Tiny Iron Fists

To Lulu: Paris Versus New York

A few weeks back, this wonderful link was circulating in conversational threads with my design-friendly posse: Paris versus New York: A Tally of Two Cities, hitting a welcomed nerve with our Francophile family. Lulu is half American, half French (although her bloodline is half Vietnamese, half Italian) and we tremendously enjoyed the visual comparisons of two of our favorite, often-visited, destinations.

Realizing we would be visiting Manhattan and staying at The Standard Hotel during Vahram Muratyan's book signing for 'Paris versus New York', we made plans to wait in line and grab a copy. While Lulu and I waited upstairs in our hotel room, my siblings and company patiently waited downstairs in a long snaking line with hordes of fans to celebrate what was once a blog, then exhibits at Colette in Paris and at The Standard New York, and eventually a book we now have in hand!

Before running out of copies, my sister Kaly was able to buy a copy for Lulu. And Vahram was kind enough to sign it to her. Thanks, Vahram, we love your book very much!

Outfit: DPAM top and skirt, hand-me-down leotard, and American Apparel kids shiny leggings.

"Where the Wild Things Are" (as read by Christopher Walken)

We should all be so lucky to have Christopher Walken read us children's books. His reading of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" had me giggling. That said, I was also kind of scared by Mr. Walken's voice and cadence!

His commentary on the book's famed illustrations are kooky and off-color. This is how he described some of the monsters: "There's a goat-headed bastard riding on the back of some kind of rhinoceros and then there's a big-headed monster that sort of look's like Ernie from Sesame Street, gone wrong. And then there's some kind of duck-footed lady, you know, kind of scratching her arm up in the air."

Needless to say, it would be a dream to fall asleep to such a voice. For all the parents who've read this book a million times already, Christopher Walken really breaths new life into the classic!

Supercute!'s "Dumb Dumbs"

I suppose candy is poison. But these gals are all good! This video's about having a sweet tooth and having cavities right? Love the new "Dumb Dumbs" video from Supercute! [Hat tip to Boing Boing]

She Will, She Will... Glock You!

My mom spammed us last year with a link to this child xylophonist prodigy...

The three year old Korean kid is amazing. She's quite a performer! I love her illuminated expressions. She has perfected smizing at such a young age!

Lulu received a glockenspiel this Christmas from our Parisian family. This is her first experience with it...

It is safe to assume we do not have a child prodigy xylophonist living in our home. But you should see what fun we're all having dodging the percussion wands!

LA - 30th Annual Venice Canals Holiday Boat Parade (12.11.11)

The VCA’s 30th Annual Holiday Boat Parade takes place Sunday, December 11 at 4:00 pm.

"Space Oddity" by Kangaroo Class

I'm a big fan of The Langley Schools Music Project and even have their CD. Of course, Bowie's "Space Oddity" is a fave. So it's only natural that I'm all gagagoogoo over this clip too. So cute! [Thanks, Jeannette!]

No More Decals!

My friend Michelle recently uncovered this note from her mom. Following are Michelle's thoughts on her mom's sticker-free sage advice:

"When I got my first car (my mom's old car) I COVERED it in stickers. I found this note in my box of stickers (which I no longer put on my car) written on the back of... a sticker that I must have stuck somewhere. I guess her note worked!"

My siblings and I sticker-littered our first car, a Toyota Corolla, with our currently enrolled university stickers. I can't recall my parents ever telling us to quit it but I think we were too afraid to put anything but school-related paraphanalia on the family ride. Ahh, the power of parents. I guess they really do know best (at least from a four-wheeled aesthetically pleasing POV)!

I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy

Lulz! These kids had me in stitches! I especially love this video because I told Lulu the Dream Fairy took all her candy to give to other kids who didn't have access to candy. She was cool with it. She's only 2.5 though. 

Bag Lady

Don't we all want to sit in a brown paper bag every now and again?!

Lady Finger

Look who just had to sample dessert before the rest of us?! Interestingly enough when it came time to eat, Lulu passed on the chocolate pie and went for the strawberry shortcake instead.

Here Mama, I Picked a Flower For You!

"Here Mama, I picked a flower for you!" I love hearing my kid say that. As sweet as it is to receive a freshly plucked flower from Lulu, I often cringe when she dives for our neighbors' most prized petunias. I have to explain to her that the flowers do not belong to us and that we need to ask permission before taking them. She's beginning to get it and has more recently shifted her focus on what's growing next to the sidewalk. I am now the recipient of a lot of weeds. It makes for really long walks, but at least Lulu's learning about property and possession.

Car Seat Comic

Outfit: Polarn O. Pyret Baby Girls Top, The Children's Place knit denim leggings, and Mardi Gras Beads (model's own).

Scalability Issues

My OT friends always told me Lulu had natural physical capabilities. She had a very strong neck at four months, walked on her hands at six months, started climbing stairs at seven months and mastered walking down the stairs face-forward before two. It's easy to observe on the playground and at home, that the kid has incredible balance, however, I never really took that shit seriously until I caught her backing into a handstand on the wall today.

Ninja, please! I gotta get my kid into a gym, stat, if I want to cash in on those Wheaties/adidas/Olympic sponsorship paychecks in a dozen years. I mean... I know plenty of adults who can't even do a handstand on the wall. And here's Lulu doing them over and over for me so I can hem and haw. I didn't prop her legs up. I didn't touch her. The kid just threw herself up on the wall, Spidey-style. She knows what's up. Or down. Not bad for zero organized classes and letting her just get buck wild at the park.

This is not the first time Lulu's tried to do a handstand. It is however, the first time she got herself up on a wall and held her position for a decent amount of time. If only I had an attic so I could build her one of those Ape-gyms...

Outfit: Fierce Hugs surfer baby tee and Hello Kitty underwear.

