Baby tooth, reading, and poems

I have neglected my poor blog lately, because of sickness and busyness. There are photos sitting in my digital camera, waiting to be uploaded and posted. There are stories and thoughts incubating and waiting to be birthed. Now some trivial updates of life.

James lost his first baby tooth on 2/7, 2 days before Chinese New Year. All the kids his age in his Sunday School class, including those who are a couple of months younger, have gaps in their mouths. That little tooth became loose weeks ago, and its falling was greatly anticipated. James got quite excited. "Yeah, I lost a tooth too!".

Oh, James has been making headway in phonics and reading since around Christmas. It's sheer joy to be the one with him the moment when the light bulb went on and to see the his eyes shine with excitement. This morning at breakfast table, while I was spreading butter on my muffin, he said, "it's butter with sea salt". "What? How do you know?" I asked in a absent-minded way. He pointed to label on the butter tub, "it says here." Sure enough, it does say so. Reading is indeed liberating! Even for a 6 year old.

Poems. I'm adding poem memorization into our homeschool. It's fun and painless. I use Poems Every Child Should Know from Gutenberg. Here is what we did  last week:

The Arrow and the Song
Henry W. Longfellow.

I shot an arrow into the air,It fell to earth, I knew not where;For, so swiftly it flew, the sightCould not follow it in its flight. I breathed a song into the air,It fell to earth, I knew not where;For who has sight so keen and strongThat it can follow the flight of song? Long, long afterward, in an oakI found the arrow, still unbroke;And the song, from beginning to end,I found again in the heart of a friend.

This week it's The Little Things.

The Little Things

Little drops of water,Little grains of sand,Make the mighty oceanAnd the pleasant land.

Thus the little minutes,Humble though they be,Make the mighty agesOf eternity.

My ambition is to have my ABC boys memorize and appreciate Chinese poems. We will see how that goes.