Field Day

Big sister K's school had Field Day yesterday, where all the kids got to go outside and participate in a variety of games.  I took the day off and volunteered to help out in the morning.  Each parent was assigned a "station" to give instructions to the kids on what they needed to do.  My station was the "Re-Lei Relay" race, where each class was broken up into four groups: each group lines up at a cone.  On the signal, the first player runs down and picks up one lei and places it around their neck, then runs backs and places it around their cone without using their hands.  When the lei is on the cone, the next player runs down and grabs a lei and repeats until all the leis are used up.  First team to finish wins (though this was all for fun so no prizes were given).  The task proved to be quite difficult, especially for the girls with pony-tails since the lei kept getting stuck in their hair.  We ended up either helping them or allowing them to use their hands if they were having too much trouble.

It turned out to be a beautiful day for Field Day.  Temperature was in the low 80s with little humidity (unlike the previous two days).  It was fun watching all the kids try out the various activities and having such a blast.  My biggest joy was seeing big sister K's bright smile when she saw me; she was so excited to have me there that it made baking (and burning) in the sun totally worth it.

I managed to catch big sister K in action for some of the activities:

Big sister K and friends:

Somerset Patriots

Big sister K had gotten two free tickets to a Somerset Patriots ballgame for reading a certain number of hours of books a few months ago.  Unfortunately, we were limited on which games we could use those tickets for, and most of them didn't work with our schedule.  Since the weather had cleared up and no more rain was expected for the rest of the night, we decided to go to the game today.  (Yes, heaven forbid, I took my kids out late on a school night!  How I am not living up to my tiger mom reputation!)

The kids didn't pay attention to the ballgame at all, but they enjoyed being there and watching the activities go on between innings. They even managed to grab hold of Sparkee and Slider, the team mascots, for a picture.  Too bad I couldn't get them both to look at the camera at the same time.

Men In Uniform

I find it funny how baby M is fascinated with people whose occupation has a certain air of authority.  Classic example is a police officer.  Our church in Chinatown is on the same block as a police precinct, so when we walk by there every Sunday, baby M always looks up at whichever police officer happens to be standing by the entrance, and would wave hi and shout, "HI POLICEMAN!"  Sometimes the police officer would smile and wave "hi" back, other times he might strike up a conversation with baby M, at which point my little boy would all of a sudden be overcome with shyness and not know how to respond back.  It's actually quite amusing to watch.  Despite the fascination, baby M is also intimidated by law enforcement (and rightly so).  Here's why: a few weeks ago, I was getting incident reports every other day from daycare about him scratching (or somehow causing injury to) his friends in class.  I told my sister-in-law about it during one of our family get-togethers.  Her husband is a police officer with the New York MTA, and as we were having lunch on Mother's Day, he came over to where baby M was sitting, slammed down his badge on the table, and gave baby M a pep talk, basically threatening to lock him up in the back seat of the police car (also known as the "cage") if he continues hurting his friends.  Baby M was scared senseless I was surprised he didn't pee in his pants.  It worked though, because there has been no incident reports since then.

Baby M's interest in men in uniform extends to construction workers.  Though they're not quite dressed in uniform, the hard hats and neon-colored vests are good enough to peek his interest.  As a treat, I took baby M to McDonald's on our way to school/work one morning (I get my $1.00 decaf coffee and he gets two small bags of apple slices), and there were some construction workers having breakfast in there.  On our way out, baby M waved and said "Bye Construction Worker!".  They were too engrossed in their own conversation and didn't pay any attention, but I was surprised at baby M's boldness.

M was home late tonight and big sister K had her ballet lesson, so I didn't have time to cook.  We went to pick up Chinese take-out for dinner.  A soldier from the US Army walked in as we were on our way out.  Baby M goes, "HI ARMY MAN!" and asked, "Are you an army man?"  The man responded yes, so baby M further questioned him, "where's your army truck?"  He told baby M he wasn't driving an army truck today; he's just in a regular car.  Then big sister K asked if he was in the navy.  I told her no, his uniform indicates that he is from the Army.  I told her to thank the man for serving our country. He was really friendly and gave both my kids a handshake.  As we walked out of the restaurant, baby M shouted, "BYE ARMY MAN!"  My little boy can be so darn cute when he's not a little devil.

