Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Tony Kaulins & Trains

Not as bad as Dad thought it was going to be

Tony, when told he was going back to school on March 1, adamantly told his parents he didn't want to go.  So it was with trepidation, that Tony's father woke him up on the morning of March 1.

Tony did protest, as expected, and he kicked and squirmed while being dressed by his father.  But after a minute, he let his father dress him.  

When he was put in the van that was to take him to kindergarten, he wasn't in the least upset.  He even waved to his father from the van as it drove off.


A new video of Tony was also uploaded to the Internet!

You can watch it on Youtube or Youku (it will be the featured video).

Tony & The Microphone

Monday, February 27, 2012

Two days of staying at home with Tony results in a first

Monday & Tuesday this week, the K boys, Andis and Tony, spent their at home while Jenny was out doing stuff.

Monday, Andis was up early while Tony was fast asleep.  Tony didn't get out of bed till 1030 a.m.

Tuesday, Andis slept late.  At about 1000 p.m., Tony suggested that Dad get up. 

Tony wanting to get up first was a first.

Tony eats and surfs the Internet

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Back to school on March 1!

Tony's two month winter vacation will come to an end.

Tony can now use chopsticks!

For the first time ever, Tony ate a whole meal using chopsticks.  Sunday, he ate his whole bowl of noodles (corkscrew shaped Western pasta noodles) using the Oriental eating utensils.

Tony is four years old.  His father first used chopsticks at forty years of age.  So on one point, Tony is over thirty years ahead of his father in personal development.

Tony's father can only proclaim triumphalism from the fact that most Western children, of Tony's age, can't use chopsticks either

So in a triumphalist note, Tony's father has this to say to parents with children who are Western:  Ha Ha Ha!  Take that!  Your four-year old child can't use chopsticks!  My can!  Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Tony is Rocking & Rolling!



Another Tonyism: Bao Bao Sleepy!

When Tony says Bao Bao! to Daddy, he wants Dad to carry him in his arms.

When Tony says One Two Three! to Daddy, he wants Dad to carry him on his shoulders.

When Tony says Bao Bao Sleepy! to Daddy, he wants Dad to carry him so he can rest his head on a shoulder and sleep.

Tunnel Train!

In the depths of the Shanghai Subway for the first time, Tony saw a train come into the station.  He said "Look!  Tunnel Train!"

I am particularly proud of him doing this, because I am certain that he made this compound construction on his own, doing something that I wished more of my students would do.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tony on the Shanghai Subway


The woman besides him seems quite taken with him.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Three hours to take Tony's passport photo!

Tony's mother took Tony to a photo shop to get a passport photo taken.  A simple thing, one would assume, but it was a three hour ordeal for Jenny.  

Tony just wasn't able or willing to sit still long enough to pose for the photo.  Jenny became frustrated, after about twenty minutes and slapped him.  She then had to let him play with the Ipad awhile so he could calm down.  And the whole rigamaroll happened again.

Jenny has two different sets of photos of Tony that she hopes will pass muster with the Canadian passport office in Shanghai.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Daddy! Don't buy drink!!!!!!

Tony and I were on the E-bike.   I told him that we were going to the school to buy drinks.  Tony replied, "Don't buy drink!"  I told him again I was going to and he insisted that I wasn't.  And so when I took the E-bike towards the store, Tony began to cry.

When we arrived at the store entrance, Tony stood in front of me and tried to block me from entering  As I tried to get around him, he grabbed me by the legs.  He didn't stop me and so as I entered and went to the store shelves to find drinks for purchase, a bawling Tony clutched onto my legs forcing to me to drag him as I walked.  It was a curious sight for the storekeepers who know Tony and Tony's Baba very well.

Why was Tony acting as he did?  Tony and I had a conflict of agendas.  We had gone to do some trainspotting, after which I wanted to go home, but not before buying some drinks because Casa K was empty; and after which Tony wanted to go a nearby park and some do climbing on the slides and rope play sets.  Tony was upset that I didn't go to the park.  He had expected it because every other time we had gone trainspotting, we went to the park afterwards.

It turned out that we did go to the park afterwards.  Tony was so upset that I had no choice.  And after we went to the park and were on the way home, as I had wanted to do much earlier, Tony asked me to go to the store and buy him a lollipop!


Mister Relaxation

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Daddy! Don't get up!

Tony doesn't like to be in bed alone.  When Mom has to be up earlier than Dad, Tony won't let Dad leave bed.

"Don't get up!  Daddy!" he says to his father who finds himself in complete agreement with his son and yet can't fulfill the request.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Tony greets Daddy. Asks for the Yellow.

When Dad arrived home from work.  Tony opened the door for him.  Tony noticed Dad was wearing headphones and thus realized that he was listening to the Ipod which has a yellow cover.

"Give me my yellow!" said Tony.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Monday, February 6, 2012

What Tony did to Dad's laptop!

Those who have an Ipad or Ipod touch know that pivoting the device can change it from landscape to portrait configuration and vice versa.  So, it is not a rare thing for Tony's Dad to turn on his Ipod touch, when Tony lets him, and to see the screen in an unwanted configuration.

Monday evening, after letting Tony play with his laptop, Dad turned on that device to see the screen in a configuration that he didn't want.  The sign-in screen of the laptop was in a portrait configuration -- that is, everything on the screen was flipped ninety degrees from where it should normally have been .  Having this problem with the Ipod, it took Dad a few more seconds, than it should have, to realize something was wrong.  When Dad entered the password, the "*" character, used to hide the password, went upwards on the screen instead of left to right as it would have normally.  The desktop and all its icons were also ninety degrees off.  And maneuvering the mouse on the screen was impossible.

Fortunately, Dad was able to quickly discover, after a minute, what had happened.  Dad saw a key on the keyboard that had a picture of a screen on it:  the F1 Key.  To activate the function of that key, one had to press the function (Fn) key.  Doing this, Dad fixed the screen configuration problem by pressing the keys and choosing the correct option of the menu that then appeared. Tony had pressed the function (Fn) key and the F1 key at the same time -- a possible mistake Tony could make playing with the Microsoft Train Simulator program.

In the aftermath,  Dad had three thoughts.  First, he fixed the problem so quickly that he didn't have time to really get upset about it.  The problem was, in essence, fixed during the moments of it setting into Dad's awareness.  Second, he should have taken a photo of the problem and put it into the blog instead of trying to describe it.  Of course, he could change the configuration of the screen again to take a photo, but that was asking for trouble and so it would be better to let things be.  Third, he wondered if he should let Tony use the laptop again.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Tony uses Dad's housecoat as a blanket

Dad was wearing his housecoat as he sat on the sofa in the Casa Kaulins living room when Tony came up to him with his dolls and started to pull at the robes.

Dad didn't know what Tony was up to.  But as he tried to stand up, Tony got very upset and insisted that Daddy "sit down!"

Tony then took the bottom of Dad's robe and used it as a blanket to cover his Eego Beego doll.

"Strange!" thought Dad.