Two words “party rock”, or as Lia likes to refer to it as “the everyday I’m shuffling” song. She not only loves the song, but is obsessed with the video. I think she has seen it over a dozen times, and probably didn’t even blink the entire time. These are not the typical songs we play for her, but it is a fun song. Of course in my mind I’m already fast forwarding to her teenage years when I have lost contact with the hip songs and asking “what in God’s name are you listening to?”, just as my father did with me.

At times seeing Lia grow can be double edged sword. On one hand it’s really entertaining and fun to see her so excited and dancing around, yet it’s hard to accept that she is growing up and won’t be this age forever. The other day while shopping with Cassondra at DSW shoes, Lia and I decided to wonder off and look around. Before I knew it Lia pis utting on high heels and then grabbing a purse off the hanger and prancing around like a fashion model. This continued on for several minutes as I sat quietly and recorded clips and a few snapshots to capture this precious moment. Thankfully, she still has several more years of being my sweet little angel before having to enforce dress code and curfews. Until then, I have been and will continue to enjoy every minute together.

This has to be the cutest sad little lioness photo ever. We were shopping at Kirkland’s when we came across a stand full of these animal beanies. As cute as she looked in it, she wanted no part in wearing them but was a good sport, put one on for us and allowed us to take one picture. However, she warmed up to it as we all put one on with Cassondra as an Owl, papa as a frog and me as a bear. We probably looked and acted like a lost tribe of Noah’s Ark misfits goofing off, having fun and laughing at our own silliness. Were people watching? Absolutely… Did we care? Not even the slightest. Lia is a very expressive child when she is comfortable in her surroundings, so we encourage her to be herself and interact with us in public as much as possible to help with her shyness. I know most kids are shy at her age and depending on situation it varies, but we truly encourage her to take the first step in introductions and interacting with kids and adults alike. It seems to be working, as her courage and initiative in meeting new people is starting to show, and we couldn’t be happier.

In pre-k being a scribble scrabbler is not something you want to be labeled as according to my findings. Don’t even think of calling Liana a scribble scrabbler, because she will adamantly deny any such allegations. However, she will narc on her fellow school mates naming the guilty scribble scrabblers like they had the bubonic plague. For those who don’t know, a scribble scrabbler is one who can’t color “correctly”, or doesn’t stay inside lines. A scribble scrabbler often grabs a crayon as they would a ski pole and relentlessly scribbles in and out of lines violently as to show disgust in partaking in a such a juvenile activity. Of course this is not their intention, but their finished “masterpiece” will say otherwise. Thank God bumper stickers haven’t appeared yet calling out scribble scrabblers because if those said toddlers could read, they’d be pissed.

Lia has had this Power Wheels Ford Mustang I gotten on sale at Amazon.com about the time she started walking. ( This gives you and idea on just how good of a sale it was). So the mustang sat gathering dust for well over a year and a half until she could actually reach the gas pedal. Fast forward to today I can’t tell you how many miles she has racked up on her fancy car. Often times Lia has her baby, Barbie, teddy bear or other toy snuggly buckled in next to her. What I find particularly interesting is when she pulls up next to the house and drops her baby or toy off at “daycare” (window ledge of front bay window) then gets back into her car and drives around for the next several minutes without stopping. In her mind she seems to think that when we drop her off at school, we get back into our car and drive around for hours until its time to pick her up.

During our move from our last place I seemed to have misplaced the charger to her mustang battery. We normally just ask our neighbor to have it for us since they also have a Power Wheels. This last time she was out in the car zipping around the car started to slow down due to the battery winding down. However, this time Lia asked that since the battery is dying could she get a new car, a pink one. Although she already knew that we recharge the battery and it will run fast again, she was thinking instead of wasting time recharging, we should just get a brand new one for her. Listening to her makes me smile…cautiously, knowing had presented similar arguments/justifications to my parents MANY times in the past.

