Father's Day 2008

Happy Father's day Howard! You are an amazing dad and Jack and I are so lucky!









Whew- we just had the craziest week here. Jack has given up his nap at school which means he is extra cranky when we pick him up at 315. He also gets a little punchy right before bath and bed time, so it has been a real challenge. Howard's mom, Shu Sun, left yesterday after 1 week of wondering what kind of grandson her daughter-in-law was raising. Jack is famous for being VERY good or VERY bad. Not much in between. The 'Chinese' style of child rearing is not really part of our home. I am sure she is still in shock even though she is back home in Chicago.









Our weather was miserable here 99% of the week. It felt like November. Tuesday night we had a pretty bad windstorm and our power was out all evening until 3 am. On top of all of this, I have been sick with the super bad lung crud again... On Thursday I started on prednisone and the 80mg dose really kicked in. I was the punchy one! At least I had some energy back! We sent Nai Nai home with the Sun Family hack. She never gets sick! Crap!







Howard worked all but Tuesday of the week his mom was here. We all spent Tuesday (Jack played hooky) watching 6 men remove 2 huge trees, 4 smaller trees and prune every other tree on our property. It really was something to watch. We were all impressed. Even Nai Nai.







A few other highlights of Nai Nai's week with us-



*she and I locked our keys and cell phones in my car at Costco



*she and I had a bru ha ha with a fancy ride on fire engine she bought for Jack at my not so favorite store toys-r-us. It was the two Mrs. Suns against the not so smart kid (salesperson) who sold us the fire engine



*I already mentioned the power outage



* two trips to H mart ('soooo expensive') in Federal Way



* Jack's last day of school



*the last day of school, all school picnic! This was highlighted by Jack peeing in the smack dab middle of his entire school group (kids & parents & Nai Nai). He does not have any modesty.



After he refused to eat the picnic dinner, I believe he single handedly destroyed several girls sand volcano they had been working hard on. The girls who are a little older (and have siblings) lit into Jack and he bawled his head off. It took a good 20 minutes to calm him down. The grand finale was Jack attacking one of his best buddies, Benjamin. Benjamin was on his Big Wheel and Jack wanted a turn. I assume Benjamin said no and Jack attacked him like a crazy animal. Everyone was scared, especially Benjamin. Jack had lost it. I should not have taken him to the picnic at all (two weeks of no naps-was I nuts?!). But the sun had finally come out and I did have the 80mg predisone on board. It was a pretty dramatic ending to a wild week with Jack and Nai Nai. Everyone else came home and slept-I drank!





Personally, this was the nicest visit I have ever had with Nai Nai. We spent the week together-Jack at school and Howard working. She worked hard filling our freezer with all of Howard's favorite Chinese dishes. I love her for many reasons, but that right there is close to the top of the list. We had really nice talks about her life-growing up in China a Taiwan and moving to the US. I learned about Howard as a child. She has lead an interesting life. I know she was really impressed with Howard as a father to Jack. He is so patient with him and really spends quality time with him every day. She said she noticed how excited Jack was when Howard got home from work- how his eyes lit up and ran to meet him at the back door with a big hug. She raised an amazing boy who has become the most amazing father. Thank you Shu Sun and thank you Howard. I am a really lucky.



On this Father's day I am blessed. I miss my dad(over 20 years now since he passed away) and think of him every day (Grandpa Dave and Jack would have been the best of buddies). I am blessed sharing this parenting adventure with Howard. I don't think either one of knew what we had signed up for almost 4 years ago. It has been a wild ride- Thank you Howard, I love you with all my heart.