Kid's Story: Sharing the Bone

Summer break already began. We go to the pool every afternoon.  Winston does not sign up for any private skill training classes as most Chinese kids do in the summer, because I think he may not have enough free time to do things.

To make his summer not so boring, I planned some writing and painting hours for him at home. After building his blog in Window Live, his writing improved a lot, but still not good.  I let him practice writing in English and Chinese in turn in his blog. I found some tool books about kid's writing at the on-line bookstore. They are still on the way. Before then, I thought I may give Winston the practice on "Look and Write". 

Wisnton is not good at coloring.  Richy said maybe we should let him attend a painting class.  I am still hesitating.  Do kids have to gain all kinds of skills? Winston has talents and interest in Music but none( or very little) in painting . He draws but does not draw very well. I think, to him, the painting lesson at school is enough for entertaining and training.  I would let him take painting class only when he likes to.  For now, we just "play" writing and paiting at home. Here is his "colorful" dog story. He gave the title "Sharing the Bone" to it. Enjoy~

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Pictures Drawn by: June

Pictures Colored by: Wisnton

Story Written by: Winston

Sharing the Bone

       One day a dog saw a bone. He liked it so he ran to the bone. The bone looked delicious. The dog wanted to eat it so he walked closer and closer. Suddenly a lady dog came by. She looked hungry. Then the dog let her take the bone.

       The dog had nothing to eat and became hungry.  Few days later, the lady dog came back with two bones to share with the dog.

兒童烘培體驗營 Kids Bakery Workshop

Winston finished his final exam at school. On June 25, We invited some of his classmates to our house to make cookies and pizzas.

The kids had good time with the DIY food. They also grabbed every chance to play in the kid's room.  After they left the room was a chaos.

Richy fixed some of the broken toys and felt proud of himself for being able to fix the seemed unfixable toyes.

It was so much fun to watch kids play and learn. The feedback from parents and kids was very positive. I plan to hold this kind of activity again next year before school's summer vacation.

趁暑假開始前， 辦了一次小朋友親手做餅乾Pizza的體驗營。

Naievte

Winston's Stuffed  Pals

We all possess the naivety from childhood, but some hide it and some don't.

I am very much a naive person. Sometimes I don't like to be surrounded by people who consider themselves more mature and more right. There is nothing wrong about being naive.

As a mom, I want my child to grow mature but I treasure the moments while he was a child and naive.

Winston is quite naive , maybe a bit more naive than his peers at this age.
He likes to preach to his pals, teach them English and Math.  It is cute to watch him punish the pals.

When we two are alone, we are both very naive.  Many times I pretend to be a student and he is the teacher.  He likes to be a wizard and turns me into a lady frog. Sometimes, when I was angry, he used his magic wand to change me into a dumb mom.

We read stories in turn, talk and act like we were in the stories.   Kids and Moms together, they know how to please each other. I guess it is because of "Naivete".

I feel guilty that I take advantage of his naivety to let him play piano and violin to the big audience---his pals and me ( I really enjoy his music).  I also pretend to be a silly violin and piano student of his.

After the pretending game, he already gets his music homework done and, the fun. Then he moves on playing his Wii and I am the housekeepking mom again.

So is it this time.  Winston asked me to knit a Rabbit for him.  I told him that I would knit more if he would practice music more.

So this week, without my pushing or yelling, he went to the piano and got the violin on his own. I knitted the rabbit by his side. 

He checked my progress once a while and happily went on his work.

I want to knit some pals for him while he still talks to them. Winston needs the patience to practice his piano and violin.

I call this a win-win game.

After creating this rabbit pal, Winston asked me: what is the sound a rabbit make? 

I saw rabbits, but I did not remember they even make any sound.  

Now we have to think of one cute little sound for Rabbit to make. 

Because when teacher Winston asks questions in his pals' class, rabbit has to make sound to answer.
 

New Pal-Rabbit

Women's Day

March 8 is Women's Day in Chinese Culture.  In Suzhou, the schools were promoting the behavior of respecting the elder.  Winston said his teacher asked all the kids to wash their mothers' feet at home.  I felt funny and embarrassed.  But Winston insisted doing it.  He said his teacher would ask whether they finish this kind of "homework" the following day .  So I had to take a basin full of water and sat on a stool to let Winston washed my feet.  It tickled and we both laughed. 

