Well, it has now been almost a month since Tay started school and I don't know for sure if she is enjoying every minute, but I do know that she is already learning things and putting many wrinkles in that brain of hers. In the first week, she learned the days of the week through a song she would sing over and over when she got home:
Seven days, seven days
In a week, in a week
Sunday Monday Tuesday
Wednesday Thursday Friday
Sat-ur-day
That's a week.
(sung to the tune of "Are you sleeping")
She also learned about the color yellow (she already knows most of her colors, but that was a color they covered last week) and this weekend she was singing "Yellow Submarine" over and over...:)
She learned about squares and learned to draw squares. She also learned about the numbers one and two. A few letters, too. She is also practicing cutting and glueing. Who knew she'd do so many things in the first three weeks of school. Last Friday, Tay had her very first "school assembly" that I had the pleasure of attending. When I arrived, almost all the children were already seated on the floor in their areas and many were looking for their parents to enter the assembly hall. When I finally got through the door into the hall, I saw Tay eagerly looking around at all the parents to see if I was there yet. I snuck up behind her and gave her a big hug...she was so glad to see me. I told her I'd sit back in the seats behind her with the other parents. As the little presentations went on, many of the children, noticing that their parents were there, began to cry for their mommies. It was almost time for her class to get up and go do their short presentation when Tay turned around and made eye contact with me...and she mouthed, "Mommy, Mommy" and her little eyes started welling up with tears. Panic! Do I run up and grab her and hug her or do I sit and wave her on to go up with her class to sing? Well, I froze in place and gave her a sad face (which I'm sure didn't help), but the teacher and the assistant helped shuttle all the kids up to the front, even as she started rubbing away the tears in her eyes. I summoned a weak smile and mouthed to her, "It's okay!" Not sure that helped at all either. Anyhow, once the kids were all lined up, the teacher motioned counted to three and had all the children bow. Tay just looked so sad and slumped up there, but as soon as the teacher said, "Bow," she followed the command and bowed and continued following along with the song and motions. Don't think she smiled through the entire event, but she got through it and came back to sit down in her seat. I met her on the floor and gave her a big hug and told her she did a great job! I told her I had to go back to work now (since it WAS the middle of my work day), she grabbed me tighter, so I sat down on the floor with her for a moment and held her. As the next class went up to do their presentation, Tay just sat on my lap and I held her for about five minutes. After the song was over, I told her again that I had to leave and go back to work. She then said, "Okay, Mommy" and climbed off my lap, kissed me a few times, and went back to sit in her seat in front of her teacher. My sweet sweet girl. I snuck out the side and went back to work. By taking those extra five minutes, I avoided a potential meltdown and got to cuddle a little while longer with my baby girl. Glad I made that decision.
That evening, Jeff and I attended our very first "Open House" as parents instead of the student. Quite a different experience, I think. All the teachers and faculty were introduced to us, a nice little table full of refreshments were shared, and then we went up to the classrooms to talk with the teacher. We got a brief rundown of the class's day, saw some of the art projects that the children have done, got some explanation of the teaching techniques, learned about the "discipline" technique (green, amber, red - associated with three minute time-outs), and the sticker chart.
I'm very excited to see how she progress throughout the school year. She has already had a few mornings where she told me she did not want to go to school, but it wasn't because she didn't like school...it was because she wanted to stay home with her Tita and her sister. She did end up missing three days of school, though, because she ran a fever and was sick. Hopefully we won't have too many sick days!
Well, life's just rolling along...faster and faster it seems...at least it's still slow enough to enjoy those few minutes of cuddle time every day with the family...<3
Monday, August 29, 2011
Learning things!
It seems the little one is rapidly learning things these days. Now that she's getting a little braver about letting go to take some steps on her own, she's getting around fairly well. Most of the time, though, she'll just stand up and stay in place...just looking around and grinning - I imagine 'cause the view is nicer from a standing position or she's just really proud of herself. Sometimes, she'll even clap for herself as she's standing.
