Tag Archives: developmental tasks

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 17

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 7, 2026- Hana has now taken to crawling on me and “wrestling”, while I am lying down on the play pen mat. Her main focus is still very much practicing standing up with my support. She also likes to take two or three steps, while I am helping her stand. The girl is not about wasting time.

The pest control guy came today, and sprayed all areas where it will not affect Hana. He also recommended putting a capful of bleach in each sink drain. This will, he said, destroy any pheromones which the insects leave for those who come after them. Yes, cockroaches are social insects. I have seen them travel in pairs. Now, hopefully, they will travel somewhere else.

I have a car seat for the KIA now, so my next visit to the chiropractor will be with Hana along. The office is family friendly, so having her in the stroller will not interfere with the adjustment, which takes five minutes, tops. I will also be able to take her to the library. She has a special affinity for books, and loves to study the pictures-and the print, for several minutes at a time.

HANA’S NOTE- When I see Papa lying down on the mat, that is a cue for me to crawl over to him and grab his nose and ears. He laughs when I do that.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1990 We were pretty much in a solid routine at Jeju. I would take Aram to student plays, but I’d have to take him out, because he would laugh or call out, once he heard an echo. Nonetheless, our family was well-liked by many people on the island. Aram loved being held by pretty women and was already playing with other toddlers in our compound. We went to the Korean mainland regularly, particularly for Baha’i gatherings. We also went hiking, up Halla-san and on Songsanilchubong, with Aram in a carrier on my back. The Korean slang for a man doing what was seen as women’s work is ujima. I was called that several times, but didn’t care. My boy was my treasure.

Classes were proceeding quite nicely. I also served as editor of The Islander, an English-language student newspaper. The staff wrote several well-researched articles, which I usually proofread in my office. Penny had a strict rule that no one was to intrude on our family time. This irritated some aggressive parents of students, who wanted private tutoring for their children. Again, I marched to my own drummer. I worked well with my colleagues, but on my terms. (i.e., I didn’t drink alcohol, to which the professors were accustomed, having had several Baha’is on staff, before me.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 13

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

August 3, 2026- Hana has taken to kneeling and looking at the camera that is above her crib, when she wants someone to come to her. She will start babbling, in a sensible cadence, so I know that she is thinking about what to say. Her appetite has also increased, since her upper incisors have come in.

She comes to me, in the playpen, when she wants to practice standing. It is easier to grab onto Papa than onto the play pen lining, and besides, I will both hold her up and cheer her on. Although “I am Baby” is one of her latest phrases, she has a quite elevated agenda, for a seven-month-old.

HANA’S NOTE- I like it when Daddy calls, because then Papa lets me listen to the phone call. Any other time, the phone is off-limits.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1986 This was another seismic year. Late on a January night, I took a call from South Korea. A Baha’i friend there, who knew that Penny was getting her Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language, called to ask whether she would be interested in taking his position: Visiting Professor of English, in the Department of English Language and Literature, at Jeju National University. Her half-conscious response was: “Sure, why not?”

Despite a lot of internal back and forth on the matter, she took the position and we began to uncouple from Tuba City. We made arrangements to move ourselves, and our household items, in August. We left Tuba in June and spent two months at NAU, in Flagstaff. I was taking courses towards a School Administrative Certificate, and had 12 credits left to earn. Six of those credits were covered that summer.

It was only two weeks into the summer session, when I got the phone call that my father had passed away. On a Sunday morning, his heart failed him, as he prepared for a routine visit to my youngest brother’s residential facility. I made flight arrangements, almost immediately, in rather a foggy state of mind, and called one of my professors, to explain the situation. He promised to tell my other professor. Penny was unable to join me, as her key exam was the following Saturday. We went to get her food for the week, as I would have the car to drive to Phoenix. Then, I was off. I got to Boston around 11 p.m., meeting my brother, Dave at Logan Airport. A short time later, I was holding my mother as tightly as I had when her mother had passed, thirty-six years earlier. It was a week of remembrance, giving and receiving solace and yard work. I enlisted the help of a few uncles and cousins for my mother, before I left to go back to Arizona.

We arrived in South Korea, in mid-August. A week was spent with American friends in Osan, outside of Seoul. Acclimating to Korean life in Metro Seoul was a bit like assimilating to American life, by living in New York or Los Angeles, It was a bit of a Boot Camp, though, and we were in fairly good shape, by the time we went down to Jeju. A few weeks later, we were in our Teacherage, Penny began her teaching work and I spent my days tutoring a few Korean students and getting to know the coffee houses of downtown Jeju. Penny and I also went to the southern island town of Seogwip’o. As it happened, the area had just been hit by a typhoon, and we saw lot of clean-up going on.

My own work as a Visiting Professor of English would start, early the following year.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 7, Day 10

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Family, Hiking and Nature, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

July 31, 2026- We couldn’t go for our walk today, because two of us over the age of 30 forgot to take the stroller out of the trunk, when we got back from the doctor’s, on Wednesday. Hana occupied herself nicely, using me as a support in pulling herself up to a standing position, several times today. This is something she want to do on her own and she will get it accomplished. I would say that, at this rate, she will be standing, pretty easily, by the middle of August.

