Lauren loves Mother’s Day

Lauren loves Mother’s Day.  She could not wait for Mother’s Day to arrive.  On May 2, she wrote the following letter to celebrate early Mother’s Day.

Dear Mom,

Happy Early Mother’s Day!!

Thanks for everything you have done for me. I am really happy that you are my mom. I love you.  I hope you like what you got for the Mother’s Day.  You are the best mom ever.

I love you!

Lauren

May 2, 2011

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Lauren loves her Mommy from the bottom of her heart.  She wrote the following to celebrate the Mother’s Day on May 8, 2011.

If my mom were a color, she would be blue because her hair is as shiny as the blue sky.
If my mom were an animal, she would be a cat because she is very nice.
If my mom were a super hero, she would be a cleaning mom because she takes good care of the house.
If my mom were a song, she would be a country song because it will talk about her country.
If my mom were a candy, she would be kisses because she always gives me kisses.
If my mom were a flower, she would be a rose because she is as beautiful as a rose.
I love my mom because she cares about me and takes good care of me.

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Lauren’s Coupons that she presented to her mom on May 6, 2011

This coupon is good for: Unlimited Hugs
This coupon is good for: Washing the Dishes
This coupon is good for: A night in my room so you can have a bubble bath
This coupon is good for: Cleaning my room without being asked
This coupon is good for: Helping Clean House
This coupon is good for: Doing things without being asked
This coupon is good for: Making breakfast for Mommy every day

Lauren celebrates the upcoming Father’s Day

Lauren loves her Daddy very much.  She wrote the following to celebrate the upcoming Father’s Day.
“My dad is a very sweet, nice, kind, strong, awesome, calm and hard working person. I love him because he is a great parent to me. He is very special to me because he loves me as I am. I’m very happy I have a loving dad in my life. He plays with me and tells fun stories to me.  I love to go swimming with him because he is a fantastic person to play with. He is so strong that he can lift my up in the pool.

My dad loves to study, read, do math and research. He helps me a lot on Math so when I did multiplication and division, I was the first who passed the tests in the 3rd grade at my school this year. I am almost done with the fifth grade math. I’m really happy that he taught me how to do math well.”

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Lauren loves to receive a letter from Daddy every day. She feels so happy to have a letter from Daddy when she wakes up in the morning. Here is a letter from her Daddy on June 16, 2011.
"Dear Lauren,

Good Morning and rise and shine! I know you will be a wonderful girl today and swim your best and help Mommy with her housework and read those adventure books and generally have a good time today.

See you tonight!

Love,

Daddy"

The Joy of Playing Ping Pong with My Daughter

Ping Pong is also called the table tennis.  Out of all sports, I love Ping Pong the most.  The thrilling feelings of a good shot at the game make me feel very happy.  It is also a good exercise for the brain.   I have read in a newspaper that playing Ping Pong is one of the best brain exercises. 

About 8 years ago, we turned the formal dining room into our Ping Pong room.  When our daughter was 2 or 3 years old, our daughter would run around giggling, chase and pick up Ping Pong balls for us and she thought that was great fun.  When she was around 6 years old, she wanted to play it too.   It was easy to teach her.  I told her that the important rule was to hit the ball back to me and make sure it would hit on my side of the table.  The key was to practice playing it regularly.  After I made that clear to her, she grasped the skills very quickly and pretty soon she was doing very well.  She enjoys play Ping Pong with my friends when they come to visit us. I get some good exercises after I play with her for half an hour.  This is a great way to have some fun when it is too hot or too cold outside.

Playing Ping Pong with me has become an event she greatly enjoys.  I talk to her in Chinese about terms used in Ping Pong games.  She enthusiastically learns how to use them as these Chinese phrases are related to what she is doing.  I sometimes have some Chinese music on, or play her favorite singer, Taylor Swift’s CD, “Fearless.”  She happily sings along many songs on this CD when we play Ping Pong.  She is so happy and energetic when we share this Ping Pong activity together that I consider it one of our special moments. 

This is what she wrote about the fun of playing Ping Pong: “I love to play Ping Pong with my Mom because I enjoy moving around the Ping Pong table in different directions when I try to hit the ball.  When my Mom puts on my favorite music, I like it very much as it makes me really happy.”
I have included some photos of her playing with her friends at the recreation room of the local Chinese school.

I highly recommend playing Ping Pong to any parents who look for a fun activity to share with their kids.

The first post

I am so amazed at how fast my daughter is growing up.  We adopted her from China in 2003 when she ws a baby.  Now, she is a child full of intelligence, energy and curiosity.  She has so many questions about so many things.  She is also very interested in learning a lot about China, Chinese culture and history.  Sometimes I tell her a Chinese historical story to help her understand her birth country and inspire her to study hard.  She is very fascinated about the Chinese historical stories or some other stories I created for her.  I think it might be a good idea to share some of them and other information about China and Chinese culture here so that maybe other children can enjoy them too.

I feel learning more about China and the Chinese history might help her to have a better understanding about who she is and appreciate her own cultural background.