Chessmen (and Lulu)

We organized a New York City potluck with my Manhattan creative cabal (and anyone brave enough to turn up for a dinner pre-Hurricane Irene). The kids were happy to have friends to play with and if you can believe it, nearly all of them ended up in the master bedroom at some point for a game of chess. The oldest boy was nine and Lulu, the youngest, is two.

I kind of couldn't believe that this was the game of choice having just seen the crew tear up the living room in a tornado of activity only five minutes before. But there they were playing chess. Until...

My little genius decided it'd be more fun to place a Chessman on a napkin and wave it around the board. The boys were mesmerized, but not pleased. Ah well. At least they let her hang with them!

Outfit: Underwear (a gift from Paris)

Time Out for the Toys

Lulu took our Pete Fowler toys and set them up in this strange configuration. I asked her, what's up and she pointed to the middle guy and said, "He's in time out." I then asked her what the side guys were doing and she said they were watching... for fun.

I love that Lulu chose the toy with his arms crossed as the Punished. And it's hilarious to me that the character on the left is holding a box with a heart in it and the character on the right is watching with his pets. She totally got the story right!

Allez, Alley!

Me: Lulu! Remember to stop at the alley and look left and right for cars before crossing!

Lulu: Allez, allez, allez!*

Growing up with a multi-lingual kid is fun(ny)!

Outfit: Polarn O. Pyret dress, DPAM leggings, and Native Corrado shoes.

*French for "Come on, come on, come on!"

Dim Sum Dining Etiquette (Or Lack Thereof)

When Lulu eats like a pig, people say, "She's so cute!" When I do it, I get dirty sideways glances. Life is so unfair!

Outfit: Fierce Hugs Honey Bee tee.

"Aren't You a Little Short for a Stormtrooper?"

Enjoying a raspberry pop on the street corner, Lulu got lots of chuckles from the corner bodega's patrons. This week, Lulu rocked athletic Stormtrooper gams. Not as sexy as Jeremy Scott's legs, but funny, still.

Outfit: Keiki Kruisers Mo'o Lio t-shirt.

She's Got Legs!

After Sunday swim lessons Lulu gets to enjoy a refreshing fruit pop at the neighborhood bodega. I usually lay a beach towel over her lap to catch falling popsicle cause it's a crazy mess to let a two year old man handle ice cream.

The Jeremy Scott towel I got from Coachella a few years ago gave me a lot of laughs today. I especially love the attitude Lulu adopted for the photos. Check out her snarl. I think she's saying, "Hey Jeremy Scott... I'm coming for you!"

Outfit: Fierce Hugs t-shirt and French jacket (gift). Kicks by Jeremy Scott for adidas, of course.

Kid's Reaction To A Gay Couple

What a sweet reaction by a charming young boy upon meeting his first gay couple.

[Thanks Evan for sharing the young Woody Allen with me!]

Nobody Tells You: Happy It Didn't Happen On My Watch

The first time your kid's going to get really banged up (cue gushing blood), you're going to think two things in this order:

1. "Holy fucking shit! Is s/he okay?! WTF is all that blood? Quick grab a towel!"

and after the shock for both parent and child and the crying has subsided (hopefully by the child only), if you're lucky not to have been the parent in-charge, you will then think,

2. "Man. I'm glad this didn't happen on my watch."

Because when it all went down and there was gushing blood and serious wailing, you wanted to shout, "Why weren't you watching her/him?" to your significant other, but you quickly realize, it only took a quarter of a second for your kid to take a nosedive off the back of the couch (a couch successfully jumped-off, hundreds of times before) and it could've just as easily happened to you.

The photo doesn't show bloody teeth or the yellow and black bruise on Lulu's forehead but the cut lip is enough to make any adult go, "Awww, is she okay?" And yes, she is! Back and jumping off the couch the very same day!

Nobody ever told me how grateful I would be, to be able to keep my cool, under a potentially explosive incident (believe me, I've heard enough parents complain about what their partners did to their kid). At the end of the day, nobody got hurt... well, too hurt, and accidents happen!

Miss USA 2011 — Should Math Be Taught In Schools?

Uh. Nuh doi! We should totally focus on more important things than math like babes, boobs and botox. More pageant queens, please! And I totally agree with Miss Arkansas... peeps need to get learned!

[If you can't read my sarcasm, shoo, go away!]

Peek-A-Holy-Shit-Boo!

I know it's fucked up to laugh at this but damn, I'm still laughing. [Thanks, Tim!]

What is a Father?

Exactly 28 years ago, I wrote this awesome and ridiculous letter titled, "What is a Father?" I scanned and posted this image on Flickr (worth visiting for the comments my friends wrote) awhile back and had this to say about my letter:

I never was much of a writer. My real talent lies in storytelling. See how I focused on "yelling"?! Imagine what an unruly child I might have become had my father not "yelled" at me so much.

It should be noted, that my dad rarely if ever raised his voice. Dad's not the type (very zen Buddhist). My siblings and I are certain I meant scolding instead of "yelling". But I had a limited vocabulary, so that was the best I could do.  I love my dad very much.  Thank Buddha for him.  This essay really tickles me pink.

My dad died last year, around this time. Of course, I miss him. But I have Lulu and she often reminds me of him... fun, true blue, a fried chicken lover. My dad was the kind of father I wish everyone could've had. Totally supportive. Totally loving. A family man first and last, everything else in between.

I hope with each future Father's Day, it's going to hurt a little less that he's not around for me to call and talk about silly things with (like this letter). Happy Father's Day, Daddy! Man, I love you!

Crazy Horse Lover

Oh Lulu. Must you kiss the scarecrow-horse across the street too?!

Outfit: Tea Collection flamenco dot pocket dress and gifted shoes from Asia.