I know in kids' mind, they only want to do as teachers say. But at least the schools are promoting something valuable and I think the concept and attitute will build up in their mind gradually.

Last weekend was Wisnton's birthday. I am glad that he did not ask for any presents.   He planned a family concert in which Richy and I played Cannon D major and Bach's Minuet  together with piano and violin and Winston played Wild Rose with piano. So we played music on Saturday night with only 3 of us as both the players and the audience.  I made banana & apple cake and cooked glutinous rice with veggie mix for dinner. Although everything sounded normal and causal on this day, Winston was quite happy. This reminded me the bithday he had last year, I bought a big cake for him to share and celebrate in his class in Kindergarden and everyone had a great time. However, at that time I had considered to celebrate Wisnton's birthday in low profile because as kids grow older they tend to compete and compare on something unnecessary. More importantly, I don't want to spoil a little kid's small appetite or turn him into a dinosaur.

Glutinous Rice with bacon and Veggie Mix

Fruit and Nuts Cake

放晴

早上看到Winston一如往常的粉红蘋果脸，就放心多了，而我自己也不在發烧，只剩喉嚨痰鸣。
上海的同学看到我们生病的消息，要寄來流感的快筛试剂和克流感，可以放着讓在苏州的我和jessie两個家庭心安也保平安。
出门在外，有朋友互相照应真好。

回想過去這一個星期，真是紧张，后来连自己都生病了几天，还好，可能是平时有去游泳，才能在短时间内度过。
這個紧张担心过程，也附带了一些珍贵的回憶；有一晚，Winston不知为何辗转难眠，我问他原因，他说：就是頭脑觉得怪怪的。我怀疑是吃药的副作用，我和他起床一起念故事，念了二篇他还是不睡。
我讓他躺着，我来念，一口气念了六个章節，他还是没睡着，问他我念到哪儿了，他还回答得出来。后来我说：那我看着你睡好了，就這樣，他翻了几次终于睡着了。这是我第一次一连串讲那么多故事（到半夜两点），但我不觉得累。
Winston在生病期间，最爱看SpongeBob和上网玩SpongeBob。既然上网，我也要求他更新自己的Blog，他看到他的Visitor Meter人数增加，颇为興奮，有时候不必我在旁边，也能连续写出几句，进步很快，他最爱的是，写完后能加入表情符号，那是完全不需要我帮忙的地方，而且做得很好。
Richy每天下班回来就要看到二张生病的苦瓜脸，本来他也差点被同事传染，还好他跑去游泳和烤箱烤出一堆汗，否则就没有人照顾我们和做家事了。

昨天，Winston放学回来告诉我：妈妈，我早上没刷牙被老师發现了。
哈哈！我每次叫他早上刷牙，他不聼，现在老师要监督了，真好。
我问他：老师怎么知道的？他说：我们现在在教刷牙，她靠近我，叫我张開嘴巴，闻到的。
天啊！班上那么多人感冒，老师还感检查学生口腔？Winston感冒才刚好，希望盡职的老师，千万不要被传染到。
今天起我要对那位老师令眼相看了，如果不是把别人的孩子当自己的孩子，谁敢去闻小孩子的口气啊？
记得我还没生小孩的时候，看到小孩子换尿布就觉得恶心。

今天，天气放晴了。我把窗户打開，透透氣，洗了床单、衣服，打扫了环境，希望不舒服的事情趕快过去。

家長會

今天Winston的学校辦家长会，结果，前面二小时，我们家长就是看他们上课情况，後面一小时是听老师们对家长们的谆谆教诲，最後看小孩子在餐厅吃饭的情形，总共3个半小时。

和我想像的都不一樣，家长会不应是吃吃聊聊吗？第一次当小学生的家长，有点不適應。
回想刚開学时，还所有家长都去一个冷气不够强的会议厅，聽各单位的主管老师的训诫二小时。
原来, 家长会=家长培训。听说不去参加会被老师各别“關注”。

