Friday, March 6, 2009

Dear Koen,

You turned 37 months old on Tuesday. Last month was remarkable in terms of your development and transformation into a little boy. With that said, this month's letter is brought to you by the letter "P" and the number "2."

Potty
The morning of your Birthday, you burst into the bathroom, stuck your head into my shower and said, "Daddy, it's my Birthday, today!" In which I replied, "Oh, yeah? What are you going to do today?" And in all your wisdom of a 3-year-old you replied, "I'm going to wear Chonies! Because I'm a Big Boy now!!!" So, that is how you Potty trained yourself. In the entire day you only had 2 accidents. (Your mother wants me to note here that she was very brave to take you out on your first day sans diaper.) In addition, anyone you ran across that day and almost every day since gets quite an eyeful when the topic of being potty trained comes up. This is where you promptly pull down your pants to show anyone and everyone that you now wear Chonies!

Though the idea of you Potty training yourself is more than any parent could hope for, it didn't come without motivation. Months prior to this Miracle on 62nd Street, you had been asking...begging for a couple of things. 1) a DVD of The Spectacular Spiderman, and 2) a Spiderman Web/Water Blaster. Your Papa had been telling you that only Big Boys
who sit on their Potty Chair can watch the new DVD of The Spetacular Spiderman. Bad Papa! But we can't blame him
for trying to get you to use your potty chair. Nope. A couple months before your birthday, you saw a commercial for a Spiderman Web/Water Blaster on www.monkeybartv.com. You begged and pleaded for us to buy it for you. Your Mom and I made the mistake of telling you that only Big Boys were allowed to play with blasters. And in order for someone
to be a Big Boy, they need to wear Chonies and use their potty chair. Bad Mommy and Daddy! Speaking more of bad Mommy and Daddy, we discovered that we promised you a whole bunch of things this past year in order to motivate
you to potty train. Of course, in keeping with your keen recall abilities you remember EACH and EVERY one of those promises we made and do not hesitate to remind us. Ummm... Yes, son. I did also promise that you can go to the
Kung Fu school with Daddy as soon as your potty trained.

So, your motivation was set in place. In order to attain a Web/Water Blaster and own/watch the new Spectacular Spiderman DVD, you waited until you turned 3-years-old, and rubbed it in our faces that you are definitely a BIG BOY!

Peter Parker
The evening of your Birthday, we took the family to dinner. Though it was chilly outside, you didn't want to wear a jacket. No, you wanted to wear your Spiderman Costume given to you by your 4-year-old neighbor friend. The entire evening you didn't just walk around wearing your costume, you proudly jumped and posed all through the restaurant and on occasion would stop and say, "I'm Spiderman."

Perspective
For your Birthday, your Mom and I gave you your very own digital camera. The majority of your growing portfolio
are random objects and everyday activities that surround you.

Interior, Architecture and Graphic Design Magazines

Daddy practicing Kung Fu

On your way to a Play Group with Mom

You and your Mom

Problems on the Potty? It's only been a week.
Just when your Mom and I thought Potty Training was one less thing we had to teach you, it didn't come without problems. Months prior to potty training you had been having trouble pooping and had gotten into a cycle of withholding and then struggling painfully when it finally did make a break for it. For about a week after your Potty Training Day, you complained that your tummy and "bum" (your words, not mine) hurt. We told you that you needed to poop. You would tell us, "No, just rub my belly." I would chuckle and say "of course it hurts, your poops are the size of softballs." Your Mom, along with the counsel of your pediatrician, started putting a stool softener in your water to help with the non-cooperative alien life form you were trying to pass. As motivation, we would read you a few books to get you in the mood.

You definitely needed the motivation because it also seemed that you were getting restless and didn't want to sit on
the potty. So, your Mom (once a Managing Analyst with 30+ employees for one of the biggest Telecommunications Corporations in the world) developed a Poopy Chart to re-motivate you. For every poop you make, you add a star on
the chart. Once you reach 5 stars you get a prize. Now here is the tricky part. You think your prize will always be a toy.
We were thinking your prize could be a trip to the Zoo, or San Francisco, perhaps Florida. Poop priority, prize issues
we'll tackle later.

Popular music
Koen, your Daddy is getting old. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to watch you for most of the day while your Mom helped your Papa at his shop. Your Lola and Lolo were out of town, so I decided to pack your Poopy Bag and we ventured over to their house. On the way there I turned on the radio, only to find us in a power struggle of which station to play.
As I flipped around, you kept insisting I leave it on the Hip Hop/R&B stations. I thought my ears were going to start bleeding. Seriously. There was one song in particular..."Diva is anotha name for a hussla." (insert long silent pause with my jaw on the ground) I was speechless. I could not believe someone took the term Diva and "Ghettofied" it. I quickly flipped it to the classic rock station where they were just finishing Free Bird by Lynyrd Skyndrd. You yelled at me and said, "Daddy, I don't want this music, it hurts my ears." So I flipped to another station and they were playing "What Is Love?" by Howard Jones.

As the song was half way over, I looked in my rearview mirror and said, "Did you know Daddy use to listen to this song when I was in Jr. High School?" Then we both started laughing. You were probably laughing because the song sounded funny or the fact that I made reference to how old I'm getting. I was laughing because I couldn't believe I was having a power struggle over radio stations with a 3-year-old.

Confessions of a geek incognito
So, last weekend I took a small trip to San Francisco and met your Uncle Trey and Nirshan at the Moscone Center for...WONDERCON 2009! I was never really into comic books as a kid. My hero's were Bruce Lee, Ultraman, Speed Racer, Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot to name a few. But when your Uncle Trey told me Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia (Carry Fisher) were going to be there...we were on it "like a rat on a Cheeto."

The place was packed with geeks from all reaches of the earth. Some dressed as their favorite comic book heros, some dressed as characters from movies. The most impressive costume of the day was Bumblebee from the Transformers (Yes, there was a real person in that costume and he was walking around).

This was my very first Wondercon and I have to say, though it was packed, it was fun. I've been to Martial Arts and Skateboarding conventions in the past, and there always seemed to be a certain attitude in the air and most everyone had chips on their shoulders. Not at Wondercon. Just geeks, geeking out on comics and the fact that they could be a geek without anyone judging them. Even the world famous DJ QBert was there geeking out.

There were two highlights of the day for me. The first happened moments after getting our badges. I saw a Cylon from the original Battlestar Galactica and had to have a picture with him. I'm a big fan of the current series on the SiFi Channel and grew up watching the original series. When you are old enough, we'll take one weekend and geek out on
the current series; which by the way is in it's final season with only a few more shows to go. Daddy is very sad.

The second highlight of the day was meeting Carry Fisher...Princess Leia! Mark Hamill was at the table next to her, but that loser was charging $100.00 for an autograph. Sorry, he didn't wear a gold bikini in Return of the Jedi, so he didn't get my money...hahahaha. You probably won't understand that reference until you are much older. Which, by the way, when that time comes..."STAY IN SCHOOL!" Girls are bad, school is good :-)

So, there you have it. Your Daddy is a geek incognito. I hope that when you are much older, you will have positive memories of being in awe with Spiderman, Batman and all the other comic book heros you will encounter. Remember, it's okay to be child-like at times, just as long as you are not childish. Oh, one last thing. Be at one with your poop. The Force is strong with you young Jedi.

Love,
Daddy

This letter had been brought to you by the letter "P" and the number "2."