The birds and the bees

Yesterday while Noah was taking a bath, he was washing his penis and started asking me why it was standing up. I explained that when he was older he would use this feature for sexual intercourse which is how mammals (humans being mammals) had children.

"Will I have to cut it off?" he asked me.

"No."

"Why did you cut yours?" he asked me. (I am circumcised. He is not.)


"When I was little they cut my mine because my grandfather told my mother that if I ever fought in a war that there would be less likelihood that I would get an infection there if I was circumcised."


"Why didn't mines get cut?" Noah asked.

"Because when you were little children at the hospital were getting infections just from getting it cut. Plus mommy didn't think it was necessary or natural."

"But why are there these balls inside my testicles?" he asked. Yes he knew the word testicles.

"Those balls are your testicles. Don't squeeze them like that it will hurt. They will produce sperm when you are older. And those sperm are like a seed that will fertilize an egg. And a fertilized egg will divide and divide and divide and get bigger  and be a fetus. And then that fetus grows and grows and becomes a baby. That's just like what you did. And then you grew bigger and came out of Mommy."

"So my sperm will go into the ground and go bigger and bigger and grow with water and sunlight.."

"No that's plants. We aren't plants we are animals."

"But will my Penie have to shoot out? How will my penie go to the mommy?"

"You mean to your wife? Who will be the mommy of your children?"

"Yes."

"Well that will be sexual intercourse. Your penie will go inside the woman's vagina and then the sperms"

"How many sperms?"


"Millions of sperms but only one will fertilize the egg, IF it even does fertilizes the egg."

"Where do the other sperm go?"

"They will just die off."

"WHYYYY!"

"They just do."

"Will I have a lot of sperms?"

"Yes."

"Will I shoot sperm all the time?"

"Ummmm."

"But how does the mommy lay the egg and when does it hatch?"

"No the egg is inside the woman and it's not that kind of egg with a shell." Then I recalled we had been reading about Salmon. "You know how in the Salmon book the female Salmon lays the eggs and then the male salmon shoots its sperm through the water and those sperm fertilize the egg? That's sort of what happens with humans except with humans and other mammals this happens inside the woman, or female, instead of outside in the water, with fish."


Long pause. And then somehow finally bath time was finished.

"Can I play angry birds?"

Yes.

Adventuring

Today the family went on a Company Outing to Thompson's island. "What kind of Island?"

Well we pretended we were going to a Pirate Island since that's what Peppa Pig did. This might not be far from the truth actually if you go back far enough in time.

I also just finished reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and before that I had read Huckleberry Finn on our trip back from Florida. And all that has me wanting to bring the boys on all sorts of childhood adventuring type things. When can we just go and sail out and camp out on an island but in an unorganized fashion. Actually can you still do that? I'm sure we can do some version of it.

Although Huck and Tom did some pretty dangerous stuff and broke a ton of laws. I'm sure we can come up with something legal and fun and similarly exciting.

But I should probably wait till Jonah is a little bit older.

What we did do at Thompson's Isaldn was bouncy housing and a ton of "baseball" the plastic kind.

That's all Noah wanted to do. Come to think of it we spent like 3 or 4 hours doing that.

I guess we'll have to work that into our daily schedule. The thing is, when we go to a playground and hefind other kids to play with, it's just so much easier for me to try a hands off apporach to parenting. Or I just have to deal with Jonah. And yeah, Jonah can't do the baseball thing. He holds it like a Kendo stick instead and I just think he's not ready for any sort of instruction. He will just get frustrated when his body won't do what you are telling it to do, or what he is trying to do.

Instructor Noah

Today for my Kung Fu class at Little Panda I didn't bring any toys. Well I brought a soccer ball that I put in a bag and they kicked and hit that for one drill. But other than that, it was all drills and songs.

I think it helped that I did the horse stance stuff and the kicks while balancing on the fence wall. They seemed to like that. We even did some basics too. The younger kids didn't all take to the stance drill I made up. It was sort of like push hands, in that we touched hands. But our hands didn't move. Instead we shifted forward in dan been ma for ten steps and then back. The little kids did it one at a time. But the great thing was that once I did it with the bigger kids, Noah was ready to demonstrate with me. So today he actually helped instruct. Hurray!

I also noticed him doing all the Kung Fu moves quite clearly and the lion dance moves were especially clear as well.

Jonah had some trouble but he was doing some good moves too, but demanded more attention and did the moves afterwards.

Actually Jonah is not the only child that demands more of my attention in the class. There are other kids that are more demanding and cling to me more too. I guess that's just how it is.

A bang in the night

Last night I was woken from an interesting dream. In my dream there were three bangs. The bangs coming from a man slamming a bar surface while choking on a burger. When I awoke I realized that the bang seemed out of place in the dream and also out of place in my home. It sounded like someone banging on the window. I was tired and I really wanted to go back to sleep. I could have, easily.

Grace has often woken me up after hearing an explosion that could have been a gun shot. I would say "It's a gun shot go back to sleep!" The reason I say this is whether or not it is a gunshot or some other sort of explosion (in the woods yesterday I saw spent fireworks. Could be that) there's nothing I can really do about it. If someone is crying for help outside my door I can do something, but some sort of unclear vague noise. I can't do anything.

Another two nights ago I heard a group of teenagers frolicking in the street with frequent "n"-word this and "n" word that. They were black.

In my childhood I would fall asleep to such sounds, even of fighting, knowing that concrete and brick  (an my open window four stories up) separated us.

But suddenly I realized that I was not a child and these noises did not belong. I looked out to see the group playing frisbee in the street headed back towards the projects, ambling along almost getting run over by every single car that past. Even someone in their group yelled at those two to get out of the street.

They were not a threat but they were annoying and stupid. Seriously those two almost died like 5 times over frisbee. Grace thinks they were high. But I'm not so sure. And thinking back, I did stupid stuff like that too when I was in a group of youth.


Last night it sounded like this bang was in my house. So the first thing I did was lay awake and listening further. And then tired as I was I did a little routine check. I checked where all my children and Grace were. I stalked through the house and looked briefly at the sides of the house to see if anyone was banging on car windows or anything like that.

The weird thing was it was my rational mind that made me do this. I really just wanted to fall back asleep. But the bang was probably just in my dream after all. Or whatever it was, had nothing to do with me. But it was not in my mind's catalogue of "normal" sounds. It's just strange. "Explosion." Go back to sleep. "Much quieter banging noise." Inspect the entire house.

Flip flop Kung Fu in the woods

Today the kids did not want to go to the playground, they wanted to stay in the house. But I couldn't take it anymore. So I went for a walk in the woods with my water and my little back pack. I did some Kung Fu while I was walking, but people kept passing by and with flip flops I couldn't go for a Kung Fu "run".

I walked to a little spot, where we bury our "Dragon's Blood" actually and there is a bridge and a large stone I can rest my water and other stuff on.

There is a little cross roads there and people did occasionally pass by, but I allowed myself to really get into my Kung Fu. My goal at first was to just keep moving. Maybe for 45 minutes. Whatever, a Cardio type of thing, but not necessarily jumping all around. Again I was wearing flip flops, and not necessarily going real hard like I was fighting.

But when I am not distracted by my caring for my children or talking, I really was able to go to a different level. I even did forms, but in a relaxed sort of way with less variation in stance, because of being on a rocky path and wearing flip flops. To get some jumping into it I did do Tiger jumps and kicks, but no continuous hopping or anything that could break my foot wear or allow the broken glass to sneak up into my sandals and cut me.

