20 Questions for Penny-- age 4

1. What is your favorite color?  Pink
2. What is your favorite toy?  Horse
3. What is your favorite fruit?  Apple
4. What is your favorite TV show?  Super Why
5. What is your favorite movie?  Dragon (How to Train Your Dragon)
6. What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner?  Chicken
7. What is your favorite outfit?  Horse shirt
8. What is your favorite game?  Merry go round game (i.e., riding the merry go round at the zoo)
9. What is your favorite snack?  No shoes. Shoes are yucky!
10. What is your favorite animal?  A... elephant!
11. What is your favorite song?  The merry go round song (I ride on the merry go round, I ride on the merry go round. Because Merry go rounds are fun. Merry go rounds are fun. I love to ride the merry go rounds, I ride on the merry go rounds) (Made up on the spot.)
12. What is your favorite book?  Jingle bells book
13. Who is your best friend?  Lukey (from Shenyang)
14. What is your favorite dessert?  Lollipop 
15. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Play jump rope
16. What is your favorite drink?  Juice
17. What is your favorite holiday?  Go to the beach
18. What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  A baby horse, a baby real horse! 
19. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  Carrots
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Play with bigger kids
And when I asked her each of these questions, she said, "Um," while thoughtfully pointing to her chin, then answered

Almost thou persuadest me to be a Baptist....

When I first signed Penny up for VBS (Vacation Bobble School, as they say at the southern Baptist churches), I imagined a nice little day camp where the kids sing songs, make crafts, and play games, all the while learning about the Bible. When I turned in her application, though, I learned that "little" wasn't quite the word to describe it. With over 500 children and another 175 volunteers, this was QUITE the production!
I volunteered to work with the 2-year-olds (since that's what I'd be doing anyway), which did wonders in getting Penny off the waiting list. That meant the three of us were ready and out the door by 8:45 every morning this week, cruising against traffic to VBS. The girls really liked it, and I'd definitely do it again... though probably not signing up to work with 2-year-olds. It was a lot of work, and from what the other volunteers were saying, not quite as much fun as doing the activities with the older kids. You know, the ones who can talk and don't cry or lose their shoes.
Penny started her morning in the sanctuary for the worship rally. When I visualize a sanctuary, I see an old stone chapel with someone kneeling in silent prayer. Or maybe a high-ceilinged cathedral with sounds of the choir echoing in the rafters. But I don't usually see a drum set off to the side, a roller coaster and Ferris wheel backdrop, and 500 children cheering and singing. It was a happy, delightful crowd. It just wasn't the tranquility I usually imagine in a "sanctuary."
The theme this year is "Facing fear, trusting God," with the title, "Colossal Coaster World." Penny learned the theme song, which she sings, "Costco Ohhhhhh." But she does all the right hand motions and everything, so it's close enough, right? Penny learned a lot of great songs, made friends with some of the other 4-year-olds in her class, and had a lot to tell us about the crafts they made and the stories she learned about Paul.
The 2-year-olds had little roller coaster cars made from cardboard boxes.

Riding the roller coaster

A couple of our lessons had the children pushing the cars along the tracks towards the Bible at the end, and stuff like that. Then the rest of the time they could just play with them. On the final day, our focus was on the story of Paul getting shipwrecked. I was supposed to teach a little lesson where they matched patterned boats one by one, taking turns. But I'd tried earlier in the week to have my eleven 2-year-olds take turns, and we scrapped that idea. Instead, I brought some large boxes, told the story of Paul's divine Aid, and then told them, "These are your boats!" It was a hit.

Naomi and her buddies eating their lunches

The kids did music time, craft time, and playground time, which really reduced the time we spent playing in our classroom to a manageable hour or so. The we had snack time and lunch time, which filled up the rest of our mornings. Wow, though. I'm glad I don't have eleven 2-year-olds every day!

It was fun working in a different church environment. Besides a week-long mission trip to Mexico in high school with the United Church, I haven't spent much time in churches beside my own. It was cool to see what was different and what was the same.

First of all, Mormons don't do VBS. Most wards have several children's activities throughout the year, but there's no week-long shindig. I think it would be fun, but it would probably add a lot of pressure to keep doing it year after year, and we already have a lot going on, though on regular but smaller scales. 

