dukeya!

Jaden achieved some big-boy milestones this week. He now wears underwear and goes potty by himself (at school and at home). No more diapers!

He also speaks in complete sentences all the time. (All the time.) A recent example combining the potty and sentence construction achievements was this past weekend when Mommy was helping him poop in the big toilet. He pooped while trying to look in, and ended up saying something which may have never been previously exclaimed by anyone ever, "Mommy, my poo-poo splashed water in my eye!"

If you ask Jaden what happened, he'll recount the story for you, as in the photo above. 

Well done Jay!

/d

Continue reading "Underwear and Complete Sentences" »

Posted by duke at 11:46 PM | Permalink

Jaden got his own full size bed this past Saturday. (Thank you Grandma/Grandpa!)

Hopefully he'll sleep in it all night one of these days. He's been climbing out of bed at 4am and scaring the heck out of me with his sniffling silouette in our doorway.

Time for bed!

/d

Posted by duke at 09:16 PM | Permalink

Having just mused about how quickly my children are growing up, how about my little brother? Just a few minutes ago, his wife delivered a baby girl!

Each time Cindy gave birth to our children, the experience felt acutely real. But thinking about how my li'l bro (who's taller than me) is now a dad feels very surreal.

Congratulations Andy & Lisa!! You're both probably pretty busy now, so no pressure, but Uncle Duke is waiting for pictures of his newborn niece.  ;-)

Love,

/d

Posted by duke at 10:05 AM | Permalink

Natalie turned 1 today. She's practically walking already, and she even says a few words. (That's ok Jaden, we still love you.) Natalie also throws a ball pretty well too. (Not now Jaden, I'm writing about Natalie.)

The big party is Sunday.

Click the photo above to see more at Flickr.

/d

Posted by duke at 11:55 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (1)

Our earth has now spun about 12,784 revolutions since I've been born. I didn't know we only had leap years at a century mark if it's divisible by 400. Lucky us for 2000!

Jaden can sing Happy Birthday, which he likes to do in his room with the cakes he makes from his Lego blocks. He loves to blow out fake candles, but doesn't step up to the plate for the real flames.

Click the photo above to see more at Flickr.  

Thanks Cindy and Ken for a fun birthday at Coyote Creek! 99 isn't bad since I never play. It happened to by my score and the temperature on the course. 

And thanks to everyone else for their thoughtful wishes.

/d

Posted by duke at 10:33 PM | Permalink

For Jaden's third movie theater outing, we went to see Cars. This one is the most visually stunning of Pixar's releases to date. With Bug's Life and Nemo, we got to see some cleverly beautiful surroundings. But Cars takes over where The Incredibles left off -- just absolutely amazing animation.

It's a decently simple story, with engaging characters thanks to superb voice actors. There's a bit of modern Sportscenter hipness in the style too, and it's chock full of details that are probably more meaningful to Nascar fans. If I'm not saying anything useful, just go see for yourself.

Get there early: a nice Pixar short is played before the feature (One Man Band). And don't leave early: during the end credits, the Cars go to a drive-in and watch Cars Toy Story, Cars Monsters Inc and Cars Bug's Life.

/d

Posted by duke at 09:35 PM | Permalink

It was a beautiful Saturday, and we took a drive to Berkeley so I could say good-bye to Cody's Books which is closing its doors on July 10. And the last book I'll ever buy there? ...  Zorro, by Isabel Allende, one of my favorite authors because of The House of Spirits.

We also strolled down my memory lane to have cheesesteaks at IB's Hoagies. I forgot they didn't have any place to sit with strollers, so we carried our lunch over to Sproul Plaza.

Lastly we stopped by Cafe Intermezzo where I persuaded them to sell me a loaf of their delicious multi-grain bread. I had to tell them I came all the way from San Jose before they would part with what they called "contraband". And it's exactly as you Cal alumni remember it if you cut the slices thick.

