Great Expectations

Hope. Hope can mean a lot of different things. "I hope it doesn't rain today," or "I hope the Yankees win the world series this year," or "I have hope that we can make a difference in this world," or "My friend Hope is going to bring the carrot cake." Yes, hope is a powerful force indeed, especially if you want carrot cake.

I mentioned in my previous post that Connor has been playing a lot of baseball this summer. By playing baseball, I mean I throw an underarm lob to him and he winds up and hits the ball really far! He doesn't hit it all the time, but certainly enough for me to think that he definitely has some legitimate talent! In fact, his hitting form is already much better than that of several of my varsity baseball players! (I really wish I were kidding about this or exaggerating, but it really says more about my varsity players than it does him...sigh) After he hits the ball, it's a race and he runs to retrieve the ball and then throws it back to me (again with pretty good form, and sometimes decent accuracy, right back to me). Then he runs back to where he started and sets up to hit again. If he misses and doesn't hit the ball, then he runs back and gets the ball, throws it back to me and sets up for another pitch. The latest thing that we've been working on is running the bases after he hits the ball. So, he'll hit the ball far, and then he'll run around some "bases" that I've created for him while I retrieve the ball and try to tag him out. Hopefully, this way he won't get his first hit in tee ball and run into the outfield to go get it!

Anways, he can play baseball (LITERALLY) for HOURS! No matter how long we've been playing, it's a chore to get him to stop playing. My technique has been to spend about 15 minutes saying "OK, Connor, we're going to stop playing SOON. Not now! But, soon..." and then continue playing. After about the 15th time of saying soon, I'll say "OK Connor, two more hits" and then "OK, one more hit and then we're going to go..." and then after his last hit you celebrate like we just won the world series and then hope that he doesn't have a meltdown when we pack up to go home. MOST of the time, this technique works and the last time I put it into play it worked like a charm and he happily ended the game.

Anyways, my point is this: at what point do I call up Major League baseball talent scouts?

Obviously I'm kidding (ahem...yeah) but I HOPE that I'm not. I'm definitely not going to be one of those parents that puts insane amounts of pressure on their kid to live vicariously through them. In fact, if Connor grows up to hate baseball, I'll be a little sad, but I won't force him to like/play/watch it with me. BUT, if he CHOSE to like it and he WANTS to play it and he DECIDES that he WANTS to excel in it, then who am I stop him? Just seeing what he can do at the age of two and three-quarters, I can't help but imagine what he's going to look like when it's time for little league, or high school, or college, or the minor leagues, or...do you see where this leads me? Is hope a bad thing or is it a good thing?

Completely honestly, I just hope that he's happy and that he ends up doing whatever he wants to be doing. Right now, playing baseball makes him really happy, and that makes me really happy. In fact, I started writing this post while both kids were taking a nap. About half-way through, Connor woke up and he's been snacking on some grapes. But, for about the last 10 minutes, he's been asking me "Daddy, are you done? Daddy, are you done? are you done are you done are you done??" I'm not kidding. He wants me to finish up so that we can play some indoor baseball (this is after I told him that we're not going outside because Zoë is still sleeping and Shannon works until 7pm, so I can't take them to the park by myself since somebody has to watch Zoë if I play baseball with Connor). Indoor baseball entails a very small and very soft toy ball and the cardboard tube insert of a paper towel roll.

So, instead of writing about Connor and his love of baseball, I'm going to actually stop writing now and play some ball with him. It's been an awesome summer so far! To give an update, I've "reimagined" the living room and I really like the way it turned out! Next up, time to clean off the desk and then move onto the kitchen and the closets. Come stop by to see the new look of the apartment! We took our first beach trip of the summer by going to see Heather and Chris up in Old Saybrook, CT and had a blast. Also, I've lost 9 pounds so far this summer.

Feel free to analyze the pictures above (visualize Derek Jeter and Tim Lincecum while looking at them). For more pictures from the park, as always, go to http://ctam.shutterfly.com

OK, with that...PLAY BALL!

Summer

The three favorite words for a teacher...June, July and August! Anytime I ever have doubts about what I'm doing or think of alternative jobs that I could have, I remember these three words and all is better. (OK, it's really only half of June, and some teachers don't even get those, but I do and I'm sure as heck going to enjoy them!)

So far this summer has been different than the others. I probably don't have to tell anybody this, but staying home all day with 2 children is MUCH different than staying home with one. I'll try to elaborate on that later. But, after some adjustment, we're back in the swing of things and having a great time! I have a ton of blog ideas in my head. Now I just need the time to write.

But, to give you a quick recap on what's been going on for the first two weeks of summer break, Zoë is crawling up a storm, she has started to eat baby food so that has been a messy and exciting experience, Connor is in love with baseball (both watching and cheering for the Yankees AND playing it - he's a pro at hitting a baseball and he's got a really good throw! Check out pictures from his website to see some pics of his form), we've also been doing lots of projects and crafts like drawing and doing puzzles, and my big project for the summer is to redesign the entire apartment. I've already "reimagined" the entire bedroom and I'm working on "reimagining" the living room. Hopefully these new designs will help make our apartment seem less cluttered and look a little nicer. If nothing else, at least it means that I've moved everything around and dusted and cleaned under every piece of furniture we own! After the living room, I'll move on to the kitchen and the closets. Oh, I've also been playing a lot of guitar (although still not as much as I'd like!) and I also plan on losing about 25-30 pounds this summer.

So, as you can see, a lot of stuff has been going on! We have a bunch of beach trips planned this summer (CT, NY, NC, and NJ) so I'll try to update those as we go along. Anyways, hopefully I can find time to blog this summer. I make no promises, but thank you for continuing to read and checking. I think my key to success is going to be "short and sweet", but I seem to have troubles with that. We'll see how it turns out, but one thing that I'm pretty good about updating is shutterfly, so please keep looking there often!

that is all...
g'night!

