Changing jobs

Yes - I am about to leave IBM. After nearly 10 years in system design and development area in IBM toronto Lab, it is time to move on and, as in all good resignation speeches, spend some more time with my family. I've really enjoyed working in the business integration area and doing system design and development. It is a tough decision to make, specially when I really like what I am doing and I am doing pretty well from both my own view and management's perspective. However, considering the focus point of different stage of life is quite different, at this point, I feel that helping my kids to grow to be a better person and reach their maximum is much more important than my own career and it is probably a much more meaningful thing to do.

So where am I heading next? within two weeks, I will start a new job in provincial government. It is quite interesting that I will be working on WPS project, which I have worked for quite a few years in IBM, but this time, as a customer. I assume that the transition would be relatively easy. With the job security and stability as a plus for this position, I have to have much longer commute. Hopefully, the workload is not as crazy as IBM so that I would have more time to read books and think about how to deal with two boys at home.

Hope I made a right decision. Time will tell.

A story of hope

Isaac is so interested in the book named "Terry Fox: a story of Hope". He kept "reading" (pictures only ) and asked all questions: why did he have only one leg? was he sick? why?Did he take medicine?

On the other hand, Caleb knew the story of Terry fox, he told Isaac and me that Terry Fox is about "never give up". I am so pleased that the school has taught him this value through annual Terry Fox Run.

This morning, For the first time, I introduced him a chinese game of sticks while I was preparing his lunch. He had to move two sticks to make the shape upside down. After one minute, he came to me and said he could not figure out. I said to him :" Terry fox never gave up running even he had only one leg. " To my surprise, he went back to table and continue thinking.. and he found the solution!

Tonight, I "borrowed" the book from Isaac ( he hid in a secret place) and read to them again, Isaac is so into superman these days, I told him " Terry Fox is a real superman". After they slept, I read it one more time. It really got me. I admire him. His Marathon of Hope is not only for raising money for cancer research, but also a inspiration for Canadians and people all over the world.

" Anything is possible if you try. Dreams are made if people try." He is a real superman!

Love to cook

We all enjoy the peaceful life after grandma has gone. I am surprised that I am more capable in cooking than I think. I cook 3 dishes every evening: 2 vegetables, 1 meat dish. The tricky part is
that I have to let boys eat their dinners within half an hour from the time we get home. Of course, I need to do some preparation the night before such as washing vegetables. So far, according to the feedback from three big eaters, they all like my cooking. It seems online cooking learning works well. :-)

The challenge now is to learn to cook quick soup.

I lose.

For so many times i feel I need to write it down the cute things done by the cute little one.
While both boys play or talk, whenever I heard Caleb saying "I win", Isaac would say " I lose"
followed by a contagious big laugh. I really enjoy Isaac's happy and lovable personality!
"Isaac" means Laugh, it seems to be a perfect name for him.

On the go at holiday season

I am behind on the blog so this post is a catch-all for our activities over the all holidays: Christmas, New Year and the spring festival.
Christmas was rather quiet. My main job was to keep two boys healthy for our big trip in new year : Disney trip from Jan 1st, 2010 to Jan 7th, 2010.
It was the first time for two boys to take air plane. On toronto airplane, although the waiting time was longer than usual due to more strict security checking, the little guys did not seem to mind, they were very excited and curious about everything in airport. When we were waitting to aboard, Isaac sat beside the window to watch the air plane taking off and landing. he was so excited about it. By the way of our plane to take off, Caleb was thrilled by the fact that he was flying in the sky. He was sitting beside the window to watch the house gradually smaller and smaller, eventually disappear... Unexpectedly, Isaac was happy and no fears at all. The flight to Orlando was smooth and pleasant.

Hyper boy

Often Caleb's behavior with other children concerns me. He loves to play with other children, indeed he is a very friendly boy. But he tends to overwhelm the other children. He likes to touch other kids ( hug or kiss ). He also gets too close to them or touch them when he talks. He really likes to make other kids laugh, sometimes he will call the other kids "Mr. gooly barly" which is meaningless, it normally works, and then he will keep doing it. I feel like I am constantly telling him how not to act. I am always saying " no hugging, no kissing, enough being silly".

Although the teacher said that he is very focus when he is doing work, he seems to
have a short attention span at home. It is hard to have him sit, even at the dinner table. The only thing that he can play a long time is pretending play as fire fighter, but then he would run around non stop. I really hope that he is coming home and just letting out all the energy he is not allowed to let out at school. too bad that I can not register him sports during weekday.