MY BABY CAN READ! ..... not

Here's Mr SmellyBottom Lay with his daily fix of the news. He has, at the tender age of 14 and some months, formed a studious habit of studying the papers, many times each day.



Here he is again. Making some humanly contact with the beings around him to express some disgruntle that he cannot seem to find that piece of news he is hunting for.



Finally....... he finds that thing he is looking for...BALL BALL! Yup, the sports pages are his favourite read. :-) cos he sees grandma reading the papers everyday. One day She had graciously lent him the sports section to browse on his own - and what can we say? The rest was history. He is officially in love with the inky smudgy prints and he flips through them quite a few times a day to find the elusive rounded objects. Talk about a positive influence! Maybe the lil man might just grow up to be a sports journo? Hmm....

wabbit

Val's first close up encounter with a wabbit - he only has those "touch and feel" books with a black wabbit on the cover that he sayangs. So upon sighting the real thang, he runs and hides behind my legs to peer at the furry thing.


he makes lots of high pitched excited sounds "hnh...hnh.... hnh...." and begins yabbering away in his lingo


he decides that Sugar's orange cage is waaay safer to tackle... goes over boldly and begins walking around with it... FYI - we don't know Sugar or her master.... just complete strangers on a beach but this fella went around carting Sugar's box like it was his.


finally the lil man musters up the courage to stroke the rabbit and is delighted with the experience. A little ang moh girl nearby goes "it's a wabbit!" and Val suddenly bursts out crying and runs away. *DUH* i have no idea why!

for Lent

and so it's Lent again... a season to reflect and think of all our past doings... and certainly i've got plenty to think about though this blog isn't quite the space to discuss those matters. anyways, the priest asked us today to think about of what we would give up for the next 40 days in preparation for Easter. That set me thinking of how $ can really change our way of life and i asked myself if i could possibly NOT BUY ANYTHING for the next 40 days.

i remember how during those days when i'd given up a full time job to volunteer - how even a cuppa coffee meant a lot to me. $4 for a cuppa was unimaginable. I ate at home a lot, and met up people after having my meals, and even left singapore for 4 months to backpack cos that was a cheaper option than staying here. when you have little to spare, you tend to think more clearly i believe. there's less clutter in the brain - less options, and thus what you need to do is clearer. now that i am earning an income again and being in the city that never stops shopping and selling, suddenly i feel the breathlessness of being caught up by a shopping bug again.... now i find myself surfing the net looking at computers when my trusty G4 is still plodding along; i pick up a handbag online cos it's on sale; and i can now afford organic stuff when previously i just closed my eyes and picked the cheapest on the shelf. Sigh....this jungle bunny feels like an animal unleashed in shopping galaxy. Thank the stars for the values of thrift that's been programmed into my system so i haven't gone TOTALLY berserk swiping those cards. i know of people who max out their credit, and deplete their monthly income on a regular basis. For me, it goes back to how one's brought up i believe. My mom was uber strict with us growing up - if we wanted something, we had to save up for it, and we never got to buy it at the first encounter. that was usually a good test of whether we really wanted something bad enough. i try to practise that principle as much as i can. and so , if i DO try the ambitious task of abstaining from purchase for the next 40 days, this principle would be something to rely on.

I thought about whether i should be writing about this online cos we really should not broadcast to the world what we plan to do but thought the online record would press me to stick to it cos of public accountability issues. So there you have it: i am now saying that i will NOT buy/ consume anything unneccessary for the next 40 days till EASTER is reached.

i've drawn out some rough guidelines to this abstinence.

1. it starts on monday 0000 hrs (which means i have one more hour to shop!)
2. it excludes daily subsistence such as lunch, but it DOES include designer coffees and expensive meals such as sashimi, steaks, lobster, anything consumed in a restaurant (unless i am made to go because it is part of a family outing cos it would be rude otherwise no?)
3. it excludes necessities such as tissue paper, sanitary pads, toothpaste but i am limited to buying generic ones nothing branded
4. it excludes my $100 zara vouchers because they expire in April! (not using them would amount to waste ya?)
5. it excludes magazines i buy for work purposes.

Specifically this means:

1. i will not buy another new pair of shoes
2. i will not go to the IT show that starts in mid march
3. i will opt out of restaurant meals as much as possible without becoming the most anti-social person around.

