Letter Catch Up
A letter to my friends from NY. I thought I would post it so I had it in the archives. A little bit about how we are doing right now:
Ronin is in 4th grade which is when local school gets really intense. He has some serious math homework every day and its a struggle for me to help him. Nothing shows you the limits of your own abilities than Singapore Math.. or "maths" i should say. since thats how they refer to it here (and it drives me nuts!) Is that even the proper way to say it? Heidi? I need some english skills here! some things i find out are accurate (“learnt”) but other stuff is just so odd… anyway,
Ronins favourite thing to do right now is skateboard. As i was reading about Gavin, i was thinking, thats the kid I've always wanted! Someone who wants to play the piano and read his guts out. But nope…. no kids like that here. Ronin likes audiobooks (real books are too much work), skateboarding and laying under the bench at church. I mean, really, this kid is 9! you would think he had the WORST parents in the world! oh wait….
he has a friend here that skateboards with him and they have a great time. He just learned to ollie and is on cloud 9. he’s on the basketball team at school again this year and is really loving it. He’s way too good at sports to have parents like us. poor kid. he really got jipped.
Cache started P1 this year which is US 1st grade equivalent. And since he’s starting out in the local system he has to take a mother tongue class. He is taking Malay (which is spoken in Malaysia and parts of Indonesia) The reason we opted for that is because he HATED Chinese in kindergarten and Malay actually uses letters instead of symbols for the alphabet which I figured I could help him with. It makes sounding out the words possible. But of course he still hates it. He wet his pants in class last week because he said he didn’t know the Malay word for toilet. In fact he had 2 accidents in a row and Ive been so sick about it. They speak zero english in the class but don’t actually tell them what any of the words mean. I remember taking spanish and it was all about memorising the vocabulary words, but they don’t do that here which makes no sense to me.
Anyway, cache is having a rough go at school and talks about moving back to NY every week. It really breaks my heart because he’s suffering from thinking that moving will solve all his problems. when really it will only solve his Malay Class problems. which may be enough for him at this point.
Thankfully he’s really good at math (which is a relief to me!) and spelling comes naturally so things could definitely be worse. In fact he has had 3 malay spelling tests and has aced every one. He said he doesn’t know what the words mean, he just sounded them out. so, at least he’s a problem solver?
anyway. he just turned 7 in january. I am looking forward to this year when they change so much before baptism. He is less than excited about anything church related so Im hoping this year he can have some good and positive experiences with the spirit and his testimony or else Im going to be worried about his future. He has been so great with playing and taking care of his younger brothers this past few months. which if you had seen how annoyed and indifferent he was to them before, you would understand why I’m excited about this change. So things (I hope) are looking up. Hopefully he comes into himself. Its Such a tricky age when you worry about self esteem and understanding your place in the world. he’s really sensitive so I feel the most concern for him right now.
Kai just turned 4 and he is hell on wheels. Literally. he’s like the tasmanian devil and makes messes faster than I can clean up. Its quite exhausting and of course the 4 year old stage is not my favourite. Theres lots of tantruming and screaming and grabbing of toys. He has a seriously crazy head of red curly hair and a great big smile. and he can be fiery. has the loudest scream yet out of all the boys and he likes to agitate levi any time he can. Which is sad because just months ago he was so sweet with him all the time. he turned 4 and instantly changed. he has a little best friend that lives in our building so he has lots of fun living here as he has the run of the house and practically the entire condo.
Levi still stands as the favourite child who has restored my faith in parenting. He is delightful and fun. helpful and sweet. Happy and so terribly cute. He still cries and has what one would call a tantrum but in comparison to his older brothers, he is easy as pie. Part of that could be because he is still in a crib and doesn’t even bother to climb out. He naps every day and plays his toys quietly without grabbing or screaming. its so amazing… However, when he’s tired you just want to put him out of his misery! (like right now! kai is teasing and levi is melting down into a pile of tears. he woke up way too early)
ok. what else… patricks job is challenging. last week he almost quit. so thats nice. right?