The volunteers had a little snack room where we could go on a break. It was awesome to be able to take a break and just leave my kids behind for a few minutes. I usually only get that kind of alone time when I take showers, but let's face it, not even then. They had quite a spread of cookies, muffins, bagels, pizza bites, and whatever else people had signed up to bring that day. One day there was this chili-lime popcorn that was AMAZING. I'll have to try and make it someday, because it was that good. It was surprising to see a big cooler of iced tea and a little sign saying "Coffee in the kitchen," since that's something we never see at Mormon shindigs. 

So we have timpani in the sanctuary and coffee in the break room, but the rest of it was the same as anywhere else, I guess. The biggest difference was the overall feel of it. They have ministers, pastors, and other staff who work at the church full time. Then they have 175 volunteers to do their bidding. At Mormon functions, you have volunteers, more volunteers, and then people who just show up. So you know who's in charge (usually), and you know what you're supposed to be doing (hopefully), but it's your church as much as it is their church, and it just as easily could have been you put in charge of the whole shebang. 

My girls love the "dancing monsters" welcoming them to VBS

The girls had fun, I had a good experience, and would we do it again? Absolutely. I even attended their Sunday service the day before it started, and I found it very inspiring and thought-provoking. It made me want to study my Bible a little bit more. (Paul escaping from the city in a basket? I'd completely forgotten about that story! Paul and the Roman soldier? I still don't know that one!!) It was fun to reach out and be a part of the bigger Christian community. I hope people aren't shy to reach out and see what our church is about. We know Paul, but we also know Ammon, Captain Moroni, Nephi, and Joseph Smith. 

So, to misquote Agrippa in response to Paul's testimony, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Baptist." And next time we're in Virginia, we'll be back for VBS.

Four!

It's Penny's birthday today, and she is four! Naomi likes to do everything her sister does, so she has gotten in the habit of telling people, "I'm three!" (It is not true. She's two.) But now she's started holding out one finger and saying, "I'm four!" 

Penny and her watermelon cake

This year Penny's birthday landed on a rather busy weekend. So instead of a large, raucous party, we just had her "favorite friend," Molly, come to dinner at our house with her family. Molly and her sister are just the same ages as Penny and her sister. They love playing ponies together, and it was a special treat for Penny and Molly to be able to play together all afternoon.

It took about four tries to blow out all four candles. We also had cherry cupcakes to match those on her cherry cupcake puzzle.

Penny is very sweet and has learned a lot in her four years. She is very caring of her sister. In fact, if I walk anywhere without Naomi (towards the elevator, towards the car, etc.) Penny will plant her feet right where she is and frantically yell, "Don't leave my sister!!!" Then she'll run back and grab Naomi's arm and drag her in my direction. It is very sweet and illustrates just how loving and sensitive she is. (It also doesn't help us get to the car/elevator very fast. It's hard to adequately explain that if she would just get on the elevator/in the car, her sister would follow her example. But that's a concept we'll be working on while she's four, I guess.)
She and Naomi really care for each other. I mean, don't get me wrong, they fight over toys and squabble a little bit. But they love to play together and generally get along really well! I am surprised, because I remember that Sarah and I didn't get along very well at all. So this is all very new and exciting that my two little girls are best friends! They play "puppy" almost all the time. Naomi is the puppy and follows her sister around the house. And then Penny is the puppy and answers everything with either a nod or shake of the head and, "Ruff!" One time she was crying about something, and I heard her, between sobs, whimper, "Ruff." I then had my doubts as to whether she was real or fake crying.... One day Naomi was the puppy all morning, and Penny was the puppy's mommy. This meant that I was the puppy's grandma, and she insisted on calling me "Grandma" the entire morning. I must have been in a bad mood or something, because this really bothered me after a while. I'm not old enough to be a grandma!!
Penny knows all her letters and numbers, though she gets lost in the mid-teens and tends to repeat half of them. She knows most of the letter sounds, and she understands that letters on the page are words. Reading hasn't clicked yet, but she has memorized half her books and will read them aloud to herself and to Naomi. In fact, it takes her about once through a book to memorize most of it, and then she'll "read" it herself.
We started a reading program at the library called 1000 Books Before Kindergarten. We were at 150 or so when I gave it up, realizing that we're right about at halfway through our time in Virginia, and we were nowhere near halfway through the reading program. But she loves books, and we're very grateful for the library around the corner from us!
When Penny plays with her toys, she'll narrate stories about them the whole time, aloud, in a squeaky little toy voice. Sometimes it's in first person, and other times it's in third person. I mean to write one of them down one of these times. They're kind of hilarious.
Penny doesn't look a thing like me. In China, everyone knew she was my daughter because she is obviously not Chinese, and I am also obviously not Chinese... though more so. Here in America, though, people often ask me if she is my daughter. Usually they say, "So, are these both your girls?" They are, and they're both wonderful. But the only thing (literally the only thing) I've found is that some of Penny's fingernails are shaped like mine. Oh, and her nose (which doesn't look like mine) crinkles when she laughs like mine does.
That's it.
Fortunately, she is a lot like my husband, who is my very favorite man in the world. I think there should be more people in the world like him, and I'm happy to know that Penny is one of them.
Penny is the sweetest little girl I know, and I'm very glad she was sent to our family to set the tone as the oldest child. I love her more and more each day.

