Last Day of School

Dear 3Po

To you, the Last Day of School doesn't mean much. To you, it's much like any other pickup day, when mama meets you as you exit your classroom and chases you down as you attempt to play one last game of tag with your friends. Maybe you notice a couple of differences. The Last Day is a chance to get a dayglo-orange popsicle to lick. It's a day when you get to take all your artwork home. For you, it's more about that First Day of Summer than the Last Day of School.

But this Last Day is bittersweet to me, because it's truly your last day as a pre-schooler. In September you and your brother will be in kindergarten. You'll be one of the Big Boys now. Your sister won't be able to tease you about not having proper lessons (well, she'll always find something to tease you about). Being a twin gives kindergarten an even greater significance. Now you and your brother will be forging your own, separate identities and going your separate ways.

No doubt I'll feel this way each time you move up a notch in the educational hierarchy, and when you enter college I'll wipe away a tear and laugh at myself for thinking that Kindergarten meant you were now One of the Big Boys. Tomorrow I'll rejoice with you and say I'm so excited you're entering your grade school years. For now, just let me stare at your stained, sticky face and wish you could be my little boy forever.

Love,
mama

For more Love Thursday posts, click here.

Parenting Classes from a Five-Year Old's Perspective

2Po: Where's mama going?

Alfie: She's going to a talk about raising boys.

3Po: What's that?

Alfie: Someone is going to talk about little boys and how they think. Mama's going to learn what to do when little boys are sad or angry, and how to help them learn at school and play with other kids . They're also going to teach mama what to do when little boys are naughty, and how to help little boys like you behave better.

3Po: So.....will mama be able to tell when we're lying?

In which the spirit of Andrew Zimmern posseses my kids

I remember when The Pea would eat nothing but macaroni and cheese. And when the boys would eat nothing but meat. Alfie and I persevered, serving a variety of foods and insisting they try, try,try. And baby, we've come a long way. Case in point:

See these little insects? They're crickets. See the orange dayglo substance on their little chests? That's cheese powder. Yup, these are Bacon-N-Cheese flavored crickets, all nice and crunchy for you to munch on. Not ground up so you don't know what they are; these are the real, whole deal (okay, a couple of legs and wings did break off in transit).

The Bizarre Foods show on the Travel Channel sent us a couple of boxes of edible crickets to try. I thought the kids would run screaming and call social services, but they surprised me. I think the spirit of Andrew Zimmern must have been in the box along with the crickets. Actually, it was his DVD of Bizarre Foods season 3 (Season 4 airs its penultimate episode tomorrow night; you should watch it). After watching it and seeing all the stuff that Andrew eats, everyone was eager and willing to try the crickets.


Yes, even when their beady little eyes stared at us and pleaded to be given a decent burial, or at least be added to a bug collection like most other normal families would do.

That's my little omnivore! And if you think they're just faking it, watch the video:



Do you want to win some of these edible crickets to serve at your next cocktail party? Or to share at the office? Go to my Bizarre Foods giveaway post on Bonggamom Finds. Bon Appetit, y'all.

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It's difficult to believe that these gorgeous illustrations were created simply to promote stuff. I find it funny that people were probably handing out flyers at the mouth of the Paris Metro for free (the original junk mail) . Now you'd probably pay through your teeth to get your hands on an original print. I've always loved the Art Nouveau style, and even though these are just tiny magnets, I love looking at them. Maybe someday that Kraft Mac-N-Cheese magazine spread will be worth a lot of money!

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Making Memories at the Maker Faire

Our jam-packed schedule last weekend has left me with a sore throat and bad cold, but as far as I'm concerned, our Weekend of Science was worth it. After all, how many opportunities do you get to meet Bill Nye the Science Guy, see things blown up, watch bowling balls trigger a giant mousetrap and do other fun experiments? We barely had enough time to recover from our visit to the San Jose Tech Museum on Saturday, then on Sunday it was off to see all kind of gizmos, contraptions and inventions at the Bay Area Maker Faire.

This was the first I had ever heard of the Make Faire, but apparently this is the largest DIY fair in the US, and it attracts hundreds of people. Alfie and I couldn't believe that people would pay 50 bucks to get in, but the place was packed! The high cost became more understandable when we got to the workshop section; fairgoers can make all kinds of crafts there and take them home for free. Alfie could probably have stayed at the whole morning. . Stuff gets blown up, lasered, melted, sawed off, cut, hammered together, riveted and soldered, all in the name of innovation, experimentation and fun.




