Back Track

I'm going to backtrack a little on my last post on one item.  I'm not so sure that I'm excited about Guji Guji.  This book was on a list of books people were recommending for adoptive families that Rumor Queen was putting together on her blog.  Several people mentioned Guji Guji.

I looked for it on Amazon, but it's out of print and ridiculously expensive there.  I did, however, find it at a very low price on eBay.  I ordered it last week, and it arrived on Tuesday.  I read it quickly in the car as we were on our way out when we got the mail and thought it was cute.

Last night, I read it to Sera as her bedtime story.  I didn't care for it much on the second read through.  It's the pretty standard tale of a mama duck sitting on her nest.  One of the eggs is much larger than the others, but she doesn't notice it.  When the eggs hatch, three ducklings and a crocodile are born.  They become a loving family.  So far, it's all good.  Three crocodiles appear and inform Guji Guji that he is not a duck; he is a crocodile.  They are portrayed as the evil villians of the story.  They practically bully Guji Guji into helping them trap and eat the ducks.  Guji Guji, of course, finds a way around their plan and protects his duck family. 

On the surface, it's pretty standard.  Crocodiles are pretty evil if you're a duck.  I liked the way mama duck loved all her children regardless of their differences.  My concern is the message that anyone who looked like Guji Guji was scary and bad. 

Tell me, am I overreacting?  I'm not sure if I am or not.  On the one hand, ducks would think crocodiles are scary and bad.  They eat them.  On the other hand, I don't want Sera to get the message that only the duck (us) family is good and that crocodiles (Chinese people) are bad.

Why Am I So Different?

I knew this question would come some day, and some day soon, but I still was caught a little off-guard. One of Sera’s favorite television shows is Sid the Science Kid on PBS. He has a certain turn of phrase and cadence that Sera copies now when she asks questions. She had it when she asked this one Monday afternoon.

I hesitated for a few seconds as I tried to figure out what exactly she was asking. I don’t want to overwhelm her with information she’s not old enough to process yet, so I asked her how she was different. She shrugged. I asked if she was different from her friends at school. She nodded. I asked her if she was different from me. She nodded again. I asked her if she could tell me what was different. She shrugged.

I explained that everyone was different. We all had things that were different from other people and things that were the same. I told her that her eyes and hair were different from mine because she was born in China. She immediately argued that our hair was the same. I agreed that we both had brown hair, but I showed her how my hair is wavy and her hair is straight. We also talked about people having different color hair.

She then changed the conversation to tell me she had received an invitation to the ball at the palace and took off to change her dress.

She is a very diverse pre-school, but she is the only Asian child in her room. There are a few other Asian children there, but they’re in the baby room and the 2 year room. They actually just moved here from China. One of the teachers told me about them, but I haven’t seen or met them yet. I’d say her room demographics are pretty close to my school’s, about 50% Caucasian, 30% Latino, and 20% African American.

On Tuesday, she started talking about how she’s a big girl now and shouldn’t have a baby seat any more in the car. She should have a big girl seat. We explained that her seat isn’t too small yet, and it’s safer than a booster. We’re not ready to move her. Her car seat is good to 65 pounds. I’m betting she could technically sit in it until middle school. We won’t be that cruel, but she’s just finally broken the 30 pound mark. She was 30 lbs, 5 oz at her well child check last Friday and 38”. That just seems small to me to switch her to a booster. I like the safety of the 5-point harness vs. shoulder belt.

Later that evening, she told me that she wanted to be bigger than me. I told her that she would never be bigger than me (thank God!), but that she was growing and getting bigger the way she was supposed to.

I think the Tuesday conversations are directly related to Monday’s question. She is starting to notice that she’s smaller than her friends and her eyes are different. Her skin tone isn’t a factor because she’s exposed to such a range that she doesn’t feel different there. In a stroke of perfect timing, a book I bought on eBay arrived yesterday that deals with some of these differences, Guji, Guji. I do think she’s entering a normal stage of development, one where she is starting to be more aware of things around her. I need to make sure my development keeps up with hers.

I So Cited I Cwy

Today is the first day of our four-day Winter Recess.  Our usual morning routine on school days is for me to get up about 5:15 and get dressed.  I then get Sera up about 5:45 and get her dressed.  On non-school days, Sera is always the first one up.  She comes to our room and climbs into bed. She will usually sleep until 7:30-8ish if I don't wake her.

Not this morning.  She was up at her usual school morning time.  She climbed in to bed with us and dozed until 6:30ish.  The first thing she said to me was "I really want to go to school today, Mommy."  She knew we were doing the wrong morning routine for a school day, but today is a very special day at her school. It's the Valentine's Party.  Our girl never met a party she didn't like.

