"finding lost family" :-)

好久沒寫點東西了﹐ 昨天收到鄧君的email﹐ 看到她和姍姍的blog﹐ 好開心﹐ 就好像見到多年不見的家人樣。在這時才覺得Internet真好﹐一下子把我們的生活拉近許多。 一眨眼﹐Nina和睿睿都這麼大了﹐想上次見她們也是看照片﹐是她們出生不久。 州州和龍龍也就就見過一次。

歲月不饒人﹐幾年前大家一起讀書﹐打打鬧鬧﹐吃吃喝喝的日子也並不遠。 如今只是全然不同的境界。 最喜歡的是看到每家人樂融融地笑開心的照片。 生活不過如此﹐還要求多少呢﹖

不過讓我詫異的是新農變化挺大。 也不是說他老了那麼多﹐只是覺得他眉宇間的神情變化挺大﹐應該說是更“成熟”了。 不是我印象中的當年毛頭學生了﹕) 翻看當年阿沖的照片﹐也是如此﹐“阿哥”晉昇“阿叔”了﹕-)

又到了家人團圓聚會的日子了﹐但願所有的朋友家人開心﹐幸福﹗

p.s. I'll add their web links to the right side soon.

stealing blog topics :)

Haven't update as I should recently, one reason is because I'm really busy, another reason is because daddy stole my topics to write:-)

I have at least 6,7 drafts sitting in the folder, none of them was completed. They either lack pictures at the time or had to stop half way and lost passion to finish it... As daddy beefs up his blog everyday, topics we discussed or pictures I took are taken by him first, Umm...

At least I should be happy she is a lucky girl with both mommy and daddy love her so much. One day when she grows up, it'll be fun to read all these, see how her day by day changes affects and enriches her daddy, mommy's lives, little by little, on our small family, big family and every person that loves her!

when I grow up, I want to be...

Just another random topic, we sat in the car, she started telling me she wants to "grow up to check teeth for other people"

"Is that what you want to do?" I asked, "to be a dentist?"
"Yes!" she said confidently.

"Oh, good for you!" I appraised her.
(Is it funny her Chinese name sounds like "dentist", and she wants be "dentist"...)

"oh, well, I also want to be a chef..." she had a second thought,
" I want to start learning cooking now..."

"that's a great idea too!" I looked at her from rear mirror, thinking she's a big girl now, starting thinking about her future.

"Well, you probably should start practicing cooking now..." I asked in a way see if she really want it.

"Yeah! Great idea! I'll start wash rice for you tonight!" She is so proud of herself coming up this idea.

Before I gave any comments, she said" I think taking care of animals is also good..."

"Err, that's good. but you mean 'farmer' or 'veterinarian' " I asked,

"I don't know, maybe both..." she replied.

I'm thinking do I have any expectation of what she's going to be, or what are my expectations?
What was my parents' expectation for me when I was little?
Did I really grow up doing what I wanted to be doing?
Is it really necessary to set up a plan to orient her toward a "good career potential" like many other Asian parents do?
Should I start telling her the real world of work life once she grows up?
Can parents really teach kids into what parents want them to be?
How can I pass her the good traditions from our families in this such dynamic, uncertain world?

Somedays, I'm just thinking too much :-)

I have a great idea!

It's so interesting to see her picking up different expression at a period of time.

Recently, she has been saying "OH, man..." with exaggerated facial expression and body language, so funny to watch her doing that...

another favorate expression is "I have a great idea!..." No matter if it's big creative idea or just a simple quick click in her mind that she wants to eat, to talk, or anything.

Say if she is hungry, instead of telling you she is hungry or wants to eat, she will say "I have a great idea! I can eat something!" Me and daddy sometimes made fun with her by saying "That's a great idea! a brilliant idea! :) " "What do you want to eat?" Then she would think hard of her choices, analyse which food is healthy for her, which is not... So hilarious to watch her doing that!

I bet she must be feeling like she is a big girl as she is able to think and talk like a adult! Especially when she gets sort of recognition from others, she is further proved she is right, being recognized as one of us...

Hope to catch it on video before this action fades away...

Saturday night fever :-)

Kaitlyn doesn't like talking on the phone at all, but she loves talking on msn. I guess that's because she prefers see and interact with the other side face to face.

