Evy & Edda Updates 10/10/2010

My Evy at 6.5.  She lost the baby fat on her face and looks slimmer now.  She is considered tall in her class, I think she inherited her daddy's tall gene.  We didn't skip her to 2nd grade so she is at Grade 1 but goes to enrichment class once a week if applicable.  We also signed her up in a Destination Imagination club where she will participate in activities that will challenge her critical thinking, problem solving and presentation skills.  They will get to compete with other schools in COS.

We enrolled her in a Chinese School here.  Now she goes to the Chinese School Grade 1 level every Sunday for two hours.  In this class, she will learn to recognize Chinese characters, read, write, speak and form sentences.  She would received a page of reading material and homework assignment which she would have to learn before class.  I got to say, she did well in it.  Her Chinese teacher was impressed at the sentences that Evy could form in Mandarin.  I was so pleased and proud to hear that of course.  :-P  We just received two text books and 4 work books from the school and she will be getting a test this coming Sunday.

I made her lunchbox everyday to bring to school.  It's nothing fancy like a bento because I couldn't foresee myself being that hardworking.  Her lunch consisted of brown rice, veggie and chicken/fish (sometimes fried rice or noodle) that we had the night before.  I took out her portion before we started dinner.  The next day, I reheat her rice and pack it in a 12oz. food thermos along with her water bottle and snack.  For me, this is healthier than the cafeteria food that the school served (even though this cafeteria offers healthy food choices).   Her reward for finishing all her lunch (Mon-Fri) is she will get to eat in the cafeteria on the day that I don't have a lunchbox for her (like we went out to eat on Sunday night and thus no lunchbox on Monday).  If it happens that one of those day, she brought back half thermos fulled of food, then her reward is canceled.  So, on that day, I will cook some chicken potstickers (from frozen) or omelet and pack with some brown rice for her.

I loved this picture of them!  Now this picture is my desktop.

There is a thing about them that bugs me.  They always want to fight over the stuff that the other has.  For example, when brushing teeth, Edda took the tooth paste first, and Evy had to grab it from her and used it first, thus Edda was crying because Evy grabbed the tooth paste from her.  Another example, when Evy was playing something, for instance a toy, and Edda had to come and play with the same thing, and thus another conflict disrupted.  There is a constant fighting over them as who got to play first, use first, etc.  So, I told them whoever started this nonsense again, I would have to send her back to Malaysia and live with her grandparents.  LOL!

My Edda just turned 4.  She is just a sweet girl but has a temper of her own.  She is conversing in Mandarin and English now instead of just Mandarin alone.  I think she has to pick it up if she wants to play with kids who couldn't speak in Mandarin.  Her pronunciation still needs improvement but she will get there.  She is a little shy at first but once she warms up, off she goes.  I would say she is a smart girl as well.  But I won't know for sure until she got tested at school when she goes for her kindergarten.  I am looking forward to learn her Adam 50 score when she first enters school.  I want to know how she fairs in class.  Hehe...

She will be enrolled in the Chinese School kindergarten level next year.  A chance for her to be familiar with the classroom setting.  Kindergarten class is shorter with longer recess, I guess they have to do it with smaller kids as their attention span is shorter.  Actually we can enroll her now if we think she can sit still throughout the class, but we think she is still too little and I don't think she can write Chinese characters yet.  I haven't even started to teach her how to write Chinese characters.  As she is learning how to write the numbers and alphabets now.  One thing I really need to teach her is how to read, but how to teach?  I asked her to learn the Phonics via dvd so that she can proceed to learn reading.  But her interest in Phonics is short span.  Evy started reading at 4.5 years (but she is gifted), with Edda I don't see it coming soon.  But I got to admit, I didn't work hard enough on her.  Well, she has two more years before she goes to kindergarten anyway, let see how it goes with my next update.

My Mother's Day Cards from Evy

Front of card 1 (kindergarten, 6 years old, May 9, 2010)

(I saw mothers showing their mother's day card/ gift/ gesture made by their kids and I want to share mine too.  So that it will be documented here for my memory.)

