DS's response to a new baby sister...

DS was watching Sesame Street in a separate room (the only way to divert his attention) when his mother was labouring, and we gave him a gift for "upgrading" to the brother status immediately after we introduced his sister to him - this is one of our tricks to reduce his anxiety. He was a little bit upset the first day - kept asking mother to "put the baby down" - but this amazing child seems to begin to adjust to the change (which we have prepared him psychologically for months) that although mother is now less available, he can still enjoy special time with her alone and even receive more attention from his father.

Homebirth

DW laboured at home on Saturday and gave birth to our beautiful daughter! Thank you, Dear Wife!

(The baby was delivered by a professional homebirth midwife ... though I helped make the bed, sterilize the clips, scissors and other tools, and cut the umbilical cord myself :-))

French Toast

French Toast. Now DS's breakfast on every Friday morning.

Thick slices of day-old french bread deeply soaked in custard batter (milk + egg + vanilla + cinnamon + salt), brown slightly in a pan, and then baked. Serve with maple syrup and carrot and apple juice.

Trust me, this is healthier and more delicious than "HK-style French Toast".

捉蟲

硬著頭皮, 把分佈在天花板和牆壁各處的二三十條吊屍蟲逐條除去, 還要在兒子面前神態自若......

從 Google 上找來的：

「小菜蛾是十字花科蔬菜上的主要害虫，别名方块蛾、吊尸虫、小青虫等。成虫为小型蛾类；幼虫活跃，遇惊时扭动后退或吐丝下垂，老熟幼虫体黄绿色，头灰褐色，虫体中部粗大，两端细小如梭状。」

我也不清楚在天花板上見到的是否就是吊屍蟲/吊絲蟲，是朋友聽到我在電話中的形容後告訴我的，而上面Google的描述也頗符合。打電話問 Biokill，他們說牠們是卜泥，但我左看右看都不像。

到目前為止，應該捉了超過四十條......我倒不認為這是否「勇敢」的問題：只不過不想自己自幼對昆蟲的無明恐懼，影響了敏感而記性強的孩子與蟲蟲的關係...

HK Candle night vigil 2010

DW and I brought DS to attend the Hong Kong candle night vigil last night to commemorate the student, worker and citizen victims of the 1989 June 4 Beijing Tiananmen Square Massacre. It was my 21st time attending the vigil. I am glad to know that more and more HK younger people come out demanding basic human rights in Mainland China.

DS burst into tears when we, for safety reasons, blew out the candle when we were getting through the 150,000 people of the vigil. I had tried to offer him a distraction, but it didn't work. At last, I re-lighted the candle and held it together with him again. His tears immediately gave way to smiles.

發佈文章

The de-facto referendum for universal suffrage in Hong Kong

I am proud of myself because I was one of the 579,000 persons who voted at the by-election on May 16, 2010 which was a de-facto referendum for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, despite the pro-Beijing establishment's repeated attempts at sabotaging it.

Cooking

I am so happy because I have just cooked a complete meal for 8 persons.

Actually I was delighted not because of my present "skills" (a lot to be improved) but because I was still an idiot in cooking two years ago.

For example, when trying to stir-fry greens and to make them softer, I always had a tendency to over-cook them.

I thought I would never cook a proper dinner.

I feel myself more complete (as a human being) now :-)

My previous profile info that has been deleted by facebook without my consent

Activities:

I am a full-time dad. I am proud of it.

Babywearing, Co-sleeping with a baby, Advocating Breastfeeding and Baby-led Weaning, Continuum Parenting

http://continuum-fathering.blogspot.com/

Cycling (past - no time now)

*See here:

http://franklenchoi.blogspot.com/2005/12/blog-post.html

Playing with SS, my dearest lovely cat (now let DS and DD do this).

Caring for DW, DS and DD, three most important persons in my life.

Living with IBS: (almost recovered)

http://franklenchoi.blogspot.com/2007/09/blog-post_16.html

Perhaps also living with RSI now.

