Everything about the baby
I spent a day at Bryan’s pre-school last week to take some photographs in preparation for a portfolio I can use for commercial use. Photographing a bunch of active kids was definitely much tougher than I expected… But boy, did I get some great shots…
We went out to have some In-N-Out burgers today since we hadn’t had any after I’ve gone vegetarian. I was surprised to find that they actually serve veggie burgers that taste pretty darn good!
While we were there, Bryan pretty much finished 3/4th of a berger all by himself (yes, it’s fast food, but In-N-Out is as healthy as fast food goes; and we only eat them once in a blue moon). So on the way back, just out of the blue, he blurbed out, “I am so full!”
We all just broke out laughing pretty hard.
We love it when Bryan says the most unexpected things at this least expected times. He’s one funny guy.
Bryan had a good time this past Labor Day weekend. For two days straight, he hung out with some of his friends from pre-school. Good times.
Something unthinkable happened this week…
Grace took Bryan to hang out with a couple of other mothers and their children earlier this week. Kids being kids (god, especially boys), they are bound to get rough with each other from time to time. And when they are as young as two, their lack of impulsive control simply overwhelms their feeble minds and their bodies sometimes muscle over their intentions.
So what happened? While having fun with a younger girl at the play date, Bryan bit her. When the girl screamed and started her flood of tears, Grace took her time and tried to find out what happened and attempted to pull Bryan aside to talk to him about this mischievous behavior. This was when the little girl’s mom swooped by Bryan’s side, yelled at him for being such a bully and heavily smacked Bryan by the arm — all without even finding out what happened or giving Grace a chance to take control of the situation.
Needless to say, Grace was really pissed. But she chose to hold back on the anger and came back to discuss the issue with me. And quite frankly, I was dumbfounded and shocked to hear that someone would go as far as overstepping another parent’s authority and spank someone else’s child like that.
We are very disappointed and frustrated with this individual and her lack of understanding of early childhood development (though she claims she knows a thing or two and brags about it [ahem, see my previous entry]). Does she have an EQ of a toddler or something? Brian offered the explanation that maybe she was overstressed and that was the tipping point for her. Brian argued that maybe she felt remorseful about what she’d done.
But later we found out that this woman has been announcing to everyone we know, well, basically about how Bryan, a two year-old child, is a prick and bullied her sweetest, most lovely, wonderful and adorable, sugar pie angel. Now, to be fair and to put things in perspective, with Bryan’s other regular play dates/play groups, Bryan’s considered the “calm” one — the one who gets picked on all the time. But let’s suppose Bryan was the “excitable” one, what gives the right to one parent spanking someone else’s child?
I wish her good luck with her own child with her involuntary spanking and frequent threats to spanking her (at barely one year old). And one can only hope that her daughter will never ever bite, scratch, kick or hit another child, EVER. And of course, constant threats to spanking and physical discipline always improves moral, self-confidence and repress violence. That’s why death penalties work so freaking well against crime, eh?
I finally got a chance to process just shy of 300 images from Bryan’s birthday party last Saturday at Michelle’s. The boy has turned TWO! We’ve come a long way since my first post on Bryan’s big arrival.
Apple’s Aperture really rocks in optimizing my entire work flow!
Camera -> Aperture -> Post Production -> RAW Conversion -> Flickr/iPhoto
Bryan loves playing with water (as do most other toddlers)! So when it’s really hot out, we let him get a little wet in our front yard… Nothing is more fun than watching your child’s face filled with joy and excitement.
Alicia and Jason came by yesterday for a little while to hang out. Bryan was very excited to see them again. He gave Jason a special nickname: “Uncle B.” Unfortunately his desire for a good nap won over his excitement, and he had to take a break.
When Bryan woke up, Jason and Alicia had already left. But from the living room, I could hear when Bryan woke up, his first words were: “Ah-yi, un, un, Uncle B!” (Ah-yi is an endeared name for “aunt” in Mandarin). He was sooooo disappointed that he missed seeing them!
Sometimes it’s interesting to observe little children’s emotions and reactions towards certain situations. In Bryan’s case, he was utterly shocked that Jason and Alicia disappeared! It was unfathomable to his little mind. His face looked as if he was saying: “Get out! What do you mean they’d gone home? There were just here!”
Yesterday Bryan laughed at one of the jokes on Scrubs. We have no idea if he actually got the joke or he was just pretending to laugh. Nonetheless, it was really cute to see him just blast out laughing out of the blue.
It’s becoming a cliché to say this or that about one’s own child. But in all honesty, one look at Bryan makes everything else in the world seem so trivial. At the end of the day, no matter how we are judged or beat up by others, only what he thinks matters. Only he matters.
Of course I don’t expect others to understand this unique emotion a parent has towards his/her own child. But I am sure I am not alone in this.
Kon
Yesterday Bryan asked for “kon” and insisted on having it. But I just had no idea what he wanted. So I kept on asking him to tell me what it was he wanted…
Then I realized Grace was boiling some “CORN” and he wanted some of that!
Frustrated
Grace asked if Bryan wanted to take a nap, Bryan replied with “bus,” which meant he wanted to see (or that he saw) a bus. Ignoring him on purpose to test his reaction, Grace asked again if he wanted to take a nap. And Bryan kept replying, “Bus.” After a couple of rounds of this, Bryan finally covered his face with both of his hands, eyes closed, leaning forward and grunted and repeated one more time, “buuuuuuus!”
Although I didn’t see this myself, it’s still pretty funning based on descriptions from Grace…
Michael Neely incorporated BSBtv, Inc earlier this year and asked me to join him as the developer for web-based applications we plan on rolling out. This past week, we both met up in Las Vegas for a trade show to see what the competition is up to. But instead of going alone, I thought it’d be wonderful to bring our families as well.
Both Grace and Bryan were very excited. Bryan waved and said “hi” to everyone the whole trip as if he’d forgotten to be shy like he always does.
The trip was great except Grace got sick on the way back (almost completely lost her voice by the next morning). But we snapped quite a few pictures during the trip (over 250 for a 3 day trip). And I am glad I upgraded my camera before we went. I guess I’ll talk more about the trip in different pieces in the next few days when I can organize my thoughts better. But in the meantime, enjoy the photos.
Philip Macdonald Murdza, that is.
Mac is Murdza’s backup 3rd kid born on Feb. 12, 2007. At Five pounds and 15 ounces, he’s one of the more “portable” Macs I’ve seen (wink).
I’ve always questioned why Murdza never named one of his kids something Apple-esque, like Steve, Apple (hello Coldplay), Lisa, Cocoa, Aqua, or, err…, Mac… And finally, here he is. Mac Murdza.
Welcome.
[Images used with permission from the Murdza Estate.]