Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Girls Update



I am so proud of my two girls. I decided to move them into their own room yesterday after months of mental preparation injected into Evy. I put them on a queen size mattress so that if they fell off from the mattress, they were not going to hurt themselves. Everything was set, I put on a new bed sheet, more mental preparation talk on both girls while doing that. The night came, Edda was easy because she already fell asleep down stair so I just needed to carry her to the bed. I accompanied Evy to brush her teeth, showed her her own bathroom (sharing with her sister of course), but her own sink and her own face towel. Then ushered her into bed, kissed her good night and laid at the bottom of the bed to wait for her to fall asleep. I was afraid that she might be scared because she always told me she is scared to sleep alone. Thus, the co-sleeping with her sister was my solution. But you know what, she actually told me to go back to my room. I was like really and she said yes and I was real impressed. I actually felt weird sleeping in a room without my two girls or simply worrying about them (took me a long time to fall asleep). I had my monitor on the whole time and they did so well, they slept through the night, no crying, not a single sound. I was so proud of them and I told them so. I kept praising them in the morning and told them how well they did and how proud I am of them. They both kept smiling and I know they understood it. So, another smooth sailing move to their own room.



Next would be Edda potty training (I will get it done when she turned three, right now I am mentally preparing her) and teaching her shapes, colors and alphabet. I will really work on her when her sister goes to Kindergarten this Fall. At that time, I will have the private one on one time with her and thus the best time to really teach her. I will start to prepare her for kindergarten. Phonic digestion at 3 years old and at 4, she will know how to read like her sister. One thing though her learning skill is a bit slow, I guess it was my fault because I did not read to her from 6 months up to a year every night like what I did with her sister. So until now she still cannot differentiate shapes and colors which her sister already knew at 9 months. I can really see the difference what advance reading do to their learning ability. One a fast learner and really smart, the other a slow learner and not as smart. Luckily she started talking in sentences and more now, at 2 she still hardly spoke at all and I was worried. Just that sometimes I have to figure out whether she is talking in Mandarin or English because her pronunciation is a bit off. But she sure try to express herself in sentences.

Evy is going to Kindergarten this Fall. I enrolled her into a school that teaches Mandarin from K to grade 5. She already has good Mandarin foundation and I hope that it will get reinforce in the school. I have prepared her well for Kindergarten as I did not send her to pre-school. She knows how to write, how to read (very good at reading, can read the whole Dora (1) book with no mistake), how to count, how to add and minus in her mind, without using her ten fingers (her mathematics skill is up to grade 1 level), how to use a computer, how to draw, color and tell story of what she drew. She even made a story book, drew some pictures, illustrated the story to me and had me wrote down the story in that book for her. And she would read the story over and over again and kept it as her possession. I have no doubt she will do well in school.

Extra update: The next day, I put both of them in bed, kissed them good night and left the room. Edda still wanted to play I guess because I heard (through my monitor) Evy said, "睡觉了,好不好?". Edda replied, "好". Some comforter ruffle sounds. Few minutes later, Evy said, "
睡觉了,好不好? 姐姐累累了,要睡觉了." Then, silent. The following day I asked Evy, she said her sister was trying to tickle her. Haha...

Translation:
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok?" Edda replied, "ok"
Evy said, "Let's sleep, ok? Sister is very tired and wants to sleep now."

16 comments:

Beachlover said...

wow!! clap,clap!to both Edda and Evy!! congratulation!! My Mishu still want to sleep with us or me..I think I spoilt her.She even move me to her room..I guess maybe she is the only child so I let her be..You're lucky to find a only Mandarin school for Evy..I didn't know US public school offer only Mandarin language school..not even NYC who have plenty of chinese ppls..They only have weekend school.Some parents send their children to after school mandarin class by private tutor.I'm going to enroll Mishu this coming fall,hope they take her coz she not 5 yet!..