With swimming being your new found favorite past time, it seemed it was serendipitous to have my mom (Grammy) install a new full size pool and cabana at her house. This translated into a 2 day sleepover with countless hours of swimming, fun, laughter and quality time with your grandparents. To be honest, I was shocked that you let me out of your site for that long. I was almost positive that we would have to come pick you up from there because I know how much you really love your daddy. Of course that love is quickly traded in for an all access pool extravaganza at your disposal. Those 2 days meant so much to Grammy, and she will always treasure them in her heart. Unfortunately for her, she always felt that she never really got to spend some real quality time with you, but we are quickly making up for that now and building a strong bond with her and papa Ed. What’s funny is sometimes when they come over to visit or we head out there it’s like those old movie scenes where 2 people are running towards each other in slow motion, only to have you pass up Grammy to take comfort in papa Ed’s arms. Of course you run back over to Grammy to share the love, but must admit it’s fun to watch.



I’ve been meaning to write about some of your most recent sayings down that have made us laugh, smile and thoroughly enjoy because kid really do say the darnedest things.

“I can put my ears behind my back” – referring to being able to tuck her hair behind her ears.

“I don’t know anything about anything” – in regards to papa asking you a question.

“Look, that airplane’s flying a note” – Pointing to an airplane in the sky toting a banner behind it.

“When you were sick daddy did you throw up? – after telling her why I wasn’t able to pick her up because of being ill.

Lia: “Daddy, I want Chick-Fil-A.”
Me: “Ok, but they have Smurf toys at McDonald’s”
Lia: “Daddy, I want Mcdonald’s”

All in all, the summer of Lia 2011 was a huge success and can’t wait until next year’s summer vacation.

Project Hello Kitty was the given name to the operation of changing Lia’s room into Hello Kittyland. It was conceived and planned over the course of 2 months with the targeted 2 week window of May in which I did not have her for 2 straight weekends. It all began with a little imagination and several hours of researching what was and wasn’t available as far as Hello Kitty products and furniture. To my surprise, there wasn’t much considering it has a cult-like following and over a quarter billion Asian girls and women who wear Hello Kitty products daily.

Setting the budget was of course the hardest for me considering I wanted her room to look like it was done by a professional considering how much effort I wanted to put towards the room. Lia has never played much in her room and we felt it was due to lack of kid decor, although it to us was inviting and served it’s purpose, but it still lacked creative vision and that warm and fuzzy feeling it was certainly due. We set a budget of 300.00 and quickly found out that it was going to go fast considering the the paint required so we improvised by selling a few things via craigslist to supplement the budget accordingly.

When I first envisioned her room, I wanted more than the typical “pink” wall treatment, so I played with a couple of ideas until I decided on vertical pink and white stripes. Of course her room to begin with was a light shade of brown so the entire room needed exactly 2 coats of white paint. Now, for thse of you who have never attempted vertical stripes pay close attention “DON’T DO THEM!” Actually it wasn’t that bad, but did involve a great deal of planning, execution and most of all attention to detail, because the slightest mishap and you have one stripe thicker than the other. On paper it’s simple, just tape off and paint. What you don’t consider when taping off is the 2 inches of masking tape needs to be figured in every next stripe you paint. Sure, I know what you might be thinking… but trust me it took me, my father and Cassondra several times of assured measuring and retaping before the bristles hit the wall. A couple of times had we not remeasured would have cost us to have 2 pink or white stripes meeting together at the end of the room. Fortunately for us, that wasn’t a problem. With a little Autocad floor diagramming, I figured each stripe would need to be 13 7/8″ width to ensure a perfect match throughout the room, and it matched up perfectly.

The first week of Project Hello Kitty was designated to completing the painting, while week 2 would focus on the decorating of the room. As mentioned above, the painting was a little more involved than I had imagined but it was well worth it when we finished, although when the room was complete I felt her room had a Victoria Secrets box look to it, but I knew the artwork and decor would quickly diminish that look and would blend into the background perfectly.

