More Turkey Please

Getting a turkey here can be very difficult and very expensive, so if we get one it's a BIG deal. LanLan (living her entire life out of America) doesn't grasp American holidays easily. We want her to know her roots so we try and explain special holidays and make them as much as we can like what she would experience in America. I got really excited that we could get a turkey and therefore making her excited (but she doesn't really know why).

LanLan would ask when we were going to eat the turkey and I would respond, "On Thursday, Thanksgiving day". When Thanksgiving arrived she was so excited, she ran around telling her friends "We get to eat turkey today!!"

We sat down to dinner, served up the plates, and began eating. After awhile LanLan came up to me carrying her plate and asked "Can you give me more turkey please?!"

Pointing to the untouched pile of turkey I looked at her a little puzzled and said "That's turkey right there."

"Oh, can I have more of this stuff?" pointing to the bacon on her plate.

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!!

VCRs & Computers

Trying to watch a VHS tape Xiao Lan Lan turns to her daddy and asks "How do we load it up?"

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!!

"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.

Mama Makeover

My little orchard is very much a girly girl. She loves wearing dresses, doing hair and putting on make-up. I think the make-up especially increased after Halloween when mama did her makeup extra gaudy to be a princess & Tinkerbell. Just the other afternoon she wanted to do my hair and makeup. I actually had a lot of fun! I remember thinking it was so fun to things like this when I was her age, now I get to be her guinea pig.

Translation Please

LL: "What does xiangzhe mean?"

Dad: "I'm not sure, can you use it in a sentence? What did your teacher say when she said it?"

LL: "Ummm, 'What does xiangzhe mean?'"

(how's that for a sentence?)