Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Time flies, I almost forgot to send holiday regards to friends and relatives until Christmas already passed. Here you go:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

自推娃 and his life plan

Albert is a 自推娃, as parents, we can't help laughing inside. But what's more amazing, he already started planning his life. So far, he has decided that he's going to marry a smart wife who can speak 4 languages, and 4 years younger than himself. As to the appearance, she's just OK, not pretty (the standard of OK is mommy, and mommy is not pretty : ( ). He will be married at 27 and have kids (better be twins) at 32. He will have 2 kids, both boys. He will have a 4 story house at Spicewood springs Rd. He will have pets, and he himself will take care of the dog and the cat, and his wife will take care of the fishes and the bird, as well as the kids. And Albert is going to cook and clean dishes, the rest of the chores are left for his wife. He also decided what his first car is, of course that's consistently changing. Initially he wanted a Ford Mustang, later he changed it to a Nissan Altima.

We were waiting for our flight at the airport. Sitting next to us was a 3 year old pretty Hispanic girl, her mother, and older sister. Albert managed to get her attention, but when she came over, Albert started to fill up a form. The girl found that boring, left to play with a cat. Albert finished the form, wanted to show it to that girl, but was too timid to get closer to her. Yuqi and I at first were puzzled, then later we realized that Albert were trying to impress her with his strength. That's really nerdy, but also kind of cute. He's yet to learn how to deal with girls. : )

Albert loves math

Albert started to do math when he was three, but he's really into it recently. He asked "Mommy, can you teach me multiplication?" He even enjoys memorizing the addition and multiplication tables. Albert always wanted to do division, but I told him to hold it off until he grasped multiplication. Now he thinks it's time, started practicing division himself.

Albert would do math in workbooks or create math questions himself. He then asks us to grade it and always says "don't forget to draw a happy face and write Excellent".

How to raise a creative genius

We are blessed with Albert who's a smart and self-motivated kid. But it takes a lot of learning and work to cultivate and nurture the talent. Read on...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/10/22/motivation.kids/index.html?hpt=C2

略谈教育

Here are the collections of the blogs from a father of a ten year old boy whose IQ is 160.

http://www.unknownspace.org/article_t/Parenting/31492729.html
http://www.mitbbs.com/article0/Parenting/31275247_0.html
http://www.mitbbs.com/article0/Parenting/31276027_0.html
http://www.mitbbs.com/article0/Parenting/31278411_0.html
http://www.mitbbs.com/article0/Parenting/31280387_0.html
http://www.mitbbs.com/article0/Parenting/31283107_0.html
http://www.mitbbs.com/article0/Parenting/31298403_0.html

I agree with most of their opinions and approaches, but some of them gave me a different perspective on things that I didn't expect or think of. Every kids is different, the most important thing is to understand your kid, and find a right way for him/her.

扁豆五岁半的时候经常去一位小朋友家玩。那个小朋友和扁豆一样大。他们家刚买了
Yamaha 钢琴，并给孩子请了老师。有时候就让孩子即兴弹个儿歌什么的，扁豆羡慕得
不得了。回到家跟我们说，他也要学钢琴。于是我们就买了一个德国的杂牌钢琴，请了
个台湾老师教。钢琴老师在美国拿过音乐硕士，用美国教材教，很认真，对孩子也和蔼
可亲。教了有一年，孩子也学了简单识谱，但扁豆妈觉得教得太浅，只是局限于儿歌之
类。于是她就去咨询有没有更好的老师。调查的结果是，俄国的钢琴老师水平比较高。
一来二去的，我们就让扁豆去和一位严格得出名的俄国老师学琴了。头一次上课，上来
就让扁豆弹 German Dance by Bethoven。我们扁豆一是看不懂谱子，二是弹琴手型不对，用老师的话说“是敲琴不是弹琴”。结果被一顿臭骂。回来的路上，扁豆就哭开了
，说不想和新老师学了。她妈苦口婆心地说：严师出高徒。你再学一个月。如果还是受
不了，我们就换。又去“挨骂”了三、四次，回回扁豆都哭。他妈就问他：换不换老师
？扁豆说：这个老师严厉是严厉，但水平的确高。她弹 German Dance 不费力气，很好
听。虽然被骂，心里难受，但我还是想跟她学。这一晃三年下来，扁豆钢琴已经考过四
级，“挨骂”的次数越来越少，比赛小奖也拿了一两个。更重要的一点，老师的言传身
教，让扁豆对音乐的理解提高了一个层次。用老师的话说，他已经知道 tempo,
expression 的重要性了。相比之下，原来先学琴的小朋友早就不弹了。Yamaha 钢琴成
了客厅里的摆设。

