Thursday, February 6, 2014

100th day of school


From Ms. Lizzie's twitter:
Building with 100 cups at school 


Downstairs waiting for daddy in the morning 


L had a hangnail, we took care of it, put a spudermN band aid on it and also trimmed his nails.  

Where is thumbkin?  "Here's the tricky part."



We also had time to pack a cookie butter & jelly, dried-apple bag, fruit snack, caprisun lunch.  

This week he said,
I can't believe Marley and I have been friends for 100 days on Thursday!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Year of the Horse

Co Tuyet gave Carter his first li xi &
Carter gave it to Lincoln after school saying, chuc mung nam moi, all on his own.  Cu-ute!  I had to capture that moment.




I bought presents from different stores this year, avoiding HK, and wrapped them myself!


They put on their ao dai from last year for the celebration at Ong Ba Ngoai's.


Only Carter wore his at Ba Noi's the next day.  Leighton wore the outfit we got her last year too!

The kids ate watermelon like it was a completion :). They played Bau Cua, w/ Thuong as shaker and afterwards the adults played Cat Te, Chuong won the most.  I played for the first time in years.  It was fun!

Our present from Chu Thim Chuong-Van.

The first time L showers all by himself

Feb 4
Tuesday
We had a rough night.  L we his bed.  I was so tired today I almost fell asleep on the wheel.  I decided to rest after school.  When we got home, while getting ready for a shower, I got down to L, asked him look me in the eyes, and said:
Wet your hair
Use shampoo
Rinse it out
Wash your p-p & behind
And when you're ready to come out,
Use this towel on the counter
And put on these clothes 

And he did it!
His first shower, in & out, all by himself.

I was laying with Carter (he was napping) the whole time.  L came out and said, you can go to sleep, and played quietly in the room.  Carter woke up soon after and they played together happily.  They're always happy to greet each other after school.  Such sweet kids.  :)


Monday, January 27, 2014

5 year old check up

Dr. Helene Sheena
75 percentile weight - 44lbs 6oz.
80 percentile height - 3 ft, 8.5 in.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Museum of natural science - after school!

Science museum is free on Thursdays!  In the inclement weather, we didn't have any takers but we had a great time indoors!

An astronaut!  How tall am I?

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Churning the coin machine 

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Snail shell or clam shell?  Make your observations and hypothesis 

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Dinosaurs!

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Oil from around the world 

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- Lia

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Carter's class

Practicing counting in VN 
He can count up to 27 but skips 8 (tam) so we are stopping there.  

Learning English and VN shapes
Hinh:  vong tròn, Vuông, Tam giác, 8 góc, 5 góc, thoi, trai xoan, chu nhât.

Learning VN animals through puzzles.
Nong trai: con ga trong, cuu, meo, heo, vịt 


Story time:


Lincoln said last night that he was afraid of the "eyes wide open" page and Carter studied llama's eyes today.  

That was an opportunity to name body parts in VN:
Mát, mui, miệng, chán, má, cầm, vai, lưng, eo, ngón tay, ngón chân, cù chỏ.

Reading the last words on each page.  He was able to "read" (remember) llama, llama, red, pajama, mama, run, busy & sleep 

Examining the pictures. Carter really gets into books.

Today's lesson lasted 30-45 minutes.  Good job focusing Carter!

Today is also the 2nd day he's been telling me when he needs to go "potty" and trying to keep a dry diaper, "không ướt!  Khô!"

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Lincoln turns 5!

Lincoln walked to our bedroom sometime in the middle of the night, toward the morning.  I had him go potty and climb into bed with us.  He was probably too excited about his birthday to sleep.  :)  When Chris went to the bathroom, he stirred and said, "It's my birthday today." 

When I told him it was time to get dressed, he asked if I could bring in his clothes.  Ofcourse.  I watched him change, tired but so happy.  He got ready in our bathroom, stating "Daddy, it's my birthday today."  I watched him as he brushed his teeth, and then I brushed his hair.

We walked downstairs together and I showed him the Turbo tags that I had put on his treat bags.  There wasn't much of an impression, but when i picked him up after school, he said, "Mommy, you're the best mom ever.  Do you know why?  Because of your writing this (pointing to the tag) Lincoln Turbo paper.  Everybody liked it."  The PTO president was next to us and her heart melted.  Mine did too.

We headed to Chick-fil-a for our playdate with Marley and Jake.  Benan happened to be there too.  They played, ate, played some more; Marley's sister Jonna played ghost chasing them and they had a blast!  Then Lincoln got to open presents.  What a pleasant surprise that was!  Several Star Wars Legos & calendar, a Bumblebee Transformer and a monster truck.

When I asked him this morning what he would like to eat for dinner, he said sweets, candy.  I asked what entree and he said shrimp pasta without the green stuff (last night's shrimp linguine without the parsley).  Done.  I made that again tonight- without the parsley on his portion.  But he barely ate it- Daddy brought home salmon sashimi as an appetizer and Lincoln filled up on that (plus the whole nuggets meal from earlier). 

After dinner I surprised him with a birthday cupcake with a Turbo cupcake topper and candel and birthday present.  He really was surprised and thrilled.  His birthday video is precious.  He made his first birthday wish:  I wish for a good borthday and to grow big."

Daddy built the fort.  We went upstairs to brush their teeth and get the balnkets for the fort.  They played in it.  Then I surprised Lincoln with a flashlight and they got to play with that in the dark.  Lots of ghost sounds and giggles.

What a fantasitc and fun fifth birthday he had. 

Tonight duirng his turn for prayer, he said:  Cam on Chua cho Mommy, Daddy, Carter.  Thank you God for my birthday and my students.  For my bed, our house, and everything you give us. Amen."

I checked emails just now and Mrs. Lizzie wrote to us saying that Lincoln thanked her for helping him turn 5 today, and that she was so touched by it.  Earlier I had joined him during his lunch and instructed, "Truoc khi con ve hom nay, con cam on Ms. Lizzie giay con cho con duoc 5 tuoi."  He took it literally and told her right before the left.  He's got such a good memory and he is so deliberate. 

Thank you God for Lincoln.  Thank you for a healthy, smart kid who tries so hard.  He is a wonderful gift to us.