She carefully planned her outfit for today. I bought this dress for her a few months ago on clearance.  I bought it in a size so she could wear it next year.  it's kind of an odd dress because it's like a Christmas dress.  It's that soft thick velvety type material, but instead of being red with white trim, it's pink with light pink trim.  It has a hood and hearts along the hem.  She didn't care for it when she first tried it on because it's a little big, so it's been hanging in her closet where she can't even see it waiting for next year. In the car on the way home last night, she asked if she could go buy a dress for the party.  I told her no, that we could find something in her closet for her to wear.  She shouted out, "I know.  I can wear my dress with the hearts on the bottom."  It took me a few minutes to remember that she had this dress.  She has her complete wardrobe inventory in her head. 

We still took it easy this morning with Jim not taking her in until 8:30.  In the last few minutes before she left, Sera was sitting by the living room table.  She told me she was so excited about the party that she was going to cry.  Of course, she didn't actually cry. She did leave quite happily with her bag filled with Valentine's, grapes, & bananas.

Diva in Training

For those of  you who aren't on Facebook with me, you wouldn't know that last weekend we finally had some family photos taken.  A friend of ours wants to take her photography hobby to the next level, so she bought lights and a background.  We headed over there on Saturday morning with several changes of clothes ready to play.  We had a great time, and she got some really good shots.

We'd been home about an hour when Sera told me that she really liked taking pictures and could we do it again.  The week before I'd let her watch the premiere of Project Runway with me.  I'd dvr'd it.  She loved it.  She asked if she could draw dresses, and I could make them.  Considering I haven't sewn since I was a teenager, it could be an interesting project.  The second week she watched, she started imitating the models on the catwalk.

Her other new habit is walking around with pursed lips after putting on her "lipstick".  The rest of the world knows it as chapstick.

We are going to be in such trouble.

Here are some of the photos from our shoot:

First Joke

Sera's been working on this joke thing for some time now.  She didn't quite get it.  She kept doing a variation of a knock knock joke, but without a punch line.  Her typical version went like this:

Knock, knock

Who's There?

Strawberry

Strawberry who?

::peals of laughter::

This week she told what I consider her first real joke.  I think she learned it in school.  She told me that daddy taught her, but he denies it.

Why did the chicken sit on the eggs?

I don't know.  Why?

Because they didn't have any chairs!

:: peals of laughter:: (but this time I laughed, too.)

Ahhh...

We made it. It seemed like Spring Break would never get here. It's been one long, cold winter. Would you believe they're predicting snow here for Monday? Hah! You can't get us, we'll be warm and toasty on the beach in Gulf Shores. We head out this evening and should be there tomorrow night.

My laptop even made it. I got it back last night. Of course, I had too much packing to do to play with it much, but I do have one thing to say.

BACK UP YOUR STUFF!!!

Seriously, back up your computer files. I was foolish and didn't back up my files for the longest time. It was always something I was going to do. For some reason, I started to get really nervous on our Christmas break. I started burning all of our photos to cds. I still haven't figured out how to burn our videos though. Then one day in January, I went to Amazon and did an impulse purchase. Jim usually handles our electronic purchases, but I ordered a 1 terrabyte external hard drive. It arrived in a few days. We asked a friend over, and he hooked it up to our home network. It's large enough to hold the backups for both our computers, so Jim did a partial backup of his while I did a full backup. It took forever or about 15 hours. I had a lot of stuff on my computer, mainly photos.

In the two months since backing up, I really hadn't taken too many photos. That's actually a good thing because I hadn't updated my backup. When my hard drive crashed last Sunday, I was just filled with the sense of inevitability. I wasn't upset. I wasn't worried. Okay, maybe a little worried.

Jim took my laptop and our external hard drive to our computer store. For well under $200, they replaced my hard drive and did a complete restore. Everything is back. The only thing I lost were any files I saved since my January backup. Some photos and some recipes. That's it. To make it even better, my favorite photos from those two months would have been posted on my blog, so I can still retrieve them. And the recipes? Odds are good I would never have made them anyway.

Now to get off my backup soapbox, I never posted Sera's new stats. I've got to keep track on my electronic journal here.

As of April 1, 2009, Sera is 34 1/2 inches tall and weighs 26.8 pounds. She's in the 10% range for height and between 10 and 25% in weight. Her doctor was very impressed with her language and motor skills. She's a tiny peanut, but she's no pushover!

Woah

This story just scared the pants off of me.

Connie and Donald McCracken were watching CNN one evening last week when they learned of the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson from a head injury. Immediately, their minds turned to their 7-year-old daughter, Morgan, who was upstairs getting ready for bed.

