No Child Should Ever Be a Victim of the War

Every day I look at my baby, I look into his eyes, and I wish that every child in this world received same love as I give my baby every day, every hour, every minute, every second. No censorship anymore, media is telling us all. Everywhere we turn and look, everywhere we hear, children die - accidents, sickness, diseases, murders, abuse, hunger, poverty and war.

'A little girl playing outside her home in the dirty sand. Assembling a small structure from small pebbles and dry sticks, and a leaf, and some dirty sand. Her golden hair is getting in the way. With little hand she moves her hair off her eyes, with the other hand she is trying to keep the pebble wall to stand. Her face is getting dirty, her blue eyes are full of tears, she is struggling to put her little farm together. A boy near by runs around with a stick and a string attached to it. It is his homemade fishing rod. Suddenly dark flying machines are flying over the girl's and boy's head. They look up. Oh, not again - they know. Bombing starts. Noise is unbearable. More wind with dirty sand. The boy somehow escapes in the potato fields. Lays there half covered in the sand and scattered around potatoes. He is scared. He follows asleep. As he opens his eyes, he looks around. He is safe. People are talking. The little girl stands in the middle of the field, dirty sand is hitting her small gentle body, but she stands there like a little trooper. She is not moving. She is looking at her little farm falling now apart. She wants to reach out for the falling pebble wall, but she cannot. A man grabs her small body. Pulls her to his chest. He holds her tight. He is protecting her. Its too late. Her eyes never opened again. Next morning she dies. She dies from shock. People are crying.'

The little girl is a victim of the WWII. This little girl in the above story is also my dad's sister, she was only 5 years old. She died of shock. Even though the story is dramatized a bit by me and enhanced, I am sure that in the real time, it was even more dramatic then I could ever describe. At later time, my dad's another, only month old sister also dies. Result of local bombing, falling off the bed, trauma and shock to the little fragile body.

WWII indirectly killed many innocent children, unrecorded, never mentioned. Unmarked small wooden crosses deteriorated over time. Burial grounds became empty fields filled with tall green grass swaying left and right. The little lost souls dance forever in the wind.

This Christmas as we celebrate this glorious day, let us remember those little souls that never got to enjoy the small presents, home baked cookies, warmth of the fire place, Santa Clause, and love.

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. "
~ Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Letter to Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper

Dear Mr. Harper:

At first I would like to thank you and all the Parliament Ministers for finally running this country in order. In the past I wasn't interested in politics, but since the sponsorship scandal and knowing that my tax money was misused by the Liberal Party of Canada, I have decided to do my due diligence and vote for the party that can be honest, organized, stable and give to the people. And these are four magic words that I can describe the Conservative Party of Canada - honest, stable, organized and supporting people of Canada. Not to mention that you speak to us in simple language so we can understand better.

Unfortunately, when I finally started to vote, I did not support your party, as I do strongly believe in the environment and the Green Party was my choice. However, the vote given to them was a free vote, no due diligence was done. I realized it was a mistake, because as much as the Green Party can do for Canada's environment / worldwide, the Conservative party can do the same. Thus since the last two elections, my votes were yours.

Mr. Harper, I have watched closely your strategic approach with your Parliament Ministers to run our country. I must say you have done an amazing job in such a short period of time. People of Canada must realize that it isn't easy to do this job, and now in the time of the economic crisis, they must realize that you do not have a magic wand to continue to give us 'goodies' as you have done in the past, or so called wanted stimulus package.

Further in my letter to you I would like to mention a few items that were very beneficial to me and my family as from your last budgets. I think you gave us more than enough, therefore, I don't expect to get anything major in your next budget presentation.

• The Goods and Service Tax [GST] cut from 7% to 5%. In our house every penny counts.
  
• The Universal Child Care Benefit [UCCB] of $1200 was an excellent idea. I don't know what other Canadians do, but I took that money, some cash gifts for the baby and invested in my child's future education the Registered Education Savings Plan [RESP]. Because I maximized the investment, I received from the government a maximum match of $500. I think this is a good deal, even banks cannot give me 20% interest rate.
  
• The tax free account is even better than the Registered Retirement Savings Plan [RRSP]. I think every Canadian should save their money, or as ING advertises - Save Your Money. It is always good back up money for crisis in case we loose our jobs.

