The Best

Since I returned to work, I have been going back home for lunch every day to feed Winston and also to check up on the nanny. As a result, I have not gone out for lunch for a long time. A business friend in shanghai will be visiting Bay Area later this month, and asked to have lunch together. He wrote, “Well, if you feel that your nanny has not passed due diligence and you don’t want to leave the baby behind, I will certainly understand. After all, given the parents, a Nobel prize or two could be at risk!”

I wrote back immediately, “ as long as he does not get sick, I can still make it to lunch. Besides, since his parents are not going to get anywhere close to a Nobel prize, I would not want him to harbor such ambitions!”

As funny as ever, my friend replied, “ well, Dad still has got a chance at physiology/medicine, as he worked for a Nobel laureate. Mom could become a nun, go to Africa and try for the prize in peace.”

Quite a few people have asked me what I would like Winston to do in the future, and I have always answered that I just want him to be healthy, happy and do something that he finds interesting while supporting himself. Frequently, that answer would meet incredulous looks. One of them flat out said that my son would be under a lot of pressure from his parents to achieve excellence in everything. As he tried to convince me to buy a house in South Palo Alto, he mentioned that the high school there is ranked among the top 100 in the nation. I said, “but it is too competitive and there will be too much pressure for the kid.” He laughed, “I bet your kid will probably raise the pressure level!”

At this moment, I am still fretting over his eczema (the nanny put too many layers of blanket on him again! Ugh…) and his stuffy nose (is it due to acid reflux or the fact that he kicked off all the blankets?) so it’s hard for me to imagine putting pressure on this chubby baby for him to be best at something.

Besides, he is already the best boy that I could have imagined…