Category Archives: Education

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 27

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Education, Family, Personal Values, Social, Striving

June 17,2026- Wednesday is a longer day for Hana, as her parents carpool together. This means that her Daddy gets home later, since Mom is bound to wait until a certain time to clock out and works farther away than he does. He otherwise gets home about forty minutes before her.

I help Hana deal with this by spending more time with her, inside the playpen-just being there while she goes about her selected activities: Working to operate a set of levers that open little doors, where Sesame Street characters appear, doing her developmental exercises (grabbing her feet, while lying on her back; pushing herself up on all fours) and crawling about, with a towel draped over her back-almost like a shawl. She loves my reading her stories from the Marvel characters, Pete the Cat, Dr. Seuss and “Girl Power” stories, based on Disney characters, as well as English translations of simple children’s stories from Japan and China. Being so little, she probably would love anything I read her. Just the fact that Papa is here for her is everything.

The most amazing thing about Hana is her body clock. I will hear her on the monitor that I keep in my room-up and talking to her parents, at 5 a.m. That’s not exactly their idea of an alarm clock, but she is up and wants to have her diaper changed-or just be held. They make it work, just as parents have for thousands of years. She “reminds” me, when it’s time for a feeding-saying “Hey, okay” and extending her arm towards the kitchen. I am usually already on top of it, but having her feel responsible for her own well-being is a good thing. When she is tired, she has only to show frustration at something, and into Papa’s arms she goes- for a nap in the crib or with me in the rocking chair. Usually, she is out like a light in 10 seconds or less. This little girl works hard at her playtime.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 26

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Striving

June 16, 2026- Yesterday, Hana put a small towel across her back and crawled around with it., like a shawl. She did the same today. This afternoon, she put a small clean face wipe between her top and bottom incisors and looked up at me, with the cloth hanging from her mouth. Her eyes have a spark of mischief in them. The child has a sense of fun.

She also is showing more initiative, in trying to help, gently taking the feeding spoon in her hand, while not trying to grab it from me. She also puts her two hands around the feeding bottle, again not trying to take it from my hands, but just as a n extra pair. Her father was the same way as an infant and toddler-always trying to help where he could.

I will encourage these behaviours- both the humourous antics and the helpful efforts. Both are signs of a creative and intelligent mind. She is also showing a considerate, sensitive heart. When one of us sneezes or coughs, she looks at us with deeply concerned eyes, and will crawl over, putting her little hand on our arm or chest.

Today marks 57 years since I enlisted in the United States Army. I served in active duty for two years and six months. After that, I was released early to go back to college. The military, back then, gave me the discipline that I had not allowed myself to develop. I might have benefited, actually, from staying in longer, but then life would not have unfolded as it did. So, mistakes and all, I am glad things turned out the way they did, for the most part.

I am glad that Aram chose service in the Navy. It did him a world of good, and brought him together with Yunhee. Now, he has a solid sense of adulthood-and we have Hana.

Will Hana be encouraged to enter the military, when her time comes? If I am still here, and still lucid, as I have every intention of being, I will probably not encourage her to follow that route-but rather to follow another path of service-not because she is female, but because by that time (2043-4), we ought to be on the path towards civilizational correction. It’s all conjecture, at this point, but that is where I see things headed.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 24

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving, Travel

June 14,2026- Hana was shown a new puzzle today. It has wooden farm animals and a barn, which fit into spaces that also show a picture of each piece where it should go. She likes to take the pieces out of the puzzle. I will work with her, during the week, to associate one piece at a time with its proper spot, and try to get her to place it in that spot.

It was a nice quiet day for us, once her father got home early, after drill was concluded due to a power outage. That worked out nicely for Hana, who got that much more time to play with her Daddy. It would be too easy to figure that a pre-lingual child doesn’t miss a loved one, but we all know better-and besides, her parents miss her, too, during the week.

It rained hard, early this morning, but by 11, I was able to go and grab lunch for the three of us at Saved by the Bagel. Hana enjoyed beef and rice, with a side of pumpkin, all pureed, of course. We adults had cheeseburgers on bagels.

I read a memory that a friend had posted about my visit to his city, some years back. He has since married and moved to his wife’s town. When I next travel in that direction, I will be sure to pay them a visit. For the foreseeable future, though, I am happy where I am.

The Hungarian writer, Peter Dosa, has written of his emotional homes: Hungary,where he was born; Ireland, where he was raised and Barcelona, where he matured and where he still lives. I will offer a similar summation in tomorrow’s post.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 22

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

June 12, 2026- Hana may well be a foodie. Her eyes lit up, and she sat forward, for each bite of solid food that I presented to her at lunchtime. She is definitely already a member of the Clean Plate Club.

She then burns it all off, working incessantly at little push-ups, and crawls around the play pen. She also likes to have her feet up in the air, grabbing them with opposite hands. Then comes the power nap.

We took a walk through Hoblitzelle Park, this morning. It wasn’t all that hot, but the humidity hung in the air. Hana abides the morning walk, but when I suggested going out again this afternoon, she was very firmly not interested. I checked the temperature-and my granddaughter had it right.

