Griffin’s Good Night Words

As a part of our bed time routine, I snuggle the kids for a bit and then tuck them in. When I was snuggling Griffin tonight, he said something sweet and cute that I want to remember forever:

“Dad, I wish I could cut your arm off so that I can snuggle you all night and you can tickle me whenever you want. Don’t worry, I’ll get some strong glue to glue your arm back during the day so you can use it when you need it.”

I wish I could naturally record my interactions with my kids. They are in such a sweet phase right now.

My Little Red Violin

Griffin has asked to learn how to play violin. I was delighted because I used to play violin when I was younger. I brought up my old violin that my Dad brought with him last time he visited. Although it was too big for Griffin, Anya had it fixed so that I could pick it up again one day. I told the kids if they ate all their dinner, I’d play the violin for them. They ate all their dinner, so I played.

It felt like a trip down the memory lane when I opened the case. Tuning the strings and tightening the bow brought me right back to when I was 9 and attending violin lessons. I found “do re mi fa so la ti do” on the violin and that was about all I could do for the kids. They liked it, and we followed up with some guitar strumming (me) and flute playing (Serena). It was fun.

I hope Griffin continues with violin and we could all play our musical instruments after dinner one day. It seems like a fun family activity together.

The Last Day in the Year of Goat

It wasn’t a good night, but it was a good day.  Both kids were extra needy last night.  Multiple wake-ups to screaming baby and clingy toddler.  After a broken sleep, I was up at 7:30 to get ready for countdown in China with Mom, Dad and Yuhan.  WeChat has a cool feature for multi-screen sharing, so we used it to be together virtually to say goodbye to the Year of Goat and welcome the Year of Monkey.

Later in the morning, Anya and Serena went to Nana and Opa’s house for a visit.  Griffin was sleeping and I was reading in hopes to finish the Think and Grow Rich book.  For some reasons, I really wanted to finish it on this last day of the Year of Goat.  Perhaps the idea of closing a book on the last day of the year was attractive to me.  I ended up finishing the last chapter.  It felt good.

I spent the whole afternoon helping Mom cook Chinese New Year’s Eve dinner.  We made eight dishes together.  It was great fun learning how to cook Chinese dishes from Mom.  I think she enjoyed my company.  She told me a lot of family gossips that I’ve missed over the years being in Canada.  It was a nice bonding time with Mom on such an important Chinese holiday.  I felt bad about having my Mom here so far away from our families and friends.  That sad feeling quickly evaporated when my in-laws came and we all enjoyed good food, good drinks, and great companies.

Some recollected random thoughts of the day:

  • Goat also stands for the Greatest of All Time.
  • Griffin is a goat.  My Mom is a monkey.
  • Which book should I read next?