Two days earlier, Morgan, her father, and brother had been playing baseball in the yard of their Mentor, Ohio, home when her father hit a line drive that landed just above Morgan's left temple. A lump formed, but the McCrackens iced it down and the swelling subsided within an hour.
"For the next two days, she was perfectly fine," Donald McCracken says. "She had no symptoms. She went to school both days and got an A on her spelling test as usual. There were no issues whatsoever."

But after hearing about Richardson's death, the McCrackens wondered if Morgan was really as OK as she seemed. After all, Richardson had been talking and lucid immediately after her fatal injury.

Click for the rest of the story.

Gray Areas

Some days I wish life, at least parenthood, came with a direction manual. I know there are plenty of books out there, but all they tell you is that there is no one answer. Sometimes I just want a black and white answer, no gray.

This morning I woke, showered, did hair and makeup, and dressed for work. In other words, a perfectly normal morning. At 6, I went to get Sera. I like to let her sleep as long as possible. She sat up when I entered her room and told me she was coughing, but she seemed fine otherwise. She's had a bit of sniffles for a few days. Honestly though, she's had the sniffles more often than not ever since school started. When I picked her up she felt a little warm to me, but not really feverish. Just warm.

I took her to my room to dress. Things were still okay. She went potty and put on her clothes. And then she fell apart. She climbed into my lap and just clung to me whimpering. She still felt warm, so I took her temp. 98.9. I can't even call that a fever, but something just wasn't right. She was not acting herself.

And this is what I mean about the gray. Keep her home? Send her to school?

Jim and I made the call to keep her home, and I called for a sub.

She's had a quiet morning. She wanted grits for breakfast and ate the entire bowl. She wanted orange sherbet for her snack, and I let her have some. She wanted soup for lunch and ate about three bites. Her appetite is fine.

She pretty much snuggled with me all morning and then curled up on daddy's recliner to watch Cinderella. After the movie, she lay down next to me on the couch, and I let her watch more TV. I know...bad mommy. I warned her that naptime would be coming up when the show ended. Five minutes later I looked down because she'd quit kneading my side with her toes and found her fast asleep.

This was my black and white answer. Sera has never, let me repeat, NEVER fallen asleep downstairs.

Too Fast!

September 8, 2007

January 9, 2008

Mixed Bag

I have all these thoughts that pop in my head for blog posts. Unfortunately, they come when I can't even jot them down. When I sit down to type, all thoughts flee.

Sera just amazes me on a daily basis. We usually get to school around 6:50-7:00 AM every morning. We go into the daycare and visit with the woman who works in Sera's room and her 2-year-old son until 7:10-7:15 when the students arrive with their children. Sera knows that I leave within 5 minutes of everyone else getting there.

This morning, one of the little girls came to me to get her coat off. As soon as I had the coat off, Sera walked up to me and said, "bye-bye." I told her she was right, it was time for me to go. Then I asked if I could have a kiss. She tilted her head up, kissed the air, and waved. I laughed and gave her a kiss and left. I pass by the department chair's office on my way out the door. I stopped and laughingly told her that Sera had kicked me out. She commented on how wonderful that was. She said that showed that Sera was secure and knew that she could trust me to come back. Whenever I leave Sera, I kiss her, tell her to have fun with her friends, and that I'll be back in the afternoon to pick her up.

This afternoon when I picked her up. I got my usual joyful greeting. After I picked her up and kissed her, I put her back down so I could sign out and get her coat. She had a different plan. We've been walking a lot lately and she's learning to hold my hand. It's usually me holding her wrist to make sure she doesn't take off into the parking lot or something. Today, she grabbed my hand and started walking towards the door. She was pulling me as she walked. She had never done that before and thought it was hysterical. She's becoming such a big girl.

She and Jim dropped me off at Target and headed out to buy his weekly supply at the comic book store. The couple who own the store had their son while we were in China, so we're always sharing stories. I bit the bullet at Target and bought a potty chair. They didn't have a big selection, so I just bought what they had. I figure I'll need one for each floor, but one will get us started.

We decided to stop at our favorite local Chinese restaurant for dinner. We have a gazillion Chinese restaurants here in the Midwest and most of them are awful. They have these awful buffets filled with pre-cooked and frozen Chinese-style foods. They're just gross. We have one near our house that's owned by a young Chinese couple. The husband does all the cooking along with two other men. They don't speak any English that I've ever heard. The wife runs the front. She waits on the tables and acts as cashier. Occasionally, they'll hire a local high school kid to wait tables, too. They have two young children. Their daughter just started school. Their son is a toddler. They sent him back to China about a year ago to live with family. He'll be there about another year and come home. This is not unusual, and they did the same with their daughter.