We finished up week one with painting her closet and entry way door along with painting her fan blades pink to offset the white fan. Once week 2 began, I realized exactly just how much work needed to get done in just a short amount of time. I knew during my research that Hello Kitty didn’t make any type of furniture, so I knew I would have to get crafty by “making” our own. I also quickly found that I needed to roll up my graphic design sleeves and get really creative with her wall decor since there was literally nothing on the market for that as well. I began by talking to my father with what I had envisioned and getting him involved with making custom canvas frames for the completed artwork I had comped up. He went to Home Depot and bought all the wood necessary based on my artwork spacing and measurements. I chose to do multi-canvas artwork to give her room an avant garde appeal since I gravitate towards that in daily work.

I then began calling in favors to my sign company friend who printed each piece accordingly on banner material in which needed to be cut, stretched and stapled to my father’s custom canvas frames. This entire process was truly a great bonding experience with my father as we volleyed witty banter back and forth as we hurried to get the canvases done so we could focus on the furniture. With 2 days left before Project Hello Kitty was initiated, time began to be of the essence. I combed craigslist for furniture I could easily Hello Kittify, but had limited success until I found a 250.00 regularly priced Ikea kids bed for only 80.00 and that set the wheels in motion and set the tone for the rest of the mission. I quickly perused the Ikea site for matching furniture, but found only a few things that looked to “toddlerish” to be Hello Kitty furniture so I got creative with a few different cabinets and drawers as well as a table and chairs. The rest of the graphics were selected and printed as vinyl stickers for me to apply to each piece of furniture. This of course was “comped” in Photoshop to make sure I knew exactly how everything was going to look before anything was printed, purchased or applied.

Down to the last few hours before we picked up Lia and we got her furniture cleaned or assembled along with the graphics and it literally came down to the final 10 minutes before we completely finished. Project Hello Kitty was a huge success thanks to my father and my fiancé Cassondra, not to mention I was mentally and physically drained but knew the best was yet to come, the final reveal.

I had told Lia the day before that we had a surprise for her and she spent the next 2 hours trying to guess what it was. We of course gave her clues, but nothing could have prepared her imagination for what was yet to come. So with Friday finally upon us, she was at her mothers door waiting for me to pick her up with so much anticipation I could almost feel it from the street as I got out of the car. We quickly rushed home and made sure the camera was charged as ready to film as moments like these can;t be captured a second time. When Lia got to the top of the stairs she could see her bedroom door was closed, but something was very different… it was solid pink. She started getting excited and the only way I can describe what happened as she opened the door was when Willy Wonka from the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opened the door for Charlie and the other kids to reveal a chocolate candy land seemed to be the shock and awe excitement Lia displayed. She even had to ask if this was her room after saying hello Kitty over 10 times.

She raced to each part of the room to touch every object that was Hello Kittied out and opened every drawer, cabinet, and closet to make sure she didn’t miss a thing. I almost think her mind couldn’t comprehend what had happened to her room. There was so much to take in and with the smile on her face as she scoped the room, a sense of relief and jubilee surged through my body. It was worth every cent, hour and drop of sweat that went into it and if I had to do it all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. What topped the reveal off superbly was while Lia was admiring her Hello Kitty bedsheets, she looked at us and asked when does she get to go to bed. Anyone with children know kids NEVER ask when it’s time for bed, and if they did they knew they should probably go see a doctor or check to see if they hit their head. In all seriousness, Project Hello Kitty was a complete success and not only did Lia want to go to bed, she feel asleep in a record time of 8 minutes. Of course she could have been extremely tired, but I’m sure a Hello Kittied room helped out a little.

On a side note, this was done to a rental house to which we do not even own which sounds silly… but it’s amazing to think of the silly things you will do for the one’s you love. I hope it was everything you wanted and more my precious Liana, I love you. Special thanks goes out to Cassondra, My Father, Kenneth, Gary and Terri for your help and support, without you, none of this would have been possible. Thanks for making it special for my little girl.

Everyone’s childhood favorite board game Candy Land was the latest addition to her collection and we enjoyed several games with her. I never knew I could enjoy watching someone cheat as much as Lia did every time I turned my head she would be 20 to 30 paces ahead of where she last was. What made it interesting was when she would draw a ice cream symbol, regardless of the fact that she has already passed that symbol, she would argue that it didn’t matter that she in fact got an ice cream card out of it, which to her is better than winning. In the end, she magically won every game we played, which is always OK in my book.

