Arthur shares a lot

We went to the zoo during Labor day weekend. Arthur got a sheet of animal stickers from the souvenir store. The next day, Minglun wanted to help Arthur with the stickers. In the past, the stickers they got normally ended up on their chairs or desks.  So I asked Minglun to "supervise" Arthur to put those stickers to the good spots.

After a while, Minglun wanted to get a few stickers, but Arthur refused him.  "They are all MINE."  He said.  Minglun was not too happy.  So I went to talk with Arthur, telling him that he needs to share, just as Minglun is helping him to make his room look nice with all those animal stickers.  Arthur kept quiet and didn't say anything.  Minglun was sad and almost cried.  So I took him away with me to the living room and let him play something else there.

The house was quiet.  Then Arthur came to the living room with a big smile on his face, "Mama and Minglun, come look.  I made Minglun's room look pretty."  We went there, and saw Minglun's room's door, closet doors are full of stickers.  Arthur put All, yes, All of his stickers to Minglun's room.  I was so touched and I held both of them in my arms and said, "You know what, you two made Mama so happy."

All I remember about Education in China

Chinese sayings:

Live and Learn.  活到老，学到老。

Knowledge is power.  知识就是力量。
Knowledge is wealth.  知识就是财富。

Reading is the key to knowledge.  读书是打开知识宝库的钥匙。



After you master math, physics and chemistry, you can go all around the world without a problem.  学好数理化，走遍全天下。

Confucius: Three people walking together, there must be at least one that I can learn from.
孔子云，三人行，则必有我师。

It takes 10 years to grow a tree, and it takes 100 years to educate a person.
十年种树，百年育人。

In books, there are beauty and house of gold.
书中自有颜如玉，书中自有黄金屋。

Travel 10,000 miles and read 10,000 books.
行万里路，读万卷书。

Arthur's Naive Question

One day I was driving with Arthur, another car all of sudden jumped in front of me. I quickly pressed brake and said "Shoot".

Arthur must be opening his eyes big at the back. He exclaimed, "Mama, you just said 'Shoot'". I said to him, "Sorry, Arthur. Mama was not supposed to say that." Arthur was still amazed, "Mama, your car has shooting power??"

(No. Arthur.  Mama's car doesn't have shooting power.  It is not a transformer either.)
(For some reason, the two kids keep on thinking Papa's truck is a hot wheel and it runs faster than my van.)

Minglun's Happy Times and Sad Times

Minglun's answer to a school assignment -

Happy times: 1. When I go asleep.

2. When my dad snores like a baby.

3. When my little brother does NOT play with me.

4. When I go to store with my mom.

Sad times: 1. When my brother Arthur screams at me.

2. When I cannot go to grandma's house.

3. When I get timeout in school.

4. When I cannot watch Star Wars.

A Serious Talk with Arthur

Arthur is almost three and half now, but he can still get into toddler mood sometimes and make some big noise in the house, such as the roars, "DON'T TOUCH MY BIKE." "This is MY toy!"

Last Saturday morning, after he screamed at Minglun, I found myself start talking to him like this, "Arthur, you have to try to control your temper." At the back of my mind, I was thinking, "Does he know the word control or what it means?" Arthur looked at me quite unhappily and said, "I cannot, because I am too little."

Since he answered, I felt that I need to keep the conversation, "You need to change." Arthur looked even unhappier, and said, "I don't want to."

Minglun had been listening carefully since our conversation started, and now he threw himself to the couch and hit his head against it repeatedly in frustration, "Arthur is never going to change. Arthur is never going to change."

Where does Chocolate Milk Come From?

"From what type of cows?" - questioned by Minglun.

Arthur and Wrinkles

This summer, we played a lot in water. Minglun is five and half and Arthur is three and half and I finally can take both of them to the pool all by myself. The only difficult part was to get them out from the pool. Arthur is the more difficult one and he wouldn't listen sometimes. I tried different things and the one worked really well was telling Arthur that he got many wrinkles on his hands and he cannot stay in water any longer. Arthur will talk in his baby voice, slowly but clearly, "Oh my gosh. I got so many wrinkles. Hurry, hurry, we have to go wash my wrinkles away."

I think I played this too much. Then later Arthur wouldn't like to go to the pool any more. He would say, "I do not want to go swimming because I will get wrinkles." And I found myself talking to him, "Arthur, you are only three years old. You don't need to worry about WRINKLES..." So we still go to the pool but now I have to be careful not to mention wrinkles to Arthur any more.