说真的，他们的上课方式颇活泼生动的，英语课有点像台湾的补习班上法，课程很互动紧凑，换句话说，就是“少废话”的意思，全班同学参与率很高；But, Winston可能都学过了，分心率也很高。

语文课也是，每天有二堂语文，学認字、拼音和写字，语文老师教法很活、也有耐性。Winston汉语不好，幸运遇到良师。

数学老师很盡责，可是要求家长要讓小孩子回家多练习题目，竟然要做到一分鐘算完二十题，天啊！我都做不到了，还要求一年级的小孩子。老师要他们背加法、减法，是用背的哦！30秒内把加起来是9的数字按“顺序”到老师面前背出来，1+8=9，2+7=9，3+6=9，.....8+1=9，这种教育好填鸭，但很有效率，真是典型的MIC，重量不重质。

基本上老师都很有爱心，不会体罚苛责学生，有这几位主要的任课老师，很感恩了！

不知台湾的学习环境如何，应该也不错吧！国家的竞争力要從小学教育做起。

对了，大陆的小学晨间还会有十分钟红领巾播放时段，宣扬红领巾（少年隊的由来），没听得太清楚，不太清楚红领巾是否就是当时的红衛兵，反正，对于很多敏感的东西，已经习惯了，最劲爆的是提到“抗日期间”....
难怪日本人都不读本地小学的，会被欺负..
倒是不少韩国学生，因为经济不景气，都跑来念本地小学了，这里也有很多韩国店。
至于台湾学生呢？很实际，早就因为不必多缴教育捐，纷纷被收编，享受当地人的福利了。
在这里，我们只谈金钱，不谈政治。

....

The 1st grader's 1st week in school

1st week, we were all so excited.  I kept telling Winston to think of the rest room the 1st minute of every break time.  But the 1st day, Winston did not use the rest room at all, because he said that he did not know where boy's room was. So, for 8 hours, he did not Pee...  This hurt his health and my heart.

 

1st day after school, I asked Winston whether he nap in afternoon break.  He said no.  He said the teacher asked them to cross their hands on the table and rest their heads on their hands, but did not tell them to close eyes.  So, even in the break time, Winston did not close his eyes and he came home with two panda eyes.

 

The 2nd day of school happened to be Wednesday.  The 1st graders finished school earlier at 2:45pm. But Winston's mom, I did not get the message sent by the school office. So Winston was abandoned in a classroom siting there doing nothing until I finally picked him up at 4:00pm.  Winston was not nervous, he told me he enjoyed siting there doing nothing. And after that, I ask the teacher and the phone company to check and fix the communicating problem.  I hope it works now.

 

Today is the 3rd day of school and I hope everything goes well.

 

Do as Teachers Say.

1st Grader Orientaion Day 新生訓練

Sunday is an orientation day for Winston, the 1 grader in the primary school in China.  All of us were so excited about the day. Richy and I took Winston to school and took pictures all the way until we left him to the teacher.  The orientation took 2 days with 2 hours each morning.  They also had a 2-hour "Orientation Lesson" for parents last Friday, and I was there. They taught parents how to be good parents and to cooperate with schools. The school is new at its second year and is eager to outperform its peers.  I can see their efforts in doing so. Only hope that they won't sacrifice kids' precious childhood for competing with other schools.
In the afternoon, we went biking around the lotus park.  Most lotus flowers faded already, but it is still very pleasant to bike around the park. I took some pictures of the scenes which I missed last week.  Richy was practicing his new single-len camera. Winston and I became moving models for Richy's practice. It seemed that he needs more patience than practice with his new camera because he kept complaining about the our biking speed. However, out of the hundreds, some pictures did look good and professional.

   

The Main Entrance

Words on the top say: Come here with smiles, leave with confidence

 

Under teacher's command, some are relaxed while some look serious.

 

Pavilion and wooden walkway in the park

Statues in the Park

 

The two biking models are parting.

Richy, the photographer's complaining about focusing.

 

 So, the 2 models stop and discuss about biking speed.

 

 

Now it looks like we are a bit speedy.

