celebrating cultures:

It's that time of year!  September is Hispanic Heritage Month, and the month of Mexican Independence Day (9/16).  It's also time for the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, which was on Wednesday this year.  Naomi gets to celebrate both cultures.  We had chicken nachos and also chicken/vegetable lo mein.  The latter turned out surprisingly well with just soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and agave nectar--I love it when the kids celebrate while eating.  The nachos weren't bad either--I buy only the authentic, thick tortilla chips now (which Whole Foods and Mexican vendors sell).  Every common brand seems to have gone super salty, which I discovered at Naomi's birthday party.

The nicest surprise this week was my cousin dropping off mooncakes one morning, both the red bean and lotus seed paste varieties.  Naomi wanted red bean, but she found she really liked the lotus ones as well.  We just dug out the salted yolk for her.  I like those little moons now, but was kind of grossed out by them as a kid.  Mooncakes are expensive, and I was just going to buy her one.  Imagine our delight at getting a whopping six!  Lucas and Manny didn't partake, though.  Oh well, more for da ladies!

We did a scavenger hunt around the house for Chinese and Mexican items.  Naomi also made a sombrero out of the last paper cup in the house (I had to do my own hunt for it) and a paper plate.  Naomi painted it brown and glued on the pom poms herself.  I glued on the ribbons she chose.  My mom bought me a ginormous bag full of ribbon scraps years ago for about a dollar, and I'm still using it.  As for the Chinese side, we made paper lanterns.  Naomi had a blast with those.  My father taught me how to make this easy version as a child (fold any colored paper of any size in half lengthwise, cut lots of slits evenly, fold into a circle, and staple/glue). I didn't spend that much time with him growing up, so I probably remember just about everything he ever taught me.  We're going to put photos of everything along with some related coloring pages and worksheets in Naomi's next Social Studies portfolio.

This is an old Mexican embroidered dress handed down from Manny's cousin. 

Naomi's sombrero!

Lucas was feeling a little left out, so we let him show off "his" lanterns for a photo.

Bag of mooncakes greeted us in the morning with a cute note from my cousin.

And in case you've never seen a mooncake, the variety with egg yolks should remind you of a harvest moon.

On a side note, I like cutting out Naomi's sandwiches for her lunch.  I did these with a cookie cutter, which is a lot harder for me than with my bento cutters.  Hearts are good in that you don't have much excess after you cut.

aviation museum field trip:

Naomi had her first field trip of the year with her ISP class to an aviation museum.  The museum is located in a small airport, which means visitors get to see them in action as well.  The kids had a class about airplanes, then made balsa wood flyers and flew them, and then headed over to the main exhibit area for a tour and talk on aviation history.  After the tour, Naomi went in a mini flight simulator.  I think they have a large one for the older kids.  We then had lunch outside, with planes taking off regularly by us (this made Lucas very happy).

After lunch, everyone left except Naomi and Kai, another kindergartener.  They played a bit in the patio area before boarding the 747 exhibit, which is the front 45 feet of an actual 747.  The kids get to sit in the cockpit on the upper level.  Naomi wanted to be a flight attendant and serve lasagna for dinner.  We returned to the museum after that long stop.  I was disappointed Lucas didn't get to go to the airplane play area or museum shop to look at toys, but I had to keep an eye on Naomi.  She ran off with her friend, eventually taking him outside, and so we had to put a hard stop on the day and leave.  That's what I sometimes dread--Naomi's usually a sweetie, but whenever she's spent a lot of time with friends, she starts rebelling and being a bad influence.  Manny said he and his cousins would be like that when they'd spent the night at each other's houses, so I guess it's the feeling like you don't need your parents or they're not as much fun as your peers.
Lucas is still talking about "weer weeer fly" and "weer weeer up up."  I think he liked the aviation museum more than Naomi did.  It's too bad he won't remember it; we'll have to return again someday.

The students colored each section of the plane as the instructor went over it.  I learned them all, too.  

