Summer is here!

Yesterday was Brandon's last day of 1st grade. I walked over with Hannah and Riley to pick him up, something I don't normally do. Usually we just walk to the fence surrounding the school and wait for him to cross the field.

Well, he comes walking out of the school talking with a little cute little girl named L. We have been hearing bits and pieces about this little girl and another one for a few weeks now. "my best friend, L and my other best friend, Z". They have been writing notes back and forth too. I found one mixed in with all the miscellaneous papers that he shoved in his backpack the other day to bring home. It is something about crayons being missing and maybe ghosts and not going to the gate. I'm going to save it because it is cute. I'm not a saver of school papers. I did a lot in kindergarten but we had room then. I think all those are packed in a box somewhere - either in our shed here or Brent's Grandma's house or at Mom and Dad's house. Who knows - but I'll toss most of it when we do finally get our own house and start weeding through the many boxes still left.

I did save his writing portfolio. Brandon has always loved to learn. I worked with him some in reading and math before Hannah was born. I personally don't like to teach writing. It is hard to teach someone how to get their thoughts down on paper because writing is so personal, everyone has their own style. I have a hard time separating my preferences so I if I have to teach it I will but if I don't I won't. I didn't have to teach Brandon how to writing (I'm not talking about writing his ABC's but really writing thoughts down.) Well, his writing portfolio came home and I can see his "style". Every piece starts with "I'm going to tell you 3 (number can change) things about X". The states his purpose the same way every time. He has good transitions between sentences: first, then, next, second, in addition, third. My friend, Kim would be proud because she loves those types of words. He also takes another sentence after each one to make a comment about why he chose that particular "thing". One of his papers was on what he wants to accomplish by second grade. One of the things he wrote was "I want to get all A's." why "It is hard." Very cute. The other thing that is his style is to restate what he wrote as a conclustion. A few times he wrote "in summary" but I would say about 90% of the time it is: "As I said these are 3 things about X." I love it! I think his teacher told them that this was the way good writers wrote: tell exactly what you are going to talk about, give your examples and supporting sentences (why you chose those things), write a conclusion (what did you write about). He took it to heart and wrote exactly that.

He cried when we walked toward home. He is so sensitive. I asked what was wrong - he didn't want school to be over for the summer. (fyi - he does know he isn't going back there next year) I thought maybe it had to do with leaving his friends - nope. I thought it had to do with leaving his teacher - nope. He likes his "brain to be thinking" and how was it going to do that if he wasn't at school? So we talked about doing "things" this summer. He wants to do science but he doesn't have a book, "how can you do science without a book?" Umm, gee, I don't know Brandon - we do experiments and research at the library or on the computer? Nope, I don't know how we can do science without a book! Uggh! Just a little frustrated about that since it makes me believe they didn't do much hands on stuff for SCIENCE! If you can't see it work how are you supposed to process it?

Anyway, school is out, summer has started, it is going to be busy. Kate has a "get out of school" party today at Mom and Dad's that she invited Brandon too. Hannah as well but she is going over to the other Grandma's for a bit. We will probably head over there as well (hey hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner, right?) I want to take Brandon to the library to sign him up for the reading program. Mom says someone told her Hannah can sign up as well - good thing we read a lot with her! Now that we live in town with some of Brandon's good friends I imagine we will be spending quite a bit of time with them too. With ice skating gone from around here Brandon has discovered roller skating so he wants to do that some this summer. I think it will be really crowded but we may try it a time or two.

Off to start the first summer day - the library and Kate's party.....

Brandon News!!!

We received a letter today inviting Brandon to the Gifted and Talented self-contained program! He is so excited and so are we! He will be with the same class of kids through 5th grade so he is going to make some really good friends.

The teacher he has for next year seems incredibly nice and her room is "chaos" but not in a bad way. There are student projects all over the room. My friend Kim says she does a lot of multicultural things and research. Hopefully when Brandon tells everyone that he is going to have a little sister from China they will be able to do a "study" of China. (it is going to happen some time in his 2nd grade year!)

The school also does an art appreciation type program. All 2nd graders do movement and dance, 3rd graders learn how to play the recorder, 4th graders learn the violin and 5th graders get to pick an instrument either band or orchestra I think. He wants to play the violin like Kate so much!

Plus he is going to get to ride the bus - sounds silly but that is what he has always wanted to do. Hopefully all will go well at the beginning of the year!