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Interests:

Life skills, production for life, not for profits

Photography, reading, my house, DIY

Learning responsible fatherhood

Adult Education, Child Education

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Favorite Music:

Johannes Brahms

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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I like the tone colour of acoustic guitars, violas, and recorders. I prefer sophistication in simplicity, as in Mozart's music, but I also enjoy Brahms's deepness. With a few exceptions, I don't like electronic music - feeling that it's far less green and healthy.

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Johann Sebastian Bach

Ludwig van Beethoven

Leslie Cheung

Tat Ming Pair

Sissel Kyrkjebo

Angelita Li (Hong Kong)

Shirley Kwan

Eva Cassidy

Fritz Kreisler

Pachelbel's Canon in D

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誰能明白我、追憶、究竟天有幾高 (George Lam)

一 個人在途上 (Tat Ming Pair) 看海的日子、仍是老地方、當我傾心愛上 (Hacken Lee) 未來之歌、月正亮、當愛已成往事、最愛 (Leslie Cheung) 這麼遠那麼近 (Anthony Wong with Leslie) Shall We Talk (Eason chan) 約定、暗湧 (Faye Wong) 天堂夢(Danny Summer) 不要問究竟(Danny Chan) 鷹與星(Sandy Lam) 忽略(Sandee Chan) 殘夢(Michael Kwan) 如泣如訴(Alex To)

Notturno for 4 Orchestras in D Major, K.286 (Mozart)

String Quartet in D minor, K421 (Mozart)

The late quartets of Beethoven (e.g. op.132)

Winter (from Antonio Vivaldi, The Four Seasons)

Air (from Bach, Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D, BWV 1068)

Viola Concerto in G (Georg Philipp Telemann)

Recorder Sonatas (George Frideric Handel)

Concierto de Aranjuez (Joaqui'n Rodrigo Vidre)

Enigma Variations (Edward Elgar)

Arpeggione Sonata in A Minor (Franz Schubert)

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Favorite TV Shows:

Dae Jang-geum (大長今) (I love it!)

The Benny Hill Show; -)

The Misadventure of Zoo (流氓皇帝)

Chinese Folklore (民間傳奇)

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Favorite Movies:

Hayao Miyazaki (宮崎駿)

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I like the feeling of regretfulness:

Cinema Paradiso (星光伴我心) (cinema version) (& its music)

Love Letter (Japan) (情書) (& its music)

Ashes of Time (東邪西毒) (& its music)

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Stephen Chow, esp. with Jeff Lau (史提芬周/劉鎮偉)

Sean Connery, Kate Winslet, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman

Tim Burdon

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Favorite Books:

Tezuka Osamu (手塚治虫) (I read "Black Jack" since I was a kid)

壽星仔 (Seung-gun Siu-keung [上官小強])

Zhuangzi (莊子)

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Michel Foucault (anarchy is an ethic)

Jean-Paul Sartre (once I considered myself an existentialist, but I am not sure now)

Sutta Pitaka (Theravada Buddhism) (巴利五部經)

Books on Ecofeminism

Man Si-wai (文思慧)

Chou Wah-shan (周華山) (before 1997)

Ken Kifer (on cycling)

Henri Cartier-Bresson (on photography)

John Dewey (on education)

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Favorite Quotations:

"Mum, where is us going to have gone to go?" (by gullit, aged 10)

"siu gu ah, sui do hey foon lei, Saamsam mew mew giu" (sing Doraemon to bb)

"Wa law or law e sai stream!" (sing Lipovitan)

"How, Where, When? Oh! How, Where, When will we touch again?" (Cleo Laine sings Canon in D)

"Bach? Oh...!" (to pretend that you deeply know music when being asked about the composer)

「霧月夜抱泣落紅，險些破碎了燈釵夢。喚魂句，頻頻喚句卿須記取再重逢......」(Yam Kim Fai, the Legend of Purple Hairpin)

