Good kind of busy

Sorry, I've been MIA for a while. Needless to say, life has been happening and it's been happening fast. So it's September already and of course, school is in its full swing. Mai has A LOT of activities coming up as the end of the year nears. There's the Harvest Parade in October, Grandparents parade and Thanksgiving happenings in November (yeah, I was wondering why the Grandparents parade was in November... a little late... oh well!), and their Christmas program in December. As for my husband, he is also very, very busy as they are having a grand opening for 2 other ProCon chapters (really so proud of him!) and of course, our business is business as usual... still takes up ALOT of time! As for me, I am still busy being the support system of my child and husband, holding our busting-at-the-seams fort down and of course, there's the occasional job I go to every MWF. Those few precious minutes I have to myself, usually late at night or at the crack of dawn, I catch some episodes of my latest obsessions, Body of Proof and Revenge - new shows in ABC. Bless your hearts ABC, for making latest episodes available online! We don't have cable (for almost a year now - explanation later...) and as much as I want to support that conviction, I do miss an occasional TV mystery or drama from time to time.

Ok, so what's new aside from my new show line-up, well, I'm really having difficulty making Mai do her homework lately. I know, it's really not "official" homework, but I do want her to develop a habit of setting aside time for school work. Right now, she does have her memorize-a-verse homework every week, but I also add some letter writing practices and some math to it so she can retain what she learns in school. It's actually a good thing that the her teacher posts her lesson plan in the parents' board at school, so parents can help reinforce what they learned in school at home. If I may say so, and this is not to brag or anything, Mai is very smart! She can memorize easily and learning comes very easy for her - and this is where my difficulty lies. I want her to at least do "homework" 20-30 minutes a day, but every time I give her something to do, it takes her 5-10 minutes tops! Most of the times, I'm so tempted to give her more letters to practice and numbers to learn, but I also don't want to over do it that it would seem like a chore! So far here's what she can do at age 4:

1. She's learned to memorize verses (one verse/week). So far she's memorized the following:
a. Romans 3:23
b. Acts 16:34
c. Ephesians 6:1
d. Psalm 34:14 (we're currently learning for Monday)

2. She's learned so many songs, I can't even count them anymore! Recently, she memorized the song from SpyKids 3 "Game Over" and Psalty's "One step at a time"! She memorized the Psalty song is 2 days! Amazing!

3. She's memorized the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the US and the Christian Flag

4. She can count 1-100 and by 10's.

5. She can spell some basic words like her name, dog, cat, horse, mom, dad, etc.

6. She can write and make sounds of all the letters of the alphabet; therefore, she can actually read some basic words (i.e. the same words she can spell)

7. She's memorized books verbatim! (oh yeah!) - The Nose book, Tubby time, the small Sesame Street books, etc.

8. She's great in rhyming words and the "opposites" game.

9. She's memorized her address, birthday and we're now working on our telephone number

10. She's good in board games like Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, and card games like Go Fish!

11. She can make up her own little songs and stories - Her imagination is really wild! Lol!

12. Oh, she can also remember and retell long stories and movies. The other day, she retold me the story of Beauty and the Beast - as in complete version!

13. She draws really well! Everyday, I get a "treasure" from her - she draws beautiful pictures of houses and depiction of our family. It's so cute!

On practical things, she can:

14. Bathe, dress, pee, poop, etc. by herself (I do help wash her when she does #2. My daughter's like me, she has to wash up when she does #2!)

15. She helps around the house with small chores we've established for her (i.e. picking up after herself, clearing up toys once she's done playing, etc.), but she also does other things like, help with the dishes, fold and put laundry back - yesterday, she helped me sweep the floor in the kitchen.

17. She loves cooking, so I do allow her to help me with those things she can (i.e. mixing, cracking/beating eggs, measuring, etc.)

18. She's very independent. If she can, she will absolutely refuse help (although when Daddy is around, she acts a little too dependent on him... I think it's because he lets her get away with it.)

19. She loves puzzles and can solve picture puzzles with moderate difficulty with ease.

20. She can be shy but she's very good interacting socially with other kids. In fact, she's very well loved by her classmates that every time she arrives and leaves her class, almost all her classmates get up to hug and kiss her hello or goodbye! It's so sweet!

There's so much more, but it's does started to sound like I'm bragging about her... well, maybe I am a little bit! What's there not to brag anyway! She's such an amazing girl and I can't help but to share all her accomplishments at such a early age. It really makes me a very proud mom. Although that good dilemma I have still stands - How much time and what degree of difficulty should I encourage her on continue learning without stressing her too much. I guess I have to do more research.