First sip of alchohol

Last night Kaitlyn had her first sip of alcohol - mixed margaritas daddy made. You can tell what kind of parents we are:-)

I can tell from her eyes she was excited and nervous before she tried it, then she said it tasted good! She sneaked back to the table took another sip after dinner (I'm glad at least she told me, not when she passed out:) I know the reason she liked it was because daddy made it really light so grandpa/grandma can drink it. She pretty much tasted lemon flavor ice water, ha-ha!

I know she has been curious about the "adult permitted only" drinks for a while. One time, two teenage girls came to our house for dinner, she overheard them talked about how kids can't drink alcohol, but they'd like to try it. Their conversion left in her mind and she told me afterwards that alcohol is bad for kids, like making sure I know about it! We let her smelt wine and beer before, she said "yucky".

Now she know alcohol is not a "monster" or scary stuff, what's next? Ummm...

Happy Valentine's Day!

My friend sent me this, it's really cute, would like to share with you - Happy Valentine's Day!

Of couse Kaitlyn had many valentine's gift from school friends - candy, candy, and candy... some of my favorite stuff are - one girl baked heard-shaped cookie for everyone, one girl make a picture velentine's card of herself. It's so cute!

The Star Spangled Banner

I'm so proud of my little girl singing so well of the national anthem! - If you pay close attention, she even change her pace to stay in tune with the music :-)

这的确要归功爸爸！
自从听了“Barbie” (I don't know why she called Mariah Carey "barbie" , and loves her singing) 唱过后，她和爸爸就迷上了 Mariah Carey。

听女儿唱的有板有眼，真是发自内心地替她自豪！

Happy Lunar Chinese Year!

It's amazing to watch these kids performing lion dance. I have seen more traditional street performance of lion dance and dragon dance here in the United States than when I was little back in China! It's so much fun!

It's pity my generation lost lots of fun with traditional culture/custom as a result of culture revolution.

I'm especially pround of these kids. They're all so young, at most high school age, did an extremely well performance!

心情不好闹来的

一早起来还挺好的，突然“晴”传“雷阵雨”，梨花带雨死活不愿意脱下身上的裙子洗，虽然自己也说有点臭臭地。我带她去挑别的裙子，哪条都不顺眼，那老妈的火气也腾地就上来了。僵持不下时，还好老爸来解围了，帮女儿选了条“她想穿但也不喜欢”的 - 就是照片上这件。然后妈妈有又帮她梳了个小辫辫，卡地花枝招展的，算是到此为止了。去向爷爷奶奶臭美去了：-) 再不满意，爷爷奶奶就该不干了 - 怎么能这样欺负我宝贝孙女哪？ 哈哈！

小辫还挺可爱得！

也是，本是一件小事，何苦大动干戈。爸爸也说小事别管那么多，人家也有自己的个性，喜好，不要强加于人，免得小孩子的创造性就这样不知不觉地磨灭了。其实她平时挺多自由的，好多事都还要商量(或说是讨价还价吧)那。当然，妈妈管的琐碎事多一些，这并不见得感情会浅一些。

反正孩子越大，教育的事也越复杂，没经历过就是体会不到那么回事。觉得不久以前，我也还是那个被管的哪. 那多省心哪，都是别人操我的心，那用我去理别人这些鸡毛蒜皮小事:-)

照片上看可不是个大孩子了吗, 满意了！

lovely classmates

This is her latest class photo, seems most kids had a blessed time with big "cheese" smily face :-)

It's fun to look at photo with her - she is telling stories about each one of them. One day when she grows up, will she be pointing to the photo telling you her classmates' stories again?

This year, she'll be in kindergarten. She's so looking forward to be a "big girl" going to "real school"!

Can't beleive times goes by so fast - my baby girl is going to ride school bus to school soon!

new toy to play

ohh, this girl learns things so quickly! Daddy hold her hand to show her how to skate about 20mins the first day. The next day, she is already walking by herself!