言归正传。扁豆中文学校用的教材是中国暨南大学华文学院编的一套《中文》教材，给
海外儿童用的。一年学一册。现在已经开始学第五册了。我这孩子记性不错。上次提到
的 whale's blowhole 的趣事就是一例。一旦他用心学，笨鸟先飞，磕磕绊绊地也就赶
上来了。现在的中文班上，扁豆已经属于好学生之列。主要是他肯学。据他讲，好多同
学都放弃了。上中文课根本不听。听写单词可以错上一半的，大有人在。他老实，老师
让干啥就干啥，从没二话，一步一个脚印地走下来了。所以龟兔赛跑的故事，在他身上
应验了。

我们为了提高他的学习兴趣，特意让他和一位中国声乐老师学唱歌。大家一听肯定笑了
。一个男孩子，学什么唱歌呀。不瞒你说，我开始也有同样的看法。可扁豆妈有她的一
套理论：一是我们当父母的都五音不全。这孩子可不能步我们后尘，给耽误了。二是学
唱中文歌曲，有助于巩固所学中文。三是上台演出，如果不怵观众的话，有助于培养扁
豆的公众演讲能力。这第三条对我比较有吸引力。于是就这么办了。

你甭说，几年下来，扁豆在这三方面都有进步。歌喉嘹亮，音域宽阔；中文利索多了；
大庭广众下的言谈举止，更拿得出手了。四年级在学校做的课堂报告啦，课上发言啦，
都比以前有进步，有口若悬河的趋势。这点从他的成绩单中也能显示出来。语言表达能
力上了一个台阶。上台唱歌也从扭扭捏捏型，变成大大方方型，自信心倍增 。有时候
在家，他心血来潮，会一边弹琴一边唱歌，有滋有味的。

Albert to play pretend

Recently Yuqi and I asked Albert, how's things at school, who he played today. His mouth would popped up a few familiar names. And sometimes, he even said "I didn't play with anyone, I played with myself. No one wanted to play with me." I got worried, and had Yuqi asked his teacher. Surprisingly Ms Vino said Albert played very well at school, played with almost every one. He's even very talkative now, v.s. before going back to China, Albert was quite at school. Albert also translated for two Chinese classmates who don't speak good English.

It seems to start to happen after Albert came back from China, he wanted to have a little brother just like his good friend Maomao does. Tonight he even named his fluffy toys Mommy, Daddy, Albert and little brother, and played pretend by himself. Big pressure on me. : (

Good Children's Books （2-6 years old)

不一样的卡梅拉（法）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9213954&ref=book-02-D
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20531735&ref=book-02-D

青蛙弗若格和朋友们（荷）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9203153

贝贝熊系列丛书（美）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9201235
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20353519&ref=product-0-B
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20689592&ref=product-0-E

蹦蹦和跳跳的故事(全10册)（德）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20163873&ref=product-0-A

斯凯瑞金色童书（美）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9284655&ref=product-0-F
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20039610
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20163872&ref=product-0-A

14只老鼠 (日）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20817211&ref=product-0-A

小兔汤姆系列 （法）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20213333&ref=product-0-A

可爱的鼠小弟 (日）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20646032&ref=product-0-B

好奇的乔治（全8册）（美）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20805043&ref=product-0-A

聪明豆绘本系列（英）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9272644&ref=product-0-A
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=9238009&ref=product-0-E

古利和古拉(日）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=20676778&ref=product-0-A

窗边的小豆豆 (日）
http://product.dangdang.com/product.aspx?product_id=706089&ref=book-02-D

Albert's back to school

Albert finally went back to school. He came back last night, seemed to be happy. A few friends graduated or left for preK. But Albert's still got his best friend Harrison, buddies Luke, Anolf and girlfriend Harper to play with. Albert said that his classmates asked if he could speak both Chinese and English, he said yes, proudly :).

Started to read "Frog and Friends" with Albert, very fun and educational. Definitely recommend it.
From Wikipedia:
The characters deal with elementary feelings such as love, fear, sadness, insecurity, happiness and more. These themes are materialized by simple and clear stories. Frog and his friends try to understand the feelings they encounter in both good and bad times.

