toothpaste - thing of the past

...soon, anyway. I am in awe of Joseph and Anna who actually request sea salt on their toothbrushes, "like Baba".  They seem to be phasing out of their cherry toothpaste. I hope to be that mature someday, but there's no telling when that will be. 

Sooner would be better than later, since the kind baking shop lady gave me the recipe for these:

Cow tongues. An Yilan specialty. Delicious! And full of powdered sugar.

Yes, we do learn stuff

Just to erase any doubts that anyone may be having about whether or not we are actually conducting school at home (like this blog suggests), please find proof below:

A spur of the moment practice of Chinese phonetic symbols conducted long, long ago. This is their livingroom computer. The keyboard hooked up to the whiteboard was Joseph's idea.

Actually, we recently have done a few more phonetic symbol drills. Now that our homeschooling group has started meeting up again, they are getting a lot more Chinese practice.

Just today, both Joseph and Anna shared a poem in front of their little class. Joseph actually wrote it by himself! About a flower slow to bloom. I'm so proud of him! He's a romantic. Today, he told Ken (in Chinese) "Baba, whenever you leave for work, my heart is holding your heart" The verb in Chinese is used for hand-holding. Ken tried to correct him saying his heart will miss him, but he insisted the he meant his heart will chienje Baba's heart. My own heart melted, as I eavesdropped from the kitchen. 

 And Anna boldly stepped forward and sang a song about a little kitty invited to eat fish. (Very well known children's song). I never would have had the guts to do that when I was her age.  Not one hint of nervousness. I was watching closely, because I remember a few weeks ago, when they had a talent show, Anna walked right up to the stage and immediately lost herself in ballet.  I wanted to see what this time would be like. She later told me that her heart was beating pretty hard, but that only perplexed me more. How did she manage to hide it?  And what might God be planning with these character qualities?