3Po and Jammy were really getting into the wooden structure they were building, but we had to drag them off to see the rest of the fair. They protested bitterly, of course, until they saw that the Maker Faire had so much more to offer -- robots and bikes walking all over the fairgrounds.... crazily-decorated cars on display.... steam engines.... rocket launchers.... huge flamethrowers......


.... a fun mini-golf course......

....a life-sized Mousetrap, just like the board game..... and tons more. We probably only got to see a tenth of what was on display.



They also had a food section with beer brewing demos, cheese making demos, and lots of booths featuring organic, artisanal, homemade, alternative food and drink. At one of the booths, The Pea and Jammy agreed to be interviewed and dance like a monkey for 20 seconds, in exchange for a free bottle of juice. Just like their mama, my babies' swag-gathering instincts are strong and I grew misty-eyed thinking of it. Besides, it's not like they don't ham it up for me and the blog every other day of the year anyway.

There just wasn't enough time to take it all in ! In fact,as we were eating lunch (delicious maize-wiches with fillings like pork and avocado, shredded beef and tomatoes), the phone rang. It was the mother of Pea's friend, telling us they were just about to leave to pick The Pea up for her ballet recital. Horrors! My memory had failed me again; turns out The Pea's recital was at 3PM, not 4PM, so we had to leave even sooner than I had planned (and do yet another mad rush in order to get her into costume before the curtain went up).

Everyone was disappointed that we didn't get to stay longer, but The Pea's legions of fans were calling, so we left with our photos, our memories, and some lessons learned for next year:

1) Go early.
2) Plan to spend the whole day.
3) Pack a lunch, or line up to buy lunch before noon.
4) Grab a map so you can check everything out and see what you really want to see.

A Day of Science, Fun and Eco-Discoveries wtih Bill Nye the Science Guy

With the schoolyear just about wrapped up and summer around the corner, our weekends seem to be getting crammed with festivals, recitals, lessons, and last-day-of-this-and-that-session-parties. But when you've got the chance -- thanks to the Silicon Valley Moms Blog and the Activeion Cleaning Solutions company -- to visit San Jose's Tech Museum, watch an IMAX movie and meet Bill Nye the Science Guy all in the same day, you find a way to make room in your schedule for it. And all those other events? Insignificant little blips on the calendar that can be rescheduled or forgotten.
After all, who can pass up the chance to meet Bill Nye? Not my kids. It's a scientifically proven fact that kids love Bill Nye. He's On TV. He's funny. He wears a cute bow tie and lab coat. He does cool experiments. Only Bill Nye can make a topic as mundane as housecleaning and soap seem interesting (do you know that if you rub some soap on the edge of a small sliver of wood and place it in water, it'll take off like it was a motorboat? It has something to do with surface tension.). He's the perfect person to lead our budding scientists in some fun science experiments. And only Bill Nye can explain the science behind a product without turning it into a product plug.


The second reason why the event didn't feel like a product plug is that the product in question -- Activeion, a chemical-free, eco-friendly cleaning system -- is actually so cool that I'd still be interested in it even if Bill Nye hadn't been the one to explain to us how it works. Would you believe that they've found a way to make ordinary tap water behave like a cleaning solution? To put it simply, they introduce a tiny electric charge into the water so that dirt and germs attach themselves to the water in the same way that they would attach themselves to soap or detergent.

It's the kind of thing you have to see to believe, so Activeion generously gave each of the SV Mom bloggers that attended an activeion spray bottle to take home. Yup, far-out science has entered my cleaning closet! We tried it out and it looks like a winner -- stay tuned for a review of Activeion on Bonggamom Finds, including a video of Jammy spraying some of activeion's cleaning solution, aka tap water, straight into his mouth.



The fun didn't stop, even after we posed for photos with Bill and reconnected with fellow SV Mom bloggers over lunch. The whole afternoon was devoted to the science of fun as we explored the rest of the San Jose Tech Museum. I came close to tossing the contents of my stomach into Jammy's lap after just 15 minutes of watching astronauts and starts spinning around in space at the IMAX movie. They say the large-screen, surround-sound IMAX experience might be too intense for toddlers, but it looked like all the little kids in the theater were fine; any screams of terror were drowned out by my nausea-induced moans.