 

The photographer and the model (one tooth lost)

 

~Next Time~

 

 

 

Kids' Art

 
I love to see the naive side of kids’ drawings and paintings, So I collect some of Winston's art work and post them to share here.   

  

 

Mother's Day Drawings by Kindergarteners

 

Girls' Moms

 

Boys' Moms

 

Helping Housework

Trees

 

Birds flying back in Spring

 

Bike 1

 

 

Bike 2

 

It is fun to see the shapes made by crooked lines and painted by the curious little hands.

Piano & Bassoon

I had been busy in building our Class Website. Now my old classmates are having fun chatting in the network. And the good news is that I found another classmate to be the main website manager.  She can share half of the workload in maintaining the website.  And I will have more of my own time to maintain my blog.

This picture was taken on June 20, the openning of Piano teacher's new music learning center.  Teacher Deng is a Bassoon teacher in Suzhou University.
 

Kindergarteners' Graduation

Last Friday was Winston's graduation date.  Richy went to work in the early morning and took few hours off work to attend the graduation ceremony.  After the ceremony, the kids performed shows to entertain parents and other kids. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn with Kids

Since I became a mom, I started playing and learning with my son, not just about piano and violin, but also about attitudes in life.

Kids' behaviors can be a reflection of adults. The only difference is that kids are cuter. However, if parents spoil the cute innocent faces, the cute faces may turn disgusting when they grow up.

Sunday morning, Winston woke up early and before I could spot him he was already on the couch ready to play Wii. Richy just bought some more new game disk. And whenever there were new games, Winston would soon get addictive to it. It was hard to ask him to control his mind and the time in playing Wii. My experiences told me that sticking to the rules and not yielding to his going-to-cry face work. And it became easier time after time because he seemed to understand what I said although he tried to test my limit to his insistence every time.
So Winston obeyed my words to practice piano and violin instead of playing Wii first in the morning. While practicing violin, I found him rushing and absent-minded and we had to start over the same section again. Then I asked him to take a break for a short talk. He was quiet and listening.
I asked : What were you thinking when you were playing violin?
He said: Wii.
I asked again：What are you thinking now?
He was honest and said: Wii.
So, I asked：If you keep Wii in your mind, do you have space for learning and practicing your violin?
He said: No.
I said: Let's remove Wii from your brain now.
He said: OK.
So, I acted like using my hands to get something out of his brain, and said: Now forget the Wii. You should be able to concentrate now.

He told me: Mom, I got three parts in my brain. Here is for piano, here is for violin, and the back is for Wii. You should remove Wii from the back.

That was cute. I did as he said. And we finished practicing violin perfectly and efficiently. Also, we finished the piano practice very fast. The whole practice together only took less than an hour. For a six-year old kid, I consider that is good enough. And Winston realized being concentrated could make things go smoothly.

At last I told him: You should always do what you ought to do first and do whatever you like later. So, next time what is the order of things to do on Sunday morning?

He said: Breakfast, piano and violin, Wii....

So he ran for Wii. No blame!

Richy came out from the other room and told me: The words you just said are great and should apply to yourself.

I knew he meant that I should always do housework before blogging. And it is very true. When I said it out I was reminding myself at the same time. That is the cruel part about learning with kids.

After violin, piano, and Wii, we went out to kick soccer in the park. As usual, many were flying kites in the park but the wind made it difficult to fly kites this time. Winston and Richy played soccer while I was flying the kite. I could not believe that Winston could kick the ball well. He used to kick to the unwanted direction two weeks ago. He had learned soccer from his classmates. They even "kicked" basketball at school when teachers wanted them to practice throwing balls to the basket.

Kids just learn so fast in skills and attitudes.

...

The blinking line between bribery and showing gratitude

This morning I told Richy that I had nothing to write in my blog today and I will find time to make some potato salad so I can bring to Winston's violin class to share with the teacher. Richy said:" You are doing what you were against before." What? I am accused of committing a bribery via potato salad! Now I feel I had so much to say in the blog to clear the line between bribery and gratitude. And I hope I still got time to make my potato salad.