We used to stop at this place for lunch after our Mandarin class. She would practice with us and help correct our pronounciation. When we got a referral, we went to this restaurant to celebrate and share our picture. When we came home from China, this was one of the first restaurants we brought Sera to eat.

The last time we were there, we forgot Sera's sippy cup. It was waiting for us tonight. As soon as we were spotted, the cup was handed over to me.

We almost always order off the menu. I love their Szechuan Shrimp, and Sera loves their Mai Fun Noodles. We usually eat there when the place is empty as we'll often stop for dinner on the way home after work. Most people aren't eating dinner at 4:30 PM. Tonight, we showed up around the time most people eat. I'd never seen the place so busy before. Every table was full and people were lined up waiting for to-go orders. We had planned to split an entree, but Jim checked out the buffet and told me I might want to consider it. He knows how I feel about buffets. If he thought I'd like it, I'd give it a try.

It was fantastic. Every item I tried was freshly made, not the nasty pre-cooked frozen slop. The dumplings were good. The chicken and broccoli was delicious, and the fried shrimp were even good. I love shrimp so much that I'll even eat buffet fried shrimp. They're usually popcorn and the only flavor is the breading. Not these, I'd say they were 35-40s. They also had a big bowl of boiled shrimp available, and they weren't overboiled.

I fixed Sera a plate with noodles, mushrooms, melon, Mandarin oranges, and jello cubes. I gave her some of the chicken and carrots from my plate. She chowed. She was eating everything on her plate, when I picked up a fried shrimp and bit it off the tail.

When Sera wants something, she reaches towards it and says, "thank you." I've offered Sera shrimp every single time I've eaten it. It's one of my favorites, so of course I want her to love it, too. She's rejected it every time. Tonight, she reached for my shrimp saying thank you. I asked her if she wanted a bite, and she said yes. I let her bite off the end of a shrimp and she reached for more. I ended up cutting up four shrimp and putting them on her plate. She ate them all. Then she went for Jim's and ate four more. I went back to the buffet and got some more. She ate them, too. In fact, when we were leaving she reached back towards the table and took one last bite for the road.

I'm not a huge buffet fan, but I have to say, it sure makes eating out a lot easier with a toddler. We all get our food right away. We can pick and choose things she'll like and give her the variety she likes. We don't feed her just one thing at home, why would she like that at restaurant? Most kid meals have one item with french fries. She's not a huge french fry fan, so I usually get her steamed vegetables. That's hit or miss at best. Some places do a great job. Some places serve vegetable mush. Some serve them practically raw. And some serve them with no seasonings of any sort. Sera doesn't do bland.

As to be expected, showing up during a busy time meant we got lots of attention. A woman came up to me while I was getting our food and asked if she could ask me a question. I knew what was coming. She asked me if it was difficult to adopt a child like that. I'll admit that I was startled by her phrasing. My first instinct was too recoil and correct her. Then I looked at her. She had a friendly face and warm eyes. Her hair was badly in need of styling (but then so is mine) and her clothes looked worn. Her speech pattern and choice of words told me that she wasn't a highly educated woman. I realized that she meant no harm. I answered her question and the ones that followed. It turns out that she adopted her daughter 11 years ago. Her daughter is multi-racial. Her next words hurt when she said that back then no one wanted kids like that and she was glad to see more families with children "like that." Her word choices were hard to hear. I was so grateful that neither her daughter nor mine heard her, but I could also tell her heart was in the right place. We parted and I went back to my family. I know we'll have many encounters in the future, and it will always be hard.

If you are one of the two people left in the world who hasn't been here (FreeRice) yet? Well, don't say I didn't warn you. It's addictive!

I have no good excuse for not posting in so long. It just seems that by the time I sit down at the computer in the evening that I'm wiped out. The brain is fried, and I can't think of anything to say.

Life is good. We had a great holiday. We didn't go anywhere or do anything special, and it was absolutely wonderful. We holed up at home and recovered from our various ailments. We ate turkey and potatoes for days. We watched movies, and most of all, we played with Sera.

She's starting to add phrases to her vocabulary. Her favorites are "I see you" and "sit down." Her newest game is to run up to Shadow's side and tickle him. She wiggles her fingers over his side and giggles and says, "tickle, tickle." He turns to look at her to see what she's doing, and either his head or his tail knocks her down. She then laughs hysterically, gets up, and starts all over again. It's really funny to watch because the top of her head finally clears his back when he's standing. Have I mentioned he's a really big dog?