All that said, may i stress that i really am not a spendthrift, ALSO i know that i really should not be doing this only at Lent but make it a daily practice. but hey, baby steps are a great way to start.

ONE LAST THING:
if i should falter, i will put aside the equivalent sum spent and donate it to a charitable cause. ;-)

FRESH AIR...

a little yellow butterfly flitted past me this morning as i traipsed through the greens at Fort Canning Park.
how do i describe that feeling of being in the woods again?
the cool, refreshing micro climate afforded by the trees...
the crickets chirping...
the quiet bustle of the city in the background...
ah.... it's been a long while since this has happened.
the sweat that dripped down my back was like a long overdue detox...
i hope this won't be the first and last.

W is for water

Excited! He picked up the Water sign in ASL last night after showing him for a few months. It seems that suddenly it clicks in his mind. But instead of the W sign on the side of the mouth, he puts his entire five fingers over his mouth like a Red Indian about to whoop. Cute....

Val + FOOD = ?

Oh, he eats.........
Quite a fair bit..........
He loves new food.......
especially those of the adults'.....
He's tried even kimchi (with distaste), and chilli (with horror).......
But burn burn burn...
His food gets turned into fuel pretty quickly......
So SKINNY he stays....
for now at least....




Hey they smell Tangy but they're round, so they must be nice smelling balls that Mama's got for me - throw, hurl, toss, pitch....




During that period called CNY, I saw everyone holding the two balls and passing them from one to another - i dunno what games the adults are playing, but it sure isn't as fun as what i do with them!



Now, for a quick laze in Mama's lap while watching the world go by from the gate....Bliss*



Checking out that thing Mama's holding in her hands.... sometimes i see myself in it!



I love CORN! i hate it when Mama gives me bit by bit i prefer the entire cob!!!
p/s: dun worry for me, i can handle it better than an adult!



Sometimes when i'm good, i get to sit in my little chair for breakfast. I love COLD fresh milk, YUM! but i still hate the milk bottle....



Wassup........no mamarazzi allowed when i'm enjoying my milk please...




This is how hungry i am - that i am eating my sleeve -- Mommy.... me want sushi!!!!



*SLURP* i LOOOVE japanese sticky rice and unagi..... so sweet, so nice... i like....

Valente's day

Yup, that was his day on Saturday but we did nothing significant to mark the day - perhaps next time when he's older and definitely a skirt-chaser then will the day be of greater importance (?). Anyways, a way overdue post this is. Been superbly busy at work - finishing up an inaugural issue of a magazine for a *challenging* client and also trying to finish up my second Gender essay for the semester (yes, still late and past the deadline... again). tomorrow will be the day i sit down and eke out that essay. So yeah, after this week, i shall have the time to blog and update photos of my lil man who has been growing (not so much sideways but definitely vertically) and now seems TOO much for his own good. I feel like i have to invent a new language so that he won't understand what we're saying. In fact, there are times i've resorted to spelling words out while talking to my mom. The koala bear still clings onto me at times, but much much less so compared to when i first started working outside the house. But he really cottons on fast - whenever there's a brief mention of me needing to change my clothes or to go toilet, he latches onto my leg sometimes crying blue murder. thankfully, he's very easily distracted - yes, by BALL! so we have a permanent friend in BALL to always rescue him from tears. He's started talking a lot more these days.

Sounds he makes now:
FISH - - phisshhhss
Bus --- but
Lion - - grrrrrrr
Tiger --- grrrrr
Aeroplane --- errrr (plus hand sign)
Bird --- psst ( plus hand sign)
Ball --- ball ball, ball ball.... BALLLLLLLLLLL (plus hand sign - like patting a basketball)
Bye -- a high pitched bye! and elaborate hand waving
mommy - - short abrupt MA!
No --- sometimes he goes "bu yao" we don't know if this is a coincidence but he's done it more than once!

Antics he gets up to:
Blinks his eyes in a really funny way to tease us
scrunges up his nose, flattening it, to snort like a pig
waves his hand infront of his nose to say his shit is smelly
pretends to give you something but takes it away
if you hold his nose, he snorts like a pig too

Surprising things he knows:
Our chinese names!
he points out my clothes (including the bras) and pronounce them as mine

well, that's about it for now, as far as i can recall. will blog more when i have energy......