What happened recently with a goodwill government housekeeping strategy of yours, sparked a lot of fire in the opposition parties. However, I think we as Canadians should be aware of how our tax money is being spent. You were willing to take a cut in the federal funding of the political parties. I think that was a brilliant idea. I know it did not go through and did not go well with the opposition parties, but as a result of that it showed us the following:

• How unstable the opposition parties are.
  
• What is their main goal? A goal to take you down Mr. Harper. I can see that there is a bit of personal matter. They seem to be angry with you. And I really think that no matter how good the budget will be in January 2009, it still will be not good enough for them.
  
• It is all about who is in power. The opposition parties showed their true face. Its all about political power and not about the Canadian people or economic crisis.
  
• The coalition party formation, the most pathetic action ever taken, it shows how very reactive the opposition parties are. You always urged us not to panic, and they did not listen. Truly, they behave like the stock market.

Mr. Harper, we Canadians need a stable and organized government. Canada is a superior country compared to many countries in the world. We are spoiled, we have so much and when the times boom we want more and more. Yes, in fact we became a bit greedy. We need to reflect back and evaluate what we have, and be happy, and everything else extra is a bonus. It is not completely government's fault that jobs are lost. It is the economy crisis, and the governments role in this is to help the businesses. I think at some point we would know that too many cars will be built, and demand will fall. Definitely the automotive industry is in crisis, but what can you do in such a short period of time, let them build more cars?

That is all I have to say to you today Mr. Harper. Please continue to do what you and your Parliament Ministers have done for our country. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to comment on my blog. On the side note, you will be seeing more political letter series on my blog, therefore feel free to drop anytime. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Anna :)

My Animal Stories - Lesson Learned About Cats & Dogs

I don't know if I can describe myself an animal lover. Something happened when I was very young that made me fear all animals in general. I know that I had once an episode with small black dog barking at me. It was a surprise from nowhere, and I was only four or five years old. Until today I still remember those sharp white teeth going after me and those white eyes saying 'I am going to get you'.

In the old days, when I was ten years old, we lived on this semi-farm, where my parents and grandparents had one cow, one pig, few chickens, ducks, horses and may be rabbits. All for food. It was just like living on the organic farm. Most of our food was almost home made. 'Good old days' - I say. But not so good if I had to deal with the farm animals. I still remember those geese or roosters going after me, never mind dogs. I guess animals can sense if you fear them.

At times I was asked to take a cow to the fields. Until today, I remember how I did it. I simply took the cow, I was trembling then, and position this one big black cow so she walked on the other side of the street and me on the other. I for some reason kept looking at her, straight into her eyes, all the way to the field. Boy, the five minutes felt like hours. I pinned the cow, and ran home. Never again. Next day I asked my parents not to do it again. To my surprise, they agreed. So my five year old sister then took the cow to the fields. All I have to say she was a brave child.

Years passed with very little interest in any domestic animals. They were just cute to me, but nothing more or less. Let say that later when I was in my late twenties, I found out two things about cats and dogs.

Few years ago I was visiting my sister in her apartment. By the end of the night her cat and me finally warmed up to each other, thus the cat ended up sitting on my laps. Suddenly, the cat's body started to make funny sound and emitting funny vibration. 'Oh my', I told my sister, 'I think there is something wrong with your cat, do you think we need to take him to the washroom?' She laughed, and replied, 'the cat likes you'. Lesson learned - the cat was purring.

Some moons ago, my husband and me were attending a birthday party. When food got ready, a group of us got up and started to walk towards the buffet area. As we were walking my brother-in-law took his arm and put on my shoulder. Suddenly, a dog that belonged to my then future sister-in-law, jumped on my one leg and made a happy face. Since I had my brother-in-law close by, I accepted, and out loud with big smile on my face I said, 'look, look, this dog likes me ...'. 'Anna I think its more than that ...', my sister-in-law replied. Lesson learned - the dog was humping me. Yeah this dog was a real leg hugger especially when others hugged too, lol.

I still laugh at myself. But hey some of us learn things later in life.

Wrought Iron Gates - What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Driving home on the Sunday afternoon. As we get closer to home, we can see more and more snow. I guess we are living in the area where there always will be more snow. Such remarkable change in weather can be seen in twenty minutes apart.