Hannah News

Hannah had another urologist appointment today. They did a test where they catherized her, injected dye and took x-rays of various stages of the test. She had a really hard time with the cath but did okay with the rest. It is really hard to hear your baby cry "please don't do this ever again!"

The doctor told us that she has pretty bad reflux on her left side - stage 3-4 (stage 5 is the worst) She also has a double kidney on that side with 2 ureters. It is pretty rare but isn't something that is dangerous for her. (We looked it up and it isn't a second kidney like we assumed but just 2 ureters). The right side is fine.

So, in 6 months we have to do the same test over again to see if the reflux has improved - unlikely based on the literature the doctor gave us. She has to take preventative antibiotics daily for the time being to keep bacteria from going into her kidneys. (there is no damage yet)

The first treatment is called deflux - they inject something in her by the valve that doesn't work and it keeps the urine from going back into the kidney. It has a 70% chance of working. Unfortunately if the ureter doesn't join to form one ureter when it meets the bladder that treatment won't work. The other treatment is surgery where they go in and basically "rewire" those ureters. She will be in the hospital for a few days. The treatment for this is 95% successful.

Now we just wait and keep the UTI's at bay until November then we decide with the doctor what is best for her.

Pondering Middle Names

http://mysite.verizon.net/jiejie1/ChineseNames.htm

This site has many beautiful Chinese Names.
It also has how to pronounce them - which is tricky sometimes.

For example: Mei can mean MANY different things and the intonation of the word means different things. So if you know the Chinese symbol for Mei you can figure out how to say Mei using that symbol.

玫 - Mei(2) This is the Mei we are going to use for Sarah's middle name. The (2) tells you how to pronounce it. If you go to the above site and scroll down to the Mei with the symbol 玫 you can hear how it is pronounced. It is pretty much "may".means rose, connotes being "as pretty as a rose"... names derived from this word include: Yimei (one who is a rose), Ganmei (sweet rose), Baimei (white rose), Ruimei (rosebud), Xiaomei (little rose), Zhanmei (unfolding rose), Meizi (rose-like bearing or posture), Meige (rose song), Meizhi (the branch of a rose bush),, Meihui (wise rose)

小 - Xiao (3) is pronounced "sh-ow" (like you are telling someone to be quiet then someone pinched you)means small or little... names derived from this word include: Xiaoya (small and refined), Xiaozhi (little iris), Xiaoqing (little blue), Xiaolian (little lotus), Xiaohui (little wisdom)

瑰 - Gui (1) pronounced "g-way" Dad went to a science fair thing in New Mexico and met a boy from China. He got to talking to him through an interpreter and the boy said that Rose was MeiGui. I can't find it specifically here with this symbol but I think this is the one that would be used. This one is kind of pretty too.means magnificent, extraordinary; or a rose; or surpassingly beautiful... names derived from this word include: Guiwei (magnificent and beautiful weft), Ligui (as pretty as a rose) and can also be Limei (li is prounounced Lee), Guizi (having a graceful appearance, like a rose), Qigui (magnificently beautiful open-work silk)

So, the "problem" is which do we choose if we want her middle name to mean "rose"?

Here are more of the ones we may be considering:
Xiaomei "little rose" (sh-ow may)小玫
Meigui "rose" (may g-way)玫瑰
Ligui "as pretty as a rose" (pronounced lee g-way)麗瑰
Limei "as pretty as a rose" (lee may)麗玫
Meige "rose song" (pronounced may - guuuuh)玫歌
Zhanmei "unfolding rose" (pronounced like john may)展玫
Ruimei "rosebud" (ray may)蕊玫

Brent is leaning toward Xiaomei but I haven't asked him specifically why he likes that name so much.

I like Xiaomei for a few reasons. I think having an X for a middle initial is pretty unique. I like thinking that Hannah is our "rose" and Sarah will be our "little rose". Of course using the last bit of logic Ruimei makes sense too, rose and rosebud. Although I'm not too sure I like how Ruimei sounds. Same for Zhanmei - Z for a middle initial is unique as well and an unfolding rose could be a rosebud.

We told Brandon that he could "choose" Sarah's middle name since Kate chose Hannah's. We explained why we aren't going to use Meiying anymore so now we have to "encourage" another name. I think if Brent and I pick two we like and let him choose that will make him feel like he got to "pick" her name. At least he is on the same page as us in terms of what we want her middle name to mean.

I could probably spend a long time combing this site to find names that I "like" that mean rose. The problem is chosing one.