Tobin and School

Tobin is in his first year of Chinese Kindergarten. It has been an interesting semester.
He mentions a lot of his friends by name, he tells us what he does and says he has fun and enjoys his day, his teachers seem genuinely kind and concerned about behavior. His behavior has been a consistent topic at pick-up time.

 Now, before we get into a few details, let me just say that Tobin is a charming, and hilarious little boy who is all boy, but plays well with his sisters. At school, around other rambunctious boys all with no siblings, it is a whole different ball game. Not to mention it is 25-1 student-to-teacher ratio, so how they know all that is really going on in the stories we hear I am not so sure about.

 Here are some things his teacher has told us he has done:
1. hit
2. scratched another kid (he left a mark and for that we took the family lots of milk, this is what you do when your kid hurts another kid, seriously, standard practice).
3. pulled chairs our from under kids as they sat down
4. climbed between the bathroom 'stalls' (short walls)
5. tried to take shoes off of kids
6. and many days they have said: 'no problems today' but that is about 2x/week

So far we have stuck with keeping our kids in school and it has gone well . However, we have heard quite a few horror stories when it comes to a foreign kid in school. These stories usually have to do with major bullying and are usually with boys. But so far, at not yet four years old, Tobin is holding his own (and could be the one bullying) and we are keeping a keen eye and ear, and lots of prayer. Always lots of prayer.

Hair Cut Family Outing

Bella wanted her hair cut to her chin and we would not allow it. But I did take her and get about 4-5 inches cut off.

Then on a whim somewhat (because Sophia did NOT want her hair cut, and we tangle through it every.day.) Sophia decided she would get hers cut. We went back to the same place as a family, getting David's and Tobin's cut as well (except Tobin opted out).

The hair wash (which is fabulous in Asia and worth the entire price of 22 yuan for the wash and cut, ($3.50).
Tobin is a bit too cool for school, lounging around in his shades next to Daddy.

 Bella acted like she was on stage while the lady tried unsuccessfully to detangle Soph's hair. I had to help.

I helped here too because they did not want to hurt her. She got about five inches cut off too.

Then we walked down to the big wet market, ate meat on a stick, some meatballs, and grilled vegetables. 

De-lish.

And this time the girls wanted their own dessert bowl of 'paoluda' coconut, sweet condensed milk, sweet bread, etc. that I have posted before.

It was a hectic and not- without-incident evening, but being out at the market made it super fun and reminded us of the special things we get to do with our kids that seem normal to them and actually are 'normal' for where we live.

Horseback Riding

The day after Christmas we went with our friends to the horse farm to ride horses. This is actually their tradition not ours, but we may just adopt it as well, it was so much fun!

A very hazy/foggy morning to start.

After Caleb went, Sophia got on. She did get to trot some, which was fun, but I think she was a little scared.

Every other time we have gone I have been pregnant or...nursing a newborn....or...pregnant.
I was excited to get back on a horse.

Tobin's helmet did not quite fit...

I told this guy:
"I haven't ridden a horse in about 30 years."
"Oh, good, so you know how to ride."
That was not the answer I was looking for.
(It actually hasn't been that long, I just forgot the last time).

K had warned me, when this guy found out she could post, he kept her riding and trotting, which he did with me too once he saw me posting just fine. My thighs were SORE when I got off.

 Even David and J got on and trotted around.

 Afterwards we had a great meal at the restaurant and the kiddos explored....

 I told them all to make funny faces as if I could see them at all.
We love getting out in the country....and so do these kids.
Thanks for inviting us S family!!!

Babysitting

A couple of weeks ago we had a team meeting. We try to fit in a meeting like this, no kids, with our friends/teammates every so often. This one was being squeezed into an afternoon where 4 of the 7 kids were at school the two littlest sleeping, and Sophia home doing some home school work. 

Neither one of our families happened to have a house helper that day, which is usually how we get this scheduled. So....instead, we hired Sophia to babysit Gabrielle while we walked two buildings down to our meeting. I thought G would give us another full hour of her nap, but she didn't. She was awake before we left. We also left my phone with Sophia so she could call if she needed us. 

She did call. About five times. 

"I am lonely, when are you coming back?"

"Gabrielle is pulling all the tissue apart." 

To that I responded: "you can't let her, this is like being a mom, she will not like it, but take it from her."

"I tried and she pulled my hair." (I am laughing). 

We did end up having a decently uninterrupted time and Sophia learned a lot, and earned 10kuai/hour, 20 yuan, which she thought was a lot ($3.25). 

