of the contestant will get mad.
And there were a couple of times where SW and NN were obviously helping me and giving me hints. Heh...Daddy-bias. Doesn't happen often. I'll take it!!
TVB-ing
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 43
When Netflix... Hulu... Amazon Prime and even Disney+ fails you...and there's "nothing" to watch, I guess you fall back on old faithful.... good ol' TVB. Well... kinda sorta. A lot of TVB shows are junk (to me) but if all I'm going for is some background noise... why not?! While working... while cooking...
The best part is... Joyce walks into the kitchen and mocked me. Then she sat down and pretended not to care. Then you can hear her stifle a laff or two. Then she slowly comes over to the kitchen to get some water. And before you know it... she's standing right behind me staring at the screen. #BOOM
When Netflix... Hulu... Amazon Prime and even Disney+ fails you...and there's "nothing" to watch, I guess you fall back on old faithful.... good ol' TVB. Well... kinda sorta. A lot of TVB shows are junk (to me) but if all I'm going for is some background noise... why not?! While working... while cooking...
The best part is... Joyce walks into the kitchen and mocked me. Then she sat down and pretended not to care. Then you can hear her stifle a laff or two. Then she slowly comes over to the kitchen to get some water. And before you know it... she's standing right behind me staring at the screen. #BOOM
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Awkward!!!!
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 42
It was Short and Stubby's Bday today... and I thought... what the hay... let's have a Zoom Session. Then I thought... what the hay... let's get the rest of the Sons on. Reached into my dormant Facebook account and dust ridden contact list to resurrect some long-severed connections. Was only able to get a hold of 4 of them. After the first 10 minutes of "Hey!!! How's it going?!?!" and "Man... last time I saw you was...." there was awkward silence. Like... "Uhhhh....someone say something." Heh....
Such it is.... Will do it again, maybe. And I do, I'll try to find the missing Sons. And of course... OGB.... Davefffff (assuming he's still alive!)
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Braving the storm
Joyce says we haven't been documenting our SIP with pictures. 10-15 years from now... or even 10-15 weeks from now... we're going to forget what we went through.
Not since the Saturday before SIP was officially in place have we gone shopping. This time... we braved the storm and headed to Target with one goal in mind - finding a giant Squish-Mallow for SW's upcoming birthday. Not only did we find it... we also found a bunch of snacks, junk food, TOILET PAPER!!!! Oh... and a case of beer. Heh...
Ended up not getting the TP... it was $1 / roll. But how do you really value TP?? Thickness of roll? Overall length? Roughness? Softness? Regardless... the main point is... if I am to brave Armageddon with anyone... I have that person right by my side.
Friday, April 24, 2020
State Project - Colorado
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 40
Apparently... most 5th grade classes in California have a State Project (I don't remember doing one). NN picked Colorado cuz Bah-B travels there a lot. She wrote letters to politicians, national parks, sports franchises and a few of my co-workers. Oh.... and she included the President of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." ~Hebrews 11:6
Two months later... after all the stuff we've gone through with mails... email exchanges... winter and spring breaks... SIP.... we were finally able to get our hands on the package that headquarters sent out.
There were a bunch of things in there... including a handwritten note from John Stumbo, some historical facts of C&MA, some postcards, brochures. An authentic projector slide made of glass that shows the boats our missionaries use to travel on.
And lookie here... a book signed by the author made out to NN. As Sandy would put it... "What a treat!!"
"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." ~Hebrews 11:6
Thursday, April 23, 2020
年年有今日？
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 39
又一年、又大一歲。原本今年結婚十五週年，可以去Cruise. 結果、生日竟然以食外賣為焦點。兩個寶貝都好識做、今日特別乖。囡囡整咗個蛋糕比媽媽、又有卡又有禮物，有得同外家Zoom, 之後仲同班靚媽Zoom.
又一年、又大一歲。原本今年結婚十五週年，可以去Cruise. 結果、生日竟然以食外賣為焦點。兩個寶貝都好識做、今日特別乖。囡囡整咗個蛋糕比媽媽、又有卡又有禮物，有得同外家Zoom, 之後仲同班靚媽Zoom.
其實大家都好忙，要佢哋抽一個鐘頭時間出嚟認真唔話得。誠心多謝咁多位好姊妹令到我老婆笑得咁開心。
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Growing pains
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 38
Went running again today... but poor NN complained about soreness citing growing pains. But she was a trooper... muscled through it even though there was a lot of mumbling and grumbling. Will keep doing it until she breaks. Then we’ll do sprints instead.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Monday, April 20, 2020
One month to go...
COVID-19 - School Closure - Day 36
School sent out an official notice saying we'll be going to remote schooling the rest of the school year and the last day of school is 5/22 with the week of Memorial Day being final cleanup and returning of material. Which means... we have a little more than month to complete Project 21 before the end of the school year.
School sent out an official notice saying we'll be going to remote schooling the rest of the school year and the last day of school is 5/22 with the week of Memorial Day being final cleanup and returning of material. Which means... we have a little more than month to complete Project 21 before the end of the school year.
Sigh... what started out as a great motivator has now dwindled down to helping NN run her 10 minute mile. I think she can do it... but she needs some training. The HIIT in the garage can only get her so far.
I pulled her out of her Google Hangout session this afternoon...and she was miffed. =( But after a week off for Spring Break, it's time to get them back into the groove again. The first lap around the neighborhood... she was prancing like an antelope. I was having a hard time keeping up!! Then ..as expected... she crashed by lap 2. Ho ho ho....
Including the walking and cooling down at the end... it ended up being about a 15 minute mile. Shave off 5 minutes... no problem. Will I accomplish at least one of the items on Project 21????? The 1 item that's not even on there??? Sigh....
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