All about: Miru
Shopping alone when you are five
The world must be so exciting for her. I try to imagine how she experiences the shops, the distance to the riverside park or the large playground, the roads full of traffic, the market. Buying a snack in the corner store is something trivial for us, a relatively meaningless act we won't remember. It's no ...
Experiment
It is not because I have conclusive evidence of it, but because I enjoy teaching new things to my daughter Miru, that I believe we should introduce the most basic concepts of science to our children as early as possible. When Miru and I were wondering if the sea could freeze over, I suggested that ...
Time with my daughter
I pressed her baby toes against my lips it was the same time as the ultrasound now, is the time that I can't tie her hair before she goes to kindergarten now, is the time I climb a mountain with her and teach her how to swim now, is the time a woman will smile ...
What is context?
I asked Miru what 배 'bae' and 눈 'nun' means. She says 'pear' and 'snow'. But in Korean, bae also means boat and nun also means eye. I tell her that it depends on the context. Context is the concept I want to explain to her today. "Papa what is that, context?" -"Context is a ...
Math
Dear Miru, Your calculating is improving and you actually like it. We play with numbers together. Two times ten is twenty. Six plus five is eleven. Ten minus 2 equals eight. It is all very playful. You learn how to figure out calculations by making drawings of dots, lines, squares on the whiteboard. You don't ...
Learning fun: Odd one out
Dear Miru, Everyday you are a little bit smarter. I try to catch up with you and come up with a suitable game. Today, I play 'The odd one out' with you. I mention four items and you tell me which one doesn't belong in the list and why. You are good at it! We ...
Bilingual child’s creative translation
Today, like most days, my four years old daughter Miru sang a song in kindergarten. When I asked her to sing it to me after I picked her up and she was enjoying an ice slushy that colored her tongue orange, she rendered a perfect translation in Dutch. Good, the song consisted of three distinct ...
Learning by improv theatre
Dear Miru, You are four years old now. We have real conversations. When I pick you up from kindergarten and I ask you what have you done today (in Dutch) you tell me brief but wonderful stories about making a snowman, observing insects and hedgehogs, dancing or taking the bus together with all the other ...
Predictability
Dear Miru, When I walked you home from the kindergarten to your grandparent's house today, you made me very happy. The sky was grey and light rain drizzled on the pavement as I knelt down in front of you. Then you said exactly what I had imagined you would say: "Regent het! Naar binnen!" ("Does ...
An imaginary piece of her candy
It is getting sweeter. Unbearably sweet. I go to the park with Miru to let her play on the swing and drink water from the fountain while I lie in the grass with an electronic book. There are always many children there to play with her. There is no lack here. This should be anyone's ...
She holds the spoon
Today, I took Miru out for a walk through the park and the few blocks I wanted to discover today. She strolled casually next to me on the sidewalk (and less casually when we went downhill). The part of Lisbon we explored is made for cars, and so I had the opportunity to teach her ...
A Digital Genius
We live with a digital genius of 011001 months old. When any object with keys or buttons is within her reach, it's hers and all the buttons get pressed in an order that to me, her father still with one foot in the analog age, appears as random. Her fingers fly over the keypads from ...
Sharing
Let me come on with an attitude and say I'll debunk a myth today. Inspired once again by our baby daughter Miru, I started questioning the common belief that babies don't share. A quick look-up on the BrinPage machine (i.e. Google) confirmed that this is indeed what our experts think. Why? Because "So basically what ...
Bed time
[series-miru] Miru normally falls asleep when her mother lies next to her and hums soft and soothing melodies into her pillow while tapping her gently until her cries turn into sobs and then silence. I admire my wife's skills and patience. And I envy it: Isn't it something unique between mothers and their children, a ...
Applause
[series-miru] Miru is now clapping her hands. At almost nine months, she is a very happy baby, and the occasional bouts of crying are interspersed with laughter and endless joy - for her as well as for her parents. She's a perfect baby, and if you a) don't believe me and b) read Korean, my ...
Missing Miru
[series-miru] For a variety of reasons that I had instantly forgotten when looking at a smiling Miru, I had decided to travel. Looking for new clients, exploring new countries, visiting friends, making use of stopovers on a journey to Europe - all are equally valid and ridiculous reasons to miss the baby for a few ...
Cries and Music
This is part of a series of blog posts that is inspired by our baby daughter, Miru. It is well known that babies have a sonic prehistory that starts in the womb, and advice to comfort a baby often includes exposing her to white noise similar to the audible sensations she had while in utero. There ...
Awaiting Binary Communication
This is part of a series of blog posts that is inspired by our baby daughter, Miru. Every infant starts out in this world with a one-word vocabulary, the content of which we (from the perspective of our infinitely nuanced expressive apparatus) then interpret as crying. I don't know how the baby herself experiences the crying, ...
Naming Miru
It is our invitation to the cultured realm of existence: giving her a name. It is the first "act" and symbolic gift we bestow upon her. Naming has played an important role in every religion, and newborns have almost always been named after something or someone. Naming preserved a lineage, honored the founding elders on ...