I sit on the back with Matthew and as he sleeps I observe outside the world I used vividly photograph before Matthew was born. Yes, we got second time in three weeks a two inches of snow. Beautiful view, and as sun emerged in the afternoon all the trees sparkled.
- 'Beautiful ', I said to my husband, 'just beautiful day to go outside and shoot and shoot'.

Suddenly a very nice big house comes to my view.
- 'Look what an amazing gate on your right' - I pointed out. A beautiful structure made of iron wrought rods, and concrete support, and located on the one end of the long curved paved driveway. Oh, and has security key pad.
- 'Okay, I don't get it, what is wrong with this picture? There is no fence'. I know, I know, its a decor thing lol.

My Toe Took A Tripple Beating

For sure I am not the only one that ran into the furniture and suddenly felt excruciating pain in the toe. Couple of nights ago I did it again. About 2 am in the morning after feeding my baby I walked towards the area where I have my water drinking station. Suddenly bang, my foot hits the wooden foot of the ottoman. Oh no, not again, I hate when this happens to me. As I reached out to grab my toe and apply pressure, a technique that always works, my husband heard the noise and he in a furious manner attempted to get up from the bed. That scared me, and I almost fell on top of my water station, that was close almost, lol.

'Why don't you wear slippers?' - a question my husband asked when around 9 pm I ran into the chair with the same foot and exactly same toe.

'Well I was going to get my slippers, but the chair was before the slippers' - I replied.

Somethings just happen in three's. In the late morning I had my dentist appointment. Just routine check up appointment. Everything worked out fine, Matthew behaved himself in the waiting room as he and my husband waited for me for almost 1 hour.

'I guess I will see you in next 6 months' - I told the dental administrator.

'Yes, will see you then, good bye' - she replied.

'Let me get the door' - I told my husband as he was strolling Matthew out the dental office.

'Ouch ouch ouch, for love of Pete' - I made squeaking noise, as this time the stroller ran over the same foot and the same toe.

As we sat in my parents living room this afternoon, we laughed, and I asked, 'So what's next?'
'A tire' - he replied laughing out loud.

In conclusion, I was fortunate that it was only toe self abuse and no real damage was done. However, will this teach me a lesson to wear slippers. I don't know I just like walking in my bare feet.

Intercom Button Please Press For Assistance

Its been long time since I visited my very own story blob blog. To get myself going, I am just going to rumble about something, like about the intercom button in the gas station.

Matthew my baby is now old enough, almost 6 months, to follow sleep in the car. Before, when he was hungry and we stopped on the red light, Matthew would burst into this very loud cry and then slowly quite down as we started to move. And to our luck, we would get many many red lights. Well few days ago, as we were driving home, he finally followed asleep as we entered our subdivision, oh well don't want to wake him up, so lets drive around. First stop, we got Iced Cappuccino from Tim Horton's coffee place, and then we drove to get lately cheap gas - Matthew continued to sleep, oh how nice.

So here I am in a happy mood. As my husband is filling up the gas, I look over my shoulder and I see this nice green Intercom button. I opened door and asked him politely, can you press this button. He laughs. I said why are you laughing, come on, press this button. He asks why? Oh just for fun - I replied. Well, my husband will not pull any crazy prank like that, but I told him one day I will, and I will run, and he will have to deal with the clerk, lol.

Driving home now. I asked him, why were you afraid to press this button. No reply. Okay, am I the only one here in a good mood. I asked again, what would you do then if I pressed it for you and you had no choice but to answer. He silently laughed. Then, I will tell you what I would say:

- 'I am making sure this button works, sorry for the inconvenience'
- 'Sorry, no speak English'
- 'Sorry, I don't have my glasses, I thought that this was a print receipt button'
- 'Sorry, I thought I need your assistance, but I think I am fine now'
- 'Can you get me cup of coffee?'
- 'This button is in a wrong place, I tried to press car wash button'
- 'Oh man you scared me! You are too loud man! What do you want?'
- 'Please get off this line, I am trying to call my mother'

And you are next, what would you say? I need some good laughs.

A Quote I Can Relate

I came across Google with this Quote of the Day:

"The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught."

- by Marquis de Vauvenargues.

This is so true, and I can relate.

My Blog's Door is Always Open Even When I'm Gone

When MyOnlyPhoto Blog is taking a short break, then I guess Story Blob Blog is too. I will be back shortly, for main message, please read my explanation here. Thank you all for your patience. Anna :)

A Tragedy or A Blessing

I read this little story 'A Tragedy or A Blessing' a few days ago, and I would like to share it with you today. The story is from the book by Glenn Van Ekeren - 'Words for All Occasions, Quotes, Stories, Anecdotes, Poems, Fables, Proverbs and One-Liners'.

