祝大家新年快樂!

我們的團年飯...

一個晚上怎麼也拍不了一張正經一點的新年照

媽媽這天開始大傷風.

acrobat before bedtime

Raffael's visit

Raffael and Pascale came to have dinner at our place. A lot of company this Saturday.

Ming Ming rode on her bike for the longest time, thanks to Raffael's example.

at Julian's home

Ming Ming had a really good time playing at Julian's home for a whole morning. here was Julian helping to serve lunch.

Julian has the same balance bike as Ming Ming, but he is using it much more. Ming Ming is more interest at the birdhouse.

The two of them had a really good time. now they can play together, Julian invited MM to his room and the two of them played for a quite a while there alone.

When it was nap time and so time for us to go, Julian waved goodbye by the window and ended up crying.

Thank you German Yiyi!

we were doing sleep trainning again (argghh, i hate this part), and she complained that her room was not pretty enough. So we worked together putting up her cards on the wall. She was really happy and jumped on her bed for a while. We did not profit from the pretty room though. I had to pick her up early on Thursday because she had 101F fever, took her to the doctor's, AGAIN, double ear infection + fever, she ended up in my bed again because of really miserable cough. I kept having four-day-work weeks these days.

It was her Peter and the Wolf poster from the concert. and she looked like a six year old here.

today we received a special gift from German yiyi! it was a bit big but Ming Ming loves it. Here she was putting up the card that came with the gift (top right corner).

所有香港的親戚朋友, 明明連下一個新年的過年衣服都有了, 大概五嵗之前都不需要了. 不必再買.

at home

trying to dress herself

a light snow day, but enough for her school to close early, we were home at 4pm.

a puppet play - an empty pot

a puppet play at the library, an empty pot. it was supposed to be a traditional Chinese story, and actully one of the most popular Chinese ones in the US I guess, but growing up in both China and Hong Kong, I have never heard of it. I wonder if the Chinese export a different set of Chinese culture to foreigners or if the foreigners are not rather idiosyncratic in their picking of Chinese materials.

Ming Ming was concentrated.

trying out the instruments afterwards.

Peter and the Wolf

I took Ming Ming to the "Peter and the Wolf" concert performed by Charlottesville High School. It was a fundraising program for the orchestra to go to Italy this summer.

We have a CD at home (from Mamiecath) that Ming Ming listens to often, so it is a piece that she is pretty familiar with. The concert had the same format as the CD, with a narrator and introduction of all the characters. Ming Ming was totally thrilled. She especially enjoyed the "meeting the orchestra" part, when she got to go up the stage and touch the instrument and have the musician played a small part just for her.

and the most exciting part was that she got to be the conductor! She talked about it for a long time afterwards, and asked me if I could take her to a concert for the whole week that followed.

Julian was very much into the drums!

drums again! this time with Ming Ming.

When it was time to go off stage, I had to pull her down and she started crying, a student standing next to her played her another violin piece and let her touch her violin. Then we really had to go, the whole concert hall was almost empty, half of the orchestra had already left.

婆婆織的思明牌毛衣/ Popo's hand knit sweater

school friends meeting up during weekend

music class

discovery museum with her school friends... Eva, Charlotte, Dahlia, Matthew, Lauren...

we thought that since they see each other everyday, they probably would not want to see each other during the weekend, but they are OVERWHELMINGLY excited. Ming Ming basically ran through the downtown mall from one end to another end, to meet her school friends here.

Ming Ming, Matthew, Eva

At a pizza place. The kids were obsessed with birthday, because each time they see the whole group in discovery museum, it was someone's birthday. So we started singing the birthday song .

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Jennifer came to play this afternoon

Hope and Redemption

Everyone is praising Obama's speech on Tucson memorial service on Wednesday night. For many, the most touching and inspirational part in that speech was when Obama talked about the 9-year-old Christina Taylor Green, the youngest victim in that mindless shooting.

"here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations."

This is why children are our hope and redemption, not because they will be better versions of us (which we certainly hope for, yet we really don't know), but that we will be better versions of ourselves because of them. Because they are so deserving of good example, we will strive to live up to the value that we want to instill in them: honesty, sincerity, friendship, love, respect, empathy, fairness, bravery, hard work, dignity… We all want the world to be as good as they deserve: organic food, equality, an end to all war, pollution, disease, and injustice... and when it comes to our children, compromise is not really an option.

In another context, I came across an article criticizing the current abysmal human rights condition in China after Liu Xiao Bo won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize. In his indignant passion, the author asked: “let’s not talk about those lofty ideals of universal value, let’s talk about the simple value we teach our five-year-olds: honesty, fairness, sincerity… how is China measuring up?” It is a powerful rhetorical question, but “five-year-old values” are the most universal values, and the most absolute ones.

Obama’s call is thus as necessary as impossible; impossible not in the sense that all our actions would be in vain and thus not worth taking, but that we will surely fall short. Yet it is the incremental progress that counts, and that we should aim for. None said that hope and redemption would be easy; if they are they won’t be hope and redemption at all.