People saw and passed and watched. Some even pass by closely. So I wasn't threatening, but I did make Kung Fu sounds, Yogic Kung Fu sounds that reverberated inside my body and erupted into my fist. I relaxed and let the chi flow more evenly and through my hips. I struck and pushed with trees and went through the techniques of the forms, studying them, playing with them creating with them. I reached a point where I wasn't exhausted, but I didn't want to push it. I was relaxed, I was feeling good, and lets face it. I do not work out like this every day.

I walked back and found that I had only been gone about 30 minutes total. 30 minutes for a full immersion in my meditative Kung Fu world where I really cleared my mind and played through animal techniques and the spirit of that animal and felt the blood and chi flow through my body.

30 minutes iincluding the leisurely walk there and back and the drinking of water and then all of that in flip flops. Why don't I do this everyday? I guess even at the playground, I do not have a full 30 minutes of time to myself. Or without the trees covering up some of the peripheral vision and providing shade and also providing a little space for me to do dangerous moves (dangerous to children who come to close that is) I can't get to the same mental level.

Maybe tomorrow I will try to go to the woods with the kids first and try to do this everyday. Try to get the kids to do this everyday, and then do our little regimen at the playground . The Kung Fu sprints and all that.

It could work right?

Practicing my Daniel Tiger Techniques

Today was a productive but difficult Kung Fu class. I didn't bring the lion head, which may have been a mistake because some of Noah's friends from school showed up and that lion head is like a flag that says, "this is a Chinese Cultural Kung Fu type class." My other equipment just looks like toys, or weapons for children.

We did our stances and our Kung Fu Sprints. Noah hit the pad 300 times, sets of 100. We did other drills. It was a productive class. But there were a lot of meltdowns.

We took a lot of "soccer breaks" but that's good because that is still a physical thing that develops a lot of the things you need for Kung Fu.

What I hated were the melt downs.

Daniel Tigers "Give a Squeeze episode is on for a way to calm a kid down when they aren't paying attention.

I should have used that today. I used to use all these techniques more.

"If You get so mad that you want to roar, just take a deep breath and count to four."

Could have used that one too.

I've seen the episodes. I know the techniques. But I guess I have stopped watching the episodes as much. I guess you really have to watch them over and over to remind yourself of these options for how to get a child to do what you need, or want them to do.
And also how to give yourself an easier time of it as well.

Micah Christian has a voice touched by God

My wife has been watching a the clips of Micah Christian and Sons of Serendip singing a lot and I had mentioned to her in the past that he went to Stonehill. I'm not going to say we were best buddies and hung out all the time, but we were in a few classes together and were partners for a project in religion class, and knew each other, that sort of thing.

But mostly what I have been trying to explain to Grace is that, although what you hear in the clip is nice, you know good enough to to make the women in the audience break down in tears, capture the hearts and minds of the judges, and generally follow his voice to another plane where it is just him and them, somewhere only they know.... the truth is that he is even better than what you see on tv. For real.

In college there are these open mic type talent show things, in the Cafeteria, with all the bright harsh lights on, no ambiance, no stage, no atmosphere. I went there and played my dulcimer. Anyway that's why I was there.

Micah went up there and sang, sort of off the cuff Richard Marx's Right here waiting. Not with karaoke but a capella.

Now I have heard a lot of good singers I think. And Opera is different than pop singing. And then I have never heard the good singers compared in a competition format right next to each other. So I don't want to say Micah Christian is the best singer I have ever heard ever.

But I think in his style of singing he is the best singer I have ever heard ever.

And that style is different then the mellow version that is going to get him to win the whole America's got Talent competition.

The style on the show is heavenly in the way that the harp and this group of men carry you off into another world like elves might slow time. Magic and moonlight and all that.

But the style that I witnessed when he was younger had some of that, and POWER.

I was trying to describe it to Grace because obviously I cannot sing like that.

And I actually think I can sing. I don't sound like drowning cats or anything. Not when I'm sober. But I still no my limits.

His voice had a highness about it, and a simultaneous deep richness about it and that struck out at me like a forceful wind as I say in my hard cafeteria seat feet away. And talking about me made me relive that moment like it was a moment. Because at the time, it was just hanging out in college listening to a fellow talented student sing. I'm just saying that in that venue, the stage and the lighting and all that were all wrong and not only was everyone wowed, it was more than that. It was real.

But I never thought I would be trying to explain it to someone a decade alter as an event. There weren't even that many people there. But it really was a powerful experience.


I guess what I am saying is you never know who is around you or who they may become, or what sort of amazing thing you are witnessing....

Yes you do.

I wish I could have shared THAT clip.

But although it was not recorded, every moment in space time is a sort of eternity in itself, and that can be comforting. (Or horrifying)

I guess I'm just glad that now he is famous because it gave my mind the opportunity to sift back through that memory and bring it out to examine.

And in my mind, perhaps because it was so long ago, Micah was glowing with a light that came from his voice and not from the cafeteria bulbs. Maybe it's just my mind playing tricks. Maybe.

And all this time later, it touched me enough that I felt I had to write this post.

A children's regimen

Today I actually got my kids to train Kung Fu in the morning and at the park. My standars for time were extremely low. And I wanted to make sure whatever we did, worked on strengthening my kids.
I had been talking to this other dad at the playground who did MMA vale Tudo Muay Thai and all that sort of thing. And he was talking about how his first teacher in Brazil always made sure that he was strong enough to do something before he did a move. I.e. lot sof boring stuff before fancier stuff.

That actually wasn't how I was trained so much, because my Sifu recognized that though this was important, people would soon leave if they didn't learn something knew. For instance, he said that in the village the first three months of Kung Fu was horse stance. JUST horse stance. For the first THREE MONTHS. I.e. the boot camp was one move. Cause really, that's all you need.

But the White Crane basics aren't physically challenging in terms of being able to do them. It's mastering them that is difficult. Hence, all the moves at once.


But they do get boring for a 4 and three year old.

This morning we quickly did a few stances (sort of) and then some palms (toi jerngs) and then we held the wall and did some one legged stuff and some slow kicks. I corrected their technique bu tthe real point of that was exercise, like Ballet Bar exercises.


Then at the playground we did Kung Fu sprints.


Horse stance and Toi jerngs running forward and backward. They really just ran, but that is also good for strength. And then whe I did the single sided stances, if I got low, I was slow enough that Noah could actually beat me. That was good for him. We didn't do everything I wanted, but I exerted myself , I am sore, and they did something. Soccer and other sorts of playing was next.

These running drills are difficult in a large group. (children fall and bump into each other) But I might try the ballet like kicks at Little Panda, as well as bring back the stances. I used to do those with them but had stopped.

Angry Bird reward.

Today we left the playground pretty early because I thought it would rain. (It only drizzled) But Jonah fell asleep anyway, so it was best we left.
Though all Noah wanted to do was Screen activities. Not even educational ones, but just Angry Birds. So I gave him 20 math problems to do, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Noah was worn out and so was I. Especially with the Multiplication and division. I hope this will inspire him to memorize the tables with me later tonight. But anyway, we did get through all that, even though it was alos hard for him to write the numbers. And so now he is getting his reward of Angry birds.

So what should we do this afternoon?


Peg plus cat had the Ninja episode on. I would like to do some sort of martial arts training when Jonah wakes up. Maybe we will take sticks, or pool noodles into the woods and pretend to seek out enemies or something like that.

Broken Deck

So our deck needs to be repaired.
I had moved the Angry birds game up there yesterday and saw the kids were so cute as they launched the red wax balls at a Homemade Doll House, I had found some time ago, and so I went to take a picture. I left the kids on the deck thinking the deck was fairly safe and stable so long as they didn't try to climb over it. Which Noah wouldn't and Jonah hasn't. I heard a crash of wood and rushed back to find both children looking at me, far away from the edge.

