A little multiplier

One of the most rewarding parts of parenthood for me (Tilden) is the new things that Lily and Serena learn.  Today was a special day because Lily learned how to… MULTIPLY!  We’ve been working hard with addition and subtraction, and Lily has a pretty good grasp right now of most of her simple adding and subtracting, including bigger numbers if she doesn’t have to carry.  Today I introduced Lily to the Khan Academy website, which is a neat educational website that offers endless (really endless) educational modules in 10 minutes chunks.  The neat thing about the website is really the reporting tools and the way it lays out a scope and sequence and questions to determine mastery.

Anyway, Lily had a good time doing basic addition and basic subtraction, and the number line questions, which she’s all been exposed to already.  But, then she wanted to tackle multiplication – so we listened to part of the tutorial, and I helped to explain the concepts in my own words, especially restating “2 x 3″ as “two threes” or “three twos.”  We talked about the first question, which was 10×0, and we talked about multiplying with zero.  Then, the next question came up – 4×10.  And I started thinking about how to walk it through with her, but after a few seconds on her own, she blurted out “40″!

So, Daddy was super-impressed.  We talked through the rules of multiplication by zero and 1, and she even did 10×10 all by herself.  Such an exciting day.

Serena is also learning by leaps and bounds.  She is now reading most 3 letter words with good accuracy, and it is fun counting with her up to 30.  Because Lily has been learning Chinese in kindergarten, Serena’s Chinese is also catching quite a bit of Chinese second hand.

At the end of last year, we worked with Lily to memorize Psalm 23.  It took a few weeks, but when she said the whole thing by herself from start to finish, she had such a huge smile on her face.  I gave her a big hug and said, “Now, Lily, you know this Psalm in your head, and you know it in your heart.”

Quick Quips

Some random things our girls say:

1. This is the best carrot soup you’ve ever made! I can’t stop eating it. (I didn’t tell her it was butternut squash)

2. I told Lily to listen to her tummy so she would know if she was hungry or full. So this week she said. This banana bread is so yummy. My tummy is telling me I should eat daddy’s piece.

3. Mary had a little put-put. And everywhere that Mary went that put-put was sure to go.

4. Mommy I love you as much as God loves me.

5. Daddy is the strongest person I know. Mommy is the second strongest.

Fear or Flu

I’m not sure if there’s a really good way to prepare a child for a flu shot. Other mothers said no forewarning is better than having your child’s anxiety and anticipation derail the whole day. So I planned a fun lunch playdate for after the shot so at least we both have something to look fwd to. So we drove into the doctors office parking lot and Lily asks who has an appt? I said you. For what? Well the nurse is going to give you something that helps you not get sick and afterwards we will be going to McDonald’s!
So no objections and we’ve made it into the exam room and Lily even sat on the table. Well then it dawns on her that she’s getting a shot!
Oh the sadness and fear in her eyes! She won’t let the nurse get near her. It makes me so sad to have to hold down my big five year old and restrain her arms. And poor Serena is also upset seeing this happen. Thankfully Serena accepts the iPhone as Lily crawls into the stroller as we leave.
Well we finally get to lunch and my friend asks lily if she was brave for the flu shot. Lily gives this angry look bc she feels sad knowing she was not brave.
It’s an unfortunate week for lily also bc her teddy bear was left on vacation so this makes bedtime even more sad. but we say goodnight and fall asleep as the wind howls outside. Well at 3am I feel something brush my toe. It’s Lily she’s scared and says she had a bad dream. She said there was a dragon on our house. Now I wonder is this from the wind? Or is it emotional trauma from the flu shot?

Portrait

As drawn by Lily.

Counting…

Now that Lily is in kindergarten, Serena has also been learning quite a bit of Chinese. One of the more interesting things is that she counts better in Chinese than in English. In English, she can count to thirteen, but she gets mixed up with fourteen and sixteen – they usually get omitted. But in Chinese, she can count all the way to 29 on her own – it is the regular structure of Chinese counting (which incidentally, Malcolm Gladwell mentioned in Outliers – see here for an excerpt: http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/outliers_excerpt3.html)

Pretty neat that Serena demonstrates the concept.

I’m also pretty excited that Lily is actually correlating the Chinese and English numbering systems.  When we count at night, our counting sometimes goes like this (we take turns saying the numbers in the sequence):

yi, er, three, four, wu, liu, seven, eight, jiu, shr.  Lily can do this with ones and tens, and maybe with hundred and thousands…

It was neat that Lily initiated this.  Our counting now in the car, when we have a lot of time, is by ones to ten, by tens to a hundred, by hundreds to a thousand, by thousands to ten thousand, by ten thousands to a hundred thousand, by hundred thousands to a million, and so on to a billion.  She knows her Chinese units to yi wan (ten thousand), which is a special unit that doesn’t exist in English – once she counts larger than yi wan, the number systems don’t correlate as well, so that will be interesting conceptually for her.

