Mini Masterpieces

Stones | A Poem

2011-10-11T07:07:00.000+08:00

Josh had to do a poetry scavenger hunt as his homework last week. He had to read a series of poems in order to answer the ten questions that his teacher had assigned the class. These were mainly silly, goofy poems from GigglePoetry.com. He had so much fun reading the poems that he got inspired to write his own.

Stones are big

Stones are small

Rocks are everywhere

Boulders are gigantic

and stones are ugly

and pretty

Rocks are magnets.

Daddy and Zoë

2011-10-06T22:22:00.001+08:00

Zoë is such a daddy’s girl, like every little girl should be. When I see how they are together, it just melts my heart.

Yes, the other person in the drawing is supposed to be Chris. No, he is not in a dress. According to Zoë, he’s wearing a pair of pants and he’s standing with his legs apart. The pink thing on top of his head is not a flower, but a crown. “Daddy’s the king and I am the princess.” Under a rainbow canopy, with flowers on top.

The yellow strips at the bottom were from those plastic packaging strips that hold cartons together during shipment. She got some from one of the boxes that came in for me and decided to cut them into short strips and glue them to the bottom of her drawing to “make it prettier.”

Whiteboard Fun

2011-08-16T07:07:00.000+08:00

How many ways could you find a use for those {red} round magnets on the whiteboard? That was what Josh, Zoë, and I were trying to find out while waiting for Chris to finish work the other day.

Here are a few that we came up with…

I drew the clown and the birds; Zoë did the butterfly; the rest were Josh’s.

Zoë drew this one below and proceeded to sound out and write volcano (!). The letters that follow –“dits it sl…” –are supposed to stand for “that is shooting…” and then she managed to sound out and spell lava. Josh added Mount St. Helens.

Another one of Josh’s, of course –a bomber plane dropping bombs on a tank. The shooting piece of the tank broke off, he said.

This is supposed to be a scene from the Angry Birds game –drawn by Josh. The girl on the lower right corner playing with her pet birds was drawn by Zoë.

Princess Zoë’s self-portrait, with falling star.

Princess - 001

2011-06-08T11:36:00.001+08:00

All of Zoë’s drawings lately are about princesses, flowers, cupcakes, butterflies, and all things pretty. This one here is of a princess. You could tell she’s a princess because she wears a crown. The little green things near her neck are her “humps”; I’d thought they were fairy wings. When I asked her what those humps are for, Zoë said, “You know, those things on the shoulders of the dresses?” (The puffy little bell sleeves!) For some reason, there’s a spotlight on the princess… and there is a “frog” on the roof of the house.

Art… by Josh

2011-04-28T07:08:00.000+08:00

It seems quite a while now since Josh made a drawing that’s not Star Wars-related, not battle-related. It’s almost like he’s lost interest in drawing anything else. So it was a very pleasant surprise that he came and showed me this:

This is supposed to a drawing of an elephant in the plains of Africa. But of course, there’s a boatman there, too. Hmmm… I asked Josh where the elephant’s ears are. He said they’re invisible. Also, the trunk is not long enough because he ran out of room on the paper.

Butterfly

2011-04-27T22:07:00.001+08:00

Josh made this butterfly all by himself. He drew the butterfly, cut it out, decorated it. He was inspired by the butterfly that Zoë brought home from school one day. {If I could find where it is, I will scan that one, too. After seeing Josh decorate his with glitter glue, she decided to put some on her butterfly, too, and it came out really pretty!}

Mommy & Me by Zoë

2011-01-06T17:23:00.001+08:00

Zoë came home from school today and excitedly pulled this out of her bag and said, “Mommy, I made this for you!” She then proceeded to point out to me which each person is. She said that she made a rainbow over my head and that the words spell I love you. (And she almost got it right –I L-V U!)

Totally made my day.

Paper Plate Face

2010-11-03T19:25:00.001+08:00

Zoë was invited to an art jammin’ party last week and here she is with her friend, K, making paper plate faces. The party was held at an art studio downtown and they had two small crafts table out for the younger kids. They had googly eyes, pipe cleaners, glitter glue, popsicle sticks, foam stickers, etc. –dream supplies for the little ones. Zoë didn’t want to leave the crafts table to join any of the games!