Little did I know about paper fan making before this past weekend. Lia is the foremost authority in that very subject, as there were about 7 fans strewn across the house at any given moment available in every shade of color one would desire when hot.
Lia likes playing classroom and being the teacher and we are her students. It’s fun to catch a glimpse of what goes on in her teachings as she is very thorough in her best performance as her teacher and giving directions, detailing activities, and reading to us a story that literally makes no sense to us, but perfect sense to her as she makes it up as she goes along. I just can’t wait for one of these books to be made into a movie.

A neighbor of ours recently gave me a brief glimpse into my future by setting up a lemonade stand for his daughter and supervising the event. It was fun seeing what I have to look forward to in my daughters ventures into capitalism, or in her eyes, what toy can she buy with the money she made. Either way, it’s something I truly look forward to helping her with as she will have the most elaborate and fancy set-up in the history of lemonade stands go, because image is everything and if the lemonade tastes half as good as her set-up, she is due for some big profits. This thought also spawned ideas of her history and science fairs in the coming years, and how hard it will be for me NOT to do the best displays ever, but will act as a consultant offering ideas and helping out here and there. Of course if she is anything like me, she will tell me that it’s due tomorrow instead of giving us weeks to plan it. A special thanks goes out to my mom and dad for saving my skin a few times, as I’m sure my days are coming…

On another note, Lia was literally obsessed with the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate for some odd reason and requested to watch it a few times this weekend, but we had to remind her that we didn’t have it recorded, and it was only on Friday. Of course the E Channel provided an encore presentation of the event, to which she dubbed “the parade” but soon called it a wedding once they got out of the car and the wedding started. I am not sure why she was so enthralled by the wedding, but it was cute to see her so tuned into the event like someone who was following the event religiously. With mine and Cassondra’s wedding day quickly approaching, Lia is getting excited and wanting to be in the wedding as our flower girl and think she will male a beautiful one at that. We look forward to having her in our wedding as much as she is excited about being in it. I know I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Whatever! Pretty much the last thing I ever expected my daughter to tell me at only 4 years old. Not only did Lia tell me “whatever”, but she stormed off after using the phrase followed by the appropriate walk off. It was as if time stood still for me to actually analyze what just happened. Now, I have to note that “whatever” is the adolescent version of F**K you and is not tolerated by most parents, including this one. I had to go back to the conversation in my head to replay it and it went a little something like this:

Lia: “Daddy, do you know where that little baby is with the backpack”
Me: “I don’t know Lia did you check your room? I think I remember seeing you have it in your room last night”
Lia: “Daddy, I can’t find it (getting a little flustered) and I want you to come help me find it”
Me: “Lia, I can’t right now, I am getting ready so we can go see Paw Paw”
Lia: (In her pre-cry voice) “But Daddy I want you to come help me find her, I can’t find her.”
Me: Lia, I will help you find her in a minute, but can you please clean up your room before we go and maybe you will find her”
Lia: Whatever! (storms off into her room)

Yeah, that just happened, and maybe like 8 years too soon I would say. I figured my first whatever would come in the preteen years, instead it came in the preschool years, much to my dismay. I think once I got over the initial shock, I knew I had to nip that nonsense in the bud and let her know really quick that “whatever” doesn’t work in this household, nor will it be tolerated. That didn’t sit to well with her as she was still distraught over not finding her baby but made it perfectly clear that “whatever” is not how we handle problem solving and communication when things are not going her way. I’m not where she picked it up, but hope that is the last I hear of it for a while…and things have been quiet on the range since so we will see.

