Little Fingers, Little Work

Lan Lan received this kit for her fifth birthday from a friend. Looking at it I thought there would be no way that she would be able to do it by herself or that she would have the attention span to work on it long enough to get anything done. But being the crafty person she is she was very interested in at least trying so, I sat down with her the other day and taught her how to do it.
There is a lot of work involved in doing this project, there is a pattern to follow that reminds me of counted cross-stitch. This pattern consists of little blocks representing different pegs either 1, 2, 3 or 4 pegs long. Once you determine the length of the peg to use, and find the location you poke it into the peg board. After hours of pegging what do we have . . . Snow White's face!! She is just about 1/4 of the way down with this project. In the end it will be Snow White & Ariel standing next to each other.
Just like in counted cross stitch it can be easy to lose your place so I taught Lan Lan to highlight the places she has finished. She is doing an amazing job! I'm so proud of her, this is a lot of work but she sits there, works hard, is diligent and gets the job done. There have been a few times that I have had to go back and fix mistakes (and they weren't all hers). But I think she is learning a lot from this little birthday present. I can't wait to see the finished product

Can You Hear Me Now?

LanLan has had a few ear infections in her life. For the past 2 years she has seemed to have hearing issues after getting sick (w/ or w/o an ear infection). We also noticed that she seemed to have issues hearing after we flew on an airplane. As parents we have struggled to know if it has been true hearing issues or just a listening & obeying issue.

We decided that we would take LanLan to the ENT to have her hearing checked.

Waiting for the test took over an hour but the kids did great entertaining themselves with snacks & toy cars.

There were so many people waiting to have their hearing checked the audiology lab closed for the morning. Thankfully we already had our slip turned in to have the test done.

We prepared our little orchid before hand for what the test would be like. She was very excited to listen for the beep and raise her hand.

LanLan was so excited after the test she told me "Mama I heard it!"

We went back to talk to the doctor with the results to hear what he had to say. He actually wasn't very informative. All he told us was "She has a middle ear infection. Here is a prescription for medicine." He didn't even give us the dosage. I was shocked and said "How can you diagnose an ear infection from a hearing test?!" We didn't anything explained to us at the hospital, we weren't even sure about the results of the test.

When we arrived home I called my brother who is also an ENT. I read the results to him over the phone and he talked with me and explained everything to me. He told me that LanLan had significant hearing loss in the right ear (the left was normal). He said that there shouldn't be any permanent hearing loss and that as soon as the fluid build up/pressure in the ear (we don't think it really is an infection) was gone the hearing should return. My brother said that after 6 weeks the fluid/pressure should subside and the hearing should be normal. If it isn't we can go from there.
I had mixed feelings through this whole ordeal. Relieved that there actually is something wrong with LanLan's hearing (and she isn't just ignoring her mother's instructions). Sad that my baby girl actually does have a hearing issue making it hard for her to hear mama & daddy/her teachers/friends . . . Frustrated that the doctor at the hospital was not helpful or informative, but not surprised. Thankful that I have a brother who is an ENT and was able to explain things to me. Impatiant as we have to wait 6 weeks before we know what the next step will be.

Math Class

This Friday we were invited to come to LanLan's Preschool to observe a math class. It was interesting to see what she is learning (as a 4 year old in a Kindergarten class in China). A few weeks ago LanLan came home with a sheet of math problems saying that she had to finish it before going to school the next day. We worked on simple addition problems (all numbers adding up to 5) for 30 minutes past bedtime. Another day we were practicing counting at home and she asked to count by 100's. Other than that I had no idea what her teachers were teaching at school.

When the class began the teacher pulled out these visual adds to help with counting. I was a little surprised that they are learning to read numbers in the 1000's. I remember working with these things when I was in 1st or 2nd grade, and here my 4 year old daughter is learning it.

After going through and identify which represented 1's, 10's, 100's, & 1000's the teacher pulled out papers with different numbers on them and the kids worked on pulling the proper bead sets to represent the numbers.

At the end of the class the kids split up in groups and the parents got to participate with the students.

It was great to see LanLan's teacher in action and LanLan in the classroom setting. Her teacher said lots of great things about my little Orchid, plays well with the kids, excels in everything especially drawing but is a bit behind in math. She is probably a little behind mostly because we don't reinforce these math concepts at home, I haven't thought about doing it since she is only 4. She also does struggle with the language. We will probably start to practice these concepts and numbers in Chinese at home so she can keep up with the class.

A Big Reward

My Little Orchid has been working on filling up her behavior chart with stickers. Over the course of many months we were work on many different things to encourage good behavior. Things that we have worked on and she received stars for were obeying right away, saying "Yes mama" and then doing whatever mama asked, if told no instead of being upset and throwing a tantrum she would say things like "OK" or "that makes me sad, but alright", sharing, eating without having to be reminded to take another bite, being helpful, etc.

After filling up her chart we told her we would take her to the nearby toy store and she could pick out any toy she liked. After carefully looking at all the toys available she told me she wanted this Barbie kitchen set. It was a bit more money than I had originally thought we would spend but my husband reminded me how hard she had worked and that it took several months (plus I don't very often buy her toys).

LanLan was anxious to open her new prize and place it in her doll house her dad built. She and I had a lot fun playing with the new toys. We made mac & cheese, smoothies, tea and washed the dishes. Of course before Barbie could cook my Little Orchid had to do her hair. (I have to brag for a minute) LanLan is really getting the hang of doing hair! Braiding is still a bit hard for her but she will pick it up quickly.

Hooray for LanLan for completing the behavior chart!!

Milestones

There are many milestones in life, laughing for the first time, taking first steps, talking, going to school, etc. This weekend my daughter has reached one of those milestones, riding a bike without training wheels.

I remember when I learned to ride a bike. My childhood best friend was moving and we were in her new house's basement riding bikes. I was riding in a circle pushing with my feet and picking them up. Quickly I was able to keep my feet up and on the peddles.

My Little Orchid is pretty athletic and very active. When she was a baby she never liked sitting still to held and was walking by 10 months. She loves playing outside, climbing, jumping (giving Daddy a heart attach with whatever dangerous thing she is trying to do).

We figured it was time to take off the training wheels and go with just two wheels. I feel like she might be a little too young but think she can pick it up quickly. Personally it would awesome if she could ride a bike, it would make life going places a bit easier for me . . . but I am also proud of her for being willing to try and learn.

Go LanLan!!

Shout it from the Mountops

"Sing to the Lord a new song . . . you who go down to the sea, . . . . raise their voices . . . . let them shout from the mountaintops."

My daughter loves to sing, not songs that she learns but NEW songs, songs that she makes up. We were walking home when LanLan was singing another made up song. well, it was more shouting than singing. At the top of her lungs she was singing "Tonight is Jesus' birthday, Jesus is God!" over and over again.

I was laughing and thinking about this verse in Isaiah, "shout from the mountaintops". I wanted to tell her to stop shouting and that she was disrupting the neighborhood (and to keep me from embarrassment) but I didn't. I was reminded how we should always be so excited to share the Good News, be excited to celebrate Christ and what he has done for us. I know that I don't, but I am thankful to my daughter for reminder.

Isaiah 42:10-12
¹⁰Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,
you islands, and all who live in them.

¹¹ Let the desert and its towns raise their voices;
let the settlements where Kedar lives rejoice.
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
let them shout from the mountaintops.

¹² Let them give glory to the LORD
and proclaim his praise in the islands.