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On a much smaller scale, I had a similar discussion with Antoine one year ago, when we were driving in the Swiss highway without buying a very expensive highway pass. We did not buy it because we were only going to stay one hour on it. But it was cheating nonetheless. The topic then was “how do we teach Ming Ming honesty if we do something like this”. Would we be more honest if we have more money (so that the very expensive pass would look less expensive)? Maybe on this particular incident, but in general I doubt it. Over the years I have met some truthful persons (K in HK, A in Chicago), and I want to emulate their examples. This is my new-year resolution for 2011.

And remember, becoming better versions of ourselves demands real work.

Miss Beth

Yesterday Antoine got a call from MM's school telling him that Miss Beth has been fired. We are really upset.

Bright Beginnings is not a school as good as the French international school here, or the Montessori preschool (but these are half day schools), not to mention the two reputated preschools run by UVA. But we chose it over other preschools because it is very spacious, and most importantly, we really like MM's first teacher - Miss Danielle. She was the main reason for our pick. When MM became two and changed to Miss J's class. Things did not go as well and we considered transferring her to a different school. Luckily Miss Beth came and everything was okay. We were really happy with her. She was inventive and energetic. During the fall she developed a whole series of science projects with the kids - from observing, collecting, comparing leaves, nuts and insects, to tasting different fruits and comparing their skins and seeds (from apple, orange, kiwi, cantaloup, honey dew, mango, grapes, berries... I knew because I was the one bringing in fruits every week), to observing and comparing ice, water, snow, rain when the weather got cold. Her day notes were always comprehensive and detailed, and she really engaged the kids inside and outside her classroom. While other teachers stood aside and watched the kids play in the playground, she chased them around, invented games with them... She is MM's best friend, that is what MM used to say. and she is looking forward to having a birthday party (not until June) with all her school friends and Miss Beth (which she never had before because we were always out of the country during her birthday).

So we are not in the best school, but we got lucky that MM has such good teachers. I am very aware of that luck. The night before MM started school again after taking a leave for a month, I had a nightmare that we arrived at school the next mornignt just to find out that Miss Beth was fried.

I called to complain about the firing yesterday, with no specific replies from the director who fried her, of course, other than the very diplomatic "yes we understand your frustration but this is confidential". I feel particular guilty because yesterday morning, before she got fried, Miss Beth told me she got into trouble because they found out a bottle of cough syrup in MM's lunch bag. I put it there because I gave MM a spoon of syrup that morning to clam down her coughing. I did not say anything to Miss Beth because I did not know that it was necessary.

The other parents are frustrated too. But it seems like there is no much we can do other than withdrawing our kids. I am also particularly upset because they made Miss Beth leave so suddenly that she did not even say good bye to the kids. MM has an extended family that comes and goes (she got to see them very intensively for a month, then not at all for half an year or even longer), so I really want school to be a stable environment for her. I don't like people around her disappearing suddenly without a trace, without a good bye.

This morning at drop off time, the new teacher (usually there is a warm up period for the new teacher and the kids, they got to know each other when the old teacher is still there. But this time, it is a new teacher who has never been in this school before) came up to introduce herself and MM gave her a smile after some hesitation. Then she settled herself down at a play table, and said to herself quietly: Miss Beth will be here soon. I told her Miss Beth won't be there today. She looked disappointed and puzzled, and looked out to the window for a while. I told her the Miss Erin (the new teacher) would be nice to her and all her friends are still there. She gave me a weak smile and I hugged her good bye.

papa is back

we were trying to play quietly so that papa can sleep more this morning

now she only wants papa to bath her because ONLY papa knows how to operate the hair dryer. I am more than happy to delegate!

seeing Jennifer again

Ming Ming had a 100F fever for two days, so she was not feeling exactly energetic today though the fever was over. But the prospect of meeting Jennifer kept her strong. The two were really happy to play together again. Jennifer's parents took us to the mall (we had no car), but the playground was packed with kids, which turned MM off for a while. She wanted to ride horses, and did it for four times (some free rides).

Jennifer is full of life and energy

and she really likes to climb

and does it really well (well, I probably would have stopped her but her parents did not seem to mind).

marshmallow dipped in Chocolate sauce!

Then we were treated to a buffet. I did not want to go considering that MM is not feeling too well, but MM really wants to eat with Jennifer.

Ming Ming was very conscious that Jennifer's dad was there and hers was not. She was already like this in the music class this morning, she changed place to sit with Julian's dad.

After dinner, when they drove us home, after saying goodbye and everything, MM told Jennifer's dad - I am going home now and my dad will be there. I did not have the heart to tell her that he won't. Then once we opened the door, MM was surprised that it was all dark, and, after having a clear look of the apartment she bursted into tears.

Maybe it was just that Antoine was home a lot more this past month, and MM was used to having him around. The winter and spring quarters are going to be hard.