I’m not really good about writing these, but I agree with your mom that this is a good idea, provided the internet still exists when you are able to read and hasn’t been replaced with holographic communications.  It’s been exactly one week since the election, and we are seeing what happens when someone deeply unpopular and inexperienced tries to assemble the most important team in the world for the most important job in the world.  There is total dysfunction, people getting fired, people quitting, and just a general sense of chaos.  This shouldn’t happen in the preparation for the Presidency.  But this is what happens when people make poor decisions out of spite, which is pretty much what half the country did.

I’m pretty worried about the future you and Lincoln will have, and how far down the drain Trump will take our nation.  The current President, Obama, has been the best leader of my lifetime.  You’ll be reading about him in your history books, and I wonder if they will point out the racism and obstructionism he faced.

So enough of the depressing stuff, it’s time to celebrate your birthday!  We had a very nice party for you on Saturday.  Just enough people came so that mom and dad could talk to everyone.  Birthdays at this stage are really about mommy and daddy throwing a party for themselves rather than for the kid, since you actually don’t have any friends, yet.  But you will.  You’ve got your older brother, and you’ve got a bunch of cousins that I hope you’ll have a ton of fun with, the way your parents had fun with their cousins.

Your development has been great!  You’re clambering up the stairs with confidence, and coming down without fear.  You’re not afraid to explore on your own, and you are waving, saying baba, a-yi, and imitating your brother.  Not all of it the good stuff, you’re also copying how he hits and says No!  Compared to Lincoln you seem to be more squirmy, Lincoln was kind of a bump on a log, though he’s very active now.  So I wonder what you’ll be like once you are toddling around?  In any case, we’re very proud of your development.

There were a few other measures that were voted on, that you will see the benefits of before your parents.  One was Measure M, which will build out the metro system.  The other is Measure A, which will build out the parks.  Hopefully by the time you’re my age, you’ll be able to take a Metro line to Santa Monica, while playing with your kids in a dog park nearby.  Assuming you even still live in Hacienda Heights, which is a big if!  Anyway, I guess it wasn’t all doom and gloom with this election, there are still many things that you will be able to look forward to.  So Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was Lincoln’s birthday.  To celebrate, we all went together in the Tesla to downtown LA, attended Lincoln’s music class, and then enjoyed the natural history museum.  I don’t know if I have ever been there before, but it was pretty enjoyable.  Best part was that I got to go in free, and mom already had a membership so she got in free too!  And the nanny pointed out there is free coffee!  Nanny A-yi is a perfect fit for our house because she loves free stuff.  If she knew how we went down to San Diego for a couple days and spent less than $100 she’d be so impressed.  That’s right, we went to Sea World.  It was actually a lot of fun.  It’s nice having kids that give you an excuse to go back to water parks.  Can’t wait till you guys are old enough and we can start riding rollercoasters.  But none of those spinning machines, I’m too old for that.

I had Navy drill today so I didn’t get to go to Melody’s birthday party but I heard it was fun.  You’re both really lucky that you have so many opportunities, but we need to make sure that you don’t get spoiled.  Lincoln, you need to stop hitting people, I mean it.  Don’t grow up to be a brat.  The entire internet is aflame right now over a Stanford kid who did some pretty bad things to a girl… worst nightmare is that we raise a kid incorrectly.  We all want our kids to go to a school like Stanford, but what is the point if they grow up amoral?  So anyway, that’s the big test we have before us.

Anyway, I need to go and print some more Recently photo magazines out.  With the internet you need to make a big effort to actually print photos out.  In my day, that was the only way you could see a photo, if you printed it.

Oh, I should mention that Carver, you started sleeping through the night in the last week… we are so happy!  Now your brain will get to develop more.  You are already very good with your hands, very curious and grabby.  That’s great.  You are attracted to screens too, I noticed, so we’re going to have to block those.  Sorry.

I had ACL surgery so that when you two become rambunctious boys I will be able to keep up. Hope you appreciate that.