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Sunday, September 23, 2012

nEW nORMAL?

Aug 17






"C'mon, Mom. I AM only two."

 

"I can keep up with those boys."


Aug 20


A preschooler and a first-grader.
 
And, a no-schooler.
 

Aug 21

"I'm taking pics like I have a newborn...and I do."


"Another difference between boys and girls? The boys have been shooting me for years with their various guns and blasters...Lyric uses them as cell phones to call me with."


 
 
 
 
"I am still the master noodle-eater."

Aug 22

"Anybody out there speak Hepu-ese? 'Cause Lyric keeps saying, "whoa dee-dee" and "nu nu-nu" (gu gu-gu) and I'd like to know what she's saying. Of course, when I say, "Lalalalalalalalalaalalala!" (in an Animal, from the Muppets, voice) she laughs hysterically, so I'd really like to know what I'm saying, too. Anybody? Anybody take Hepu as a second language in college?"

"ACK! Pretty Shoes are a size 5. I just had her feet measured at a 6 1/2 (so we bought 7s and they look like Bozo feet.) Bye-bye, Pretty Shoes. Thanks for the memories."
.

Aug 23





I see you, Wild Child!


 
"Oh, how quickly I'd forgotten how labor intensive 2 yos are...and how swiftly I'm remembering. :)"

"She babbles in baby talk and starts every sentence with "Mama?" I say, "Yes?" She TALKS. She follows me around and helps with all my chores and sits in my lap at the computer and mimics everything that I do."

She was so picky with her food that I just wanted to feel like she was full so I took her to Panda Express for lunch and she ATE. (She was a celebrity, no doubt. The whole crowd loved her.) In fact, she ate so much (and then fussed when I took it away and when I put the to-go box in the back seat) that this was when I realizied that she might be starting to gorge herself on actual food, and not just drink.

"Her hair is coming in nice and thick, it's just standing up taller. hahaha. Come to think of it, she doesn't rub her head anymore. In China she kept rubbing her head and I'd figured that they had JUST shaved it (like the night before) and that it was bugging her."

"She's becoming more 'herself,' if that makes sense, and this very sweet little girl who likes to get dressed up because it's fun is emerging. In the afternoon, when the boys come home and take off their shoes then she takes off hers and often that's when she takes off the headband too, it seems to be connected to her shoes - headband and shoes? hahahahaha Or, maybe, it's just that she plays so hard with them...they are all three on the (indoor) trampoline right now."

"I keep thinking about times, in China, when Chinese people would ask me in passing, "How old she?" I would respond "Two" and they'd say "She big!" A couple of times someone said, "Ah, 'Year of the Tiger', strong!"



Aug 24


"You! Mom! You turned me into a 'bowhead.' "
"I am not amused."



"Compromise Mom, put the headband on."



"Yes, compromise. It's what makes the world go 'round."
 
 
Hahahahahaha Yep, I really "compromised" on that headband.
<sigh> Sometimes, it's good to be the mom. :)

(I took her to the Botanical Gardens.)
 
 



Oh, I love that little face.

 
The Gardens were putting in their scarecrow
display. This one was my favorite. :)
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Okay, so anyone interested in a 'Come Meet Lyric' Party?
Yes, she's really doing that well. I can't believe it either."
 
 
 

 
 
Aug 27
 
 


 



"How to win friends and influence people?
Well, you jump on the trampoline with them.
Duh!"
 
 



 





Cutie-patootie.
 
 

Aug 28


"Hahahahahaha She FINALLY really tried pizza. YUM!"


So, today we'd been home a month and I'd decided a while ago that today would be the day that I'd stop writing the blog... but then the Welcome Home Party became a reality and so, of course, there will be one more blog post with those pictures (and some more that I took between this day and that one. :) )  I've saved the FINAL thing that I wrote (on Aug 28) to put at the end of the actual blog so until then, here is part of it that is sorta arbitrary and didn't really fit anyway:

"If there's one thing that I learned it's that everyone's trip is individual. We took a LOT of stuff but we ended up needing every bit of it. I kept hearing that the thing that people regretted most about their trip was taking too much stuff, that you could find what you needed in China. Well, that works IF you can find the stuff, IF you can cross the language-divide to explain what you need (try describing "saline solution" to someone who barely speaks English - what we ended up buying was in an IV bag) IF your need doesn't overtax the supply (we needed a LOT of size large diapers) and IF you have the energy to hunt it down.

I knew, when I realized K-Man and I were standing in a Chinese supermarket arguing over whether or not to buy what converted to a $4.50 US pair of Chinese shoes, that it was time to head back to the hotel room. I had NO energy whatsoever to look at clothes in Lyric's size. I was so glad to have brought so many in her size (the ones that were too small, I just crammed back in the luggage) and my size. We changed her clothes (and mine) at least twice a day and we could not reuse pajamas. I had them cleaned by the hotel just to keep down the urine smell but I am allergic to fabric softener so we could NOT wear them again, even once they were cleaned.

Seriously, when you're planning a trip of this magnitude, research other people's experiences but then do what makes sense to you.

On a cool note: Because we were adopting an orphan we never had to pay extra baggage charges inside of China even though we were WAAAAAAAY over the allowed amount. That, however, is up to the individual at the airline counter and the skills of your guide at explaining the situation."



So, there ya go.
 
Next, will be the party blog entry and then the FINAL entry and then that is it. The End. 
 
Everything that I could say from this point on really is just about all of us, a family being a family. 
 
"Adopted" is one definition for my daughter, I don't want it to be THE definition, "adoptive family" is one of the definitions for my family, I chose to focus on the other things that make us a family. If I ever do another blog it'll be something about our whole family life. 
 
So, two more to go. :)


(For more info about the challenges faced by adopted Chinese orphans in American families, see Somewhere Between.  I imagine we'll own a copy or two.)




 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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