A Cluster of Photos

I'm hoping to actually start posting regularly again some time in the near future, but for now, here are a bunch of photos uploaded to my computer today...

Jake and Hannah, Arby's, and Estates

When I picked Jacob up from school today, I thought he'd be in a great mood. I'd had a parent-teacher conference with his teacher, and she had only wonderful things to say about him. I told him about it and he seemed a little pleased, but was still in a rotten mood. At one point, he said, "Benjamin just makes my life more difficult." I told him that was a really mean, hurtful thing to say. I asked, "Wouldn't you feel horrible if something bad happened to him, like he got hurt?" He shrugged. And I wondered about my child and if he could possibly mean that.

And then.... a few minutes into it, a lightbulb lit up. Oh yeah.... Jacob gets like this when something else is bothering him. Duh.

"Um, Jake? Did something happen at school today?"

"No."

"Are you sure? Is something bothering you?"

Silence.

"Anything at all?"

Pause.

"Well, it's just that sometimes after we do our homework on the computers at BAC, Hannah wants to go outside and I don't always want to. And if I don't, then she gets really, really upset."

So then we talked about how it's okay to disagree. It's okay to not always want to do the same thing. It's okay as long as you're nice about it. I said sometimes it's also nice to do what the other person wants. He said he does do that. So then I said what Jacob often needs to hear most: "Disagreeing with her doesn't make you a bad person. You're a good kid. You're a nice kid. You're allowed to have different opinions."

And then he was magically better and decided Benjamin wasn't so bad after all.

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So, Jacob took it to heart when I told him I really want to know when things bother him. I really do. His mind is always going 100 miles per hour. I'm guessing he enjoys video games so much because it's his time to just focus on ONE thing at a time. With his constant thinking and analyzing, he worries a lot.

On the way home, Jacob said, "When are we going to eat at Arby's again? I really like Arby's."

I said, "Oh, I don't know. It's not really very good and it's expensive for a fast food restaurant. We can spend just a little more and go to a regular restaurant."

Jacob said, "I really like their curly fries."

I said, "Yeah, they're pretty good."

A minute or two later, Jacob said, "When you say things like you don't like Arby's, I just feel like you're discounting my opinion."

He humbles me.

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Oh, and one more little "Jacob" thing...

- His teacher said she was asking a group of them to guess a word that starts with "e" and means all of someone's property and what they own... And Jacob got it -- "estate." She was shocked.

Ben Can Read! and Jake is Jake

Benjamin read a book! By himself! They're the "Mat and Sam" books... He read a couple of them gleefully to us. He likes to switch a word occasionally and then see if we notice... He'll read it and then pause and you can see his cheeks curve as he tries not to laugh....

Tonight at dinner we had to each choose a bird to be. Greg chose an albatross. Jacob said, "Did you know they can sleep while they're flying?" He has random trivia for everything!!!

Jacobisms...

Just to document these so I don't forget them one day when Jacob's excelling in whatever field he chooses...

The other day we were in the car and Benjamin saw a truck with two scorpions on it.

Benjamin: "Look! It's a truck with two lobsters!"
Jacob: "Those aren't lobsters. Those are scorpions."
Me: "Jake, he's 4. They do look like lobsters."
Jacob: "Um, I guess... They do both have pincers and segmented bodies... but scorpions have a stinger and don't have antennae... they have hair for feelers."
Yep.

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On the way home from school, Jacob said he wants to be a scientist when he grows up. Or an inventor. Like the guy who invented the telephone was a scientist and taught during the day but made inventions at night. He'd go to work all day, come home and sleep for a bit in between, and then invent at night. :-)

The first invention he was pondering was how to make real life light sabers. He said (I can't verify this because I don't pay attention) that in Star Wars, the light sabers work with an energy crystal stuck in a handle and the energy crystal is kind of magical and creates the light. He said maybe he could take a regular crystal, put it in a handle, and then add tons of tiny mirrors all angled in just the right way so the light (and then added, "Maybe an LED light") would bounce off of all the mirrors and create enough energy in the handle that light would shoot out.

He's 7.

When I was 9 or 10 we had to come up with an invention in school. The best I could come up with was a cloth-covered ice pack because ice in the bag by itself kind of stings. This was the best I could think of. And it wasn't until years later that I realized it wasn't even a new idea...

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It's titled Jacobisms, but Benjamin pulled one out the other day.... He randomly asked us if 3 plus 4 plus 5 is 12. Well, that just stunned us a bit. :)

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Jacob's First Concert!

Greg and I absolutely love going to concerts. Love it. Not the big, screaming outdoor concerts packed with huge crowds and really well-known artists. Nope, we like the smaller venues with lesser-known groups. The ones most people haven't heard of. One of our favorite bands is Jukebox the Ghost. Jacob LOVES them. He passionately belts out the words to their songs. He'll sing the background music as well. When Jukebox announced a concert at totally crunchy, non-alcohol-serving venue, we decided this was the time. In case you don't know him well, Jacob is not your typical 7-year-old. We've been able to reason with him since he was two (or possibly younger). In a lot of ways (definitely not all), he's like a mini adult.

The concert was HOT. It was sweltering outside, and inside... it didn't feel like there was any air conditioning in the building. Being an old building with lots of tall, lovely stained glass windows, none of the windows opened. So, suffocatingly hot with no air circulation. We arrived at 7 and left at 11.... UGH.

But, Jacob loved it.

 Fists!

 Travis, Jacob, Chloe

 Kid fists!

 Before the concert started, the kids entertained themselves by making each other go cross-eyed.

 The way to get meat in a vegan place? Order Jimmy John's! They're freaky fast!

 Jesse setting up his drums.

 I don't like to use flash much during the shows... I think it's somewhat rude. The people behind us had no problem taking 20 or so photos during a song, each one with flash. 

 Okay, so not a very good photo of Tommy, but we kind of stalker-snagged him as he came into the room and we had a huge crowd of teenage fans closing in on us...

 Ben and Jake. After two hours of performing in a bajillion degree heat, he somehow doesn't look hot and sweaty. Must be the tank top.

 And Jesse with Jake. He is the happiest drummer ever. Jacob was so impressed with him.

 Jacob with his signed poster.

And... a late night Denny's run. Jacob could barely keep his eyes open, but he was hungry. While he was sleepily eating his food, I made him promise that he'll never decide it's not cool to hang out with his parents and that we'll always be concert buddies. 

Teaching Mom a Lesson

A few weeks ago (or maybe a month or two ago?), Jacob and I were in the drive-through at McDonalds. I guess I should back up a bit and start this by telling you a little about growing up as an asian person in a very un-asian community.

I haven't known many asian people. There just weren't many asian people around where I grew up, so it's possible I was one of the only asian people some of my classmates had met at that point in life. As a result, I've been told I look like just about any female asian person who has ever appeared on television. Kristi Yamaguchi? Connie Chung? Margaret Cho? Yes, yes, and yes. Do any of them look at all alike? Not in my opinion. Do I look like any of them? Not at all.

So back to McDonalds. Jacob watched the last season of The Sing Off with us. His favorite group was Afro Blue. As you can guess, most of the singers were black. As we approached the window, Jacob said, "That girl looks like a singer from Afro Blue!"

I looked. I saw no resemblance to any of the singers from Afro Blue.

Um.

Me: Why do you think that?

Jacob: Because she looks like a singer from Afro Blue.

Me: Um.... Are you saying that because they have a similar skin color?

Jacob: (Very patiently, the way you speak to someone who's a little slow...) No, I'm saying it because she looks like one of the singers from Afro Blue.

Me: (Still not seeing any resemblance at all) You know, sometimes people think people look alike just because two people might have something in common. Like people think Auntie Anne and I look alike because we're both asian. Do you think we look alike?

Jacob: No. (With a definite "duh" tone thrown in)

Me: Well, a lot of people do just because we're asian. A lot of people sometimes get confused when people have similar traits so they just decide they look the same. I was wondering if maybe you thought that about the person in the window.

Jacob: Mom. (A little exasperated by now) It doesn't matter. We are all part of the same big family. We are all God's children!

How do you respond to that? He definitely had me there. I should have known better.... I assumed he was only seeing color, which is something Jacob would never do. He is the most wonderfully color/size/status-blind kid ever. He truly only sees people. When Jacob's classmates occasionally make fun of or don't like another kid for reasons we as jaded adults see as obvious (not that we think it's right), Jacob is clueless about why the kids wouldn't like someone. He doesn't notice someone's weight, he doesn't notice someone's clothing, he doesn't notice if someone is "cool" or not. He forms his opinions based on how much fun someone is, if they're nice to him, and they only get bonus points for things like being able to talk Star Wars or  knowing funny knock-knock jokes.

How did I end up with such a cool kid? He is such a good person. I hope he never changes!

Recently Heard Around the House....

Jacob on 4/7/2012: The four types of germs are bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi.

Benjamin on 4/7/2012: It seems to me that these red cups have circle tops and square bottoms.

Jacob on 3/20/2012:  I think I'm getting better at staring because I can stare for longer and the nerves in my eyes aren't screaming to my brain, "Give me water!!!"


Benjamin on 2/27/2012: Chicken is from chicken and ham is from hamskers.