Time Flies!

WOW! The summer has flown by! Monday was the first day of school for Saiya. We decided at the end of the school year last year to have her repeat kindergarten because we (and the teacher) felt that she wasnt mature enough for first grade. She understands all the work she was doing, but really wasnt independent enough for advancement into first grade. She wasnt happy about it, but she came home Monday happy to make new friends. She did great on her kindergarten readiness test and her teacher said that she has come leaps and bounds over the summer in reading. She has been working her so hard this summer, we are very proud of her!

We have decided to drop violin in favor of a second day at karate during the week. She loves it and gets so much more out of it than violin at the moment. Perhaps when she is older, we will revisit an instrument.

Let's see.... she went on a road trip to Mobile with my mom and dad. She had a great time! is doing much better at learning to swim. She is coming along with her bike as well.

Her physical appointment for school was about two weeks ago. Not much growth on the last year. Only a couple of inches taller. Currently, she weighs in at 34.5 pounds and is 43 inches tall.  Still too short to ride any of the rides at the theme parks.  Although she has gained 10 pounds and 7 inches since her clinic visit in China in Sept 2010, she is still a foot shorter than all of her classmates. We are so glad that she loves karate. She will need it as she gets older. I dont think she is going to ever be very tall.

left 2010

middle 2011

right 2012

Tae Kwon Do

Last week, my sister asked me to stop by the karate studio next door to Saiya's school and get some information for her son. He had done karate in Alabama and my sister was looking for an activity for him.  At the same time, Chris and I had talked many times about some sort of self defense class for Saiya.  She is very small and we know that it would help her confidence level.  At the same time, we want her to be able to defend herself as she gets older.

I stopped in there and by the time I was leaving, I somehow managed to sign Saiya up for Karate (technically Tae Kwon Do). The whole time we were there, she was crying and complaining that she didnt want to do it and it that she hated karate. The whole way home, she was in tears.

Yesterday was her first day. She was a little grumpy on the way there and even sad-faced when I was putting on her ghi. At first she was very apprehensive and shy, but she warmed up quickly. As the time progressed, she became enthusiastic and everytime she completed what they asked her to do, she ran back to her spot with a HUGE smile on her face. When the class was over, I asked her how she liked it, she said "I really really really LOVE it, Mommy! I want to go again everyday, all the days! How about we can come back tomorrow!?"

Happy Father's Day!

Like last year, this year we took Chris to SeaWorld for Father's Day.  It was extremely hot, but we had fun.  We wandered around, had some ice cream and looked at all the animals.  Saiya still loves the dolphins.  We could sit there all day and she would be perfectly happy.  When we went to see the Beluga whales, it looked like they were fighting.  Until we saw the male.  Poor whales have no privacy!  And all of the little kids were crying because the whales were "fighting" and the male had a "yucky long black thing sticking out".  Hahaha!  Too funny!

We even stopped by one of the shops and let her pick out something for baba as a special Father's Day gift.  I can't believe the difference one year makes!  It still amazes me at how adaptable she is and how easy going she can be.  All day long walking around at SeaWorld and not one complaint about the heat or anything.  All-in-all, we had a great day!

Immersion School Finale

Yesterday was Saiya's cultural finale for her Chinese Immersion program at school.  The show lasted about an hour and was unbelievably cute.  All of the kids  (1st through 4th grades) did an amazing job and I was really impressed with how well the language development was coming along for all of them.  Saiya has been practicing her songs and reciting her lines for the last two months.  I'm so glad she did such a great job!  Good to know the months of her singing "God Bless America" were well worth it.  She had such a great time and did a great job.  She is so proud of her chinese heritage and I am so glad that she is putting so much of herself into this program.  She will be repeating kindergarten next year because we feel she is not quite there socially yet, but that just means the work next year will be much easier for her and she will begin to excell in areas where she is sort of struggling now.  Regardless, this program is accelerated for her grade already.  She has been doing first grade math since the beginning of the year and she has come so far with her letters and reading.  We are always proud of her and continue to be amazed at how quickly she is learning and adapting.

Get Fired Up

Last night horse was cancelled due to rain and bad lightning, so I took Saiya to Get Fired Up in downtown Melbourne.  It is a place where you pick a piece of ceramic pottery and glaze it yourself.  She picked a very cute little heart-shaped box to paint.  I had a bowl with kitty feet on it.  She had such a great time painting her pottery!  It was a great way to spend a rainy Tuesday night.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Monday was Card day and I found some left over thank-you cards in the junk drawer. I had Saiya sign her name under where I had written "thank you for all you do". We made one for each of her teachers.

Yesterday was candy day, so I took some left over candy from Halloween and Christmas and made little goody bags for her teachers.

Today was flower day. Saiya was supposed to bring flowers in for her teachers. Well, I don't get paid until Friday and truthfully, didnt have time to get to the store to purchase flowers for her teachers. So, this morning, we made these for her teachers. So much better than store bought, I think! Saiya liked them and I thought they came our really well. We didn't have any construction paper and no glue, so we inprovised. Like them?  Who knew such pretty things could be made with soda boxes and packing tape?  We added a bit of curling ribbon to make it more 3-D and Saiya signed her name on each under a little heart I drew.

I will be very lucky if i can make it through the rest of this week without spending a dime on teacher appreciation. :) tomorrow is "Bring in a School Supply day". Might be in trouble for that one.

Violin Recital!

Saturday was Saiya's violin recital.  We went out shopping for new shoes and even spent the day together.  We got pedicures together and had a very nice lunch at her favorite Chinese restaurant.

She did a great job!  I had to hold her notebook for her to read her music from and she even did a little curtsy at the end.  She was very nervous, but muddled through "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with only a few squeeky notes here and there.  Overall, a great job!  Some of those kids are so talented!  I can only hope that Saiya sticks with it for years to come.