update

I've been away a while. We have had a lot going on and I have not made time to update on the blog.

Here's the short update. Todd got a new job in Singapore. We moved to Singapore last November and had a baby in May. I think I covered all the high points here.

As for other news, my mother died of breast cancer. It has been over a year, but it still feels like it happened yesterday. I miss her terribly. There is just not too much more I can say about it right now.

Caroline is now 6.5 years old and attends a local school in Singapore. It's an all girls' Catholic school where she is immersed in Chinese every day.

Isaac is now 4.5 years old and he is in a Chinese kindergarten. It's a full immersion program and he is definitely learning both how to write and speak Mandarin.

Anna, now 3, attends the same kindergarten (different class) where she is also learning Mandarin. I haven't heard too much Mandarin from her, but I trust that she is learning some.

Patrick is 19 months and doing all the normal toddler things. He is very athletic and is also very musical. He does not talk very much yet, but he can sing and has been singing since before his first birthday. It's really something to hear his rendition of "Singing in the Rain" and his favorite "Make 'Em Laugh".

Julia Maxine Lewis joined our family on May 24th, 2011. She shares her birthday with me, which is quite special, I think. I will post her birth story soon, as well as some photos.

Yesterday Caroline proudly announced: "fish are mammals!" to a friend of mine. My friend noted that "fish aren't mammals" to which Caroline replied "but Dolphins and whales are mammals!" Ha ha! We all got a good chuckle out of that one.

Caroline is studiously trying to learn to read. We are very close, I think. I found her in her bed with a pile of her daddy's papers on Programming in Martin-Lof's Type Theory (the O in Lof, has an umlaut above it, not sure how to do that in blogger) and an old pair of his glasses. She was showing me the words and making reasonable attempts to sound them out. I'm not sure what she was doing with the glasses though. Anyway, we are working on reading and writing. She is good at writing her own name and her brother's name. I'm very proud of her progress on the reading and writing front. I anticipate much more of that in her future!

Caroline and the primates.

We have been teaching Caroline about mammals. She knows that mammals have hair/fur and mammal mommies feed their babies milk. We recently have taught her how to distinguish primates from non-primates. Just the other day, she announced to a Parks Department employee that while giraffes are mammals, they are NOT primates. And then said "they don't have thumbs". We are trying to teach her about other types of animals as well. She loves most animals, but for curious reasons does not like kangaroos. Who doesn't like kangaroos? Well, anyway, it's nice to see that she is developing her thought processes when she talks about animals.

Learning to read!

Caroline is learning to read! She is only reading small words like Cat and Sam, though she is picking up on the process of sounding words. She is always noticing words that start with CH and letting me know that it sounds like Church or Cheerios. We are using the Bob Books series to teach her reading and so far, everything is going wonderfully. She is so proud of herself when she figures out what words are and then says them correctly.

Choices in education

Caroline is eligible to go to Kindergarten this coming August. Do I send her to school and let the public education system teach her what they feel is important? I really don't like the school environment and I feel it can be harmful to young children.

For example, when I entered kindergarten mid-year at a new school, I was tracked with the "dumb group" as I remember it. We were the group, called the "Apples" (as in bad apples) who couldn't read. I actually could read, but details like that don't matter when teachers don't care enough to find out. I don't know why I remember the name so clearly, but this introduction to my education is something that I will never forget.

I was also left-handed, which meant that I could not write well, as the teachers were always correcting me by putting the pencil in my right hand. And then telling me I was writing badly. Gee, thanks.

Throughout my education, this black mark has followed me as if to remind me that I'm somehow inadequate or belong in the slow group.

I'm constantly encountering the pressure from others to put Caroline in school. I'm considering it, but I have serious reservations because of how something as seemingly innocuous as a group named "The Apples" cast such a shadow over my early education. I have no idea what a teacher might do or say to Caroline that would adversely affect her education. On the other hand, I struggle with being able to teach her everything she needs to know to be successful in life. I'm definitely not a perfect teacher, but I believe that I may be the best teacher for her.
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Wow! Has it really been this long?

Let me first say that the little ones are fine. We have been busy, all of us, doing fun things like learning how to read (Caroline) drawing on the floors/walls/furniture with marker (Isaac) and cruising around the furniture (Anna). Seriously though, Isaac has a knack for coloring. He loves markers and most importantly loves to connect them end to end into long poles. When he's not making light sabers, he's coloring on the walls! Boy he is quick! I leave to change Anna's diaper (which has been extremely unpleasant this week, by the way) and he's turning our wall into Picasso's canvas. How do you get marker off walls? I have no idea. Anyway, things really have been going well.

Caroline is starting to read the Bob Books (volume 1) and she is really excited to be able to sound out small words. She knows how to spell her name now too. One morning, she said to me Caroline C-A-R-O-L-I-N-E spells Caroline. I have no idea where she learned that. She can spell some smaller words to, like Cat and Sam. Since she is turning 4 in December, I'm starting to think more about homeschooling and what specific things I want to teach her this year. Reading and counting/math are at the top of my list. Caroline can add and subtract small sets of objects if it is in front of her.

Isaac is learning the periodic table of elements and trying to keep up with his sister (who, by the way knows the first 54) and he knows all the planets in our solar system (Pluto included), shapes, colors, animals but his favorite thing now is trucks and cars. When we walk to the playground, he identifies everything. Yesterday he saw a concrete mixer and a tow truck and a taxi cab. The other day it was a crane, a bus, and a helicopter. Sometimes he will be looking out the window and he will be able to point out "the Staten Island Ferry" and "cruise ship."

Anna Sophia is going to be walking soon. She is cruising around furniture now, but she has her sights set on being more independent. Anna weighs about 16 lbs now, so she is still small, but she is starting to get chubby cheeks and fill out into more toddlerish proportions.

She is starting to wean, which sort of makes me sad. I really want her to breastfeed for at least a year. She is comfort nursing at nights mostly, but there is too much action going on during the day for her to nurse. She simply doesn't want to. Oh well. She is healthy and growing and I really shouldn't complain about it.

It has been a lot of fun these last few weeks. All the kids in our neighborhood are in school, the tourists are not around as much, and the weather is gorgeous, so we are really taking advantage of the empty playgrounds.