Golden Week

I always felt that in the U.S. I got ripped off for not having enough national holidays...real national holidays...not like Columbus Day. We don't even get one a month there. It seems as if everyone else in the developed world gets far more days off. And it's true. In Japan, on top of getting about one national holiday a month, there are two times a year when there is basically a week's worth of holidays right in a row. One happens over the new year and one happens in the last week of April / first week of May. It's called Golden Week. This isn't to imply I don't like working. But I just like having time off more.

Our Golden Week was a bit early and a bit short, since our baby girl is hopefully due any day now. Shelley's Mom is en route and we have a backstop date to induce Shelley in case it gets to that point. So the end is near. Stay tuned, we'll post pictures and let everyone know when Ella arrives.

Anyway, we spent the time off doing things locally - zoo's and parks. In retrospect, a very animal-centric long weekend. You can see pictures by clicking here. My favorite of these pictures is of Anthon trying to feed the goat and the goat getting too hungry and nipping at Anthon's fingers. The look on Anthon's face is priceless.



In other updates...
I've uploaded a few more videos from recent outings - mostly of Anthon during cherry blossom season.

Sleeping Very Well, Thank You Very Much

I am not what you call a great sleeper. By about 4:00 AM, I'm pretty much tossing and turning, falling in and out of sleep until the alarm goes off. I miss not being able to sleep like I did when I was younger. I envy my son, sometimes.

I walked into Anthon's room to check up on him before heading to work one day and I found him dangling off the side of his bed, totally asleep. How in the world could you ever stay asleep lying like this, I don't know.

In the checked luggage

I am in San Francisco and LA this week on business. Anthon wanted to come, so I thought one way around having to pay for a two-year old's ticket is to have him stow away in my bag. He almost fits. He just needs to curl up a little and tuck his head in.

Anthon the Musician

There are some things you just know your kids were born. In Anthon's case, his love for music was manifest in the womb. Shelley said he would go crazy whenever we went to the Hollywood Bowl or listened to good music. We went to a Ben Folds concert within the last trimester and I think the bass stunned him - he didn't move the entire concert.

Day by day, we're amazed at the most recent manifestation of this love for music that Anthon was seemingly born with. The other day as we were getting ready for church Anthon blasted his CD of The Three Tenors (his favorite CD, no less), strapped his little-drummer-boy drum around his neck and was walking around beating the drum in time with the rhythm as if he were in "The Music Man." But it doesn't stop with classical music.

Last night I came home from work and he was singing, "Hey Hey You You I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne. I can assure you that wasn't on my iPod. And he customized Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry" by saying, "Big Boys Don't Cry."

There's plenty else...his favorite song is a Broadway show tune - "Popular" from Wicked. After dinner every night, he "plays" the piano by banging on the keys. He sings himself to sleep most nights. Shelley's begun teaching him how to play the piano via the Suzuki method. Anthon's Nana and Papa gave him cymbals and a harmonica which he loves. (The harmonica we love...the cymabls, not so much.) He likes to pretend to lead the music at church. It goes on and on.

Anyway, click on the link below for a video of Anthon trying out to be in Avril Lavigne's back up band.

Our Male Model

We spent last Saturday at Shinjuku Gyoen Park and spent the late morning underneath a small grove of cherry blossom trees. We brought a lunch, and a bat & ball to keep Anthon entertained. We didn't on, however, Anthon being the subject of no less than 6 photographers.

For those of you who know Anthon, he's a very outgoing and verbal kid. He's fun loving and because of both his parents incessant picture taking, he is used to hamming it up for the camera. He knows when he's on and can be quite boisterous and entertaining...at least to his parents. We were playing around and I noticed in the periphery one lady who was ducking behind a tree snapping pictures of us. This went on for about five minutes before I made eye contact and she approached us asked if it was OK to take more pictures of our son. Literally 15 minutes later and she's snapping both film and digital pictures, directing on how to position him and how to make him laugh, etc. A bit odd. Then as I'm playing tee ball with Anthon (I hold the ball, Anthon swings the bat, and more often than not hits me in the process), another man comes up and starts taking pictures of Anthon playing ball...another 10 minutes following us around. We had two more groups of people ask to take pictures with Anthon and then two other, more shy photographers, that were more intent on either taking video of Anthon running around or taking pictures of the photographers taking pictures of Anthon. All in the space of two hours.