Baby M is also a fan of firemen, anyone in the military, train conductors, and pilots.  More than just being men (or women) in uniform, I have a feeling he likes them because they have cool modes of transportation.  I mean, police cars, diggers/ cranes/ dump trucks/ bulldozers, tanks, firetrucks, trains, planes... what's not to like?

Artist in the Making

Another super-proud momma moment... Big sister K won a gift card in school for her Arbor Day poster (I didn't even realize they had a contest!).  One prize is given out for each grade level, so her poster was chosen out of all the first graders.  This is the second time we received positive acknowledgement of her artwork (first time was when we were informed that her drawing from Art class would be posted at the school distict's administration building).  Sounds like we have a budding artist in our hands! Go big sister K!

5/1/15 Update: Her poster is hung up at her school and M took a photo of it when he picked her up today:

A Good Citizen

An excerpt from big sister K's Social Studies test as she explains how she is a good citizen.  Gotta love her honesty!

2015 Easter Weekend

Big sister K didn’t have school on Good Friday and being that it was a quiet day at work, I brought her into the office with me.  She's usually pretty well-behaved, but no kid is perfect, so she had her fair share of mischief.  I had to go on a conference call that morning, so I was using my headset to listen (when I’m using the headset, the phone receiver has to be off the hook).  In the middle of my call, big sister K came over to the phone, looked at it inquisitively, then before I could stop her, she decided to hang up the receiver.  I had to dial back in, but it was a good thing I wasn’t talking mid-sentence!  Then later on that day, I had to use the bathroom.  Rather than dragging her with me, I figured she would be old/mature enough to stay by herself without getting into any trouble, so I told her where I was going and that I would be right back.  When I returned, my cube was empty and big sister K was nowhere to be seen.  For a split second, panic ensued and I started backing away to look for her when I heard giggling.  Big sister K had hid underneath the table and used the chair to block my view so I couldn’t see her.   I didn’t know whether to hug her or strangle her.  Sigh… these kids are chipping away years of my life.  That was enough excitement to last me through the rest of the day.

Saturday morning, we went to the Home Depot Kids Workshop where they made a chalkboard planter stand.  It is very rare that we get to take advantage of this since big sister K usually has Chinese school.  The few times I’ve brought baby M by himself, big sister K got upset because she missed out on the fun… to which I responded: you get to go to Chinese school, play tennis, go to ballet, and Girl Scouts, and baby M doesn’t get to do any of that stuff.  Wait until baby M gets old enough to start his own extracurricular activities… then we’ll really have a battle in our hands!

After Home Depot, we went to an Easter egg hunt in our town.  It took only about 10 seconds before all the eggs were snatched up, but the kids enjoyed it.  They also took a picture with the Easter bunny, went inside a fire truck, and explored the driver seat of a police car.  To my surprise, baby M even asked the fireman a few questions, like where the ladder was, where the hose was, what all those buttons and gadgets were for on the side of the fire truck.  He’s been on countless fire trucks before, and this was the first time he was willing to ask questions.  Looks like my little boy is coming out of his shell.

After the Easter egg hunt in town, we went home for lunch, then baby M took his nap.  When he woke up, the kids went on their second egg hunt of the day in our backyard.  We had a bunch of eggs that were too small to fit anything substantial, so I ended up putting little notes in there instead.  When big sister K read me the note, I would give the kids the item that was written on it.  This way, I was also able to give them something more meaningful than just loads of candy.  The kids had a great time running around looking for all the eggs.  I guess the egg hunt in our backyard has become somewhat of a tradition. I just have to do a better job preparing them in advance next year (I have good intentions of starting early, but it never works out that way and for the past few years, I’ve wait until the last minute, then scramble in trying to find things to put in them).  The kids were so busy playing with their newfound treasures that we didn’t even get a chance to dye Easter eggs.

Sunday was church in Chinatown, followed by family time at mother-in-law’s and then at my parent’s.  We went out to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant that night (along with my brother’s family) to celebrate my dad’s birthday.  By the time we got back to my parent’s place, it was already past the kids’ bedtime.  The weekends simply go by too quickly.