I’m not sure where Lia has picked up the art of negotiation, but it’s been running rampant from how many pieces of food she eats, too how many minutes she stays up to finish watching a show or helping pick up after she makes a mess. I know I am dealing with some sort of Jedi in training as I have often found myself trying to negotiate, but when she “thinks” she is negotiating, I am 2 moves ahead in getting her something to do that I really didn’t plan for her to do, which is win win for both of us. For example, Lia will say “Daddy, I will eat 2 more pieces of chicken then can I be excused”. I quickly follow with “How about 4 more pieces of chicken, and 6 green beans then you can have a cookie and then help clean up your play area?”. 3 out of 4 times she is game, but that one time she will throw up some heavy negotiating not budging on her end. It started out to be cute at first, but noticed that she was using this tactic every time she would eat and had to quickly move into “how about let’s go to bed now” mode which meant negotiations were then cut off and fun time was over. As she grows older I see the intelligence in her little mind grow each time I am with her, but little does she know I am on to her game and deep undercover knowing all the tricks I played when I was her age. I have to give her credit, because in her tactics, she can make us laugh but have to hold back the smile at times to let her know we mean business. Even in the most difficult times in dealing with her I have to admit it’s been a wonderful process and she redeems herself by learning from each situation and how to avoid repeat meltdowns because after all, she is the only one upset while we remain calm, cool and collective. When the storm has passed and she is calm enough to talk, we explain what just happened and why they did, she apologizes, hugs and honestly feels like she learns from each event. I can honestly say this because tantrum duration and frequencies are down, which I hope, is an indication that she is progressing away from the “terrible twos and threes”. Next stop, Independence and the age of accountability. Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, buckle your seat belt, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Park time has been an ever increasing activity in our active schedule time together. Being able to witness Lia’s social skills first hand have been something that I have enjoyed for a while. I can tell that she has come out of her shell a little more each time as she used to be an observer and not wanting to approach kids, but after several encouraging sessions and even joining in them to open the communication bridge has been successful.

Our last outing included a visit from everyone’s childhood hero, The Ice Cream Man! With his 35 dollar speaker system blasting sounds of enthusiasm from blocks away, you at first were immune to his hypnotizing whimsical riff as you carried on your way in a hyper game of chase. It wasn’t until the kids you were chasing all of a sudden became little maniac zombies in search of their parents to beg and plead for the only form of payment the ice cream man will accept. I can still see the hamster wheel turn in your head from 30 feet away and then you looking and running at me for the very same thing.

Needless to say, 10 minutes later and 40 wet napkins shorter you embarked on round 2 of your recess extreme without a care in the world, only this time tucked away deep into your limbic system in the hippocampus, you will log away the pitch and tone of the musical chants that is… The Ice Cream Man aka The Frozen Snack Pied Piper.

Shortly after that, you had made friends with a little girl and had wandered close enough to engage the both of you in conversation. Keeping things simple I started with the type of ice cream the other girl had gotten and what type of games were you playing with each other. After what seemed like a 5 minute answer I blurted out “Oh really that sounds like fun, I used to play those games when I was a little girl too” Now, with adults that situation is humorous, but with kids in a park, I just became the weird guy hanging out on the park bench. Of course I laughed and tried to explain “I meant a little boy”, but it was no use…they saw no humor and just went back to playing like nothing ever happened, but it was definitely worth writing about because I had never felt so awkward after a mindless statement rolled off my tongue. I’m sure like most kids, that little girl tucked it away until her mom put her to bed that night and she asked “mom, can little girls grow up to be men?” Only because little kids minds work like that, they take small amounts of data, tuck it away and when they find the time to assess it, they then inquire. It’s actually kind of funny to think about because I know I have answered some pretty questions from Lia that I know were from previous events that she couldn’t digest completely.

If I ever hear the words Slumber Party again, it will be too soon. Although Lia did not partake in the sleep over, she/me definitely got a taste of what’s to come. Don;t get me wrong, I think they are going to be fun, but I honestly think an airplane taking off makes less noise than the high pitched sequels these girls are able to expel. Funny thing is, nothing has to happen for them to trigger it, they were happening all the time and without warning. I had never experienced or even thought of a girls slumber party, which like most normal boys probably wouldn’t unless they has a younger sister. However my sleepovers pale in comparison, as we were actually normal, unlike these hummingbird frenzied girls running a muck. It was what I had imagined the New York Stock Exchange must be like on a busy day, paper flying, people yelling…it was contained pandemonium at the very least. These kids were a little older than Lia, but Lia found some girls her age and interacted great with them. She played freeze frame, got some face painting, and even played pin the lips on Justin Beiber. Of course she doesn’t even know who he is, and I hope it stays like that for a very long time, she had a blast.