She needed help with getting the pipe cleaner in place, but did everything else herself. Ta da!

Zoë’s First Canvas Art

2010-11-03T19:20:00.001+08:00

Zoë’s Art

2010-10-07T07:08:00.000+08:00

Zoë must have been watching closely whenever Josh would draw, because lately she just started to draw and draw and draw. She’s been asking for pieces of paper and she turns around and comes back with these. With no help from anybody.

I particularly love this one above. She played around with the “o” in her name and made lollipops and flowers and a smiley face and she colored each one! How cute is that? I love that she “framed her work, too! Please excuse my mommy pride, my friends!

She would usually draw quietly and then she would come up to me with her hands behind her back and tell me, “Mommy, I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes.” I would close my eyes. I would peek through my fingers –because it takes her quite some time before she would tell me to open my eyes. It turns out that she had folded up her drawing to a small square and then she would stand there slowly unfolding it before presenting the drawing to me. She would do this each and every time.

This one here is supposed to be a field of flowers. The people are tiny “because they are babies.” The colorful squares are windows. The black boxes are “clouds” and the blue lines are supposed to be “rain.”

We Have Another Budding Artist!

2010-09-24T23:52:00.001+08:00

She woke up one day and decided to draw… and just like that, Zoë presented us with these…

She got Josh to help her tape those two drawings together and then explained to us that that’s her “big family.” She included her friends in this drawing of her “family.” I’m the fifth one from the right on the top drawing. According to her, I was “eating noodles.” That’s why there are quite a few “lines” where my mouth is supposed to be. Chris is the one with the biggest head in the second drawing.

I love that her “people” have hair and hands. I love that she added the sun and the sky. Mostly I love that every one of her “people” is wearing a big smile.

She also did this --

That’s supposed to be her and Josh. That negative space in the middle of the drawing is where she had written down our surname. I’d taken it out… but apart from that, every single part of this drawing is totally Zoë’s, with no help from us whatsoever. She spelled hers and Josh’s name herself and more importantly, she wrote the letters herself! I don’t think I could write, let alone spell at that age.

Zoë’s Art

2010-08-01T20:18:00.001+08:00

When Josh was doing those two paintings that I’d posted yesterday, Zoë –never to be outdone, –did two “paintings” of her own, too:

When I was praising Josh for how good his paintings were, Zoë asked, “How come you not tell me mine are good, too?”

I actually love the colors she has in hers and I thought hers are very modern-art-ish. I’d told her just that and she was happy.

Like KungKung’s Paintings

2010-07-31T22:50:00.001+08:00

When Josh showed me this painting, it literally took my breath away. I don’t think I could’ve done a watercolor painting as nice as this one even if I’d tried. And this was made by a 5-year old. Josh has certainly picked up some watercolor techniques from KungKung during KungKung’s last visit.

I love how the birds really look like they’re flying, how the mountains had ‘depth’. I love his tree. I love how his colors do not run messily into one another, but are ‘clean’. I just love this painting. SO. MUCH.

Shortly after he did the one above, he followed it up with this one below. Here, Josh decided to add a boatman, similar to what KungKung does in many of his paintings.

KungKung would be so proud.

School Journal (Winter 2009/2010) : #5

2010-07-06T15:28:00.000+08:00

School Journal (Winter 2009/2010) : #4

2010-07-05T16:51:00.000+08:00

School Art : Butterfly

2010-07-04T16:25:00.000+08:00

School Art : Rainbow

2010-07-03T15:01:00.000+08:00

Josh (and now, also Zoë) is fascinated by rainbows. When asked what his favorite color is, he would always say “Rainbow.”

School Art (Zoë) : Skirt

2010-07-02T14:07:00.000+08:00

School Art : Paper Cup Flower

2010-07-01T14:02:00.000+08:00

School Journal (Winter 2009/2010) : #3

2010-06-30T13:37:00.000+08:00

School Journal (Winter 2009-2010) : #2

2010-06-29T13:35:00.000+08:00

On a day at the beach, there was a fish in the water and a d bird.

School Journal (Winter 2009-2010) : #1

2010-06-28T13:33:00.001+08:00

The sun was hot. In fact, it was so hot. Fish were swimming to the cold water. Hotter than ever and ever and ever. Oh man, hotter than ever. No, no, no. I don’t like hot!