When we talk to grandparents on msn, she always ask to type letters herself or send emoticon/winks... But when you ask her say something on the phone, you'll have to bribe her with incentives, something she really really wants, still, she will only speak a few sentences just to get it over with. A lot of times, we'll even need to tell her exactly what to say. Isn't this interesting? This is fine with us, as we know one day, she'll love talking and talking, to a point, either we will get tired of her, or she will request to have her own private line:)

Last Saturday night, while we talk to grandparents, she did a live performance, as you see...

reading

I'm so excited to see the change that keke gradually could read by herself now! We have been reading TO her since she was a baby, now as she learns more, she learn more words, especially recently after going to school.

One time, we went grocery shopping, I had a shopping list written on a sticky note. She volunteered to hold it for me, then amazingly, she started reading words off the shopping list randomly - yogurt, garlic... That's so surprise not only because she could read, but also recognize my chicken-scratches! Ha ha, that's my girl, right?

Then recently as we read before go to bed, I'll let her pick out a few words from the book we're reading and try to read it out herself. 90% of the time, she did it correctly! I guess soon, she can read a book herself before go to bed instead of me reading to her, what a relief! Wow, my girl is growing up so fast!

Also, this reminds me of what her teacher, Ms. Anny, talked about last night at the teacher-parents conference. She has been teaching and encouraging kids to read, not through recognize letters or memorize alphabet first, but though reading phonics and sounds first. Ms. Anny said even if they make mistakes not able to pronounce correctly, just let it go and appraise how well they did. As they go, they'll be able to link letters and sounds eventually.

This is interesting, I guess as an adult learning English as a second language, we learn it in opposite way. For her to learn the language as a native speaker, it's more natural for her to learn how to speak first.

Do ya'll remember this one when she was 6-9month old, how interesting she is doing the same thing nowadays, except she's sitting up instead :) - That doesn't seem too long ago, but time sure fly by...

homework

Started yesterday, Kaitlyn has daily homework! More accurate, it's also homework for me :)

I scan a copy of her homework calendar in case you're curious or if you want to remind me to do the homework:)

Last night, she did really well. We stop by a friend's home before dinner, she did her work with the their two girls together (one in 3rd grade, one in 7th grade). Before went to bed, she found a notepad and started practicing again on my bed.

Video of dancing class

I know you're wondering how is she doing in her dancing class - here is a short clip and one picture of her class. I'm really glad she enjoyed the class a lot, showing off things she learned from the class.

Picture below was taken at the end of class when teacher gave each kids a pretty sticker.

It's funny she not only looking forward to the class itself each week, but also remind me to go to this dim sum place after class. She really likes their food - shrimp wrapped in rice sheet (I don't know what's called in English:) , sticky rice, mango rice pastry, etc. Ooh, to my surprise, I let her tried chicken feet, she likes it! (I guess they cooked it very soft. Ha ha, just like her mom and Aunt June, right ;-)

Did you note in the video - she started clap her hands before teacher showed her what to do? Guess she is so eager to show off her talent, or maybe telling teacher to follow her instead? ha ha... Then she lost her concentration for a second...

more artwork

With friends came over visiting us, they dig out something big fun from game room closet! Finger print kit I bought for her to play with later.

At least I'm glad she put on apron over her dress, so not to mess it up. That was a dress I bought for her for next year, she just can't wait to show off now! I will scan her work and show it later. But now, did you notice the bracelet on her right wrist - that is a bracelet she made by herself using straws - her first jewelry fashion design :)

我家有女在長大

第一次從女兒口里聽到“老婆”倆個字﹐感覺特別忸。 那天開車回家路上﹐她問我劉宇叔叔去哪兒啦﹐什麼時候回來。 然後說起劉宇叔叔快回中國了。 女兒問我是不是去姥姥外公住的地方﹖ 去那裡做什麼﹖為什麼要去﹖。。。 然後問去了跟誰住﹖ 我說不知道﹐可能自己住﹐也可能同家人住。 女兒似乎是跟自己說﹐又好像是告訴我﹕“也可能跟他老婆住呀。” 我聽了覺得挺可笑的﹐問她“老婆”是誰﹖人家一版正經地告訴我 “就是你和爸爸呀﹗”