Sleep-ease

So tired, but quick post to keep my streak going. Last night, an amazing thing happened, Zoë actually slept ALL night! If you read my last post, you know that Shannon was working the night shift and when that happens, I'm on Zoë duty all night. Because we cosleep and Shannon nurses Zoë at night, I usually don't have night-feeding responsibilities. However, when Shan works nights, I take on the feedings and usually have to walk Zoë until she falls back asleep. Then, repeat. I was all prepared to wake up every two hours to feed her. While I was getting Connor to sleep, Yin yin helped by getting Zoë to sleep at around 10pm. So, Zoë was put into her bassinet and covered with a blanket. I set up my ice bucket with two prepared bottles and placed it next to the bed. Then, I got ready for night time and went to bed myself. I was in bed and asleep around midnight.

3:30am - I was a bit confused when I groggily awoke and looked at the clock. 3:30? I peeked into the bassinet. There was Zoë, sound asleep! So, I wasn't one to complain so I went back to bed.

4:30am - Woke up again to silence. This time, I was starting to get a little worried...I stuck my head into the bassinet next to Zoë's face and was assured by the sound of her breathing and tiny snoring. OK, everything seems ok and again, I'm not one to complain that my baby is sleeping, so back to bed for me!

5:00am - Take a peek in and she's still asleep but she has moved across the bassinet. But, I do another paranoid breathing check anyways and everything checks out. Quietly roll back into bed, trying to avoid any loud squeaks so that she doesn't wake up. Back to dream land!

5:30am - OK, seriously! She's out all night and I'm still waking up and not taking advantage of a full-night's sleep?! Still sound asleep but she moved back to the other side of the crib again. She coughs gently and I mentally prepare myself to feed her. But, it's a false alarm, so I try to get a few more minutes of sleep before my alarm goes off.

5:45am - Awake to another quiet cough and this time she stirs. I'm ready coach! Put me in! Nope, false alarm. Eyes shut again.

6:00am - Another cough, another stir, followed by more stirring. Then, finally that tiny little sound ... "aah"....followed by a deep breath and....showtime! So, I finally get my butt out of bed and give her a bottle.

6:15am - She finishes the bottle and is back asleep, but now my alarm just went off, so it's time to get up and start getting ready for the day.

So, there concludes my magical night. The first night alone with Zoë where she slept all the way through the night! 10pm - 6am! However, I'm still exhausted because I still woke up regularly throughout the night and it was not a restful night. But, I'll certainly take it over some of the other restless nights where I'm up every two hours for 30 minutes at a time and trying to sooth a screaming baby to sleep.

Anyways, I'm going to go back to lounging on the couch and watching the Yankees game. Soon it will be bedtime for Connor and I may just have to head to bed early today. Probably not the start of a lifetime of sleeping through the night, but it's a small step, and I'll certainly take it. Especially since I had to work today!

Here's hoping that y'all are getting more sleep than me! Good night and Good luck!

Super Returns

This picture is one of my new favorites. Caption can read : "Don't worry miss, now that I'm here, everything's going to be ok." Those pj's are the best thing that I've ever purchased from Walmart...

OK, so I pretty much underestimated how busy and tired I was going to be during baseball season. When I say baseball season, I mean coaching baseball. Coaching was a Monday through Friday commitment (with occasional Saturdays) and involved extended practices or games that brought me home somewhere between 7-8 every day. Then, dinner, time with the fam, occasional games at Yankees stadium, and miraculously enough, grading and school prep filled my nights before I crashed into bed and tried to get as much sleep as I could before starting all over (ok, that's an awkward run-on sentence, but I'm not fixing it!)

Anyways, baseball season is now over and I've started the countdown to the end of the year already. All my classes are planned out to finals week, my time after school is free again, and I'm starting to feel the end of the year approaching rapidly! So, hopefully this means that I can start blogging somewhat regularly again. As with every summer, I already have a very long list of things that I want to do (which I'll share with you in a future post) and I can't wait to get started! But first, I have to get through the last few weeks of classes, grading the final exams, writing reports for all my students, and sitting through terribly dull faculty meetings first. But, for RIGHT now (and possibly the next few days), I'm in a lull and can be wonderfully and blissfully bored with nothing to do but watch Yankees games and play with the kids. I don't even have any grading to do right now....but, I will tomorrow. Oh well. Tonight I'm going to enjoy the downtime and celebrate with this blog post and an early night's sleep.

Of course, tonight Shannon is working the night shift, so that means that I'm on Zoë duty. What that means is that I'll have to wake up every 2-3 hours to feed her and hope that she falls back asleep. If she doesn't then that means that I'll have to walk her around back to sleep, which usually takes about 20-30 minutes of pacing back and forth in a sleepy fog. Then, sleep for 1.5-2.5 hours and repeat. Oy. Hopefully she's good tonight, but just in case she isn't, I'm going to get ready and quickly go to bed now. Wish me luck and hope to post again soon!

Also, if you haven't looked recently, there are some new pictures posted on shutterfly. Sadly, I found out a few weeks ago that my camera is seriously damaged and that the repairs that would be necessary are not worth it. I'm already working on getting a new camera, but for now (and for the next few weeks), I will be camera-less. :( But, perhaps this will just encourage me to work on my camcorder skills and then I can post some movies here!

A Little Spring in my Step!

Well, it's been a long time since I've posted, but at least I have somewhat of a good excuse. My last post alluded to the fact that I was super busy grading piles and piles of work (lab reports, quizzes, projects, etc.). It was the end of the trimester for my school and I needed to grade everything so that I could give all 86 of my students final trimester grades. Unfortunately for me, the way I scheduled the last 2-3 weeks of the trimester resulted in me getting lab reports (4-5 pages from my 9th graders and 8-10 pages from my 11th graders) and quizzes from all of my students right at the end of the trimester. Plus, I had the brilliant idea to assign group projects to my 9th graders as well. So, without thinking ahead, I didn't anticipate this HUGE pile of work to bombard my desk.