School Art : House on the Water

2010-06-26T07:08:00.001+08:00

Under the Sea

2010-06-25T07:08:00.001+08:00

I love that Josh decided to use his stickers to make this…

He was holding to his sheet of stickers when he asked for a piece of blank paper. He proceeded to color the entire paper blue. The black blobs are “rocks.” And the tiny bit of green/yellow are “seaweeds.” I love this!

School Art : Cellophane Fish

2010-06-24T13:41:00.000+08:00

School Art : Cityscape (Night)

2010-06-23T19:15:00.000+08:00

See if you can spot the shooting star.

The trees that look like they’re on top of the building? They’re actually “behind.”

There are lots of people crowding on top of the building because they want to see the fireworks.

School Art : Seasons

2010-06-22T19:08:00.000+08:00

School Art : Tiger

2010-06-21T13:02:00.000+08:00

This is supposed to be a man picking apples…

but a tiger is waiting for him when he comes down from the tree.

School Art : Buildings

2010-06-20T08:25:00.003+08:00

I think it’s cute of him to put what he thinks are the company names at the top of the buildings. He probably got the idea from seeing the neon lights atop the buildings here in Hong Kong.

School Art : Spooky

2010-06-19T14:03:00.000+08:00

This must have been a project over Halloween. The two white strips you see are “doors.”

They open up to reveal… a ghost!

School Art : Paper Plate Composite

2010-06-18T13:56:00.001+08:00

It’s so funny how the eyes are upside down.

School Art : Seaside

2010-06-17T13:30:00.002+08:00

It’s almost the end of the school year and Josh had been coming home with bundles of art. Here is one of them. Ever since N, the daughter of Chris’ cousin, helped him draw a picture of the beach, complete with coconut trees, Josh has been very enthusiastic about drawing seaside pictures. Here, he has two coconut trees, a red crab, some seashells, a boat, a couple of gulls, and the bright yellow sun against a blue sky.

School Art : Snowman

2010-06-17T12:25:00.000+08:00

Out of Whack

2010-05-07T07:07:00.000+08:00

Josh came in and showed me this drawing he made and he could barely talk through his laughter. He was explaining how he made everything out of whack (as enumerated by Josh)--

A sun-moon tricking all the people into thinking they could go sunbathing, when it was actually a moon
Instead of a beach umbrella, a banana umbrella
A boat on land
A flower growing on the beach (sand)
A man fishing, but caught a boat instead of fish
A cat in the water
A car in the water

Seascape

2010-05-06T07:07:00.000+08:00

Josh drew this looking out from our window. A lone tugboat on the water. The green on the right side would be soccer pitch. The round orange things are buoys hanging on the side of the sea wall. And then there’s the view of the building next to us, visible from our window.

Mother’s Day Card

2010-05-05T07:08:00.000+08:00

I was looking through Josh’s Student Handbook and out fell a card. He immediately rushed over and told me, “It’s for you, Mommy. I made it.”

Back cover / Front cover

The inside of the card

He told me that he and D were the only ones in his class to make the cards and that the teachers did not have to help them with spelling (obviously!). That rainbow of hearts on the right? He added that here at home after I’d seen the card. He said that it’s a really special rainbow. I could see that. Josh is really sweet like that… He lights up my world in many, many ways.

Self-Portrait #1

2010-04-15T16:54:00.001+08:00

Josh as Superhero

A Fox and Ducks

2010-04-14T18:54:00.001+08:00

Josh brought home today Nine Ducks Nine by Sarah Hayes as part of his school’s Big Book/Little Reader Program. This was the drawing he made in his sketch book after reading it.

At the Beach

2010-04-08T22:08:00.001+08:00

Initially when Josh showed me this drawing, there were no crabs. Zoë saw it and asked him why there were no crabs. Josh was happy to oblige and added in the pair of crabs. By the way, the “6” that you see? They’re seashells, okay?

A Gift for Zoë

2010-03-12T07:07:00.002+08:00

This is one of my favorite paintings that Josh did. He said that it’s a surprise for Zoë and refused to let Zoë see it. I thought it was a woodpecker, but he said that it’s actually a parrot. See the beautiful colors, Mommy? I love the little nest of eggs…

Robots

2010-03-11T23:20:00.004+08:00

Josh had been drawing robots… and he had been wanting me and Chris to join in his robot-drawing contest. Zoë would be the judge, he said.

