Learning

I've been working with XX lately on her need for "stuff." I know it's normal, but I noticed from the beginning that she was a "want more" sort of child.

"More." She'd sign when she wanted us to pick and give her one more leaf off a tree. She'd rip it up and throw it away, then sign again. Harmless, but telling.

And though she gets little, she still asks if we might buy her this or that. She's quite accepting when we say no, but still, she needs a dress, she needs tights, she needs hair clips.

She's quite aware of her looks now. I'm all for feeling good about your clothes, hair, etc. But the problem for her is that when she's feeling really good about how she looks, she stops listening; she is so involved with her own fabulousness. So I curb what I can and lately I've been saying, "Instead of worrying about what you'll wear or what you can get that is new, why don't you think about what you can do for someone else tomorrow?"

Sounds good, right?

Tonight, I reflected on our day. She's off school for a few days so we had the entire lovely day together. She worked, I worked, and then we worked together. Part of that together time was moving boxes. We're still moving in, moving YeYe's stuff around.

What I will remember most about today, is that all she kept saying was, "But what can I do?" Wanting to help so much. She carried box after box, smiling beautifully through it all, so joyous at being able to contribute.

And when I think about it, she is always that way. "What can I do?" The first to offer help every time. She never shirks, but only offers fully.

She should be teaching me.

Upside Down

I think XiaoXiao and I sometimes look at life from a different perspective than the rest of the world. This is what happens when we work on a project together.

There is a parade of scarecrows at school. While other families made scarecrows that looked somewhat like this ...

... ours came out a bit different. Guess which scarecrow is ours?

XX decided to make a "double face" because it would be "interesting." Then the two faces got lost in paint and ladybug stickers, but we both loved it just the same. We were going to make long, comb-able hair, but decided on a mess of multicolored yarn instead. I think it's just right.

We have a few days off for parent/teacher meetings. As XX was sent home again today, I'm sure we will have enough to talk about. She's now been sent home six times in four months. I've only fought with the school administrator three times, so she's ahead of me. John is wondering who will get kicked out first.

Lucky for us, XX's teacher seems firmly in our court as is the school director who told me that in 18 years of teaching preschool, she's never seen a child like XX with such joy, love and "leadership potential." I think that must be what we call "bossiness." But I do love that positive spin. They seem to feel they have a gift in being able to help channel and focus all that fabulous energy.

There are just some days when focusing is out of the question. The thing is, if you turn upside down or inside out, maybe spin in circles, it'll probably all look just right.

Aquarium

We saw the most fantastic aquarium yesterday. Once again, it was Aunt Suzie who reminded us about the place. She's going to be our Activities Director.

Just walking to the aquarium, we saw harbor seals sunning on the beach.

We watched this otter protect his meal from a thieving seagull.

Inside, there were gorgeous touch and feel displays. XX liked the starfish and chitons. She decided not to touch the sea cucumbers or bat rays, but Daddy got to feed a shrimp to a ray.


What XX was most interested in seeing were the otter feedings and the penguin feedings. She loved being so close to the animals.


If not for that little bit about naptime, we would have stayed all day, but alas, sleep waved its wand over XX the second the penguins were done eating.

We'll look forward to our next trip.

Rain

As usual, a lot has happened recently. We had some rain.

XiaoXiao had her first job. Perhaps I should clarify. "Paid job." She works hard every day. But this time she had the responsibility of picking up the mail and newpapers for our neighbor. As XX calls her, "OUR" Shirley.

This also came along with being in charge of reminding Daddy to take out the garbage for Shirley and Carter. XX thought this was fine. "I'm in charge!"

We went to a corn maze.

XX had no lack of confidence or energy.

We saw a pig race. Highly exciting, it was not, but fun all the same.

The piggies all vied for kisses from this gentle giant.

There was face-painting. XX sat in the makeup chair as if she were born to it. She has been saying she needs to be onstage again ... "but by myself." My mother told me that at age four, I was telling her I "needed" ballet class. She found me a child's dance class and I told her it was okay, but not real ballet. Apparently, she found me something acceptable. Knowing this, XX's comments scare me somewhat.

Later, she surprised me by showing me she could write her name ... in Chinese.

The rest of the week was fairly calm. XX got sent home again. It was picture week at school and the first day got the kids worked up, XX more than most. I worried that she'd get sent home again the next day, when it was her class's turn, but in fact, she was a champ. When I picked her up, the photographer said, "You're XiaoXiao's mother?" then burst into laughter. She told me that XX was so much fun to photograph and she'd had the best time. So hopefully there will be some fun photos to choose from. I saw a couple of children being coerced into a smile, then ending up in tears, so a goofball sitting in the chair must have been a welcome change.

Other changes are taking place. There are periods John and I will notice that it's quiet. It's because XX is at her desk working. She reads simple sentences, two syllable words, and puts together phrases with her Chinese character magnets. She's polite and says, "Yes, Mum" quite a bit, thanks to Uncle Glen (he reminded her to say this when we visited in February and it's stuck in her mind). She's becoming more creative, experimenting with mixing paint colors, painting buttons, and anything else around. She then cleans her brushes and wipes down her tables, all on her own. It's a wonderful and wondrous sight every time.