It had only been a second. Jonah had pushed one of the rungs out and it had crashed to the ground below. Had he been leaning on it with his weight, chances are he would have followed that rung to his death.

Well the deck has been off limits since. There are a few other rungs that are loose too. We had a guy look at it and we will be repairing it shortly.

That was such a close call that I didn't even have time to get scared.

Noah still wants to play angry birds. The wax balls were melted to the deck yesterday because I gathered up the children and escorted them away from the unsafe deck (which had always been unsafe, i just didn't realize it.) Despite screaming protests.

The kids thought they were in trouble for "breaking" the deck.

"That was Dai Dai!" screamed Noah, not understanding why we were leaving.

No Mommy wouldn't be mad that you broke the deck. Mommy will be happy your not dead.

No you can't play on the deck later today, not until it is fixed.

Well, I'm just glad what could have happened didn't.

Real Life Angry birds

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but today we spent a good deal of our time playing real life angry birds on our front steps. The sling shot was a traditional y shaped branch I had seen a while back and broken into a usable stick that fit right into the hole in our ceramic Thai elephant that sits at our doorstep. Rubber bands and some cloth for a pocket.

For angry birds I shaped the red wax that surrounds those Baby bell circle cheeses that the kids like to eat for snacks. I save the wax every time and had been using it as a sort of play doh, (which Grace thinks is disgusting). I like that it doesn't dry out. It just hardens or softens based on what it's temperature is. So if you leave it on a rock in the sun, it is quite malleable. Actually it can even get a little too gooey and sticky. Anyway, instead of just rolling that into balls (I didn't have THAT much) I made it into larger hollow red balls, so they were easier to spot, and just felt more like Angry birds.

We shot at some blocks and a model of Noah's old school that he had made at BCNC out of toilet paper rolls and other recyclable material.

For pigs I just rolled up some weeds I picked and wrapped rubber bands from the JP Gazette around it.

It was pretty fun when Jonah was asleep. I shot the ceiling once, not realizing how strong the sling shot would be, and in general we had a tendency to either over shoot (so that it went into the grass or bushes and was hard to find) or under shoot, (which didn't matter because we just picked them off the steps. It was a relaxing fun activity that involved a few skills and was still outside in the sunshine.


When Jonah woke up however the game was more difficult to play. There was the whole taking turns thing, which actually wasn't that bad. It was more that Jonah didn't get the hang of shooting the birds. Not only had we had more practice, he doesn't have as developed motor skills. Noah wanted to help, but his lesson was pretty overbearing. Plus the sun was more directly on us, and I think the plants were releasing whatever it is that makes me allergic. Or maybe just the rush hour traffic was kicking up more allergens into the air.

In any case we had to go inside and I think I'm done for the day. By the time I get to a playground it will be time to leave. Plus the kids have no objection to just watching PBS kids for the rest of the day.

So now it's just waiting for Mommy to come home. Maybe I can take a picture of our little angry bird set up.

Revere Sand Sculptures

It was a nice overcast day for the beach and for the Revere Sand Sculpture festival. We took the car because we figured the clouds would mean less people. We did find a space far from the festival. And although the sculptures were cool, I think my kids had more fun just playing in the sand. In fact if all we had done was play in the sand and then eat a packed lunch, there would not have been any stress involved in our trip.

Walking along the beach that far was difficult. I had to carry both children at the end. But I think part of it was that they wanted to play now, and didn't understand the concept of traveling to see something further along down the beach and further along in the future... even if it was only minutes and feet ahead.

They started collecting a ton of shells and then burying them.

"Just leave them be. You do your Kung Fu or something." Grace told me.

I did not much feel like it but I figured it was indeed a wide open space. Should I do mein Lay jum (similar to Tai Chi) I started to. Getting into the position to start that is. But even though the beach is a nice background for both practicing or even filiming a little Tai Chi video, I wasn't feeling it. There were still people passing by and I was still watching my kids.

"Maybe I'll just do my external forms slow." I said to Grace, as if she would know what the hell I was talking about. She nodded, also, as if she knew what I was talking about. But in retrospect that sort of terminology means nothing to her.

I did Luk Lik, slow as if I was doing Mein Lay jum/Tai Chi. I've been working on this thing, where I breathe lower, almost from the hips. Really "hei wun dan tian." But again I aim lower to get it to the dan tian level.
Recently I had been erupting in shaking creating a powerful strike but I noticed when I breathed more from dan tian and tried to focus on the strike coming from the ground, slowly, that it all evened out. Sum ping hei wau and all that.

So I worked on that, and that was nice. And then I took some simple dan been stance hammer fist type techniques out from the second form and just did a hundred strikes while prancing up and down the beach, sprinting in a side stance sort of gallop. Its cool to free style with really simple combinations sometimes, and get a work out of it. Doesn't take much though, and is physically less difficult in terms of flexibilty and well, chances of hurting yourself.


Well there was push and pull and somehow we made it to the sculptures. Like I said, at the end I carried them both. Holding Dai Dai and shouldering Noah. We passed by these old men playing what looked to be baseball except with their hands and a hand ball. Because of theis, the baseball diamond was really small. The wives were sitting in their lawn chairs goddipping as the old men played. A lot of people were watching./ Noah was fascinated. Actually it's pretty cool. I will play this with the kids sometime. I mean you could theoretically play indoors. But since it was old men, it gave a sense of dignity and legitimacy to what they were doing. It is a great way for Noah to learn the basics of baseball. (I know that much about that game. And then for further information I will have to pass Noah off to someone else more interested in sports. Though in all likelihood Noah will simply create his own version of the game and we will follow his rules.

We passed some children and THEIR sand sculptures which Noah liked. And then we got to the professional ones. Large Castles, tributes to Iwo Jima and military service, and eyeball cut in half with the nerves stringing them together (1st place) Large nude female bodies coming together in one head, mermaids, fish, sea explorers. All fascinating. We looked, and then we sat down and had a picnic in the sand.

A band was playing "Against the Wind" and I was really feeling the music and feeling extremely white. Which was funny because I was surrounded by Asian people who also seemed to be really enjoying the music. Jonah started to pass out, and then leaving was difficult and stressful, but we did it. All in all a nice outing.

I just washed the kids off and now they are playing Angry birds while I blog.

Party time

Today I had planned to attend two birthday parties. But I only got to one. The first "one" was actually celebrating three birthdays, of three generations, in a family that I am very close with. I imagined that I would go there and pull baby sitting duty and that sort of thing. But my children are now at that age where they can sort of entertain themselves. This party was full of childhood friends, some of whom I hadn't really seen in a decade. So I actually became one of those adults that didn't even touch any of the kids and stood around drinking beer like Hank from King of the Hill and had a pretty good time.
I saw other people holding babies and interacting with kids. But I guess I was so exciting at the notion that I didn't have to do this, that well,  didn't. Plus where as I knew a lot of the adults, none of the kids really knew me, and so they weren't that interested in me, including Noah. Only Jonah was a little bit clingy for a while.

Plus I genuinely felt my kids were safe because a lot of other adults were playing and supervising and being responsible parents while I had boyish conversations with swearwords and off color jokes.

You cannot pay for such interactions.

Well at some point it had to end but it was definitely fun while it lasted.

The food was great, those hosts were great, it was all great. But I guess I really was just glad that I got to spend some time "away" from my kids (Even if it was a few feet away) and with friends. Like actual friends that I knew through knowing them and not activities with my kids or even through grown up activities. These are people that I have known since we were kids and played games like tag and cops and robbers.

Happy birthday to Dylan whose 2nd birthday it was.

And happy birthday to Cameron whose birthday I unfortunately missed, but it is not often that I am able to spend time with my childhood friends who I knew since I was a toddler.