He got a bit upset when Chris told him that the drawing below looks more like a bug…

This is my entry… (Zoë likes it!). A bit of cheating here, heh.

I know that Zoë loves flowers and pink, so I made sure to add those in!

His New Computer

2010-03-11T08:08:00.000+08:00

Don’t ask. I’m just reporting what he said he this is. “It’s my new computer, but I don’t know how to use it yet.”

Church Music

2010-03-10T08:08:00.000+08:00

A Map… and Secret Doors

2010-03-09T07:08:00.000+08:00

I had to ask Josh what this drawing was all about. He explained that it’s a map to his and Zoë’s room. Apparently there are secret doors and nobody knows where they are, only he and Zoë know.

A Good Guy and His Team

2010-03-08T09:08:00.000+08:00

You can tell Josh is into superheroes these days. His talk are all about good guys and bad guys.

A Love Castle

2010-03-06T14:02:00.001+08:00

This is a drawing that Josh made for Zoë this morning. It is a ‘love castle.’

Silly Faces

2010-03-02T00:13:00.000+08:00

Easter Eggs 2010

2010-03-01T00:07:00.001+08:00

Josh is very excited about Easter. He wants to decorate all the eggs AND he wants to be the one to hide the eggs for us to find. He kept on asking me when we could start decorating the eggs, until I told him that maybe he should just draw how he plans to decorate them first… and this is what he came up with:

Again, Zoë, not to be outdone, did hers, too:

Happy Chinese New Year!

2010-02-14T11:36:00.000+08:00

Josh was inspired to make this after he watched one of the ads on the Playhouse Disney Channel saying that this coming year will be the Year of the Tigger. (Chinese characters written with help from Mommy.)

Flags?

2010-02-10T10:25:00.000+08:00

I asked Josh what this was and all he said was that it’s a flag. He included two of his classmates’ names here. Although he asked me how to spell Michael’s name, he spelled Loup’s name on his own.

Birthday Card for Xavier

2010-02-09T18:25:00.000+08:00

Back cover / front cover

The inside of the card

Glorious Sun

2010-02-09T09:30:00.001+08:00

Hondo and Fabian, Dog and Cat

2010-02-08T12:27:00.001+08:00

As part of his homework, Josh read Hondo and Fabian.

Afterwards, he was supposed to try to picture what Hondo and Fabian might do the next day.

I love the butterflies and the bees in this drawing.

A Venn Diagram of similarities and differences between a dog and a cat.

A Star Wars Game

2010-02-05T18:22:00.000+08:00

Sometimes he likes to make “games.” Mostly they are space games or what he calls “civilization” games. This, apparently, is a Star Wars game.

The Grandparents’ Box House

2010-02-04T18:21:00.000+08:00

Josh said it’s “Grandpa and Grandma’s house” when I asked him what this drawing was.

A Dog Dreaming of a Ball

2010-02-03T18:19:00.001+08:00

Don’t ask. I don’t know either.

Thank You Cards

2010-01-28T13:26:00.001+08:00

Josh and Zoë had a wonderful play date yesterday over at Dominic’s and these are the thank you cards that went to Dominic and her sister today:

The inside of the card. Design and words by Josh.

Back cover / Front cover

The inside of the card. Words courtesy of Zoë. I just “helped” her write them.

The front cover. Design by Josh. Crumpled paper “art” by Zoë.

From Joshua to Daddy

2010-01-26T00:07:00.000+08:00

A ‘Scribble’

2010-01-25T00:06:00.000+08:00

Whatever Josh does, Zoë wants to do, too. Whenever she sees Josh drawing in his sketch book, she would go over, grab a pen, and sometimes draw all over his drawings. This makes Josh really mad. So now, we always make sure that Zoë gets her own piece of paper for her ‘drawings.’

~~—~~

She came into the bedroom this morning, stood next to our bed and announced that she has a surprise for me –ta da! I then asked her what it was and was told that she made a ‘scribble’!

