Nov 20, 2013  •  In Claire, Motherhood, Parenting, Personal

Neglected

Last week, my mother told me something that made me want to lock myself in a dark room and sob like a little girl.

You see, Claire had told her, “엄마는 다정이 안좋아해. 엄마는 효정이만 좋아해.” (“Mommy doesn’t like Claire. Mommy only likes Aerin.”)

Now, I know that kids often say things they don’t necessarily mean. And both J and my sister think that she was probably trying to get extra attention (and gifts!) from my mother. After all, she’s been playing off, and sometimes even taking advantage of people’s emotions since she turned 1!

But I can’t help but think that at least a portion of that statement must be rooted in the truth.

Because Aerin’s hearing is still impaired and she requires extra attention from us. Because we send Claire to preschool while Aerin stays home with me. Because Claire has seen Aerin’s therapist work with her on more than one occasion and I could tell that she wanted to participate too. Because — although I try my best not to — it’s natural to coddle the baby of the family and we tend to be stricter with Claire (because she’s older and hence has the ability to better understand boundaries and consequences).

I imagine that Claire has been feeling more neglected and left out even more so in the past week as Aerin fell ill. And I can confidently say that she will feel worse next week, when Aerin gets her surgery.

LFP_0643
My fav shot from Claire’s first school pictures

Isn’t this how it starts? A family pays more attention to a particular child — whether due to an illness or through sheer favoritism — and the other, more neglected child(ren) ends up acting out to get attention? How sometimes, that cry for help arises in the form of destructive behavior or even mental illnesses such as Münchausen syndrome?

Damn, being a mother is tough. I guess all I can do is to give Claire as much extra love and attention as possible, and keep reminding her that I love her and her little sister equally.

You may also like:

Nov 17, 2013  •  In Aerin, Claire, Entertainment, Funny, Geek, Movies, Personal, Web

Because Sharing is Caring [Memos from Nick Fury]

Last week, both kids received their flu vaccines…and they’ve been coughing since. Claire seems to be holding up pretty well, but Aerin’s dry cough turned into phlegm-y, hacking fits which progressed to a fever. And with her surgery date so close, the doctor advised us to keep an extra watch on her.

Like most kids, Aerin tends to get overly clingy when she’s not feeling well. So it’s no surprise that I got a little sick too…

I think it goes without saying that these past few days have not been fun. And while I have a ton of half-finished posts in my drafts folder, I’m having trouble mustering up enough brain power to complete any of them.

But since I love sharing interesting things I find online, I felt the need to drop by and plaster this blog with these mock memos from the desk of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury:

nick_fury_memo_15

The agents responsible for taking Captain Rogers to a screening of Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglourious Basterds’, and convincing him that was how the war ended, have been identified, and have forfeited their furlough time until they provide him with a proper History textbook and debrief him.

Continue reading »

You may also like:

Nov 13, 2013  •  In Entertainment, Movies, Web

Guess the Movie, Emoji Edition

Below are 50 movies depicted in emoji form. Can you guess them all?

(I will post the answers in the comments section. I’m not sure I should be proud of the fact that I got all of them without a problem…?)

emoji_guess_the_movie

Via WeKnowMemes.

You may also like:

Nov 11, 2013  •  In Beauty, Books, Photography, Sports

Olympic Athlete Bodies, Side by Side

They’re the best of the best, aren’t they? The cream of the crop, the pick of the litter. The finest, most talented, and most dedicated athletes at any given moment.

You’d think they’d somewhat resemble each other.

Okay, so I know that people come in all different shapes and sizes. And it’s obvious that there exists different standards and physical advantages for different sports. But looking at these Olympic athletes side by side, I couldn’t help but be surprised at just how different their body types are.

athletes_1 Continue reading »

You may also like:

Nov 1, 2013  •  In Aerin, Personal

Happy Birthday, Aerin!

As of 9:20am today, our Aerin Isabel turns 2 years old.

aerin_bday_collage_2013

When I updated our speech therapist on the status of Aerin’s hearing — that she is, indeed, still hearing impaired and will need tubes placed in her ears — the reaction was one of pure shock. “Just judging by the tremendous progress she has made in the short time we’ve been together, I would have never guessed that she still has trouble hearing. What a trooper!”

Aerin is, without a doubt, a trooper for having endured such a large portion of the past year with an impediment. For not letting that get in the way of her adventurous ways. For refusing to live in the shadows, and trying ever the harder to learn and speak and be heard.

Sure, she is still shy and withdrawn around strangers. Yes, she can be quite the stubborn little booger and her tantrums the stuff of legends. But beneath all that is an intelligent and passionate little girl who just exudes love and joy.

In other words, I can’t wait to get to know her better. 🙂

Happy birthday, my sweets. I love you more than words can say.

1372111641494

You may also like:

Oct 31, 2013  •  In Aerin, Claire, Personal

All Hallows’ Eve 2013

Happy Halloween from the Geek in Heels clan!

halloween_2013

My little Ewok (Aerin) and my kickass Chun-Li (Claire) wish you all a safe and memorable holiday. I’d prefer the picture above were of one where they are posing together, but trying to get a decent picture of them in one frame (i.e., a non-blurry shot of them both facing toward the general vicinity of the camera…they don’t even need to be smiling!) is akin to pulling teeth these days.

But seriously. How cute are my daughters?  :mrgreen:

You may also like:

Oct 30, 2013  •  In Art/Design, Books, Entertainment, Geek, Wishlist

OMGz I Want This Book

As if being a huge fan of J.J. Abrams who also happens to be a book nerd is not reason enough…

A few months ago, geeks worldwide went into a guessing frenzy when Abrams’ production company tweeted the following:

The secret is finally out, because the mysterious trailer was for a book, which Abrams conceived and written by award-winning novelist Doug Dorst.