Vampire children

Well ever since Noah got bitten at the playground he has been trying it out on Jonah. They were play fighting as they usually do and then suddenly laughing turned to crying. But the tone of Jonah's crying was different than his usual. "Shao Bao ate me. Shao Bao ate me."

Noah was laughing, "I ate Dai dai."


"Did you bite him?"


"Yeessss." He said laughing in a sing song way.

"Are you crazy!"

And then Baba Hulk stepped in.


Anyway, since then, Jonah will often run to me terrified of being bitten by Noah. I asked Noah why he did this and why he wants to bite Jonah.

"But I want to. Dai Dai is so soft. Haahahahahhah."

So I guess in a way the vampire stories are true. Before Noah was bitten (btw I can still see a mark on his arm. I think it is actually a scar.) it would have never occurred to him to actually bite someone. You know Jonah has bitten me during flossing and stiff like that. But I don't recall Noah doing that. And Jonah never did it when my fingers weren't in his mouth for either cleaning or feeding purposes.

But Noah only bites Jonah, and I think, since that first incident, he hasn't actually bitten again, but instead chases after and pretends to bit with his hands up in claws like a monster. Jonah is genuinely scared and so I usually step in. Not sure if he would bite again if I didn't step in.

So will Jonah now become a vampire too? We'll see.

Cloth balls

I've been making balls out of tied up shirts. First it was for sort of a punching bag/ball thingy on a string that I was going to hang up in the house or possibly bring to my Kung Fu classes. But a) I didn't wan the shirts to get all dirty even though I could throw these shirts away and b) it was more difficult for my kids to punch them then I thought it would be. They tend to grab it and pull on it instead, which even if the ball and string are strong enough for, what can I hang it on that will be that strong. And I couldn't see how this would work with a group.

Then Last night Noah wanted to play soccer with them. Or that was my suggestion anyway. He ended up asking me to keep making balls. We ended up with six and he actually placed them around himself like some sort of witch craft protection and then clonked out. He really liked them. He asked me how much we could sell them for. I don't think we could sell rag balls for much. No that's not true. If someone could sell pet rocks, I'm sure we could sell rag balls if you had the right marketing or made them look cool enough.

Today we tried to play soccer again. And then I tried to get Noah to sort of do hackey sack and then sort of just do Kung Fu to protect himself while I threw the balls at him, and then he could do the same to me. But he was cracking up so hard that the balls didn't even reach me.
We ended up playing a version of real life angry birds with them. They threw them at one plush bowling pin that we managed to find.

Ten Dollar Dim Sum Dillemma

Today on our journey to little panda aka Kung Fu Panda I only brought ten dollars. Because I figured if we had to get lunch in Chinatown, $10 is way more than enough for three baos and way more than enough for an order at Chinatown Cafe, where we usually bring our business. It is also way more than enough to get Ngau Cherngs at May's Cake house.

Except for whatever reason, May's Cake House has construction going on outside of it. I thought, "Does Eldo's have Ngau Cherngs?" They probably do.
We went to Moh Goon house first to see Jing though. And after Noah ate more candy than he should have, and Jing had to step out, we were back out biking down the street. And here is where something interesting happened. My brain, which has perhaps been hanging around kids too long, listened to Noah's yelling about how he "Just only want Ngau ChernggggggGGGGSSSS!" to the point where I attempted and carried out something equivalent to buying things with monopoly money.

I did dim sum with ten dollars.

We walked up to China Pearl, "How Many?" the front person asked.

"Hold on I have to check how much money I have." And indeed I had not a dollar over ten and I let her know. "How much is two Ngau cherngs." And it came out to $7.50 "And does it cost anything extra to sit down?" And of course it doesn't but I was forgetting about the tip. Needless to say Jonah decided that he didn't much care for Ngau Cherngs in the first place and wanted a Dan taht. I realized I could buy that at a bakery if I took the money out of the tip money, which I did. Which meant I only left $1.50 for a tip. That's still more than 15% right?

Right?

As I put that down I felt a look from an old lady and I realized I had committed a sin. I would be forever labelled horrible tipper and incur the ill will and wrath of all waiters and the spirits of past present and future restaurant workers.

What harm could they do?


This song (Irish not Chinese) illustrates some of the ways they would probably curse me under their breath.

Well know people really came at me, but the Dim Sum gods were alerted of my crime against their realm.
Oh you never heard of any traditional Chinese deities having to do with Dim Sum? Well let me tell you, there is no Kitchen God, he is a front for a mafia of the Chinese version of Fairies, Nymphs, pixies, and other spirits who organize to collect the burned money and enact mischief. C'mon does that Kicthen God story really make any sense to you?


Anyway no sooner had Noah paid for his Dan Taht at Hing Sing did one of his training wheels fall off and he fall to the side of the sidewalk. The dim sum fairies had spoken.

I fixed it and we were back at Moh Goon House, under the protection of Gwan Gong, who can scare of Dim Sum spirits for us even though we were in the wrong.

I told Jing my story.

"Is $1.50 okay for a tip?"

Apparently this is so not okay that Jing told me he would give an extra tip (in  my name) next time we went to dim sum there and explain the situation.

I suppose I have lost my mind and attempted the to buy real food with pretend money. But the truth is I should have just told Noah to shut up and come with me to a bakery and buy a freaking BAO. I mean, then I could have eaten too and we would still have money left over.
Or better yet, I should have packed Peanut Butter sandwiches. I guess the truth is that I have no business messing around in enchanted dim sum land. Bakeries is the reach of my Budget, and takeout in a fix. But really I should be packing my lunches and I guess I forgot my place after playing Tourist in Florida.

The worst of it is, it's not like I don't have money, it's just I didn't have it with me, and then that is the worst offence of all to the hard working waiter looking at my change.

I guess when it comes down to it, is Noah is the one running the show and making the decisions here to the point where I have forgone food and any sense of shame. I guess I have to reassert my place as top dog in our little trio.

Language guilt

Today at storytime Noah said he wished he was born in Japan, because if he had been born in Japan, he would know Japanese words. This led to some discussion about language and how he could know Chinese word if only Mommy and Baba were a little more Chinese. Then I had to admit it had more to do with me just not speaking to him in Chinese. But then I pulled out a book about spiders written by Eric Carle that I was going to translate into Chinese and realized I don't actually know how to say spider in Chinese. So I didn't translate it at all. Now I guess I could have just said "spider" and "web" and then said a bunch of other stuff in Chinese and basically teach him Chinglish and then when we figured out how to say Spider edit that in there. But it's annoying to have to think of words all the time, and if you don't have anything to feed off of, like another Chinese person talking back to you, well then you just feel foolish.


I started scrambling around for some of the more baby-ish Chinese books and of course all I could find was this book with great stories and no pictures that won't be any use for at least three years or maybe even more. I could do videos. I could would should. Anyway I was feeling guilty.

I had even tried the Chinese words of the day today, and had them paint them. Only they just painted there own thing. But at least they painted. I guess my problem is I gave up. And now I have to try again.

I know I will probably have to send them to Chinese school, but I shouldn't send them in blind. Or deaf and dumb really. (The way I started)  I started imagining  and dreaming of my son, fluent in Chinese, written and spoken, and then having an interview for some school and the person saying, "Oh that's cheating that you take Chinese though isn't it? I mean since you speak it at home." I have actually heard this personally. I think I used to look more Chinese than I do now.

Anyway, suddenly I lived vicariously through my sons imaginary future self and started railing on the interviewer about how I had to bust my ass to learn Chinese and how my father (me) made him learn it in all kinds of crazy ways. And that he was basically a white guy too. And that my brother (that is Jonah) looks like a white guy too.

Not sure why I had that tangent of a day dream but I did.

