Him, her, he , she

This was the kind of day you really think every day should be.

We all got home in plenty of time to cook, eat, clean up, play Wii, have a short nap (me!), ride bikes, wash clothes, and take showers. I cannot remember the last time this has happened and it is so nice to sit down before 10:00!

Annabel works diligently on her words each evening, but sometimes her pronounciation of a word still is way off. While having dinner she asked who smelled her foooo. I thought she meant that someone had smelled her food, but she meant foot. Of course the idea that someone was smelling her foot while we were eating didn't really make sense until she explained further that it was one of the dogs!

Recently the battery in the smoke detector in my bedroom needed to be changed.

Annabel asked, "Mom, what that noise?"

I asked if she meant the chirping sound.

She said something about it being in my room. Then she asked, "Is that boy in your room?" I have no idea why she thought that a boy (man) was in my bedroom chirping or how I got him in there without them seeing it.

She also has a friend named Coral at school or at least that is what I think her name is. Every time she mentions Coral, I think she is saying squirrel or girl. So by the time I realize it is her friend, then I have forgotten the rest of the story and kind of nod my head in agreement.

Pronouns are the hardest. If she tries to tell a story that involves both a boy and a girl and then switches to pronouns, it is really difficult to follow, so I just nod in agreement!

I realized in working on these words with her that in Chinese there are not rhymes. Each character can mean a group of words even or it might take several to say one word. I worry about her catching up on science and social studies.

For Grace the issue has been politics.

They had a mock election in her class, but her teacher strongly endorsed one candidate and actually made fun of those who did not agree with her. Not surprisingly in their mock election, her candidate won.

Now the discussion has continued and Grace understood that anyone who did not vote for and approve our newly elected president was wrong and doing mean things to him.

I had not felt like she was at a point to get into long political discussions, but I have tried to emphasize to her that the beauty of our process is that you can have differences in opinions. There are at least 2 candidates and you get to choose who you vote for. You do your research to help make those important decisions.

She seemed bewildered.

I explained that the teacher has the freedom to discuss politics in her room, but in her role as the teacher she should have explained both sides.

I think we will have more talks about this soon.

In the meantime, she works on an old math workbook every chance she gets!