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August/September 2010
HOME FOR 22 MONTHS

It’s hard to believe that in just two months we will be celebrating the 2 year anniversary of the day Maili joined our family. She has grown and changed so much since she came into our lives, and she continues to be such a blessing to our family that we can’t imagine life without her.

The past couple of months have flown by, and Maili has greeted each new experience with her usual enthusiasm and sheer joy for life. She was able to have playdates this summer with many of her “China friends,” as she calls other adoptees from China, and she really enjoyed spending time with other little girls like her. She is becoming more aware lately that she looks different from most of her friends at school, and we try to make sure she has plenty of social activities with other kids from China as well as with other friends.

Toward the end of the summer, our family spent a weekend at Lake Sinclair, where Maili showed her fearless nature once again by leaping off the roof of the boatdock after the older kids without hesitation. Then after watching the other kids learn to ski and kneeboard behind the boat, she declared that it was her turn. I kept telling her that she wasn’t old enough and she would have to wait until she was bigger to be able to do that. The idea of pulling my then 5 year old behind a boat in the middle of a lake was more than a little disconcerting, but I finally agreed to let her give it a try. To everyone’s great surprise, she got her balance quickly and before I knew it she was kneeboarding like a pro. Unlike the other kids, she never even fell off. Before her turn was over she was doing it with no hands, with a smile from ear to ear. When she got back in the boat, she looked at me and said” See, Mom, I TOLE you I old enough!”

Holt and Maili both had birthdays in August, and since their birthdays are only one day apart they agreed to have their party together this year. Maili turned 6 and Holt turned 11. They each invited 5 friends to the local jumping thingy place (I’m sure there’s a name for that but I have no idea what it is) and a good time was had by all.

Maili started first grade last month after eagerly anticipating the start of the new school year all summer long. Yes, for the ENTIRE summer all I heard was “Mom, when we go back to school, I ready go back now.” Finally the day arrived, and she couldn’t have been more excited if she had been going to Disney. Her excitement has dimmed a bit with the reality of first grade homework; the expectations were a bit more than she was accustomed to in kindergarten. But as usual, she has risen to the occasion, and so far she has been able to do grade level work with no trouble at all. We had anticipated her struggling with the work at this point, mainly because of the vast deficits with which she began her school career. However, she has continued to amaze us with her ability to adapt and learn new things, and her sheer persistence, although frustrating at times, has definitely served her well.

She has been quite persistent lately on one topic in particular, the fact that she has a sister in China who is waiting for our family to come and get her. “Scooby” as she has continued to call her, is mentioned many times a day in her conversations, as in “We need to get one for my Scooby too” and “When my Scooby gets home we can share that one.” The jury is still out on whether or not that will actually happen, but some things do seem to be falling into place, so stay tuned to find out if Scooby will join our family. (And no, we will not actually name her Scooby, for those of you who were wondering..)

Look, Mom, no hands

Sharing her birthday cake with a friend

Birthday boy

Siblings

Still no sign of those two front teeth

Puggy love	First day of School
Hanging at home	Summertime
Maili and MeMe

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