Val turns 3

Technically - going by the lunar calendar - Val should be 3 years old by now. And boy... has this past year of the Rat been long and short in different ways. Breathe in... breath out... I shall focus on the good things now.... The boy is skinny skinny skinny. He loves Balls (still) and no matter how clingy and whiny he is, set him down in an open space with a ball (or any vaguely round object), and he'll forget Mommy in a flash, preferring to go with ANYONE who has possession of that ball.

He can READ one word - the word BALL (lol) I promise that i am not boasting. It all started out as a joke - i thought that since he loves Balls so much and he shouts the word at everything, i might as well write it out and show the word to him. Of course, when he sees it now, he goes "BALL" but wait.... when we watch those baby videos, he is usually quiet but these days when the word BALL is flashed, he shouts BALL before the narrator speaks. So i'm convinced that Val knows ONE word though i can't say the same for the other caregivers in his life. They are convinced i have mommy delusions. ;-P One thing that everyone agrees is that Val picks up sign language pretty fast. He saw an aeroplane while riding the MRT and i signed to him "airplane" moving my hand in front of him. Later that evening, when we asked him if he saw any aeroplanes, he signed something similar - - with his hand up and down like washing a window! So cute.

It's a joy being with him. But i must admit that since i started work, he's become EXTRA SUPER DUPER elephant brand super glue whenever i'm home, especially on weekends! It's really tough. somedays i even have to pee with him in the toilet with me, cos he wants to be where i am - - literally everywhere. MY mom complains that Val is so much easier to care for when i'm out of the house. He becomes the sticky koala whenever i'm home. There are times it does get to me. Especially this CNY period. Gosh. i feel like i've grown a boy on my hip..... plus it's a little bit pai seh when everyone remarks, "he's very sticky, hor..." sigh.... i can feel the "judgement" in their voices and can see their thought bubbles flashing in front of me - ya, cos she carries him in a sling, practices whatmachacallit attachment parenting thingie, breastfeeds, and blah blah blah - but i just try to remind myself that hey, Val will be older very soon and he'll not want mommy around anymore so i should just treasure this time with him. So there! Harrumph! Anyways, here're some snaps to share. i know i've been so lax updating the blog. He's learning to climb stairs and doing it very well. He sucks at the fine motor skills movements cos he has no patience. And lately, he's been showing some attitude..... boy attitude - - i dunno how to describe it but i think the pictures will explain (you know, with those thousands words they are suppose to have).


He's always loved arching his back and recently took to lying on the pillow by the bed this way with a super cool expression.


Rapping career in the horizon?


Cool top, not so cool bottom. Ratty shoes. Shucks. I can't get down but i'm not letting anyone know i'm pissing my pants!

Life back in the workforce (read: days of WAHM over)

Wake up at 630am
Sneak out of bed to get ready
Val's eyes pop open instinctively and jumps onto me koala-like
Walk around with koala, both have eyes half open, trying to get dressed
Unable to get dressed with koala attached to hip
Wake grandma up; she wrestles with val to get him off me
Screaming fest which dies down when distracted with strange food
Stumble out of house
Get on bus
Reach office
Work; get distracted; attend meetings; lunch; work; gosh it's 5pm!
Get on bus
Reach home
Koala screams in delight at sight of mommy; becomes surgically attached again
Gobble down dinner; bath (without koala who has been wrestled off again);
play with val and beg him to sleep while stifling yawns and trying to keep eyes open
Lose patience at 9pm; begin to look menacing to threaten sleep to come
Val nurses enthusiastically until asleep *yes yes go ahead to tsk tsk me
Sometimes i fall asleep and wake up at 1am, wondering where time has fled
When successful (like now), surf net, read blogs, catch up on news, check emails, never have time to reply or blog
Continue working or studying
Collapse into bed

Go back to beginning....

Weekends are another story for another time

ambling tottering totem pole bottom lay

he celebrates the New Year by learning to walk - turns around, squats, stands up, pivots, runs. HAPPY NEW YEAR, PULL YOUR EAR.

The You.Can.Tell.I'm.Avoiding.My.Deadline.Blog.Post

Since this is meant to be an intellectual respite, i shall list down what i want in the new year. Warning: nothing highfalutin here, nothing abstract, just pure materialistic wants.

