Little Dragon Girl

This is a great show, and in fact it is one of my all time favorites. Ah..take a sip of coffee and sometimes we can't help but to reminisce our own wonder years. Fond memories of the past jump in and out of our thoughts. This is where the next series of stories begins.
Although being only three going on thirty, my son's wonder years are the present. This little guy has developed quite an attachment to a much older girl. She too is quite fond of him as well. In fact, for my little boy's two year old birthday party, she gave him a stuff dog which he later named it, Molly OG. Molly's family helped babysit and it was that time onward the friendship blossomed.

Stay tuned for more...

-M

Inseparable OG

(New Readers - This is the Final part of a 4 part series/CLICK on Label OG's)
Echoing throughout the last three parts of the OG stories was a recuring theme of just how attached my son is to the OG's and especially BB-OG. A true story happened last December. On an ordinary Friday evening shortly after dinner, my little boy complained of a stomach-ache. Normally, it would be a minor thing for any outgoing and monkey-like little boy. However in my little boy's case, this ache did take exceptions. We called his doctor for precaution due to his recent medical history of kidney ailments. Long story short, our doctor didn't take this ache lightly and ordered us to take him to the emergency room. This transpired into a series of events escalating to a point that my son was admitted to the ICU after several days of deterioration. His condition was worsening further, and a week before Christmas, his fragile little body was plugged up with tubes. As a three-year rookie father, this was really hard to swallow. My little guy was going through the utmost physical test in his short three years of life. He couldn't drink water due to our doctor's order even though he begged for anything liquid (including his favorite Chinese homemade soups) for almost two days under a severe water retention period. His body was swollen up with more than 10+ pounds literally in a matter of days due to kidney failure. Hopeful words from the doctors were that his condition would turn the corner naturally with some medicinal help. But in the next few days, the medicines from the tubes did not do what they were meant to. Finally, our doctor said he would need physical help to get rid of all the excess water in his body, because at that point, his kidney had completely collapsed. They needed to operate on him and insert a tube to serve as an articial filtration device. I wasn't sure what to think or say at the time. Before we could gather our thoughts, the nurses came and wheeled him into the operation room. It was a chilling moment followed by chilling thoughts. All the "what if" questions in the world started popping up in the back of my mind. When the operation was finally over and as they wheeled him out of the operating room, I noticed hidden under the white blankets was little BB-OG. No more than a cotton-filled stuff dog, BB-OG was the only thing my son was holding on to after going through days of no liquid until he almost lost his voice and the eventual operation. OG was with him throughout the whole ordeal. Thanks be to God, my little boy is much better today and BB-OG remains to be his most cherished treasure.

In my earlier articles title "Egg, Giraffe and Tree". The giraffe represents me, wishing to be a anchor holding on to the calm hundred-year-old tree next to me, overlooking the distance at a fragile yet strong little egg.

-M

Finding Daddy OG (Part III to BB OG)

(New Readers - This is the Third part of a 4 part series/CLICK on Label OG's)
Picture above - Daddy OG is Bat Dog? or bad Dog?
I once again found myself traveling on a cold winter night. It was Christmas Eve at New York's JFK airport. I was battling the crowd trying to get home to my little boy. At the check-in counter, I found my flight delayed for another 3 hours due to bad weather with the potential of the flight being cancelled. With no where to go and a dreadful thought of my little boy's reaction on Christmas' morn without daddy being there, I felt a deep sense of guilt. I found myself once again wandering into the airport gift shop. This time, this proud looking stuff dog caught my eye. I found Daddy-OG! It looks the same as BB-OG except it is bigger in size.
The truth of the matter was that nothing dramatic like the above happened. It wasn't even Christmas eve. Nonetheless, I did find Daddy-OG in another airport stop-over. It wasn't Christmas but rather April Fools. I remember giving Daddy-OG to my son the next day and his reaction immediately was, WOW..Daddy-OG!
Like my make-believe senario above, I often overheard my son's make-believe conversation between BB-OG and Daddy-OG. The same questions would be posed by BB-OG to Daddy-OG, such as "Are you going to work," "Is it Saturday Morning" etc. It's a good thing that these stuff animals are washable especially Daddy-OG. My son is three and half but not fully potty trained yet when he sleeps. Since he is the biggest in size, Daddy-OG often gets the wettest "shower" in the middle of the nite. :) My son is inseparable with the family of three (OGs). They are his own family and own world. He gets to dictate when BB-OG gets to play and when Daddy-OG goes to work. He insists on including them as part of our overall family. We (the real BB, Mommy and Daddy with the OGs) often pray in circles at night before bed holding our "paws" together. I would do voices for all three OGs.