Her speech is also rapid fire and sounds fairly specific, though much of it is babbling, still. “Mama”, “Oma”, “Apa”, “Daddy”, “Dada”, “Mommy” and “Papa” are all spoken with regularity. “I want”, “I don’t want”, “Yeah” and “”I love” also are clearly pronounced.

HANA’S NOTE- I really, really, really want to walk. I like standing up. I can see so much more.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1983 My paternal grandmother was someone I thought would live forever. A month shy of her 84th birthday, Nana was choking on something,at a Senior Center lunch. A well-meaning gentleman intervened, and performed a Heimlich procedure on her. It didn’t have the desired effect and she had to be hospitalized. She died shortly thereafter. Nana lived to see 49 grandchildren and at least a dozen great-grandchildren. One of those grandchildren preceded her in death. The rest of us honoured her memory.

Penny and I settled into Tuba City, and into our work. We were regulars at a coffee house that was put on each week, at the Episcopal Church. We had people over for dinner, at least once a week and taught those who were interested, about the Baha’i Faith. One comment, from a video store operator, who was a member of Four Square Gospel, still sticks in my memory: “All religions follow the same God?” That is indeed our story, and we’re sticking to it.

We also traveled around the Southwest: Pipe Spring, Colorado City and Lake Havasu City (for Christmas), in Arizona; on our First Anniversary-Durango to Silverton, Colorado (on the Narrow Gauge Railroad); Chama,Rio Grande Gorge, Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico and several Baha’i-sponsored events, from Phoenix and Casa Grande to Jemez Springs and Crystal, New Mexico. In the Fall, my brother, Glenn, married his sweetheart, Barbie. So we made the trip back to Massachusetts, at the height of foliage season. It was sweet.

We did very well, as a couple, during this first year of wedlock.

The Hana Chronicles: Month 6, Day 16

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

July 7, 2026- Today, Hana’s Daddy turned 38. The first best thing I did in my life was to sire the second American child ever born on Jeju-do, South Korea. Aram only lived in Jeju for 3 1/2 years, but Korea was in his blood. When he returned there, in the U.S. Navy, in 2017, the die was cast. He met Yunhee and married her, after a two-year courtship. Hana came along six years after their wedding.

When we sang “Happy Birthday” to him, this morning, Hana’s face lit up. She knew it was a joyous occasion. I told her that she will come to know exactly what a birthday is, in several more months.

Our day was back to routine: We went on our walk to Hoblitzelle and she saw her slightly older friend running and playing on the grass, as we walked past. She will want to do that very soon. Right now, she can sit for a few minutes, then lets herself down. The pressure on her spine must still be strong.Standing and scooting will need to wait until at least the 9-month mark.

Her lunch went better today. She got to wield a small spoon, and felt each food item, thus getting used to the texture. She was more avid an eater after that. She also was able to mix the items together, which appealed to her as well.

HANA’S NOTE- Mommy and Papa sang “Happy Birthday” to Daddy. I remembered that they talked about his birthday on Sunday, but they still sang to him today. He brought back something called pizza, and a frozen thing called sherbet, from work today. I couldn’t eat either one. I’m still too little, Mommy says. That’s okay; Mommy leaves a lot of good food for me and Papa helps feed me, every lunchtime. I like putting my hands in the food and mixing stuff around.

YEAR IN REMEMBRANCE-1959 The second half of Grade 3 saw the introduction of short division and simple fractions. I started reading the daily newspaper for more than the baseball scores and comics. I read both the Daily Evening Item, from nearby Lynn and the Boston Traveler, which joined with the Globe, later in the year. That’s when I started learning a lot more things about the country and the world, from the Globe. During the summer, Miss Nugent asked my mother if I could take part in a research project that she was doing for her Master’s Degree. Mom was delighted, and so I took part in a reading program that Miss Nugent was reviewing, She left Felton School afterward and got married. I have always hoped she has had a good life.

In Grade 4, the teacher was Mrs. Kimball, a hard taskmaster. She believed in corporal punishment. I never got the stick, but I know I tried her patience at times. She is the reason that I know how to solve word problems and do long division. We followed her specific instructions on both operations, to the letter, or else.

Her Rules

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

April 15, 2026= Hana is able to complete three “laps” two forward and one back, army crawling on a ten foot long mat. She will not give up until the third lap is finished, most times. A week shy of four months, my granddaughter is showing very definite drive, getting annoyed with herself if she doesn’t complete a lap. She will, however, stop and listen to me telling her it’s okay to rest. The last thing I want is to foster a hyper-anxiety over developmental tasks. This is where self-concept and work ethic begin, on a very rudimentary level.

She has a definite preference for sleeping on her belly, or at least laying on her right side. If I return her to lying on her back, she huffs and goes right back on her side. She definitely has the mindset, “my body, my rules”, when it comes to sleeping position. So, we monitor to make sure she is able to breathe, then turn her on her back, when she is in deep sleep.

She likes being near the table, when one or more of us is eating, and will babble a comment or make a sharp sound, to draw attention. I think most of this is due to sitting in a bouncy chair, so far below table level. There is also her being quite sociable, enjoying being around people. I know that she will not be ignored, as she takes her place in the world.

I will encourage my granddaughter to be assertive, while also respecting the rights of others, as she formulates her rules of engagement.