Blog

Den it got bigger

13/7/2020

JD and I have been gradually extending our den in the Secret Forest. We started it about four years ago with a little stick house, big enough for JD and a friend to sit in. Later we added gateways to either side.

Last year, alongside the regular repairs and small improvements, we started to construct a fence around the area in front of the den's door. Then, this Summer I've begun to put up a roof to cover the fenced enclosure while JD has started to make a little garden in one corner.

The forest is only open in the Summer once the rainy season starts, because of the perceived fire risk. So we have to get cracking once we're let in!

Testing times

12/7/2020

JD starts his "end of year" exams this week. English first (should be fine) and then Maths (like the puzzle above, which he managed to do in 20 seconds but which took me 2 minutes to work out!) and finally Chinese (which will be the toughest for him). JD's teacher is very competitive and likes her class to get the best results of all the ten classes in his year group. So the homework is mounting up!

Hoop hopes

28/6/2020

This weekend Jiajia and I booked JD in for 30 basketball lessons at a nearby club. He seems to enjoy learning the new skills and the 2-hour sessions hopefully burn off some of his excess chubbiness! He fell asleep on the sofa after yesterday's session, so it must have left him pretty exhausted!

Basketball is easily China's most common participation sport - a lot more popular than table tennis or football.

Standby for action!

24/6/2020

JD is already a Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet fan (though he prefers the CGI versions to the original puppet shows) but I thought the other day it was time to introduce him to Stingray! He loved it.

Mr Sun, his son and the sun

22/6/2020

Yesterday Mr Sun, his wife and son (who JD knows from school) invited us to go climb a nearby mountain and see a partial solar eclipse.As we climbed,the sky was covered by dark rainclouds but, as the eclipse time neared, the skies suddenly cleared and we were able to see the sun being "eaten" by the moon very clearly.

We continued exploring the mountain before returning to our cars and sharing a nice restaurant meal together. The last eclipse I saw was when I was in Primary School, so this will be a very special memory.

Electrics tricks

14/6/2020

JD was given a toy electronics kit for Children's Day the other week and together we've been working our way through the 1000+ experiments outlined in it. Unfortunately they are all in Chinese, so we just follow the circuit diagrams and try to guess what each is going to produce!

We started with lighting bulbs and then adding a fader switch. Next came a speaker which played "Happy Birthday", and the fader became a volume control. After various other increasingly complex experiments, we took a chance, skipped to the back of the instructions booklet and, to our surprise, managed to build a working radio! All great fun!

That's what I fort...

8/6/2020

JD and I spent this weekend making a castle for "Whitey" and "Bitey".

They seemed to enjoy the multi-level mansion, although they often preferred death-defying leaps to using the dainty staircases! Next project is to connect the Hamster Maze to the Hamster Castle...

Tea for naughty

24/5/2020

Exam results from JD's first week back at school saw scores in the bottom five of his class. So, when JD's teacher rang Jiajia for "a chat", we feared some sharp words. But when she called, she said she was just genuinely surprised, as we had completed more of the home-schooling work during lockdown than any other family and so she expected JD to return to class ahead of the other students. She suggested a few exam tips to teach JD (like not overlooking questions and checking his answers) and promised to move his deskmate (the naughtiest boy in the class) to another seat and keep an eye on JD's focus. We also worked through a few homework tantrums with JD in that first week, and have tried various punishments (banning his iPad, limiting hamster play etc), rewards (cup of tea, workpoints leading to a toy, timed competitions to complete work, etc) and scheduling changes (40 mins on, 10 minutes off, etc).

This last week has seen a big change (although we are not so naive as to believe it will last forever) with homework done more quickly and with less of a fight. He has apparently been focusing better in class and has now had a couple of exam results in the top five of his class. JD has also got 7 good behaviour stickers towards the 15 needed to become a "Young Pioneer" (i.e. a junior member of the Communist Party). Not quite sure how pleased to be about that one!

Amazing

20/5/2020

Last weekend JD and I built a Duplo maze and gave the Hamsters a variety of races. Being nocturnal critters, we found they were more likely to snuggle up under the Lego and fall asleep than race around the many corners! But by the end, Whitie was a clear winner (sorry, Goldie!). "Medal Ceremony" below...

Snappers and biters

8/5/2020

We took a trip to the Bird and Flower market the other day to fulfill a Birthday promise to JD to buy a couple of gerbils. Unfortunately Kunming doesn't seem to know about gerbils, but we were able to get a two dwarf hamsters instead and JD is delighted with them. "Mr White" was tame from the beginning, but "Goldie" is a biter and needs more gradual human contact! I also bought a Venus Fly Trap while there which I'm hoping will help keep the flying insects to a minimum in Jiajia's balcony garden!