I certainly hope this doesn't turn Anthon into a Zoolander clone. I would hate to have him ask me, "Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good looking?"

Here's a picture Shelley took of one of the photographers taking pictures of Anthon.

My Son the Photographer...and Painful Lessons in Parenting

Anthon is my mini-me. I feel flattered that he likes things that I like. He likes tacos, yakitori, sports, and a lot of other things that I like. He's a morning person like me, which I think is unfortunate for Shelley.

Shortly before we left for Japan, Shelley gave him her old 35mm point-and-shoot film camera. It's funny to see him act out how he perceives me and Shelley's incessant picture taking of him. Anthon puts the camera up to his eye, backwards no less, and says, "Dad, look at me, say cheese." He pretends to take the picture and without fail says in a matter of fact voice, "cute." When he's feeling like a true photographer, he hunts for my tripod, pulls it out and pretends that's his camera.

I thought that this would be the end of my post, but unfortunately, I learned a really interesting lesson about parenthood from Anthon, his camera and my lack of seeing the forest for the trees.

We had a family outing one night and I brought my camera along to take some pictures. Anthon ran to get his camera, but I told him that he couldn't bring it along for a variety of reasons, namely he would drop it and because I said so. He freaked out of course and resisted any attempts by me to put it back in his room. I kept getting mad because he wasn't obeying his Dad and it never occured to until we were making our way to the train station that the only reason he wanted to bring his camera was because I brought my camera. It killed me to think that I was being so focused on Anthon obeying me that I totally missed the intent of his actions.


I'd like to think that I've learned my lesson. I wore a french cuff shirt to church on Sunday and I wore the cuff links that Anthon gave me for Father's Day last year. Anthon of course wanted to wear cuff links like his Dad to church. Well, I've never seen a french cuff shirt for a two year old...have you? Shelley helped Anthon put on one of my cuff links into his shirt and he was happy and showed it off that day to others.

Anthon has a mind like a steel trap

Shelley likes to say that she has a mind like a steel trap and while I'd like to contend with her on that assertion, I myself rarely remember any time that I could prove her wrong. Not that there aren't any, but my mind is definitely more porous...which is a shame because I can't blame it on drugs or hitting my head somewhere. I guess I am just that way.

So it comes at great relief to me, and no surprise to Shelley, that our son has a really good memory. He'll bring back obscure details of things that happened months ago...things that seemed really insignificant like who played tennis and who swam at the Tri-State Athletic Club in Evansville, Indiana during Christmas; or that he got upset when one of his babysitters took off his favorite pair of jeans to put his PJs on. This sort of thing comes up daily.

So what does this have to do with anything? Thankfully, Anthon has his mother's steel-trap for a mind and this allows him to memorize his favorite stories. He'll obsess over one or two stories for a month-long period and usually by about two weeks into it he'll have most of the words or phrases memorized such that if you were you to stop reading, he could tell you the next word or phrase.

He'll even pick up one of his favorite books and "read" it from cover to cover to you, knowing what to say only by what pictures are on the page. He'll skip a page and his story telling will skip with it. He's two, so it's not like he's James Earl Jones reading an audio book to you. So don't get too excited. But it is cute to see that a)he loves books; and b)he has a good mind.

Here's a video of Anthon reading his current favorite book supplied to him by my Mom. It's about a mouse, a bear and a red, ripe strawberry.



By the way, speaking as a father, I can honestly say that there isn't anything more fun that sitting on my son's bed and reading with him. He's not much a snuggler, but Shelley and I can usually bribe him to rest his head against us if we're going to read him a few books. We'll ride that pony as long as we can.

Family Night

One of my goals for 2008 has been to have family night (or just some family time) - something where we can have fun, even if it's just for a short period of time before Anthon has to go to bed. I think it's having the desired effect, certainly on me. I think I naturally fall into the mode of parenting Anthon, which means limiting what he does because I'm tired or annoyed or whatever. Certainly that doesn't make for a fun Dad. But in the context of family time I find myself being more patient, tolerant of Anthon being a little boy and the result is we all just have a lot of fun.