Cars for Little K

2010-01-23T23:48:00.001+08:00

We were Skype-ing with the cousins tonight, when in the middle of the session, Josh went away and said that he would make a drawing for Little K, after he learned that Little K loves cars. He came back a few minutes later and held this up to the web cam.

Cupcakes, Anyone?

2010-01-21T00:00:00.003+08:00

When we know that there’s going to be some waiting involved at wherever it is that we would be going, we would usually bring along a sketch book and some pens for Josh. This would at least keep him occupied during the wait.

So, on one of the school interviews last week, that was what we did. We were in the lounge waiting with other families. Josh and another boy were running around. I pulled out his sketch book and pens and he settled down to draw this:

Birthday Card for Noah

2010-01-20T23:48:00.001+08:00

Josh made this birthday card for Noah, but Mommy forgot to mail it out! In our rush to get out of the house to meet up with our friends, I’d left the card lying on the scanner and did not discover it until today! This goes in the mail tomorrow. Better late than never!

Doughnuts for SELL

2010-01-04T18:47:00.001+08:00

I am very tickled by this drawing. I love the doughnuts, but most of all, I love what Josh wrote: For “sell.” I smile every time I see this. Josh is doing really well with his reading now and it seems that he is now trying to sound out and spell some short words, too.

Rainbow in the Sky

2009-12-29T17:54:00.001+08:00

I love this drawing that Josh made… how he colored every inch except for the clouds, the rainbow, the birds. His style is evolving…

Treasure Map

2009-12-29T17:46:00.001+08:00

A treasure map to six treasures “on the leaves of the tallest trees. I don’t know what they are. I just know where you can find them.”

Birthday Card for Caden

2009-12-14T00:47:00.001+08:00

When Josh learned that he would be attending a birthday party last week, he immediately said that he wanted to make the birthday card. He’d asked for a piece of paper “blank on both sides,” –as opposed to the scratch paper we’d usually give him. He’d asked how to spell ‘Happy Birthday’ and also Caden’s name. The rest –all the drawings and the signature (Josh & Zoë), –were all his.

The inside of the card

The outside back (cake) / The front of the card

Healthy Foods

2009-12-14T00:36:00.001+08:00

I don’t know if Josh had been learning all about healthy foods in school or he was just inspired by an episode of Captain Carlos, but he had been going around asking me, Chris, Zoë, and Yaya what healthy foods we like.

Here is the result of his survey.

Christmas Art (1)

2009-12-14T00:29:00.001+08:00

Josh wanted to draw some Christmas “decorations.” After he drew these, I helped him cut them out and put a string on each one so that we could hang them on our Christmas tree.

Zoë’s School Art (2)

2009-12-14T00:17:00.001+08:00

Christmas Art (2)

2009-12-13T23:45:00.001+08:00

These are a couple of Christmas drawings that Josh made at school.

Superhero Badge

2009-12-13T23:17:00.001+08:00

This is Josh’s Superhero Badge. After he had drawn the badge, he asked me to cut it out so that he could wear it. He very reluctantly agreed to let me glue it to a cardboard backing so that it would be a bit sturdier. He had wanted to wear it to sleep and he had wanted to wear it with all of his shirts!

Jumping Fish

2009-11-27T20:19:00.001+08:00

Some days Josh is all about drawing catapults, rockets, weapons, fighting games. Then there are days he draws pictures like this one…

Candy Garden

2009-11-10T19:50:00.001+08:00

I guess Josh hasn’t really gotten over Halloween yet. This is a drawing of a “candy garden” with all sorts of Halloween treats.

Tents by the Lake

2009-10-25T19:10:00.002+08:00

I showed Josh some of KungKung’s paintings that I posted in my other blog. I pointed out the elements in the paintings –the clouds, the mountains, the boats, the “tents,” the school, etc. That seemed to have lit a fire under him. He told me, “I’m going to practice and practice so that my drawings can be as beautiful as KungKung’s. Even more beautiful!” Off he went and churned out six drawings, one after the other –all within half an hour. Most of the drawings included ALL or some of the elements that I’d pointed out to him that were in KungKung’s paintings!

It was already past his bedtime then and he still wanted to continue drawing. I told him to pack up and that he could paint again in the morning. He whined a bit about it, about how he might forget. So I made up a big sign that named Oct 24 “Josh’s Drawing Day.” He was happy with that and went off to bed.

