bees at long branch

I love having a child at home still. When Truman starts school I'll be so sad to bid farewell to this part of my life. Today we joined a class about bees at Long Branch Nature Center out in Virginia. Truman is still less interested in participating - he needs a lot of cajoling and reminding, which confirms my belief that there is no way he is ready for school and I'm glad we're sticking to our guns and not enrolling him in PreK3. He has very little interest in playing with other kids and he seems to not care about what others think. In some ways this is good because he'll avoid the pitfall of always wanting to please other people (one of my own weaknesses) but in other ways it makes him a bit of a curmudgeon and sometimes even rude. Ah, Truman. I think he may have the tortured soul of an artist... he certainly gravitates towards artistic endeavors and has a crazy stubborn single-mindedness unlike his siblings. But he's also my baby and I love this boy so much. So glad we get to adventure together!

Truman's Education

Truman is such a lucky kid. He gets tons of one-on-one time with me, lots of attention, lots of customized outings and adventures, much like Mayumi got as a first born. Sometimes I feel guilty that Benji and Correy have never had that kind of attention - they almost never get one-on-one time with either of their parents. Of course, they're lucky in different ways, like always having a built-in playmate and c'mon, they're twins! That is so cool! But Truman has a very nice life too. On Monday mornings we meet up with friends for a casual play school. Friday mornings we have Forest School. Occasionally we sign up for a monthly program like Sprouts at the Botanic Garden or single classes at a local nature center. Truman joins me to run errands and he is excellent in the car, never complaining if I listen to my audiobook the entire drive. At home he's great at playing on his own while I clean, take care of household business, or work on other projects. He likes to help me cook and clean and work in the garden... he is a gem! That's not to say he isn't also extremely difficult sometimes. Socially he is not the warmest, friendliest child and he certainly has a tremendous temper. But I think he'll get there. 

The best news is that this boy is now potty trained! It was a long time coming. Since Christmas we'd have him run around bottomless whenever we were at home. But when we left the house I'd put a diaper on him, so he'd just wait until I put a diaper on to do his business. Finally I said we just had to go for it and just stop wearing diapers. It was touch a go for the first week... he had anxiety about doing a bowel movement in the toilet. But then it just clicked and he's been fine! He's still wearing diapers at night when he sleeps. There's been a couple of times Mike forgot to put a diaper on him and sure enough when we went to check on him around 11pm when we went to bed he was soaked in urine. So... not sure when we'll figure that one out. 

I love spending my days with this boy. He is so affectionate and loving towards me and such a funny kid. He LOVES reading, playing with trains and magnet tiles, watching Super Why and Daniel Tiger, and rubbing. Yes, rubbing. This kid loves to lean on the edge of a chair and rub. Like a puppy. I brought it up with the doctor in December at his check up, not because I was worried (thanks to Google I learned that this is pretty normal, though none of my other kids did it) but because I just wanted to hear her thoughts. She told me not to worry about it and not to shame him; he probably accidentally discovered it and because it feels so pleasurable he continues to do it. Of course he has no concept of sexuality or that it is unacceptable in public, though I have had to gently tell him that it is something we should only do at home. He really is a unique kid!

So, that is life with Truman recently.

bike riders

I finally took the boys out to the empty parking lot at the Arboretum to practice riding their bikes. Mike insisted they needed training wheels but I went ahead and took them off because I thought the trainers were inhibiting them. After all, they already know how to balance on two wheels thanks to their balance bikes that they'd been riding since they were three. Sure enough, after about ten minutes with the trainers off, they were flying around, pedaling their bikes like pros. I'm looking forward to some long family bike rides!

Chinese names and school work

At Yu Ying all of the students are given a Chinese name and the families are allowed input into the selection process. Mayumi's Chinese name is  郭慧 资 / Guo Hui Zi.  郭 is the the sound of the first syllable in Qualter. 慧 means wisdom and 资 means to support and are inspired by the Japanese kanji of her name.

Corrigan's Chinese name is 郭标明／Guo Biao Ming. 郭 is the same last name of Mayumi's Chinese name. 标 means spear. 明 means light, same as Akira.

Benjamin's Chinese name is 郭子忍／Guo Zi Ren. 郭 is the same character as Mayumi's Chinese last name. 子 means son and 忍 means endurance，same as Shinobu.

The kids are doing so well at school and we are delighted at their progress in all subjects, but particularly they're Chinese speaking ability. Though part of me would still love to be homeschooling them, I am so grateful that they are in this excellent school. Here are some photos of their school work:

conferences and the zoo

Yu Ying does this wonderful thing where midway through the year they hold "student-led" conferences. The parent(s) sign up for an allotted time and spend an hour in the classroom with their child. There are ~3 different learning stations with an activity the parent and child can do together to give an example of the kinds of things their child is learning. Then they have a meeting with the teacher that the child leads. Benji and Corey's Pre-K 4 meeting was wonderful - their teacher Yu Laoshi understands them both so very well and had both high praise and insights into their needs and personalities. Maya did a great job of leading the meeting with her teachers, outlining her goals and how she wants to achieve them. It's always positive and impressive and confirms to us that Yu Ying is an excellent school and that our kids are thriving here. After we dropped Mike off at work we went to the zoo and had a delightful time there as always. I will never tire of hearing the lion roar!