Another thing she learned this weekend - how to receive with two hands! She's learning that by putting out two hands palms up with a cute expression on her face will get her things much faster from all parties (to include her big sister) than if she just tries grabbing things. Now that she's learned that, she's all about it! I must get a video and post it because she's just too cute. This morning, Tay was eating an apple sitting on the kitchen floor when Ri came up right beside her, sat down, and reach out both of her hands with palms up with an adorable "pleading" look so she could have a taste. Of course, sweet big sister breaks off a chunk and gives it to her and Ri's just so happy she sits there grinning and sucking on the apple chunk. She's gonna be pretty upset when the "joosayyo" technique doesn't work when she really wants something!
Ri's also been watching how big sister dresses herself every morning and every evening before bed. As I was folding up some clothes this morning, she was playing around in the clothes, and she picked up a pair of big sister's underwear and tried her hardest to get her feet into them. After a few minutes of struggling and toppling over a couple times, she decided that was not the right way to put them on and commenced putting the underwear on her head. Also unsuccessful here (since her arms weren't quite long enough to get the underwear on top of her head), she decided to just wrap the underwear around the back of her neck like a scarf (or neckerchief) and clapped for herself. Silly girl.
As for her solid food intake, she is pretty much game for tasting anything as long as she can put it in her mouth herself. She enjoys taking her own spoon, dipping it into the bowl, and then eating whatever is stuck to the spoon. She's getting surprisingly better at actually "feeding" herself! Mind you, it is not the neatest event, but she sure enjoys herself. She definitely enjoys fruit more than vegetables, which is different from what Tay enjoyed at this stage. Tay didn't care for sweets other than banana and her favorite was probably broccoli, but Ri really enjoys a variety of fruits. She also loves all kinds of meat, but Tay did not care for meat until she was at least 18 months old. It's funny how different the taste preferences are. Thankfully, both are eating well for the time being. Ri's favorite fruit seems to be peaches right now, but it may be because peaches are in season right now and they are just so delicious. The Korean white peaches are amazingly sweet and juicy and when just ripe, so incredibly soft! The whole family enjoys them!
This weekend was a little rough because the girls of the household were all sick, but it looks like Tay's on the full recovery path, Ri and Mommy are still down for the count, but functioning, somewhat, and Daddy's still going strong. Let's hope we can all be well before next weekend! Ri, even though she was sick, still managed to pull off some adorable pics at her one-year photo session at AIMIN photo studio. Getting antsy for her first birthday party!
Another thing she learned this weekend - how to receive with two hands! She's learning that by putting out two hands palms up with a cute expression on her face will get her things much faster from all parties (to include her big sister) than if she just tries grabbing things. Now that she's learned that, she's all about it! I must get a video and post it because she's just too cute. This morning, Tay was eating an apple sitting on the kitchen floor when Ri came up right beside her, sat down, and reach out both of her hands with palms up with an adorable "pleading" look so she could have a taste. Of course, sweet big sister breaks off a chunk and gives it to her and Ri's just so happy she sits there grinning and sucking on the apple chunk. She's gonna be pretty upset when the "joosayyo" technique doesn't work when she really wants something!
Ri's also been watching how big sister dresses herself every morning and every evening before bed. As I was folding up some clothes this morning, she was playing around in the clothes, and she picked up a pair of big sister's underwear and tried her hardest to get her feet into them. After a few minutes of struggling and toppling over a couple times, she decided that was not the right way to put them on and commenced putting the underwear on her head. Also unsuccessful here (since her arms weren't quite long enough to get the underwear on top of her head), she decided to just wrap the underwear around the back of her neck like a scarf (or neckerchief) and clapped for herself. Silly girl.
As for her solid food intake, she is pretty much game for tasting anything as long as she can put it in her mouth herself. She enjoys taking her own spoon, dipping it into the bowl, and then eating whatever is stuck to the spoon. She's getting surprisingly better at actually "feeding" herself! Mind you, it is not the neatest event, but she sure enjoys herself. She definitely enjoys fruit more than vegetables, which is different from what Tay enjoyed at this stage. Tay didn't care for sweets other than banana and her favorite was probably broccoli, but Ri really enjoys a variety of fruits. She also loves all kinds of meat, but Tay did not care for meat until she was at least 18 months old. It's funny how different the taste preferences are. Thankfully, both are eating well for the time being. Ri's favorite fruit seems to be peaches right now, but it may be because peaches are in season right now and they are just so delicious. The Korean white peaches are amazingly sweet and juicy and when just ripe, so incredibly soft! The whole family enjoys them!