她班上有個小男孩特調皮﹐叫 Brandon, 每天都能聽她回來說Brandon 欺負誰﹐老師又罰他了。 (聽小丫頭說太調皮會被罰去baby's class, that's very serious, very bad!) 昨天小丫頭回來說Brandon 兩天沒來了。 是不是病了﹐也不是。 問她是不是想他了﹐說不是 (好像的確不在乎是的。) 然後問他“你們是朋友嗎﹖” 女兒回答“不是吧﹖He is not my boyfriend." 啊 - 我和爸爸同時看了她一眼﹐有點驚訝。 問他什麼是“boyfriend”﹖ 她似乎也不明白。 哦﹐也許她是說 男性朋友﹗ 我們大驚小怪了﹗

再有很多時候﹐你問她問題或事情﹐她不屑地告訴你“你自己想想就知道了”“你自己看看就明白了”。。。 那麼自然地把“皮球”踢回給你了。 你不覺得心頭堵的慌嗎﹖:-) 簡直是把“以其人之道還制其人”用到家了﹗

dancing class

We went to her second dancing class last Sunday. She's doing much better now.


Overall, I think she's more exciting about her ballerina's dress than class itself. Last week, the first thing she did when she got home everyday was to change school uniform to her pink tutu, white socks, and pink dancing shoes! Oh, my....

The first class didn't go well, guess she was over-excited about dancing class. Plus I bought the wrong dress for her, black instead of pink, and didn't buy her socks and shoes. When she got there saw all other kids dressed in pink in the classroom, she felt left out. Five minutes after the class started, she just want to get out, kept turned around looked at me, said "no, no..." like I don't want to do this anymore... No matter what teacher tried, she just refuse to do anything...

After that, I encouraged her to give it a try one more time, if she still doesn't like it, we'll quit. I told her that 1) there will be a big dance recital at the end of the semester on a big performance stage, with many people watching her dance, 2) if she doesn't like the class, I'll return the dance dress as there is no need to buy it... Does it sounds like "威逼利誘"?

Anyway, she did really well this time, followed teacher most of time, learned tap based on music rhythm... There are several positions I thought were hard, she did it pretty good. I'm so amazed at her learning things so fast, and enjoyed it.

Yeah, that's right, the most important thing is I want her enjoy what she's doing, not just to learn it because mommy/daddy want her to do so.

早餐

Since Last week, I've been getting up earlier everyday, because they wants to make sure I get to school by 8:30am before linetime activity starts. I've been doing good so far, never cried or being fussy when he gets me out of my bed.

I wash face, brush teeth with my eyes half opened; I pick my outfit for the day; Even though I can only wear uniform to school everyday, I can still do mix and match:) I decide what breakfast I want to eat.

Both daddy and mommy said I eat a lot for breakfast. I can eat two small muffins, a cup of yogurt, and a banana. If I have time, I sometime could eat at least another piece of bread and some fruits... But most of time, I don't eat much at lunchtime.

It's interesting, I barely wake up by myself during weekday, but on weekends, I always wake up so early, earlier than the time daddy call me up on weekdays ;-) I got lots of things to catch up on weekends...

Self-portraits

While we were talking to grandma/grandpa over msn, she came up with several self-portraits with stories. She gave herself stamps for rating performance. These five are in order of her favorites:

1. This is her favorite - Keke at Easter Egg Hunt.

2. Keke goes to school - happy girl

3. Keke after haircut

4. Keke's sleepy, in her pajama5. Keke watching movie Shrek (I guess dancing)

Family Trip - 絮花

I earned my dolphin, WOW! - See how happy she was when she got the dolphin. We purposely let her walk inside the park by not holding her, nor renting a cart either. In the end, we told her to pick a present for herself!

These strawberries were so good! But I WILL share with daddy -

The last piece -

The morning when we get ready for Sea World, mommy was combing piggy tails for me.

What's so funny?

We got a portable DVD player for the trip, it REALLY helped! I recommend for any parents for long trips.

Look at this one, why was she so concentrated? - email from alien? - I know adults are obsessed with blackberry, I don't have one yet. I'm happy with what I have now:)

Family Trip - Surprise findings at a small Texas town (Part 4)

On our way home from Austin, since we weren't in a rush, we took business 290 for part of trip and cut through a farm road ( I don't remember the name) to get to Katy faster and see the life of those small Texas towns. Since Most people were still in church or were just about getting out. I really like that peaceful feeling.

We stopped by a small restaurant for lunch at a small town. The place was small but food were really good.