1. New Knickers - - i've lost a lot of weight since pregnancy and deserve nicer looking, better fitting knickers. Read: i have a smaller ass now! Last i measured, i have dropped 7 inches!!!!

2. New spectacles -- 4 years i've had them, though they have a life-time warranty, i'm getting real tired of them. Plus Val's helping me destroy them everyday - flinging, squashing, sitting on them at every opportunity.

3. New MAC -- either a desktop or a laptop. Slurp. Yummy. Drool. Cos my 4 year old Powerbook can't open up PDF attachments online - good enough excuse right??? it hinders my academic pursuits. (**roll eyes**)

4. New Shoes -- why not? everyone i know has more pairs of shoes than I. Flats are nice, more my style.

5. New Clothes -- ermm that Zara voucher expiring in April needs to be used up!

6. New eyebrows -- been a long while since i put myself through plucking torture. I don't like the experience, but i do like how it makes me look more energetic.

7. New makeup -- dare i say!!! i have thrown away all my makeup since i stopped using them 5 years ago. these days, if i am invited to a wedding or anything semi-formal, i realise that i have nil, nada, zilch to slap on my face. but regrets at those last moments before an event usually means i go sans makeup. Not that i really like all that stuff caking on me really. Hmm.. okay, change that to MINERAL make up how bout that?

8. New tan --- been a while since i soaked up the sun and my inner melanonin is screaming to unleash my freckles! Come mid-Jan that should not be an issue anymore when i bring val for swim classes.

9. New phone --- yes yes am still hankering after an iPhone but have momentarily succeeded in staving those irrational desires - which really are the engines of this capitalist world. Instead i have bought dental floss to participate in a lucky draw that promises free iPhones - how pathetic is this!??

10. New books -- and okay - more time to read them! Arggh.

So there, end of my bimbotic exercise. Back to the grind. Ta.

p/s: everyone should do one of these cos it's incredibly therapeutic. Especially when you have no time to really SHOP, this list at least satisfies the raging retail hormones within.

hello 2009

i can't believe i let 2008 slip by without ceremony. but the truth was that my head was buried under papers, and my eyes squinting at the computer screen as hundreds and thousands of people were ushering in the new year. Exhausted by the mental rigours, i fell into bed near midnight, not even bothering to catch that "moment" when we became 2009. In bed, i heard the faint 'boom' 'boom' 'boom' of the fireworks exploding off the bay - they reminded me of the grenades and bombs in Dili in 2006. Still, that could not peel me off my rest to catch the spectacle on the goggle box and so passed 2008 like any other ordinary day. I had a nightmarish encounter with Val all night. Young as he is, he must still have sensed the excitement of a new year buzzing in his blood - he was up and down the entire night - or perhaps simply because he, in recent days, has mastered the art of walking and that was thrilling him to bits. All the while, i was lamenting to myself and wondering how i would complete my essay - due Monday - in a matter of days. And so 2009 came by in the most unceremonious manner. You can probably sense my utter lack of excitement - maybe it's the age, or maybe it's the stress of studying, or maybe just maybe i finally see through the whole falsity and manufactured happiness of welcoming new years with wasteful fireworks, helium (animal-endangering) balloons, and commercialism. Or maybe i'm just being the New Year Scrooge. Bah, hum-bug. Don't let my ennui affect your party mood. Whatever it is, 2009 is here and life proceeds as usual, although i do hold a faint hope that things will get better for me.

i had meant to close down this blog to start another one since it has morphed from its original mission (of my tumbleweed days) to something else. I thought that New Year's Eve would be a significant day to do it but even that I couldn't muster up energy for. And so, this blog continues to exist for today but for how long i have no idea.

Rest.In.Pieces.

