Quelling the Tiger Mom in Me

Simone successfully finished her first year in compulsory education.  My measure of success is that she merely went to school everyday that she was healthy enough to.  I knew that she wouldn't like it at first, but I suspected she would tolerate it eventually.   Luckily for all of us, she accepted this new routine and many days she came home smiling and recounted some fun experiences she had with her new friends. 

As is to be expected, there were bumps along the road.  Within the first few months, Simone told me stories of classmates saying mean things to her.  "Everyone is trying to be mean to you."  "I don't like your hair."  "Stop looking at me!"  There were even incidents of kids taking money from her.  It wasn't a case of being bullied to give her lunch money away; instead she just happily obliged when classmates asked her for money.

  

It was no surprise during Simone's first quarter awards ceremony that she got Honor Roll.  But it wasn't that hard since their school- and homework was reading the words for colors and coloring the correct shapes.  As the year progressed, we found out what Simone's strengths and weaknesses were.  She excelled in Reading and remembering the science topics, but her printing left much to be desired.  We knew that she would get awards during her second quarter, but I had not expected she wouldn't be on the honor roll.  The tiger mom in me started to worry.

Simone does not look enthused.

I started to think I should be harder on her to do her homework more neatly.  We were already wrestling with having to do homework in the first place. I had grown up with a gigantic emphasis on grades and delivered the final As and Bs.  But I honestly couldn't regurgitate any of the information that did not initially interest me.  I hated literature and was so poor at comprehension.  History was not interesting unless we were talking about mythology and folklore, which I read on my own and didn't learn in school.  I didn't want Simone to be so focused on getting the grade that she didn't learn anything.  But inside I still used the honor roll as an external gauge. 

The kids were told to give themselves a pat on the back.

I tried not to worry about it when she didn't get honors.  I congratulated her for getting the "Citizenship" and "No Tardies" awards, but I also talked to my friends about my feelings of incompetency as a mother.  In the end, I didn't push her extra hard on her writing and just continued to read to her.   I fostered her extracurricular interests such as gymnastics and dance.  I tried to be a kick-back mom about her grades because I know she is an intelligent girl who has a thirst for knowledge.   If Handwriting was the only thing keeping her from Honor Roll, then so be it.  Heck! 5-year-olds aren't usually developmentally ready to do such fine motor skills for penmanship.  At least Simone was doing well with other subjects. 

Well, a surprise happened after her 3rd quarter awards ceremony.  No, she didn't get honor roll.   A couple of days afterwards, she expressed her desire to get onto the coveted Honor Roll!  I don't know if it was because her friends were on it.  I don't know if I subconsciously pushed her to want it (I hope that isn't it - I know my face can reveal my emotions when I don't want it to).  But now that she really wanted to improve, I really wanted to help her with all my might! 

Honestly, I didn't do anything.  She did all the improving by herself!  The only thing I did was point out to her that her low grade in Handwriting was what was keeping her from getting the award she wanted.  With that info, she took more time and patience to write more legible letters.  And wouldn't you know it, Simone ended up with not just Honor Roll in her last quarter, she also got the "B.U.G." award which is given to kids who "Bring Up Grades!" 

Look at her joy in getting an award!

Simone learned a lot in her first year of Kindergarten.  She learned about nocturnal and diurnal animals, the phases of the moon, how to count to 100, how to add and subtract, the rainforest and its four layers, America and its symbols, and 2D vs. 3D shapes.  She also learned how to verbally express her feelings to kids who were being mean to her, the consequences of talking back to her teacher, and the joys of having best friends. 

I too learned a lesson:  that true change will come from Simone if she initiates it.   She is as stubborn as her mother after all. 

First Llama ride

We recently went to the zoo at an opportune time when the pony/llama trails were open for 1 hour, ready to take little kids on a short loop.  Simone is usually scared to try new things, but she really wanted to ride a pony.  When I saw that they were only allowing the llamas to be ridden I thought for sure Simone would get grumpy.  To my pleasant surprise, Simone was excited to ride a llama!  I thought my adventurous son would join too but he was not into it.  

Cracker

Having lived in California for most of my life I thought that the one way to insult a white person was to call them a "cracker."  I originally thought it was due to their being as pale as the little edibles you find in your pantry.  Then an old coworker told me it refers to the plantation foremen who would crack the whips on slaves who weren't working hard enough.

Now here I am in Florida and the word "cracker" is found everywhere - and blatantly so.   The recreation of a historic village in Tampa, Florida, is lovingly and officially called "Cracker County."  A local restaurant "Wimauma" boasts that they are "Where Cracker Meets Gourmet."    And now Michael has come home with this mass-produced beverage,  "Florida Cracker!"

There really isn't a word to make White people feel bad - not that I was trying to.  There I was in politically correct California thinking that cracker was the white folks' "N-word."  Naw ... the white folks now own it, love it, and broadcast it everywhere here in Florida that it feels more like a term of endearment than anything negative.  

P R E S E N T S ! ! !

Simone got many presents for her birthday.   One came quite as a surprise to her and to me.  Grace and I had previously talked about getting her the girl-geared Legos Friends.  I told Grace how Simone likes the little scientist / inventor kit.  But Grace generously gave Simone the ultimate Lego set.  The Friends house!!!  What was so great was that Simone had been eyeing a dollhouse just a few days before.  We were at a fancy schmancy boutique toy store so the dollhouse was going to cost a fortune and Simone was already requesting that I built furniture for the house.  Pshyah!   And now she has something even better.  The house and  the furniture and an abundance of building blocks to make more furniture and acoutrements!

