LOGO : Site title

T here was a period when Oliver was about 2 years old where he could identify pretty much any car by make, and sometimes even by model. I would often carry him on my shoulders on the way to a nearby park and he would gleefully call out “BMW! Honda! Buick!” as we passed one parked car after another.

Y ou've probably seen those awful TV ads with the digitally enhanced talking babies trying to sell you pizza and insurance or you might have had the misfortune of sitting through one of the three Look Who's Talking movies, but believe me, none of that can compare to the first time that your real live baby opens his mouth and says his first word.

I believe that one of the most important things that a father can do for his son is to share with him a cultural and religious heritage. Passing down age-old tenets and beliefs fosters a deep connection between one generation and the next and helps to keep alive a wealth of knowledge in an ever changing world. It was with this in mind that I took my son Jack to the comic book shop for the first time.

"W hat's this?" demands Oliver, holding up a clenched fist with the thumb and index finger extended. He knows what it is and he knows that I know, but I play dumb and guess: "A letter L?"

"No, it's a gun!" he trumpets, and Mimi and I both wince. The idea of guns, as toys or otherwise, has infiltrated his circle of daycare friends and I am appalled and saddened that they seem to have embraced it.

A boy and his trains (photo by Mimi Choi)

B ecause those troublesome trucks will get the engines every time

Troublesome trucks will run the engines off the line

They don’t care how big they are, to them it’s just a game

Those troublesome trucks will get them all the same

O liver has now reached the stage where he gets around on his own two feet and is vocal, with an increasing degree of intelligibility. And he definitely does a lot of walking and a lot of talking, often at the same time. There's no stopping him in either activity. Once he has decided to chase our cat, Zane (known to Oliver as “Zzzuzz!”), or run out into the hallway to toss a toy over the banister, or fixate on a word for a while (“baby” or “hellooo!” or “go go go,” for example), that's what he'll do until he's tired and cranky.