Monday, November 30, 2009

The small biter /明明咬人了

I got the call today. Miss Danielle told me that Ming Ming has bitten one of her friends in the daycare. The poor kid did not bleed, and it is the daycare's policy to inform the parents of the incident but not to give names (neither the offender nor the victim). I feel so bad for the other kid. BUT how do you teach discipline to a 17 month old? Miss Danielle has had conversations with Ming Ming about using "nice hand" (no hitting) twice already. Ming Ming still has the tendency to grab whatever toys other kids are playing with. She understands when I say "gentle" or 溫柔, and would touch me gently when I say these words. But it is funny that these words also sound like invitation for play to her, and she would get so excited and shift to hitting instead (or waving hands, which would without exception hit on my face). Another annoying thing that she does now is to throw whatever she does not want to eat on the floor (very annoying esp when I serve her rice). The other day she threw out the whole plate, barely missing my head as I was bent down picking up stuff she threw on the carpeted floor.
Ming Ming cooking... with my toothbrush!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

portrait




baby intelligence

Papa needs to work, so we all hit the mudhouse coffee shop at 9am. Here is Ming Ming disturbing papa a bit. But during our 40-minute stay there she was nice and clam, we tasted the hot-chocolate and a blueberry muffin, and read a storybook. Ming Ming is most fascinated by the artwork on the wall and the noise made by the coffee machine.


Today I witness again how we are born with the million years of evolution in our species memory. We met a ladybug and I tried to get it on my hand to show it to Ming Ming. I don't know if the ladybug was dying or it was just wet, anyway, my hand got wet and while I was trying to find a napkin, Ming Ming walked away. I thought she lost interest but she returned immediately with a dry leaf, and used it to tickle the bug to get it on her leaf. As it did not work at the first try, she went to find a second leaf and used it to get the bug on her other leaf. I was totally amazed! We have never done something like this with her before, the closest demonstration is maybe teaching her how to use the folk and the spoon. Ming Ming is defintely a human being who knows how to use tools! Yeah, this is my way of saying that my little Ming Ming is really intelligent!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Friday, November 27, 2009

curious

Ming Ming was quite happy that Michael dropped by for dinner. In the beginning she was a bit disappointed that it was not Enzo (well, she did not remember Michael so I said that it is the one who is always with Enzo, but she remembers Enzo so well that she started walking to the door and calling for Enzo...). But we had a nice evening together, Ming Ming was a bit timid but she was not afraid of going to Michael, and she was a bit curious that we had a guest in the evening. But she enjoyed the evening.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

kitchen is a good place to sleep

Ming Ming suddenly shows a lot of interest in her clothes. The other day she insisted on putting on her raincoat even though it was not rainning. These two days she loves going to her closet and then choose something: either a coat or a hat or a pair of mitten, something totally random, and she is all happy as soon as we put it on, and it is not easy to remove it from her (she wore her big coat for a long time at home, refusing each time when I suggested that we took it off).
Ming Ming eating spinach black bean tortilla (a recipe from Ashley) and fish ... she loves it, but when I packed it as lunch for her, she did not even touch them. why??

Thanksgiving holiday, no school... She did not nap well at home today, so around 5pm when I was preparing dinner, Ming Ming moved her doudou, dolls, and animals to the kitchen, lined them up in sleeping positions (all faced down like herself), and then joined the line herself... It was so funny!!

Ming Ming recognizing animals

Pig and monkey is in English, frog and dog in Chinese, the rest in French. I think she will speak more in Chinese if it is me who ask her.

Monday, November 23, 2009

"I am one and double" - Ginkgo tree /原來這就是銀杏樹


“Ginkgo Biloba” J. W. von Goethe
This leaf from a tree in the East,
Has been given to my garden.
It reveals a certain secret,
Which pleases me and thoughtful people.
Does it represent One living creature
Which has divided itself?
Or are these Two, which have decided,
That they should be as One?
To reply to such a Question,
I found the right answer:
Do you notice in my songs and verses
That I am One and Double?

晶瑩

Dancing with papa and mama

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Charlottesville holiday tradition parade!

Ming Ming and Julian did not really care about the parade, more interested at the chocolate candies they got from the parade people.

About candies, so we got a medium bag of candies from trick-or-treating in the downtown mall, Ming Ming does not know that they are candies and that they are edible, so I thought that we could just keep them around as toys. But these days she is obsessed with opening stuff, a passion initiated by opening her bottle of moisturizing cream. She loves turning the cap and trying to open all the bottles she can lay her hands at. Now her new favourite word is 打開 (pronounced dakai, meaning open), and she would ask me to open everything she suspects "openable", ranging from banana and apple to books and containers, and the candies from Halloween, of course! Finally I throw out all the candies because she kept asking me to open them. Luckily her little figures are not dexterous enought to do the task herself yet, so I guess candy remains a mystery. Probably not for long though, I imagine with all the chocolate and her more experienced cousins around at Christmas, Ming Ming will discover very soon the new thing that will replace 餅乾 (biscuits) - that is what she asks for now.

last but not least - Santa! But Ming Ming was afraid of Santa, she looked at him with a fair amount of suspicious and refused to go to him for pictures. And Julian, who was all excited about Santa and insisted that we followed his cart to see more of him, did not want to go to him either!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Lighting up the tree

very excited to touch the christmas balls on the tree
it is lit up!
learning that the tree can hurt one's little figures..

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

doctor's office

She was still smiling in this video, but few minuts later, she started crying once the doctor entered the room. The fear for doctors started when she got that ear infection, the examination must be pretty painful then. The memory really stays with her and whenever we enter into her pediatrician's office, she recognizes the room and would start crying right away. This time she was less tense because we did not see her usual pediatrician but another doctor in the same practice, so the room is different.

Oh I took her to the doctor's because she was coughing really bad. But the doctor said it was nothing.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Visiting James Monore's Highland residence

a peacock wondering around
Ming Ming following the visiting tour (well, only the very last part of it)

calling the cows from papa's shoulder

Saturday, November 14, 2009

beautiful portrait


First try with play-doh, Ming Ming ate a small bite. It is written that it is non-toxic, but she is probably too young for this.

Sat - Music class + discovery museum



Julian is hugging another girl, is Ming Ming jealous?

Thursday, November 12, 2009

happy daycare

Dropping Ming Ming off at the day care feels very different now. For a week, she did not cry anymore when I left her in the morning. I still stayed with her for about half an hour (until her Miss Danielle arrived), but now she went around and played with the others even while I was there (before she would just stay with me). And Friday afternoon, when I arrived to pick her up, she went to give everyone a hug, she even went back to seek out Dahlia who was playing quietly in a corner and hugged her, and then come back to me and told me "jia jia" (go home"). It was incredibly sweet!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

霜葉紅于二月花




Charlottesville becomes nostalgic in a rainy day in the Fall..