Kids with the Easter Bunny:

Before the start of the egg hunt at home:

 After photo:

 Kids couldn't wait to see what was inside the big eggs:

Having fun at home... why can't they be this loving with each other all the time?

Lockdowns and Fire Drills

I find it sad, and somewhat disturbing, that in today's society, lockdown drills in public schools have become the norm (and a necessity), as typical as going through a fire drill.  This was something I never used to have to worry about when I was in school; the idea that some crazy lunatic can just run into a building full of little kids and start shooting everyone simply didn't exist.  But the harsh reality is, it does exist... and in fact, it has already happened.  I am disheartened by the fact that my kids are growing up in a colder world than I did. I do everything I can to keep them safe, but we don't live in a bubble and I know I can't control everything that happens around them... though that doesn't stop me from trying.

Last month big sister K's school had a surprise visit from the Department of Education and Police Department where they evaluated their lockdown procedures.  The school completed the drill in 14 seconds, which I believe was a record for the entire state.  Big sister K told me she was in the bathroom at the moment, and she had to rush out of there and hide in the cleaning closet.  I asked if she washed her hands and she claims she did, but I have my doubts (um yeah, you really didn't need to know that).

Last month baby M had a fire drill at his school.  I didn't think anything of it, but the next day, one of the parents of a child in his class approached me in the office and told me that the kids went outside (temperature was probably in the low 20s that day) without their coats on.  After our conversation, I realized that was how baby M caught a cold (his first one all season!).  I emailed the Director and voiced my concerns, but she claims state regulations prohibit them from taking the time to put coats on all the kids.  I told her they don't even have to put their coats on; just grab something (it doesn't even have to be their own) and go, but she would not relent.  The only compromise she gave me was that they would be putting blankets over the children (like what active toddler or preschooler would really keep a blanket on?).  I even spoke to the Director's supervisor, but that just angered me more.  She spent a good 20 minutes on the phone with me babbling away on WHY it was so instead of trying to figure out a way to improve the process.  Eventually, I had enough of her and just told her that while I appreciate her call, we were not going to agree on this topic and being that nothing was getting accomplished, I didn't want to waste any more of my time.  I told her to have a good day and hung up.

Yesterday, baby M had another fire drill (temperature in the 30s).  Again he went outside without his coat on, and again, he caught another cold!  How frustrating! I asked if he was cold when he went outside and he said yes.  He did say they used the blanket on him, but really, he should have had his coat on.  I asked big sister K if she puts her coat on when they have a fire drill in school, and she said yes.  Granted, grade-school students can grab their coats quicker than daycare kids can, but still... blankets are not the way to go.  I am at a loss.  How do your daycares handle fire drills?  Am I being totally unreasonable here?  Is it acceptable for young kids to be going outside in such extreme winter weather conditions with merely a long-sleeve shirt on?

Proud Mommy Moments

As much as my kids frustrate me, there are also those times when I feel like the luckiest mom ever.  Last semester, big sister K received a certificate from her Chinese school for being the second best student in her class.  Sadly enough, my first reaction was, "Why didn't she get 1st place??"  Fortunately, I only said this to M and when we presented the certificate to big sister K, I opted to celebrate the moment with her and kept the tiger mom attitude out of sight.  Now going back to the reason why she didn't get 1st place?  After thinking about it, I concluded that the fault is with me... if I was more diligent in speaking/teaching Chinese to my daughter, she would definitely be able to excel further. I will just have to try harder for this spring semester.

Another one of big sister K's recent achievements... we received a letter in the mail last week from the Supervisor of Arts Education for our township informing big sister K that one of the pieces of artwork she did in class was selected to be exhibited in the school district's Administration Building.  She never mentioned anything about it (claimed she didn't know) so this came as a pleasant surprise to all of us.  I thought it was a nice touch that the letter was addressed directly to big sister K congratulating her.

One last accomplishment to share for the night... big sister K finally advanced to the next reading level in her class today!  Woohoo!  I was shocked considering how poorly she did when she read to us last week.  Despite her performance at home though, her teacher "tested" her today and apparently she was able to retell the story and answer the inference questions correctly.  Go big sister K!