Pease Kids

I made two egg puddings yesterday.

The first one was made in the morning. It actually is a traditional steamed egg. When I was little, I couldn’t eat it unless I was ill. At that time, egg was expensive. Also we believe egg is nutritious and good for a patient to recover. So when anybody in my family got sick, he/she would receive a special treatment – steamed egg. Now our boys eat it almost every week.

昨天早上做了鸡蛋羹，倒上酱油，香油和一点点日本的蘸酱，两个小朋友没三分钟就都吃完了，我还一个劲儿地后悔只蒸了三个鸡蛋，下次得要蒸四个了。

I call my steamed egg Chinese egg pudding because of its smooth and delicate texture. The steamed egg my mom made for me used to have lots of air holes. Next time when I go back to China, I must make this improved steamed egg for my parents.

经过不断实践总结，看俺像豆腐脑一样的鸡蛋羹还说得过去吧，非常的滑嫩，我自己也很喜欢吃。吃鸡蛋羹就克服了孩子们只吃蛋白不吃蛋黄的毛病，关键是好吃，孩子们吃得快。

For dinner, I made caramel egg pudding, which essentially is a upside down flan. The caramel syrup is at the bottom of the cup. You cannot see it from the picture. It is very easy to make and only has three ingredients – milk, egg, and sugar.

晚上又做了一个类似法国甜点的焦糖布丁，做的原因是看其配方实在是简单，就牛奶，鸡蛋，和糖。由于是第一次做，化的时间可比做鸡蛋羹长多了，还用烤箱烤了将近一个小时，把我做晚饭的时间拉长了很多。

Out of my surprise, two boys finished up all Chinese egg pudding in minutes but refused to eat caramel egg pudding. I asked Alex why. He started to address it as he cannot eat too much sweet stuff in order not to get more cavities. And then he concluded “Mommy, the egg pudding needs soil sauce!” he calls soy sauce soil sauce. It might be my problem. I never can tell the difference between soy and soil.

No wonder the french desert cannot satisfy my boys’ Chinese stomach.

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我以为孩子们爱吃糖什么，肯定喜欢焦糖布丁，结果我们家男孩子们都不买焦糖布丁的帐，天天本来除了冰激淋之外，就不是特别喜欢甜点，我还能理解，易峰又是为什么呢？我问他，他一上来就给我长篇大论，什么要保护牙齿呀，他不能吃甜的呀，否则牙上会有更多的洞洞，最后一句总结：“妈妈，你的焦糖布丁要加酱油！” 我的中国胃的孩子们呀，老妈挺喜欢焦糖布丁的，那我就一个人慢慢享用了。

Alex loves reading. Every day when I drop him off at school, when other boys play cars, trucks, chase each other, or simply jump up and down, he always walks to the book shelf and read quietly. Circle time is his most favorite time in school.

When Alex turned one year old, my sister bought a huge package of Chinese-English books and CDs with a touch reading pen from China. Alex calls it magic pen.

易峰才一岁的时候，大姨买了个有很多很多书和CD的很沉很沉的大袋子，里面又可以点读的笔。很长时间我们都忘了这个大袋子了，三年过去，才想起这个好东东，易峰管点读笔叫魔术笔，他很喜欢。

The books and pen are not cheap. They cost my sister half of one month salary. Every time I think of it, I feel lucky for my sons to have such a good aunt. Hope they have a good use of the books and learn more Chinese. But most of time, they only click English. Alex, how can you improve your Chinese so that you can talk with your aunt in Chinese?

这个好东东特别贵，花了大姨将近半个越工资。每每想到我姐对孩子们这么好，我就很感动。易峰，啥时候你才能学点中文，和大姨讲讲呢？

Cookie for breakfast?

Yes, that’s the breakfast for boys this morning. I found this recipe at Parents magazine and made them from scratch.

I added pumpkin to the dough and reduce the sugar amount to make it healthier. the cookie is not very sweet and tastes prefect with cream cheese filling.

几天前在“父母”杂志上看到一个饼干的方子，觉着很简单，今天早上就付诸行动了。本来我是夜猫子，晚上不睡，早上不起，早上起早给孩子们做饼干，我真是下了很大决心的。加之我们家早餐基本上一个礼拜天天不会重样，我必须勤奋地钻研菜谱，不断推陈出新，当妈的，真不容易呀。我现在好困。。。

This was a doctor visit during which Max’s got non-stop compliments from the beginning to the end. Everybody told me Max is such a cute baby with a lovely chubby face and charming smile.