She said she tried texting me, I wasn't sure she did it right, but then remembered that for some crazy reason David and I cannot text each other (also when someone calls his number mine rings as well) and I can get texts from people texting him and vice versa. It has something to do with the iphone set up, etc. I have no idea but we have not had time to get to the bottom of it.

Either way, Sophia was texting me correctly and wrote me about 5 really funny/sweet notes, and sent a picture. I discovered she sent the picture a day later and was shocked because she doesn't have 'screen time' or anything, and figured out how to do that all on her own. I had never sent a picture before. But she did it, then David taught me how to do it so I could be up to speed with our 7-year-old. 

Here are some of her texts and a picture of Gabrielle wreaking havoc with tissue paper. Classic.

Good job babysitting, Sophia!!!

A little girl's faith

Almost a month ago now Bella lay on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night writhing in stomach pain. She was cringing and crying, and she is the one with a high tolerance for pain.

She didn't want to use the potty, she didn't want to throw up.
David and I were at a loss, do we need to take her to the hospital?
I laid down with her on the bathroom floor, put her head in my lap and rubbed her back as I worried. She listened to David and I talk about what could be wrong and what we should do, finally she said:
"Mama, would you just pray?!"
"Yes, of course honey." And I prayed. She continued in pain for another good ten minutes or so, and said: "Mama, just pray." So, I did again.
A minute later she got on the potty and couldn't go, she got off the potty and said, "Mama, I feel better."
"What do you mean you feel better?"
"My stomach doesn't hurt anymore".
"Really?" I was shocked because she was clearly in a lot of pain a minute prior, and for quite awhile.
"Yes, I think I am fine now, I can go to bed". David and I just looked at each other confused and amazed.
We moved a mat into our bedroom just in case she had trouble in the night, which she did not.
The next morning at breakfast I told the story of God healing Bella to Sophia and Tobin. I told them how I always pray when we are sick and hurting and cry out to God for healing. And I always know without a doubt that God can heal I just don't always believe that he will heal. Then Sophia piped in and said: "So last night you actually believed he would!!" and she was excited. But I had to be honest, I wasn't sure exactly what I felt as I prayed, my answer to her was: "Well, Bella certainly believed he would".
Then Bella said: "I also prayed and thanked God twice for healing me."
"Really, when did you do that?" I asked, this being the first I had heard of it.
"Right when I went to bed after He healed me."

Its Okay to Cry During Homeschool

No, I don't mean the normal cry that every home school mom has probably done at some point, the "I can't do this, God help me" tears. No, those are fine, you have to get those out every now and then (or daily if necessary)...

I mean during the subjects you are studying, during the read-alouds. We haven't even gotten to the hard stuff yet but man, getting into good literature, or explaining the amazing way the body works, some weeks it all just causes me pause.

Christmas week was a hard week, I was emotional. And then we read 'Pink and Say' a short book with amazing illustrations about a true story from the Civil War. I CRIED. It was a fifteen minute read, and I really choked it up.

Today as we studied the lungs and I explained how it all works and what happens when they don't, we ended up praying for a dear friend with lung disease because Bella asked if we could. I teared up.

I imagine there will be many more days of tears ahead for me as we delve into more war stories, historical fiction, and just plain life as it comes.

Our kids are only 7, 5, 3, and 1....bring me the tissue box!!!

Ping Pong, Pool, and More

My dad, Granddaddy to the kiddos, wanted to give our children a mini ping pong table for Christmas. We had a big table growing up and then one Christmas he bought us a mini-one and it was loads of fun.

So...when he mentioned it we looked on taobao and found some good finds. The one we chose has a pool table with a pingpong table on top. It is quite awesome. The kids love it.

The ping pong is a bit hard at this age but they will get the hang of it.

 
Sophia got pretty good quick at pool and beat me fair (which isn't saying much, but don't tell her)

Granddaddy also sent us a package of fun gifts!!!

 He remembered that David grew up eating 'Duke's Mayo' so he sent some.

 And I grew up eating grits...so he sent some.

Gabrielle got in the box before opening her gift...

 so fun...

Go Gators! Basketball hoop and ball...Tobin immediately started playing.

 Frozen puzzles and bag for the older girls....

 And some books....

 Pippi Longstocking, which we don't have! Yeah. and 'Because of Winn Dixie' another one we didn't have, I read it in an hour and actually cried a little. It will be great for Sophia.

Thanks granddaddy for GREAT gifts.
Happy New Year!!!