Friday, January 14, 2011

Firsts: Movie, Basketball, Anthem, School, Roller Skating & More

Wednesday evening, we went as a family to the movie theater to watch the Disney animated movie, Tangled. Shaling had a good time and LOVED the popcorn, insisting on bringing home the leftovers. In fact, she thought she would have the leftover popcorn for breakfast yesterday morning until Dad put the nix on that thought. Ironically, Dad then helped himself to some ice cream for breakfast.

After lunching at Smokey Bones with our friends Gary & Thanh, we took Shaling to our office building to meet some of our coworkers. After warming up to the idea of being the center of attention, she really enjoyed it. She also uttered another complete sentence: "Mom and Dad work here." When she saw Dad's office, she sat in his chair, kicked her feet up on the desk and started pointing with a pencil like she was telling people what to do.

In the car, the song "We Will Rock You" by Queen came on and she started singing along with a style that implied that she was quite familiar with the tune.



Last night, we took Shaling to her first sporting event, a Rochester Rockets girls basketball game. We only stayed through half-time, but she seemed to enjoy it and figured out quickly when to cheer. Prior to the game, she stood with her hand over her heart for her first National Anthem as an American:



This morning she had her first day of school. For her first few days, I'm going to drive her to school. She was somewhat confused and disappointed when she didn't get to get on the school bus when it came by. When Brock explained to her via Google Translate that she would be coming home at noon instead of staying the whole day, she expressed disappointment at that as well.

When we got to the school, she led the way to the 3rd grade hallway and then all of the way to her classroom at the end of the hall. Her E.L.L. teacher, Mrs. Bivens, stayed with her for the first hour, which included getting her started at P.E., where she went roller skating for the first time. They told us she was hesitant at first, but truly enjoyed it. She also got to go to music class today, where the students had to mimic rhythmic patterns from the teacher. She caught on to that quite quickly. When we arrived at noon, she was waiting with Mrs. Bivens in the office. She lit up with a smile when she saw us walking in and that of course, gave us great pleasure.

After coming home and eating some lunch, we set up Skype on the computer so that Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds in Florida could watch her open some of her Christmas gifts. She bubbled with excitement, saying thank you for each one. She then got excited to see her brother get home from school and has played happily with him and a friend ever since.

Now, I need to quickly go cook some rice, because our friend James Wang is bringing over a Chinese pork dish to share for supper. He is our friend that taught us some Mandarin and gave us some background on Chinese culture. Though he talked to Shaling on the phone earlier this week, tonight will be the first time they've met.

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