Our family outings have consisted of trips to the zoo, trips to cultural spots within Tokyo, dinners out and letting Anthon run around. We have a Mac and we decided to have fun with the Photo Booth application.

Anthon is kawaiiiiiiiii

Since moving here to Tokyo, Anthon has received his fair share of attention from people we randomly meet on the street. Invariably, they'll all the same thing about Anthon, that he's "kawaii," or cute. I've found that the level of cuteness that Anthon has at that moment is directly proportional to the length of the last sylable "ii" that's spoken. There was the dignified grandmother who was biking towards us - almost running into us by the way - and made a polite gesture towards Anthon, keeping her "kawaii" comment the way it was meant to be said.

That was topped a few days later when Anthon and I went to Mister Donuts, a donut chain in Japan. While we were eating our donuts the teenage girl next to us let out an elongated "kawaiiiiii" adding, "He's so cute, it makes me want to cry."

But that was topped yet again as Anthon was playing with an interactive movie that would sense his body movements and let him kick balls and grab fish. a small crowd of about 10 lunch-goers stopped to watch Anthon and many in unison let out multiple kawaiiiiii's.

I don't know where it goes from here. But Anthon certainly has been able to charm a lot of people. Now I'm not saying that my son is any cuter than other kids. It's just that, naturally, he doesn't look like most of the kids running around Tokyo. So he gets a lot of attention based on that. And because is a ham, he eats it up and likes to perform.

On a side note
I'm finally getting around to updating the video archive. I've added three new videos, please do check them out if you have the time.

Potty Training...

I'm writing this in hopes of coaxing Shelley into sharing her experiences so far with potty training Anthon. We're well into our second week and I am regailed daily with stories of not just soiled pants but also slow and steady progress towards potty training. Here are a few thoughts and stories:

1. I came home one night and noticed Anthon didn't have any pants on - only his Little Einstein underpants. I came to find out that he had blown through all of his pants. He had no more pants to wear. One word comes to mind: prolific.

2. Anthon likes to cry wolf. He thinks it's funny. Well, one of these days we will all be sorry.

3. As a reward he gets 1 M&M for a #1 and 2 M&Ms for a #2. Those double if we're away from home. I'm thinking, why hasn't the maker of M&Ms come out with M&Ms for potty training kids? You know, yellow and brown M&Ms???

< sarcasm >
4. We're not without support. Thank goodness for Japanese educational videos that are helping our son become a "pants man" in our new home.


< /sarcasm >

Shelley deserves all the credit for this. This I'm sure has to take a lot of patience and a dulled sense of smell. And what I know of pregnant-Shelley - she doesn't have a dulled sense of smell. And I guess I should be grateful to Anthon for not enjoying living in his own...well...you know.

On my way to work...

As I was walking to the train station, on my way to work, I looked up at our apartment and saw this little face peeking out at me from his window.

ichi, ni, san, yon, go...

Anthon's been picking up Japanese here and there. He's quite a verbal kid and will passively mimic things that are said around him. One of his new "tricks" is to count to five. Not a bad start.

The yakitori truck...the new taco truck?

Our family was taking a walk around our neighborhood when we happened upon a guy selling yakitori. What's yakitori? Well, if you ask Shelley, she'd say that it is simply burnt meat on a stick. More on her disdain later. Yakitori is literally translated to mean "grilled chicken". Think of them as small Japanese shish-kabobs with chicken (all sorts of parts of the chicken!) and vegetables.

By the way, if you're reading this and you live in LA, then you should run, not walk, to Little Tokyo and go to a place called Kokekokko which quite possibly could serve the best yakitori in all the world. I'm dead serious about this. Of course, it is because of Kokekokko that Shelley, and my Mom for that matter, don't like yakitori. You have to sit on these hard stools and the food comes out stick by stick, you have a minimum order and it takes a long while to get your food. The owner is a bit of a Soup Nazi to his staff, but it's worth the wait. The yakitori is wonderful. No reservations, get there early, and order right away. My Dad and I go there when our wives are out of town or otherwise indisposed. So maybe this a guy thing.