Simply titled S., the book is actually two books in one: the first, Ship of Theseus, written by fictional author V.M. Straka, and the second, the story that plays out between two strangers within the handwritten margin notes and the documents placed between the book’s pages (letters, cards, notes, and such).

41-oATFYEQL

ship_of_theseus_1

ship_of_theseus_2 Continue reading »

You may also like:

Oct 28, 2013  •  In Aerin, Parenting, Personal

Tubes in Her Ears

Aerin has been doing wonderfully with her speech and developmental therapies. In just one month, the number of words she says has more than doubled to over 50, and she has even started to put together two-word sentences. (e.g., “Blow bubbles,” “Juice please”) She can now count to ten, and tries her best to sing along to familiar songs.

I really believed her hearing was back to normal, and both her therapists agreed.

We were wrong.

I brought Aerin to our follow-up ENT appointment this past weekend, confident that the doctor would give her a clean bill of health. But as soon as he examined her ears, he shook his head and said, “There’s still a buildup of fluid behind her eardrums. The medicine doesn’t seem to have helped…”

20131019_121518

Since Aerin has had fluid in both ears for over 2 months (but more likely since January, when she got her first and only ear infection), adversely affecting her hearing (and subsequently, her speech and development), the American Academy of Otolaryngology recommends that she has tubes placed in her ears.

Our doctor explained that it is a simple procedure, one that is not uncommon among children between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. But it is still surgery, with anesthesia and an IV. The risks are small, but they exist.

We decided to schedule her for surgery right away. Unfortunately, the first opening they have available is November 25, right at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday week. Since the next available appointment wouldn’t be until mid-December, we took the November slot.

Despite the bad news, I’m encouraged. The fact that not only one but two professionals believed her hearing to have been fully restored due to the tremendous progress she has made in the past month tells me that not only does she have the aptitude and motivation to catch up to her peers, she will most definitely do so once her hearing is back to normal. There’s also the fact that both therapists continually remark on her intelligence and her ability to pick things up quickly and correctly. 🙂  (It’s true — her developmental therapist tells me there are certain activities Aerin can do that most kids her age can’t do for another year.)

Here’s to wishing… and hoping… and thinking… and praying…

You may also like:

Oct 23, 2013  •  In Entertainment, Geek, Movies, Star Wars

Star Wars MBTI Chart

By now you’ve probably seen the viral Harry Potter characters’ Myers-Briggs types chart. When I first happened upon it last month, the timing could not be more uncanny; a friend had mentioned that her personality type had changed drastically over the years, so I had just taken the test again myself.

Is it more common for your type to change over time, or to stay consistent through the years? Because for me, all three times I have taken the full test — over the span of about a dozen years — I have received the same result: ISFJ.

(So according to the Harry Potter chart, I’m Neville Longbottom. Perhaps I too, will have an unforeseen moment of kickassery one day? 😉 Also, if you don’t know your type, you can take a test here.)

I know that the 16 Personality Types is not a perfect system — some people even liken it to astrology — but I think it can be informative and fun nonetheless. For example, I was driven to tears when I read the Portrait of an ISFJ and ISFJ Profile because it so accurately described what I had been struggling with at the time. (Don’t judge; I was having a tough week!) I also found it amusing to ask close friends’ types and to read up on them, to see how closely they match these archetypes.

I also came across other psychological type charts like the Harry Potter one mentioned above: Avatar, Star Trek, Kingdom Hearts, and even My Little Pony!

So of course I had to look for a Star Wars one…but I couldn’t find any. 🙁 There were tons of sites discussing the possible psychological personality types of the various Star Wars characters (with a few actually getting into heated arguments!), but no chart. At least, none that I could find.

So I decided to create my own. What do you think?

star_wars_mbti

And because this is the World Wide Web and I am posting this on a public blog…

…and because this is Star Wars and we fans can get pretty intense…

I am not a psychologist and reading about the 16 Personality Types is just a passing hobby.

I’m a huge Star Wars fan, but I do not know every nuance about the films and the characters in the extended Star Wars universe. My methodology for choosing each character was:

  1. Brainstorming (i.e., what name comes up first as I read each personality type description?)
  2. Scouring to web to see what others think
  3. Picking what I believed to be the best fit based on what I read on these sites and what I know of the characters

I’m well aware that there may exist other lesser-known characters who may fit some of these archetypes to a T, but I decided to go with the more popular ones because I’m a sellout not everyone is a big Star Wars fan (yeah, I don’t get why either) and I wanted the chart to be more relatable from a pop culture standpoint.

Enjoy!


Update, 11/9/11:
I was contacted by a rep who kindly informed me that the original post, and the accompanying chart, is in violation of copyright and trademark regulations. I have updated both the body of the post and the chart in accordance with their request. I have done my best to preserve the message and mood of the original — sorry to anyone who finds this an inconvenience.

You may also like:

Oct 19, 2013  •  In Art/Design, Entertainment, Movies

Disney Princesses in Their Halloween Costumes

Aren’t these illustrations by Isaiah Stephens fan-freakin-tastic? I’m especially partial to Jasmine as Chun-Li, because…well, you’ll see on October 31st!

Ariel as Black Widow:
disney_princess_costumes_ariel_black_widow

Pocahontas as Katniss:
disney_princess_costumes_pocahontas_katniss

Continue reading »

You may also like: