sneaking into summer

Beautiful day... and a beautiful smile.
Waiting for Nana and Papa to take her with them to a wedding reception.
Hannah likes to eat all of the icing and leave the cake on the plate.

Tomorrow marks ten months since we were told to expect a referral for our adoption #2 in three to six more months. The wondering when our lives are going to change is beginning to get to me all over again. It's been hard to keep telling myself "any day now" over and over again for months and months. I've started holding on to Hannah's clothes she's growing out of, just in case it's a girl... and thinking of all of these little girl names that I love. At the same time, I'm itching to start putting together a space themed nursery that I've been thinking about for months and months.

Hannah's getting much better about her fear of bugs. We were on a nature walk this past month and she loved taking pictures of bugs with Daddy's phone. "There's a pill bug! Oooooh! That's an ant!" Funny kid.

It has finally warmed up! We're spending our evenings outside in the back yard grilling out dinner, hanging out watching Hannah go town her slide, and building sand castles and roads in the sand box.

A few firsts happened this week. We registered Hannah for two day a week preschool for three year olds at an area church. Preschool begins the end of August. Hannah also started tumbling class at the YMCA and is excited about doing somersaults with several little girls ages three and four. As Hannah is slow to warm up to new people, I hope that the experience of tumbling class without Mom or Dad there is a good primer to preschool.

Alert the media. I have a reader!

I opened yesterday's mail while Hannah at her breakfast this morning. She pointed at a mailing from the zoo and asked to open that envelope, a plain white envelope with text on the outside. Because it contained our annual zoo passes, I told her that she could open some other mail but not that piece. All of a sudden, she told me that the envelope that she wanted to open was from the zoo. I was floored. Am I hearing this right? I asked how she knew it was from the zoo and Hannah pointed at the big bold letters that spelled out "ZOO!" I have a reader! I nearly cried. I grabbed my phone and made this little video. Luckily, she read the word to me again so I could catch it on video.

reflecting on referral day

Saturday was the three year anniversary of Hannah's adoption referral. THREE YEARS. Wow. Seems like yesterday. I was sitting right where I am now... up way too late (like I am right now), checking my email over, and over, and over looking for any news from our adoption agency (like I am right now). I told Kevin that I was giving up and going to bed, but checking my email one more time... and there it was. THE Hallelujah!!!! email. Life changed when we found this message in my in-box. Hopefully it will change again with another Hallelujah email!

We took Hannah on our first zoo trip of the year Saturday. It started out with lunch at Daddy's favorite pizza place, Pizza King. You can take the boy out of Muncie, but you can't take the love for Pizza King out of the boy! Then, off to the zoo! Hannnah's been chattering away about going to the zoo all week when I tipped her off that we could go this weekend if it ever stopped raining and got sunny outside.

I have loved watching her peek outside and yell, "Mommy! I think it's getting sunny outside!" She loves the zoo so much and can just chatter on and on and on about all of the fun things to see and do at the zoo. Horsey rides, carousel, lions, goats, peacocks, fishies... she loves it all.

First stop was the horsey ride, of course.

I love this smile!

Of all the things to see and zoo at the zoo, her favorites are often the horses and the goats. There's plenty of rural people where we live that I'm sure would let Hannah pet their horse and for for free, but she loves this so why argue?

Getting that goat nice and clean.

If the electrical engineering thing doesn't pan out, goat farmer might.

Checking email one last time before bed at 2:17 AM looking for news of #2. Got nuttin'. Good night.

Redirect: Taiwanese sisters playdate

We had a grand time last Thursday, as always, at a playdate with Allie and Lora. I forgot my camera at home, but Lora took lots of photos. I love the ones of the girls riding around on a tricycle together as well as the hugs in front of the koi pond.

Lora politely left out that Hannah flipped a lot of sand into Allie's hair accidentally. Lora helped Allie shake out most of the sand in her hair, but Allie waited until Hannah and I were out of earshot to tell her mother that Hannah flipped sand in her and hair she needed a bath to wash it out. What a polite little miss!

lipstick

"I wanna rock."

Sweet baby girl, I don't think I'll ever tire of hearing your words "I wanna rock." We get out one of your flannel baby receiving blankets, turn off the lights, I pick you up, and I rock you in the rocking recliner chair. I hold you like a baby and we whisper. One of our favorite things to talk about while rocking is to name all of the people that love you. You usually start with Mama and Daddy, your grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Sometimes you also include the names of Mama and Daddy's friends. I love it that you include Allie and Allie's mommy Lora. I've always included the names Taiwan Mommy, Taiwan Grandma, Taiwan Grandpa, and Taiwan Auntie... and you're starting to include them, too. I don't know how much longer you'll want to be rocked like this, so I'll savor these moments in the recliner tonight.

more thoughts on potty training

Hannah's gone from wearing pull-ups and telling us "No, I can't want it." when we ask if she needs to go potty... to a week free of accidents with multiple poops in the potty as well. She now thinks that going potty in a public restroom is fun. She'll tell us twice in large stores like Walmart and Target that she needs to go... and off we go to the bathrooms. The big fun is to tell Mommy that I can't come in... and she wants to climb her little hiney up the potty all by herself. "Don't come in! I do it myself!" She doesn't have any modesty issues... she's still a streaker at home. It's all about control and independence with Little Miss.

I think our turning point was at Lora's house. I had Hannah in pull-ups because it was a travel day, but was telling her once an hour that she needed to come try to make peepee with me. Somehow we got Allie to come into the bathroom with us, with Allie on the big potty and Hannah on the little potty at the same time. Apparently that was lots of fun with plenty of giggles and smiles. Never would have imagined that another three year old would potty train my three year old.

Mother's Day

I'm grateful every day, and especially on Mother's Day, for a mother on the other side of the world who chose life for our daughter. Thank you.



These photos were taken by my dad yesterday. :)

panties post

I'm so proud of my big girl. We've turned the corner on potty training. She's wearing panties all the time during the day now. We're even making trips to the grocery and hardware store in panties, and she's being really good about telling us when she needs to go. Last night Hannah even took her pull-up off in the middle of the night, put it on the floor, opened her drawer to retrieve a pair of panties, and put them on. She really likes her new Gymboree panties. I don't blame her. The Walmart Disney panties feel scratchy in comparison. She doesn't want to use the little potty anymore and always wants to go in the big potty. Daddy had a great idea, and put the little potty in her bed room. She can use it as a step stool to turn on and off her lights, and she can use the little potty in the middle of the night if she wants to wake up to go.

the royal wedding

I had not been into the media frenzy leading up to the royal wedding, but decided several weeks ago that I'd wake up before dawn to watch. I'm too young to remember Charles and Diana's wedding, and it was such an event that was and continues to be referred to again and again that I knew that I'd like to watch this royal wedding live.

I had planned on getting up at 4am to get myself ready for work first and be ready to watch at 5am until I had to leave for work. Kevin thought I was nuts, of course. When I reasoned with him that we didn't have a DVR anymore and I couldn't record it he looked at me like I'd grown two heads. "Don't ya think SOMEONE will tape it and you'll be able to watch it over and over online and on TV for the next twenty years?" Oh, yeah. But still, I want to watch it LIVE.

There was a kink in my plans. I woke up at 3:47am to the sound of a boogery coughing little girl being placed in bed with me as she was instructed to lay down next to Mommy. "What's going on?"

"She says she doesn't feel good and wants to sleep with Mommy and Daddy." Sigh. Sick kid in bed means no sleep for Mommy. After 10 minutes of listening to Hannah's stopped up nose, I decided to get up.

I heard the sound of little feet following me into the bathroom. A wide awake three year old asked, "Mommy, what are you doing? It's dark outside." How do I answer that? Hmmmm.

"Hannah, something special is happening today. It's a wedding. A real princess wedding. With pretty dresses, and hats, and flowers, and princes, and people, and lots of horses, and a castle. Do you want to watch?"

"I watch princess movies."

"This time what Mommy is going to watch on TV is real. A REAL PRINCESS wedding. Do you want to watch, too?"

"YES!"

I handed Hannah her pink Nintento DS and she played a game in the bathroom waiting for me to get out of the shower. In true preschooler form, she commented on everything I was doing. "You put pants on? You gonna take your pills? You hang your towel up?"

Finally, I was ready for the day. If I would have known that Hannah was going to be up before the crack of dawn with me, I would have bought pastries and had a little tea set out. My clingy girl with a boogery nose was offered blueberry pop-tarts and strawberry milk. I had an extra big cup of coffee. I was going to need it to get through the day with less than four hours of sleep!

We snuggled in the recliner together with her little pink blanket, pop tarts, and our 5 am drinks of choice. We talked about who the people were, where they lived, that the men in red and black in the fancy car with a crown on top were real princes. This was all real, not a movie. We sat snuggled together talking about what we saw for an hour and a half. Hannah lost interest during some of the singing during the wedding. "I wanna watch *sumping* else. I wanna watch *sumping* else!"

"Uh, no. This is Mama's pick today."

"Okay, I play with play-doh."

Hannah played with play-doh and she did watch a little more when the carriages came out and we watched the horses bring the party back to the castle. When it was time for me to leave for work, Hannah crawled in bed with Daddy to wake him up."

"Daddy, I watch a princess wedding. A real princess wedding. With horses, and crowns, and it had a real prince. He's a good man."

I have no idea where the "he's a good man" part came from. Funny kid.

Redirect: more cupcake photos

I swear, my daughter didn't learn to lick the icing bowl clean from me. Her daddy must do that.

Easter Wishes

Easter is a time for hope and rejoicing!
May the glory of the Lord’s miracle strengthen your faith and renew your hope.
Wishing you many blessings this Easter.



We spent the day with my family. The sun came out after several days of rain, and we were able to spend time outside with an Easter egg hunt and playing with the kids.

Back at home tonight Kevin was in the living room with Hannah while I was editing photos from the day. I heard Hannah talking a lot about eggs. All of a sudden Kevin yelled, "Mommy, you'll want to come see this!" While Kevin had dozed off in a recliner for a few minutes, Hannah opened up an Easter egg coloring kit, put water in the decorating cups, inserted the colored tablets in the cups, and was telling her daddy to get up and get her some eggs!!!! ACK!!! Luckily, she can't open the refrigerator to get eggs, and didn't make much of a mess. She just dripped a little of the colored water onto her jammies. Thank goodness we have wood laminate flooring and got rid of all of the beige carpet!

lady stickers, dress up, and cupcakes

Hannah and I enjoyed a play date at Allie and Lora's house today!



Hannah and I brought a long one of Hannah's favorite activities that she refers to as "lady stickers."



I get a kick out of hanging Picasso-like art on my refrigerator, and I appreciate that the collection of ladies are of a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.



It wasn't long before Hannah said, "I want to wear a crown," and Allie readily shared her dress up clothes with Hannah.



Stinkin' cute, I know!



They're gamers already at age three.



Lora had baked spring time cupcakes and the girls got to eat all of the frosting and sprinkles they wanted decorate them.



Lora's daughter Allie is a master at cupcake art.



My daughter is more interested in shoveling large quantities of frosting and sprinkles into her mouth.



She didn't learn this from watching me, I swear.



Looking forward to seeing you ladies again when it's warmer and we can play outside!

Redirect: Taiwan gives most in world to Japan

The Taipei Times published an article Sunday reporting that Taiwan has donated more money than any other nation to Japan in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

I-600A approval

Our I-600A approval came today in our mail box. We're one step closer to a second child. :)

Last night we has some unexpected sass from Miss Hannah. Kevin asked Hannah to bring him something. She was taking her sweet time. Daddy told her to quit messing around and get to it. Hannah replied in an exasperated tone, "I'm working on it, Daddy!"

That phrase is SO something that Kevin uses with me when I'm telling him to do something! Haha!

Redirect: Peepshi

I so want to do this! Making Peepshi looks way more fun than dipping Easter eggs. :)

expected and unexpected

Expected: "You take pitch-ure and then we get chalk-it candies. Alright?"