So, yes,I love yakitori, I see this small truck and I have to stop and get one. Anthon sees a chicken meatball stick and starts screaming, "meatball...MEATBALL!" So we get him one and this kid who really is ambivalent about eating in general eats, no devours like the most voracious carnivore, the four meatballs in about 30 seconds. And he's screaming for more while his mouth if full of meatball. So we hurry back to the truck for one more. I have only seen this level of crazed passion towards a food a few times before. Tacos comes to mind!

If you know me, you know that I also love the taco truck, a small catering truck in Pasadena that our family has been going to for years...more than 15 to be exact. And seeing Anthon go ga-ga for not only the taco truck as well as the yakitori truck is more solid than, I think, DNA evidence that Anthon is my child. So, being in Japan I know that I am not going to be able to visit the taco truck but a few times a year. I will have to have a substitute go-to place for my late night food cravings. Maybe this yakitori truck will be it.

To my friends in LA and Pasadena, please do think of me when you go to the taco truck. And for those who haven't been to the taco truck, it's on Fair Oaks, just above California in Pasadena. Don't be fooled by the one just above it. The real taco truck is in the Nishikawa Auto Parts parking lot.

The First of Our Lasts...

Today was our last home football game before graduation and before our move to Japan. In a way, this marks the beginning of a lot of "lasts" for us. These games have been fun because we've been able to do it as a family and I think Anthon loves it more than Shelley and I do. This morning, as Anthon was waking up, he called out from his crib, "Hey guys, I'm reeeady!" When we went in there to ask what he was ready for, he replied, "SC Game...eat nachos." Yes, he was ready...and yes we did eat nachos. He was giving bones to the kids around us and showing off his two finger "fight on" skills.

Anthon also has impressive skills at listening and repeating - much to our dismay sometimes. Upset at a certain call that went against USC, the student section began to yell in unison, "b***s***" - many times over. Anthon, ever the student of things that come out of my mouth that I say in haste, starts saying, "ullshi, ullshi, ullshi!" Though he doesn't know what those words mean, for the most part people are actually pretty respectful when Anthon's around. He's pretty interactive and animated at the games so people tend to watch what they say a bit more...so that has made the environment around us a bit better.

Poor UCLA, they couldn't even put up enough of a showing to keep my son awake, however. UCLA's 12 yards of total rushing offense lulled my boy into a good 45 minute nap from the second quarter into half time. The USC win means another Rose Bowl game and maybe one last game before we hit the road. Shelley and I thought that maybe our second child would be a bit disadvantaged because he/she wouldn't be in on all the fun we had at USC's football games. Maybe we have to become Tokyo Giants fans.

Calling from Tokyo

I thought I'd share a little video that was taken last month while I was away to Tokyo on business.

Let me preface this by saying that for the longest time whenever Anthon would pick up a toy phone he would pretend to be talking to his Dad. Even if I'm working late, going to school late or on the road for work - I try to call home and get some interaction with Shelley and Anthon. But for a while it seemed like that was the only source of interaction we had. When we first used to talk on the phone, Anthon could really only repeat things that Shelley would whisper in his ear. Now he can go off on all sorts of random things - the zoo, a song, food he's eaten, friends he's seen, his stuffed animals...aynthing.

This little video captures one such conversation. Anthon was in a really good mood and was singing "Old McDonald" and wanted me to kiss his ouchy finger through the phone.

Parenting, Anthon Style

It is rare that you get good honest insight into your parenting skills. On an almost daily basis, Anthon parents his stuffed animals with many striking similarities to how we parent Anthon. This poor little stuffed kitten, pictured on the left, has been given a time-out for apparently hitting Shelley. This isn't the first time it's happened and it's hardly the kitty's fault. Anthon normally takes the kitty and bumps him against either me or Shelley. After the offense, Anthon took the kitty and put him on the piano bench, giving him a timeout. Anthon normally gets a timeout by having to sit on small red chair underneath a picture of Jesus...not on purpose, mind you. Jesus was just there coincidentally!

