My First Blog

I have finally given in to blogging. The only thing that did it for me was the fact that I want to have a way to remember things esp. all the ones that Ryan said or did. I'd figure years from now I would even enjoy reading my own journal!

So, how has life been?! Hmm...it's shocking to think that it's almost a year since I started working again. The job literally fell on my lap right before the biggest bubble in history burst; and I am still employed. Often time I wonder about the timing and all. I am not sure. Perhaps it was a way to distract me from thinking about other fruitless things; perhaps it was His provision so we could afford Ryan private schoolling; perhaps this is simply a time for me to be placed in a working world; or perhaps we could learn to be generous with our giving esp. after seeing some of our investment could just be halved in an instant. But whatever the purpose may be, I am just taking one day at a time. Be thankful, be generous yet cautious; be joyful with the extra free time with shut-down!

On the other hand, it is Charles' job that is going through more turbulance. He has to decide what group he wants to join as his team is being integrated with another department. I am surprised to see him stressed as it is quite unusual. I mean you can hardly phase him with anything (well, other than depriving him of good food). Perhaps it's the imminent change that is hard to deal with. Afterall, he has not had to change department for the past 8 years!

For Ryan, I think he enjoys school. He tells me about the pretend games they play and he would be the daddy. He is very bad about finishing up his lunch and his excuse has always been "Cause I talk too much...". One time I had to request for him to be placed by himself during lunch. I am not sure if it helped. So, I tried to pack stuff he most likely would consume. There are sure bets like the dumplings, cheese&egg sandwiches, and chinese sausages. We had to buy these homemade sausage w/o preservative from this Taiwanese bakery. Yesterday, he had a little bit of my korean spicy instant noodle and he LOVED it hahaha.

On thing I want to note down is Ryan's reading progress. He has not made significant progress in reading and I know mostly because of my fault. My lack of patience when I was teaching him when he was little contributed to his lack of interest to read - or should I say confidence. Yeah kinda suck esp. he made good progress even when he was 3. So, finally I learn from this chinese puzzle game we bought in HK. It has a book of puzzle classified in 3 different levels. He started doing level 1 where they were really easy. I could see his confidence and interest built as he checked off each one he finished. Obviously, the same idea could be applied to anything, like reading. Moreover, I have always wanted to start a reward system with him but nothing lasted more than a week. So, this time, I combined the two ideas together. He would start reading simple books (I mean really simple ones). He gets to earn a point every time he finishes a book. Once he accumulates 10 points, he can get a reward. (BTW, any bad behavior will get point taken off). Well, here is the fun for him. We borrow the Wheel of Fortune idea where we use a die to determine his reward. Since there are only 6 faces to a die, we pre-determined what the 6 rewards would be. I'd figure if he is bored with the reward, we will change it as we go along. So far, he has rolled the die twice! The instant result was he would initiate reading on his own when he is at home or at the library - which never happened before! Yes, he would even make you sit down to hear him read so he can record his point. So, thank God for wisdom in parenting! I think I have already believed that providing positive experience is important for a child to learn but the bigger lesson for me is the impact of negative attitude in teaching is that difficult to revert. Now, I have experienced it both ways, I shall remember that lesson and apply to his other areas of learning. (One thing we have kept telling Ryan is perverance. He used to skip over or just got frustrated whenever he sees an unfamiliar word. Now, he is willing to try because his trying is met by positive feedback instead of my harsh words. Sigh...shame on me for losing the precious time!)

BTW, here are a few Ryan's thing I started to jot down:
Dec 2008
Ryan: 'Mommy I know how B and D sound, 'Baaa' 'Duh'' This is after me praising his cousin for being a good reader and he had to claim some glory for knowing how these letters sound in a weird way.

Feb 2009
Mom: 'Do you want to have a different mommy?'
Ryan: 'No'
Mom: 'A different daddy?'
Ryan: 'No, but I want a different cousin.' - ah, that would be Michelle

Mar 2009
Ryan:'You were the one who woke me up.'
Mom: 'How?' this is after he had a high fever...
Ryan: Changed the voice to imitate mine 'Do you want some medicine? Do you want some water?'

Mar 2009
Dad: 'I had to take some pain-killer today.'
Ryan: 'Are you gonna die?'

Apr 2009
After I tugged him in bed, he said:
Ryan:'Mommy, come back and I will tell you a secret.'
Me:'Just tell me now.'
Ryan: whispering...'Thank you dad and you for putting my bike together.' (that happened 2 wks ago.)