 Inside of card 1

Her poem to me.  I asked her what did you mean by when you are gone?  She said it meant when she is at school and not with me.

Card # 2  (A house)

(Inside the house) A 3D craft that she printed from Nickjr.com and made it herself.  She printed 4 pieces of papers and secretly made it in her room.  She said when she saw this, she just got to have it.  How sweet of her and it took me by surprise because I didn't expect a craft.

Little Edda was not to be left out too.  She knew what her big sister was doing, hiding in her room making things.  She wanted to give me card but she didn't know how to write and draw yet.  So, she had her sister to write it for her, like I love you mommy and put her name on and gave it to me.  She tried her best to draw me some pictures but her drawing was really bad so I won't be showing it here.

Spontaneous Las Vegas Trip over the Weekends

As spontaneous as it can be.  My hubby came home on Thursday and announced that let's go to Vegas tonight.  I was like how could that be possible since they (hubby and Evy) had to go watch Iron Man 2 at 7:30pm and what about his sleep since he had to drive 12-13 hours to Vegas.  Nevertheless, since the last time we had been to Vegas was 9 years ago, what the heck.  We reserved the hotel room at Circus Circus that night and took off in the morning at 4am.  My girls at one of the gas stops for branch.  Still chilly on the way there.  The last stop at Colorado before we moved on to Utah.

And where did we go when we arrived at Vegas?  China Town baby!  Got to have early dinner and shopped at Ranch 99 for drinks and snacks.  To my surprise, Vegas China Town is getting huge, it used to be a small area and now it occupied the whole street (Spring Mountain).  Any kind of Asian cuisine you can find it there, and it's authentic not Americanize.  One thing I did notice, lots of Koreans settled in Vegas, many Korean BBQ restaurants and supermarkets can be found there as well, not just Chinese and Vietnamese anymore.  One disadvantage about these restaurants, many accept cash only, so if you planned to dine in China Town, remember to bring lots of cash.  For your information, the Penang Malaysian restaurant there only accept cash.

The next day, we walked around a little bit under the scorching sun.  It was hot around 89'F and at time windy but very dry.  As you know, with little girls we couldn't walk very far and they were not interested at the buildings except M&M store.  Vegas has changed a lot too, old casinos were knocked down for the new, it was different from 9 years ago.  The traffic jam was bad, really bad, there was always a traffic jam on the Vegas strip.  We didn't have to wait long but there's always a jam.  Many people were there walking and shopping as well, pretty crowded.

This was one place they wanted to go.  We went in and they each got a bag of M&M to munch on.  Not forgetting to take a picture with yellow and red too.

Outside one of the restaurants in MGM Grand.

The following day, we got them a day pass at the Circus Circus theme park.  Look at little Edda, still smiling here before it took off.  But she wanted to cry half way into the spins.  This was her first ride.

This was Edda last ride, she was too scary cat.  She actually cried on this one and they had to stop it early for her to get down.  LOL, I raised two timid princesses.  Evy wouldn't get on any adult rides either, not even the more adventurous 3D theater.  Evy had fun on the kiddie rides along the day, Edda won't get on any ride after this train.  We spent a day in the car on Monday to drive back to Colorado.  Overall, it was a fun little getaway from this cold weather here.

Evy & Edda March 2, 2010

 

Sharing pictures of my girls I took recently.  The weather was really nice and they wanted to play outside so I let them played on the deck.  I let them blew bubbles and drew on the deck.

Oh, I am squeezed sister!

Evy happily drew all over our deck.  Luckily it was washable chalks, so drew and expressed all you want!  Ugh, what my little sweetie doing, still holding her peace signs.  LOL!

Evy posing for the camera!

Look at her drawing, we needed rain or snow to wash it off.

Sweet Edda posing for the camera!

It was nice to have sunny and warmer days, at least they get some vitamin D from the sun.  They spotted a pack of coyotes in our neighboring neighborhood so have to be careful with little kids playing alone (That's why they can only played on the deck).  This pack of coyotes had been spotted with pet in one of their mouths, and missing pets had been reported.  I had seen a red fox laying in my front and backyard before, lots of rabbits and a family of raccoons, no coyote yet. 