I’m sure we are still here for 2 more years but he is talking about starting up his own design firm with a friend who he met here. question is, can we actually do it? and where would we do it? entertainment design is booming here mostly because there aren’t any people with the skills to do it so he has a lot of work, but really, living in asia the rest of my life? hmmm, i don’t think i want to. we dream of NY. He talks of Vegas. who knows what life will bring. We still have our house in NY and last month because of all the cold temps, we had a water pipe burst and it flooded the house. The walls and floors in the master bath/bed and the next two levels down all have to be replaced. So were in a messy process there. Im really grateful that we had good insurance! We were in-between renters so we didn’t have any problems with them and their belongings and because we had just signed a new rental agreement (the day before!) we have our rent payments covered until the work is done. whew! dodged a bullet on that one. Im learning each day about how important prayer is. I’m so grateful for it. i would be a crumbled mess without it.
so that leaves just little ol me….. I’m fine…. thats all
kidding! I am fine. that part is true. Im keeping busy with the kids. I don’t have a helper any more. her contract was up and after the emotional roller coaster of the last year I have decided not to hire anyone else. I order all my groceries for online delivery so I don’t have to battle asia grocery shopping with 2 kids which is as difficult as it was in those little shops in queens. I’m just too old for it all now. back in queens i had so much more energy I guess cause it was doable. hard, but doable. but here i just can’t. do. it. is that sad or what?
anyway. other than that and the ridiculously small clothes washer I have to do my laundry in and hanging them all on a line, I feel like Im managing my life much better than when I first got here. having all 4 kids at home in the afternoon and doing singapore math with the older boys while kai rips apart the house and punches his baby brother is proving to be difficult, but i figure it would be the same no matter where i live, so you know I’m fine…. just living life the best i can. but we did move apartments in december and have a bit more space for all 6 of us has proven to help all of us. its nice having a place where very one can go to get away from each other.
ok… i have put off my kids long enough and really, if i don’t shower now, i never will. you know how that goes, right? i love each and every one of you. thanks natasha for taking care of us and keeping us in touch. I’m so grateful!
love you all
k
its only taken me ALL morning to write this. partly because of the kids, and partly because I’m so slow. i think I’m getting slower the older i get….
Cebu Philippines Temple trip. we only get to go to the temple once a year, but we get a trip too. this was over caches birthday. so we took the whole family.
Ronin is in 4th grade which is when local school gets really intense. He has some serious math homework every day and its a struggle for me to help him. Nothing shows you the limits of your own abilities than Singapore Math.. or "maths" i should say. since thats how they refer to it here (and it drives me nuts!) Is that even the proper way to say it? Heidi? I need some english skills here! some things i find out are accurate (“learnt”) but other stuff is just so odd… anyway,
Ronins favourite thing to do right now is skateboard. As i was reading about Gavin, i was thinking, thats the kid I've always wanted! Someone who wants to play the piano and read his guts out. But nope…. no kids like that here. Ronin likes audiobooks (real books are too much work), skateboarding and laying under the bench at church. I mean, really, this kid is 9! you would think he had the WORST parents in the world! oh wait….
he has a friend here that skateboards with him and they have a great time. He just learned to ollie and is on cloud 9. he’s on the basketball team at school again this year and is really loving it. He’s way too good at sports to have parents like us. poor kid. he really got jipped.
Cache started P1 this year which is US 1st grade equivalent. And since he’s starting out in the local system he has to take a mother tongue class. He is taking Malay (which is spoken in Malaysia and parts of Indonesia) The reason we opted for that is because he HATED Chinese in kindergarten and Malay actually uses letters instead of symbols for the alphabet which I figured I could help him with. It makes sounding out the words possible. But of course he still hates it. He wet his pants in class last week because he said he didn’t know the Malay word for toilet. In fact he had 2 accidents in a row and Ive been so sick about it. They speak zero english in the class but don’t actually tell them what any of the words mean. I remember taking spanish and it was all about memorising the vocabulary words, but they don’t do that here which makes no sense to me.
Anyway, cache is having a rough go at school and talks about moving back to NY every week. It really breaks my heart because he’s suffering from thinking that moving will solve all his problems. when really it will only solve his Malay Class problems. which may be enough for him at this point.