Instead, I put on a Beatles tune, “Bungalow Bill”, one of their sillier songs and mimed it, which she giggled at. I danced around with her afterward, to “Give Peace A Chance”. She lost interest, though, after the twelfth repetition of the title verse.

I was asked, recently, whether I will be traveling any time soon. Some people think that, as soon as Hana can walk, my work here should be done. No, it’ll be “done’ when she is independent enough (age 7 or 8) that my presence does not need to be 24/7. My granddaughter comes from sensitive stock, and needs to know that she is deeply loved.

I miss many people across the country and the world. Those who are true friends know that my work on her behalf is worth every minute. They also know that they will always have a special place in my heart. Hopefully, I’ll see many again. For now, there is social media and there is e-mail.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 20

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

June 10, 2026– Hana and I both understood that this would be a longer day than usual. Her parents took one vehicle to work, meaning that her Dad would have to wait for her Mom to get off work, at the mandated time of 5:30, before they drove back together. That adds an hour to his workday, but in the face of the inflation that is so cherished by some of the nation’s elite, people do what they must.

My granddaughter studies the faces of clocks and watches. She knows that my watch says 6:10, on most days when her father walks through the door. She saw that it said 7:10, when they walked through the door this evening. What that means to a five-month old child is beyond my grasp, but she is fixated on numbers.

For all that, she devoted her day to practicing the upper body support exercises that will lend support to sitting upright without support and to walking. Children just go through this process naturally. Hana has a single-minded devotion to it.

She is also showing two other aspects of her personality: Wardrobe preference and neatness. When I gave her a choice of what clothing to wear today, she chose a red and white polka dot onesie, with a green frog emblem. The emblem is to be worn on the back, but Hana wanted it on the front, so who am I to argue. When her bib got messy, during this morning’s solid feeding, she kept trying to pull it off, though we were not finished with the meal. She was much happier when I put a clean bib on her, and her face was cleaned.

She likes several musical selections, and was delighted by Harry Nilsson’s “Me and My Arrow”, from his recording, “The Point!”, which I played for her this evening.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 19

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Entertainment, Fiction, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

June 9, 2026- Hana enjoys my vocal impersonations of various animal characters in the stories I read her each day. More important, though, and thus a cause for measured repetition of some stories, is the ethic being conveyed in several of the tales: Cooperation, fairness, justice and equity, in particular.

In a story from a “Girl Power” series, Princess Jasmine, of the “Aladdin” series, captains a women’s polo team and decides to focus on the strengths of her three team members. Each of the players thus contributes mightily to the team’s holding a far more formidable opponent to a draw. Jasmine then notices that the opposing team’s captain is scoring all the goals herself, while the teammates have little to do. Jasmine decides to give each of the opposing players, except the captain, a chance to score a goal. This, of course, leads to the opposing team winning the match. Jasmine is given a Gold Medal for sportsmanship.

I can’t imagine any team in modern professional sports doing anything remotely like this. For that matter, I can’t imagine any youth sports encouraging such behaviour, though there is an innate sense of fair play among the kids themselves-but not among the adults coaching or watching the event. Still, the idea of encouraging even one’s opponents, in the name of everyone having a good experience, is well worthy of consideration.

A similar tone is struck in other stories I’ve read to Hana: The idea that even competitive sports can be grounded in fair play, and everyone having fun, is well worth getting back to. The handshakes at the end of many team sports ought to mean more than just a good look for the cameras.

This brings me to last night’s NBA Finals, Game 3. There should not be a situation where being from the visiting team’s city or wearing its paraphernalia is a reason to practically need an armed escort. Those whose sense of pride, or even sense of well-being, depends on the home team winning are barking up the wrong tree. I say this, having grown up in the Boston area, and having “loved to hate” New York or Montreal teams. We loved to “boo” the Yankees, the Knicks, the Canadiens or Rangers. Yet, when a plane carrying Yankees’ catcher Thurman Munson crashed, in August, 1979, Boston fans and players expressed grief and sorrow. None was more heartbroken than Munson’s alpha rival, Carlton Fisk, who paid tribute to Munson, when he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, in 2000.

My most cherished hope for my granddaughter is that she will be imbued with the spirit of fair play.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 18

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

June 8, 2026- Hana took it upon herself to help me in revising her schedule today. On her own, she pointed towards the master bedroom, wanting to be put down for a nap. This nap lasted two hours, after which she enjoyed her lunch of beef and rice, followed by a bottle. There was then an hour or so of play, in the pen,-and a second nap, which wasn’t nearly as long.

Another hour of play was followed by a couple of stories, which she found amusing and a short walk along one of the nearby side streets. By this time, four hours had passed since her last meal, so she had her second bottle of the day. Altogether, she is down to four feedings of milk per day and the given day’s pureed solid food.

She is diligently working at crawling with her torso off the ground and trying to sit unassisted. She is also vocalizing more, especially calling for her mom and dad. She is also less prone to crying for them, perhaps starting to be secure in knowing that they will be coming home after work.

It is a joy to see my granddaughter want to be a full agent in her growth and development. I look forward to all the stages ahead.