If you've been reading my posts, you may recall that it has become increasingly difficult for me to get any work done at home. No problem, then I'll just get it done after school....cue baseball practices. March 2nd was the start of the baseball season and that meant practices everyday after school. Depending on the time slot, practice means conditioning right after school and then we get time in the gymnasium from 6-7:30pm. Or on the rare occasion, we had the early time slot of 4:30-6. (Yes, practices were in the gym...welcome to sports in NYC. No plush green baseball fields to practice on,...we get the dark and small gym.)

Anyways, it took an immensely long time with many sleepless nights (at least three 3 hour sleep nights that week) to finish all my grading. But, the hard work paid off because NYC private schools get two weeks of spring break now (the last two weeks in March, instead of one week in Feb and one in April). So, last week I was in Florida with the baseball team for Spring training and that was a lot of hard physical work, but it was also a really fun time (finally, actual baseball fields to play on!! Plus, warm weather and the fields have lights, so night practices are always a lot of fun!) I got back home late Saturday night (really 2am on Sun) and I've been at home chillaxing this week.

I spent the first few days running errands, but today was the first day that I really did absolutely nothing. I spent part of my day surfing the internet, catching up on e-mail, researching some fantasy baseball stuff, played some video games, took a short little nap. It was glorious. What about the kids, you may ask? Well, Connor is still in school this week, so I drove him to school in the morning. Also, my mom has been in town (she'll be around until I'm done with school, going home on the weekends) helping out with Zoë, so we've been tag-teaming duties. But, Zoë is in a stage where she mainly eats and sleeps and there isn't too much time when she's awake. But, when she is, we'll play with her, give her tummy-time and watch her roll over (she is an expert now at back to front, but still not so much the other way...) or just hang out with her playing.

Also, when I went to pick Connor up from school, I realized that it was a beautiful day outside, so while I was driving back up along Riverside Drive, I made an impromptu stop at a little park and Connor and I played outside for about an hour. We just walked on the grass in the park picking various things up (rocks, sticks, those brown prickly ball things that fall out of trees.) Then, we went into a little playground where there were two massive structures full of slides, ladders, steps, etc. and we played on those for a while with other kids out enjoying the beautiful day. There were these stone dolphins that probably spit out water when it's summer time and the fountains are turned on. So, Connor sat down on one and even sat there long enough for me to take a picture with my phone (see above).

Anyways, although the actual first day of spring (according to the internet) was about 5 days ago, today officialy marks the start of spring for me. It was a beautiful day and I was lucky to spend it outside in the park with my little buddy. Although it was slightly marred by his insistence in playing in the sketchy NYC sandbox (eww.) and his resistance to leaving the park area because it was getting a little cold and I wanted to leave after an hour of play, it was a perfect way to spend one of my spring break days!

Perhaps tomorrow will be filled with some more nothing during the day followed by another visit to the park (perhaps a different park...one without that sandbox...seriously, eww.) after I pick Connor up from school.

One can only hope.

Of course, I do have some quizzes to grade....eh, they can wait another day.

U2 : Awesome AND funny

OK, so I am absolutely swamped with work right now. The trimester just ended on Friday, grades are due on Wednesday and I have about 80+ lab reports, 12 projects, and numerous smaller homework assignments to grade by then. So, I'm sitting here (Connor and Zoë are finally off to bed with Shan so I can get some work done) working my tail off watching the World Baseball classic games (USA vs. Venezula). I don't actually care about the Classic too much, but it sure is nice to be watching baseball again!

Anyways, the point is I don't have time to properly post, but thought I'd make an effort to anyways. U2 just released their new album, "No Line on the Horizon" and as with all things U2, I'm loving it! Some songs are amazing first time around, some other ones take some digesting, but I'm definitely enjoying it. Anyways, perhaps I'll blog more about the CD later, but I wanted to post a link to a site that somebody sent me. Apparently U2 was the guest band on Letterman all last week and they did the Top ten one night. As with most Letterman top tens, half of it was hilarious and the other half were duds, but it's definitely worth watching. #7 is my personal favorite.

Anyways, enjoy and hopefully I'll get a chance to blog more when the dust settles from all this grading....sigh. Wish me luck!

Cameras are rolling!

So, Zoë first rolled over on Feb 4th, 2009, but it was really a one-time thing. Shannon put her down on her back, she was shifting left and right and then *poof*, she rolled over to her front! But, that was more of a freak thing and didn't happen again for a long time. Well, on Wednesday, February 25th, Zoë repeated her performance.

Shannon put her down on her blanket on her back and she was reading a little coupon book next to her. Well, the next thing she knows, Zoë flipped over onto her tummy. Well, she grabbed the camcorder to record the event and guess what? She rolled over again back onto her back! So, enjoy the video to see Zoë official "third" roll (the first from her front to her back) and her first official roll caught on tape! Now, she is a rolling fiend and loves rolling from back to front. However, she's not so good at the front to back yet, so she often finds herself stuck on her tummy and then she starts to get upset.

Anyways, enjoy the video. Also, I posted pictures that I took at the Ceilidh on shutterfly, so feel free to go check those out too!

Ceilidh-rrific!

So, we're back from the Ceilidh (pronounced "Kay-lee") and it was a rockin' great time! The Kellys definitely represented with the following set list:

1. Wild Rover - part of ensemble leading the Sing-a-long to start the performances
2. Galway Bay - Mary Ann
3. Danny Boy - Heather (backed by Uncle Steve)
4. I Know My Love - Heather (backed by Shannon and Uncle Steve)
5. The Worst Pirate - Sung by Michael Daly (but originally a song of Ceann - Pat and Brian Halloran's band, cousins of the Kellys)
6. Auld Grey Man - Shannon
7. Mick McGilligan's Ball - Mary Ann (backed by Shannon and Heather)
8. Love You Til the End - I forgot who sang this (but backed by Heather and Uncle Steve)
9. The Fields of Athenry - Uncle Steve (backed by Heather and others)
10. Four Green Fields - Heather
11. Too Ra Loo Ral - Heather and somebody else leading a sing-along
12. Isn't It Grand Boys - Heather, Uncle Steve, Mary Ann and ensemble

So, the evening started with an hour of music from a Celtic Band named Woodkerne. (Connor was a huge hit all night because he would run around, dance, and definitely stole the show more than a few times!) Then, the other performances started at 9pm and lasted until midnight! All the performers were great and it was a very relaxed and fun environment where the booze was flowing freely (BYOB) and the setlist loose.