Pearl said...

awwww i read the chinese and i so pictured your two girls saying that. so beautiful!

just wanted to let you know: every child develops at a different pace, and some suddenly speed up later on. i know that you're worried that your younger daughter is a little slower than how your older daughter was at her age, but you never know, she may suddenly have growth spurt!

Mrs. JP said...

It sounds like a smooth transition for the girls and now so much room in your bed for you. These will be times they remember forever. Enjoy the your new found space and thanks for the update on your beautiful girls!

mae said...

so sweet!!

ICook4Fun said...

Your two girls are just adorable. Big sister Evy is all grown up and Edda is getting cuter by the day. Give Edda some time as she is only 2 and in no time she will catch up with her sister.

Anonymous said...

your girls are so adorable!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks Beachlover. Maybe you can start talking to her about moving into her own room (before she starts her kindergarten) and start mentally preparing her as well. Yes, that's the only public school in my district offering Mandarin class from K-G5 because the founder believed Mandarin is going to be the world language and he wants to prepare the little kids here to be ahead. This school is new, only 1 year old, imagine 5 years down the road and all graduated American kids from this school will know the basic of Mandarin in Colorado Springs!!

Oh you were right. Edda did have a growth spurt on her speaking ability. I can see she is trying to learn, but slow. One thing good is she always bring me story book and ask me to read to her.

Thanks Mrs. JP. Definitely trying to enjoy the new found space, right now my room feels so empty.

Mae :)

Okay Gert. :) I just couldn't help to combine the two and see how slow and behind she is. :P

Spoon It On said...

Your girls are most adorable! I have 5 kids and my youngest who will be 4 on August 24th is still in our bed!! I have to admit, I really love it though, knowing that this is my last baby. I may try to move her into her room which is her play room (actually, the whole house is), when she starts school in the fall. I wish I had spoken Chinese to my kids, but unfortunately, because it's not my first language, my comfort level in speaking is not great. My husband is half french and Canada's official languages are french and english but I think that Chinese would serve her better in the future. I think it's too late for any of my kids now. Hopefully, they will have the urge to learn it when they are older. Kudos to you!

Noob Cook said...

Your girls are so sweet looking ... congrats :)

Food For Tots said...

Your girls are so mature in thinking and independence at their age. I think it is becos of the guidance and training from u. Well done to the mommy too! ;)

I totally agreed with Pearl. Do not compare your child with any one. She has her own uniqueness and hidden talent that are waiting for you to discover.

Jean said...

在外国还坚持和孩子用华语交谈。很好!!我国却有些不会英语的在家和孩子用英语交谈,结果孩子的英语全部是华文直接翻译,华语又不三不四,真凄凉。。。

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks Spoon it on. Yeah I think it's a bit too late for your kids now, but the youngest one might be not too late yet. Do you know early exposure to Mandarin language will help her in the future if she ever decided to pick it up later?

Hi Tennen, thanks for linking but I don't read Japanese, so sorry!

Thanks noobcook.

Yes Food for Tots, I taught them since babies how to be independent. Evy is very mature in thinking because I never treated her as a little kid, whatever knowledge I have I feed into her, I am encouraging her to use her head to think and solve problem now.

谢谢Jean. We subscribed to Chinese channels too and once I saw a show where they promote people in China to learn and speak English. How to speak without the Chinese accent (you know certain Chinese accent is very strong) and how they incorporate dancing and singing into teaching English and trying to motivate the Chinese and making learning English fun. I tell you I was real impressed. Perhaps those parents instead of speaking broken English to their kids, should sent them to English school or let them watch lots of English educational cartoons (not the English shows here, too much violence, sex and culture differences that better not to learn from :P).

Family First said...

They speak in Mandarin even when they are in the US??? That's really good!

Little Corner of Mine said...

Thanks Family First. Yes, these two sisters mostly converse in Mandarin among themselves.

meaderiote said...

You have a darling family and your daughters are not only so very beautiful but so very smart as well. And very well behaved. I love you as much as my own family maybe even more LOL. If there is a contest for world's greatest Mom you are the winner in my books.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Awww...thanks so much for your kind words Mead.