Term returns and germs

6/5/2020

JD finally returned to school today after four months of holidays and home-schooling. I've quite enjoyed teaching him English and Maths most mornings, but Jiajia has found it difficult to get him to focus on his Chinese (a subject he finds difficult) and there have been quite a few stressful moments. So we're happy to see the professionals taking over again!

Some schools in China are helping students to understand social distancing by using home-made hats. Fortunately, no sign of JD having to make one, but he does have to take a handful of masks to school each day.

Cute kites, quite a sight

2/5/2020

We spent yesterday with our friends at a park in the south of Kunming. Although there were a lot of families (being May Day holiday) it was a large enough place not to feel overly crowded and we pitched our tents, and ate our picnic, by a large lake.

We were there with two families both have boys who used to be in JD's Kindergarten class. So the kids played happily in the tents, on hammocks, flying kites, frisbees, gliders and catching fish while the parents chatted or snoozed ...or in my case, went for a stroll and hosted an impromptu English class with a dozen excited kids who wanted to talk to a foreigner! Afterwards, we all shared a meal at a restaurant before saying our goodbyes for the day.

JDigging

30/4/2020

JD's latest hobby is to go digging in a patch of ground near our flat.

He's convinced he'll find fossils and eventually end up in Australia!

I fort so

16/4/2020

JD and I have taken on a "30-day Internet Lego Challenge", with a new build each day. Yesterday we built "a town" complete with a church, a hospital and a rescue helicopter. Today's challenge was a castle. I don't think we'll be able to keep up the build-a-day pace (and it's sad to have to dismantle each new creation the next day) but it's a little "carrot" to get him to do his homework quickly. He's back to school in 3 weeks.

Seventh Heaven

28/3/2020

JD turned seven today. No chance of a party under the current lockdown, but we did manage a Pizza Hut delivery, half a dozen presents and JD's preferred cake. Happy Birthday, Bug!

Thunderbirds are leGo!

12/3/2020

JD set me a challenge earlier this week - to make the various Thunderbird craft in Lego. It's not easy with a limited supply of Lego, especially when the colours are fairly important. JD made most of the blue/grey Thunderbird One himself and by the end, the final results weren't too bad. Now he wants me to make a Tracy Island to secretly house them all!?

Advance to Go?

6/3/2020

Things are slowly picking up here. We're still supposed to stay at home (or within our neighbourhood at least) but buses and the subway have started up again and there haven't been any new confirmed infections within Yunnan for a few days now. So, maybe some small Advances towards being able to Go out! Meanwhile, JD has been getting homework projects sent through from his school and I've been keeping him busy with Monopoly, making dens and sorting drawers, cupboards and CDs/DVDs.

JD's daily schedule

2/3/2020

Piece and quite

1/3/2020

The last time I tried a jigsaw with JD (a few years ago, to be fair) he got bored after five minutes and we gave up. But this 500-piece map of the UK kept us amused for over an hour, despite four missing pieces [hence the grumpy face below].

Mask do better

29/2/2020

We're in our 4th week of self-quarantine. We venture out into our neighbourhood occasionally to pick up food deliveries or do some exercise, but otherwise we are stuck at home waiting for the worst of COVID-19 to be over. Our Province of Yunnan is one of the least affected places in China, but that doesn't stop my good wife worrying about every possible "one in a million" chance of us catching anything! And to be fair, the advice from police, local government, hospitals and my University is also a pretty strict <STAY AT HOME>. So here we are for now, slowly going crazy!

JD/Jiajia painting for school

{P.S. Our school entered the above (Jiajia /JD) painting
in a Provincial Competition and, to our surprise, it won!]

Stomach cake

24/2/2020

An afternoon spent making a chocolate cake
which looked better than it tasted to be honest!

Home work

22/2/2020

JD's daily routine throughout this extended virus outbreak "holiday" involves doing 1½ hours of homework each morning (Maths and English with Daddy) and 1½ hours more each afternoon/evening (Chinese with Mummy). He doesn't like it, but he's getting used to it!

Multiple Marble Machine

18/2/2020

Two days of junk construction! We have four different routes for the marbles to roll down, all ending in the same collection box. The kids in the neighbourhood loved playing with it once it was finished! This is the sort of thing which happens when you get quarantined for three weeks!!

Plane and simple

16/2/2020

Keeping JD occupied and entertained during our weeks of self-quarantine is a strain on the creative juices sometimes! This activity was a board game we made up all about planes and their possible mechanical failures (...JD's current passion!).

See? Seaplane playing

14/2/2020

JD's junk seaplane designed and made all by himself!