This was just taken for size, but it looks kind of dangerous.

It's cool when the kids can actually climb in.

Naomi flying around inside the mini flight simulator.  The ride moves around.

Having lunch with the planes taking off behind us (the little one in the sky, not the big one on the ground).

Naomi in the cockpit.

The kids making calls in the flight attendant seats.

lucas, 2 years, 2 months:

Lucas pretending to sleep in his toddler bed.  Naomi put that "nightcap" on him.

Lucas is finally saying a lot more, although only at home and he seems to say some words backwards (the initial sound at the end and vice versa).  He can jump with both feet, runs a lot, and sometimes power walks (where you strut while twisting).  He can do a couple small puzzles on his own.  He can't say his ABCs or count much yet.  He can identify some colors--red, yellow, green, blue, black, and pink.  He wants to sleep in his sister's room, but he keeps her up (yes, someone actually keeps Naomi up).  He doesn't say his own name.  He just refers to himself as "me" or "baby."  He is pretty good at sharing and putting away toys for his age, I think.  He points to many face and body parts and says them.

Lucas still loves cars and trains without end.  His favorite videos to watch are railroad crossings.  And he gets upset at the ones where a train never shows up--he calls it bad, and turns his back to it.  lol  He knows to cover his eyes when I first launch YouTube.  They always have to show some horror movie or violent video game right on the main page, don't they?

He likes to give toy animals or people rides.  He also likes to pretend to feed stuffed animals, much like Naomi did.  He really likes books--I hope that sticks.  He is kind of a clown, and things that shouldn't be funny are so funny to him.  He likes to explain things that happened and act them out, often telling on himself (like how he hit Naomi and made her cry).  He seldom hits her now, though.  The two of them have been hugging and kissing all day.  He really likes to throw.  So now my bruises aren't from his bites anymore.  I have a friend whose son was like that at this age--throwing things everywhere--so I wasn't caught off guard.   When I ask Lucas where something is that I can't find, his answer is almost always, "throw bye bye."  Naomi says, "Mom, look at the bright side.  At least he's learning to throw.  That can help him someday."

Lucas is afraid of bugs.  I think a spider ran over his foot and he's been scared since (and my obvious fear of bugs doesn't help either).   He dislikes being wet or dirty with a passion.  He likes me to constantly clean the table, his hands and face, his utensils, and clothes while he eats (habit?).  And if I try to give him a bib, the second something lands on it, he "needs" a new one.  He's super clingy at times, but very independent at others (usually whenever I would desire the opposite from him).  Potty training--I don't think he's fully ready yet, plus there are many changes in his life right now.

His terrible twos haven't been that bad.  I only have Naomi to compare him to, and it's so much easier with the two of them at five and two years of age than it was with just her at two years.  He has that furrowed brow often, but his laugh isn't usually too far behind.  Cute kid.

tgis:

(Thank God it's Sunday).  Manny had his morning bible study with B before church.  Then we had Lucas sit with us again in the service.  He just has to sit quietly for the hour and half.  I guess he knows the alternative is to go into the nursery.  I don't give him any toys or food anymore--he just ends up getting too stimulated and wanting more.  It would still be ideal to get him in the nursery, but it is less distracting now than getting paged out.

After church, B and O treated us to lunch at TGIF's.  I had their Jack Daniel's chicken sandwich, which was pretty good.  It's not always easy to eat out with the kids, but it's gotten better as they mature.  We then headed over to Whole Foods to pick up a few exclusive items like probiotics.  I ended up taking a four-hour nap!  I haven't slept well in weeks, maybe months, and today I actually felt rested.  Thanks, Manny! xoxo

At Whole Foods.

korean-american harvest festival:

