MY DAD COULDN'T BREATHE
19/02/16 22:11
“What do you mean he can’t breathe?” I asked my sister. “Dad had to go to the hospital but is okay now. But he’s too tired to have the whole family come visit. It’s just too much,” she said as she choked back tears.
Understandable. Conor is 4 years old and exhausts both my wife and me. Imagine what he could do to an 84-year old man with compromised lungs after smoking his whole life.
I bit the bullet. Bought the ticket. And flew from Boston to Austin. My sister and I packed up her car and headed for San Benito.
We gossiped. Griped. Laughed. And wondered. What would life be like if we lived closer. Before you know it, 7 hours had passed. We had arrived.
“Dad, you look great!” I said, since he looked completely normal. “Well, I can breathe again,” Dad said with his usual dry humor.
I called the family to let them know all was okay with Grandpa Texas. We used Facetime so Conor could see him. Conor says, “Hi grandpa Texas. I heard your lungs weren’t feeling well. Are you okay?”
“Sure, I’m okay,” he said as he lifted his arms up in a sign of victory. Conor says, “Good, then dad you can come back home tonight.” I sure do love my boy.
Three more days of comfort, laughs and memories to store away. Good Mexican food. And a few prayers that this wouldn’t be the last time I’d see my dad alive.
“Sister Ko, you sure you don’t want me to drive?” “Nah, I’ve got this bro,” my sister said as we left the immigration checkpoint in our rear view mirror. Seven hours blew by and we were back in Austin.
Next day, back in Boston. How does it all go so fast? “Hey Conor. Hey Val, I’m back.” We hugged and we were one again. And now, it’s our turn to breathe easier.
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KIDS SPEND ONLY 4-7 MINUTES PLAYING OUTSIDE
02/04/15 23:39
I just saw this statistic from OnPoint with Tom Ashbrook, a PBS show that I think is one of the most informative shows on the radio.
This statistic is shocking; 4-7 minutes a day playing outside? He points to the fact that it's a lifestyle change that has occurred to this new generation of children. Comes down to three things; more screens, more over-protectiveness and more scheduled time. Whoa. We live just outside of Boston and get an annual pass to the Franklin Zoo. It's convenient because if we don't have anything planned, we can just head over to the zoo where it's pretty safe for our 3-year old to just run outside without fear of running into the street or getting lost in the clothes racks at the local mall. He loves it and we feel that all those fences keep the animals in their areas, and our boy in his area. We still never take our eyes off the boy, but he feels free and as a result, loves the outdoors. Unfortunately, as soon as he comes home, he's asking for that damned iPad to watch Wild Kratts. Sometimes we give in, sometimes we say, 'no' and watch the temper tantrum ensue. But at least for a few hours, he was one with nature and out with us.
UPSET ABOUT HIS UPSET STOMACH
12/04/14 21:56
Conor is two and a half years old and tonight is the first time I've ever seen him get an upset stomach and lose his cookies. He started off by telling me, 'Daddy, tummy.' No other explanation than that. I rubbed it and thought he was just showing me how far it sticks out because it is rather round. He waited about five minutes and said again, "Daddy, tummy." I think I heard some gas but what's new there? So I rubbed his tummy and asked him if it felt okay. He said, "no'. So I sat on the bed with him and we talked about Curious George and how Curious George likes to visit the chocolate factory. Then Conor put his little hand up to his mouth and said, "Daddy, my mouth!" and his eyes looked so scared. I figured it out immediately. I grabbed a towel and he was still looking scared. I told him that it was okay to let whatever was inside come right out of his mouth and that it would be okay. He did! And it went everywhere. Of course he started crying and his mom had grabbed him by the time he threw up and poor thing was covered in hotdogs and milk. She was a real trooper and took him downstairs for a bath.
I still remember how scared I was when I was a little boy and I had to throw up. I thought I was going to die. Seriously. It was the worst feeling I had ever felt. To be able to breathe again after that was quite a surprise. Conor threw up two more times that night and there was major cleanup necessary. We took his temperature and he was normal. The next morning he was completely fine and we returned to normalcy…whatever that is!