"May the force be with you." (Blessings between Jedi Knights)

"Is there anything more pretty than a ride late at night with the stars overhead and, from time to time, a falling star?" (by Ken Kifer)

"To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression" (by Henri Cartier-Bresson)

"In my life I did nothing bad. Why does it have to be like this?" (the last words of Leslie)

"I am dying in this town!"

and

"If I were thinking clearly Leonard, I would tell you that I wrestle alone in the dark, in the deep dark and only I can know, only I can understand my own condition. You live with the threat; you tell me, you live with the threat of my extinction. Leonard, I live with it too. This is my right. It is the right of every human being. I choose not to suffocate in the anesthetic of the suburb but the violent jolt of the capital. That is my choice. The meanest patient, yes, even the lowest is allowed some say in the matter of her own prescription. That by which she defines her humanity. I wish, for your sake, Leonard that I could be happy in this quietness but if it is a choice between Richmond and death, I choose death." (by "Virginia Woolf", the Hours)

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About Me:

http://continuum-fathering.blogspot.com/2010/03/interview-in-babynews-ii.html

A post-post-structural socialist (considering becoming a social ecologist or ecofeminist)

Then:

http://franklenchoi.blogspot.com/1997/06/blog-post.html

Now:

http://www.franklenchoi.org/#franklen

---------------------------------

Contact Information

Website:

http://continuum-fathering.blogspot.com/

http://franklenchoi.blogspot.com/

http://www.franklenchoi.org/

Facebook Profile:

http://www.facebook.com/franklen

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Education and Work

Colleges:

* University of Sheffield

* PhD Candidate

* Hong Kong Baptist University

* MPhil

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Previous Employers:

Quite a number

Positions:

Mainly research-related & NGOs

Location:

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Description:

http://www.franklenchoi.org/#franklen

"Black-Kite-Catches-Chicks"

Played hide-and-seek and black-kite-catches-chicks with children in the playground today. Surprised to know that many HK kids have never heard of these traditional children games - probably their post-80s parents do not know or play these games either, or they are more accustomed to ready-made toys or electronic games? Anyway DS was running happily all the time!

Never too late

The educator John Holt began to study the cello only in his 40th year, with no particular musical background. Never too late. I hope I can learn to play a musical instrument, to write Children's literature, to draw and to cook (better).

Answer to a friend

Answer to a friend: Thanks for your concern. Why don't I get a well-paying job? Because I am working for the future of humanity... one person at a time :-)

The Victims Become the Accused

Zhao Lianhai, who organized a support group for parents of children (including his own son) sickened by milk powder tainted by an industrial chemical, is being charged of "inciting social disorder" by the Chinese Authority. Again, the victim has become the accused. Shame on the Chinese Government and the Chinese Communist Party!

Adult education

Adult education can learn much from child education where the education of the senses is considered important.

I am studying the former, and am learning the latter.

Johannes Brahms

The second movement of Brahms's Symphony No.4 is my most favourite music; I feel it's about forgivingness. The symphony, indeed Brahms's whole life, is about overcoming anger and achieving integrity. It worths a lifetime's pursuit. I always compare his character with mine. I love the stories about his relationship with Clara Schumann.

The Banking approach to child education

Tell me, where in the globe besides this city-state:

1. More and more local parents talk to their babies not in mother tongue but only in a foreign language (even though the parents themselves don't master it well, and the grandparents can't participate in their conversation), with a view to make their kids more "competitive" when later going to the school admission interview?
2. The so-called "early childhood education" means that, the toddlers as young as 3 (95% of 3~6 go to kindergartens in Hong Kong) have to learn "two languages three dialects" and "information technology", and to receive formal "writing skill training" (drilling)?

In this world's most capitalist city, arguably school (and increasingly even preschool) is the antithesis to education. It is a place where self-directed learning is discouraged and even punished, and it is also the place where children learn that learning is not fun, or that learning is not for the sake of learning per se.