'Years ago in Scotland, the Clark family had a dream. Clark and his wife worked and saved, making plans for their nine children and themselves to travel to the United States. It had taken years, but they had finally saved enough money and had gotten passports and reservations for the whole family on a new liner to the United States.

The entire family was filled with anticipation and excitement about their new life. However, seven days before their departure, the youngest son was bitten by a dog. The doctor sewed up the boy but hung a yellow sheet on the Clarks' front door. Because of the possibility of rabies, they were being quarantined for fourteen days.

The family's dreams were dashed. They would not be able to make the trip to America as they planned. The father, filled with disappointment and anger, stomped to the dock to watch the ship leave - without the Clark family. The father shed tears of disappointment and cursed both his son and God for their misfortune.

Five days later, the tragic news spread throughout Scotland - the mighty Titanic had sunk. The unsinkable ship had sunk, taking hundreds of lives with it. The Clark family was to have been on that ship, but because the son had been bitten by a dog, they were left behind in Scotland.

When Mr. Clark heard the news, he hugged his son and thanked him for saving the family. He thanked God for saving their lives and turning what he had felt was a tragedy into a blessing.'

I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did. This brings me back many years ago when I entered first year of university. First year was a total disaster. Not to go into too much details, I had to change my educational path. There was not much of a change, but on the end I ended up taking slightly different courses than I anticipated on the first place. I was disappointed that I lost some time, but you know if my path was not altered, I would never met my loving husband - yes I met my husband in school that very next year and we both ended up graduating from the same profession, and got married. My story may not be that tragic, but still who knows what would happen if I did well and continue my education as I anticipated - however, I don't what to know, I am happy with the final result. Our paths in life get altered for reason, I believe; and unfortunately altered paths seems bad at times, but if it wasn't altered, then sometimes we find that things could have been worst, and sometimes we will never know.

Look Around You

Look around you and tell me what you can see. Just take this one minute and observe. Here are my observations, I see my laptop front of me, typing this post. I am surrounded by the office portable desk walls, sitting on the chair. There is phone beside me, and if I am ready to switch to another software on my screen, any second I will reach for the mouse. Around me, I also have cut outs from the magazines and clipped to the wall. Do you want to know what it is? I am going to tell you - there are three photo cut outs of the apples, green apples with one red in the middle. I liked this photo so much that I cut out three of them and surrounded myself with. I also have other two photo cut outs of the ostrich, one says FLEXIBLE SOLUTIONS. Now let me tell that this ostrich is bending forward and looking between its legs - quite flexible, but I don't see flexible solution - so I find it funny even if I know this is just a metaphor. The second one says BE AHEAD with ostrich running really fast that you cannot see what's on the background. Could he be going 100 miles per hour, possibly, may be not in real life, but with today's digital editing - definitely yes. And the last photo cut out is something about genetically altered fruit flies, I will not go into details, but the head line states Buzz Off! Don't worry it is nothing to do with people visiting me, I like when people visit my cubical and talk to me, but I found it kind of entertaining to have it on my wall. So what else I can tell you about my surroundings, not much just a standard office setting. So would you say pretty boring, but for me nothing is really boring once you have access to the Internet, or start thinking how all this started.

Now you may ask - what's the point of all this blobbing. Well I am confused. Why? Let me explain, I started to read this book by Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything. By the way, it is currently lying on my desk beside me and then when I go home it goes with me to bed. However, when at work, when I think about my projects, I find myself looking at it, not really thinking, just looking. To tell you the truth, I started to read this book a long time ago, and then I ended up reading something else. It was no point to continue now, so I started to read over again. Well I am only few pages into the book, and these pages revoked something that I recently started to question. How do we know this and that? What I mean is - when we talk about universe creation, star formations, evolution, birth, good food or bad food - how all this has happened or is happening - and believe or not we make things, we discover things. And then is us - intelligent human beings. The world of unknown, because all are just theories unless there is real data to support, even though author on the end has explanation for everything. Therefore, just enjoy the life and enjoy the beauty of nature, the beauty of life - ask questions, but don't expect the right answer, it is all too complicated to figure it out.