So yesterday morning, he climbed onto our bed at 6:30-ish. Chris and I were too sleepy to play; besides, Zoë hasn’t come in to our room and we didn’t want to wake her up. Josh quietly got off the bed and headed out to the living room.

By the time I rolled out of bed at 7:15am, he proudly showed me this --

…and he was also busy at work on another one, reiterating that he needed to practice and practice so that his drawings would be as good as KungKung’s.

Berry Field

2009-10-22T22:48:00.001+08:00

I don’t know what inspired this drawing, but we did go blueberry-picking this summer when we were in Canada. And the place that we went to also had a little “tent” where we got our buckets with which to pick the berries.

Here, though, in Josh’s drawing, he decided to make it a multi-berry field instead. The top and bottom rows are strawberries. In-between, you have the blueberries, the raspberries, and the blackberries.

Spot the Differences

2009-10-20T17:08:00.001+08:00

I always have sketch books lying around the house and we try to always bring one along with us when we go out, so that Josh can draw. That’s a good way to keep him occupied, especially if I know that we’ll be doing much waiting.

Today, I got a new sketch book for Josh (and Zoë, too –because I pretty much have to get two of everything now). Upon coming home from school, he immediately set to work. Within minutes, he presented me with this:

I was supposed to “Spot the Differences” between the two drawings. Can you spot the differences?

The Beach

2009-10-18T00:01:00.002+08:00

This drawing was inspired by a drawing that Cheche N. drew for Josh when she was here on a visit a couple of months back.

He loves that drawing and thinks it’s pretty. He told me tonight as he was drawing this, “I am going to make my drawings even more beautiful; that’s why I’m practicing now.”

I love the detail in this drawing –the “sea lilies,” the yellow/orange coconuts, the many, many seashells all over the sand. The colors did not come out very well in the scan, but there’s a very light beige wash at the bottom of the drawing to show the sand. He also took pains to explain to me that some shells are round and others are triangular. I just love the little whorl he did on the round ones.

Oh, the green lines on top that you see are “sea lilies, only they’re not flowering yet.”

Outer Space

2009-10-17T01:02:00.002+08:00

I know that Josh has been learning about the solar system at school. It was not in the focus guide where the topics that will be covered within the month are listed. I know, because he came to me with this drawing and took pains to explain to me what each part was:

The Planet Earth - The blue thing in the middle, with areas shaded to depict land masses.

The yellow round things around the Earth? In case you didn’t already guess, they are the Moon –in different phases, as it goes around the Earth. (Josh pointed out to me each phase and explained how "more and more shadows get on the moon.")

The Sun.

And what would be a good space drawing without an alien in his spaceship?

Mickey in Hot-Air Balloon

2009-10-17T01:00:00.002+08:00

Mickey Mouse (pink balloon) and Pete (orange balloon) are having a balloon race. See the flags? Both Mickey and Pete had to collect flags along the way to win the race. (This was straight out of an episode of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.)

Game (1)

2009-10-17T00:56:00.001+08:00

Many of Josh’s drawings of late are of his “games.” They’re basically shooting games where you use a pen and slide/flick it so that it leaves a “skid mark” as it tries to “shoot” the bad guys.

I love his use of colors in this one.

Ice Cream

2009-10-06T19:24:00.001+08:00

The “dots” are supposed to be different ice cream flavors… Note that there is one “rainbow” flavored ice cream in the mix.

The man holding the ice cream cone is “an old man who loves ice cream.”

First Artwork

2009-10-01T23:35:00.001+08:00

…that Zoë brought home from school, that is.

She enjoys coloring, but is still learning about coloring inside the lines and filling up all the spaces that need to be colored. Her coloring homework (yes, she has homework –every day!)? She attacks with gusto and would often want to color more than the designated page.

Moon Buggy

2009-09-08T09:00:00.001+08:00

Give Josh a piece of blank paper, a sketch book or an Etch-a-Sketch and some pens and I know that I can have a few minutes to catch up on things that I have to do.

Card for Kyler and Kaes

2009-08-21T18:19:00.004+08:00

Josh wanted to make a thank you card for his cousins upon coming home from our 3-week holiday in Canada where he got to play with his cousins every. single. day.