On Saturday morning, Manny attended a vision/implementation meeting at church.  A couple interesting points made by the speaker were that 1) People nowadays are no longer choosing churches based on denominations they identify with, but based on whether the church suits them (i.e., consumer) 2) The church is made of friendly people, but they are too busy to be a church where people make friends.  A lot of other interesting points to ponder.  Manny was there from 8:30 to noon and then he returned so we could go to the Korean-American Harvest Festival (Chuseok).  Our friend, a former coworker, was one of the hosts/organizers of the event.  We caught up with him briefly after his speech encouraging the community to register to vote.  Manny and I liked the Taekwondo exhibition.  This little boy was like Ernie Reyes, Jr., breaking board after board with fancy moves and a cartwheel.  The kids were really scared by the yelling. We then bumped into another friend by the educational toy store, where Naomi had been playing with a little boy she met.  Naomi said it bothered her how only the grown-ups ever get to talk.  I'll have to think about that a bit.  The kids really liked the Korean barbecue.  I also took them out for ice cream while Manny went to the barber shop.  It was a pretty nice day.

Entering the festival.

The kids liked the fan dance.

The also liked this traditional performance.

The kids were scared of the yelling during the Tae kwan do demonstration, but I took Naomi over to the side and she was fine.

Lots of amazing flying and flip kicks.

With D.

bible study:

I've been wanting to go to the Women's Bible Study while Naomi was in Awana-Sparks, but Lucas wasn't doing well in the nursery.  So last night the women prayed for Lucas to be okay in his little class (Awana-Puggles), and he actually made it!  The trick?  After 20 minutes of him wailing and not accepting any item of comfort, the nursery worker simply told him to stop crying, and he did!  They said he just sort of observed everyone and didn't participate, but he was fine.  When we picked him up, he was holding his little bear that I brought and watching the other kids.  It makes me sad, but I hope that over time he'll get more used to it.  We're studying and sharing through the gospel presented in Romans 12.  Wednesday nights are good--it is at the center of my busy week and a reminder the gospel is central to my life.  Last night we went through the historical background.  We also talked about how to approach prayer.  It was a good discussion.  I was the youngest person there, but I didn't mind.  We don't have to be alike to be like-minded.  The women have been welcoming and constantly reaching out to me and other visitors.  They seem very genuine, too.  I'm glad they encouraged me to keep trying with Lucas and that it worked out.

parent-isp meeting:

We had our first conference yesterday with Naomi's ISP principal at the school.  She's in charge of making sure Naomi is keeping up with the district guidelines/standards and is getting adequate socialization opportunities.  Each month I have to turn in two work samples for each subject:  Language, Math, Social Studies, and Science.  I make copies because I can't bear to part with the originals.  Naomi explains her work to the principal, and the principal asks her some questions to evaluate her.  Naomi does much more work than just four subjects each day.  At home, she has two segments for Bible, and I'm not sure yet if they count that into social studies (probably not), so I do additional social studies work separately with her.  Spelling, writing, reading, and reading narrations take up four separate time slots rather than one.  For the narrations, I read Naomi a story or a book and she dictates a summary and draws a scene from the story (she is very detailed, but now I use a timer to speed her up).  We also do some music, geography, science, and nursery rhyme activities/projects once a week.  Basketball and Awana and possibly upcoming small groups will take up three nights.  Thursdays she has enrichment classes.  I am very, very busy, but I'm enjoying it and so is Naomi.  Lucas...maybe not so much.

The principal said that Naomi's ahead of the curve, but kindergarteners here are mostly learning letters, numbers, and shapes at the beginning.  I just go with Naomi's flow. I won't write much more about how I'm teaching her.  That's in the other blog.  Email if interested.

Naomi just completed HoP Level 3, so she's probably reading at early 1st-grade level. 

Samples.  Row 1:  An "About Me" portfolio (name, birthday, family, address, phone numbers, favorites), Land and Water worksheet, narration sheets for Frog and Toad's The Letter and Three Billy Goats Gruff.