Well I guess I will just try to do more Chinese words of the day, and get more books from the library about it. because that's all that's going to work. Props. Becuase when I just try out of the blue... well that did work a couple of times didn't it? Well I'll try it again.

Praying Mantis

Yesterday I found a praying mantis in the house. "Look Shao a Praying Mantis just like Mantis in Kung Fu Panda." Noah was actually afraid of it and didn't want to go near it, didn't want to catch it to keep it as a pet and was generally horrified that it was in his house on the banister. I watched it for a while. It's weird because I got the feeling that it was looking at me too. Now flies might look at you, but you don't see their head turn and stare you in the face.

The Mantis crawled up the banister moving pretty slowly, but it's front little Mantis arms looked like they were hacking and chopping. So even before I saw it fight, I could see some applications of how to use these movements for Kung Fu.

It got me thinking, you know how every system always has a series of movements that you have to learn and pretty much feel like you are stupid while learning and  that have this form and that form and this exercise and that exercise. Now I appreciate the importance of all these things and I was annoyed when people complained about the basics in White Crane and not understanding why they were doing this or that, because to me, from my first day, all the basics had applications that were obvious. And maybe I wasn't able to fight or spar with them right away, but that just has to do with experience sparring. And whenever anyone said Kung Fu is bad or forms are bad because this or that I thought they were nuts. But having seen some other systems forms, which aren't for show, but aren't really for fighting either. More like a lot of exercises for building up strength, but put into an order that is hard to learn and memorize, I saw that if I had started with that school, or system, or teacher, I would have stopped after a week out of boredom.

Okay what is my point.

Well you learn crane, you learn mantis, you memorize forms, and that's great if it comes easy to you. But it doesn't come easy to a lot of people. So why not go right to the source. The creator of the form did not learn that form. They fought and already knew basic fighting and then looked at an animal and learned from that through observation. Well, even if you don't happen to find a Mantis in your house, maybe you should watch some nature programs.

Anyway, I didn't kill it.It had gotten away anyway. Until later that is, when Grace was home and it was still hanging out on that banister. I guess that is it's favorite spot. I figured we could just sort of co-exist with it, given that it was a mantis and special and probably ate flies. But Grace would have none of it. She wanted it dead or out... or just dead.

I captured it and tried to throw it outside. Some how it crawled back in like a little child scrambling at play. I caught it again and set it outside next to the plants. I figured it could do whatever it needed to do their. Camouflage and all that.

Well it looked at me. And wonder what it was looking at? How does it even know to look at my face?

Anyway, I haven't seen it around anymore. So I'm not sure if it is on the porch surviving, or if a bird ate it or it just died.

Bitten

Today at the playground, while in a struggle for a toy truck, Noah was bitten on the shoulder by another child. I saw two things in that. First off, I guess people (Noah included) usually don't expect to be bitten, even when in a struggle. I mean how do you get bitten, the other kid (who was smaller) must have gotten pretty close to him, so I guess Noah put his arm in the way of his mouth to get the truck, and then "chomp." No blood was drawn. In fact at first Noah didn't cry. I was only aware that he was bitten because the other child's mother was there saying, "No no no! Lucas No!" and then explained to me what happened. You would only know that the bite was coming if your kid is a biter.

So secondly, I guess some people bite and others don't.

You can't say it is a phase, because my kids didn't do it, and some soccer players never stop.

But anyway, my lecture to Noah was, "Don't let people bite you." I mean it's hard to stop people from punching you or kicking you, or shooting you, or hitting you with sand, or rocks or bullets. But biting, I think you can manage. Unless you are wrestling and the only thing you can do is wrestle. Our heads aren't shaped like dogs. Our teeth just aren't that useful in a fight unless you are on top of each other.

Jonah had fun, but he has become very clingy at the playground. It's weird to me. When he is watching TV or playing on the computer he wants me out and away. But what about at the playground. We aren't going to be there all day. Just play and then be clingy at home. Anyway, he was entertained by Noah's drama.

I guess fighting is not necessarily natural. I thought, "What would I do if someone bit me?" I mean when someone is making me angry I suppose I really want to hit them. But if I wasn't angry and someone made to bite me on the subway or something, and I manged to shake them off... I mean if someone is trying to bite you right of the bat, especially if they are slow  about it, you could probably stop them without fighting. And so if they backed off what would I do? Would I immediately go to full force fighting? Not sure. I would probably find them odd and sort of try to shake the whole thing off. You see this in the wild all the time. I mean there are predators eating and killing prey, prey fighting for their life, there are ritualized fights over status and mates, and then there is weird stuff that happens. If a small bird attacks a Hawk, the hawk doesn't engage, but tries to do it's own thing and them maybe leaves.

Biting is not the start of a ritual fight. So it would catch people by surprise. Like "What are you doing?" Then if you wanted to fight you might have to initiate a ritualized fight verbally or with body language. And then explain to everyone else on the subway, "He F-ing bit me!" or some such  drama.

Noah actually didn't cry until the mother was over there, and then he started screaming as loud as possible. He never even tried to get a hit in. I'm not sure if that's because the mother was there or what, but in the past it hasn't stopped him. Anyway, enough with fighting. Time for Futbol.

Shipping back to Boston

Well we are back in Boston. And oddly enough, Noah can't stand the heat. I guess he got used to air conditioning. It's nice to have playgrounds within walking distance. Today we did tricylces to our Kung Fu playgroup, which we moved to the playground. The children didn't do any of my Kung Fu songs but they did have fun with all the Kung Fu toys I brought in my huge back pack (which was used to transport the carseats on the plane. Luckily a two year old, who happened to be there, and Dai dai, noined me for some of the Monkey King Game and were my audience for my rendition of wheels on the Kung Fu bus.

Actually it worked out because one of the mothers ended up doing a sword drill with the pool noodles, and I did get to do some sort of Kung Fu with each child at some point, while they also taught each other, and played.

After the class, Noah and another boy, took my tennis ball on a string (meant to be some sort of Monkeys fist) and played fishing with it. Noah kept talking about all the fish he caught. Pin Fish, Cat fish, Grunt fish, Black drum, silver trout, and snook.
The other boy was catching Sting Rays. Maybe he just got back from Florida as well.

Library Puppet Show

Today we went to a Library Puppet show. At first, as the music turned on and I could see the amount of puppets they had (the group turned out to be kids) I thought the puppet show was going to be much better, as a production, than Rosalita's puppets. But the performance ended up falling flat, and Jonah was antsy to the point where we had to leave. It made me understand why Rosalita, a lady by herself, with sort of ugly homemade puppets and no sound equipment, or it would seem, "rehearsals" or "lines" was in fact so much better than these kids.

Don't say because they are kids. That guy who used to do Elmo (before he got into trouble) started as a child. And I saw clips of his shows. He was a genius.

Don't say because Rosalita is British. Well... maybe it is because Rosalita is British.

The point is, one person who "has it" doing a show by themselves, can change and shift the story to the audience. As single fidget or comment, and the story changes. This encourages audience participation. This makes the crowd part of the show. A sound system, too many characters, lines, that can all hold you back.

It was cool that the show I just saw tried to put Science facts into it. And they tried to tell old folk tales.

About I thought about those original folk tales being told around a fire, being that close to the story teller. Eyes glazing over in wonder as they tried to picture the essence that the teller suggested a knowledge of through mere words, and pauses, and tone.

I have a friend who can tell stories like that, sort of.

Maybe this is something I should work on too, especially with my Pirate Cheung Kung Fu character.

Actually when the kids came out and did a little skit (which they didn't memorize and which was just thrown together, and not by children who normally do this sort of thing)
Jonah actually liked it better.

I think it was because it was kids performing. Again, I think the lines were really holding them back. The characters without many lines did much better.