PANCAKES HAVE NEVER BEEN SO MUCH FUN
13/10/13 21:32
Conor doesn’t like when I ignore him in the morning when making breakfast. But if I include him in the process, he’s happy as a clam in mud.
CONOR GOES TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM. AGAIN.
10/10/13 21:40
Today, it got a little breezy in the back when Conor was admitted to Children’s hospital because of a super painful stomach cramp.
I got a call from Conor’s daycare that he had been crying for an hour, holding his stomach and saying that it hurt. They had tried to call once and now was trying again. I jumped in the car and headed to pick him up. Only two days before, he had the same issue and we took him to the hospital to get checked out. But because he was no longer in pain, they decided to just watch and see.
Today, we headed straight to Children’s Hospital and had him checked again. This time, thoroughly. It started with x-rays which he hated but it wasn’t painful. It was just a scary looking room with a big machine that looked like a monster. They really need to get in there and paint that room to look like something fun. It wouldn’t be hard at all. Then, they sent us all upstairs so he could have an ultrasound. He was so over that x-ray room that he wasn’t pleased to have to lie down and have jelly rubbed on his tummy so they could slide that plastic paddle around on his tummy. So he cried crocodile tears even though the procedure was painless.
Eventually, they decided he may just be really constipated so they gave him an enema to make him poo. He cried some more but was so tired from the other two experiences that he was resigned to let the nurse do her thing and he just laid on the pillow and cried. Valerie and I felt bad for him but we had seen him in pain when his stomach would cramp up so this didn’t seem like such a difficult decision. And now we are pretty sure he’ll be okay.
HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN TO A CHILD THAT WAS INURED IN A BOMBING THAT ITS OKAY TO GO BACK OUT AND PLAY
25/04/13 06:41
As I walked down Boylston Street today in Boston, I came to the site where the bombs went off during the Boston Marathon of 2013. And as tragic as that event was, something caught my eye that made me stop in my tracks as my knees began to weaken. An 8-year old boy in a wheelchair was sitting in front of the store that was still under repair from the bombing last week. This child was injured in the blast and his caretakers were reintroducing him back into society. He had two Trauma workers that were wearing Trauma logo'd jackets and were pointing to different places on the sidewalk. The little boy was listening but he seemed confused. It was heart wrenching to watch. I think of my own 18-month old son and how innocent he is. How would I ever begin to explain what happened in a way that he would ever be able to relax in a crowd ever again?
Those terrorists not only took the lives of citizens, and the legs from others. They also took the innocence from children who no longer get to grow up with the kind of naiveness that makes being a child so much fun. The scars you can see are bad enough. The scars we'll never see are even more sinister.
I didn't want to take the little kid's picture. I'm not that kind of a blogger or guy. I simply took a picture of ground zero as a reminder that the world we live in is, indeed, fragile. Yes, Bostonians are resilient and yes, life goes on. But the scars will last. And they are reminders that we must make an effort to live harmoniously. It's not a given. We have to make it. We have to create it. We have to feed it. And we have to guard it.
Like that little boy, Boston is a little less innocent than it was one week ago. And now, we have to get up, brush ourselves off, hug each other, and do what we can to see that love outsmarts hate.
WHAT DOES AN 18-MONTH OLD EAT
28/02/13 11:15
Good foods for toddlers:
mashed potatoes with cheese,
diced tomatoes with pinto beans,
apple sauce,
lental soup drained,
spinich or cheese ravioli
scrambled eggs (with or w/o cheese),
cut up fruit (blueberries, strawberries, banana),
toast with butter or jelly
pancakes w/ fruit...
apple cinnamon pancakes
blueberry pancakes...
hard boiled eggs or omelets,
french toast w/ fruit
grilled cheese w/tomato or grilled cheese w/ tomato soup
cut up chicken or chicken nuggets, veggies (carrots, green beans, peas)....we get these veggie cups at wal-mart...30 secs in the microwave and you've got a toddler sized veggie...they're great, and some applesauce or yogurt
PB&J on whole wheat (or whole grain white bread)...or sunbutter & jelly if she hasn't had PB yet. You could always try cream cheese & jelly.