Yes, I hate the way parents bribe teachers just to get more attention on their kids. First of all, because I think treating every student fairly is a teacher's mission and bribery is a bad example for kids to learn. Sencond of all, I don't want to spend any penny out of our still-not-enough fortune in bribery. Since I was a kid, I have heard and seen some parents buy luxurious things such as wines or jewelry to the teachers every year until their kids graduate. I also knew some students tried to please their teachers through the similar way. But mine is totally different. I only want to share my cooking with my teacher friends. I do not like cooking that much, but if I try some new recipes, I will prepare more so I can share with others including my neighbors. Since I do not have many friends in this new place. Winston's music teachers and kindergarten teachers become my friends in a very natural way. We talked about various things often after school even for a few minutes every time. And we know we are of the same type, straightforward, sincere and in some way, naive. If I don't like them I would not share with them so often. And they enjoy being the recipients of my food experiments out of my kitchen. One time, my cookies came out too sweet and once my turnip desserts were too salty, they tried and we laughed. I never expect them to treat Winston better after I share food with them. Because they already treated every kids the same best. And that is why I like them and we become friends. Either way it is: to to show my gratitude or just to share. I am definitely sure that I do not want to bribe.
It had been difficult for me to show my gratitude to my teachers and elder friends, because I was such a shy person. But now Winston's teachers are mostly around my age so we easily became friends. We talk and joke. And whenever I got something to share or suffer with, I am not shy to let them try first. That is what friends are for.

So, never try to justify bribery by putting my just-to-share into the same category! To me that is quite an insult. And think of this, how would anyone appreciate my cooking if they are not friends or Winston?
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Some exercise to lose weight, others exercise to turn healthy;
Someone prays or worships god to get more fortune, others do it for peace in mind or peace in the world;
Some teach because of the pay and regular paid breaks, others teach because they enjoy teaching.
Some do research for degrees, others do research because they like to chase the unknown.
Some carry brand bags to show their status or fortune, others carry bags because they only got two hands. (--ha, I like this one.)

The acts may look similar, but the motives vary.
-- - To me, The motives matter!

To view Richy's words from a different perspective, I should take his words a compliment.
If he thinks my potato salad can bribe someone then it must taste extremely good.
Thanks, Richy. You are so DEAR!
---

下课了

这几天温度较高，幼儿园下课后都会讓孩子们在户外玩，顺便等家长来接回。

昨天Winston和小朋友玩沙包游戏，大家跑来跑去的满身大汗，看他们玩得高兴，我在一旁等到最后老师收工才接Winston回家，路上盛开的玉兰花真是美呆了，可惜天气陰陰的，拍下来的效果不佳，本想今天走路去捕捉春天，但Richy说今天会下大雨，我好怕玉兰花会被打得落花流水。

生日

到底要不要帮Winston在班上过生日？我考虑了些时间。小小的生日Party，我想了很多，總不希望少数人的快乐造成别人的难堪。老师那一句：小孩们都玩得很開心！我决定帮Wisnton办一次，畢竟天真的幼龄阶段还没有学龄阶段一様的的顾虑。

今天是Wisnton的生日，他從二月就開始倒数了。他幼儿园的同学过生日，有些人过得很隆重，生日的人除了请吃蛋糕，还分送其他同学一人一份小礼物。我问了老师过生日是规定的还是自愿的，老师告诉我是自愿的，那种隆重的生日Party还是台湾妈妈带頭引進的，小孩们都玩得很開心。记得，以前在台湾好像也有这樣的生日Party，只是当时Winston还小只顧吃蛋糕不管他誰生日，所以有一次他生日，我只讓他带点心去分享給同学，其他二次则刚好生病蒙就混过去了。现在他大了，他觉得同学生日真好，可以吃蛋糕拿礼物，感觉是一个人生日大家快樂，他也想和别人一樣庆祝生日。
我想，幼儿园这种天真浪漫的日子只剩半学期了，就帮他辦一次吧！这活动是自愿性的，我才做，如果是强制性的，我反而会去学校抗议，畢竟不是每个妈妈都像我一樣那么閒。
Anyway，昨天下午我忙着做巧克力，包装小点心，今天下午还提了大蛋糕到学校，没想到今年的三月初和六年前的一樣忙。