Lifestyle Diversity and Choices

I was the guest speaker to the City University course "Lifestyle Diversity and Choices" on the past Monday, and talked about fatherhood to over 40 students. How wonderful during the whole 80 minutes of my sharing, DS was so calm sitting in the front of the class and playing his excavator and jigsaw puzzles!

Am I asking him too much? :-)

Most of the time, DS is the only kid who helps the adults dissemble the playroom floor mats after a playgroup session - the teacher of the class loves him so much! At home, I just let him help me do the housework whenever the tasks are appropriate. Sometimes he is too willing and insistent to help that he must be involved! Belows are some of the photos taken over a year. No photo was being taken (because I had to make sure he was safe) when he removed the potatoes with a pair of tongs from the hot oven !

Wiping the floor @ 9.m.o....

"DS, you may stop. The floor is already clean."



Scooping uncooked rice out with a measuring cup (not shown here) and inspecting the bugs...
Switching on the cooker in a very hot and windowless kitchen...

"Cutting" the water melon...

Putting back the toys after playing...


Vacuum cleaning...

...and wet dusting...

Feeding our beloved cat...

Helping separate Pok Choy's leaves from stems.

Turning the salad spinner...

Peeling the pomelo...
...and the orange...

Peeling the hard-boiled egg...

(he was very serious)

...and more!

Only 24.5 months old, he loves doing housework and is proud of himself!

Excavators

An elder cousin (5) of DS only loves buses, and he has dozens of toy buses. On the other hand, DS loves all kinds of trucks( he can distinguish between truck-mounted crane ["吊雞車"] and hook-lift truck ["勾斗車"]!). He can name (in Chinese) over twenty trucks, but he loves excavators most( he sees them everywhere- it is because there are always major and minor dusty construction works around the city! :-( ).

Some of his daily activities, then, is playing excavator toys/ puzzles, reading books on diggers, asking us to draw them on the paper (and now I encourage him to draw in his own way too) , or watching, listening to and singing along with Youtube videos/songs about the machine (well as I said before I limit this guided screen-watching to at most 30 minutes per day and only on occasional days)....

To make the digger toy more interesting, I have also taught DS how to attach the clamshell of it to other hand-tool toys: the screwdriver, the hammer, the pilers, etc. so that the excavator can now not only dig but also grasp, lift, drill, hit, and cut, like a real transformable hydraulic excavator! (By the way, constructing new, complex and more powerful commands by combining simple but self-sufficient commands is in line with the spirit of Unix, not M$ Windows!) :-) DS likes to stack wooden blocks on his table until the stack is taller than him, then push each block of the "multi-storey building" down one by one with the pilers attached to the excavator - it becomes a demolition game!

Several days ago we also discovered a new fun way to play. We sat in a row (I sat behind him), and I leaned my right arm out of his chair. When DS was moving two plastic tubes ("the control levers") with his hands towards certain directions, my arm and hand ("the boom, the bucket and the shovel") also moved accordingly. "The aim" was to put the "bucket" into a dump-truck toy. DS likes this role play activity very much and has asked me to play with him every night since then! Scoop!

Ha ha... I have become a paper-expert of the excavator because I (have to) know the names of every part of it, how it moves and how to control it except that I never really drive one! ;-P I guess I indulge in excavators too!

"This is the work I really love... because that's what's an excavator does...."

Perhaps later we can integrate the learning of science, music, arts, language, etc. into the theme of excavators for this child! Education and learning can be fun, whole and self-directed!

Interview in Babynews II

My second interview in Babynews magazine (Baby親子雜誌), Issue 196, 03/2010, pp.80-81. Click image to enlarge.

網上版請按這裡。

Little Sun

I used to sing to him the song "little sun" (小太陽) after he woke up from the nap, nearly everyday. Last week, he tried to sing the song with me. I felt tears in my eyes. 太陽像那大紅花， 在那東方天邊掛， 圓圓臉兒害羞像紅霞， 只是笑不說話‧‧‧‧‧‧