Good Children's Books

I bought some Children's books translated into Chinese from China. Albert started reading a few of them, and he really loved those, even I enjoyed reading them for Albert. A lot of fun.

不一样的卡梅拉（法）
这套书讲一只很有探险精神的小母鸡以及后来她的孩子们的探险故事。Albert's favorite now.

贝贝熊系列(美）
There a few different sets for different age group. I already have a few in English. Albert loves them very much. So I bought more from this series in Chinese. Good stories, and very educational. I will continue to collect The Berenstain Bears.

青蛙弗洛格系列（荷）
这个系列有12本。这套有拼音。故事很好，插图很有童趣。But we haven't start reading those books yet.

It's a bit surprising to me, now Albert speaks fluently Chinese, but he forgot a lot of English. He has to relearn English words. So every day we read both English and Chinese books. Hopefully he will pick up his English after he gets back to school.

Albert loves math

When Albert was in China, he loved to give George and me math quiz, normally additions with many big numbers. Right now Albert got hooked by multiplications, I tried to explain to him how it works and what it means, he doesn't seem to get it though, but he refused to do addition and subtraction. I opened his Kindergarten and Grade 1 math exercise book, and surprised to see that he finished both already. No wonder, he's ready for new challenges.

It's so funny that if you ask Albert to do 12 + 3, he probably would say "I don't know". But if you ask Albert, "If you are playing basketball, and you already scored12, now you get 3 more points. What do you have now?" He will give you the answer right away.

Albert's love for China

Albert just came back from China after a 2 month stay. He really enjoyed it and promised grandparents that he's going back to China every year until he's 18, then he would go to college. I asked him why he loved China, he said a lot of yummy food and snacks. : )

Albert suddenly grew up, talked fluently in Chinese using complex wordings, became reasonable, and learned to control his temper. Thanks to grandpas and grandmas.

What Albert said recently:
奶奶，你买给我吃， 我就吃。
说不好美国话， 也就说不好中国话。
上海好吃的东西最多，Austin第二，金华第三。
奶奶给我的，就是我的。
我有点怕爷爷，但我又喜欢他。

山口百惠

Found a person that I really like has the same star sign. Admire her for her determination, for her braveness, for her desire towards simple but happy life. The only and forever 山口百惠.

"感谢大家容许我的任性，我会得到幸福的~"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lufvt7oS-8&feature=related

Where's the money?

扬扬跟着爸爸妈妈去了国内，中文在短时间内就有了大进步， 还见了好多的亲戚朋友。 国内的亲戚总给第一次见面的扬扬红包。 妈妈我到了上海后，一家人去见宇奇的奶奶，扬扬又收了几个红包。 宇奇的大姑妈来晚了点， 见扬扬亲热的打招呼，扬扬忽然冒出一句：“Where's the money?"

4 year old big boy

扬扬已经四岁了， 他对妈妈叫他baby很不高兴。两星期前在Chucky E Cheese过了生日party, 接下来连着三星期，都要去小朋友的生日party。
扬扬还是一如即往的爱学习， 最近不仅要做加减，还要做乘除；不仅要做正数，还要做负数；不仅要做整数，还要做分数。 汗。。。
最近没统计过扬扬的词汇量了， 但应该比妈妈高中的词汇量多了。 可见妈妈的英语当初有多烂。
扬扬的球龄不大，但球瘾不小。 足球，篮球，冰球， 橄榄球，高尔夫球，啥都看，而且最喜欢给爸爸报分数。
扬扬跟妈妈说好，（三岁踢足球），四岁学游泳，五岁学功夫，上中文学校，六岁打篮球（得找个篮球队），七岁弹钢琴（有点晚，不过玩票性质，所以要求不高）。 我们扬扬啥都要计划的来。 不过实际上是妈妈建议，并时不时地吹耳边风，最仅总算通过扬扬的批准了， 当然，经过扬扬的稍加改动。

Yesterday had a teacher and parent session, Yuqi and I decided to take the teacher's suggestion to keep Yangyang in the Montessori school until 6. That also gives us an excuse to send Yangyang back to China in the summer.

Yangyang just had a 4 year well check, height 41 inch (75%), weight 36lb (50%), still fit and slim. Yangyang also had 4 shots today, and he was so brave that he even didn't groan.