Quesadillas: chicken & cheese, spinich & cheese, or some other combo
deli meat w/ cheese...either cut up or a sandwich...My DS loves ham & cheese or turkey & cheese sandwiches with tomato.
mac & cheese w/ broccoli (you can even add shreaded chicken for a full meal)
Mini pizza bagels or english muffin pizzas (if you make your own sauce...you can blend in some veggies)
For dinner my DS eats whatever we eat: (and leftovers become tomorrows lunch)
examples: grilled Hawaiian chicken w/ grilled pineapple, white rice, and orange glazed carrots
vegetable lasagna
grilled steak w/homemade loaded mashed potatoes and broccoli w/cheese
hot dog, sweet potato fries, & corn
Snacks: string cheese, yogurt, applesauce, graham crackers, animal crackers, cut up fruit: grapes, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, canteloupe, ...fruit cups (in juice)...pears, mixed fruit, peaches, etc. cut up cheese w/crackers, my DS loves the apples w/ caramel (I try to avoid giving him the caramel b/c it's so sticky)...ummm....
other cereals: try fruity cheerios, apple cinnamon cheerios, honey nut cheerios, jumbo multigrain krispies (my DS's favorite), corn chex, quaker oatmeal squares,
DON'T FENCE ME IN
19/02/13 09:25
A strange thing happened this evening after coming home. Conor was awfully fussy and kept wanting me to pluck him out of his high chair where his mom was having trouble feeding him. After I rescued him from his chair, he cried to be let down. But when I let him down he cried to be picked up again. It was very frustrating. I asked him what he wanted but of course, he can't really talk yet. He pointed towards the living room but I couldn't figure out what he was pointing at. So I put him down and offered him my hand hoping he might guide me to what he wanted. Sure enough, he took my hand and pulled me in the direction he wanted to go. At last, we ended up at the front door and he pointed to the door handle. He wanted out. When I opened the door, he smiled and walked to the door frame and stepped out into the rain. He looked pleased and wanted to walk down the stairs. I obliged him. When we finally got to the street Conor let my hand go and he looked around and smiled. He was happy.
Then it hit me, for the last 3 days we spent almost the whole day just sitting in my dad's front yard in San Benito, Texas, soaking up the sun and the fresh air. Conor was now cooped up in the cold Northeast and he wanted to feel the fresh air, even if it was raining. I let him stand there for a couple of minutes and then picked him up and gave him a big hug. I promised we'd take him out tomorrow. I then came back inside, ordered him a raincoat online and will wait on its arrival. There's no reason to keep a little boy trapped inside a house when he wants to enjoy the great outdoors. Even if it's raining or snowing. It's time to get the right gear so he's not fenced in.
CONJUNCTIVITIS IS HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS
28/01/13 12:59
Got a call from daycare today saying to come pick up the boy. 15 months into his life and Conor gets pinkeye. It's medical name is conjunctivitis so I like pinkeye better. Sounds less…permanent. It's highly contagious and schools don't like it.
What exactly is conjunctivitis? It's a virus (or bacteria) that causes inflammation of the clear membrane that covers the white part of your eye.
How is it spread? Conjunctivitis is passed from one person to the next after the infected person rubs their eyes then touches another person or touches something that the next person then touches. That's really the only way you can spread pinkeye. It turns your eyes red for about 4 days and makes them really itchy. Like having sand in your eyes. It makes my eyes hurt just writing this. It usually goes away on its own but it's still important to see a doctor because there are side effects that can occur with untreated conjunctivitis and you don't want that to happen.
We took Conor to the doctor within 2 hours of the school notifying us. A common secondary condition that can occur with pinkeye is an ear infection. So the doctor checked Conor's ears and sure enough, he had an ear infection. So now we have a mild antibiotic for his ears and eye drops for his eyes. Giviing a baby eye drops is like telling an elephant to tiptoe through a petunia patch; it ain't gonna happen. The trick is to give him eye drops while his eyes are still closed in a horizontal position and when he opens his eyes, the liquid runs into the eyes and it feels good and you're a hero. Bam!