Evy & Edda Updates (Nov & Dec. 2009)

Evy has a Holidays recital coming up, she is practicing her piano. Her hair is getting long too, more feminine and look nicer to me. She is currently top at her class, rated at 1.9 whereas the kindergarten started at 0 level. We are thinking whether to jump her to Grade 2 next year or not. A lot to think about, for those who has his/her child skip a grade, what's your thought on this, to skip or not to skip a grade? Currently she is going to the Kindergarten Enrichment session once a week for some extra academic opportunities. Since we speak 90% of Mandarin at home, I really wanted her to learn English or to improve her vocabulary. She reads perfectly but she is unable to understand the meaning behind it (given the fact we speak Mandarin at home), so how to increase her understanding of what she read? The more I think about it, the more I want her to remain in her grade, at least she can learn more English and still remain the top in her class. Also she gets to go to the enrichment session and if she is still the top in her class at Grade 3, she will get to go to the Talented and Gifted class. It is the understanding of the meaning and comprehension of the things she read that is worrying me. If we put her in Grade 2, she might be having a little hard time and feel challenging at school. Yet I know for a fact that if we put her in Grade 1, it will be no challenge for her as she knows most of the stuff already (she already rated 1.9 at this mid-term assessment).


Want to challenge her academically or not? Or let her cruise through?



My little one hair is getting long but she loves her long hair. I managed to potty train her before she turned three. I thought she would be the difficult one as she never potty in her potty before but guess all the mental preparedness worked. She is starting to speak in English too. Sometimes her sister will speak to her in English and both of them will be role playing in English. I had a hypothesis and I tested it out on both of my girls and it proved true. We speak 90-95% of Mandarin with them, their first language was Mandarin but at three years old, they started to speak a second language English naturally. We teach them Mandarin, the television teach them English. LOL! If you are interested in learning my hypothesis, read through my older posts on my girls.


Don't you just want to pinch that cheeks of hers? I do!

Here wishing you all a very Happy Holidays!!

Girls Update

I am so proud of my two girls. I decided to move them into their own room yesterday after months of mental preparation injected into Evy. I put them on a queen size mattress so that if they fell off from the mattress, they were not going to hurt themselves. Everything was set, I put on a new bed sheet, more mental preparation talk on both girls while doing that. The night came, Edda was easy because she already fell asleep down stair so I just needed to carry her to the bed. I accompanied Evy to brush her teeth, showed her her own bathroom (sharing with her sister of course), but her own sink and her own face towel. Then ushered her into bed, kissed her good night and laid at the bottom of the bed to wait for her to fall asleep. I was afraid that she might be scared because she always told me she is scared to sleep alone. Thus, the co-sleeping with her sister was my solution. But you know what, she actually told me to go back to my room. I was like really and she said yes and I was real impressed. I actually felt weird sleeping in a room without my two girls or simply worrying about them (took me a long time to fall asleep). I had my monitor on the whole time and they did so well, they slept through the night, no crying, not a single sound. I was so proud of them and I told them so. I kept praising them in the morning and told them how well they did and how proud I am of them. They both kept smiling and I know they understood it. So, another smooth sailing move to their own room.



Next would be Edda potty training (I will get it done when she turned three, right now I am mentally preparing her) and teaching her shapes, colors and alphabet. I will really work on her when her sister goes to Kindergarten this Fall. At that time, I will have the private one on one time with her and thus the best time to really teach her. I will start to prepare her for kindergarten. Phonic digestion at 3 years old and at 4, she will know how to read like her sister. One thing though her learning skill is a bit slow, I guess it was my fault because I did not read to her from 6 months up to a year every night like what I did with her sister. So until now she still cannot differentiate shapes and colors which her sister already knew at 9 months. I can really see the difference what advance reading do to their learning ability. One a fast learner and really smart, the other a slow learner and not as smart. Luckily she started talking in sentences and more now, at 2 she still hardly spoke at all and I was worried. Just that sometimes I have to figure out whether she is talking in Mandarin or English because her pronunciation is a bit off. But she sure try to express herself in sentences.