Stay Tuned for the final chapter of OG in the Operation room...
-M

OG's Obsession? (Part II to BB-OG)

(New Readers - This is the second part of a 4 part series/CLICK on Label OG's)
My little boy is so attached to his first D-O-G. He would take him EVERYWHERE he goes. He absolutely will not sleep without it. The very first time he spent the night outside of home, I made sure D-OG was with him. That very first time, he spent the whole night holding on to D-OG tightly and talking to his first big brother friend name DJ. DJ later told us, he wouldn't let go of D-OG even after he fell asleep. It was his security. A weird habit he picked up was that he would nibble on D-OG's ear before he falls asleep. D-OG had become to him like Skip to Willie.
I decided to look for another D-OG for backup, just in case the first one gets too drooled upon and needs to be burned down due to contamination. Little boys are sweet but they are dirty as well. At another airport stop, I strolled in to a gift shop and to my delight, I found a similar D-OG. The only difference was the color and pattern. I took it home and gave it to my son to gauge his reaction. At this point, he had not made any connection yet between his first D-O-G and this new one that I brought home. He knew they were different due to the pattern and colors. He did not warm up to this D-OG until much later when we discovered that he had named the new D-OG "Mommy OG." Both OG's would be at his side everywhere and yes for a period of a few weeks they even had a place on our dinner table. We actually held "paws" together to say grace prior to meals.
Grandpa somehow found out about the OG's and shared with me that I too had a stuff bear that I couldn't live without. That stuff bear was somehow omitted from my memory. I do however hope that my little boy will remember all of his stuff animal obsession when he grows up!


This is why I write.....
Stay tuned for Daddy-OG's! more to come...
-M

BB-OG

What is a perfect pet? How about a pet that does not need any shots, feeding, never gets sick and is generally low maintenance! Well, I got one for you. My little boy has been clinging on to a stuff dog since he was 6 months old In many ways this dog has played a similar role to a real dog in the movie My Dog Skip. In that movie, the dog had a strong influence on the main character Willie, a shy and awkward 9 year old Southern boy. Willie's life was later transformed by Skip's outgoing personality, and Skip eventually helped him to break in to the neighborhood's circle of boys. I was quite taken by this small town good old American boy and his little dog story.
At the aiport from a business trip three years ago, I casually took a browse at the airport gift shop. Unexpectedly, a little stuff dog caught my eyes which reminded me so much of Skip, and I couldn't resist taking it home. I arrived home late that night and, my then 6 months old boy was already asleep. I placed the little stuff animal dog next to his crib, kissed him good nite and went to bed. The next morning I found him holding on to the stuff animal in one hand, a milk bottle on the other and was already drooling all over the stuff dog. Just like Skip, we wanted to give it a name. I thought it would be great if we could name the dog, De-O-G (You need to pronounce it several time out loud to get it. The "E" is silent) Since then, little De-O-G has never left his sight. My little boy would take him everywhere just like Willie with Skip.
Our son's teacher even told us about a conversation our son had with his classmates one day. A few of his classmates were somehow announcing and bragging on the fact that they had cute baby brother/sister. Being competitive but not knowing what a baby brother or sister is (because he doesn't have one), my little boy blurted out "I have De-OG too!"


Stay tune for The coming of Mommy De-OG...TO BE CONTINUED....

-M

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Soup Ocean

In our household, there are no better comfort food than a bowl of warm Chinese soup. My son loves soup. He needs to have soup at each meal. It brings comfort to me that my little boy still prefers Chinese thin soup versus thick and hearty American can soup. This assures me at least for now, that our culture is still in tact.
A thick bowl of soup is when a spoon is able to stand on it's own when you sink it in to the bowl. There is no way you can do that with a bowl of Chinese soup. The first sentence, my dad used to tell us when we begin each meal is "Yum Tong ah" which means drink the soup. It's almost customary for us to have the soup first then the actual meal. It is meant to wet or marinate our taste buds first prior to the actual meal. At my dinner table now days, I don't even have to tell my little guy, "Yum Tong ah" because even before I say that, the soup is gone.
My hope is for him not to outgrow this habit because as he gets older, sooner or later he is going to find out the ingredients used to make these soup!(Pig brain, Intestines,Chicken feet, mushroom, fish heads, Fish eyeballs and etc. Remember the scene from Indiana Jones when he was at the Indian Village where the eyeballs float up from the soup they were having?) By then, he may not even allowed me to utter the words "Yum Tong ah" but instead he would say "Campbell please...!!!"


-M