Max’s so easygoing and cooperative that the doctor appointment went very smoothly. He could simply lay down on bed and let the doctor check out his lungs, eyes, and ears when lots of kids need to be held by their parents to get these examination done.

Here is Max’s measurement. 明明的体检结果。

1. Weight（体重）: 20 lb 9 oz, —61%
2. Height（身高）: 28 inches, —-93%
3. Head （头围）: 18 inches, —- 93%

Max got four immunization shots in the end. He didn’t like it at all. But he was a brave boy. After mommy held him for a few minutes, he stopped crying quickly and gave a big smile to a mom and her girls at waiting room.

明明昨天去体检了。由于刚睡醒的缘故，到了医院冲谁都笑，每个人都说好喜欢明明胖嘟嘟的小脸和可爱的笑容，当然妈妈是最喜欢的了。见了医生非常地配合，躺在床上，就让医生检查，不哭不闹，查完了，还对大夫笑，把大夫也笑到很开心。整个体检就在最后打针的时候，明明哭了，三针扎大腿，我自己都不敢呢，明明真勇敢！

“Mommy, I drew a fire truck. Look!”

“Did you really draw this all by yourself?” I said. For months, I thought Alex could only draw lines and circles. This fire trick drawing, though, looks like something Dave might draw. Dave said he didn’t help.

“Yes!”

Last night was an unusual night, because we didn’t have time to read Alex a book before going to bed. He was so busy drawing all kinds of things like a school bus, an ambulance, a construction digger, a concrete mixer, the fire truck and even a Costco store. Suddenly he can write his name much better too.

The whole night I was amazed by his drawings, and I cannot wait to see what he draws next.

昨天晚上易峰拿着小画板，跟我说：“妈妈，看我画的救火车。”过了一会儿，又说：“妈妈，看我画的救护车。”这一晚上，他画画兴趣盎然，一会儿画这个，一会儿画那个，到睡觉时候竟然没有时间读书了。开始我还以为dave帮他画的，Dave说他什么忙都没帮，都是易峰自己画的，令我大为惊叹，因为很长时间我以为易峰就只能画画直线和圆圈了，也没人教他画，什么时候就学会观察画画了呢？孩子的成长是一件多么不可思议的奇妙的事！

We have called Nicky “DiDi”, which means little brother in Chinese, these years. Now the once little brother grows up as a big brother quickly after Max was born. He’s learned so much from Alex to be a gentle and loving brother.

一直以来我们都叫天天弟弟，眨吧眼的功夫，天天弟弟就成了天天哥哥了。在易峰的影响下，天天也学着做一个充满爱心，温柔的好哥哥。

Nicky was holding Max in “a boat” to have fun. Max used not very sure when Nicky held him. This time, look how happy he was!

天天坐在洗衣筐里抱着明明。明明以前总是害怕天天没轻没重的，在反复教天天要温柔之后，看我们天天当哥哥抱弟弟的姿势拿的不错吧。

Nicky volunteered to give Max a ride.

明明骑在天天的脖子上,天天比明明还美滋滋的。

Max is lucky. He has two big brothers who loves him so much.

One day Dave bought a bag of helicopter lego when we shopped at Target. Shortly after we got home, Alex showed me the helicopter he put together in his hand. I asked him how he did it. He said he followed the instruction from a paper coming along with lego. It sounded not too difficult. When I looked at those tens of small pieces, I am still impressed by his patience and self-learning ability.

一天在购物的时候，Dave顺手买了一袋积木，回家没一会儿，易峰就用积木搭出一个直升飞机了，我问他怎么弄的，他说就照着说明书搭的，听上简单跟个一似的，我看着那么多大大小小的积木，觉得他真是挺有耐心，还动了脑筋的。

At school, the teachers call it “engagement picture”. That picture was taken when DiDi was only a couple of months at school.

The picture was taped on the wall of the classroom for quite a while. That’s it is in the way it looks. Yesterday the teacher put it in DiDi’s folder. The girl in the picture left the school.

天天表情极为丰富，成天都笑眯眯的，他标志性笑真是迷死人了，我昨天拿回这张照片放在床头看了一晚上，越看越爱，害的我本来没什么事还是睡觉晚了，真是妈妈眼里出帅哥呀。

DiDi loves to wear big shoes. One morning, he was in mom’s sport shoes. That gave him a pretty good mood.

天天喜欢穿大人们的鞋，在家里，阿姨的鞋，妈妈的鞋，爸爸的鞋，他都不放过。每次穿上别人的鞋，他都喜滋滋的，招呼着我们看他，那股机灵捣蛋劲儿让人忍俊不已。