Notes about Tony

• Tony is one half Chinese, one half Canadian, and one half Latvian.  He isn't Cherokee as far as I know.
• Tony is back on Youtube!  You can visit here to see his latest and older videos.  Someone sent me an excellent VPN.  I don't think I will number the WTU's anymore.
• Sunday evening, Tony watches Mickey Mouse on DVD -- his choice.
• Dad was sitting at the computer, frustrated about the Internet connection, when Tony came beside him.  Tony put a cracker in his father's mouth and then gave Dad a big hug.
• Tony hugs Daddy tightly as fireworks, being set off, making loud and startling noises.

Sleepy Head

It was hard to rouse Tony on Tuesday Morning.

Dad takes Tony to preschool by taxi

Tony's school is close to Casa Kaulins but it still isn't close enough when it rains, as heavily, as it is this morning.

 

Dad took him -- roundtrip fare was 20 rmb.

Good Night Daddy!

Just now, Tony said "Good Night Daddy!" and then went to sleep.

 

It was a first.  The first time Tony ever wished his father a good night, that is.

Tony's Father goes to the Pub. "Marriage as Prison"

Tony's father went to the pub on Friday night.  It is not something he does often.  In fact since Tony has been born, his father can proudly count on one hand how many times he has been to a local Wuxi Expat pub.

 

Andis hasn't gone to the pub for several reasons:  he can't afford it; the pubs are too far from his home; six years have seen relations with other Expats become strained; having a child limits one's social opportunities among Expats because many of them aren't family types; and he feels guilty when he does go to the pub.

 

Andis went to the pub because he had money to get for an article he had written for a local Expat magazine. 

 

When he arrived at the pub, he found it was full and that there were no familiar or friendly faces to talk to.  No one came to talk to him.

 

One person, who did come to talk to Andis ,said "that having a child limited his freedom (the speaker's, not Andis).  And that he forced himself to work hard all week so he could socialize with other Expats on a Friday night.  And being a step-father for twelve years, he knew the fatherhood gig."

 

Andis can only say that this attitude expressed by a want-to-be-a-socializer is selfish.  The joy of life does not come from socializing, it comes from love and making real sacrifices for others.  Furthermore, anyone who says parent hood isn't for him or her is admitting that he or she is a defective as a human being. (Not to say that everyone should be a parent.  Some shouldn't.  Still, what I mean is this: that people who aren't parents, for good reasons or even selfish reasons, should know the role they are playing in this world is secondary to those who make the sacrifices of being parents)  People who don't want to be parents and question those who do, should begin by questioning why their parents brought up them -- for in saying what they do about parenthood they are insulting their parents.

 

The same goes for many Expats who express the idea that marriage is prison.  To watch these people behave, is to see perverts on the prowl.

Monday Morning Tony

He is dressed in a school uniform.

Wuxi Tony Talks!!!

Wuxi Tony Talks!

Tony on Saturday Night

When I got home at seven p.m., Tony was asleep on the couch.

By God! She done did it!

Jenny took the photos for Tony's homework.

Homework for Tony

I didn't get to interact much with my son on Friday.  I left for work early and came home late.

My wife, though, did tell me about the homework the Kindergarten is assigning him.  There is one task in which Tony has to prove he can pee by himself, so my wife is going to take photos and have them printed off to be taken to school.

I am still debating if I will put those photos in this blog.

Tony on Friday Morning

He doesn't want to get out of bed, but that won't stop him from drinking his bottle -- apparently, he asked for one at four a.m.!

Tony and a Red Blanket

Thursday Night Tony...

...was the same problem as Wednesday Night Tony.  He didn't go to bed at the right time instead jumping all over the bed like a mischievous monkey.

 

He did do a strange thing.  When his father was taking a shower, Tony sat on a stool in the bathroom, waiting and listening to a MP3 on his father's mobile phone.  Tony saw the phone and insisted that his father put it on Morrissey's "Last of the International Playboys".

 

After the shower, Tony listened to the Morrissey track thirty times before he went to sleep.

Tony and His Mom

They are about to go to school.

Grumpy Tony

Brave Tony

There is a park near our apartment -- about a five minute scooter ride away -- that has a cool playground.  It's cool because it has a lot of play fixtures that safety authorities in Canada would probably consider too unsafe to permit.   Some of there fixtures I am afraid to try, but as I say "Screw regulations.  You take your chances!"

 

There is a slide and stair fixture that Tony can use only by having me lift him up  to the slide or by his climbing a very steep ten foot high wall with footholds that stick out but half an inch.  On Tuesday, Tony, much to my surprise and apprehension, was quickly able to figure out a way to climb the wall by himself -- he was able to use siderails.

 

After about ten turns of climbing this fixture and going down the slide, Tony went to a second fixture that must have been forty feet high.  To get to the summit of this "tower", one could try ascending stairs which were really a series of wooden boards strung up horizontally by rope; or one could try climbing rope, which was tied and strung up in looped footholds, from the tower's other side.  Tony choose the "stairs" wobbly as they were.  I held onto him as he did so -- he had a grand time while I was slightly worried.  Going down the roped side of the tower was tricky.  I put Tony in my lap and tried to slide down the rope.  But it became apparent to Tony that he was better off descending himself which he did.

Tony, then, undeterred, lead me to a third tower that had a steep wall like the first fixture only three times as tall, and a rope foothold descent like the previous tower.  

Tony surprised me with his daring.  In all the other times, I had gone to the park I had never thought to give climbing the towers, a try.  That was until Tuesday and not before Tony had thought to do it.

Annoying, Friendly, and Bilingual Tony

• Tony, just now, said "Watch t.v." and "看点视" (Kan Dianshi -- Chinese for watch t.v.). 
• Last night, Tony did not go to bed till past midnight.  He was jumping all over the bed like a little monkey.
• This morning, I said "Good Morning Buddy!" to him as I woke him up.  He said "Good Morning Buddy!" back.

 

Tony at a playground

Tony kneels