/d

Posted by duke at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Cindy took Jaden to school today -- actually more like day care -- at St. Elizabeth's Day Home. While all the other kids sat down to lunch, Jaden ran around by himself and didn't eat. A smart little two year old girl observed that, "Maybe he doesn't want any lunch?"

Hopefully Jaden will take to this new routine and his new classmates. We actually tried last August in the one-year old class, but he got really sick after just two days, and I didn't see any of the kids interacting with one another except for biting.

/d

Posted by duke at 11:23 PM | Permalink

For Jaden's 2nd movie ever, we went to see Over the Hedge -- again from the producers of the Ice Age(s) and Madagascar.

Jaden didn't seem to interact as much at Over the Hedge as he did at Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. At least not with the movie, of course he shouted "mommy" and "daddy" out loud when he was bored and wanted our attention. But he was really cute sitting in Mommy's lap eating his popcorn one kernal at a time. Unfortunately, half the bag was consumed before the beginning credits were even finished. Next time I'm going to buy the popcorn after the movie starts.

As for me, Over the Hedge was very entertaining. Top class celebrity voice actors and impressive animation, but the funniest parts are in the details that Jaden wouldn't appreciate -- like the crazy homeowner's association president, the objects within the surroundings and the critters' perspective on humans.

The story is as simple as you'd imagine. Just watch the trailer, as there aren't any plot deviations from the commercials. But at least all the scenes contribute to telling that simple story, as opposed to the random animated insanity that accompanies Manny and friends in Ice Age 2 as they just try to reach the other end of the valley.

Final recommendation: go see Over the Hedge. I still like Madagascar better, but it might be closer if I saw Over the Hedge 90 more times.

/d

Posted by duke at 11:30 PM | Permalink

I took Wed off work and went to the Giants game with Cindy and Jaden. It was a beautiful day at AT&T Park. Too bad the Giants lost in 11 innings, 7 to 9.

We almost left in the top of the ninth with the Giants trailing by 3. But we stayed because Cindy suspected the Giants would come back. She was right! With two outs, Alou gets to first base and an RBI because of a difficult throw from 3rd. Now down two runs, Barry Bonds comes in and pinch-hits a home run to tie the game! It was his 711th career home run, and the crowd went nuts. Even Jaden was jumping and cheering.

It was a fun game to watch with action and scoring almost every inning. Jaden also enjoyed the Coca-Cola slide, and made me go down with him over and over.

Here are a couple photos just before the camera battery died at the beginning of the game.

/d

Posted by duke at 03:51 PM | Permalink

Yesterday we took Jaden to his first movie! And he didn't even need a ticket (children under 3 are free). We went to see Ice Age 2, The Meltdown -- a movie title which didn't bode well for our confidence. But we worried for naught, as it turned out to be lots of family fun. Jaden sat on mommy's lap, enjoyed his popcorn and generally paid attention to either the movie or the retractable armrests. Jaden did talk, laugh and fake-laugh loudly, but there were a lot of other kids there too so he wasn't the only one.

As for the movie, it was at least as good as the first one, which we've watched on DVD about 40 times and counting. Everyone (especially Jaden) loved Scrat, the saber-toothed squirrel. So if you liked the first one, I definitely recommend the second. If you haven't seen either, Madagascar is even better.

After the kids went to bed, Cindy and I also watched A Day Without a Mexican. The movie did a nice job of making its points, but was otherwise extremely boring. I recommend waiting for whatever happens after DVD.

/d

Posted by duke at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today Cindy and I celebrate our 3rd anniversary, with two children already in tow. This year it's leather (after paper and cotton). If you'd like to know what comes before silver, here's a list of anniversary traditions.

We were married on March 1, 2003 in Burlingame. There are still photos on dukkie.com here.

Today is also Cindy's last day at Fluidigm. She gave notice a month ago to look for something more rewarding to do.

As we celebrate today, we'd like to again thank all our family and friends who have supported us throughout our lives.

Now if only the kids will go to sleep early tonight...

/d

Posted by duke at 03:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)