It got me thinking, if there was a make your own puppet show, or make your own story type of stage at one of these festivals. Kids would love it. They would dress up, get up on stage, make their play, and then other kids would watch them. How cool would that be? The stage would have to be small so that they weren't afraid to do it. A big stage can be imposing on a kid that isn't used to that. But a small stage with little chairs would be fun.

Pirate Dim Sum

As soon as I get back I'm going to start filming a talk show with my kids called Pirate Cheung's Tea time. Or maybe Pirate Cheung's Dim Sum.
Here's the theme song

"Heyah Heyah Hoi do jum cha
Heyah Heya hoi do yum cha
Heyah Hoi do Kung Fu Talk Show
Earlay in the mornin."


Basically me and my kids will sit around our table with pretend tea and maybe some baos or sandwiches once a week. I was thinking about having the first topic be the Final World Cup match.

Guests will be The Incredible Hulk (a doll)

Peter (Rabbit Captain America)

and Christine Yu (Tie Dye Hello Kitty in a Karate outfit.)

The main reason I want to talk about the World Cup is because I can  say

ARRRRRRRRgentina.

This comes out of a few Kung Fu characters I made, and a a song I created to teach Kung Fu. And a previous idea about having tea time as a thing to do at dim sum.


I can do it. Plus this can be the arts and crafts portion of the Kung Fu videos I plan on making.

I really like this Pirate thing. It's starting to wear on Grace but here are the reasons why I started with it.

The Pirate uniform is easily accessible to everyone.
Peppa pig and Peg + Cat do Pirates, and so does every children's show.
It's easier than any other fantasy.

Any why should it be Pirate Kung Fu?

Cheung Bo Jai was a famous Hong Kong Pirate. That's right. Cheung.
In fact that was my Dad's nickname.
Plus he did White Crane.

Plus it's a way for me to blend my two cultures into one.

Ollie Ollie Osprey

In the Condo upstairs an Osprey has found a perch on their deck. Gong Gong kept talking about another unit where an Osprey moved in and the mess etc. I think it's cool to have a semi- pet that is a protected Hawk. All you have to do is look at it. They feed themselves, and I'm sure you could just start a garden out there and use the poop for fertilizer problem solved. Grace like to open up the window covering and look for her little bird friend. I guess it's kind of like Harry Potter' owl. She started calling it Ollie because when she told me to call the bird I called out "Ollie Ollie Ospen Free" A quick google search tells me the real phrase is Oxen free and to tell the truth I never used that or heard it much. The sing song phrase must have been in the back of my mind from Dennis the Menace re-runs on tv. Well this has become one of our indoor activities. Pretty cool when you think about it. Close up view of an Osprey, who is getting a close up view of you. We tried to do this with a bird feeder in Boston just to get less interesting birds to come feed. Here they dive and kill a fish and bring it to you. Pretty cool.

Neil Gaiman withdrawal.

I finished Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys" two days ago. So when my sons were napping and occupied on the computer with PBS kids I had nothing to do. So I went out  midday for a bike ride to the beach. I dipped in the water, not for too long, can't really swim with all those people anyway, and beside I didn't want my bike to get stolen. (Or Gong Gong's bike rather.) So I went back out, and anyway, I think the whole process lowered my immune system because today I am sick.
And actually, as I am writing this, Noah freaked out  (even though he was busy eating breakfast and not using the computer.) because he doesn't want me using the computer.

When I had my novel to read it was all good. But now I am bored as hell. I guess if I were to name a vice, it wouldn't be caffeine or cigarettes or alcohol. It would be escapist novels. Especially Neil Gaiman stuff. Fantasy and myth and all that, in easy modern clever language.
I figured any novel would do, but if I can't get into it, I don't want to bother forcing myself. There is no shortage of books I haven't read out there. Plus money is not an issue when it comes to book. Libraries are common, and free. Time on the other hand is not. If I am going to be distracting myself from boredom, I better be enjoying it and look back at that as time well spent.

So I need another Neil Gaiman book ASAP.

For the sake of me, my kids (who want to use the computer) and just anyone around me in general.

Thai Temple and a Gun Class

Yesterday we went to a Thai Temple which has this little market where you can buy food every Sunday. I waited for about 30 minutes in line for the soup. I figured if there was a line for it, it must be the best thing. Grace tasted it and said that it was just average. I had to admit this was true. However, I did enjoy waiting in line. They try to make it look like you are in Thailand, sort of. I mean obviously you are still in Florida, but the building, the way the trash is separated in wooden boxes, and other stuff, it looks more like Thailand. (from the pictures and movies that I've seen that is.) So waiting in line crowded next to various types of American people (some of the Thai) was sort of part of the experience.
Seeing that place got me thinking, they should just hang up some Tire punching bags and teach Muay Thai too, and a Kung fu School that functioned like this, like a little Community center... a Kung Fu Village, would be cool too. The Kung Fu part would be free. It would make money through donations and these little market events. Or maybe there would be a Chinese School attached to it. You could do that in Florida.

After that Grace dropped me off at a shooting range and I had my first Gun Class. We got a deal through Groupon. At first I was nervous about the class, and the signs on the gun range wall that screamed 2nd Ammendment, Right Wing, and general loud stuff like Obama is an idiot, and all this type of world view, was really not for me.
But everyone was soft spoken, nice and polite and once the class started that was good. We went over gun safety (which is sort of why I was there mostly) and then we loaded and unloaded 6 different guns with fake ammo. The revolver was okay, but after watching them do the other ones, when I picked up the gun I found I didn't remember what I was supposed to do. I felt like an idiot. Luckily I knew I would probably feel like that and the instructors helped me through it, and I was not the only one like that. In fact the other two students were just as beginner as me in regards to that. The "apprentice" teachers, who were actually war veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq, had practiced Gun Sifu hands and were patient teachers. (BTW I know it should now be normal to see veterans who are younger than me as I am now 30. But when I see young faces like that who have come back from war.. well I'm glad they came back. But basically whenever we talk about sending soldiers to war we should pretty much say children instead and be sure that that is what we actually need to do.)

Anyway, I bumbled through all the loading and unloading. The revolvers were the only things I felt comfortable with. And when you think about it, those forms of a gun have been around since wild west times right? Like before real toilets. And the bigger guns, which were supposed to be made to be simple, for a 17 year old to grab and fight (as the younger teacher explained it) well I guess there is a reason why I haven't taken a gun class of this sort until now. As I am not exactly drawn to it.

But once we started shooting that was very nice. It was actually very meditative. Not just the way I did it. But the way they tell you to do it. To take you time. It is like a sort of meditation. So I can see why people can spend all day at the range.
But I'm definitely never buying a gun. Well not any time soon that I can imagine anyway.
Nor will I take up shooting guns as a hobby. Though maybe I will try to again with archery with my homemade bows and stuff. I've seen people do that in open fields. I just need to make a target and get there when nobody is there. Maybe I need to wait till the kids are a little older too.

Miniature Trains

Yesterday we went to see ride miniature trains in Largo. It was pretty cool and free. One wonders how this community pays for all of this. The playground near it is awesome and also has an outdoor gym. The miniature train ride is a really cute thing that usually you would have to pay for, but it's free (when it's open) twice a month. Te first time we came down here I thought Florida was cool, but lacking in all these child friendly activities. But Grace did a ton of research this time, and there is a lot of things to do for kids, and close by too.

After that we had lunch with my cousin at a nearby restaurant called Gulf Coast Po' Boys their website is www.gulfcoastpoboys.com
It looks like one of those hole in the wall places where the food will be greasy and dirty but really good. Well the food was really good, but so was the presentation and it was actually quite healthy. When the owner told us he sued to have three restaurants in Manhattan I wasn't surprised.

