Salt & Spicy

This morning we woke up to a beautiful blanket of white snow outside. As I woke up LanLan to get ready for school I told her to look out the window to see a surprise. The snow was just the motivation she needed to hurry so she could go out and play before the school bus came.

As we waited for the bus she played in the snow, throwing it, eating it, rolling around in it, kicking it, etc. After a short time a salt truck came by and I pointed it out to her explaining what they were doing.

She thought for a second and asked "What is that spicy stuff?"

"What do you mean? What spicy stuff?"

"Umm, PEPPER! When are they going to put pepper on the street?"

"加油" (JiaYou)

LanLan's preshool had a mini field day for the school, the parents were invited to come and cheer on the children. My little orchid's class had a relay race, competition bouncing a basketball and got the parents to compete jump roping. We jump at any opertunity to go to LanLan's school as we don't really know too much of what actually goes on. Because there is a language & culture barrier I don't get too much information and because of security reasons I'm not allowed into the school very often (this is good & bad - I feel that my daughter is safe but sad that I can't go in anytime and observe class time). So this means that we have to relai on our 4 year old to tell us what happens at school.

This past Thursday when I picked my little orchid up from school I was given an announcement saying there was going to be a field day the next day. (Also very cultural to not tell people in much advance of activities or special advents. I remember when we were teachers coming into school and finding out that that day parents were coming to observe classes! Or, better situations, was when we arrived to find out that we weren't teaching that day b/c we were going on a field trip.)

It was a lot of fun to cheer "加油兰兰!" "JiaYou LanLan!"(pronounced jiayoh - which literally means add more gas, like in a car) as she bounced the basketball and ran. It was exciting to see how she interacts with the other children and her teachers. It is also fun to see other parents there cheering on their kids, so excited to see their child's accomplishments. At the end of the activities everyone who participated got "你真帮!" "Ni Zhen Bang!" stars (translation: You're Great!). Even mommy got one though I can't say I was very great at jump roping 20 weeks pregnant.

Flower Girl

My sweet "little orchid" was in a wedding this past weekend. It was her first time to be a flower girl. It wasn't a typical wedding someone from a Western country might think of. Although there were a few things that were similar there were more things that were out of the ordinary. The father walked the bride down the aisle which was a dirt street covered with a red carpet and shoulder to shoulder people pushing their way to see. As the bride, father of the bride and the two flower girls walked down the "aisle" people sprayed silly string and threw confetti. I guess this is like our tradition of throwing rice, or now a days, bird seed or bubbles. The ceremony took place inside the courtyard of the groom's house where people just crowded in so they could see.

Though my daughter was born in China and has been "popular" since the first time we took her outside you can see her personality shining through in the above picture. When lots of people she doesn't know are around she turns inward and internalizes everything. She doesn't talk (even very little to mom & dad), clings to mom or dad (in the picture she is staying very close to her friend) and never smiles. Looking at her I thought she was very scared and about to cry. I didn't think she was enjoying the experience. But I guess I was wrong...

When we left I talked to her and asked her what she thought about the wedding. She told me that she had a great time! She loved walking down the aisle and having people throw stuff at her. I never would have thought looking at that face.

Attitude

Sometimes my precious little orchid is the sweetest little girl, very caring for her brother, kind to her friends, loving, and encouraging. But there are moments where she is likes to give a little attitude. Yesterday I took the kids to the park to enjoy the beauty of creation. I told LanLan, "Look at all the beautiful trees and flowers that are blooming! It is such a pretty day, isn't it?"

LanLan turned to me and said "No! It's a BLACK day! With BLACK flowers and BLACK trees!"

Natural

Today we took LanLan to a soccer field to play for the first time. I was really impressed at how well she did. She was able to kick and run with the ball with ease. (I'm always tripping over it.) She had a lot of fun taking turns kicking it into the goal and then being the goalie. I think she is a natural at sports. At the end she had played so hard her whole face was red but she informed me that she wasn't tired yet.