Sunday, July 01, 2012

Summer!

Wow. Summer is here.  And this is the part where I swear up and down that I will blog more.  Not because I have more time, but because I am feeling sad that I have not kept better records for the kids.  So here are some updates.

Chase finished Primary 1 with pizazz.  She entered P1 (Kindergarten) with the ability to read and write small words.  About halfway through, she asked me if she could read herself to sleep at night.  Now, she able to read any book she sets her mind to.  Her writing has come along so much - she is connecting sentences, using tenses, descriptions, quotation marks and always begins her sentences with a capital letter and ends with a "full stop."  She is also able to count to 100 by 2s, 5s and 10s (in her head).  She is counting money with little effort and learned how to tell time today.  Her Mandarin has also been progressing - quickly as ever.  She spent the last six months in a "hard class" where she focused more on writing. 

This school year was also significant because she started having opinions about what she didn't like - ballet is one.  She is looking forward to tennis and art classes this Summer.

Madoc had a tough year at her kindie.  As Chase has really never complained about going anywhere, Madoc spent the last 6 months complaining about going to her school.  It took every ounce of energy to get her there and I dreaded the 10 minutes between telling her we had to go - to get her in the car.  She will be going to the same kindie next year and I really, really hope it gets better.  Madoc also decided she didn't like Mandarin, so I'm hoping that changes too. 

Hubs is happy as I've seen him, except he is pestered by me on a daily basis about how bad the air quality is here and how much I want to move.  He's training for the trailwalker Oxfam hike already - and loving it.  He feels great and looks great, too.

And finally, I decided after two years of researching asthma and airways (and two years of frustration at how little information was provided by doctors) that it was time I start sharing what I've learned, in hopes of helping others.  And so just last week I launched  http://www.facebook.com/BreatheHK