Connor was extremely well behaved and had a blast (he definitely turned into a pumpkin at the end of the night and was very sleepy, but what do you expect, it was midnight! He danced a lot, ran around the whole theater, shared the stage with his family, sat in the audience and listened with Yeh yeh and yin yin (the Tam grandparents who came down from Boston), and loved the whole show! Zoë was also passed around and was very well-behaved. All in all, it was an extremely successful outing with the kids and we're glad that we were able to share it with them.

As a treat, I am also showcasing my brand new HD digital camcorder (that I got for Christmas this year - thanks mom and dad!) The quality here on the web is not HD, but that's because I condensed them to a more reasonable size for web-viewing. During the Ceilidh, I only recorded the songs performed by Kellys (however, tragically and unfortunately, there was a camcorder mishap and Shannon's song "Auld Grey Man" wasn't recorded and I am super bummed about that. I'm trying to track down somebody else's recording of it...) and I figured out a way to post them all on YouTube. So, you can find them here, or I've also embedded them below at the bottom of this post. If you press play and then scroll over the video, you should be able to select all 10 of the videos (including one of Connor dancing around the theater to Woodkerne).

Anyways, enjoy! Also, I'll post some of the photos soon (I need to weed out some of the photos from the 209 that I took! But, I'll eventually post them on Shutterfly or picasa and let you know when I do.

Shameless plug for my wifey

Picture from last year's Ceilidh

OK, it's not even my plug to make, but since I'm going to go to it, I'll give it a shout out.  This Saturday (Feb 21st), I'll be in New Britain, CT at something called a Ceilidh.  A Ceilidh is a Gaelic word meaning party or happy gathering, one filled with music, stories, dancing and celebration.  The local CT theater (Hole in the Wall Theater), that Shannon and her family have been involved with as she grew up, is hosting a Ceilidh and there will be a ton of Kellys there performing (Heather, Mary Ann, Uncle Steve, and yes, my dear wifey, SHANNON!)  Last year was their first Ceilidh (in which the above mentioned people all performed) and it was so successful that they decided to do it again!  It was a lot of fun and I had a blast!  So, if you're in the area and you want to come have a great rockin Irish time with Connor, Zoe and me, you should definitely come by!  Connor didn't come last year, so this will be his first experience with the Ceilidh (and seeing his mommy perform on stage!) so I know he'll have a great time! You should probably call (860) 229-3049 for reservations because it is a small theater and I don't know how many people are planning on going.  

The cost is a suggested donation of $20/person.  According to the website, the evening will begin at 6:00pm with free Irish step-dancing lessons.  Then, you can try out your new moves from 7:00 to 8:00pm to a live Irish band.  Then, the performances will be from 8:00 to 11:00pm, including a variety of Celtic music, dancing, and readings.  Heather, Mary Ann, Shannon, and Uncle Steve are all slated to individually sing traditional Irish songs.  Plus, I believe the Kellys have been given a blank check, so any other Kellys are welcome to just show up and perform, so there may be some other guest appearances!  

Anyways, come, bring a six-pack of beer (I'll probably have two with me!) and enjoy the festivities as we prime our pumps and warm up for St.Patrick's Day later in March!  I'll be sure to post pictures of it when we return home.  

#34

The number 34:

According to wikipedia, 34 is the ninth distinct biprime and has four divisors including unity and itself.

34 is the magic constant of a 4 by 4 normal magic square (all rows, columns, and diagonals add up to 34)

#34 is a song by the Dave Matthews Band on their debut album, Under the Table and Dreaming.

34 was the number retired by the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers for Nolan Ryan.

Also, this post will be my 34th blog post ever! (Wow, bet nobody saw that coming!) It's taken me 2 and a half years to get to my 34th blog post. The reason why I bring this up is because Jon just reached his 100th blog post a few days ago (in 101 days, I might add)! I definitely applaud his dedication and stamina, but in no way promise that I will reach my 100th post anytime soon...if ever.

Anyways, I'll just slowly chug along and write my 34th post...by the way, I've noticed that a lot of my blog posts include a discussion of the process and idea of blogging...kinda circular, no? I'll have to work on that and if I can ever successfully be a consistent blogger, maybe then I can stop blogging about blogging...

Since my last post was more on the negative (yet, continually humorous) side of having a two-and-a-half year old, I thought I would discuss the wonderful side of having children (including that two-and-a-half year old douche bag).

So, a quick, incomplete, and ever-growing list of those amazingly heart-melting moments that you get to experience as a parent. I have to say, I LOVE being a Dad! I've always used to enjoy playing with kids and being the goofy uncle/friend who isn't afraid to crawl around on the floor or act like a kid, but it's completely different when you have your own children.

Before I held Connor, I had only held two other babies, and it was TERRIFYING! I held my breath, scrunched up my shoulders, awkwardly held the baby for a minute or two while I continued to breath ever so slightly and then finally passed it back. It was almost like somebody passed me a bomb and then took it back. But, with Connor and Zoë, it is the most comfortable and wonderful thing in the world. Sure, I was still afraid to move when I held Connor the first few times, for fear of doing anything to hurt such a fragile thing. But, the learning curve was steep and I was soon a pro. Now, I just love holding them and watching every move that they make. Ironically, it still took me a longer time after that to feel comfortable holding other people's babies, but now I think I've got it down pat. Anyways, every day is filled with small little things that makes being a parent such an amazing thrill.

