Here's Ella...

It's been a fast few days. Shelley checked out of the hospital today after a very U.S.-like stay of only two nights. Usually they like to keep you for 5 days. But I think she was ready to go. We are glad to have her back.

I've leave the details of the delivery to Shelley. But I can tell already that you're a different parent with number two than you are with number one. After Anthon was born we strapped him into the car seat we had purchased months before and Shelley was wheelchaired out of the hospital and we drove a good ten miles under the speed limit for the two mile drive. We were very careful. With Ella, we couldn't get out of the hospital soon enough and we hailed a cab, no car seat, and just hoped for a safe ride home. I'm sure Ella will be juggling knives in no time.

But she is certainly a sweet baby. She's a good sleeper and eater and best of all she's a snuggler...which Shelley really likes. (Who am I kidding, no one is reading this...you've already clicked on the links below to pictures and a two-minute video).

Pictures

Video

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

From 1 Mile to a 5K...

On the 4th of July, Shelley did something she's never done before, run a 5K. Shelley never really liked running, but she's warming up to it. She hated running when all she knew of it was the treadmill at our local 24 Hour Fitness. But she ran a mile race in May and she thought that it wasn't so bad. So she decided to work her way up to a 5K. She did it by running with Megan Marriot and other friends a few times a week.

Anthon really liked it when Shelley trained. She would put him in a jog stroller and Anthon would feel the wind in his face and say, "Running! Fast!" After Shelley would run a mile or two, and was really tired and out of breath, Anthon would pat his fingers together and say, "more more running." It actually inspired Anthon so much he's been doing a lot more running around the house. He's running laps around our kitchen, and running back and forth in his crib...he just loves to run fast like his Mom now.

Anyway Shelley and Megan ran a 5K in Redondo Beach and they did it in good time. The weather was overcast and cool. Perfect running weather. I was totally proud to see Shelley accomplish what I think will be the first of many races. My only fear is that she will want to somehow ring me into the running thing. I'll have to start coming up with a reserve of excuses!

Click on the thumbnail to the left to see the pictures from the run. The thumb on the right is of a short video I took. I tried to get some video of Shelley and Megan running, but they ran by me too fast. So most of the video is of Anthon running after the runners and cheering them on, screaming "Go! Go!!!" at the top of his lungs. That's pretty amusing.

5K Photos

5K Video

A Trip to Disneyland, or "Why Shelley and I aren't 'Parents of the Year.'"

We recently took Anthon to Disneyland for the first time. The night before, Shelley and I were thinking we were "parents of the year," because who else would be so kind and loving as to take their 19 month old to Disneyland?

Flash forward to Saturday. I took Anthon on the Jungle Cruise and he was fine. For all you frequent guests of Disneyland or season pass holders...what legendary ride is next to the Jungle Cruise? Yes, Pirates of the Caribbean. Shelley and I thought, "You know, it's a little dark, and there ARE pirates, but who thinks Captain Jack is scary?"

Reality set in after it became pitch black and we took our first drop in the boat. Anthon started to wave his hands furiously, indicating to us that he was "all done." Then there was the crying. Instead of winning parents of the year, I'm glad our child wasn't taken away by child services, because who would be so cruel as to take their 19 month old on a scary ride?

We rebounded and did a double shot of Small World, which Anthon loved. After some food Anthon got used to the routine of getting into boats or cars that led you into dark rooms with loud noises. So all in all, we had a great day. He REALLY liked Minnie Mouse and talks about her all the time.

Click on one of the thumbnails below. The one on the left takes you to a small group of photos, while the one on the right takes you to a home video shot at Disneyland...no crying including, however!

Disneyland Photo Album

Disneyland Home Video

New Video: Our Trip to India

Though we've been back for a month, Shelley and I still think about our trip to India often. In fact, on Saturday we went to go see The Namesake, a great little movie about balancing a family's adopted culture (USA) with that of their home (India).

To that end, I finally had some time to go through the video that I took from our trip. I've uploaded a short video to the archive. You can click on the thumbnail to take you to the video archive.

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.

A Good Friday, Indeed!

My work schedule is linked to the financial markets, which never seem to take (m)any official holidays. But on Good Friday, the market was closed and that allowed me and my family to spend some quality time together this day. And there's nothing like going to the beach!

Ok, so the weather was cloudy, somewhat breezy and rather chilly. Our son had to wear his fleece jacket the whole time! But it was worth being a bit chilly to see Anthon fill a bucket of sand with his shovel and play in the water. Anthon, who was deathly afraid of the oncoming tide 8 months ago in Hawaii, couldn't get enough of the freezing water rushing over his little legs. He kept turning back and heading towards the "wa wa" for some more fun. He certainly doesn't get the love of running around in cold water from his Dad.

I had fun video taping this whole outing. Click on the picture below to go to our video archive. Along with Anthon playing in the sand and surf, you'll get a chance to hear Anthon showing off his vocabulary. You Utah fans might catch a glimpse of his emerging loyalties in the heated rivalry.

Announcing a new video archive

The video archive is up and running, finally. Here you'll find short video clips of our family - mostly of Anthon, probably. You'll need Apple's Quicktime software to view the files. If you don't have it, download it for free by clicking the link. Or you can click on any of the pictures below to go to the video archive.

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.

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.