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Thursday, October 15, 2009 HOME FOR 11 MONTHS Next month we will celebrate the one year “familyversary” of the day Maili joined our family. I don’t know whether or not she will be able to understand the significance of that day yet, but we hope to start a tradition that we will carry out each year to celebrate the day she became a part of our family. She has continually experienced new things with us over the past 11 months, and this month was no exception. She started the month off by losing another tooth, only this time instead of crying at the prospect of the tooth fairy she was very excited. Her tooth was very loose and she asked me to pull it out while we were sitting in the stands at one of Holt’s baseball games. I grabbed a napkin, reached in, and pulled it out, at which point she promptly exclaimed “I put tooth under pillow, Maili get MONEY!” Our family celebrated the Autumn Moon Festival at a party hosted by some members of the local adoption group we attend each month. Maili got to play and eat moon cakes with other kids who were adopted from China and she enjoyed herself immensely. Someone at the party asked her where she was from, to which she replied “Georgia”. Knowing that wasn’t the answer they were looking for, I asked her to tell the lady where she was born. She said “Maili baby in China, I big girl in “ Merica.” We want her to celebrate her Chinese heritage and be proud of where she came from, but on the other hand we don’t want to always single her out as being different from most of the people around her. Sometimes it is difficult to accomplish both, I think. One important milestone that Maili reached this month was that she is beginning to READ! This child who tested out at a two year old level in all areas of her development 9 short months ago is sounding out words, recognizing sight words, and reading simple sentences. After almost a year of occupational therapy for what were some incredibly poor motor skills, she is able to write letters and words as well as cut out shapes drawn on paper. She could not even hold onto a pencil or a pair of scissors when she first came home, and she had absolutely no idea that the lines on a coloring sheet were there for a reason. The mere fact that she can now color INSIDE those lines is nothing short of miraculous. Her language development is still a work in progress, but we continue to see gains every day. Her use of the English language can be quite comical at times, though we try not to laugh at her (at least not where she can hear us). The other day, Holt accused her of being a copycat because, as usual, she was imitating his every move and it was driving him crazy. Putting her hands on her hips and glaring at him, she replied “ Holt, I no POCKY cat, I a pocky TIGER!” Grrrr.

Happy girl Look who lost another tooth Loving on Chipper

On PaPa's slide	Admiring the lanterns at the Autumn Moon Festival Party
Playing soccer	Hanging with Holt

Pretty in Pink

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