How do u read this picture? A book so well-thumbed it has fallen apart, or a book so well-thrown that it has succumbed to its end prematurely? To be fair, it is a combination of both – the book has been well-thumbed but it suffered courageously (and exponentially) from Val’s powerful pitcher throws. Welcome to Val’s world where books and balls are no different except for the quality of their bounce. Val is the bogeyman of books, as the bogeyman is bogeyman to kids. I can imagine the tomes shuddering in their skins, contemplating their imminent doom in the dark of night when we have all fallen asleep. They huddle in serious conference: contemplating when their spines will be broken, their pages torn, and their sleeves ripped apart. They trade tales of their torture, Oh you were only tossed? I was bitten, then pulled apart, his mommy wasn't in time to rescue me. Some grimace in disgust as they recount how he slobbered over them in moments of crazed affection or extreme hunger. Others, especially those with the flaps, bemoan how they now nurse injured appendages. This blog entry is in memoriam for the many books who have now retired from service – they did honorable duty at meal times, providing Val (the little boy who doesn’t want to sit still) with endless distraction - Point starfish? Stroke the rabbit’s fur. Where’s the alligator? These noble hardboard books that are now reduced to cardboard will forever remain deep in our hearts. Now, I just need to surf online for more discounted books for my little book warrior and hope that he will one day learn to only hug them, not chuck them. Or someone, please invent some Val-proof books.

And he turns ONE

Here in this little red dot, turning one takes the form of birthday bashes and presents, cakes and streamers, songs and games, and frenzied parents worried if everything would turn out right - so that Precious Baby will have that dream birthday bash of his lifetime. But in another world (where we were from), turning one is a real achievement in itself. For a baby to reach one, it means the baby has triumphed over the milieu of diseases threatening to snuff out his/her fragile life. Malaria, dengue, tetanus, chicken pox, cholera, etc are some of the illnesses that babies in another world from ours have to contend with. And so, that is why the UN's way of measuring survival is to see how many children out of 1000 reach the one year mark, and then the five year mark.

And so, even as we celebrate Val's birthday today, i can't help thinking of all the kiddies i had written about during my time in ET. They remind me daily of the privileges that babies in our world have that those children can hardly imagine. So i think it's appropriate to give thanks to the Man Above for giving us the joy of Val, and for Him to have protected this little man so well, blessing him with health and happiness. It is not something we can take for granted. I want to remember that, for some parents, when they celebrate their children's first birthday, it is truly a celebration of life - in fact, many parents in ET only baptise their kids after they turn one - almost as if it is only now that they are truly acknowledged to 'exist' or be counted. This was just one of the many challenges we had, persuading parents to bring their newborns to be registered, as many still don't have this practice. To them, they would rather wait till they're sure their babies are gonna survive before getting into the whole process of registering, and then baptising them.

So what did we do for Val's birthday?



For a host of reasons, we decided to have a very simple and intimate celebration - we brought him to the zoo - just the immediate family. I thought that since he has been reading so much about polar bears, tigers, elephants and all those animals in the books, he would really revel in seeing these animals up close and personal. And boy! Was the lil guy thrilled! First stop, after blowing off the candle on his Ben & Jerry's Banana split ice cream (that i called his cake), we set off to see the polar bears.



Val was enthralled by the huge white hairy mammals that were the polar bears swimming so gracefully in the glass tank. You could almost see the synapses in his brain firing away like fireworks as he put two and two together - Yes, these are the same white fluffy things i see in my book everyday!



Then, we had a field day seeing the zebras, giraffes, rhinos and the world ugliest monkeys (in my opinion) - the proboscis monkeys with their bulbous noses. just as we were about to see the penguins and sea lions, Val fell asleep, so the adults had fun instead.



I threw a frisbee at Philip the sea lion and was rewarded with a wet sloppy, and shall i say absolutely fishy smelling, kiss! Val woke up to see the white tigers but he couldn't (with his tiny brain) figure out why those tigers were not orange and black like the ones in the book so they didn't interest him. Of course, those white tigers (after the macabre attack) have become celebrities - everyone wanted to see the maneaters.



Coming home, he got to play with one of his birthday gifts - - - -

100 balls from ELC that Grandma couldn't help buying. She loves the fact that Val is infatuated with balls, and reckons that picking up these 100 balls might even be a great exercise programme for her.





Well, he certainly had a ball of a time in his playpen! I wish we could have bought him 500 balls - that would certainly overwhelm him! Happy birthday my little guy. Mommy loves you so much.

One more day....

Growing up...












Funny shot of him @ a mini piano at ELC United Square. To watch the cheesy video of the lil maestro in action: click here.