There is also the wild, unabashedly joyful running and shrieking in the house, in the backyard, at the levee. There's no way to be sad or mad around XX. Even our grouchiest neighbors perk up, smile and wave when XX calls out to them.

My sunny day child.

Pumpkins

We spent a great afternoon at Suzie's. Steff and Jim also came so all three sisters were together for the first time since we've been back here. Lots of food, lots of play, lots of chat. XX had a fabulous time ordering her cousins, Carver and Sebastian, around. They were ultra-good sports. Of course, all my work with XX on how to play without bossing everyone around has been undone. Sigh.

Then Suzie took us to a great pumpkin patch.


There were the most unusual pumpkins we'd ever seen. We got quite a few different types.

If it looks like XX has on jammies, it's because she does. She decided she would wear those for her clothes today.

Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect day.

End of the Week

We picked up XX from school today and found out from her teacher that a little mishap had XX's lunch spilled on the floor. None of it could be saved and her teacher said XX was quite, quite distraught. She really wanted her bao, tofu, mochi, tiny beet flowers, edamame, and especially the fresh tomato slices.

She was actually still holding her bao when we picked her up. She sadly said it could not be eaten as it had fallen on the ground, but she didn't want to throw it away.

They got her some lunch from school. Unfortunately, it was mac and cheese day. Mac and cheese like other kids eat it, meaning, no green stuff like broccoli or peas or asparagus in it. That's the only way XX eats it and she eats the veg, leaves the pasta and pronounces the entire meal "hǎo chī!"

Oh well. As always, she managed. Thank goodness for milk!

Quick local outing today to the sake brewery. Though we got to do a tasting, we happened to go the one week the tours were shut down. Still, John felt he learned a lot. Did you know there is a sparkling sake?

XX loved feeding the carp outside. She worked hard tossing the little nuggets of food.


She was happy that she had new pants that Brad and Steph gave her ... two years ago. Size 24 months and miraculously, they mostly stayed up!

As usual, she had to boss Daddy around, telling him exactly how many pieces of fish food she would allow him to throw. It didn't go over well.

Still, they had a good time together.

This is the lake where XX's Aunt Suzie spent lazy days when she was supposed to be in English class.


We had ice cream. XX thought that Kyra and Liam would like this place and said she hoped she could sit next to Kyra. As it's also a chocolate shop, I think Aunty Kimba would find it interesting as well.

We hit the park after that where XX wore off a bit of the sugar effects and came home to a package that she has been waiting for all week: her Halloween costume. It's interesting to see how anticipation builds these days. One of her new favorite animals is a "qǐ é" (penguin), so guess who/what helped us walk the dogs this evening?

And it's only Friday! Two more days of fun to look forward to!

Big Day

For the first time this morning, XiaoXiao walked into school on her own.

I've been carrying her every day. She asks to have lots of love before I leave her and so, even though other kids walk in with their parents, XX is carried. She's needed it and, I guess, so have I.

She has little or no problem leaving me, she adores school, but she always wants "extra loves" because she says she will miss me. One last big hug and she easily runs out to play.

This morning, I think she forgot. There was no mention of anything, so I bit my tongue and didn't say a word even though I do love that giant display of affection she gives every morning. She gave me a kiss and hug and said she'd see me later and ran out to the play area without a backward glance.

Wow. Why didn't anyone tell me growing up was so painful?

Apples!

We went to pick apples today.

There were also vineyards and a brewery and pumpkins.

XX took her camera, too. She's getting pretty good. She took the above photo of Daddy.

Another amazing day. Probably because it was a special day:

Happy Birthday, Juju! We love you!

And You Thought ...

... eggplant ice cream was weird. Today we saw this:

And even this:

Because we went here!

XX was beside herself with joy.

There were farm animals. Boris was intrigued.

They had rock climbing. XX said she wanted to try, the Army said "yes." Then they saw she was much smaller than the rest of the kids.

So small, the harness wasn't even close to a good fit. No fit at all, as a matter of fact.

They thought about putting us both in it, but that wasn't exactly safe, so they balanced a helmet on her little head and let her go as high as they could reach her. Sans harness.

She was incredibly quick and would have gone higher, but her audience (which was fairly large as everyone within seeing distance came to see this peanut) called, "ENOUGH! COME DOWN, HONEY!" She impressed quite a few people, her parents included.

I was afraid this would be one of those times she might not listen, but she did. And asked me, as we walked away, "But Mum? Why did not they let me fly on the way down? I wanted to fly." She had watched the other kids make it to the top, then hold onto the rope and glide down to the ground. Alas for the gift of flight today, or even this year. She looks to be a few years girthwise from being able to really safely climb. Though perhaps this is a good thing.

We started the weekend right after school yesterday with a playdate. Two friends from school and hours of rides, running and laughing.

Clutching her new bear from Brad and Steph.

Tonight after dinner, we went outside to see the moon and we thought about family, all over the States, the world, and beyond.

Goodnight Moon.