Evy is going to Kindergarten this Fall. I enrolled her into a school that teaches Mandarin from K to grade 5. She already has good Mandarin foundation and I hope that it will get reinforce in the school. I have prepared her well for Kindergarten as I did not send her to pre-school. She knows how to write, how to read (very good at reading, can read the whole Dora (1) book with no mistake), how to count, how to add and minus in her mind, without using her ten fingers (her mathematics skill is up to grade 1 level), how to use a computer, how to draw, color and tell story of what she drew. She even made a story book, drew some pictures, illustrated the story to me and had me wrote down the story in that book for her. And she would read the story over and over again and kept it as her possession. I have no doubt she will do well in school.

Extra update: The next day, I put both of them in bed, kissed them good night and left the room. Edda still wanted to play I guess because I heard (through my monitor) Evy said, "睡觉了，好不好?". Edda replied, "好". Some comforter ruffle sounds. Few minutes later, Evy said, "睡觉了，好不好? 姐姐累累了，要睡觉了." Then, silent. The following day I asked Evy, she said her sister was trying to tickle her. Haha...

Translation:
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok?" Edda replied, "ok"
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok? Sister is very tired and wants to sleep now."

Halloween, 2008

I think I haven't updating you all with the pictures of my girls for some time, so here it is. Their recent Halloween pictures. Evy totally loved this day because she will get to eat the candies afterward (1 or 2 per day if she finishes her lunch/dinner). It was the first time for Edda and I think she liked it too.


My little cat lady.


My little bee China doll.


Both of them can't wait to go trick-or-treating.

More Evy Drawings

As promised, here are more recent drawings of Evy. I think she did all these when she just turned four.


She tried to draw some ants. Not sure why she wrote SHEEP at the bottom, doesn't look like it connects to the drawing.


Don't ask me what is VVLLA because I have no clue!


Her garden of flowers.


I see flowers and possibly a Caterpillar, no idea about the rest.


She knows how to draw shapes and said it correctly.

Sharing Some Random Pictures

AFormosa Safari near the entrance. Frankly I was quite disappointed in this. Pretty small and the western show suck, couldn't understand a word came out of their mouths.


This must be her favorite thing to do in the Safari: Pony ride. By the way, only cost $4 for a round.


Waiting for the multi-talented animal show to start. Look at her rosy cheeks, you know how hot it was.


Edda happily smiling for the camera in a Thai restaurant. Usually she would look down or side way to avoid looking at the camera.


Their favorite ride in Genting resort while waiting for the grandparents who were playing slot machines inside the casino. Edda was sitting alone in the third car. Lost count of how many rounds they were in it.

Short Clip of My Girls Eating

Sharing a clip of them eating at Texas Roadhouse recently. Edda was cleaning the plate of onion blossom (our appertizer) and Evy was enjoying her favorite ceaser salad. Hubby ordered his usual full rack of BBQ ribs and I decided to try something different and ordered the pork chops. The pork chops was a disappointment, hard and dry (overcooked for sure). I made better pork chop than them and I would never order it again.



This embeded version is not as clear. Not the camcorder fault.

What a Crazy Weather!

When people said Colorado has crazy weather, it is! We were enjoying a record high of 80"F the day before and the next day "Boom", we got snow shower! In Sane! Evy wanted to go out and play so I let her and Edda was inside with a sour face looking at her sister playing outside (by the sliding door). Then, she brought me her shoes and of course letting me know that she wanted to go out as well. Her sour face looked so pitiful so suited her up and put her outside with her sister.

I only let them played on the deck so that I could keep an eye on them.

Edda looking at me. I asked her, "Cold or not, want to come inside or not?" Raised her hand and said, "No", at least that's what I think she was saying. LOL!

Evy was happily playing with her snow shover.

Edda pointing at the snow falling and tasting some which fell on her face. She surely enjoyed it, so cold also didn't want to come in until her sister came in then she got no choice but to come inside.

What's the next day looks like! Inches of accumulation and every where was covered with snow. And it's SPRING here!!

Rockie Mountain. Couldn't capture the famous Pike Peak, it was hidden in the cloud behind the mountain.