Nausea aside, we all enjoyed our first visit to the Tech Museum. I had always heard that this museum was best suited for older kids, so I was pleasantly surprised at how many exhibits could hold the attention of toddlers and preschoolers. I especially loved the exhibits that we could access at home later on, using the barcode on our museum tickets, like this thermal family photograph....

.... and this photo of us voicing our views on transplanting pigs' organs into humans. It's nothing that we couldn't have done at home using the simplest photo editing software, but it's so much more fun when you're doing it at the museum.


Thanks to Activeion and the Silicon Valley Moms blog for making it all happen!

Books

The bookshelf in our kids' bedroom is filled with lots of well-loved books. It's bursting at the seams, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

For more books, click here.

Size Matters

Being a twin must be a mixed blessing; on the one hand, you always have a playmate, but on the other hand people are always comparing you to your twin, which can make for some intense competition. 3Po and Jammy are best friends, but they also fight constantly, and are always trying to out-do the other. Alfie and I like to stress that each of our kids are good at different things. Still, the competition continues....

3Po: No Jammy, that's not right!
Jammy: Yes it is.
3Po: No, it's not, and I know it. I have 1 inch more brain than you, because I'm 1 inch taller.

You can't really argue with that, but Jammy was unfazed. His reply: Yes, but our heads are the same size.

Reincarnations

When I first opened Comfort Food, the SV Moms' Book Club novel for May, I was expecting, well, comfort food. Recipes. Mouth-watering descriptions. Beautiful photos. But what struck me most about the book was not food. It was how so many of the characters in the book experienced some serious life transformations throughout the course of the story. I love how 2 of the main characters, Gus and Oliver, led completely different lives before they got into the cooking scene. And it reminded me of Alfie, myself, and all the other lives we've led.

Alfie grew up in England, in a working class village where you could count the number of college graduates in one hand. Alfie didn't grow up expecting to earn a degree. He drove wine trucks and worked as a mechanic and constantly bores me with has many fond memories of putting together combine harvester engines. He discovered computer engineering many years later and entered college at the ripe old age of twenty-four. When we visit his hometown and see some of his old friends and hangouts, he often says it feels like he's looking back at someone else's life.

Right around the time Alfie was graduating with his engineering degree, I was starting out on my life as a dancer. Yup, many of the people I hang out with these days don't know that I used to dance. I was a member of Powerdance, which was run by Douglas Nierras, one of the most respected dancers and choreographers in the Philippines. As backup dancers for many of the top pop acts in Manila, and I got to appear in lots of concerts, TV shows and commercials. I was a cheerleader in highschool and danced throughout college. I also taught beginning jazz and led the dance troupe for my college club. Then I graduated from college, entered graduate studies at Stanford, and that part of my life ended.


Just a couple of days ago a friend sent me a YouTube link to an old commercial that I appeared in during my dancing days. Everyone in the commercial is from Powerdance; I'm the girl who opens a red umbrella near the end (at 1 minute and 22 seconds into the commercial, to be exact).



Looking at these clips 20 years later, I do feel like I'm watching someone else. I still love to dance, but it's not a big part in my life anymore. Sometimes I feel sad that I can't be that person, but with three kids I don't have the time or energy to devote to dance class five nights a week! I'm happy I got a chance to do it, but when I think of all the subsequent chapters in my life -- as grad student, career girl and parent -- I realize it's all a natural progression. Change is good, and I'm happy to be where I am now.

And speaking of now, I think it might be time to start thinking about change. The twins are entering kindergarten, I'll have some time on my hands. They're growing up and starting to need me less and less. So I'm starting to ask myself again, What do I want to do? I could probably go back into software marketing, and if we really needed the money I'd call up one of my old colleagues in a second. But that's not where my heart lies. What's my next reincarnation? I think I know the answer, and if you're reading this little ol' blog of mine, you can probably take a guess as well. Here's to reinventing oneself -- and may your next life be as fulfilling (or more) than your previous ones!

Plastic

It looks like just a big sheet of plastic, but with the help of a hair dryer, presto! It's now a hot air balloon. It didn't soar to great heights and only stayed afloat for a couple of minutes -- just high enough and long enough to make our boys' eyes grow big with wonder.

For more plastic, click here.