Midterm and teaching bilingual kids

We have survived the first month of law school. I think we are doing well so far, even though there are many changes, and many adjustments for all of us. Steve is about to have his midterm for his first semester at law school, and I can feel the stress coming onto him. By 9pm, he usually has glossy eyes and look like a zombie.

At the mean time, Sophie and I have many adventures together while daddy is at school. My main goals are:

1. keep Sophie happy
2. keep Sophie in one piece
3. Teach her something new every day (i.e. words in both English and Chinese, new tricks like yoga poses, how to draw circles and curly lines...etc)
4. Experience something new every day (i.e. touch a rabbit, eat in a restaurant with mommy, ride the Skifary, go to new stores and touch the cool things... etc)
5. Be happy myself, and be the best mommy I can be for Sophie

Sophie and I hang out everyday, I hope she is not tired of me. But how can she? We go to the zoo like... all the time. Since it is listerally 5 min from our house. 

The zoo keeper lets Sophie touch the bunny

We watch how the mama flamingo feed the baby flamingo

We go say hi to the goat, and learn to be gentle with the animals --- still working on the gentle part. Poor goat. 

 

Free Tuesdays for residences are always awesome - We go to a different museum every Tuesday

Sometimes in a spare of the moment, I will be brave enough to take Sophie to the beach by myself. And we bring Chicken nuggets for lunch :) We have SOO much fun playing in the ocean.

We go see Dr. Zoolittle show at the zoo and learn about different species of animals.

Sometimes when daddy is not too busy, he'll go to the Air and Space Museum with us between classes.

It's always so nice to have daddy with us on our adventures.

Sophie loves hippos, so we go see hippo every time we go to the zoo.

We go to the park for play group and learning about taking turns and how to share -- But Miss Sophie thinks everything is hers. She says " Mine! Mine! Mine !"

oh, and feeding giraffe was super fun. They have purple tongues, and super long.  Thanks grandpa!!

 Some days, we'll have movie day because mommy is not feeling well. Which is ok and very fun for Sophie.

I think Sophie is super awesome. She is smart, she is funny, she is kind, she is loving, and she gives hugs and blow kisses. We recently learned about bees, the sound bee makes, and what bees do with their butt. Now Sophie would walk around the house and go "nnnnnnnnnnnnnn...sting" instead of "bzzzzzzz". She play the sting game with her daddy for 20 min.

Teaching a bilingual child is a lot of work, it takes time and diligence to keep on going with 2 languages. It is so much easier if I just kept it in 1 language, but I know it'll be beneficial to Sophie in the future, and it will help activate many brain connections for future learning. The challenging part for me as a mom is seeing other kids saying more words in the same age, then I have to remind myself that Sophie doesn't know any less words, she just knows all of the words in BOTH English AND Chinese. That is doubled of what most kids says. Although she hasn't been able to express as much as other kids, she does understand commands in both English and Chinese. I can't wait till Sophie can speak in fluent in both languages. Maybe in the future, she'll be a little translator for her Peterson grandparents.

Sometimes the people who are suppose to love you the most, for some odd reason always put you down no matter what you do. I've learned to try to ignore all the negative comments, and focus on my present situation, and be grateful for what I have. I pity those who put me down, because they'll never know how to be happy on their own without putting others down. They'll never experience true love, true gratitude, true gratification and true satisfaction in everyday life.  

I am happy to say that I find joy when Sophie learns a new word, and when she simply just hold my face with her two little hands, looked at me in the eye, and give me a kiss. It is the simple things like little kiss, big hugs, and when Sophie finally calls me mama ( After a whole year when she only says dada) makes all the sacrifices worth it. 

I love being a mommy to my Sophie, and I am very lucky to be able to do so. I am grateful for my husband who is very supportive in my roll as a SAHM (stay at home mom), and I am grateful for my in-laws who believes and values the importance of a SAHM. 

Just a shout out to my boop, I think you are awesome! Thank you for working so hard! I love you!