He's going to be ONE tomorrow! Once again, i am amazed by the speed with which time has slipped by. To be honest, the first few weeks did seem loooong especially since Val was a typical Dr Sears "high-need" baby who needed a lot of carrying, cuddling, nursing and gentle handling. I really despaired thinking, Oh no, this is the most challenging task i've ever experienced. Give me a mountain to climb any day! But once he learnt to smile at around that magical 6-week mark, things really became a lot rosier. I hope that this weekend, i will have time to write a better, and more thought out The Year in Review on that boy named Val. Oh, and Val's managing to walk up to six steps now (click here to see video) before collapsing into a sack of giggles. He's also crawling strangely - - like doing a wheelbarrow push - lifting his kneecaps away from the ground so instead of looking up, he stares a lot at the ground and of course, ends up crawling smack into walls, doors, you name it. Sigh.

Ball

Tell me if Val is obsessed with balls or not. He mumbles 'Ball' sometimes in his sleep, and when he's awake, 80% of his time is spent chasing after the rounded objects, pushing the huge pink gym ball, throwing them helter skelter around the house, learning from granma how to bounce them off walls, and hurtling them into deep corners of the playroom. Needless to say, the first word (besides the mama, dada he used to mutter) that we can confidently say he understands is 'Ball'. Often the first thing he says when he wakes up is 'Ball?' with his tiny hands in a 'where' position. If I sign to him the Ball sign, he also knows immediately what i'm asking for. I dunno if this is a matter of nature's programming where being a boy makes him naturally keen on these things. But then again, his mama has great ball sense and can pick up most ball games easily, while daddy used to be an intrepid footballer in his youth. For now, it's amusing how everything is a 'ball' to him - the real ones, as well as everything else that can be tossed including balloons and blocks.

Warning: This is a SHAMELESSLY thick-skinned, feel good post.

So, today i wish to give myself many pats on my *now-healed back. *pat *pat *pat. First, i got back my second assignment from last semester - and it was a ..... drummmmrooolllll..... High Distinction!!! Whoot Whooot Whooot.... Combined with my first assignment, it should still give me an overall HD for that unit. ..... *clap Clap Clap* now, those who know me know that i don't boast very often or blow my own trumpet (really) So why am i so shamelessly applauding myself? Cos i just needed to feel good about myself , OKAY? This is one of those "look at yourself in the mirror, and say you're beautiful" moments. Life's dealt me very many curveballs in the last year so i think i deserve to bask in a bit of glory, albeit in my little virtual space here. Second, i was told recently that the only reason i was paid 50 cents a word (for a certain magazine) was because they know I write well enough they don't need to spend lots of time editing my pieces and so they think i deserve that amount. wooo... i tell ya, it was a simple remark, but it gave me a real thrill. truly. for a broadcast journalist turned magazine writer. i do think it's high praise. And so, in my shameless bid to make myself happy, i am broadcasting my achievements just this once on my space. So if you think it was irksome, just surf elsewhere.

Broke back

I'm not gay (in all sense of the word) but i sure feel like i've got a broken back. Thank God for acupuncture and "ba guan" cos that seemed to have eased the sprain A LOT. The Chinese physician says i've got wind circulating in my back which explains the lack of recovery from a cold. So now i have to plaster my back like an old woman, drink bowls of black, horrid, bitter medicine, and try to keep a zen state of mind for a fast recover. Arggh.. I hate to be ill.

Bear-napped!

The bear was a gift from Washington for Val's granmama but instead the lil 'un has literally bear-napped it as his own. Toys are great when they teach babies the right values. We ask him to 'sayang' and to hug the bear which he does now with great aplomb, and then when you goo-gaa over his apparent show of affection, he would - with all the might he could muster - fling the stuffed animal as far as it would sail across the room. He is tickled by our dismay. I do hope that he weans off that throwing habit which he's acquired with affection. Mr Smelly BottomLay now tosses anything in his sight - books, balls, toys, whatever. He will play with the object, study it, thumb through it, for about five minutes and once its novelty expires, --- wheeeeze ---- the said object goes crashing metres away. His little arms are rather strong i must say. So now, we are very careful not to let the throwing monster near remote controls, the telephone, or any of our cellphones which he has a penchant for. Cos, oouch... too many times already, the boy has set sail those gadgets with a sudden, wicked swing of the arm. Looks like he's taken after mama in the frisbee throwing category.

Family

Val has a pair of the most wonderful grandparents.... Then again, i think i've been blessed with a pair of the most wonderful parents... Their love is so unconditional it's touching. Much as he brings joy to them, the pair of grams certainly bring lots of joy to him too. Thanks Mom & Dad.