No. 1 (almost 12 yrs) is starting to exercise his culinary skills in the kitchen this holidays. He has expressed his interest in cooking since young (See this post when he was 9 yrs old!) and this year or so has been cooking his own simple meals like instant noodles and stuff. For one thing, he has grown tall enough to handle being at the stove safely. And he has grown strong enough to carry heavy pots and use a kitchen knife. In fact, he has replaced his papa as my jar opener guy. Handy!! :))
Date Night
Last week, after church camp, hubby and I decided to begin our new resolution to go out on a "date night", just the two of us. We just celebrated our 13th wedding aniversary and I realized that for 13 years, we only went out alone on our birthdays and our anniversary! And since those all fall between dec and march, that leaves 8 months of the year dateless.... Thankfully, we do communicate well (talk talk talk especially when the children have gone to sleep) so our marriage, by God's grace, has remained very strong. Nonetheless, we can always improve, hence, Date Night.
We are so glad that no. 1 is supportive of us going out without them. Because he would be left in charge so we really need his help. He even was happy to accept the job of cooking dinner! Last week, he did roast chicken. Indeed, an almost 12 yr old doing roast chicken. Hubby met an accuquaintance when we were out without the kids and he told her that the children were all at home eating kor kor's Roast Chicken. She thought everything was pre-prepared and all he has to do was turn on the oven.
Oh no. Kor kor did everything. He prepared the chicken which included chopping off the legs, head and erm.. bishop's nose. (No offense to any bishops reading this... haha) After that bit, he sat down and felt very accomplished already haha.. He chose what he wanted to put as the marinade. The next day, he peeled the potatoes and threw in garlic for good measure (because he loves garlic). And he wrapped all in the foil, turned on the oven, did the whole procedure by himself.
He was soooo proud of himself! And we (the entire family!) were all proud and happy too! He insisted that we try his chicken before we left for our date and it was good! Just like mama's. ;)
Here we are blissfully enjoying our date night while our 5 children (aged between almost 12 and 2 and half) were at home. (Grandparents are around but the kids are not allowed to disturb them.)
Also, I need to mention I am so blessed with the help of no. 2 (almost 10) for bathing her little sister! She's been doing it for a while now and mei mei loves to be bathed by her jie jie because they get to play bubbles. :)
Christmas Cookies
We tasked ourselves to bring Christmas Cookies to our church Christmas pot bless this year. And I had to wait till the very last minute to do the baking (Friday) and decorating (Saturday) to get them to church on Sunday morning!
And, you know the story of the best laid plans.... in my haphazard rush, I grabbed the cookie tray on the table, forgetting that I just took it out of the oven. I managed to burn all the fingers on my left hand except my pinky. It was so painful I almost cried. It was the first batch of cookies with much dough left in to go! I looked at no. 1 and told him, How this years' cookies turn out depends entirely on you now. And I left the kitchen to rest!
It turned out to be a good thing I left the kitchen because I am one of those overbearing mothers who jump at every wrong action that my children make. Well, I don't do that when it's strictly their project time and it's ok if it looks like it as done by a child. But when I want to do something that's meant to be a gift for others, I'm breathing down their necks (of course, I don't even allow the younger ones anywhere near, I only let them learn by watching) and jumping at every mistake their unpracticed hands make. Yes, I'm horribly uptight like that. :(
No. 1 started putting what he is learning in Science into his cookie decorating. This is the Circulatory System.
But I suppose all that had came to some good because no. 1 managed a fantastic job baking the cookies this year! All by himself!! He rolled the dough, cut it, transferred the cookies to the tray, placed them in the oven, timed it, took it out to cool.... while one batch was in the oven, he was working on another batch! Nothing burned! Though some cookies broke, most were excellently done. All because I wasn't around. LOL
No. 4 (6 yrs) Reindeer creation.
Of course, looking beyond yummy cookies, I am even more pleased at the character he displayed in this episode: perseverance, carefulness, independent and focused thinking, being methodical and systematic etc. etc.
mama's reindeer (drawing inspiration from no.4)
Homeschooling (you mean baking cookies is part of homeschooling? yes, in my book ;) ) is really such an inexplicable endeavour- how it works, how it is successful. It succeeds despite the incompetence of the teacher (myself). If anyone out there thinks they need to be more "qualified" before they can teach their own children, then I think they will never homeschool. But if parents out there will think that even though they don't have the qualities and qualifications to homeschool but are willing to work at it and grow together with the children.... that is when the beauty of homeschooling will unfold year by year. For me, I believe it is God who is guiding me and growing my children. It is despite my feeble, inconsistent efforts, my children are blossoming in so many different areas of their lives. All glory needs to belong to God that no flesh should glory in His presence!
Blessed Christmas to everyone. Christ was born so that we might have a second birth.
Merry Christmas! I just read your blog, and just have to add that you must be very proud of your children. The fact that your oldest was able to handle the task of baking the cookies is a testiment to the independence your education of him is fostering.
I love that baking cookies is part of your homeschool...it is in ours too!
Linda
Homeschooling one child online with a little help from the online writing tutor!
Posted by: Linda | December 26, 2011 at 01:35 PM
Blessed New Year to you and family!
I feel proud too reading your post... I am proud of all your lovely children.. take care mummy sue!
You have done well, my friend :)
jean.
Posted by: jean | December 28, 2011 at 08:01 PM
Hi Linda, thanks for dropping a note! Happy new year to you!
Dear Jean, Thank you for sharing our joy. :) I know you've been doing a great job training yours also. keep up the good work!
Yes, I'm taking care. ;)
love, Suwei
Posted by: Suwei | December 31, 2011 at 02:31 PM