Unexpected: Lots of lifting up of our pretty shirt and examining the belly button.

my little bulldog

We've been talking a lot about "bulldogs" at home with my team doing so well in the tournament. Tonight after dinner I called a friend that owns a real bulldog and asked if we could stop by before the game to see her dog. Hannah was very interested in this big snorting wrinkled dog, but didn't want to pet him.

Our team didn't win the national championship tonight, but it was a fun ride. Thanks for the fun, guys. Proud of the Butler Way. Proud to be a Butler Bulldog.

Hannah started preschool aged swim classes today. I didn't realize it until last night that parents wouldn't be in the water with the preschoolers ages 3-5. I was so worried about how Hannah would be on her own with a high school aged instructor aka a STRANGER. She warmed up to Molly way quicker than I could have ever imagined and I beamed while watching Hannah hold on to a noodle and kick her way around the pool. That's my girl! :)

sing-along

Thanks to lots of time spent with Grandma at our house while Daddy recovered from surgery this winter, Hannah knows her Disney princesses. She likes them all pretty equally. Sometimes when Hannah wants to watch Mulan, she asks for "my Chinese movie."

Last night while picking up the house we had turned on Mulan for Hannah on the TV in her bedroom. I walked past the door to her room and heard her quietly singing along with the song "Reflection." I quietly hid in Hannah's doorway and, with tears in my eyes, listened to her sing Reflection and get half of the words right. I sang along with her at the end, revealing my presence. She stopped singing, a little embarrassed. At the end she said, "Mommy, I like that song." Me, too.

immigration

A little before 8am this morning we were wanded by security and entered the waiting room for immigration. Hannah has a cold and isn't feeling well. She held tightly to one of her favorite flannel blankies. The immigration office has rows of plastic chairs that fold up like movie theater chairs. There are glass covered windows and one can talk with an immigration officer through the glass windows. We sat down in the front row of chairs to wait our turn and Hannah loudly asked, "Are we going to see a movie???"

We had a pretty awful trip because Hannah isn't feeling well, but I'll spare you the gross details. The bright spot of the trip was spending an hour in the pool with our little fish! Mommy really enjoyed well deserved time in the jacuzzi tub, too!

on the way to the airport

Just a little cuteness from today.
We picked Nana and Papa up at the airport as they returned from spring break.
We met them today at the same spot that they met Hannah for the first time.
{Pulls on my heart!}
Tomorrow we have our biometric fingerprint scan appointments in Indianapolis, and should receive immigration approval shortly thereafter. It's been seven and a half months since our agency gave us a heads up that we were third in line for a referral of a little boy, and to anticipate a referral in about three to six months. I'm starting to think about #2 a lot right now. I think about his/her first mother, her struggles, for guidance with the decisions she is making for herself and her young or unborn child, and I pray for peace for her.

buttons

Hannah looks pretty proud of herself, doesn't she?

Hannah mastered buttoning her own clothes this week. When I came home from work Wednesday night she showed me at least four times. "I do it, I do it, I do it myself!"

puzzles

One of Hannah's favorite activities since her third birthday is puzzles. Several family members and Mama and Daddy have purchased her wooden puzzzle sets from Melissa and Doug and Target's Circo brand. The 12 piece puzzles are too simple for her now, the 24 piece puzzles are just right for her to complete on her own, and she needs some assistance with the 48 piece puzzles so that she doesn't become frustrated. It's been amazing to watch her little brain develop strategy over the last two months.

I took a little video today as I watched her complete some puzzles. So proud of my smart cookie!

a smile that could melt your "chalk-it"

birthday present from USCIS

USCIS sent us fingerprint appointment notices today. Our presence is requested at 8am in Indianapolis on MY BIRTHDAY! Yippie! Another step closer to kiddo #2.

Redirect: Death Rituals in Taiwan

Here is an interesting post on burial practices in Taiwan at American Family.

I wanted to know a little more, and found this great National Geographic video on second burials.

"Take my pitch-ure!"