When Anthon deemed the kitty ready to be done with his timeout, he went up to him, put his hand on the kitty's face and made the kitty look at Anthon. We do this to Anthon to make sure he looks us in the eye when we tell him what he did to deserve the timeout. Finally, Anthon says to the kitty, "no, no, kitty, flick cheek" and Anthon gave the kitty a tiny flick on the cheek - as seen in the picture to the right. While we hate doing it, we sometimes will give Anthon a light flick on the cheek as a means to punish him when timeouts don't work. To show the stuffed kitty that there were no hard feelings, he walked him into the kitchen and declared to Shelley that the kitty was going to have a cupcake now. I think this was Anthon's sly attempt at getting a cupcake for himself, however. The best part about the timeouts is the reconciliation afterwards. It's never fun to punish your kids and I feel much better when I get a chance to tell Anthon that I love him. And no, we don't give him a cupcake after every timeout. Anthon would be much heavier if there the case.

Anthon certainly revels in being the parent to his stuffed animals. And it doesn't stop at discipline. Anthon has wanted to put his animals in the tub, tuck them in at night, put a diaper on them, hush their cries, put a binky in their mouths and brush their teeth.

So, We're Parents of an Axe Murderer?

File this story under the "wait and see" category because we can't be sure what path Anthon will travel down in his life. He can be a doctor or lawyer, or anything he wants to be. A sword wielding limb dismemberer can't be ruled out quite yet, either. We didn't know Anthon had channeled King Arthur from Monty Python's Holy Grail, but he seems to take a keen liking to using his foam USC Trojan sword, donated by the man sitting next to us at the USC vs. Oregon State game, to hack at our friends Jono and Jill.

On our way to church the next day, after a fun weekend with Jill and Jono had come to an end, a visibly sad Anthon clutched to his foam sword in the car and kept saying in a very sad voice, "Jill, Jono, slice."

We'll have to keep an eye on Anthon to see if he displays any more of this child-like glee over de-limbing people. Just as a precaution, however, Shelley and I are making sure the Cutco knives aren't anywhere within grabbing distance!

Click on the picture below to see Anthon play Hack-a-Jono with a foam Trojan sword.

Anthon's pasport picture

Many of you know that our little family is moving to Tokyo, Japan in January. We're in the early stages of learning about the logistics of our move. One thing that we have to do is apply for Anthon's passport. I think it's funny that at 2 years old, he needs to get a passport. I don't think I got my passport until I was 13 or 14. Oh and when we move, we'll get to fly Business Class, something I didn't experience until I was 25...Anthon? The ripe old age of 2. Is it any wonder that as you get older you find yourself starting conversations with your kids with "In my day." I just didn't think it would happen at 32!

So, anyway back to the picture. I was typing away at the computer and I noticed his passport application with his mug shot attached to it. I thought I'd upload it for your viewing pleasure.

I Am A Child of God...

For first-time parents, there are a lot of easy examples of how you could be better parents. I've written about a few of them here and here.

But every once in a while Shelley and I will get a little confirmation from our son that let's us know that we're at least doing a few things right. Take this weekend, for example. We figured out that Anthon not only likes listening to the CD of Primary children singing songs, but he also knows all the words to "I Am a Child of God." And he loves singing it. We had Family Home Evening tonight and while Anthon was most excited for the 'family home evening treat' of rice krispy treats, we got him on camera singing for us. And to top it all off, Anthon points to the children animated Book of Mormon reader and says, "Nephi!"

So, we're obviously thrilled...and we think it's cute when he sings. We don't know where it all came from, though. But we're glad that he's doing it. At least in this respect we feel like we're doing something right. Though, those of you who attend our ward and hear how loud he can be in church meeting sometimes might beg to differ.

Please click on the picture to be see his video.

Giving "Bones" to the 12

So many of you know I'm a huge University of Utah fan. So, I went up to Salt Lake with Anthon and my Dad and brother-in-law Cam to catch Utah absolutely wreck UCLA 44-6. The week before, Cam taught Anthon about "giving bones" or doing a knuckle bump. It was at this Utah game that Anthon really caught the spirit of giving bones.

So, we were at the game, watching it from the President's box. Other fans included the former President of the U and his wife, donors, faculty and one distinguished alumni Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles. Elder Wirthlin was a member of the Utah's football team when he was in college. He's 90 now.

