It was very good weather when we sprayed the first round of BotanicGardES. Then we had a couple of nice rainy days, the ground was nice wet. The night before we threw fertilizer, it was very windy, shook the rain drop from coffee trees. Next day, the weather was perfect for us. After we took care of the half of the farm, we were not really tired, so we kept going, tried to finish the whole farm. We were short of a couple bags fertilizer, Terry got next day and finished the job.

On our local news paper, the CBB reserch article recommend that spray three times on the first month after coffee season, it’s the most important time to do it. We saw more and more small flower buds show up, better spray again before it bloom. We sprayed second round of BotanicGardES last week, this time we divided the farm to 4 portions, took 4 afternoon to finish the job. It was easier than last time, as a team, we were better than last time. Terry trimed a few fruit trees when I sprayed.

On the days when we sprayed, we waited Sonny come back from school before we started. We told him, we had to work together and it would be late when we done. He had to take care himself and do all the things he is supposed to do.

He was very good, very responsible. Usually it’s 7pm when we got back to the house. He did his homework, on-line reading practice, shower, practice piano, and feed himself. He said, he was a very good boy, he should be rewarded. We let him watch a video, as only weekends are his watching days.

Terry and I talked before about having Sonny do some farm work with us. We both don’t really want to force him to do a lot, we just want him to be around, help with the work as much as he can. We fantasize, he saw us working on the farm, it will help him to understand and appreciate other people’s work.

One day, we came back from spray. First thing he said to me was, “Mom, I think you did a very good job.”

Sonny got into reading “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series last year, it combined writing and drawing. I told him, he could write his own diary like that. Terry bought a journal for him as a new year gift, but he didn’t use it for a while.

One evening, I asked him to write his first diary, so he could waiting for me when I was practicing a song on the piano. So he did, and put a bit of time to draw and write; at the end, he read it to me. It was not a long one, ended with “I will introduce myself to the world to show my love and respect”. It’s quite serious words, I asked him where he got the idea to write like this, from school or from book. He said,”It just come to my mind.”

I tried to explain to him, what he can write on his diary. Things happen in his daily life, or his thoughts. See, my explanation didn’t go very far, it was all right for him to write some of his thoughts.

He is not really into writing diary yet, but he sure does use his brain to think. I checked his journal, he only wrote four times, each time include his thoughts.

“If you don’t give happiness, you don’t show respect to yourself.”

“I will respect the world and other cultures.”

“With someone you like or love, what matters about them is not on the outside, but in the inside.”

It was very interesting to watch a child grow in front of your eyes. We are so fortunate with our simple life as farmers, have time and be able to observe his changing, physical and mental. Look back of his school years since Kindergarten, we saw his personality and character growing gradually each year. Hope he will never lose his silliness and happiness, no matter who he is going to be, or what job he will do.

Here is another story about him. One morning before he went to school, we were talking about his reading group. He told us, there were three reading groups in his class, each group with different reading teacher. Terry and I both thought, they must divided by their reading level. So we asked him which group was the better readers ( As parents, we are so easy fall into comparison).

He didn’t think the way like we do. Seriously he said: ” There is no competition, we are all good readers.”

Terry and I talked about it after he went to school, he surprised us with his answer. He definitely gave us a lesson, we need to remember all the time, to stop compare him with other kids. All the kids are special and unique in their own way, all we can do is let them know it and happy to be themselves.