This is the first one he did.

The outside back cover (left) and the front cover (right)

The message inside. Words dictated and written by Josh himself. Spelling help from Mommy.

Simple Math

2009-07-03T23:18:00.002+08:00

Josh has both his Phonics and his Math workbooks home from school. We’d try to do at least a couple of pages every day.

I’d ask him whether he’d like to do Math or Phonics and 95% of the time, he’d choose Math.

He has been working on addition and subtraction at school and it’s something that he seems to really take to quite well.

With this exercise, I’d simply asked him what the plus sign (+) and the minus sign (-) meant. He told me that “plus means to add something” and that “minus is to take away something.” Having established that he understood the concept, I challenged him to finish all 12 equations correctly. He said, “That’s easy, Mommy. What’s my surprise?” A bit of c*ckiness there.

I left him to his own devices and he did finish all after a few minutes. Correctly. No erasure, no mistake.

I then decided to let him try his hand at telling time.

Took him less than a minute before he called out, “All done, Mommy! Can I get my surprise now?”

Chocolate from Heaven

2009-07-03T13:46:00.001+08:00

I love this watercolor painting that Josh did at school.

There is a black cloud and an orange cloud, because “it’s almost night time.”

The big black blob is a rock. Under the rock are pink “footprints. So you won’t get lost.”

The other pink thing beside the tree is a “building.”

Ah, the best part of the drawing: Next to the building is a big orange basket to catch all those “chocolates from God.”

Paper Plate Art: Fish

2009-07-03T13:35:00.001+08:00

Chinese Characters: Sand

2009-07-03T13:32:00.001+08:00

Chinese Characters: Water

2009-07-03T13:30:00.001+08:00

School Art

2009-06-27T13:58:00.009+08:00

These are some of the artwork that Josh did in school.

A fish with his friends (the small fish and the octopus) and a submarine, looking for a shark to kill. The seaweed and the coral are both friends. This is one of my all-time favorites!

A dead Egyptian king in his pyramid.

A rainbow turtle at the playground.

A mommy dinosaur with a baby dinosaur that just hatched out of its egg. The baby was hungry so the mommy picked some apples for the baby and then the baby said, "Yummy, yum yum!"

A chef that bumped her knee on the edge of a table.

The bad guy shot the good guy.

Josh and Daddy going out in the storm.

Drawing Frenzy

2009-06-14T15:43:00.002+08:00

Last week, Josh was churning out page after page of drawing. Here are some of them...

A treasure map.

Based on Daddy's Civilization game, complete with map inset...

A beach scene (with a cactus!)...

For Ooh and Aah

2009-06-14T15:27:00.014+08:00

Josh made this drawing and wanted me to send it to Ooh and Aah over at the Playhouse Disney Channel.

It's a drawing of Mickey going up in a hot air balloon, holding two black flags in one hand and two blue flags in the other.

Feathers for Lunch (Lois Ehlert)

2009-06-07T22:35:00.004+08:00

Josh's "Big Book" this time was Lois Ehlert's Feathers for Lunch.

We read through the book, which featured many different birds, all very colorfully illustrated: Hummingbird, cardinal, woodpecker, mourning dove, bluebird, blackbird, etc. He's supposed to pick a "favorite" bird and then make up a story and draw on the sketch book.

This is what he did:

I love how he added wood chips (he called them "sand") falling down as the woodpecker pecks away at the tree trunk. I looked at the book again and it merely shows the woodpecker perched, pecking, but no wood chips.

He drew another bird and said that it's an eagle. You'll see it how he wrote the word eagle in "outline" letters.

The orange and blue objects under the word woodpecker are feathers, like the ones in the book.

Josh's letters are still sometimes quite big, but his handwriting is definitely improving. I love how he wrote woodpecker; the letters are more uniform in size. Oh, and he spelled cat all by himself! He can spell quite a number of simple words now.

Err... Planets

2009-06-03T13:20:00.009+08:00

This is what Josh brought home from school today.

I told him, "What a beautiful heart that is, Josh." He immediately corrected me and said, "That's a Planet Heart." He then proceeded to tell me what each object in his drawing is. (Click on the picture for a larger view.)