So, I've set the stage. The Utes are doing well. Anthon has learned how to give bones and we're in a place where Anthon is the only child...youngest living thing around by aboutu 20 years. After the Utes score, Anthon decides it's time to start giving bones to people. He does this by clenching his fist and raising his arm in the air while joyfully declaring, "BONES!" He made his way down the aisle, giving bones to me, Cam and my Dad. The former President of Utah and his wife had to be educated on what "giving bones" was and they indulged my son.

Anthon crossed the aisle and found poor Elder Wirthlin watching the game. Anthon stuck his clenched fist near Elder Wirthlin and said, "Bones!" Elder Wirthlin looked puzzled, smiled and said, 'Hello young fella." He stuck his open hand out thinking Anthon wanted to shake hands. I had to sheepishly explain what Anthon was saying and Elder Wirthlin gave my two year old son bones. Elder Wirthlin sort of laughed after my son went off giving other people bones that kids are certainly a blessing.

As I think about it, I could have been witness to the first act of giving bones by a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles...ever! It's hard to imagine President Hinkley giving Elder Packer "bones" when Elder Packer says a really great prayer, or when Elder Oaks gives a "totally awesome" report of missionary work in Southeast Asia. You never know, though.

The two pictures are of Anthon giving bones, but unfortunately not to Elder Wirthlin. I didn't get my camera out in time to capture that. Too bad. You'll just have to believe me.

Cheetos! (and adventures in other junk food)

There are very few things in this world that Anthon can/will eat with reckless abandon. Despite Anthon being formerly of the "failure to thrive" ilk, I wouldn't say he's a picky eater - he's just more of a reluctant eater. We often have to cajole him into eating. One of the more effective techniques has been for me to take a spoonful of his food and "drop bombs" into his mouth. We do this by simulating a falling bomb noise (usually me whistling) whereupon I would make an exploding noise upon "impact" of said food in Anthon's mouth. That has since given rise to even greater explosions, with me blowing myself back into walls, over couches, etc. The latest trick is making the bombs travel around the kitchen before exploding into Anthon's mouth. Anthon seems to like making me jump through hoops. But it is working! We can usually extend lunch or dinner a few extra bites before Anthon catches on.

We're also in daily negotiations with Anthon to eat. We know what he loves eating - Cheetos being at the top of the list - and so we'll say, "Anthon, do you want Cheetos?" He inevitably answer "Yeah." To which we'll respond, "Ok, five bites of your dinner." He'll whine and refuse to eat, but he sees that the carrot on the stick is worth it if it means getting to his Promised Land that are those Cheetos. But I feel like Monty Hall on "Let's Make a Deal." Whenever we babysit we're constantly amazed at other kids who eat what's put in front of them without any thought.

Anyway, here's a quick video of Anthon showing how much he loves his Cheetos and cupcakes.

iPod redux: Low-Fidelity

So, I've talked about how Anthon loves Shelley's iPod. We snapped a shot of Anthon listening to the iPod as Shelley was listening with my cheapo low-fi speakers. I look at this picture and think that maybe Anthon will turn out to be that guy who walks around town carrying a boom box against his ear.

Anthon and his Grandpa Daetwyler

While we were in Indiana, Anthon's Grandpa Daetwyler treated him to a lot fun activities: catching worms, fishing, playing in the water and hanging out with the horses. It was good bonding time.

Click on the thumbnail to the right for a funny video that you won't want to miss. Halfway through the video, there is a minute-long segment that involves Anthon a hose, water, increasing water pressure and screaming.

Anthon and the iPod

Like most kids, Anthon loves watching TV. His favorite show is either Baby Einstein or Baby Signing Times. Or, if I'm watching sports, he likes to cheer at the screen. Shelley also has a video iPod. (Do you see where I'm going with this?) and ahead of a particularly long flight that Shelley had to take with Anthon, alone, I thought I'd be a good husband and rip a few of our Baby Einstein DVDs and put them onto the video iPod for Shelley to use with Anthon. I thought that would pacify him...and it does...as you can see from the photo below. It's like catnip for our child. It just puts him into a calm, sedate state.