It is also interesting to try to teach conceptually what these numbers mean.  I’ve tried sharing:

* Your kindergarten class is around 30 people

* Your school is around 500 people

* Our church is around 3000 people

* San Francisco is around 1 million people (not even sure if this is right)

* The population of the United States is around 400 million people

* The population of the world is about 7 billion people

But population isn’t very helpful, since I don’t think she can visualize that many people.  I need other reasonably accurate representations of large numbers – blades of grass in a field?  Grains of rice in a rice bag?  Any other suggestions?

Milestones

Lily recently learned how to ride her two-wheel bike, sans training wheels. For previous several weeks, riding a bicycle with her was a real workout – she’d pedal and tilt from side to side, and I’d run over the bike, straddling it between my legs, and keep her steady with my arms.

Finally, she got to the point where she didn’t need to use my arms anymore – I’d run and stick my arms out, and she’d bike in between my arms and balance herself. The first time she went from one end of our street to the other without any help, we just stopped and stared at each other with huge smiles on our faces. I said, “Lily, you did it!” and she said, “Yes, I did it!” Major proud Daddy moment.

Now she’s learning how to get on the bike, start it herself, turn, and stop the bike herself. Her bike is a little heavy for her, so sometimes it is a little bit like she is wrestling an animal. But it is so amazing to see her growing up…

A letter to a friend

Lily wrote this all by herself. We’re particularly impressed by her punctuation and how hard she tried on the spelling. It actually starts with “Dear Hope” and circles back to the top .

Papa’s not going to buy me a diamond ring…

Lily is only 4 but already likes a lot of “girly” things. She likes to wear dresses and have her hair in braids. Her lip gloss ring is a gift from a friend and she shows me how her lips sparkle after using it. We also caught her and a friend using washable markers to paint make up on their faces and teddy bears’ faces.

As parents we’re kinda torn between how much to allow her to enjoy these things and how much to shape her to know her worth is not in her appearance. Our hope is some type of grounded mind set in the middle of extremes. That she can know how to have healthy hygiene habits and thereby look presentable without obsessing over these details. How do you teach a young girl that she will be judged by her appearance (hard to escape this fact) but that you don’t have to accept those critiques?

People say this to girls all the time… Some people say, “Oh Lily you look really pretty today.”  She often replies, “I look pretty EVERY day.”

Recently Daddy was genuinely sad/mad because Lily has fallen in love with her new shoes. She wants to wear these dress shoes all the time and even sings songs about how pretty they are.

Today on the drive home she told me she wanted an anklet (because her cousin and aunt wear them sometimes) and that she wants a ring. She even says, Mommy I can’t say Ring. So we practice “R” sounds some more. She said she specifically wants a diamond ring, because they are pretty. I asked her, who do you know has a diamond ring? No one.

I told her they are too expensive and we will save the money to use on something else. I didn’t tell her that there’s no way Daddy’s gonna buy you a diamond ring. We don’t subscribe to that lullaby song.

 

Big Toddler On Campus

Serena, maybe some day you will be a politician. You like to greet strangers a lot, especially at restaurants. Now that you have been walking with me to Lily’s school there are even more people to see.

You often wave to any Asian kid who is less than 5 years old. I think you assume we know them. You are also good at greeting the other babies who pick up their older siblings at school. Whether they are sleeping or not, you like to touch their cheek. Thankfully you have learned a little bit of gentleness over this past year.
From the very first morning that Lily started Kindergarten perhaps you decided you are a big girl now too, so you have insisted to try to use the potty, despite our new requirement to get out the door on time.

You also love to pick up rocks from one house’s front yard near the school. I need to park on another side of the school to avoid that yard unless I have an extra 10 minutes to kill. You also picked up some flowers one day, copying what Lily was doing.

When we get to the classroom all the parents are hovered outside the door, slowly getting their kids to walk inside. Serena, you find Lily’s classroom so fascinating. You know you can’t go inside so you stand at the doorway and stare inside for as long as we let you, while everyone tries to walk around you.

On the 3rd day of school, Lily paused at the doorway and I wondered what’s wrong? Then she pulls out her flower and gives it to the teacher. Very nice. So of course I took out my camera to take a picture. Then Serena follows and gives the teacher a flower and a hug. That’s my cutie pies.

All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten… lots of rules

Dear Lily, You have just started Kindergarten and you are learning all sorts of things. Did you know your Auntie Natalie skipped Kindergarten? I wonder whether she learned these things yet…
Here are some new rules from your first week of Kindergarten:
1. Listen to the Teacher
2. Listening to the teacher means you have to sit still and face forward. Mommy learned a new phrase: zuo hau.
3. When the Teacher asks you to face forward, it is not a game, you need to do it all at once, not a little bit and then smile, then a little bit more.
4. You love to wear pretty dresses to school. Yesterday the teacher said you need to wear shorts under them. Also a new rule (every day a new rule!) is that students are not allowed to show off their pretty panties to other students.
5. Most recent rule (but an old one at home): No screaming! (even if others are not doing it right! use words…)
One friend of mine tells her kids to not scream unless it’s an emergency… but I think in Lily’s mind, if another kid is pushing in Lily’s chair, or touching anything of hers, it’s pretty much an emergency.
Lots more to learn in school! It’s only the first week!