Dylan likes "all the colors of the rainbow...even orange." This is a continuation of a conversation we had in Colorado over Christmas. Dylan said he didn't like orange. Lindsay said she did. It seems Dylan has been grappling with this ever since because he really wants to like the same things big sister Lindsay does.

It had been three months since that December conversation. I was tired of the typical Star Wars, Transformers, "I'm shooting that car" talk I get when we are driving around. I started asking Dylan random questions to get him off those interminable subjects.

When I asked him what his favorite color was he said, "all the colors of the rainbow...even orange." However, he may be growing into his own person a little more because after a pause he said, "No. I really don't like orange."

Preschool

We are rocking on in preschool land! I've got kids going every day but Monday. I went ahead and started Lyvia at a second preschool so she can start learning Mandarin. I thought that if I started her in January, she would be talking by next August. She had been mighty slow to warm up to her current preschool teachers.

Turns out, she LOVES this preschool and listening to her sing in Chinese makes all the running around worth the trouble. She is only attending the Chinese portion this year, but when school starts back up in August, she will be here "full-time", which is only four hours a day four days a week.

Dylan is doing pretty well in preschool, but I've been attending that preschool for what feels like forever and it is losing a bit of its luster. Please tell me why they have the kids watch television for recess when it is raining outside??? Couldn't they at least play with the toys in the classroom? So strange. They don't even watch educational television. Drives me batty. Batty!

Back to Lyvia's school -- once a month they make and eat dumplings and practice using chopsticks. They also take turns standing at the front of the room. When it is her turn, she has to say 我Lyvia 。我3岁。 Wo jiao Lyvia. Wen san sui. My name is Lyvia. I am three years old.

She belts this out like little commanding officer. Crazy cute.

Then the child sings a song in Chinese. She has quite the repertoire already. The teacher even teaches them to recognize the characters that go with each word.

I'm not sure this teacher has acclimated to the US very much. Just last week she drove to Houston (three hours away) for rice. We have a HUGE Asian market and it seems their rice is completely unacceptable. She is from Northern China so she buys rice from North Korea so it is sticky enough. Those southerners make rice that separates. Stomach turning, isn't it? Of course I get a HUGE kick out of this and actually love it when she shares this with me.

I'm not such a fan of her telling me that my child is too dark and that if she saw her in the city in China, she would know she was a villager. Egads! Again, love to hear the cultural differences, but this hit a little close to home. Sadly, I did defend myself by saying, "She came to us like that!" She replied that she thought we were leaving her in the sun too long. I know Asians admire light skin, but I really think she was just born with darker skin. The bottom line is that I want my girls to know they are beautiful just the way they are and that most beauty shines from the inside out.

I'll continue to shuttle kids from home to preschool and back again -- I love my alone time although it is never enough. Even though they say they never want to leave me, both seem to be flourishing while I am gone!