The New Family

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Fu's Chinese Takeout

"OKAY, you order one Happy Family, Golden Dragon, Lucky Star to go. $17.50. You want fortune cookie?" asked the man at the counter in a thick Mandarin accent.

The man was Dad being amusing while playing Chinese chef for the family. It was time to eat.



Breaded chicken in orange sauce.


Taco Meat

TRYING to get food eaten before move out day, Dad made taco meat.


He seasoned browned ground beef with cumin, oregano, basil, paprika, salt and garlic.

Playing with Friends

THE Twin's like to play with other kids.
Buggy feeds Brooke (12 months).



They also like to play with other kid's stuff.








Bye Bye Home

THE New Family home is under contract. Barring any impediments to sale, they are closing at the end of August.






Views like these seen from the living room window will be missed (sigh).








But they need a back yard, not a court yard.

And you know it is going to be the destination backyard for the neighborhood kids!

Let's Turn the Selfie Cam On


She will notice in a moment.








Having learned the names for her hair, forehead, ears, cheeks, nose, lips, chin, and eyes, she now tests them for consistency. Here Dad was asking her, "Where is your nose?" She knows full well that she is pointing to her eye.



The Twin's New Ride

DAD spotted a four year old riding a bike on the playground sans training wheels. Four. Years. Old. And riding with NO training wheels.

Normally Dad is reserved and does not initiate conversation with the mothers at the park (with other dads though things are different). But when he saw the boy riding he had to learn what mom did to teach her son to ride at such an early age.

Those of you who are fans of Shark Tank already know how she managed to accomplish it, but Dad must have missed that episode.

Three days later they had this.




Dad gets really excited about encouraging certain developmental skills, especially physical ones. Yeah sure they don't converse in complete sentences, and they aren't even trying to learn to potty, but if he can get them up on a bicycle by age four, he will move heaven and earth.

People talk too much without saying anything anyway. It is overrated.

MexItalian Meatballs

PEOPLE who have tried Dad's meatloaf/meatball recipe seem to like it well enough. But Dad just can't leave it alone. He is always trying something new.

He needs to get the fresh and frozen food in the house eaten up in contraption of moving soon. So he decided to make meatballs. When he discovered he was out of bread crumbs and couldn't find a suitable alternative in the cupboard, he ran out to the store. While there he spotted the cilantro and thought that it would work great too.


The meatball "slurry" consists of a starch, usually breadcrumbs but he has also used crackers and Goldfish, Parmesan cheese, oven browned onion, canned mushroom, dried basil oregano and garlic, liquid coffee creamer, and egg. New this time was the cilantro.

Pushin' Molars

LAST week the Twin's had new molars come in. They both had a fever for a day or two and felt really icky.

This one, pictured below, though milked it for all it was worth. Normally a boy that could huggy-lovely all day anyway, his fever drove him to the extreme. He was downright clingy.


Dad didn't complain one bit. It was mild weather anyway so the boy blanket was welcome.

While new teeth were coming in, EJ held his saliva. He wouldn't let it drain down his throat. That resulted in unintended puddles of drool on the floor.

Uptight Mother's Park

THE New Family has made it a point to extract the maximum possible enjoyment from the city parks before they relocate. Parks are a nice way for the Twin's to burn off energy and socialize with other kids.

Would you let your 2 y.o. do this?

Dad is of the opinion that while playground equipment may have been designed with a specific purpose in mind, slides are meant for children to slide down for example, but children using it in other ways is also acceptable as long as it is safe and non-destructive to the equipment. Dad has absolutely no problem with children climbing up the slide chute. Is it meant to be used that way? No. Is climbing up unsafe or harmful to the equipment? Again no. So Dad lets the Twins play on the equipment in any way their creative minds can think of.

Dad is also of the opinion that they should be loud and run around wildly at the park. They need to burn off energy. It is outdoors, and IT IS A PLAY PARK! Children need to be children. While cooped up inside, Dad doesn't tolerate yelling and wildly running around. So when and where else is it appropriate to do it?

Dad concedes that his opinion governs his children and no one else. He respects that other mothers at the park may not like their child climbing up the slide chute. He respects the fact that they may have a lower risk tolerance for their children. Dad is fine with his kids three stories up looking out over a precipice. They fear and respect heights having learned that falling down is painful from much lower levels. Other children may have not.

But at some point over protectiveness, rigid adherence to convention (you go down the slide not up), and denial of a child to yell and scream while wildly running around in circles means that that mom is just uptight. And when there are multiples of mothers all doing the same thing, that park earns the nickname Uptight Mother's Park.

Yes, Dad has observed those behaviors.

Dad has no problem with his two year old kids playing on the equipment designed for 5 ~ 12 year olds. He encourages them to climb up, to get near the edge, and to test their strength and limits. He believes that they are actually safer than the toddler whose mother is hovering above him while disallowing him to get near the edge. Dad's kids have learned that falls hurt and to respect heights. The mother's kid likely has not. That kid is more likely to tumble over the edge.

Certainly accidents happen, and risk should always be evaluated against the reward. If a fall could result in permanent injury or death, that is not acceptable. But if it would only result in having the wind knocked out of 'em and a bruise or two, Dad says loosen up.

Now, lets get to the pictures.



















"Would you like fries with that?"