A short list showcasing those moments that still make my heart melt (in an incredibly good way) and the things that keep me sane through the more challenging aspects of parenthood. Again, not necessarily in any particular order:

1. That first moment of holding your baby all wrapped up in a blanket, new to the world.
2. That first time that their tiny little hand grabs your finger (see pictures above: Top=Connor / Bottom=Zoë - both on their first days)
3. The first time that they look at you with some kind of recognition and give you a smile.
4. Hearing them laugh.
5. When you're holding them and they snuggle their head right into your neck and fall asleep.
6. Watching them sleep. They look so peaceful and angelic.
7. When they run to you and give you huge hug, so excited to see you.
8. When they say "I love you daddy" totally unprovoked (even when its provoked, that's cool too)
9. When they are able to tell you what they did in their day (Connor just recently started doing this. On the way home from school, he tells me what he and his friends did in school)
10. When they dance.
11. When they watch everything that you do and then start imitating it (Connor loves to "play" Guitar Hero and he even holds his own guitar and sometimes imitates the hip gyrations, dancing, and crazy things that Jon, Josh and myself do....it's hilarious watching him lie down on the floor next to Jon as they "both" wail away on a solo!)
12. Just in general, watching as they develop (motor skills, language, independence, coordination, conceptualization, etc.) It amazes me to no end how fast they develop and pick things up and I love literally watching them "learn" right before my own eyes. I get such a huge kick out of hearing the things that Connor has come up with on his own.

Obviously, 1-6 I've enjoyed with both Connor and Zoë and 7-12 were just Connor, but like I said before, this is a very incomplete list and I could probably go on for a long time. But, it is now crazy late and I have to go to work tomorrow morning, so I need to stop writing. But, it's been an amazing ride so far, and I can't wait to see what lies ahead! I'm sure I can create a whole list of things that I'm looking forward to (first Yankees game, playing a game of catch, first time ice-skating, etc.), but I'm just going to continue enjoying what I have now and I'll take it one step at a time.

Don't say that!

So, for those of you who don't read the comments for this blog, Connor developed this thing where his response was a variation of the scenario below:

Me: Connor, don't throw that. Please go pick that up
Connor: NO! YOU pick it up!

or

Me: Connor, don't do that.
Connor: NO! YOU don't do that!

Well, that was a wonderful phase of his and actually got me to chuckle to myself a few times. But, Connor's new thing is saying "No! Don't say that! I don't like that!" Usually the "thing that he doesn't like" is us telling him to be gentle with his sister, or to be careful of where he's kicking his feet (near his sister), or to listen to his parents or a variety of comments that we make that might indicate that we are concerned about what he is doing. Allow me to paint you a picture:

Location: Tam apartment living room
Time: weekday 5:30pm

Dad is sitting on the living room couch playing with baby Zoë. Connor, a two and a half year old boy, runs into the room and jumps onto the couch. Connor starts to grab Zoë's hands and pulls them towards him to kiss them.

Dad: Connor, be gentle.

Connor continues to pull and twist Zoë's arms.

Dad: Connor, calm down....Connor....

Connor does not seem to be hearing Dad and continues, now trying to pull Zoë by the arm in an attempt to kiss her face.

Dad: CONNOR! STOP! STOP!
Connor: NO! DON'T SAY THAT! I DON'T LIKE THAT!
Dad: Connor, you can't pull on Zoë's arms like that and be so rough with her. You can hurt her.
Connor: No! I DON'T like when you say that!
Dad: I'm sorry, but I'm going to say that because I don't want you to hurt Zoë.
Connor: But I want to kiss her!
Dad: Well, you have to be gentle. If you can't be gentle, then you can't kiss her.
Connor: NO! DON'T SAY THAT!
Dad: Connor, stop talking like that to Daddy. I don't like when you use that tone of voice.
Connor: NO! I DON'T LIKE THAT! DON'T SAY THAT!
Dad: Connor, please stop saying that. If you're upset, then tell daddy why, but don't scream at daddy like that.
Connor: (lowering his voice) I want to kiss Zoë...
Dad: Can you be gentle?
Connor: yes...
Dad: OK, here, give Zoë a gentle kiss.
Connor: *kiss*
Dad: OK, thank you, that was very gentle. Thank you.

Connor runs off and plays as if everything were ok. Dad looks at Zoë, rolls his eyes and says, "your brother is a monster!" Zoë looks at Dad and smiles a big goofy baby smile.

The situations usually vary, but the discussions are very similar. We've instituted a "quiet chair," which is pretty much the same as a "time out" and our discussions sometimes continue into the chair. So far the "quiet chair" is at least a little effective and he is able to sadly discuss what earned him time in the chair and he sadly apologizes afterwards. After he apologizes, he bounces off to do something happily and usually doesn't repeat the same offense for at least a little while. Luckily, Connor has been very loving to Zoë and we're not seeing any malicious jealousy behavior. Most of the time, he is just unaware of his strength, Zoë's fragility or his presence in relation to her.

On the one hand, it's probably good that Connor is able to convey that he doesn't like something and that he is able to stand up for himself. If some other kid in his school says something that he doesn't appreciate, then he should say "NO! DON'T SAY THAT! I DON'T LIKE WHEN YOU SAY THAT!" But, when it's directed towards me and I feel that my request is reasonable, it's a tad bit frustrating. Of course, reasonable is a very subjective thing, but when the request is: "Connor! Be careful! Don't stand on that stack of chairs! You're going to fall!" or "HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY! Don't touch those knives in the dishwasher!," I feel pretty justified in my requests no matter what he doesn't like to hear.

By the way, these "discussions" are really fun when they happen in the morning and we're already running late and need to get out the door to go to work, but he "didn't like" that I told him to put on his shoes/pants/eat his cereal/brush his teeth/etc.

Sigh, I can't wait to see what his next phase is going to be!

