Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Pass weekend


On Thanksgiving day, we went to hubby's brothers home to celebrate. It was nice not having to cook and just show up and eat for once. Danielle had fun scootering in the back yard and playing go fish card game with her cousin E and Secondo played with Mr. Potato head with me.
They served pumpkin pie, strawberry banana pie and Tiramisu but none of those deserts were appealing. I much rather have cheesecake than pies so I'm proud to say that I had a little taste of the Tiramisu and not the whole piece.
For dinner, we went to my parent's home and celebrated with them, my brother's in-laws and their dog Fei-fei. Fei-fei is 13 years old so she was calm and mellow. Unfortunately, sister in-law had to work on Friday after Thanksgiving so Bulleye and sister in-law didn't get to LA until late Friday night.
Mom said, earlier that day, they went out to lunch so the dog was leashed on a guava tree in the back yard. By the time they returned the dog ran away. Luckily, her nextdoor neighbor saw the dog and started the investigation on Fei-fei's owner with fliers etc. Fei-fei doesn't eat dog food so it was interesting to watch her eat beef stew with rice. Secondo was afraid to pet Fei-fei but she was willing to share her toys with the dog.

On Saturday, I went to the gym in the morning and we had a family dinner at
  • Ma's Islamic Restaurant
  • The bread in the picture was really good but there's another breat that is even more tasty. Needless to say I ate more that I should but I did take a spin class Sunday and burned off 600 calories.

    Wednesday, November 22, 2006

    Happy Birthday Dad and Bulleye

    Today is my brother and Dad's birthday. I tried to call Bulleye to wish him a happy birthday but he didn't answer his cell phone. Can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving already and the weather is still hot.
    I'm going to workout after work because the gym will be close tomorrow. That should not be an excuse for not exercising so I may jog around the neighbornood and burn at least 300 calories or so before going to my brother in-laws for Thanksgiving feast.
    One new discovery is that there's a pie factory near work that sells over produced pies for way less than the supermarket.

    Tuesday, November 21, 2006

    Guava

    Being the rookie at a new company, I do rely on the help of others so that I can get things done in a timely manner. Luckily I'm able to return their favors by giving them my Dad's delicious guava. I brought a full bag to work and they were gone in minutes. Those who had them wanted more and I don't know if Dad has any more to share.

    Monday, November 20, 2006

    Fun weekend

    This pass weekend was one of the better weekends we've had lately.
    For the pass three Saturdays, I took kickboxing instead of the usual boot camp class. The class works mostly the torso with lots of choreography so I didn't burnt as many calories as boot camp while I'm learning the routines. I'm going to switch back to boot camp next week so my body gets sore and burn more calories. Danielle went to see the movie "Happy Feet" Imax version with her cousin. When I asked her how she liked the movie, she said it was really loud and she had to cover her ears most of the time. While she was at the movies, we paid my parents a visit and met up with my great uncle #7, great aunt and their youngest son, C. Great aunt was asking if I could introduce C to some nice Chinese girls which I'm sure is emberassing for C.

    On Sunday, parent inlaws paid our kids a visit so hubby and I jumped on the opportunity to go on a movie date. We saw the new James Bond movie "Casino Royale" and we both really liked it. This new bond is quite a muscular eye candy and the stunts are more realistic compared to what Pierce Bronson's had done as the 007.

    On Danielle's reading front, I'm happy to learned that she likes reading the Juni B Jones series. I brought 3 home along with the magic tree house books and she read all 3 of them and asked if I could borrow 2 more which I forgot the titles already.

    Friday, November 17, 2006

    OMG

    Last night I was disturbed by what Danielle had learned from school.

    D: "Mom, let's play chinese checkers" (It's a hand clapping along with chanting words that ryhmes)

    She said the following with a funny accent.

    Chinese people talk so funny
    This is how they talk in Chinese
    Usha, usha, I give you a tusha


    Me in Mandarin: "Chinese don't talk funny. It sounds funny to those who don't understand the language. I don't want you to play that game anymore."
    D:"Yes, we do.."
    Me in Mandarin:" Besides,usha and tusha are made up Chinese words that has no real meaning in Chinese."
    Me: "If we visit China and speak English to them, do you think the kids will do"
    American people talk so funny
    This is how they talk in America
    Usha, usha, I give you a tusha?


    D: "I don't know.."

    May be I've over reacted but I just want her to be aware that making fun of other races is not acceptable.

    Tuesday, November 14, 2006

    Pomegranate

    Hubby got some pomegranates home the other day and he was nice enough to peel off the skin and gather all the berries of one pomegranate so we can enjoy the fruit of his labor. The way I normally eat pomegranate is that I pop 2-3 berries in my mouth, suck the juice off then spit out the seeds in a bowl. It's a labor-intensive process and sometimes I stain my clothes with the juice too.
    I took some to work yesterday and was eating it after lunch and a co-worker of mine, A was making fun of me.
    A: "That's not how you eat pomegranate. You are suppose to eat the seed too."
    Me: "That' how I've been eating it. Are you expecting me to swallow the seed after I sucked out the juice?"
    A: "No. Just chew the whole thing and swallow the seed along with the juice. Go ahead and try it."
    She put me on the spot and got the ladies sitting in the next table involved in the conversation so with the spot light on me, I unwillingly tried it
    Me: "It doesn't taste as good as the juice alone but it's less messy compared to the way I prefer to eat it and I'm sure the fiber is good for me."
    A: "That's how I learned to eat pomegranate since I was little."
    Me: "Interesting..."
    I share some pomegranate with her and she ate them like peanuts. I still prefer to eat it my way and luckily all the good antioxidants such as polyphenols, tannins and anthocyanins are in the juice not in the seed. To really get the health benefit, I would need to suck down equivalent of 1 glass a day.