The Hana Chronicles, Month 5, Day 17

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Community, Education, Entertainment, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, service, Social, Striving

June 7, 2026- Hana had her first taste of meat today. It was boiled, pureed beef, which she found underwhelming. I can’t imagine it would be all that appetizing, especially after having the same meat, seasoned and grilled, as part of a steak salad dinner, this evening. Still, a baby can only eat soft foods at first. Four incisors don’t make for very good chewing. She finished the serving, though, and will have the same tomorrow.

She also went on her first coffee shop visit, this afternoon. Local Good Coffee House is a shop that is staffed mostly by high school students who are doing community service. Only the manager is paid. The rest of the proceeds, outside of overhead costs, go to education and public health funding. We sat and enjoyed cold lattes, while Hana alternately looked around and napped on her Daddy’s shoulder. She noticed a toddler arguing with her mother, at one point and babbled some words in what sounded like a scolding tone. The little girl may or may not have heard her, but decided to obey her mother, shortly afterward. Energy can have a positive effect.

I spent the morning volunteering at the Red Cross Donation Center, in southwest Plano. We had about twenty donors, but after registering them, I passed the time watching Dhar Mann videos on the center’s TV. Dhar Mann is a producer of short episodes that teach a positive moral lesson, often using plot twists. The scripts are simplistic and the acting so/so, but for children and adolescents, the stories could be useful. When the time comes, I will watch some of them with Hana, say when she is 8 or 9.

It was a nice weekend. Now, we get ready for another week of developmental activities. Her current focus is on getting herself to sit upright. She is almost there.

The Hana Chronicles, Month 5, Day 15

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Entertainment, Family, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

June 5, 2026- Granddaughter reveled, in eating pureed cabbage, this morning. She seems to revel in eating just about everything so far. (Zucchini being a question mark.) Hana is definitely a member of the Clean Plate Club, without being coaxed. If this persists through toddlerhood and the Fussy Eater years, so much the better.

Our day went well, with lots of independent play time in the pen, as well as Papa being in there, for the sake of reassurance and companionship. We explored a horseshoe-shaped side street, Chester Drive, which starts one block north and curves around to the east, behind our cul-de-sac. A young couple had just come back from Friday prayers, clad, head-to-toe in black. Otherwise, the street was quiet and empty. Hana didn’t mind the quietude.

As she napped, this afternoon, I read a piece about the Dutch director, Wim Wenders, who expressed regret for having depicted a certain actress in the nude, when she was only thirteen. He has removed the objectionable scenes from all versions of that film. The actress in question, now in her 60s, recently expressed how painful it has been, all these years, to have been so depicted in that film, and in two others a year, and three years, later. One hopes that the other two films may also be expunged of the tawdry scenes.

Many men, myself included for many years, gave scant thought to how it must have felt to girls and women baring all, in films, and even in glossy magazines. I knew better, by the time I was thirty, and Hana’s paternal grandmother had come into my life, along with the Baha’i teachings, which stress the dignity and worth of all human beings. Before that, there was always the double standard: A man’s (or boy’s) female relatives were held high above the world of sensuality. We respected our friends’ sisters and mothers also. There was a friend zone, which included a measure of respect, for the girls around us. Somehow, that did not extend to the world of “entertainment”.

More’s the pity. I started to take exception to the cavalier treatment of teenaged female actors, when very young girls were presented to audiences, in various states of deshabille. I did not watch any of those films, more out of shame over my past private thoughts and cavalier attitude. Then came Penny, our shared Faith and my career in education, which included the protection and guidance of girls and boys alike. There was no longer a double standard.

What this has to do with Hana is that, from Day One, her father and I are all the more committed to her well-being and development of her entire person. She is a sharp-eyed, intuitive person, making it all the more imperative for us to eschew any semblance of a double standard. Besides which, the old attitudes are just rotten for any man’s soul.

We are all so much more than eye candy.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 5, Day 14

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Education, Family, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, service, Social, Striving

June 4, 2026- My granddaughter had a few comments on the singing birds and on encountering the same mother and baby we met yesterday. She was quite happy with our walk, even along the somewhat bumpy grass path that brought us closer to our house, on the way back. It was warmer today, and the sun was more direct, but Hana was shielded by both a sun visor and her stroller’s canopy. Her skin was warm when we got back, so I put infant-safe lotion on her arms, legs and neck. Sunscreen is not recommended for children under the age of two.

She likes the solid foods to which she’s been introduced so far-and that includes the broccoli that she’s had for the past three days. Tomorrow, it will be cabbage’s turn. Sitting in a high chair, for ten-minutes, has also proven easier than I had thought. She sits straight and keeps her posture-and I have a tray in place, for extra support. Sitting in the chair for more than ten minutes is probably not a good idea until she can sit up straight, without support from furniture. Still, the high chair makes feeding easier.

She misses her parents, along about the time that her body clock tells her that they should be home. That is her challenge, but she also knows that she is safe with her Papa. Their schedules will even out, starting next week, so this should be less of a problem. Her awareness is, nonetheless, very keen.

Overall, though, Hana is a bright, engaging and generally happy little girl.