<3 <3 <3

Today is February 14th. Valentine's Day. I am not a Valentine's Day person. Now, that's not to say that I'm an anti-Valentine's Day person, per se. I don't go around wearing black and killing everybody's buzz and bah-humbugging all the lovey dovey couples that are out celebrating. But, I don't think it's a real "holiday" and I don't go out of my way to "celebrate." The thing is, I love my wife. I've always loved her ever since the day I met her (ugh, major cheese, but I guess I'll leave that in). However, I don't need some day on the calendar that dictates that I show my love.

There was a time when we used to "celebrate" and go out to dinner, but it was impossible to get a reservation, I'd buy some overpriced flowers, we'd wait forever for a table and eat in a packed restaurant filled with other couples. Was it a nice meal and a nice time together? Yes. Did I enjoy the company of my significant other? Of course. But, did it have to happen on February 14th? Why can't we just do this every so often and "celebrate" what we have for ourselves?

Luckily, Shannon feels the same way about this "holiday" and we find times throughout the year to celebrate what we have and treat ourselves to a nice dinner and some random gifts to one another every so often. The only reason that I'm not ANTI-Valentine's Day is that I don't mind the idea of it. You should take time and make sure that your loved one is loved and appreciated. You should take time and treat yourselves and acknowledge that you're happy with your partner. For some people, this one day is how they do it and the other 364 days, their love is assumed or unspoken. But, I think that's a shame and a waste.

That being said, we don't have any plans for today. In fact, we have plans to go visit some friends of ours and our kids will play. We'll probably come back home, play with the kids, eat leftovers, and go through the good-night rituals. We're not going to "celebrate" in any special way, but we'll certainly say that we love each other and we'll tell our kids that we love them. The picture for this post includes the three people that I love the most in this world. Of course I love many other family and friends, but I can't actually express how much I love my kids and my wife. And I'm not going to...just because it's Valentine's day and I refuse to be forced to do anything just because I'm "supposed" to. :)

Happy Valentine's Day everybody. Now, go tell somebody that you love them. But, just remember to tell them tomorrow and the next day too...

Such Great Heights

10 reasons why I love living where I am up here in Washington Heights (not necessarily in any particular order).

1. It's relatively close to work (30 minutes on one train)

2. It's "close" (this includes short drives, mostly to the Upper West Side) to a wide array of wonderful food of all types of styles: BBQ (Daisy May's - driveable without crazy traffic on West Side Highway, Dinosaur), good pizza (Grandpa's! Woot!), Asian (Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Malaysian), Burgers, Tacos (real Mexican ones), Dominican (of course), French, Cuban, and I'm sure much much more.

3. Amenities of the building (doorman - don't know if I can ever live without this again!, dishwasher, gym, "affordable" parking garage, nice laundry room in basement)

4. Nice family atmosphere in the building

5. Very close to Riverside Park with beautiful view of the GW Bridge.

6. Extremely close to Yankees Stadium (10-15 minutes by bus / 30-40 minutes by foot)

7. Since we are able to keep a car here, it's convenient to visit our families (with little traffic - 1.5 hours to CT family, 3 hours to Boston family and 1.25 hours to NJ family.)

8. It's a very spacious apartment (especially by NYC standards) and it's really quiet in our apt.

9. Tons of culture and activities to go to in NYC that are just a subway ride away (now, if only we took greater advantage of this!  At least, we used to more before the kids...)

10. Close proximity to our dear friends (but not as close as we'd like to many of our other friends and family all around...)

Well, those are just a few reasons why I like it here.  If you've never been to visit, please come stop by and check it out!  If you have visited before, please come and visit again!  

Well, I'm still sick and Shan, Con and ZoZo are all in various stages of sickness (luckily, most of them near full-recovery), so I'm going to go to bed.  But, aren't you proud of my blogging efforts!  I hope I can keep this going through baseball season!  (I start coaching in early March and pitchers and catchers start tomorrow for the Yankees! Yay baseball!)

Good night!

Stupid Boron

Random funnies:

Josh sent me the video below of Conan's reaction to the NYTimes retraction:



Here's the link to the Huffington Post article about it.

Yes, I'm a Chemistry teacher, but more importantly, I'm a man who enjoys funny.

On that note, I enjoyed Jill's post about the absurdity and surrealness (surreality?) of Facebook so much, that I find it necessary to repost it here (sorry for stepping on your e-turf Jilly!). But, as a good teacher and student, I will be sure to cite my sources:



Also, go to Jill's blog for some funny videos about cats (I won't steal those for my blog).  

Hilarity abounds! Enjoy!

Twenty-Five : Part Three

21. I have a weakness for bacon. If it's cooked right (nice and crispy, but not dried out and leathery) then I could definitely eat a whole pound of it by myself in one sitting. The Golden Corral breakfast buffet is very dangerous for me...
22. I can understand a lot of Cantonese but I can't speak very much of it.
23. I hate sweatpants and never wear them.
24. I have been trying to work on my photography skills and find it to be one of my favorite hobbies with the most benefical outcomes (I end up with thousands of pictures of my kids!). I help to shoot pictures of the annual youth choir musical back in my hometown and I was the principal photographer at a cousin's wedding. Although I am really enjoying the digital camera format, my dream is to have a dark room in my future house to work in so that I can continue my film development techiques that I learned in my photo class from grad school.
25. I really enjoy my job teaching high school, but my dream would be to work professionally on something that I am passionate about and love to do (music, photography, baseball/Yankees, beer brewing, something creative, etc.) But my fear is that I would become less passionate about these things if they were my "job" and not just a hobby.

Well, that finally completes 25 random facts about myself. I have to say that it was an interesting exercise to do. I found myself toeing the line between writing a resume of random crap and making confessions (there were a few random facts that I chose not to disclose...) Anyways, there, I conformed and I'm an e-follower, but I promise nothing will happen to you if you don't continue this thread, no riches nor poorness will be bestowed upon you and there will be no penalties inflicted upon you or 24 other people. However, I still wonder if I can even get 25 people to read this?

p.s. - I just found the picture on this post on my camera. I love how it makes both of them look so much older than they really are! Also, go here for the rest of the updated photos.