    Monday, November 13, 2006

    Reading

    Since Danielle and I felt that she's not challenged by the books she had been bringing home from school, I went and borrowed several "Magic tree house" books from our local library. There aren't as many pictures in these books so I decided to read it for her and check her interest level. She picked "Vacation under the volcano" and we both really enjoyed the story. Danielle liked the adventure and time travel aspects of the book and I liked how the book introduces new words with definitions and how she learned these words in context and with historical perspective. I tried to stop in the middle of the book and she said "NO! Let's keep reading". After finishing the 1st book, she read "Midnight on the moon" and "Dolphin at day break" on her own the next day.
    On our next trip to the library, we’re going to borrow "Mummies in the morning" and "Ghost town at sun down". I may sneak in several Junie B Jones books because I felt that she didn't give those books a chance.

    Wednesday, November 08, 2006

    1st Grade parent teacher conference

    Hubby and I had our very first conference with Danielle's teacher this morning and over all, Danielle is doing well in school. She's scored highest on reading and we're suppose to work on reading comprehension and also on her math test speed. When Danielle took her baseline math assessment test, she scored low because she took time to double check the accuracy of her answer and diligent on her hand writing and took too long in down all her answers. She wasn't able to complete all 50 questions within the given time. Now we know what we have to work on.
    As far as reading, the books that she's bringing home from school are not challenging enough for her and for some reason she doesn't like the higher level books that was recommended by her school. We're going to figure out the type of books she enjoys reading and strengthen her reading skills. I can see that she enjoys reading "harder" books than her class mates.
    In math, she's learning addition and subtraction between 0-20 so her brought home some flash cards that will be added to her homework repertoire. She was very excited to show me that se knows 8+8 is 16 but when I asked her how she figured it out, she said that she memorized it.
    On the piano front, she was intrigued that her piano teacher had adults and children as students so I told her that Hubby and I would take piano lesson if we have the time to practice at home. Her latest homework are "Lullaby" and "10 Little Jazzy Indians" which is a bit harder to play than plain "10 little Indians". I enjoy playing it so I hope she feels the same way.

    Tuesday, November 07, 2006

    What to do?

    When I picked up Secondo from day care last night, the child care provider informed me that Secondo bit the arm of one of the boy at the day care. I've tried giving her time out when she does something wrong but she doesn't really understand the concept at 17th month.
    We never had the same problem with Danielle so if any one out there who has a solution to stoping this biting habit, please let me know.

    Monday, November 06, 2006

    Silly daughter

    One day, as I was changing Secondo's diaper and noticed she was constipated so I told hubby that Secondo may be developing a hammoroid at an early age and Danielle got really interested in the subject.
    D: "What? Mei mei (little sister) has a hammer on her butt? Let me see.."
    Me: "There's no hammer coming on her butt."
    D: "I still want to see it."
    Then I had to explain what a hammoroid is to a 6 year old which she thought was hilarious.

    Each morning, we sing little songs as we get ready to leave the house so I came up with the 1st 2 verses and Danielle came up with the last two.

    Put on your shoes mei-mei let's go
    Put on your shoes mei-mei..
    Put on your shoes befor your diaper gonna ooze..
    Put on your shoes mei-mei..

    Friday, November 03, 2006

    Sight Word Spelling Test

    Once or twice a week, Danielle's teacher quizzes her on her "Sight Word" lists. Each column consist of 5 words and if she knows all 5 words, she gets to continue and spell the next 5 words and so on all the way up to 30 words. We review the list nightly except on Halloween night because we were busy trick or treating. When she got quizzed on Wednesday, she miss spelled "called" which is the 1st word of the list so the teacher stopped the quiz and she's stuck at the same point as last Wednesday. I was surprised that she misspelled "called" because she spelled it correctly every night at home. I was working more with her on "Through, because and different" or words that I thought was more difficult to spell. She actually memorized the list and she able to write them all on her own. I was more upset than she was so we're going to make sure she knows how to spell at least 30 words like the back of her hands for the next round. Hubby and I are having a parent teacher conference next week so I got to get my questions ready for her teacher. Am I an overbearing mom? Big sigh...

    Thursday, November 02, 2006

    Driving

    Eversince we turn the clock back an hour, I noticed more traffic on the freeway when it gets dark. I really don't enjoy going home in the dark so it's going to take some getting use to.
    I witness a car accident on my way into work this morning. A car tried to avoid hitting the car infront of him so he swerved to the right and hit a Rav4 on the next lane. I take this as a lesson to drive consciously and leave lots of space between me and the car infront of me. Unfortunately other cars would take advantage of my space and cut in front. I also has to fix my tail breaklight this weekend because a car almost rear ended me the other day. Not sure if he/she wasn't paying attention or didn't see me break.