我印象中﹐小時候只有“壞”孩子才玩滑冰。 一是沒條件﹐再是
也没什么人玩。 直到中學時才偷偷摸摸地和同學去過一次﹐ 當然也沒學會。 一直到來美國後才有機會學滑冰。 想來當年父母也是擔心怕不安全﹐萬一摔斷胳膊斷腿﹐以後就嫁不出去了:-)

女兒真開心﹐有個貪玩的老爸﹐很多游戲都可以嘗試了﹗

Exercise is good!

Kaitlyn has PE class once a week, she was showing me what she had learned after dinner the other day! It's so cute!

吃冰長大的孩子

Talking to my coworker the other day, she mentioned how her little girl (16month girl) starts to show her love of mommy and daddy with hugs and kisses on her own. I know that feeling; those small actions just melt you down every time.

Just like this morning, Kaitlyn woke up the same time I got up (that’s really early for her), she looked around, the first thing she said was “mommy, give me a hug!” “I love you”. I was so flattered. ha-ha… She’s probably surprised as well because she normally does not see me around when she wakes up.

Even though Kaitlyn is a relative shy girl (in public only), she is more open to express her feelings than us. She will hug you and kiss you when she is happy, she will put crab shell on daddy’s head to appreciate him cracking crab legs for her, she’ll tell you “it’s not fair” to ask her to “too much” stuff by herself, she’ll say “I love you” a lot more than her mommy and daddy…

We ate lunch at Chinatown the other day, she wanted 刨冰, we wanted 牛肉面 (at a new restaurant), we negotiated to eat noodle together first then go next door for 刨冰. When I watched her enjoying ice so much, I’ve been thinking she is growing up in a totally different environment from us. I’ve never allowed to eat ice or drink ice-cold water with meals, I don’t know what’s 刨冰 until I got here, I have never been to Chicken-fil-A or McDonald when I was little, I don't have the luxury to pick "English" restaurant or "Chinese" restaurant when eat out, I never got any Christmas presents, I don't go to store asking parents to buy stuff she learn from TV commercials, I didn't played computer games at her age, and chat with grandparents on msn…
She lives in a wealthy country; abundant resource is available when she needs. (It’s probably the same in China nowadays, but that’s not my generation’s lifestyle)

I looked at other Chinese teenagers sitting at other tables, talking and laughing, thinking will Kaitlyn grow up like one of them, an ABC face… 一方水養一方人

when she is sick, my memory goes back to...

Kaitlyn got sick right before the holiday, started out with coughing, headache, then high fever for two three days. We two took turn, day and night, to keep an eye on her. For a couple of days, she barely ate or drink anything, not even her favorite fruits, kept complaining her whole body aches. (She doesn't normally complain about headache, bruise, or anything. Sometime she even tries to hide it to show she's a big girl, but we see tears tumbling in her eyes.)

Needless to say, she looked even skiner! Luckily after she recovered, she started loving boiled eggs. She asked for it every morning, sometime even wants two! When she eats it, she keeps saying it’s so yummy, she loves it! Remember she used to only want egg white, and you still need to beg her to eat.

I'm sure all parents went through this worrisome, not once but many times. I remember on those days, when I sat next her watching her sleep, I was imaging she jumps off bed telling me she's well and has appetite now!

That's silly thinking :-) I remember when I got sick back in China, didn't feel that long ago, what I wanted the most was the noodle soup mom cooked for me! She cooked it very simple but so refreshing. I would feel recovered instantly! Remember dad used to joke about me saying I pretended being sick every time I wanted mom to cook that noodle soup for me! The recipe was simple - clear broth with light seasonings (but very tasty flavor), thin noodles, sliced of green leaf vegetables, sesame oil, etc. I tried to mimic the recipe, but never able to make it the same!

What I did this time is made some hand-made noodle from scratch for Kaitlyn, she actually liked a lot! But it's no where close to what mom's recipe. And it’s time consuming, I don’t anticipate do this often as all!
Childhood memory, inerasable memory, it sits there quietly forever, then one day, any day, the switch turns on, then you realize how much you're influenced by your childhood life.

I love you, mom and dad!