Twenty-Five : Part Two

11. My middle name is legally "Ki-Tak," which is my chinese name (pronounced "Kay - duck.")
12. I strongly believe in the idea of sustainability and recycling, but sometimes get sick of all the rules and dos-and-don'ts. Can't I just put any kind of plastic in the recycling bin? Do I really have to find the numbers and sort accordingly? What if my cardboard box has plastic attached to it?
13. I always laugh when I see somebody fall, but then I feel bad.
14. I homebrew beer in my apartment with a friend (although this is not news since I've posted about it in the past.)
15. I love travelling and have travelled to 13 foreign countries. I plan to travel to many more.
16. My absolute favorite place to visit was Ireland and I definitely plan to go back.
17. I think that everything my kids do is the coolest thing ever and I can just watch and play with them for hours and hours.
18. My favorite food is steak (duh!) and my favorite cuts are prime rib and rib-eye.
19. My favorite non-steak food is hot Italian sausage.
20. My favorite non-meat food is Shannon's homemade spaghetti sauce with Linguini (although I guess it's made with hot Italian sausage, but the sauce alone is also so delicious!)

OK, only 5 more to go! Stay tuned!

Twenty-Five : Part One

OK, so I'm a little bit torn about this post. On the one hand, I really like the idea of random things and it seems like a neat idea for a blog post. On the other hand, this whole 25 Random Facts thing has really blown out of proportion and I don't like the idea of being a "follower" of a fad. Also, I really despise chain letters and this is basically a new-fangled Facebook version of one (tag 25 people and keep it going). I've been tagged once and I've read others and the baseball blog sites (of which I've been addicted to during the Hot Stove months - namely www,mlbtraderumors.com) had a version about 25 random facts about random Yankees.

So, I've decided to go Jon's route (Feb 5th) and blog about 25 random facts, instead of doing the Facebook thing and forcing 25 people to read it and proliferating it. Now, the trick is to find out whether I actually have 25 readers to this blog yet, so if you want to comment on it, we'll all see if I can reach the magic number of Twenty-Five and what you all do from there is up to you...well, enjoy!

Also, because of time-restraints (and also to stretch this out into 3 different posts), I'm going to separate this out into 3 installments. Welcome to Part One!

1. I love the smell of freshly-mowed grass and the smell right when it starts to rain on a hot summer day.
2. I can play the guitar, the trumpet, the piano, the djembe drums, and the Guitar Hero World Tour drumset (does that count?). I've also been trying to learn the harmonica and the saxophone and would love to learn how to play a real drumset and the banjo one day.
3. In the later years of my life (all post-college), I have become allergic to cats and pollen, become intolerant to lactose, and developed eczema.
4. I have been a soccer, basketball and baseball coach (at the middle and high school level) and I was the faculty advisor to the Model United Nations club (long story, but I got roped into that one!)
5. I have played an entire season of an MLB baseball game (on my ps2), which includes pre-season games, 162 regular season games, and of course the post-season (where I won the World Series). That was a good summer!
6. I don't read very much, but I've read every Harry Potter book (most of them twice).
7. U2 is my favorite band and I've seen them live 6 times. The Zoo TV tour was the first concert that I have EVER been to and is still the best one that I've EVER been to.
8. Green is my favorite color, black is my favorite color to wear, 13 is my favorite number.
9. I have visited (I don't count airplane layovers) 30 of the 50 states in the US.
10. I love lamp.

Grande half-caf Wifi with a blog, no whip

OK, so anybody who knows me knows that I'm a bit of a technophile. I love the latest tech stuff and I love playing with gadgets. So I'm in heaven right now because of the way that I'm writing this post! Because Connor is majorly sick today (104.9 degree fever this morning), I took the day off to help bring him to the doctors office. Logistically, it made the most sense for us to drive down to the office (which is on the Upper West Side of Manhattan). It also made sense for me to drop Connor and Shannon off at the office and circle around with Zoë until she fell asleep. So, the drop off went according to plan. Zoë was fussing (she seems to hate her car seat when the car is not moving). So, I drove down the street and stopped at the red light (wah wah). Green light...drive through intersection (silence). Red light at the next block (wah wah). OK, so these city streets aren't going to cut it. So, I drive uptown a little bit taking all sorts of turns to avoid the red lights and make my way to the west side highway. Ahhhh...perfect! A nice long stretch of highway where I drive back downtown at a nice steady speed and by the time I'm back in the neighborhood of the doctor's office, Zoë is asleep in her car seat.

Now, this is where the technology part comes into play. Because of my new gadgets, I had a plan : to park the car with the sleeping Zoë near a Starbucks. Since it's NYC, I knew there was a *bucks right across Broadway from the doctor's, so I made my way there. I was in luck! A spot was open right in front! So, I parallel parked and this is where my journey through the net begins...

1. First, I check that Zoë is still sleeping (check!)
2. I take out my new iPod Touch and turn it on.
3. I hook it up to the Starbucks Wifi (because I have a Starbucks "Gold" card which lets me have an hour of free AT&T Wifi in Starbucks a day).
4. Voila! I'm on the internet and now I'm blogging!

Now, to be perfectly honest, I simply started the post in the car parked in front of a Starbucks while waiting for Connor and Shannon. But, now I'm at home finishing up the post. But, it was still an excellent use of time and resources!

Also, today marks another step forward in the world of technology. This blog site is officially open for business and may start getting some more traffic (aside from my 5-8 usual readers - thanks to you guys by the way! I know who you are and you're all wonderful!) I officially put a notice on my Facebook account about this blog, so people officially know about it and perhaps more people will actually start reading this thing. Hopefully that motivates me to actually write here somewhat regularly...we'll see! Anyways, if you're here for the first time from Facebook, Welcome! As you will read, I am not the most consistent blogger, but try to do what I can. The posts run back a little more than two years, so pace yourselves and read a post a day. Maybe by then, I'll have added another post (but I make no guarantees...)