Where are you, spring?

chocolate egg rolls

Hannah and Daddy went to the store to get their food stockpile before last night's snowstorm. Hannah requested this purchase, a box of "chocolate egg rolls." How I love this kid!

three year old check-up

Yesterday Hannah had her three year old check-up. She has always been very tearful when she has a doctor's appointment. I talked to her a lot this week about going to the doctor. We practiced saying her doctor's name and picked out some artwork on the refrigerator to bring to give to her. I talked about how Hannah was going to be measured to see how big she is, and that the doctor would look in her ears and in her eyes and listen to her back and tummy. Great plan, right? I thought so, and was looking forward to seeing how this would go over.

Well, she froze up and got clingy as soon as we got to the office. Hannah cried and refused to stand next to a growth chart and step on the scale. Watching Mommy do it and being offered the reward of a sticker didn't work. Our pediatrician did a great job in showing the "flashlight" on her otoscope and let Hannah press her finger to it. She even looked into the ears on Hannah's Woody tattoo to show that it wouldn't hurt. Sigh. Lots of screaming and tears, as usual.

At 37 months Hannah is 34.5 inches tall and weighs 22 pounds 12 ounces. Hannah was deemed on target developmentally and had no speech or motor delays. This is just what a family that has graduated from First Steps early intervention wants to hear! Yay!

We talked a lot about how Hannah is very reserved in new social situations, and often takes a half an hour to warm up to a new environment. She's not fearful of the environment, but takes some time to feel comfortable enough to talk and participate. In the opinion our pediatrician, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just Hannah's little personality. She talks about enjoying her social situations like story time at the library and toddler classes by requesting, "I go back," even if she didn't talk every much during the experience.

Bringing the pediatrician one of her works of art was a great way to get Hannah to open up and start talking during the appointment. She gave the doctor a Chinese New Year sticker scene with lanterns, dragons, golden coins, and lion dancers and told the doctor about what was on the paper.

The pediatrician plotted this year's growth on an American chart and decided to keep using her adjusted age. Hannah's still hanging out below the 10th percentile for height and we're still way off the chart for weight, but Hannah's following her own little curve down there that's just right for her.

When I went home I got out my scans of a Taiwanese growth chart to see how plots of Hannah's two and three year old measurements compare between the charts. On the Taiwanese chart she's just barely off the chart for weight. Very interesting to see how much these plots differentiate between the two charts.

Figure 1: US growth chart for girls. Black plots are age adjusted. Blue plots from two and three year old appointments are not age adjusted for prematurity.



Figure 2: Taiwanese height chart for girls. Black plots are age adjusted for prematurity and blue plots are at the actual age.



Figure 3: Taiwanese weight chart for girls. Black plots are age adjusted for prematurity and blue plots are at the actual age.



When we were walking out of the building after Hannah's appointment, Hannah was walking on her own holding my hand. All on her own she said, "I scared." I stopped and got down on her level. "You were scared at the doctor's office?" "Yes." "Are you scared now?" "No. All done."

I had a check-up for myself that afternoon. "Hannah, do you want to go to Mommy's doctor appointment today with Mommy? Mommy is going to be measured, too. It's not for Hannah, it's for Mommy." "Yes, I go too!" Hannah went with me with me to my checkup and was well behaved for a three year old entertaining herself with an iphone. When I was on the exam table and the physician's assistant was listening to my lungs and looking in my ears, Hannah asked over and over "What are you doing?" I think it was a good experience for her to see that Mommy has to do this too, it doesn't hurt, and I wasn't scared.

Chinese New Year 2011 (2 of 3)

A little back blogging, mostly for myself as I don't want to forget these special events. Our second CNY party was with a group of very local adoptive families. All of the other families have little ones, all girls, from China. I love getting together with other adoptive families, but the very local ties are especially important... as these are the people we see at the grocery store and at school. I think it's really healthy for our families to get to know each other.


Kevin's mother once again had the honor of distributing the red envelopes to the children, as she was the eldest of the group. She just beams getting to talk to all of the little kids.


The girls were all so cute. I censored their faces as I don't want to offend any local friends. Hannah really enjoyed playing with the oldest kids. They played with a balloon hitting it into the air over and over while Hannah shrieked with laughter.

a new twist to the book of Genesis

During story time tonight, Hannah informed me that Adam and Eve were mermaids. Hmmmm... I don't remember mermaids mentioned anywhere in Genesis. Learned something new tonight!