Sera is very clear on what she wants and doesn't hesitate to make her wishes known. We're hearing a lot of up, up, up and go, go, go and no, no, no and yeah. When her nose is stuffy, she points to it and says nose, then she reaches towards the tissue box. When she wants music, she pumps both arms and wiggles. She demands cheese, milk, and juice all the time. Luckily, she's fine with the diluted juice, and she loves water. She still loves to go owsigh even though it's really cold out there now.

When I pick her up from daycare, she runs to her cubby and grabs her coat sleeve. As soon as we walk in the door at home, she tugs at it and yells, "off." After I take hers off, she pulls on mine and says, "off." Then she plops to the ground, sticks her feet in the air and yells, you guessed it, "off!" She refuses to wear shoes, socks, or slippers at home. Jim and I are always wearing slippers at home, but she wants nothing to do with hers.

All dolls aren't nanas anymore. Hers is still called nana, but if she sees a picture or a commercial now she calls them babies. She gets very excited when she sees doggies, duckies, and kitty cats, any animal for that matter.

Over the holiday break, I became mommy. I think she picked up the word from daycare. The lady who runs her room has her son in that room, too. I think Sera hears him call his mom mommy and picked up the word. It had taken her so long to even get to mama, that we hadn't even really started using mommy at home. She still calls me daddy sometimes, but she stops and corrects herself now.

We had two minor breakouts on Saturday and Monday. Saturday night, we went out for an early dinner and stopped to pick up a few groceries. We put Sera in the cart with the car in front. She's been afraid of it in the past, but loved it that night. When we finished shopping and I got her out of the car, I noticed her hands were bright red and that she had hives on the back of her hands and wrists. She also had one spot on her cheek. By the time we got home, her right eye was puffy and teary. Jim got her bath ready while I searched for dosing instructions on Benadryl. By the time she was out of her bath, everything was back to normal, so I didn't give her any medicine. We remembered that she'd been playing with the pepper mill at dinner and thought she might have a reaction to the pepper on her hands. Then it happened again. On Monday when I picked her up from daycare, they told me that she had broken out in a few hives on her face, but they quickly cleared. They didn't seem to bother her either time and didn't appear to itch.

I know that hives are an allergic reaction. It could be to food, cold temperatures, or something on her skin. It was cold Saturday night, but she didn't go outside on Monday. She had pepper on her hands Saturday night, but not Monday. She had pizza and some of my spaghetti for dinner on Saturday and spaghetti for lunch on Monday. You'd think that was it, right? But she's had spaghetti plenty of times, at daycare, at home, and even at Carraba's where we ate Saturday night. I called her doctor's office on Monday. There's nothing they can do without seeing the welts themselves. Even then, it would probably be a referral to a dermatologist. They said it was probably not the spaghetti because she's had it before without problems and it was just a coincidence. We're just going to keep an eye on her for now and see if it happens again. If it affects her breathing, we'll head to the ER, but for now it was just a few random welts.

Part of me thinks I should never feed her Italian again. Part of me wants to make it for dinner right away, so we can see if she reacts again.

We put our tree up over the weekend, too. Sera loves it. She loves the lights. She also loves her new toy. Her Christmas tree plays music when you press the star on top. I had a $25 gift certificate for Amazon and bought it there. I just checked Amazon as I was going to link to it, but the price has more than doubled since I bought it. It's being sold through one of their affiliates. Toys R Us has it for a much more reasonable price.


In one of the classes I teach, I have the students take a personality assessment test. Here's one I found the other day. It's not the one I use in school, but it's fun! Which HP character are you?

Harry Potter Personality Quiz by Pirate Monkeys Inc.

Calling All Muthas

This was the last shot taken on the day we went to the Gardens. You can see how flushed her cheeks are and her hair is all sweaty. She feels the heat just like her mama and daddy.

I do have a question for all you experienced moms. What are the signs that your child is ready for potty training? Now let me begin by saying that I am NOT ready for potty training. I don't even want to think about beginning until Sera and I are both home for the summer. I'm in no rush.

Sera has become more aware of her poopy diapers. It's always been quite obvious when she was going. The grunting, the red face; it was quite the production. For months now I've asked her if she was poopy when I knew she was. She always says yeah, but I knew she didn't really get it. On a few occasions, she fooled me and didn't actually have a poopy diaper. She still answered yeah.

When Sera wakes up, she likes to play a little game. She'll pretend that she doesn't want to get out of bed. She'll stand up in the corner and wait for you to reach for her. She then runs back to the other side or to the other end. She'll do this a few times until you "catch" her. She goes limp as a noodle and giggles hysterically. Sometimes this running means she falls. She played this game, poopy or not. It made for some messy clean ups.