As an update, Connor is feeling a little bit better. He has an ear infection and we brought him to get a chest x-ray to make sure that his lungs are clear, but they should be fine (just a precaution because he has a nasty cough and because of his unusually high fever). He's now on antibiotics and has been using an inhaler. Anyways, Sicky McGee is curled up on the couch next to mommy and ZoZo right now and I think I'm going to go join them.

Reasons why my blog revival failed

OK, so I'm about to explain (with my tail between my legs), why my recent blog revival failed.

1. My phone blogging idea went kaput/caput/capoot (how the hell do you spell that??) because apparently my phone has a character limit of 160 when you send to non-verizon phones (meaning a website or e-mail address). So, my ideas of blogging while on the go did not GO very far at all. I actually wrote two nice blogs during my commutes to school and tried several ways to send it, but now they are forever trapped in the memory of my phone, never to be read.

2. The second reason is also the answer to anybody asking "how's life with another baby?" or "how's the baby?" or "getting any sleep?" Well, my experience has been that the second child is much much easier! I've already perfected my various infant holds, my walk-and-bounce is finely honed and able to quell most types of cries (except the one that results in a pass to mommy), and a lot of the general questions and worries that we had with Connor have given us the experience to tackle most issues that come up with Zoë. Now, that being said, there are still some things that come up and some situations that are new that require some improvising or pondering. But, in general, I'm personally much more experienced when it comes to dealing with a baby (of course, that's not too hard, because I was completely INexperienced the first time around!) Anyways, that's just one question. The more important question is "how is life with TWO kids?" Now, this is where the question gets interesting and may require a lot more time to write about than I currently have (I'm administering a quiz to my 9th grade chem class right now, so unbeknownst to them, I'm blogging while they all labor over a quiz...heh heh heh). Anyways, having a newborn AND a two and a half year old is exhausting! Perhaps I will detail further anecdotes about specifics in future blogs (yes, hopefully they continue to come...), but my days usually start with waking up, getting myself ready, waking Connor up and getting him fed, cleaned, dressed, teethbrushed, put in his coat and shoes, and out the door (all with the help of Shannon - until she goes back to work). I'll pause here to say that this almost NEVER happens without some kind of breakdown incident. Either we chose the wrong cereal, or he doesn't want to wash his hands after he pees, or he doesn't want to put on his pants (or his shirt or his shoes or his socks or his coat) or he desperately wants to wear a pair of jammy shorts to school in the middle of winter and not the nice warm pants that we picked out...the list goes on and on and usually days include a combination of these. So, that's just how the day begins! Then I go to work and do my thang and try to do as much work that I used to do at home (grading, planning, prepping, reading, etc.) while I'm at work. Because when I leave, we pick up Connor and head back home. Now, it's time to work on dinner and playing with the kids and entertaining Connor. If I even try to sit down at my computer, he pulls me up and says, "no daddy! come play with me!" Then, we have dinner and by the time we're done, there's a little more play time while the adults clean up and then it's time to put Connor to bed. This includes bath time (sometimes for both kids), getting into jammys, brushing of teeth, bedtime stories, and then the actual going to sleep (the whole process of which can take up to an hour, maybe more depending on how wired Connor is). Now that Connor is finally asleep I can finish cleaning up the apt (which is never ever really "done"), do any work that "must" be done for the next day of school and by this time, it's really late and I need to collapse into bed. So, all of this is a very long-winded way of explaining why blogging can't be done during the weekdays.

3. To follow the previous point up, we've been away almost every single weekend since mid-December (either to NJ, CT, or MA) to visit various families and functions.

So, my quiz is almost over. I've already had to quickly minimize my screen when students come by to ask me questions or hand in their quiz. But, I hope that this explains a little bit about why blogging has become increasingly more difficult (I was never really good at it to begin with).

But, check in every so often because maybe things will change or I'll figure something out. But, in the meantime, keep going to http://ctam.shutterfly.com to see updated pictures (including ones from x-mas and our family trip to Florida).

Also, if you want a consistent blog to go to, Jon is amazingly persistent in his blogging! (of course HE only has ONE kid! J/K)

TTFN!

My brother is already making me sick...

No, no, no...not MY brother (as in Jon), but Zoë's brother! In a few hours, Zoë will turn a week old! And, as of yesterday, Connor has already gotten her sick. So, that means that Zoë had her first cold in her life within 6 days. Good job Connor! Unfortunately, it was pretty much inevitable. Since this weekend, both Connor and Shannon had colds (coughing, sneezing, runny noses) and Connor especially had all sorts of stuff leaking out of his nose. So, Zoë's immune system was no match for his barrage of kisses.

Connor has actually been extremely cute with his little sister. He loves her so much and always runs over and wants to touch her or kiss her (usually right smack on the mouth), or touch her hands or feet or hold her. So far, he was been doing great as a big brother! The only side effect is that he has been acting out a little bit with stuff that doesn't have to do with Zoë...like throwing his toys all around and refusing to pick them up, or ramming his cars and toys into walls, refusing to get dressed, not listening to us, etc. It's not all the time, but it's all for attention and we've really been making conscious efforts to give him attention and love and not ignore him. Oh well, I guess jealousy is also inevitable. Either way, he has been doing great so far and is a great big brother. For proof of the kiss attacks and hugs and love, go to the shutterfly page and check out the latest pics.

Thanks for tuning in to the blog. I'm still hanging in there and posting as often as I can, so feel free to spread the word! Hopefully I can keep this up!

To sum up: please refer to my old post about sick Connor. Sick babies are pretty darn pathetic and sad and it's even sadder when they're only 6 days old. Anyways, today she is already feeling much better, so that's good. Hopefully she'll be 100% again soon...until Sicky Mcsick-a-lot picks up the latest bug from school and brings on another round of kiss attacks...ah, sibling rivalry...