This weekend was a little rough because the girls of the household were all sick, but it looks like Tay's on the full recovery path, Ri and Mommy are still down for the count, but functioning, somewhat, and Daddy's still going strong. Let's hope we can all be well before next weekend! Ri, even though she was sick, still managed to pull off some adorable pics at her one-year photo session at AIMIN photo studio. Getting antsy for her first birthday party!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Summer has come and gone...almost.
It has been many months since my last post. I'm not certain why exactly; it's not that there haven't been major events or milestones to chart...I just had lost the desire to write. I don't really feel the urge to write like I used to now either, but I'm taking a crack at writing again...just to see if the desire comes back. Perhaps I'll blame it on the new job I got in February...
This is hard.
I guess maybe I could just do a quick rundown of everything that I can remember that happened since the last post in March.
- Tay got off the wait list and into the preschool we wanted her to go to and had her interview for preschool (Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten).
- We made a trip to Cebu as a family of four for the first time, which was EXHAUSTING, but very fun and enjoyed by all. No injuries or burns to speak of from that vacation.
- Had a very very busy Easter weekend, but still managed to get the girls Easter baskets and some funny photos. The thing I remember most about Easter this past year was that the first thing Tay said on Easter morning had something to do with how sad it was that Jesus died, but that He is now awake again! Can't remember the exact phrase she used, but it related quite well to the day. What cued her in? The rosary hanging on my rearview mirror.
- We went to a bunch of baby showers and BBQs.
- We hosted another English camp student while Jeff was gone to Pittsburg - she was wonderful and fun to have around for the week. We also got to hang with some friends from back in the Army days...:) Tay especially enjoyed getting to know some fur-friends.
- The girls had a beautiful photo shoot (albeit chaotic in my mind) with the lovely KWM.
- Took an extremely long trip back to the US. We went to Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, back to Virginia, and then to Georgia. Phew! Both girls did very well on the trip, but Ri did get an ear infection (second one) and had to go to the ER while we were in NH.
- While in GA, Tay learned how to hold her breath underwater and swing a few yards! It was amazing how quickly she picked up since we were in the water every day! She could swim as long as she could hold her breath...amazed.
- Ri did take her first solo "step" while we were in GA, but nothing more after that while on vacation. She's getting the hang of it now, somewhat, and has taken up to five steps alone, but I think she's still a little too cautious and prefers to crawl for any distance.
- I got to go FISHING in GA and caught enough for dinner that night with my FIL! SO much fun...hope to do it again soon.
- When we got back to Korea, we had some crazy weather and tons and tons of rain, but thankfully, our home and Beth's home was not affected so work continued through the downpours.
- We got to attend a couple birthday parties, too!
- August was a very very busy month because of work related matters, but the most important thing so far that has happened in August is that Shingil Taylor Ryals - my first born child, my baby girl - started preschool! On 9 August 2011, Jeff and I took our sweet girl to her very first day of school at Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten. The teacher told us that the parents could stay for a bit as the class got started on the first day, but Tay was shoo-ing us out the door after having kissed us a dozen times good-bye. Independent lady. I, on the other hand, was not so fine with all this, but kept it together enough to make it to the car and boohoo all the way home and back to work. :( My baby girl is growing up.
So, now that we are somewhat caught up with major happenings, I think, perhaps I'll keep up a little better. Maybe short daily or weekly entries will work better for me than trying to remember exactly what happened every day.