This weekend was different. When she woke with a poopy diaper, she asked for a bah-poo (diaper) immediately. When she asks for something and you understand, she giggles. Each time I said, "Do you want a clean diaper? Are you poopy?" She giggled and said yeah, and she was right.

That wasn't enough to make me wonder.

What happened today made me wonder. This afternoon, Jim and I were chatting and catching up on our day. Sera was busy playing with her toys and her doll. She went up to Jim and asked for a bah-poo. He asked her if she wanted a diaper, and she went to the bag where I keep them stored downstairs. He got her one thinking she wanted to change her doll. No, I don't let her play with diapers, but he wanted to see what she would do with it. She immediately brought it to me and stood there. I asked her if I needed to change her diaper. She smiled and laughed. Neither of us had seen her poop, and more shockingly, we hadn't smelled it. I checked and sure enough, she was poopy.

Now maybe this is normal. I'm just surprised that she's this aware at 18-months. Is this when they start noticing and being uncomfortable? I know I certainly would be if I were walking around with a poopy diaper. Does this mean it's time to buy a potty chair and getting her acquainted with the idea? I still don't plan on doing an all out potty training until next summer at the earliest.

A Great First

Jim and Sera had another day together. Today was the last day of the first trimester. Students were released at 10am, including the daycare. At Jim's school, it's the end of a grading period. He finished his grades yesterday and took a personal day today to take care of Sera. At my school, it was the last day of finals. Final grades had to be compiled and submitted, and I had to prepare for a new batch of 100 students on Monday. It's the first day of school all over again.

Sera had a bit of rough night last night. Nothing major, just some congestion. She tossed and turned and kept waking up. Around 8:30, she woke up crying and calling for daddy. She was so tired, she wasn't even standing up. I had coated her up earlier with baby vaporub, but it wasn't enough. I went in and picked her up. She immediately stopped crying and could breathe easier. I sat with her in the recliner until we both were sound asleep. When I woke up, it was after 11pm. I popped her back in the crib and crawled into my own bed. When I left this morning, she and Jim were both still sleeping soundly.

I called home around 10:30 to see how she was doing. As usual, Sera was very interested in the phone. She loves to play with the phone, whether it's our home phone, Jim's cell, or one of her toy phones. She'll even pick up a rectangular block and pretend it's a phone. When she's playing, she'll babble away on the phone. Lately, she's been practicing saying hello with the phones. That is until someone answers back. Whenever we put her on the phone with a real person, she becomes mute and just looks at us with surprise that someone is talking to her through the phone. While we were talking, Jim held the phone to Sera's ear and let me talk to her for a few minutes. While I was talking she suddenly said, "Mama!" "Hi!" Then she started laughing. Jim came back on the line and talked about it being the first time she spoke, then went back to our conversation. Sera wanted the phone again, so he gave it back to her. Next thing I hear is Sera's voice saying, "See ya!"

When I finally made it home, they were both sitting on the front step waiting for me. They did the same on Wednesday. On Wednesday, my driving up confused Sera. She didn't recognize the car. She seemed mad at me when I got out and wouldn't come to me until we were back in the house. It was a different story today. As soon as I pulled in the driveway and she saw me through the window, she started smiling and laughing. After I stopped the car, Jim put her down and she ran to me. After we were inside, she wanted me to hold her and she kept stroking my arm and laughing. I went into the living room and sat on the couch with her while she snuggled in for a good while. She was silly and smiling and laughing. I think my girl missed me today and was happy to have me home. That's the best homecoming ever.

Happy Girls!

I just love this picture of Marcia and Ava.

Daddy/daughter day today went well. I think Jim had a really good day. The doctor said that Sera is doing great and to keep doing what we're doing. She's at or ahead in every area. The doctor was especially impressed with her language development. She said that would be our focus until our next apppointment at 24 months. I was wondering when the every three month appointments would stop. She's now 31 1/4" and 21# 14 oz. It puts her around the 25th percentile for height and just over the 5th percentile for weight, but that's on the U.S. charts. She's growing proportionately, and she's healthy. What more could we ask for. She's tiny and probably always will be. On the Chinese chart, she's near the 75th percentile for height and just over the 60th percentile for weight.

Within the next few days, I want to make a list of all of Sera's words. Since this is basically my electronic baby book, I need to record them.

I'm not sure I ever posted what I plan to do with the blog. When we reach our first anniversary of being a family, I'm going to have my blog printed. I will save it for Sera so she can see how insane her mother was during the wait, plus all the news from our first year together.

Here's a bonus picture from our recent photo shoot.

I'm a Big Girl Now!