Row 2:  Math worksheets (counting, writing, shapes), Butterfly Life Cycle activity, and Moon Phases identification.

basketball:

Naomi started her recreational basketball class on Monday.  She had lots of fun and made new friends.  She made all her baskets at first, but then when she had to learn the correct way to shoot, she missed everything.  It's important to learn form first.  Naomi and one of the boys were the only non-Indians in the class.  No issue with that; I just find it interesting.  She was also one of two girls.  Naomi played a few fun games, but I didn't catch the last 10 minutes because Lucas took a bad spill and busted his lip.  :((((  Thankfully they had first aid and ice, and this Blistex medicated lip ointment I carry around has come in handy over the years.

Naomi doing a crazy lay-up, but she made the shot.

Warm-ups.

Getting ready to dribble.  Naomi says that's the hardest part.

thurs thru sun:

On Thursday, Naomi had her second day of classes.  She was pretty messy from art.  For her lunch, I packed turkey-ham sticks, macaroni, carrots, and oranges.  I think it would be fun to pack some simple bentos for her, but for now she doesn't want her food cut into fun shapes.  She likes to drink water with her lunch, too.  She said the other kids like how we put little notes in her lunchbox.  Afterward I took the kids to Target, and she finished the rest of her lunch there while we chatted.  You know about the fire Thursday night.

I wanted to go to this rare dance exhibition on Friday night, but it just didn't work out.  Saturday we had to wait for a delivery, and it turned out it was the wrong item.  Otherwise, we had a really nice weekend.  Naomi played with a new neighbor.  Usually the kids on our side of townhouses come out to play, but not the ones on the other side, but this time one came over, which delighted her.  Later, Naomi slid down the driveway in the ab-roller.  She has a need for speed.  ETA:  Yeah, we watched Stanford cream vs. UCLA.  Me:  What a waste of four hours!  Manny:  That was the best four hours!

On Sunday, Melissa came over and we went to church and lunch (Greek food--yum).  The sermon (on redemption) was good and the high schoolers that subbed today for music are very talented.  She came over for a while and watched Groundhog Day. 

Yum!

Hi!

How Lucas rolls.

Whee!

Lucas showing off at lunch with Melissa.

prayer and help request:

A friend of ours appears to have lost at least part of her home in the huge gas explosion in San Bruno, CA.  She and her family are all safe and were thankfully not home during the explosion.  Apparently people had been smelling gas for days.  Four people died and dozens were injured.  There were accounts of people driving through walls of fire or running up the hills as the flames chased them.  Another family we know has a home closeby, but they and their home were spared.

eta:  How to Help  I suppose the influx of traffic and not being able to exactly match the donation with a recipient would be more hassle for the aid organizations than they're worth, so money and blood are the way to go.

sparks:

Naomi moved up to Sparks (K-2) in her Awana club.  Her three closest friends from Cubbies still have another year there, so she was moving on somewhat alone into a new, and rather large, group with much bigger children.  For the few minutes I was there, I saw Naomi looking around nervously as everyone around recited the motto and sang the Sparks song.  When I watched their game, I saw her again being unusually quiet and not smiling.  There's no snack at the end, no bathroom right there, and no help with the verses this year.  I was nervous, but then the second we got in the car, she exclaimed, "That was too short!  I love my new class!"  I guess I was projecting my memories on her, having to move every year and being the outcast all the time for being Chinese, poor, dirty, whatever.  She did just fine.  :)  These kids aren't bullies, and there's a lot of diversity in our area anyway, but best of all, Naomi often makes lemonade out of lemons. 

labor day weekend:

I went out on Friday night with two other moms who, like me, have young children and are just starting out with homeschooling.  We discussed our plans, methods, curriculum, and goals over dessert.  One of them had a great idea to get our kids together to perform some charitable services.  Overall, it was an encouraging discussion which led to an even better discussion with Manny after I returned home.

Saturday we went to Great A.merica, sort of a last minute thing.  It was the last weekend the water park was open and the only time it's been hot enough to go this summer (when we were free).  The kids loved it, even though we didn't get all the smiles on camera.  It was Lucas's first time actually in the water at the park, although he was very hesitant at first.  