We will definitely head back to that playground at some point. It was close, and full of magical little mountains, real trees, toy trees, and a mushroom table. Basically the way Story Land looked when it first opened and didn't have any rides. Plus the bathrooms were well maintained and there were water fountains in the playground. Which is important in Florida.
This stuff is all at www.largo.com
Or you can just google Largo Train. Anyway, I guess wherever you go, it's good to do your research. And I suppose that isn't so hard now that everyone has internet on their phone.

That's America to me

Last night we watched Clearwater's local show and fireworks display to celebrate the 4th of July. "I love Fireworks!" Screamed Jonah when they started. Noah jumped up and down doing hand motions as if he were creating the display. It started raining so we got under our little picnic blanket to watch.
Previously I think the kids thought we were just there for the little concert and the lightning show that was happening.
The orchestra was called "The Mostly Pops." which was funny to us because we are from Boston. They also have a touristy show at the beach, but we thought the local one would be better for the kids. And certainly comparing it with Boston it was. It was earlier, there were less people and it was just less crazy. It really had that local flavor that a great production lacks. What I mean is the singers weren't great and you could hear the mistakes and all that, but the general good feeling of the audience carried everything through. It doesn't really matter if the show is good. It matters that there is a show. And I suppose it mattered that the fireworks were good and close.
In fact, during one of the songs, Sinatra's, "The House I live in" I was almost in tears of extreme patriotic feeling.
I once heard someone say on the radio that the 4th of July is like Christmas in July.
When you grow up, and you watch the news about illegal immigrants being herded and penned, even if you don't watch the whole story, it's difficult to listen to "We're coming to America" without a grain (or bucketful) of salt. After learning about various things our government does and did, about the lynchings and shootings, slavery, and discrimination, and wars for interests that might not be for the greater good, it is difficult to return to your childhood, where after hours of watching Saturday Morning Rambo cartoons and GI Joe, you got a sense that America was the light of the world, like Superman, out to do good selflessly. I mean I basically believed that as a kid even though I lived in the projects. In fact, something tells me, when you are poor, the ideals and DREAMS of America might be that much stronger, to make up for the lack of that dream you see in reality. (Though truth be told, I can't really see anything I lacked in childhood. And again, I attributed that to the greatness of America.)

Anyway, Sinatra's song, which I had heard before of course, wiped away all that in one strong sweep of a magic hand, or wand. Why? Except for the few lines about ideals like democracy and freedom of speech, that song could have been about any country. Well, any relatively stable country, except North Korea. It's the People and the community that is your country. Your small little life and the people you meet. And then on top of that, the IDEA and for the most part the "Right to speak your mind out." And when the reality falls short of the dream and ideals of these rights, that doesn't make the ideals wrong.

Do I like that we have drones that strike and kill (perhaps not "innocent") but very young children and kill them? Do I like everything our government does even if you give the benefit of the doubt and assume that somehow someway they have the best intentions in mind? Of course not.

And flip that around. Assume that what they do is just evil and sick and for all the wrong reasons. But guess what? America is US. Most of all the People. All races and Religions. And yeah that includes illegal immigrants. Because who came here "legally"? A very small portion of the population, that were eventually driven off their land and killed in genocidal numbers. And They are patriotic. Because Ideals and Dreams are different than practical reality and policy. Yeah there was the Chinese Exclusion Act, and it didn't end until World War II but that doesn't mean that you can't believe in an American Utopia that you and your community is wholly a part of.
In your Dreams and Ideals you don't have to worry about labels like THE MAN, The one percent, class warfare, political parties, factions, policy, racism......   In reality you have to worry about these things. To make dreams a reality you have to deal with these things. But in your dreams and your Ideals, you don't have to worry about those. You can just imagine a utopia that is already there, even if you have never fully seen it. Because if you look at just certain aspects of life, just everyday life, that Utopia, in a small day to day way, is already there for a lot of us. The dream is to have that for all of us.

Even the short film this is from has some issues. It constantly uses the word, "Jap" and doesn't really seem to include the races that aren't white. But as problematic as the film may be, the song and the Ideals are still strong. After all Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. But Martin Luther King still used his words as a rallying cry for the Civil Rights Movement.

 The past was the past, and despite negative truths you can still believe in a dream of the future that is bright and positive. And it gives you strength to hear those ideals from songs and Declarations from the past.

A lesson and a challenge

Yesterday we went to a park which was a boardwalk through Florida swamp. We didn't see any alligators, but at the picnic area there were these small armadillos. They looked like rats with armor. There was a playground too and two other kids aged 5 and 7 who were climbing and jumping and were quite strong. The 7 year old tried to teach Jonah how to pump on the swing. And then they tried to teach Noah how to climb things (I could never actually do that.)
"I'm pretty strong." said the 7 year old perching on top o fthe swing sturcture he had shimmied up "because I measured my muscle with my brother and my muscle is almost as big as his. Or pretty much the same size."
"How old is your brother?" I asked.
"13" was the answer.

We talked more and sooner or later Noah mentioned Kung Fu to the 5 year old and I saw they were playfighting. The other boy was much bigger and stronger. I knew that eventually Noah would get hurt a little, or at least lose, but that's good for him. I just moved them away from the swing because they were not able to pay attention to each other and the swing.
"You have to protect your balls Noah." because he wasn't. And that was they way he would get the most hurt. The other boy wasn't aiming there, nor was he hitting hard because he was pulling is kicks and punches. But I it can still happen. The 7 year old started talking about Karate and other stuff and showing me some of his spin kicks.

Grace called me over to do some filming of Kung Fu stuff, but I didn't feel like doing wheels on the bus in front of these particular kids. So I did a form, and then I tried to do this new Pirate Kung fu song, but having only just worked it out in my head, I couldn't do it right away, while I was out of breath from the form. Then Noah started crying.

I had seen what happened out if the corner of my eye.
Playing (and losing) je had suddenly cried out "Stop!" several times, and then turned away, no longer engaging, he got kicked in the thigh. The other boy paused suddenly in that "oops I think I'm in trouble" type of look and not knowing what to do with this smaller boy (Noah) crying like this. I've been in that situation myself as an adult. The thing is, Noah is the one who started on the Kung Fu stuff.
"Shao you can't just turn away like that. You have to defend yourself." Now I had to stop what I was doing and intervene. Jonah came over and started throwing his baby touch punches at the 5 year old who sort of ahd to block but sort of didn't have to and kind of thought the little touch punches were cute. But it's the thought that counts. To make Noah feel better I encouraged the other boy to say sorry and then talked to Noah a little bit. One of the other boys mother came over and I explained they were just playing before they got in any real trouble. She knew her children were a little rough. But ultimately this experience was a good one for Noah.

You could call it a little kids fight, but both in terms of Kung Fu and just growth there are a lot of things learned here. For the American, the things to learn are this.
1) there will always be people stronger than you
2)some sort of lesson in being tough or whatever.

But for Martial arts there is a ton to learn
1) the importance of keeping your eyes on your opponent even when retreating and there fore practicing backward moving stances while throwing strikes.
2) Getting to a safe distance before calling out stop
3) Training to make your strikes blocks and stance harder so you are able to take hits and strike hard to keep the other person at bay.
4) The importance of getting inside if that is your style. Even though I do White Crane and taught Noah white crane, his style is much more like Hung Gar or Bak Mei. Not sure why, but yes my son's Kung Fu is fundamentally different than mine. To explain to him the importance of practicing moving around is useless when it comes to "doing your own" in a dance of movements. Explaining arbitrary applications like "someone could kick your stance" is also useless. But referring to an experience he actually had will make him understand. So now I can get him to understand why ne needs to train his moving stance, and also GET DOWN in his stationary stance when he is inside so the kick will glance off and defend, but also to understand the importance of distance. That some techniques are more for in close and others are more for outside.