A typical morning

Kevin leaves for work before I wake up. He found a new bike path to work, and it's nearly twice as long as his previous one. Not many people would be as thrilled to spend even longer on their commute to work, but we're blessed to have so many bike paths around here. He gets to ride his bike nearly every day, and it doesn't take too much time away from our being together as a family.

After Kevin (usually), Naomi is the next person to wake up. This morning, she and Penny crawled into my bed and snuggled for a little while as I tried to wake up. Isn't that cute? It's only happened twice, so I can't say it's our new daily pattern. But it makes me happy to have two bright little faces greet me in the morning. They're so cheery and sweet in the morning. It almost makes up for me.

We get up and have "Square Cheerios" (Frosted Mini-Wheats) for breakfast. I usually eat my own then help the girls finish their bowls, too. There's never any need for me to serve myself seconds of anything!

The girls watched Kipper (or "Kipper da gog," as Naomi says) for an hour while I did some sewing. I heard this woman at the park last week patronizingly explaining to another couple that she NEVER lets her younger children watch TV, and she CERTAINLY never just plops them down in front of screens to just fill up their time. 

Um.... I do. I don't brag about it ("Oh, I ALWAYS let my kids watch TV. It's SOO good for them!), because I know it's not the best. I read in a book that kids' mental activity is slower when they watch TV even than when they sleep. Kids learn so much at this age that it's really a shame to waste hours on TV when they could be learning. But sometimes I just want some downtime, and the big square babysitter is one handy way to get it. It's not the end of the world.

After the hour of TV/sewing, I got the girls dressed and we went to the library. Well, I got Naomi dressed. Penny slept in her clothes, and since they're still clean enough, she is wearing the same thing as yesterday. I draw the line at 3 days in a row, but this two-day thing is at least a weekly occurrence.

So story time at the library was nice. It's not the most amazing program in the world, but it's good to get out of the house and see other people. We checked out 13 books, threw them in the stroller, then headed over to Costco, where we loaded down the stroller with a few cases of this and that. Wouldn't you know-- halfway through our Costco trip, the stroller wheels both go flat! Naomi is angry that her seat is filled up with food, and Penny refuses to get out of her seat. So I get to hold Naomi and try to push an overloaded stroller with flat tires to the check-out counters. Oh hello, lady. You want to walk upstream between me and the aisles of food? Allow me to go around you. You're welcome! And of course I chose the shortest line I saw. Deceptively short, though. The ladies in front of me were either stocking their nuclear fall-out shelter, or they'd never been to Costco before in their lives and they were hosting the company picnic that weekend. The end of the checkout counter was full well before they had even emptied out their basket at the beginning. And we got to wait patiently (i.e., only 1/3 of us were screaming) while she spent well over a thousand dollars at Costco. 

At least she wasn't a mega-couponer or something.
We made it home. I disassembled the stroller, put it in a Costco cart, and wheeled our stuff home like a hobo.

For lunch we had lemonade and roasted chicken. It was greasy and delicious, filling and fast. We read one of our library books in Naomi's bed, and now she's down for her nap. I'm chilling at my computer, and Penny is playing make-believe with her toys and teaching herself how to read.

Nah, just kidding. She's watching TV on the iPad.