But Anthon loves the iPod. Shelley told me a story of how she had just come downstairs with Anthon and was doing something when she realized that it was pretty quiet. She looked around for Anthon and eventually walked upstairs to find Anthon sitting in our black swivel office chair. He had pulled Shelley's iPod out of the cubby it was in...which is hard for Anthon to reach...unwound the earbuds, stuck them in his ear correctly, turned on the iPod and pressed the right combination of buttons to get the Baby Einstein video to play. This kid is determined to watch his Baby Einstein. He looks at Shelley with a proud look on his face and says, "Mama, TV!"

We flew home from Indiana last weekend when I snapped this shot. Anthon was asking for the iPod long before the flight even took off from Evansville. But it works magic. Our child was quiet and eventually fell asleep for a nice flight home.

Anthon's Busath Photo

So this shot was taken by Busath Photography a studio in Salt Lake City. We've used this studio for family photos, wedding and baby shots. These were originally taken back in November and after some mishaps on both sides we're finally getting the picture below printed.

What Shelley and I love about this picture is Anthon's cute little smile and his bare feet exposed. The picture seems to capture a sweet part of Anthon's personality.

Three generations of Anthon

I never really knew my Dad's Dad...the first Anthon. From what I hear, he was an amazing man. He served in the FBI during World War II, then ended up being a Sociology and Criminology Professor at the University of Utah. He even taught a marriage and family relationship class to my Mom before she married my Dad. He died, however, before I could remember him.

Anthon IV, my son, has a great relationship with my Dad, which makes me very happy. It's pictures like these that I know one day will be a great memory for me and my son. It's not often that you can get three generations of Anthons together! This picture was taken at the Dodger game a few days ago.

My son is, like, TOTALLY centered

Shelley snapped this photo of Anthon and his friend Charlotte doing some yoga...the downward facing dog to be precise. As much as I'd like to think that my son and his friends are THAT much more in touch with their inner being, I think they just got bored with what they were doing and decided to copy Shelley.

Dodger Game, Cotton Candy & the Taco Truck

These pictures are a week old, but they are nevertheless classic. That night, Anthon had two major firsts. At the Dodger game he had his first taste of cotton candy. And as you can see, he has a big smile on his face. He really, really liked it. The cute thing about Anthon is that he likes sharing the food he thinks is yummy. So while he ate his fair share, he enjoyed grabbing a handful and shoving it into Dad's mouth. And he's pretty persistent...like his parents, he won't give up until we eat what we feed him.

After the game, as usual, Shelley and I went to the taco truck, which is here Anthon experienced is second "first". Now I don't think I've ever explained my love for the taco truck. It's nothing more than what I've said it is. It's a truck that sells tacos, only tacos. And I'm not talking about those gross hard-shell tacos with chopped up lettuce and ground beef. No. Warm corn tortillas, carne asada, chopped onions & cilantro, lemon and salsa roja. Street tacos. Anyway, my family has been going here since I was 14. You park your car on the street and walk into a shallow parking lot in front of an auto mechanic. There is parked the taco truck at night. You stand in line for a while, get your tacos and walk back to your car and eat them on the side of the road. And it's not just any taco truck...because there are a lot of them in Pasadena. This one is on Fair Oaks, just North of California in the Nishikawa Auto Mechanic's lot.

Needless to say, it's a family tradition. Anyway, I ordered my tacos and Anthon seemed really interested in what I was eating. So I grabbed a small piece of tortilla and placed a chunk of carne asada in it for Anthon to eat. I thought he'd spit it out since he doesn't like chewy things. But he ate it down and said, "Yummy!" and wanted another bite. Yes, he is a Cannon after all!

Click on the thumbnails to see more pictures.

Anthon sings the classics

I think I'm turning into one of those Dads who has to talk about everything that their kid is doing. And I really try not to be that way. I'd like to think I have other things to contribute to conversations other than, "Ok, but did I tell you that Anthon did..." But looking over the last three posts on this website and I find that they're all about our boy.

So, because I can't deny it any longer, I might as well feed the fire, right? Here's Anthon singing along (kind of) to Dad's horrible rendition of the old Mormon classic, "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree." It was taken on Easter at my parents' house.

Ben Folds...watch out!