We hit another milestone. Sera took a big girl bath for the first time tonight. She had long outgrown her big rubber ducky tub, but she loved it. It was time for her to go in the tub without it. She was a little unsure at first, but daddy assured her it was okay, and she trusted him. Soon she was playing with her new tub toys. We had some Dora letters that stick to the side of the tub when they're wet. I never got them out before because there wasn't enough room in the duck for many toys. She was soon playing and comfortable in her new bath.

I finally got a picture of Sera wearing one of her socks as a glove. Every time I'd try, she'd pull off the sock and reach for the camera. This time she didn't see me coming. Ha! I outsmarted an 18-month-old.

Sera and daddy have a daddy/daughter day planned for tomorrow. Sera has her 18-month checkup, and I'm in the middle of finals week, so daddy took the day off to take her. Her appointment is in the morning. He was still trying to decide what fun thing they could do afterwards.





And, finally, a big, happy 1st birthday to my adorable niece, Josie.

Oh, The Cuteness

Be forewarned, these photos may cause death by cuteness!

She kept making one face that we never caught on film. I will always regret this. It was the cutest face ever! She would stand completely still with her mouth and eyes wide open in shock. The best was when a family was walking towards us down the streets. The three adults were dressed up with big wigs. I can't believe we missed the shot.

Heading out and just happy to be owsigh!

Of course, what's Halloween without Nana? I assume that some day she will allow her dolls to remain clothed. In the meantime, we go for the natural look around here.

We were out for one hour. She rode in her stroller for about 10 minutes.

Our neighborhood has three girls from China. What's amazing is that there are only about 30 homes in our subdivision. You may recognize Snow White from last week's party photos. She and Sera are great friends.

Pure, unbridled joy!

Sera put Nana in the stroller and wanted to push her. She quickly realized this may not work.

Can we do this again tomorrow night?

Needless to say, Halloween was a big hit. It's not about the treats for her yet. She loved being outside, walking around the neighborhood, all the people out walking with us, all the costumes, and all the dogs. I didn't realize that every one of our neighbors seemed to have a dog. Sera was running up and down the street yelling "HI" to everyone.

It's a miracle that a human heart can hold so much joy and love and not just burst from it all.

Last year, this was the time when the wait got really hard for me. We hit our one year anniversary for being logged in and kicked off the holiday season. It's amazing the difference a year can make. For everyone who is still waiting, I know that my words do not ease your pain. Please believe me when I say that it gets so much better. This is what is waiting for you, and I cannot wait to share in your joy when it does.

P.S. My sister and brother-in-law left this morning to pick up my adorable niece, Ava. We are just so excited!

A Gorgeous Autumn Day

I actually wrote the following post yesterday, but didn't get the photos downloaded until tonight.

What a gorgeous day we had today. The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and we were out enjoying the day.

We met up with our friends, the Fisher family, and headed out to a local farm. The farm was set up with corn mazes, hay rides, pony rides, pedal cars, a small train, and pumpkins. The front part of the barn had several photo areas set up, that we didn't use, stacks of hay set up like bleacher seating on one side, The other just had a wall of hay bales, pumpkins, and stuff, including an old sled. The back of the barn had a couple of ponies in stalls and cages of chickens, roosters, and bunnies. There were also some loose chickens and a kitten. There was a children's playground set up, and one lady who was walking two St. Bernard dogs around. They were therapy dogs so were wonderful around the children. As used to big dogs as Sera is, I was surprised that she was not happy when the St. Bernard came over to her. On the other hand, when the animal's head is bigger than your body, it's a little off-putting. She loved all the other animals though. She was running around having a good ole time. This year we mainly observed all the fun. I bet next year she participates more. She was fascinated when Kyra and Sean rode the pony ride and claimed that she wanted to go on the pony. She is too small to ride it, but the young girl walking the pony let us put Sera on the saddle for a minute. She practically sommersaulted trying to get back into my arms. She prefers the ponies from the safe haven of mommy or daddy's arms.

There were also some photo op areas set up outside the bard. They were wooden false-fronts with cut outs for faces and one with a measuring stick. Sera wasn't into the one with the faces, but loved the one with the measuring stick. It had been painted with an anthropomorhic ear of corn and pumpkin. Jim and I really liked the snack wagon set up with hot caramel cider. Yummy!

It was a beautiful day, and we'll definitely make this an annual event.

A Nurturer By Nature

Sera is a born nurturer. She loves to take care of her babies. I mentioned before how fascinating I find it to see her mimic what we do with her dolls. It's happening more and more. I took these photos on Wednesday. She had wrapped one of her bibs around her dolls neck and brought her to me to fasten it. She then put her in the seat and prepared her tray. She needed a little help tucking in the dolls feet and getting the tray on straight, but she did most of it herself. She also feeds her babies with toy bottles. She'll cradle her baby in her arm and give her the bottle or share her sippy cup. Today, she was placing her apple slices in the dolls mouth and then eating them herself. It's very clear that she knows it's pretend. She also likes to share her sippy and snacks with mommy and daddy.

