This past week, Mommy went to a “food” conference for 2 days, so I got to take Malachy to school for two mornings. It was really cool. We were the first ones there in the morning, and we had some dim sum. Shien had let me know how there was a group of them who ate together and shared their food together each morning, so I was able to partake in that. Malachy shared his dim sum and others shared their McDonald’s pancakes, macaroni soup, and Gatorade. The next day, I bought even more dim sum for everyone, and it was just nice that everyone was with their child starting off the day, eating and sharing with each other. It would have been even nicer if it was for longer than 15-20 minutes…
Watching Jamie Oliver’s, Food Revolution, made me think. Why is it that we only eat one meal together with our kids, if even? How different things could be if we got to eat together more with friends and family?
I remember one Chinese New Year, where my sister and I got to go home for lunch on a school day. That was special. Eating lunch with the whole family on a school day. Maybe we’d all eat healthier if we all got to eat together more and break bread… 
Archive for March, 2010
Time Out for Breaking Bread…
Monday, March 29th, 2010Time Out for Lights Off!
Monday, March 22nd, 2010We have the shades down in our bedroom, so it’s usually still pretty dark when we get up in the morning. On weekends, it’s almost always Malachy waking us up, but on weekdays, it’s usually the other way around. We usually try to get him up by drawing the shades to brighten up the room. Once in a while, I’ll turn on the halogen with the remote light switch, so it gets REALLY bright. When I do that, Malachy usually quickly gets up out of bed, grabs the remote switch to turn the lights off, and jumps back into bed.
Earlier in the week, I turned on the lights, and he immediately turn off the lights. Then he said, “Daddy, didn’t you read my sign?!” I hadn’t noticed. He said, “Read it!” He had stuck a piece of paper on the nightstand (located between his bed and ours), and it read, “DO NOT EVER TURN ON LIGHT SWICH!” Unbelievable!
I believe it was over 6 months ago that his uncle had joked around with him saying that he would sleep in Malachy’s bed if he didn’t go to bed. Believe it or not, that worked a few times. Eventually, I told him he could make a sign to say that it was his bed and for him only. The power of writing…
Time Out for Tomorrow…
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010The music teacher in our school was getting ready for the Spring Banquet, and she played some awesome tunes on the piano, while I was setting up her computer and SMART Board. She played Seasons of Love and then she played Tomorrow. Seasons of Love I just loved ever since I saw RENT, and Tomorrow was a childhood favorite. I think we had to sing it for school. I told the music teacher to sign me and Malachy up…
Anyways, when Malachy was a baby, Shien and I would always take turns putting him to bed, and we would sing to him all the time. I sang Tomorrow hundreds of times, and when he got older, he would sing along or even request it! I think we are both much braver in the dark. But, here he is with the lyrics in front of him. I should have just let him sing without it, as he stopped every now and then and also sang it a lot higher than ever before! Aiya!
Time Out for Chicken Soup with Rice…
Sunday, March 14th, 2010Malachy LOVES rice and he LOVES noodle soup, so this book was very fitting for him. I hope he doesn’t lose that joy of reading that he has right now.
Time Out for Father and Son…
Monday, March 8th, 2010This weekend, Mommy was at a wedding in LA, so it was just me and Malachy this past weekend. It made me feel that much more blessed to have Shien as a partner. It was awesome hanging out with Malachy, but it made me that much more appreciative that we have a team. When one of us is tired or bogged down with work, we have each other, and that makes a HUGE difference. I thought about all the single moms and dads out there, or even the parents that go it alone most of the time, like stay-at-home moms and dads. And… I only have ONE child! It makes such a difference when there is support.
So, Malachy and I got to eat take-out (more than once ), played in the tent, went to the library, played in the park, went food shopping at Trader Joe’s, ate out, and I even managed to cook chicken stew, and had Malachy doing his homework at the same time! I got a glimpse of why some parents resent homework so much sometimes. 
He even got to pitch in with the cooking after he was done. It was a great feeling to have Shien come home to a hearty cooked meal, and a semi-cleaned up house. Trying to be a good Dad, a good husband… Priceless…
Napping in the Tent...