Keke liked their briskets and ribs as well. She liked their tiny muffins the best :)

As you can see, the dolphin is her newly adopted "pet" now, who sleeps with her every night. Her school doesn't allow kids bring toys to school, so we had been trying to whine her out her lamb. It works, she doesn't bring her lamb everywhere anymore, instead, she has a new habit to cling to a different stuffed animal every once in a while, such as panda for a couple of weeks, mouse for a couple of weeks, now a dolphin...

Family trip - sweet memory of Austin (Part 3)

After left Sea World, we drove to Austin. On our way there, daddy had been talking about walk on UT campus to show Keke where were we our footsteps. We planned to stop by Co-Op first then walk around the campus. But someone (the little trouble maker:) wasn't interested at all.

The trip was cut short... Err, we should know about this already - with her, you can't really do anything relaxing....

The consequence of making trouble was - dropped her at grandparents' place, we went to Aunt Lynn's home BBQ without her. We enjoyed our time there, as you can see daddy in the picture ;) And I'm she enjoyed her stay with grandparents as well:)

There is a new shopping area in Austin - The Domain. Seems really nice, lots of fancy shops and huge oak trees. The music, the trees, and atmosphere is what I missed about Austin the most. You can feel the friendly and laid back Texan. With these California style shops, I was a little about the charming of Hill Country Austin is going away.

Family Trip - Romantic Riverwalk (Part 2)

Riverwalk San Antonio is such a romantic place - Without me, mommy and daddy could have a more relaxed night:)

Front door of Alamo - the motherhood of Texas.

Mommy, tell me the story of Alamo, please?

Such a big cactus! Doesn't this scene look like poster! I was part of this beautiful scene.

Family Trip - Exciting SeaWorld tour (part 1)

Sea World was the theme of this trip. There are so many exciting things to keep track of. Here some of my "first" expeprience.

First time see sea lions - saw trainer training sea lions, watched sea lion performance.

First time ride a roller coast - it's miniatured and I was a little scared, I still want to sit on the first roll next time...



First time ride coffee cup 轉轉轉

First time see shammu, it's huge!

First time have this close up contact with dolphin - Do you think she's saying "Hello! Welcome to Sea World"Wow, two dolphins dancing singing!

Welcome, everyone! I smell fish!

First time feeding dolphin, she stand up saying "thank you"

Click the picture below to watch video clip -Dolphins are cute and sneaky, they love eating fishes. Listen closely, she was singing when I fed the third time - maybe she's saying she is happy, maybe she's saying "thank you", or maybe she just want "more"...

飯桌上的小故事

那一天﹐我們三正一起吃飯﹐突然聽到怪聲﹐不知從那裡傳來。 媽媽第一反應是看看週圍﹐問 “聲音從那裡來的呀﹖” 爸爸沒有反應﹐繼續吃飯﹐沒理會。 女兒抬頭看了下左右﹐也不奇怪﹐平聲說“應該是洗碗機。”

有趣 - 一件小事﹐三人不同反應。 爸爸說﹕“媽媽是仁者﹐關心週圍人事; 爸爸是勇者﹐坦然不動聲色; 珂珂是智者﹐從容分析原因。”

你說哪﹖

School started Monday

New semester started this Monday. I changed to Ms. Annie's classroom. There are a lot more books here, and many different toys to play (or to learn as mommy says)
Don't forget to check out my uniforms - I wear uniform everyday now!Every morning, I dress, wash and brush teeth myself, I even check if I bring my big smile to school:)
... and bring big smile back home:)


Do you remember this, grandma/grandpa - I like to jump and "De-do-da-de" on the bed!

I have a new toy

I find a new toy to entertain myself -a mp3 player. It's cool, I like high-tech:) When will I have my own i-phone:)
You know which one I'm singing now? - "松花江上"

How do you like this one - boots with pajama, and mp3 music. (Even though it's 100 degrees outside) I'm a stylish rock star:)

trip to Children's museum

We went to Children's museum couple of weeks ago, here are few pictures of her. Apprently, she's still more obsessed with animals on the farm:)

I know how to milk a cow:
Cock-doodle-do...

I'm shopping for the food I like - how much is this one? Is one enough?

The checkout line is long. Let me show you what I picked - eggs, yogart, avacado, banana, corn, orange, and potatoes. Aren't I a natural healthy eater?

I can use chopsticks!

Yeah, I can use chopsticks! See I was eating meatball I made!
Mommy said it's spider, but I think it's flower!