We did some stuff on video because Noah no longer wanted to do songs with me. He wanted to learen right there and then, how to do protect himself. If he hadn't been kicked, he would not have this interest. Plus he got the experience of getting HURT, without getting INJURED.


Grace wanted to leave because the situation "could get bad" but Noah did not want to leave on a bad note. My boys went back over to the playground and played some more with the slightly older boys, and soon it was time to go. I had them say goodbye to their friends. (And there is another even more important lesson. That you can lose to someone, even at play fighting, and still remain friends. And this may be a very American thing. But the truth his, someone who is stronger than you is someone good to stay friends with, and continue to spar with, and it is good to have that person on your side when you come into a situation where you may have to actually fight for real. Like someone trying to abduct you.)

In the car I talked to Noah a lot about his experience and how it was a good thing and how actually this was a fundamental issue between Southern Fist and Northern Kicking. Chinese Northerners tend to be taller and focus on their legs, fighting on the plains. Southerners tended to be shorter and focused on their hands, fighting on boats. Both systems have their advantages depending on their distance and environment and of course amount of training and experience. Some people say this story is just BS mythology. But true or not there is a lot to be learned from that story. But of course Noah's experience with a taller kid kicking (and kicking lightly) meant he got to learn the concept and importance of these philosophies from personal experience without getting hurt seriously.


My Sifu's White Crane Kung Fu incorporated both Northern and the Southern Philosophy, but the truth is ultimately  the origin is the same Shaolin. And even the Tibetan side is from exchange with Shaolin. And so it is all ultimately Shaolin Kung Fu, and before that, different styles that went into Shaolin that were still probably pretty similar.


My Kung Fu is more about Song and dance, creativity and imagination. But in terms of fighting strategy, I haven't really changed anything. On the inside, my Kung Fu is exactly the same as my Sifus. But on the outside, it is song and dance. (With maybe some exceptions in terms of my own psychological approach.)

As to Noah, he will have his own style and path. But again, there will be an element of a lineage that is passed on from Sifu to student for thousands of years. But also an element of learning from yourself, through training and experience. And that aspect is in a way, new with every individual, but at the same time, older than Kung Fu itself, because it's how animals learn. And so that way of learning, so simple, and so obvious, goes back millions of years, and is perhaps even more important than the moves.

Lightning

There has been a lot of lightning recently, which Florida is famous for. So when we went to the library yesterday morning I made sure to get a book on lightning. Seeing so much lightning, prompted a lot of questions about it from Noah. Jonah just watched and then got bored with it. It might be an age thing. But anyway, Noah's questions are not easily answered by me. So far it has been Gong Gong who has gotten the privellege of reading Noah the lightning book. I though bed time stories would be for me, but by that time of the day, when I start reading the brothers keep fighting. Also Jonah has a ton of questions when I am reading the book. But it's crazy but they are unable to both be read to at the same time on the same wave length, so we had to just turn out the lights to their crying and wailing. They really need individual attention. Which is annoying because there are two of them and you would think, being so close in age, that they could just do stuff together.
Actually I remember Noah being bouncing off the walls difficult last year, and of course, Jonah, being all about exploration, had a visit to the ER due to a cut glass dolphin figuring landing on his foot. But this year, Noah is able to listen. So this gives me hope that next year, both children will be able to listen, and do family activities without as much issue.

In any case, watching lightning from our window turned out to be one of the more memorable events I think.

Today I think we are going to a park to look at alligators.

Minor League game

Yesterday we watched the USA-Belgium match for the world cup. It was pretty exciting. I don't often get excited about any sport. But now I think Noah is going to like soccer. After that game we went to a minor League game. "The Threshers" Noah at first wished it had been a soccer game. But soon he was talking with Gong Gong, learning the game of baseball, asking questions and bonding. Jonah bored quickly of the sports world (like me) and I had to take him to the kids section. This was $1 Tuesdays. Which meant there was an option of $1 seating  on the grass near the outfield. (though we opted for the $10 seats. I think we should go back next week for the $1 version.) There was also $1 ice cream, hot dogs, italian ice, and various other items. Also there were free games and bouncy houses and a playground. It was awesome.
"I could do this." I thought and said aloud to Grace. And then my mind wandered to how much time people spend doing something "Baseball." Practicing, playing for fun, playing "for real" watching the game, talking about the game, socializing while playing catch, socializing at batting cages. That's a lot of time. People thought I did too much Kung Fu. Well it's not true. It's just that society is more about baseball than Kung Fu. And then you go on to the next sport, whatever it is.

Well I definitely want Noah to be into sports. He should definitely play them too. But not to sit on the bench for some team like I did. It's okay if he's not good. But the whole point of sports to me is to develop other skills. Baseball is good for throwing, running, and hitting things with sticks. Soccer is good for kicking and running. I want Noah to do swimming and perhaps Volleyball too. And if he's not interested in all that, it's good to know how to talk about sports even if you are no athlete.

As far as being a fanatic sports parent, I would probably steer my kids in the direction of Science. If as a hobby you study Science, talk about Science, watch Science TV and watch people do experiments, and spend all that sports energy in that direction, I think it would end up being a) cheaper and b) more productive.
 But again, my kids will learn about sports too. We will just watch these minor league sort of things, adn maybe even high school games or something. And for now, just work on the basic skills involved. Like throwing, catching, and hitting (which is good for baseball and Kung Fu) Kicking, (soccer and Kung Fu) Swimming (uhhh survival, swimming, and cardio for Kung Fu) and hitting the balls with you hands (soccer if you are goalie, volleyball, and Kung Fu.

Feeding a crane

We went fishing off the pier in back of the condo yesterday morning. Noah caught several catfish, which we threw back. My first memory of seeing a live fish was actually a basket full of catfish in Chinatown, one of them spilling on to the sidewalk and looking at me. But Gong gong  (nor I) know how to cook them so back they go to live their lives. One fish, we fed to a crane. hanging out nearby. Even though the fish was helpless there on a wooden deck this crane got into a fighting position, stalking forward (very much like kei lun bo) and then a snap! and the fish was in its beak. It was pretty cool. Though the fish must have died an agonizing death of suffocation. The crane took a while to get it positioned so that it could swallow it.

Today we pretty much did the same thing. Except that Noah caught about 10 fish, even reeling them in himself. And even catching two at a time once. Grace caught one fish. Jonah caught nothing. (But we told him he did catch some of course) Noah would just touch the pole and then the fish would bite. Lucky.

Today's sacrificial fish also had an agonizing death, the crane dropping it several times. Kind of makes you want to be vegan. Not that I have much of a problem with eating fish you catch. But I think it would be nice to, overall, survive off other food and protein, and then eat animal protein occasionally. Today we also went on a Sea life Safari. Apparently there are Stone Crabs that you just eat the claws and throw the rest of the crab back. It can then regenerate those claws. So you can eat an animal without killing it. That's cool.

Even if I ever start being vegetarian, I will never be vegan. Because I have no problem at all with milking animals. But it would be cool is I had my own goat and milked it myself though.

Anyway, Noah had no qualms about playing with and talking to a fish, and asking it not to move, so he could catch it, and then feed it to the crane. (Gong gong says its not really a crane. But it looks like one. Close enough.)

Today there were more birds gathering around hoping for a meal. Even the one that was already fed and who looked like the fish was stuck in its neck for quite some time. Noah chased them. I bet he would kill those too without issue.


Well its good to know where some of your food comes from.
The other fish were returned. I guess when Gong Gong catches the big fish, he first catches these small ones, and then uses them as live bait. Kind of like investing in a big fish for a small fish when you think about it.