So, I captured this little video last week. Anthon loves to sit on the piano bench and play the piano. I'd like to think that he gets it from his Dad who really likes listening to guys like Ben Folds who are amazing pianists. But more than likely, Anthon just likes to mimic what he sees his Mom doing. So, he'll sit there and hit the keys a little bit, then push some buttons on the control panel and then turn the pages on the sheet music before doing it all over again. It's really cute.

While he's still raw, the talent and the showmanship is there...for sure.

Shelley, Anthon in Houston & Utah

February and March were busy traveling months for the Cannons. While I was in Japan and India, Shelley and Anthon visited family in Houston, Utah and Evansville. Shelley then left Anthon with her parents to come travel with me in India. Is that clear as mud?

Anyway, the two trips to Utah, I think, was a big hit. Anthon was introduced to snow, his really, really large snow suit, and the joys of sledding. Click on the thumbnails below to see the pictures.

Fight On!

One of the perks of being a student once again is the chance to relive collegiate sports. Part of the fun this time around is introducing Anthon to these great sporting events. And lest you think that Anthon really isn't aware of what's going on, rest assured...he is.

Case in point - Saturday's game. USC hosted Arizona St. When Shelley and I woke Anthon up and put him in his USC t-shirt, I think he suspected that something fun was going to happen that day. While I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom, Anthon ran into my room, opened up my t-shirt drawer and grabbed the only USC t-shirt I own and ran it into me for me to put on. He did the same with Shelley's shirt. This is a boy who was excited to go to a game!

While at the game, we were feeding Anthon goldfish crackers during a timeout. Mostly, he took them from Shelley and then tried to feed me, instead. While he was doing this, the arena cameras focused on Anthon and he was on display on the jumbo-tron above center court. I stood Anthon up on my lap and he saw himself and began to blow kisses to the crowd. He's becoming a total ham.

Here are two pictures: one of Anthon at the ASU game and one of the family at the UCLA game.

More Random Shots of Anthon

Over the space of a few weeks, I was allowed to test out my Dad's 70-300mm zoom lens made for Nikon dSLR cameras. I was lucky enough to capture Anthon in two different spots in rather funny moods. The first four shots are of Anthon in a cemetary not too far from Shelley's parents place in Indiana. It was a cold afternoon and I thought Anthon looked so cute bundled up. On the way home, I cupped his hands and blew on them to keep them warm and I held Anthon against me. He didn't last five minutes before he was out like a light and felt like a dead weight against me. It was one of those moments where I wished the walk home was a bit longer.

The second set of photos were taken in mid-January on the tennis court by our condo. Anthon had received a set of balls for Christmas: a basketball, football and soccer ball. So we took them and some tennis balls and ran around for a while. I especially love these shots because it captures some of the unique personality quirks that Anthon has.

Please click on the thumbnails below for more pictures.

Busath Photos

We finally got the proofs back from Anthon's 1-year portrait that was shot by Busath over Thanksgiving. You can see the shots by following the link below:

Anthon's Busath Photos

Anthon's New Suit

For the wedding of Shelley's sister, Diana, Shelley bought Anthon a black three-piece suit. A little trick that we use with Anthon to get him into some clothes that he might like - after we get him dressed we have to bring him in front of a mirror and tell him how cute he looks. He usually cheers up. We've probably created a vain child in the process. But we'll worry about that later. For now, we think he's pretty cute in his his suit.

Recent picture

Shelley took this picture of Anthon a few weeks ago and I think it captures his emerging personality really, really well. Anthon has this hearty belly laugh and continues to show his really friendly disposition.

There are four pictures like this of Anthon on the lawn. Click on the picture below to go to the gallery.

Anthon gets a haircut

Ahead of Anthon's big photo shoot in Utah at Busath, Shelley and I wanted our friend Erika to give Anthon a haircut. I was surprised to see that not only did he not cry, but he also sat relatively still.

Twins!

For Father's Day, Shelley's Mom, Sally, bought Anthon and me matching Polo button downs. Anthon's now just able to fit into his. I think we make a pretty good looking twosome.

Anthon turns one!

Anthon recently turned one years old. He devoured the defenseless piece of cake and had a great time smearing the frosting all over his face.