Emma Update

Emma is amazing us with her thoughtful questions and better understanding of the world. She keeps asking us questions like, "How tall is the biggest tree?" and "Do ants sleep?" We are so glad for the internet, where we learned that, yes, ants do seem to go into a type of hibernation and redwoods can be more than twice as tall as our 15 story apartment building.

Last night Emma and Sarah were working out with an exercise tape. Sarah thought Emma would do half the video with her then Emma could take her bath and Sarah would finish. They had finished the arms and abs sections, but then the next part came up and Emma begged, "Please, I need to do the thinks part, too, Mommy. What are thinks?" (thighs) Sarah let her continue and every few minutes she would yell out, "Am I doing it right?" or "Oh, that hurts, I'm getting stronger, Mommy!" Working out with a five-year-old has never been Sarah's idea of fun, but they did have a good time last night.

Emma the Thinker (and Talker)

I always say that one of the coolest things about being a parent is watching Emma grow up. Over the past month or two, Emma has really started showing signs of thinking on more complex levels. We'll be walking to school, and she'll ask a question out of the blue that shows she has been thinking about something for a while. She's starting to make connections between different people and things and figure out their relationships with each other. We got a big kick out of discussing in-laws with her.
Last night, I came home late after my night class, and Emma was already in bed. Either she hadn't fallen asleep yet, or my coming home woke her up. I got some food and went into the bedroom where Sarah was watching a TV show on the computer. I started getting undressed and emptying my pockets. Pretty soon, we saw the bedroom door squeak open just a crack. We knew that there was a three foot tall door-opener on the other side.
Sarah told her to go back to bed. A few minutes later, I was out in the kitchen again, and I could see her door doing the same secret crack. I went into her room and sat on her bed with her.
She said, "Daddy can we have a talk? I just really want to talk right now." First of all, that was incredibly cute. I think that was the first time I've heard her say she wanted to have "a talk" with me.
I said sure.
Then, she launched into a long explanation of why she isn't sleeping: "I'm not sleepy because first of all I just can't go to sleep, and second, I tried closing my eyes and sleeping, but I couldn't sleep, and third, Mommy's watching TV, and you're moving around out there, and you're change (coins) are really loud (when I dropped my coins into the bucket), and I don't feel tired, and the lights are on in the kitchen, and eleventh, I just don't feel sleepy. So those are the eleven reasons I'm not sleeping." I have no idea where she got the number eleven from!
She continued: "So I was thinking, maybe we could make my night time list tonight."
She has really gotten into lists lately. She has a list of things to do in the morning: wake up, eat breakfast, brush teeth, go potty, get dressed, brush hair, go to school - or something like that. If she gets something out of order, she get's really frustrated: "Oh no! I can't obey my list today!" Sarah said one day this week she was hopping around the kitchen because she had to go to the bathroom, but she hadn't eaten breakfast yet. She couldn't bear to break the order of her list. (Sarah made her go to the bathroom!) Emma needs to make a new night-time list because she tore up the old one because it was out of order.
So anyway, back to the bedtime talk, we negotiated a deal that she could make her new night-time list, and then go to bed. After a little bit of drama (which was partly my fault), she finally settled down and went to bed.

Sarah and I have decided that Emma is one part Elizabeth (Sarah's sister, who loves order and art) and one part April (my sister who is full of passion and chutzpa). That makes for one lively girl!

