baby rambutan

i had a mild “senti (emong)” attack when i drove him to his last physical check up at the pediatrician …didn’t i just bring him here for the first well-baby check up? *gulp. then a friend asks me, “are you ready to let him go yet?” no.

and the Today show had a psychologist-expert talking about the upcoming Separation.

*sigh*

it’s not like he’s going to the other side of the continent (he’s only a train ride away, to Downtown).

but he will be staying in the dorm. he might even move back in within the year. and he might not.

so i was sitting there eating my great big bowl of bland milky oatmeal, all kids still asleep, and i was reduced to a bowl of mush myself.

tips i culled from the morning show and the full text of the article here: (i must read this over and over before i let go of him in less than a couple of weeks)

*have the “significant talk” at an appropriate time (you know, the one about “distractions”), not at the dorm room, when things will surely be pretty hectic; it all boils down now to how you’ve raised him, and the behaviors you modeled as he grew up

*do not say anything about the roommate! let him decide for himself, tell you in his own time

*this is his moment, an unforgettable milestone, so let him take the lead.

*it is okay to shed a tear but don’t let him see it and don’t cry in the middle of the front steps, or quad, or other highly visible place. NO DRAMA on this day.

*do not touch his old bedroom! i never even thought of this (though the cat and his younger brother are both eyeing it) but we know of one parent who immediately transformed his daughter’s room the day she left into his home office. tsk! tsk! tsk!

*never forget the goal of parenting; you’re not losing your child, you’re helping him step into adulthood.

“D’ou Venons Nous, Que Sommes Nous, Où Allons Nous”

“Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?”

–Paul Gauguin, at the Museum of Fine Arts. Boston.

and i have two more to cry about within the next 10 years! wahhhh!

anyway, i know he will visit home often especially if i tell him i’ve baked something special like these….



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whew. i don’t even know where to begin now, since i’ve been away so long and we’ve gone and done so many things in between.

it’s now down to the last two weeks of our summer vacation. at turns it felt really nice and slow and even boring to my youngest one. i truly didn’t think so, as i enjoy “down” time and stress-free schedules very mucho mucho.

the last month though was pretty semi-frantic, since i signed up my younger kids at summer day camp. my daughter participated in a theater group, thus the painting up there by Marc Chagall–one of my favorite artists. the painting is the inspiration for the title of a musical play (music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and libretto by Joseph Stein), and in turn it was based on a novel by Sholom Aleichem, “Tevye and His Daughters.” you probably would recognize the songs immediately: “Matchmaker,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” and “If I were a Rich Man,” and remember the actor Topol who immortalized the last song with his distinctive voice and unforgettable dance in the 1971 movie version.

according to the background notes, the play is about “the struggle of Russian Jewish villagers at the start of the 20th century, in balancing the pull of modernity while maintaining cultural identity,” with the Fiddler as the metaphor for that balancing act.

it was so amazing how the director, my daughter’s 7th grade language arts teacher who also directed another musical in which another child of mine was a performer, put together a show in two weeks’ worth of mostly half-days: a show with props, costumes, live music and a gifted violinist from our high school.

bravo to the children and the crew! (and phooey to the audience members who didn’t turn off their mobiles and interrupted the show–thoughtless uncouth coarse rude @#$%&*+!grrrrrrrrrr! may you get burned by your cellphone batteries as they sit in your pants pockets!!!!!)

hmmm. okay cool me off, calm me down, o great recipe for chicken! (hehe how’s that for a segue)

this is from the back of the bottle.

recipe for mirin chicken follows. (more…)