Toothless Grin

Hana lost her two lower teeth quite some time ago. But the top has been wiggling ever since. But that's all it did; wiggle. She could turn one tooth 360 degrees and pop it back in place, and she would show it to me too.
But finally, last week, while talking to a classmate, it suddenly 'flew' out. The tooth came back from school in a little tooth box, and has been exchanged for 5,000 LBP by the tooth fairy.

Admitted, I thought the 5,000 LBP was a bit hefty for one single tooth, but the tooth fairy did not have any change on her. It was either 5,000, or 50,000.

And so 5,000 it was. Since then, she's made a self-portrait of her own toothless grin with oil paint. She's getting the hang of it. She does the outside features before she does the eyes and the mouth. She used to do it the other way.

Reading Update

She is finely getting it. After her Arabic, her English is coming along too. And now that she started, there is no stopping anymore. She needs to read everywhere.

First Oil Painting

Santa gave Hana an oil painting canvas, complete with paint board and 5 colors. And this is her very first oil-painting.

She obviously is very proud of it, working with ‘adult’ paint that you have to mix yourself in order to get different colors.

It is a tree, or actually two trees, with a horse and a man in the foreground. This painting was accomplished with some cheating; an example was printed on the front. But as a first oil-painting, not bad at all. She took is to school to share it with her class on the first day of the new year.

I thought she’d share her trip to Holland over Christmas, or a Christmas tree, or dinner with all her cousins, but no, there were priorities. “You are allowed to share only one thing,” she said, “and so I will share my oil-painting.”

A Letter to Opa and Oma

Opa and oma
Is oma ok
Opa is he ok
My mom and my dad and I go to you
Love Hana

First Real Writing

Finally! She’s starting to write in English. It’s taken her some time, but it seems we’re moving. And now the flood gates will open (I hope). Here she writes a story about her family; a homework assignment.

The most important one in the family is, according to Hana, her dog. And he is, contrary to what she writes, a puny little mutt, found on the street. The other dog is indeed bigger, but that one is not her dog. Never mind the details.

My dog is big. My dog is big big (meaning very big).

My dogs and I like my family.

And this is a family portrait. Both dogs feature now in the story, but the cats, the old aunt and housekeeper are mysteriously absent. She does like cats, but not our cats. Both of them are street cats, and nasty creatures. She wants a ‘lap’ cat.

I kind of like how she displayed me (her mom), with a rather fancy type of fish-scale strapless dress. I don’t have s dress like that. I don’t remember ever wearing a dress like that, but I think it looks good on me. Her dad has hair. That hasn’t been the case for some 14 years now. And Hana herself is wearing a dress. That too is unusual, as she refuses to wear dresses or skirts; believe me, I’ve tried.

My family and I. I love my family.

Well, she’s standing next to her brother who looks as if is about to kick those blocks away from under her. Typical brother-kind of behavior. I'm not quite sure what her brother is saying.