Sunday we went to a church we've been visiting for 5 weeks.  We've been blessed there so far, although they are still seeking a permanent pastor.  Lucas cried before we even parked the car.  We ended up keeping him with us.  He was pretty good and stayed quiet or whispered, but I would prefer him to be okay in the nursery just so he's not a distraction to people sitting by us (or me!).  Naomi always likes the class and all the kids.  The new teacher said she was really lively, as most teachers do.  I don't want to kill her enthusiasm for life, but she does need a bit more self-control.  We just need to channel the energy properly.  :)

After that we went to pick up the kids' portraits and roam around the mall.  We browsed a couple sales.  At Borders, Naomi got herself these four wind-up toys for $1 ea (normally $5 ea)--they were these little bears that march and play instruments.  She has enough books for now.  Lucas got a couple transportation books for cheap, and he's really enjoying those.  I'm happy to report he's not destructive when it comes to books, although I can't say the same for everything else.   

On Monday, I continued with school for Naomi while Lucas and Manny went to the park.  They walked a lot and kicked a ball around.  It was nice to have quality time with one child each.  We went to Naomi's favorite restaurant, Fresh C.hoice, for lunch.  Manny's coworker gave us a big coupon, so it was just $15 to feed our whole family a whole lot of food.  We went grocery shopping afterward, and Lucas was surprisingly good even though it was his naptime.  I think just being around Manny so much this weekend put him in a great mood.  We didn't have any picnic or barbecue planned, but we did spend time on the phone with friends and family.  I got a phone call from a friend who has the same condition as my brother and needed prayer.  I never know what's wisest to say, but at least I have some familiarity to be able to talk about it.  Another friend whom I hadn't heard from in years contacted me about postpartum depression this weekend as well (hearing from a mutual friend that I had it).  Whatever the Lord sees us through helps us to understand others more.  We get wiser as we learn how little we know.

Lucas at the park.

photo time:

August Photos - Naomi summer camp, Santa Cruz/Thomas, Junior Museum/Zoo, Great A.merica, visit with E at Apple, GOC Manhattan Beach, coworker playdate, last soccer class, swimming.

first day of school:

Naomi's first day of school, taken outside her classroom (she was smiling; I took it too late).  Her lunchbox was a birthday present from A.  We have a pink one, too.  :)

The room for the first class.  The students then go to nextdoor to eat their lunches, then another building for art, then to the playground to play and back to the room to be picked up.

Manny left a note for Naomi.  I packed what she requested--chicken salad on whole wheat, an apple, carrots, popped chips, and water.  With the ice pack, it made it very heavy to carry.  She didn't eat as much as I would've liked, but at least she finished the sandwich.  She said it was hot, so she drank a lot of water and got full.

Naomi said she had the best time at her class.  They heard a couple stories, colored, counted, sorted, wrote numbers, and made mobiles.  The teacher said that she and the other girl in her class took to each other right away.  Naomi said that her new friend liked to play video and computer games, just like her.  The teachers said that there are supposed to be two more children who are enrolled but did not come today.  So it's a 1:6 ratio at most.  The older children help tend to the younger ones before class and during lunch.  Technically, we started kindergarten last week, but this was Naomi's first ISP enrichment class.  She really enjoyed it and keeps saying it was so fun.  The only thing she had a hard time with was the older boys and their rough play and joking.  Boys will be boys.  She forgets she used to be just like that.  :)

Afterward I took the kids to the mall.  We walked a lot, and I was carrying this full-length mirror around ($7 on sale, B*urlington) and getting pretty tired.  When I told Naomi that we might have to go soon, she asked why.  I said because I'm tired of carrying the mirror around.  She said, in a nice tone, "Well, I'm tired of watching you carrying it around."  (sounds like her dad)  "And, Mom, it was your choice to come here."  (even more like her dad)  Ok, ok, I shouldn't complain.  :)