Emma's First Sleepover

A few months ago, we were delighted to discover that a new family had moved into our apartment complex. They are from Russia and Ukraine, and they have two children: Mirek (a 2 1/2 year old boy) and Sasha (a 5 year old girl).
I first met Ilya (like Elijah) on the street, and his eyes lit up like a kid in a candy shop when I asked him if he plays soccer. We've been playing soccer at Cheonan Stadium fairly regularly on Sunday nights for more than a month. Ilya's a goal keeper, so that's a big bonus for us. People who actually want to play goalie are hard to come by.
Emma and Sasha have become fast friends. Sasha goes to the same preschool as Emma, so they get to play together there and occasionally at the park near our house.
Wednesday night we finally invited the whole family over for dinner. The kids quickly spread toys all over Emma's room and our room. We had a great time talking and learning about recent Russian politics.
Language doesn't seem to be much of a problem for the kids. They talk in a mixture of English, Russian, and Korean. Emma has even started saying "stop" with a Russian accent: "shtope." English definitely dominates though. It's Emma's strongest language, and Sasha has studied English some before. It seems like her dormant English is finally finding the motivation for lots of expression.
Wednesday night when everyone was leaving, I asked Sasha if she had a good time. She responded in Russian, and then her parents started laughing. She said, "Yes, I had fun, but it would have been better if my parents had not been here."
I said that was easy enough to take care of. Today (Monday) is a national holiday (Children's Day), so all of the schools are closed. So we invited Sasha to spend the night last night for Emma's first ever sleep over.
The night started beautifully when Ilya brought some homemade cottage cheese. That might make it into a lovely lasagna!

When Ilya and I returned from playing soccer, I found Emma and Sasha freshly bathed and in matching pajamas. Then, the girls wanted to play and to rough house with me. Sasha kept asking for me to do the game when I made them do flips. Unfortunately, I was too tired for all of that stuff last night.

We put the girls to bed about 10:30 (very late for Emma). After a host of books (close to 10), we turned out the lights and said goodnight. But the girls were not ready to sleep. We heard them walking around and going to the bathroom. Sarah went in to lay down with them for a little while about 11:00. Then around 11:30, Emma knocked on our door and said, "Um, I have a question. Sasha fell down."

The girls had been playing with their cups of water. They spilled water on the floor, and Sasha fell on the water and somehow cut her chin pretty good. For a little while, I thought Emma's first sleepover might end with a teary-eyed trip to the emergency room.

But Sasha was a real trooper. She didn't cry at all, and surprisingly, there wasn't much blood even though the cut was fairly deep. We cleaned her up and put on a band-aid. After talking to us on the phone, her parents decided to let her stay. Both girls were asleep by midnight. Tragedy averted.

This morning, they woke us up at what felt like the pre-dawn hour of 7:30. They've already had breakfast and TV, and now they're "feeding" Emma's lovies and playing on the piano.

All and all, a good sleep over. And definitely a memorable one.

Family Update - Emma

Watching Emma grow up is one of the most amazing experiences of my life. She is learning and growing in every way. Sometimes I just watch her in awe.
This year, she started her second year of preschool. (In U.S. terms this year would be the equivalent of Pre-K.) On the first day of school, I went to an opening day celebration. All of the parents gathered downstairs in a large room and sat on tiny chairs in neat little rows. After about half an hour of prep time with the teachers upstairs, about 100 little kids came downstairs and sat on the front group of tiny chairs. Next came a 10 minute motivational speech for the children to work hard, study hard, be kind, and learn a lot. Then the director introduced the school and the teachers. Next, the students all went upstairs and the parents had a 20-30 minute orientation. I was really wishing I had brought a book or something to read. My Korean is definitely getting better, but it's still hard to stay focused when I only understand about 10% of what is being said. Finally, we went up to the children's classrooms to meet the teachers and see the kids in the classrooms.
Over all, I am very impressed with Emma's preschool. They offer lots of special activities, field trips, and after school activities. This year Emma decided to drop out of ballet and take up art instead. She loves drawing, so I'm sure she'll enjoy that. The thing that impresses me most about Emma's school, however, is the kindness of the teachers. I think they have really done an excellent job hiring and training their teachers. They are overwhelmingly kind and loving to the children. It's beautiful to see them interacting.
Emma is also continuing her piano lessons with our friend Adam. She loves going to piano and is progressing well. Right now she is learning to read music. The song she is working on now is "Ode to Joy, " or "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee."
Emma has started working through a math book for the pre-K level. It is teaching her to match things, to recognize which has more, and to write her numbers. She really likes it. She considers it something fun to do. Thanks Nana!
Here's a funny story to wrap things up. Like the rest of us, Emma was getting tired of winter. About a month ago, whenever we would go outside she would start talking to God, "God, please make winter go away forever. Please let spring come!" Surprisingly (to me at least), we have had an especially early and mild spring. It has been in the 50's most of this week. It seems like God has answered her prayer.