Thankfully he’s really good at math (which is a relief to me!) and spelling comes naturally so things could definitely be worse. In fact he has had 3 malay spelling tests and has aced every one. He said he doesn’t know what the words mean, he just sounded them out. so, at least he’s a problem solver?
anyway. he just turned 7 in january. I am looking forward to this year when they change so much before baptism. He is less than excited about anything church related so Im hoping this year he can have some good and positive experiences with the spirit and his testimony or else Im going to be worried about his future. He has been so great with playing and taking care of his younger brothers this past few months. which if you had seen how annoyed and indifferent he was to them before, you would understand why I’m excited about this change. So things (I hope) are looking up. Hopefully he comes into himself. Its Such a tricky age when you worry about self esteem and understanding your place in the world. he’s really sensitive so I feel the most concern for him right now.
Kai just turned 4 and he is hell on wheels. Literally. he’s like the tasmanian devil and makes messes faster than I can clean up. Its quite exhausting and of course the 4 year old stage is not my favourite. Theres lots of tantruming and screaming and grabbing of toys. He has a seriously crazy head of red curly hair and a great big smile. and he can be fiery. has the loudest scream yet out of all the boys and he likes to agitate levi any time he can. Which is sad because just months ago he was so sweet with him all the time. he turned 4 and instantly changed. he has a little best friend that lives in our building so he has lots of fun living here as he has the run of the house and practically the entire condo.
Levi still stands as the favourite child who has restored my faith in parenting. He is delightful and fun. helpful and sweet. Happy and so terribly cute. He still cries and has what one would call a tantrum but in comparison to his older brothers, he is easy as pie. Part of that could be because he is still in a crib and doesn’t even bother to climb out. He naps every day and plays his toys quietly without grabbing or screaming. its so amazing… However, when he’s tired you just want to put him out of his misery! (like right now! kai is teasing and levi is melting down into a pile of tears. he woke up way too early)
ok. what else… patricks job is challenging. last week he almost quit. so thats nice. right?
I’m sure we are still here for 2 more years but he is talking about starting up his own design firm with a friend who he met here. question is, can we actually do it? and where would we do it? entertainment design is booming here mostly because there aren’t any people with the skills to do it so he has a lot of work, but really, living in asia the rest of my life? hmmm, i don’t think i want to. we dream of NY. He talks of Vegas. who knows what life will bring. We still have our house in NY and last month because of all the cold temps, we had a water pipe burst and it flooded the house. The walls and floors in the master bath/bed and the next two levels down all have to be replaced. So were in a messy process there. Im really grateful that we had good insurance! We were in-between renters so we didn’t have any problems with them and their belongings and because we had just signed a new rental agreement (the day before!) we have our rent payments covered until the work is done. whew! dodged a bullet on that one. Im learning each day about how important prayer is. I’m so grateful for it. i would be a crumbled mess without it.
so that leaves just little ol me….. I’m fine…. thats all
kidding! I am fine. that part is true. Im keeping busy with the kids. I don’t have a helper any more. her contract was up and after the emotional roller coaster of the last year I have decided not to hire anyone else. I order all my groceries for online delivery so I don’t have to battle asia grocery shopping with 2 kids which is as difficult as it was in those little shops in queens. I’m just too old for it all now. back in queens i had so much more energy I guess cause it was doable. hard, but doable. but here i just can’t. do. it. is that sad or what?
anyway. other than that and the ridiculously small clothes washer I have to do my laundry in and hanging them all on a line, I feel like Im managing my life much better than when I first got here. having all 4 kids at home in the afternoon and doing singapore math with the older boys while kai rips apart the house and punches his baby brother is proving to be difficult, but i figure it would be the same no matter where i live, so you know I’m fine…. just living life the best i can. but we did move apartments in december and have a bit more space for all 6 of us has proven to help all of us. its nice having a place where very one can go to get away from each other.
ok… i have put off my kids long enough and really, if i don’t shower now, i never will. you know how that goes, right? i love each and every one of you. thanks natasha for taking care of us and keeping us in touch. I’m so grateful!
love you all
k
its only taken me ALL morning to write this. partly because of the kids, and partly because I’m so slow. i think I’m getting slower the older i get….
Cebu Philippines Temple trip. we only get to go to the temple once a year, but we get a trip too. this was over caches birthday. so we took the whole family.
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