Letter to Tooh Fairy

Window of opportunity

Chatting w/ Noriko in the kitchen. Noriko said - JJ and I had an interesting conversation a few days ago.

It goes like this:

Noriko - We live in stevenson ranch. its nice so a lot of people like to live here.
JJ - Was our house expensive?
N - No, it was cheap
JJ - So, not too many people wanted it, right?
JJ - You know, if a lot of people had wanted it, it would have been expensive (explaining to his mom in a professorial kinda way).
JJ- This is called the "Window of Opportunity" !

So, back to the kitchen, Noriko asked - Did you talk to JJ about that?
My reply - Yes, a few times. This is parental satisfaction in the best possible way!!!

Nov 6th dual recital in Burbank

It's Nov recital again @ Brand Library in Burbank. THis year, JJ did two instruments - German Dance (Piano) and Staccato March (Violin).
According to JJ, he was a little nervous but he did great. Unlike previous recitals at Brand where minor mistakes were made, he did not make any mistakes at all this time. Fantastic job!

JJ was pleased that he was the only kid who did 2 instruments. There were some pretty impressive violinists too. One kid around 10 or so (Jondre Hwang) played a long and tough piece. Lots of great techniques. Very impressive. He was JJ's favorite!

Why does she love you?

Olivia (Pinecrest 1st grade classmate) said to Jay " I like you but I don't love you. Why does Ashley (another clasmate) love you?
JJ replied - I don't know. Why do you ask Ashley?
Christopher Kim (another classmate standing next to JJ) immmediately started making fun of JJ.

First tournamnet

JJ had his first TKD tournament at his school (ATA in Stevenson Ranch) last Fri. He did his form really well and was tied for 3rd place in the first round. They had a runoff and he lost so he was fourth in a group of 7 kids. The girl who won during the runoff (chosen by majority of 3 judges) did just half the form ( up to knive hand strike of the blue belt form).Not sure why she was able to get away with it. ACcording to official ATA rules, she should have gotten the lowest score of 9.0. Oh well.

in sparring, JJ went up against Mako(a red belt tournamant kid with many tournament wins under his belt) and got shut out (0-5). Mako was good and Jay did his best. No complaints. Mako also shut out Marcus (another brown belt). This kid was good and had had lots of training. Well deserved and easy victory for Mako.


I was very pround of JJ's performance even though he did not place. As I had told him before the event - Doesn't matter if you win or not as long as you did your best. The best he did. The most important thing is that he wants to go to more tournaments because had a good time. I was impressed by his strength in handling disappointment. I wish I could be as strong.

As for the issue with the 3rd place kid for Form competition, I decided not to push it since JJ did not seem to be affected by it too much even though he was disappointed.

All in all, a good experience for JJ!

An older woman ???

Picked up JJ from school. Talking on our way back home. JJ said - A lot of people love me at school. I don't know what to do. A girl from 3rd grade said she loved me today.
Dad asked - who was that girl?
JJ replied - I don't know her but she is the sister of one of the girls in my first grade class

When JJ sees people kiss, his thing reacts!!!

We were having dinner tonight. He asked me why people kiss on the lips. Answer - when two people love each other, they kiss on the lips to show their affection.

Then, JJ dropped the bombshell!

He said - when I watch people kiss on the lips (like on TV), my wenis (wennie/pennis) gets bigger!! OMG, is this for real? He assured me that he wasn't not kidding.

Gee, he's only 6!

Our 6 yr old swimmer

JJ started swim lessons during summer camp at Pinecrest. Took about 3 wks of lessons. Got to a point where he could swim free style for about 7-8 meters. He became quite comfy in water and could dive around and played under water.

Went to Niigata for our summer vac. JJ went to nearby (3 min walk from grandma's) swim school for a week. The teacher (Kato sensei) was wonderful but quite cute!
Anyway, they were great. At the end of the week, they had a test on Fri. JJ swam non-stop for 20meters! WOw, that's amazing. Surpassed my expectation by almost 10 meters! I was beyond proud!

Next step back in US is to keep his swimming consistent. He couldn't do 20M in the pacific palisades pool when we first got back. Been going everyday. He can now do about 13m nonstop after 5 days. He loves to swim which is great.
Pincrest lost Coach Fasma and hence the swim program for PE is gone too. Too bad. Trying to see how we can get him some swim lessons now.

6 yr old son's regular entree at restaurant

On our way to the airport. For some reasons, the topic of restaurant came up. JJ said from the back " It's not the restaurant that I have my regular puffed fish (fugu) with the spikes". "What!!" said the parents.
JJ - oh, I was just kidding.
But, where did you get that puffed fish thing, man???

Student of the Year

Mum and dad attended the award ceremony on the 2nd last day of school for the year. Everyone got an award and JJ was the last one called. Guess they saved the best for last for it was the "student of the year' award. Wow, what a day!
He had received 2 "student of the quarter" awards and other subject awards. Always got great feedback from all the teachers.

He has really blossomed and became more participative in class discussions. He is an amazing kid. Every where he goes, he does well.

Piano teacher loves him, Taekwondo instructors complements him, Japanese teacher praises and of course his Pinecrest teachers. Man, I truly feel I am the luckiest dad on earth!!!

THANK YOU, JJ!!!

Destiny

JJ woke up last Fri -the first day of his summer vacation and said "I don't like going to school for a long time but it's my destiny".

Where did u learn about destiny? dad asked. "Karate Kid" was the reply. He wasn't dsure about the meaning of destiny but somehow it was used correctly contextually.

sushiya must speak japanese

jj really wanted to eat sushi tonight. Went to Studio city but quite a few sushiyas were closed on sun. Can we go to one that is not run by japanese? to which he replied - >"a japanese restaurant that doesn't speak japanese is kind of weird"
Oh well!