Dear tooth fairy

We've been so tired, that Joshua had already lost 2 teeth in the past month and we still hadn't gotten around to leaving money under his pillow.  So tonight, he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy.

Halloween ninjas

After collecting all his Halloween loot, Joshua said, "I can't wait to sort all my candy!"

Leroy Brown

Excited that Joshua has discovered and loves one of my favorite book series: Encyclopedia Brown.

Favorite book

Joshua's favorite "book" right now is his Exotic Car Buyer's Guide.  At least he is learning how to spell a lot of foreign words like big words like Koenigsegg, Bugatti, Hennessey, and Lamborhini.  And how to compare big numbers, like $2,300,000 (cost of a Bugatti) vs. $225,000 (Ferrari).

RISE student of the month

At Joshua's school, students are selected each month for their "respectful conduct".  RISE stands for "Respect Individuals, Self, and Environment".  Joshua was a RISE student of the month for his school.  So proud of you, Joshua!  He is living up to the meaning of his Chinese name, "Jiamin" = "excellent citizen".

First football game

It was super fun taking the boys to their first Harvard Game.  They loved the action, the random balloons floating into the air, the chips/hot chocolate/popcorn, the high scoring offense (go Harvard), the exciting plays on offense and defense, the energy in the crowd, the stadium music and instant replays.  In short, they loved everything I love about fall college football. I hope to be able to take them to many games from now on.  :)

First day of first grade

No more training wheels

I was astonished this past Friday when Annette texted me that Joshua just suddenly started to ride his bike without his training wheels.  She had noticed that his training wheels had become all jacked and were barely touching the floor anymore and when she pointed this out to him and took off the training wheels, he was just fine.  

We had tried to train him earlier last month and he strugglesd, and was not interested at all.  Just goes to show you, kids will just do things when they are ready.

speed racer mach 6

Joshua has started to watch the new versions of Speed Racer the Show and his favorite car in the movie is the Mach 6.  (Joshua is dictating this sentence)

Joshua's first pair of glasses

Joshua actually has 2 pairs--the above which he picked because they looked like his mom's.   And then another pair of black ones.  We would have preferred that he get some lighter wireframe ones, but these were the ones he wanted, and so that's what he's going to wear.

If you're going to kill me...

Some bible stories are pretty scary for kids, like the story of Abraham going up to the mountain with his son Isaac.  Eventually because of his faith, God gives Abraham a goat to kill instead of sacrificing his son.  Still the idea of killing your son seems pretty crazy to me, and Joshua didn't like the idea as well : "If you're going to kill me, just tell me."

Racial Unconsciousness

As Joshua was listening to the radio today hearing about the presidential campaign, he asked me, "Are we white people, or are we black people?"
We had a conversation about race--how it's based on skin color, and not who you are on the inside, which is what really matters.

Paper Airplanes

Joshua has always been a designer and builder and liked paper airplanes, but the one he crafted tonight was particularly interesting, with 4 straws, which actually were very beneficial to the aircraft's flight and stability.  I need to notify NASA about this new breakthrough design.

Reading Tear and Swimming

It's nice to see Joshua starting to really enjoy reading on his own.  That also means Annette and I unfortunately can't spell out any words anymore so that the boys don't understand us.
Joshua's favorite thing to read is his lego catalog, so he knows words like "adversary" and "impenetrable" referring to the Ninjago play figures and sets.
He also reads whatever he sees, so today while we were at the sports store, he pointed out the "fighting room" (fitting room)

He also swam for the first time without any flotation devices yesterday in the pool, which was wonderful to see and today in his swim class, with his fins, he was just powering down the lane, taking strokes, head underwater.  Looking very fluid.  What a change over these past few months, especially as I remember seeing him in the YMCA going backwards trying to do his frog kick.

Waiting for flight

All ready to fly to DC

What Joshua is like...

At 6.5yrs old, Joshua is:
1)  really into Lego Ninjago these days.  He can spend hours pouring over his Lego catalog, studying what each set contains--the figures, the weapons they use, how much they cost, how many more stars he needs to earn in order to buy one.  He also creates his own sets, using cannabalized Lego parts to create new vehicles, which he boxes up into "new sets."
2) he is still passionate about cars, but a little less than he was 6 months ago.  He is a car spotter.  Doesn't like to ride cars and know how cars works.  Just likes identifying them.  He'll spot a car a block away, and tell me the make and model. "That's a Dodge Charger dad"  or, "Oo, that's the 4th BMW M6 I've seen."  We went to the Boston Auto Show in January, and he wanted to go around and look at the cars, check out their exhaust pipes, and then he was done.
3) he loves to learn. We were planning a trip out to Vermont, but he said he didn't want to miss the last day of school.  He's flourishing in math, doing addition and subtraction of multiple 2 digit numbers.  His teacher encourages him to write, write, write and not worry about spelling. So his spelling is atrocious, but stories are great.  He spontaneously speaks Mandarin every once in a while, and actually does know how to read more Chinese characters than I do.  Amazing.
4) he loves to please us.  Sometimes out of the blue, he'll say, "I don't like video games, just natural games" because he knows we don't like him to spend a lot of time on the computer or his iPad.
5) he's almost learned how to swim.  At the YMCA, he's down to just one floatation pad.  Has made a lot of progress this year.  He's been playing soccer afterschool on Wednesdays, and also plays in a league on Saturdays.  I saw him dribble and score a goal a couple of weeks ago, which was incredible to watch.  He has baseball afterschool on Tuesday, which he doesn't like so much.  He says it's hard.
6) his best friends are still us:  Mommy, me and Samuel.
7) no longer gets carsick in the car or airplane.  Thank goodness.
8) is a good walker.  Afterschool, he'll walk a mile home with Carmen, picking up Samuel along the way.
9) doesn't bike yet without training wheels--sorts of leans over on one side still.  Getting better with the scooter, especially after seeing Samuel do it.
10) is still a sensitive guy.  Can get hurt by words, like when Samuel told him that he hates his legos.  But we've been talking to him about where he can put mean words that people say--he makes a trashcan with his hand, and pretends to put the words there.  It's funny watching him actually do that.
11)  He prays every single night:  "Thank you God for no scary dreams last night, and I hope I don't have any scary dreams tonight!"
12)  Dry overnight now.  Thank God almighty!  He was getting really heavy to carry to the bathroom every night.

Home haircuts

4 months old--the Mohawk



19 months old--the Flowbee



6yrs old

Math Skillz

 Joshua's math problems at school.  I love his explanations.

"I was concentrating"

Hawaii 2.0

Joshua and his sand creations








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Delayed gratification

We started a sticker reward chart to encourage Joshua to sleep in his own bed at night. He suggested that we add a picture of ourselves so that he "wouldn't feel so lonely."

After a few nights, he was so proud of earning stickers that he added on his own another 40 spacers to the sticker chart.

Museum of Natural History

Joshua's swimming class

This afterschool YMCA swimming class has been great.  Joshua's been afraid of the water, so great to see him trying to swim laps!  Way to go Josh!

My Loose Tooth, a story by Joshua Tang

"I have a loose teeth."

"It gets looser and looser."

"My loose tooth falls out!"

"I get 1 dollar from the tooth fairy."

Joshua writes stories for his kindergarten homework, and they are usually about race cars and police cars, but his front lower teeth have recently started to get wiggly with a new tooth growing behind them.  Today, he wanted to write about his loose teeth.  His spelling ain't so good, but I love his story.  

Family portrait

I love the way the boys smile.  :)

Kindergarten photo

Kindergarden class photo