The pretend play doesn't stop with food and drink. Her babies constantly need diaper (bahpoo) changes. They prefer life naked right now, too. She's removed all their clothing. Every now and then she'll bring me their clothes to redress them, but it doesn't last long. It's too difficult for her to dress them. I need to find one of those learn to dress dolls, I think.

They also nap often, usually on an old pillow that she has claimed as her own or in the toy pack 'n play. Today, she was putting her baby in the pack 'n play. She placed a blanket over the baby and headed to the hallway. She came back a few minutes later and stroked the baby's back and left again. Then she came back blowing kisses, stroked the baby's back, and left again. I finally caught on to what she was doing as she came back in blew kisses, stroked the baby's back, and left saying, "nigh nigh." When she wakes within an hour of going to bed, I try to avoid picking her up. I just go into her room every 5 minutes or so. I stroke her back, tell her I love her, blow her kisses, and say night-night. I'd say she's noticed, wouldn't you?

The tray is prepared and ready to be served

Here you go, baby.

Let me taste the milk and make sure it's okay.

What does a guy have to do around here to get this kind of service?

Playing Hooky

Sera and I played hooky today. Well, is it playing hooky if you plan ahead for a sub?

The playgroup we went to all last Spring and Summer was having their Halloween party this morning. I decided it was worth using one of my three annual personal days to go. Knowing that I wouldn't have to get up until 6:30-7ish, I decided to be a wild 'n crazy girl and stay up all the way to 11:00 pm last night. Sera showed me the error of my ways this morning. I wake her at 6 am on school mornings. When I let her wake on her own, she usually wakes between 7 am and 8 am. Today, she woke at 4:45 am. Yes, you read correctly. 4:45 AM She was awake and happy and ready to play. I suggested going back to sleep, and she laughed in my face.

We played until about 7:15 am when I put her down for a nap. I know it was incredibly early, but I also knew she would not make it through the party if she didn't have more sleep. Since she fell asleep within minutes of being put her in her crib, I knew I'd made the right call. The party started at 10 am, so I had to wake her around 8:45 am. I dressed her in her black tights and a fleece top. I saved her costume for when we arrived. I bought two costumes for her this year. I bought them both on Ebay. The one I wanted, a bumblebee, was ending after my second choice. My second choice, however had virtually no bids. I got it for about $10.oo, including shipping. I thought the bumblebee would not be good for the party as the wings would make it hard to play. We'll save it for Halloween.

When we got the party, I put on her witches costume and the hat. She loved it! She really loved the hat for the first few minutes before she decided it got in her way. She gets very clingy in a new place, plus she hadn't seen her playgroup friends in months, so we spent about half an hour with me holding her or sitting with her on my lap. I tried to take this picture of her and Snow White too early. She was not pleased that I put her down. Poor Snow White was upset that Sera was upset. She and her mom are neighbors and know Sera well.

After she acclimated, my child was off and running. She had a great time at the party and ate her fill of grapes, apples, and carrots.

Snow White and Her Happy Witch Friend
Sera's eyes lit up when the Princess arrived. She loved her pink and sparkly dress.
Sera will make a chair of anything that is her size
A much happier witch
Snow White and the cute lil kitty cat
One darn cute ladybug and a kitty cat's older brother
At the end of the party. Costumes have been discarded. Sera refused to sit on the couch. Maybe next year?

I think I got everyone's picture except for a good one of our second cute ladybug and the first one's brother. A good time was had by all!

Socks Are A Girl's Best Friend

My girl is a girly-girl. She likes to pick her clothes and her shoes. Any toy that has a ring to attach it to a stroller instead becomes a big bracelet. She loves to play dress up with hats. She's also very dainty. When she sneezes, she reaches for a tissue and wipes her nose. When she fake coughs (imitating the way I've sounded for days), she even covers her mouth. She shares her sippy with her dolls and this morning fed one pancakes. When she's finished eating, she picks up the food that's fallen on her tray and puts it back on her plate.

But it's her latest obsession that has me cracking up. She takes off her socks and puts them on her hands. She then pulls them up to her elbows so they look like elbow-length gloves. She gets so excited when she finally gets them both on and to her liking. It can take several attempts and some parental help to accomplish this. In fact, the first day she discovered this new game, she played it for hours. In case you're interested, bobby socks work best.