This post may be lame, and there may be not substance here - but look around you - all this stuff, ideas, theories - its amazing. Yes, I am lost in my thoughts, but the more I think about it, all is just too complicated to figure out, yet it works - lol now!

Love Is In the Air

Since today is the Valentine's Day, I thought I spread a bit of love around my blog to my blogger friends, and the rest of the world. I am not sure if everyone celebrates the Valentine's Day, but I don't think you can reject a free love, lol. It does not have to be Valentine's Day to love someone extra special, it should be every day; however, that day is the day to emphasize how important love is. I know we are being bombarded with marketing schemes to buy diamonds for love ones (my birth stone is diamond), buy chocolates, buy flowers, and some go to extent to buy material gifts. It this all necessary? In my opinion not, but don't get me wrong if you like to celebrate this day and surprise your love one with special appreciation gift, yes by all means; however, my point is you cannot buy love from the store. So I like my Valentine's Day simple - I don't need extra gifts to love my husband extra special on that day, may be today I will blob to my husband, wow its been 15 years together, and soon 10 years being married. Sometimes I just look at him, and I feel like we just met, all brand new, yet inside it feels like we been together all our lives. So since we work together, this time hubby cannot hide any special gift for me. Well on the way home he is taking me to the local supermarket to purchase flowers, it will be fun - we both laughed at the idea - however, the biggest surprise is that from year to year he is so consistent no matter what, and never forgets, and that is what makes me happy! Happy Valentines Day to you. Let me close this post with this favorite quote of mine: 'My love for you is a journey; starting at forever, and ending at never.' - by Anonymous. BTW I love giving credits to the Anonymous individuals, lol.

Live & Learn From The Fish

Live and learn from the fish - what's this all about? This is a story for this post, and it is coincidental that it lines up with one of the posts form my blogger friend Kathy from Photography by KML blog, who has this really beautiful photo of her blue Beta fish - just in case you never seen this type of fish. The story is not just about the Beta fish, as you will find out. However, this is a fish with personality and fish that needs attention. Let say, I don't have any big pets in my house like a cat, dog or bird, and it is not because I don't like them, it is just I don't have the time to take care of them or spend time with them. About year ago, I did research on birds in captivity, and every article I read the emphasis was that you just don't put the bird in the cage and let it sit there, you really need to spend time with them and play, otherwise, they will get depressed, and eventually you know what happens, either the bird becomes really unfriendly or eventually moves on with other life.

I currently have two beta fish, one red and one blue. I find, and this is just my little statistics results, but the blue beta's are more friendly and more excited to see you when you around. Don't take this idea into your head, this is my opinion based on one red and two blue beta fish. You will agree, not a big population to have data on. However, lets move on with the story. Both beta fish are very exciting fish to have, they get excited when they see you, they like to eat and crunch their food, they try to jump out the tank - something you would not expect from the fish, at least something I would not expect from the fish.

These past few months, I have been busy, go to work, come from work, eat, rest, turn computer on and then rest for the night. Between, in the morning, I would quickly feed my betas, drop the food and leave. I know they get excited to see me every time, but I just have to run. Believe or not, sometimes I forget to change the water too. I admit, this is the side of me I don't like because I know if my fish is not getting attention, something is wrong, I am not managing my life properly, I am probably neglecting every one else around me, never know may be some bloggers feel like that to due to my reduced blogging visits.

The story continues, my negligence finally surfaced. Last week I noticed that the blue beta was behaving abnormally. The fins would not spread out as usual. The body was tilting to one side. I right away changed water, and really noticed that my healthy blue beta was sick now. It wasn't swimming, it wasn't eating, and even would not puff on his red beta friend. The red beta knew something also, because soon as I put two small tanks side by side, the red beta would not puff back on the blue one at all - would just rest on the rocks and look at his sick friend now. I said to myself, they are communicating. Suddenly I am different, I am very attentive, I am sad, I am angry that I neglected my fish. Now I am there every 15 minutes to check on him. He is weak, he tries to float but he cannot because his one side is tilting to one side. How do you safe fish, the worst comes to my mind, I lost my hope?

Its been few days now, and to my surprise the beta fish is getting better. It is still tilting to one side, but tries hard to get up and eat, and actually swims with excitement to see me. I am happy now, however, I definitely know that I failed, I failed to give my best to someone who always was excited to see me.