THERE ARE NO STRINGS ON CONOR
30/09/12 14:49
Conor may be his own man but it turns out that babies don't swallow solid foods automatically. As it turns out, they have to learn how to swallow. That's why they start out with soft food and slowly learn to eat things that have a thicker consistency and eventually little pieces of chicken and beef mixed in. I always thought they ate soft foods because of they had no teeth. But that was only half the story. Here, Conor hasn't grasped the idea of swallowing. Poor little guy.
CONOR DOES THE CROCODILE WALK
07/09/12 15:21
With each new day, Conor's getting better at walking. If you'll look at the daily posts, only two days ago you'll see how he fought my help to put one foot in front of the other. For a couple of weeks he wanted nothing to do with this cute walking toy given to us by our good friend, Michaela. Tonight's a different story.
WHY KIDS PLAY PEEK-A-BOO
06/09/12 15:24
Conor has enjoyed the peekaboo game since he was about 6 months old. He would pull a blanket up over his head and then drop it and laugh. Then pick it up again and do this about 5 times before he had enough. But there’s something especially cute now that he can crawl and can hide from a distance. Why do kids find this so exciting? Because they are testing a new concept as their brain matures called, ‘permanence’ which is a fancy college word for ‘things still exist even when I can’t see them.”
MORE BACTERIA ON A GROCERY CART THAN A TOILET SEAT. GROSS.
14/08/12 15:56
Did you know there is more bacteria on a shopping cart than on a public restroom toilet seat? According to several recent health warnings, swabs taken from shopping cart handles and seats have shown saliva, blood, fecal matter, mucus (and worse), plus Listeria, Salmonella, Staph, E. Coli, and general individual bacteria. Why are they dirtier than a bathroom's seat? It's because most stores clean their shopping carts only a couple of times each year. A restroom is cleaned at various times each day.
How do you keep your child safe from such disgusting germs? The answer is to use baby wipes or sanitizer and wipe down the front of the cart before you do your shopping. It's that simple.
TODAY, I'M DIRECTING IN PARIS
20/04/12 17:45
I left my family in Boston yesterday to embark on a 10 day journey to direct 3 new small films celebrating the persona of engineers around the globe -- the fact that they can never leave well enough alone. The result is that they create the most wonderful inventions that sometimes change the world. Today I met Bruno Maisonnier, the founder and CEO of Aldebaran. The company is located in the heart of Paris. He has been dreaming of robots since he was a child. And today, he is has created the most charming humanoid robots. Bruno is a very enthusiastic and nice man. And not your typical shy engineer. He is full of ambition and you can feel it when in his presence because he is so outgoing and fun. Forecasters say in the next 15 years, robots will be as commonplace as the personal computer is today. And that every home will have at least one personal robot. Some are calling Bruno Maisonnier the Bill Gates of humanoid robots. We shall see.
The purpose of his robots is to help people. And one of the first breakthroughs with his robots is helping autistic children. Because autistic children learn by repitition and ritual, and often don’t respond to emotion, the robot is the perfect teacher for some tasks. For hours the friendly robots can patiently help and teach without being ‘judgemental.’
I will be posting the short documentary of Aldebaran in mid June so stay tuned. - See more at: http://dadsdecoded.com/blog/index_files/archive-apr-2012.html#sthash.H6iEDYW5.dpuf
OUR NURSE'S SECRETS ON HOW TO KEEP A NEWBORN HAPPY
13/11/11 00:54
Before we left the hospital, the nurses were kind enough to give me a cheat sheet on how to take care of my newborn. The nurses said to me, “If Conor’s crying, there’s only 4 things that might be wrong. Go down the list in this order and you’ll have a happy baby;
1. Check his diaper
2. Try burping him to see if he has gas
3. Check his temp if he appears sickly.
4. Feed him.
This has worked for a month now. We simply go down the list until we get to ‘feed him’. After that, if he’s sleeping, we put him in his crib. If he’s still fussy, we burp him and sing to him until he falls asleep. If he stays awake and stares at us, we stare back and have a nonverbal conversation. If he continues to cry after being burped. We start over on the list above. It’s that simple.
Oh, and when we’re not just hanging out with him, we keep him swaddled. Swaddling is key. Be sure to visit the “How To” link about swaddling and also the video on how to swaddle.