I caught some video of a charade type game in which the participant pops a balloon and then acts out the clue inside the balloon. All of the kids had a hard time popping the balloon, but it was entertaining at the least as they all had their own way to try and pop it, and Lia sat more on the floor than the actual balloon. In the end she did end up popping it and acted out a “seal” which was in my opinion should have received a golden globe, but as her father I am a tad biased.

I have gotten to the point where I have to make notes of all the things Lia does and says so I won’t forget to write about them. Last year I wrote about a new year will bring new memories, what I probably should have written is that every year will bring more than I ever could have imagined.

This December was full of Birthdays, Christmases, and more time with my cherished angel. I’m especially fond of her age right now because of ever evolving knowledge and understanding of the world around her and her interaction with it. She is full of the cutest sayings and a constant beam of laughter, energy and imagination I could have ever wished for.

One night while getting ready for bed she had a cup from the previous night sitting on her dresser that had a little water left over in it. She asked me if the water was old and I told her it was from last night, so it is considered old, but ok to drink. She then began to drink it all and put the cup down and told me in a way to reassure me that she couldn’t taste the old in it. I smiled and thought what in fact does old water taste like to her?

Looking through the Christmas advertisements over the holidays, I realized Lia employed a sense of accidental psychology in her request for toys. When she turned the pages, she didn’t yell “i want this and that Daddy!”, she instead phrased it like a poor orphan shivering in the cold wearing a potato sack saying “I don’t have this Daddy”. Of course this is purely coincidental psychology because we all have wants and do without them everyday, but when your almost 4 year old daughter phrases it as if she doesn’t have this certain toy to complete her it’s another story and cute to say the least.

The arrival of her fourth birthday brought love, joy and fun as we celebrated with some very close friends and family at a local park. She enjoyed everything from swinging with her grandmother and grandfather, playing hide and seek to opening presents complete with home made cake and of course present opening. She referred to any other kid at the park as “that little boy, or that little girl”, which is cute because she is smaller than kids younger than her, but that didn’t stop her from “making best friends” with all of them. It was her day to shine and she knew it, as it was her presents sitting on a park table with other kids taking notice and she was soaking it all in, the attention, the playground and the memory. I know it has been the best birthday to date, and plan for many more to follow.

At last, Christmas morning had arrived. The presents that had been teasing her every morning by staring her in the face had begun to say their last prayers because soon they would fall victim to what can only be described as “the opening”. I have to say Lia surprised me with her patience in getting to Christmas. She did of course keep asking when Christmas was, but she had a full understanding of patience and soon she would be the one dancing in the minds of sugar plums as today had finally approached. One by one, she opened each gift and reminded us each time that each toy was in fact “the one she had always wanted” as she soon discarded it and dove into the next. It took me back to when ignorance was bliss and my Christmas mornings mimicked the exuberance and joy that each gift brought. Only now, she was the one giving me that feeling as she tore feverishly though each present and the smiles on her face and high pitched sequels capped the early morning rush that only Christmas can bring.

One of her favorite presents (which apparently all of them were) was a kids play tent. I really didn’t understand the magnitude of the tent with her until I noticed she had moved into it, literally before lunch. I figured she would ask for a change of address request form by dinner time at the rate she was going. She had everything a kid would need to survive roughly 2 hours in it before she was bored or Dylan would walk by and sniff her tent which would aggravate her. I know this because I could her here tattle on Dylan that he was “too close” to her tent. I’m really surprised she didn’t set up a 24 hour surveillance with her dolls and stuffed animals, but realized she didn;t because they were ALL in the tent with her along with her new “sleeking” bag (which by the way she begged to sleep in her first night).

With a slew of places and family members to see, Lia was the life of the party. She interacted with everyone, enjoyed their company and was absolutely adored everywhere we went. This was a Christmas that will not soon be forgotten, and I pray the Lord will continue to bless us and provide many more close moments like these in the many years to come.