This is a story about fish. However, live and learn. I will not stress enough that our relationship with others need maintenance. When one gives you this carrying smile, please give it back. I gift that we have, and believe or not a gift animals have too.

Addition: After 2 weeks of suffering my blue beta fish died [February 16, 2008]. I know it is only fish, but I will miss him.

Pressed on Time However Lets Write About Qassia and Mails

There are times that I am so up to date, and there are times that I am not. Right now, I am behind with some of my own projects, that it is time to resume my old system - the things to do list. I usually have one all the time, and once everything is rolling, I don't need one, but when things go out of order, it is time to write one. Enough blobbing, and lets see what I have to present for you today.

Firstly, there is this new intelligent article submission site Qassia.com. It is at the beta stage, but I kind of like it. Right now you can earn money, not real, just virtual, to have your articles submitted to the 'world'. So the more money you accumulate the better chance is to get on the top of the search engine. However, I have not figure out how it really works, but by submitting some of my articles and reading other articles and rating, I generated some credits. However, most of all I learned something too by reading. So enjoy and explore Qassia.com - not to hide anything, this is my referral page, and like someone said, I will say it to, yes I get some credits if you sign up. No pressure you are free to do what you wish.

Secondly, I want to quickly write about mail versus email. Couple of weeks ago I received a letter from the old friend of mine - how nice to receive the old fashion mail. The letter was from pan pal friend I met in elementary school over 20 years ago. We never met in person yet - but I am hoping one day. All our correspondences happened through the regular mail, and even now. I am sure that she has the access to the Internet, however, some how we still write to each other the old fashioned way. I remember in the old days, to receive a letter in the mail was a big thing. We all loved it, especially for occasions like Christmas, Easter, name days, and chain letters. Yes, name days in Europe were more popular than birthdays, I guess that way you were able to acknowledge anyone you wanted to send a card just by looking at the calendar. And yes chain letters existed then, and it wasn't easy, as there was no photocopier, and there was no typewriter, only your hand needed to re-write the letters about five times or more. So that was fun and practice.

Now we have emails. The communication time among us changed from weeks to minutes or even seconds. We can write, send pictures, send videos, publish on line pictures and videos. We not just letting our friends know about our life, but any stranger may some times drop by.

So tell me, do you still like to receive old fashion mail or do you think it is not practical anymore. Just ignore the cost, because we all know that emails are somehow free. Myself, I like the old fashion mails, the fact that they are hand written makes is even more authentic.

Kids are Fun, Kids are Grown Ups

I am always fascinated what the one year old, two year old or three year old can do. There is a difference between me and my younger sister and my younger brother, five and ten years, respectively. So I have some memories of some funny moments, and some not so funny. I remember that very first word I thought my sister was a parrot. I don't know what I was thinking then, but she loved it - may be that is why she is into breeding birds now. She also loved going into the barrel full of potatoes and water, and take a bath - and that was quite a scenario. Because my older sister and myself had to take care of both of my younger sister and brother, we used to do crazy stuff when playing. We had to entertain ourselves because we had one or two occasions when we received toys, and we only had one TV channel. Going back to the story, we used to build these snow walls between neighbor kids and then play war. Well few times the curiosity of my younger sister earned her few bruises in the head from snow balls, at least we did not need any ice for compressions. The best was also racing streets with my sister in the stroller. Accidents always happened, but lucky no injuries. Lucky there were no cars, but there were light posts to which we always happened to run into. We lost our sister few times upon the impact, no injuries as she always safely landed on the grass. She was only one and a half years old, and I was about seven years old.

Then five years later my brother was born, and so more kids on the street. My brother loved horses, and he had huge collection of them by the age of four years old. So what did he do? Well there was this kid across street who just started to walk at one, and somehow he by himself always made to our backyard. Well my brother then two, soon as he saw him, he always wanted to ride him. It looked funny, but we always had to separate them just in case the one year old's mother showed up. I think the idea came from horse collection.

And now thirty years later, do I have the same experiences with kids in family, and I do find that kids are talking much more and much more like adults. The latest, my cousin's three year old daughter was really entertaining us this holiday season. We had dinner together, and the little girl decided to be at the head of the table. She would converse with all of us, and her vocabulary was just amazing. The best line of the year was when mother offered her a cup of tea, with puzzled face she responded - 'How can you give your own child a hot tea' - very clever for the three year old.