放学回来的路上，我告诉Winston：「小学后，我们就不在学校吃生日蛋糕了，因为小学是学习的地方，而且小学的孩子长大了，想得比较多，如果有些人生日带蛋糕，有有些人没有，那些没有带蛋糕的人会很Sad。」他说：「好」，还告诉我：「我现在是幼儿园，大班的小孩子本来就整天吃吃喝喝，玩来玩去的，就没有関係。」他的回答似懂非懂。

我觉得小学后，在班上过生日就好像强迫来的祝福，而且，不是每个妈妈都有时间准備，有些小孩的家庭可能连午餐都買不起，更别说蛋糕，要嘛！就全班一起办庆生会，否则，为避免他人的困擾，小孩生日在家过就好。 最近才看到网路上一个内地人，把女儿三歲生日三桌的响宴Post在网路上，心想：妈呀！我帮Wisnton買个大蛋糕都觉得太过分了，他们为三歲女儿办三桌！这一路办上去，到结婚时要办几桌啊？唉，甭说了，我这时是五十步笑百步！

晚上，我们利用Winston生日的机会，去久光百货買了那向来只能看不能吃的高级糕点，打算在家庆祝一下。结果，晚上Richy太忙了，本打算8点前回家，搞到10：30才到家，我只好讓Winston自己先吃完点心去睡觉，睡前Richy到家，问Winston今天如何，他说，今天我吃了一个大蛋糕，超级高兴。

嚴格的英语小老师

Winston是班上的英语小老师，昨天放学时，他的班導师告诉我：「我们班的英语小老师愈来愈嚴格了。」
昨天Winston要带学生念英语课文，他念一句，其他人跟着念一遍，老师描述了上课情况給我聽：

Winston: 「.... 」

学生：「.... 」

Winston：「發音不对，One more time! 」

学生：「One more time. 」

Winston： 「不行，One more time 是我说的，你们不用念。再来一次！ 」

笑翻...
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游园会 Charity Sale Day

今天Winston的学校辦园游会（此地称做游园会)，请来舞狮与欧巴桑鼓隊表演，颇热闹的。因为是带点慈善性质，所以我们除了捐个小钱外，也买了一些小东西。中午按规定要把小孩带回家，所以今天Winston的周末提前过了，本想带他去观前街走走逛逛，但风大，气温低於零度，只好作罷。

Early Christmas Party

Winston's school changed the party time earlier to Sunday, December 7, because the party room were all booked until Chritmas. His class performed singing the song "Silent Night". Winston was the only student who had a solo to sing the song in the middle of their performance. He was not afraid of acting on the stage.

If you asked him what was the best part he liked about this party, he would said "The party was so much fun because I got my Christmas present from Santa." Which reminded me that when I asked him the best part he liked about Tian-Ping Hill, neither rocks nor maples, his answer was " The bubble blower". Kids have their own special ways in storing memories.

Sport Day

Monday was a sport day in Winston's school. Parents were told to join the event. It was fun to watch kids having fun. Winston kept telling me he liked the sport day. They gave every kid a "paper" gold medal in the end. Every one including me enjoyed the fun, except that it was so cold that my finger tops and toes felt icy cold and a bit painful. The sport activities only lasted for half day. I took Winston home for the afternoon. It was optional to take kids home or let them stay in the school after the sport event. Since Winston chose to come home with me, we went home together.

It was cold now. The indoor and outdoor temperature was about 16 and 10 degree C. Winston and I stayed home after school. We used to go downstair to the garden to skate or play and run, but in this cold weather, we could only stay home in the evening. Winston started to play too much Mario these days. He started the game two weeks ago and liked it a lot. I tried to tell him to control himself not to play too much of it. He got mad many times, and so did I. But every time when he calmed down, I would tell him how important it was to learn to control himself . He kind of understood but frequently forgot. Yesterday he turned off Mario right after I remind him of the time. I felt happy that he made a progress in controlling himself. He was very proud of himself, too. He told me he was growing up.

Last weekend, we did not visit places because Richy had to attend the training class and it was chilly cold. I am still adapting myself to the cold weather. I hope to survive my first Winter here.