School and Fun

Emily started attending a Mother's Day Out type of program at GreenvilleOaks Christian Preschool the second day after we came back from China. She was so excited to go to school. But because of lacking of planning from Mommy, she had to use her suitcase for school on the first day. She wanted to carry her own napmat and the suitcase. Look at her:


She couldn't wait to get out of the door. This was forty five minutes before school started. As soon as I snapped this picture, she opened the door and walked out to the car (it takes twenty minutes to get to the school).

The next day, we went out shopping for Emily's backpack and lunch box. She picked Dora for both. That night when I was going to pack Emily's lunch, David said "I think she already packed her lunch in her lunch box." Really?! I opened it. Here is what I saw:

She packed several cans from her toy kitchen, a bottle of Colostrum, her favorite fish ball toy, and her little puppy in the lunch box!

Emily absolutely enjoys school (every Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00-2:00). She likes her teacher Mrs. Michelle a lot. It made me feel good that she feels at home in school. She likes her Spanish class, computer class, music class, cooking class, and art/craft class. She loves the outdoor playground time. She was one of the two kids who were potty trained. One day she said "Good morning" to David in Spanish. She can sing a couple of Spanish songs already! I told her Spanish teacher that I'm afraid her Spanish will be better than her Chinese pretty soon. Because of Andy's nap schedule, I got permission to take Emily home early at 12:35 each day so both kids could take better naps at home. I was so thankful that the school was accommodating our needs.

Emily's class book "The Butterfly Book"

Andy enjoys a little bit more Mommy time two days a week. But we spent lots of time running errands because some errands are so much easier to go with one kid instead of two. He is a little charmer. Friendly and happy.

Sometimes, lazy ...


He is obedient (at least now) so it is a lot easier on me. Emily on the other hand is at the stage of testing (no's to grabbing, pushing, saying no, etc.). It just started since August. So we experimented on time-out a couple of times recently. We are also using reward for her good behavior. Time to sharpen up our parenting skills! We'll see how long this stage will last.

Emily and Andy love to play together. But without adult supervision, sooner or later, someone will end up with crying. So I found myself constantly saying to them:"Let's share!" "Take turns!" "Be gentle!" "Watch out!" ... Hopefully someday they will get all these concept! They are not always ready to share their favorite toys, but they love to share their favorite snacks or food with each other. And there is constant reciprocation between the two:

Emily brought Andy all the toys

Dad and Amy's family came in for David's birthday. We ate and played and visited the Plano Balloon festival. It was fun!

I'm glad Dad snapped this picture:


It wasn't easy to line up all four kids. But they all stayed at the piano for quite a while.


David's group went out for bowling one day. They had a drawing for prizes. David won the biggest prize. That was an unexpected birthday present for him. Yay!