Today was Tay's very first "school assembly" where the parents were invited. It wasn't clear on the newsletter if parents really were supposed to come or not, so I went on the off chance that most parents did go, so Tay wouldn't feel like we missed it! Anyhow, I'm very glad I did because when I walked into the hall, she was clearly looking for someone to walk through the door and was so very glad to see me. This was all good and all, but some of those young kids were quite upset at seeing their parents and started crying for their mommies...this, I think, upset Tay as well and she realized she wanted her mom, too...right when her class was to go up and do their little presentation. Well, she did get up there with her little eyes watery, but once their song got started, she went right along and did her part. Afterward, she came back and I gave her a big hug and sat on the floor with her for a bit before taking off to go back to work. Phew. Meltdown avoided. What a milestone!
Tonight is Jeff and my very first open house as parents! Excited and anxious at the same time...
This is hard.
I guess maybe I could just do a quick rundown of everything that I can remember that happened since the last post in March.
- Tay got off the wait list and into the preschool we wanted her to go to and had her interview for preschool (Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten).
- We made a trip to Cebu as a family of four for the first time, which was EXHAUSTING, but very fun and enjoyed by all. No injuries or burns to speak of from that vacation.
- Had a very very busy Easter weekend, but still managed to get the girls Easter baskets and some funny photos. The thing I remember most about Easter this past year was that the first thing Tay said on Easter morning had something to do with how sad it was that Jesus died, but that He is now awake again! Can't remember the exact phrase she used, but it related quite well to the day. What cued her in? The rosary hanging on my rearview mirror.
- We went to a bunch of baby showers and BBQs.
- We hosted another English camp student while Jeff was gone to Pittsburg - she was wonderful and fun to have around for the week. We also got to hang with some friends from back in the Army days...:) Tay especially enjoyed getting to know some fur-friends.
- The girls had a beautiful photo shoot (albeit chaotic in my mind) with the lovely KWM.
- Took an extremely long trip back to the US. We went to Florida, Virginia, New Hampshire, back to Virginia, and then to Georgia. Phew! Both girls did very well on the trip, but Ri did get an ear infection (second one) and had to go to the ER while we were in NH.
- While in GA, Tay learned how to hold her breath underwater and swing a few yards! It was amazing how quickly she picked up since we were in the water every day! She could swim as long as she could hold her breath...amazed.
- Ri did take her first solo "step" while we were in GA, but nothing more after that while on vacation. She's getting the hang of it now, somewhat, and has taken up to five steps alone, but I think she's still a little too cautious and prefers to crawl for any distance.
- I got to go FISHING in GA and caught enough for dinner that night with my FIL! SO much fun...hope to do it again soon.
- When we got back to Korea, we had some crazy weather and tons and tons of rain, but thankfully, our home and Beth's home was not affected so work continued through the downpours.
- We got to attend a couple birthday parties, too!
- August was a very very busy month because of work related matters, but the most important thing so far that has happened in August is that Shingil Taylor Ryals - my first born child, my baby girl - started preschool! On 9 August 2011, Jeff and I took our sweet girl to her very first day of school at Franciscan Foreign Kindergarten. The teacher told us that the parents could stay for a bit as the class got started on the first day, but Tay was shoo-ing us out the door after having kissed us a dozen times good-bye. Independent lady. I, on the other hand, was not so fine with all this, but kept it together enough to make it to the car and boohoo all the way home and back to work. :( My baby girl is growing up.
So, now that we are somewhat caught up with major happenings, I think, perhaps I'll keep up a little better. Maybe short daily or weekly entries will work better for me than trying to remember exactly what happened every day.
Today was Tay's very first "school assembly" where the parents were invited. It wasn't clear on the newsletter if parents really were supposed to come or not, so I went on the off chance that most parents did go, so Tay wouldn't feel like we missed it! Anyhow, I'm very glad I did because when I walked into the hall, she was clearly looking for someone to walk through the door and was so very glad to see me. This was all good and all, but some of those young kids were quite upset at seeing their parents and started crying for their mommies...this, I think, upset Tay as well and she realized she wanted her mom, too...right when her class was to go up and do their little presentation. Well, she did get up there with her little eyes watery, but once their song got started, she went right along and did her part. Afterward, she came back and I gave her a big hug and sat on the floor with her for a bit before taking off to go back to work. Phew. Meltdown avoided. What a milestone!
Tonight is Jeff and my very first open house as parents! Excited and anxious at the same time...
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