Earlier Works

2009-05-22T13:47:00.002+08:00

These were some "paintings" that Josh did when he was 21 months old. He did these at a playgroup that he went to. There was always an easel up, with two pots of paint, paper, and a paintbrush, so that anytime a child feels like being creative, they could just walk up and paint away.

There are other ones that he did that my dad framed up and entered into an exhibit together with his own paintings. Josh actually got two of his paintings sold (!). He got HK$1,000 for the two paintings. Yay, college fund! I'm still trying to find the digital photos of those ones that got sold. I'll post here when I'll finally manage to unearth them.

Birthday Card

2009-05-16T21:40:00.002+08:00

Here is a card that Josh did for Bailey, whose birthday party we attended today.

The outside back cover / Front cover

The outside back cover: Bailey is at a soccer field. She's the goalie and she just saved a goal by stopping the ball with her foot. That's her scooter in the foreground.

Front cover: Bailey picking flowers. He wanted to show Bailey doing that because "Bailey loves flowers."

The inside of the card

I had to cover up a little mistake on the right page, because Josh insisted that he didn't want to make another card. Everything else on the card is totally his (except for the additional names I put in under his and Zoë's.)

Josh is into making block letters lately... and lots of exclamation points!!!
He tells me what he wants to write and I spell out the words for him. In the short note above, he could spell out his own name, Zoë's and also "happy." *Proud mama*

School Art

2009-05-13T13:43:00.006+08:00

Josh came home today with the following artwork from school:

1) A drawing of me
I'm supposed to be picking the flower with my "invisible" hands, he said. He's big on the word "invisible" lately. Note the ears. "You're not wearing earrings, Mommy." I told him that maybe I was wearing invisible earrings. Aahh, he said.

Oh, and note my shoes. They're "golden," because I'm wearing my golden sandals. The same pair of slinky gold party sandals that both Josh and Zoë, for some reason, are taking out of the shoe cabinet and are always trying to get me to wear.

2) Super Shed
Apparently this is where he keeps his "Super Cape" and all his "secret weapons" for when he turns into Super Joshua.

3) Fire Engine

4) Zoë

Another Mask

2009-05-13T12:30:00.002+08:00

Josh made the drawing, cut out the shape, made the holes for the eyes --all by himself. I was rather impressed with how he managed to cut around the ears, too. And look, the teeth and the tongue --he said that it's supposed to be a "scary mouth."

Blanket

2009-05-12T17:35:00.006+08:00

I don't know what got into him, but Josh decided that he wanted to make a blanket. I wasn't sure how he would do that, but he came back with this:

He used a big piece of butcher paper and drew "designs" all over it. He then brought it over to Zoë, who just woke up from her nap, and handed it to her. He asked, "Isn't it beautiful, Zoë?" To which she replied in an awed voice, "Yah!" (I just love it when they have these mini-conversations between them.)

We then all sat down to admire the blanket and I started pointing to different items on his "blanket" and asked him what they they were. (Click on the image for a clearer view.)

Zoë would chime in and answer, too. When Josh pointed out the fish, Zoë said, "No. Balloons!" I have to say I wasn't exactly sure what they were and they looked like blimps to me, too.

Josh announced that that's the blanket that both he and Zoë would use tonight. I pointed out that it's a bit small and that it wouldn't cover both of them. He then patiently explained to me that "first night, it's for me; then the next night, it's for Zoë."

Ah, of course.

Mother's Day Art

2009-05-05T18:33:00.004+08:00

Josh has been all about "Mother's Day" since last week. Every day, he would be either talking about what we would do on that day or he'd be making something for Mother's Day.

His school will have a little Mother's Day celebration on Friday and has invited us to attend. I guess his teachers have been talking to them about the significance of the day. As well, the Playhouse Disney channel has been having all sorts of announcements and tips about what they can do to make Mother's Day special for their mommy. Josh has been paying attention.

Here is a "banner" he made for the Mother's Day party.

He even made a music sheet for the Mother's Day song that he has learned in his Mandarin class (世上只有妈妈好). He got me to do the G clef for the first two 'staffs' (is that what they're called?) and he did the G clef on the third one himself. It's funny how he would sing out lines from the song and then he would write the notes down, counting to make sure that he would have one note for each word.