This picture is blurry most likely because I was squealing myself at the shock of the wonderful gift.

Grammy sent Simone AND Max gifts of books, pencil cases, stickers, pencil toppers, coloring books, and, their latest craze, flavored milk straws.  And that was just the beginning!  Ma gave them extra money to get more toys and they came home with quite a stash.

Max has a crush on the little girl "Boo" in Monsters, Inc., and saw this as an opportunity to get her as a doll so he can have her by his side all the time!  

The moment I told Simone that her Grammy wants to give her more presents, she shouted out, "Baby Alive!!!"  

This particular doll talks and walks!  What an advancement toys have made since I was a kid!

Thank you, Family, for showering the kids with love and much enjoyment.  

Effects of Blue Food Coloring

Whenever we make frosting in our household, we usually prepare blue.  It takes a lot of food coloring however to change a white icing into the blue one usually finds in a color set at a restaurant, which is the hue of blue that Max likes the most.  I realized that when we made cakes during the Winter, Max must have still been in his diapers because I had never seen T H I S before:  blue poo in the toilet.

Wildlife Abounds Again!

I've written before about the abundance of wildlife here in Florida and still I keep finding new bugs, birds, and reptiles that keep the whole family in awe.

In March, we found a couple of majestic birds perched on our big oak tree in the backyard.  I had to take a picture through our screened porch so this photo is a bit blurred.

Based on my tiny research, this might be a broad-winged hawk!  And looking at how fuzzy some of his feathers are, this one might have been born just a few months ago!  He just sat there for a good 10 minutes looking at what must have been things scurrying to and fro on the grass and on the street below.  He might have been there longer, but I disturbed it when I opened our patio door.  But I had to!  I had seen it move its leg into this position below and thought it had broken his limb.  And when I mean I had to (open the door)  I mean that I had to see if it was too lame to fly and if I would have to call some sort of animal rescue.

But no ... he was fine and was probably just stretching.  The moment I opened my door, he flew away.  I was relieved that he was in good shape, but sad that I may never see him again.  

That same patio door, when first opened, will create a lot of commotion whether or not there are migrating predatory birds out there or not.  The lizards love to sunbathe on our backyard steps to which the door leads.  In the middle of Winter, we saw a different types of lizards that had more prominent wings, crests, and dark hues.  Winter in Florida must be tough for the reptilians because we saw evidence of battles!

This slithering creature lived to fight another day because he let his tail go.  Good for him that he could grow another.  When we first got to Tampa, the only lizards we saw were skinny, light-brown ones as skinny as my pinky finger.  This darker brown one is fatter and less afraid of humans.  He likes to wait until the last minute before he scampers away.  That picture above is enough proof that he's not phased by homo sapiens.  I was less than a foot away from him with my big camera lens in his face!

Near the Everglades we came across a feral caterpillar that I've only before seen in pictures and behind glass cages.  

I later found out that this is an Echo Moth caterpillar.  It probably now looks like this:

I saw one bug on my tomatoes a while bag and thought nothing of him/her because it did not appear to be eating the leaves.  Even its babies were not seemingly doing anything harmful.  Little did I know that they like to suck the juice of the tomatoes! 

  

I found out these are S T I N K    B U G S !  Ugh!  But I didn't get off my lazy ass to find this out until they had already multiplied into this mini-infestation!

Needless to say I killed them all and was left as stinky as I already am.  

These are only a few of the creatures we've found.  Max and I one day saw a caterpillar spinning into its chrysalis or its cocoon.  Actually I didn't just see it from afar - I almost ran smack  into it with my face.  Yesterday, we saw a slug that mimicked the leaf foliage.  Two nights before I found a baby bird sitting on the envelopes our mailman had left on our front porch.  How do I know it was a baby bird?  When I tried to hold him to put him closer to some bird seed I had, he hopped away and couldn't flap his wings.  I tried to put him in a safe place from where his mommy could retrieve him, but his squawks attracted two cats that were faster, stronger, and a lot closer than the mama bird.  Such is life.  And boy does Florida have a lot of it here.  

Simone is 6-years-old!

June 8, 2013

The night before Simone's actual birthday was one full of frosting activity.  Since the kids didn't frost the cupcakes for school, I had them do that part this time.   They were all too eager.  Thinking back on it, I think I should have done the frosting early because I'm sure they had snuck in some licks here and there and were hyper beyond normal.

We came out with one cake and 18 cupcakes.

Max was everyready "Can I eat one now? ...  How about now? ...  Now?"

I always loved those premade candy decor that you can buy at the store but we never got them on my cakes unless it had been a bakery-made cake.  I was so excited to get some for Simone.

Look how delicately Simone sprinkles her cake.  She does it with such care ... 

... for the most part.

The next morning, the kids were eager to have the fruits of their labor.

Max wanted to help with all aspects of someone else's birthday.  The first time we sang, Max blew out Simone's candle for her.   

Maybe she does need Max's help after all.  Simone, for some reason, couldn't blow out her candle.  When she finally did, we realized she hadn't made a wish.  Of course we had to do it over again!

Simone has conquered her cake.

Max didn't think Simone looked ferocious enough so he showed her how it's done.