growing up

rafael started doing a home journal for school in december. every week he brings home one or two very simple book(s) (with one sentence each page and maybe ten pages or less in total). he reads and is asked to draw or write something on the journal afterwards. the teacher stressed that it is not a book report. they are free to draw or write anything they like.

rafael has enjoyed the assignment. he likes to start by saying "i like" or "i love" every time. i guess he's not the kind of people who likes to be creative (yet, hopefully) and he enjoys routines a lot. anyway it's good to see him starting to read and write bit by bit.

every friday he will hand in the journal and on monday after i come home, i'm always eager to sit down and read with him the comments his teacher left on the journal. i wish i can show you a picture of rafael smiling when he successfully decodes his teacher's messages. it's always sweet to have someone write back to you when you write, isn't it? i have received quite many letters from rafael, and i just realised i haven't really wrote back at all.

i particularly love that his teacher drew a checkered heart in response to rafael's checkered fish. too cute.

靖愷開始要做家課了，每星期讀一、兩本小書，將想到的用圖畫或文字記下來。好喜歡他還是充滿稚氣的畫。對於寫字，他對自己是有要求的，我佩服他的整潔。





and rafael had his first baby tooth fall out just this morning. he's really growing up, isn't he?

luckily i got this tooth fairy bag ready last night. (check here for the project.)

今早，靖愷第一次掉落乳齒。他真的長大了。

homework

rafael's first home work : )  

new school

i love rafael's new school. and it seems he has been pretty happy about it too.

his class teacher gave the parents a set of notes, and among all the classroom rules and points-to-note, she put down her expectations for the children. she said:

my hope this year is that all of the children in the class:

- come to know their creator God and deepen their relationship with him

- learn basic reading skills

- learn the 44 phonetic english sounds

- develop basic number sense

- develop a love for learning

- have a great time!

and i totally agree with her. if i have to criticise, i might add something about chinese - but she's the class teacher and not the chinese teacher, and i'm not sure if she knows chinese or not...

i really love that she hopes the children will develop a love for learning and will have a great time in school. these are what matter most.

rafael doesn't have much homework yet. all he is required to do is to read books. so naturally there isn't much to put on the handbook yet. i wrote something on the handbook as a start, and interestingly rafael seems to love that and he actually insists that i write something each day.

so i've somehow become a pen pal with his teacher. sometimes i run out of things to say and started talking about the weather. :P

i guess the handbook could make a good keepsake in memory of this special year though.

treasure

rafael showed me this gold hair band when i came home from work last friday. 

"it's for you. i got it from the treasure box in class," he said. 

rafael had this reward system in school that if the kids behave well, do something kind or are able to read a book by themselves etc, they can get stamps or straws accumulated until they score enough to take a treasure of their choice from the treasure chest. and this is actually the first treasure he is entitled since he's been school for four weeks. 

i was really touched. 

"i knew you like sparkly things so i got you this," he said. 

"hmm... is there anything for boys in the treasure chest?" i still couldn't believe that he actually chose something for me for his first treasure. 

"yes there were."

oh my dear darling. 

excuse me for showing off with this treasure of him/mine. this is too important for me to forget. 

在小學，老師為了鼓勵你們有好行為，讓你們可以累積點數，足夠就可以到寶箱取一份寶物。

上學四星期，上星期五你終於儲夠點數可以到寶箱尋寶了，而你取的竟然是一根給我的髮圈。

謝謝你，這件法寶，我定會好好珍惜。

cook therapy

好喜歡和你一起入廚。

靜靜的，就我倆；沒有妹妹東攪西攪、沒有爸爸投訴為什麼弄個一團髒？

i love cooking with rafael.

i'd love to involve heather, but i'd have to say she gives me more trouble than help at this stage.



你長大後，有甚麼不愉快事，就找個藉口，烤個蛋糕，呼吸一下牛油的香氣，舔一下香滑的鮮奶油，然後重新出發吧！

cooking is quite therapeutic to me as long as i can do it quietly and slowly. i do hope rafael can remember these cooking moments when he's big. and when there's anything upset, he can just bake a cake, keep calm and carry on.