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Wednesday, December 12, 2007

It does not seem possible that one year ago we were in China writing our first update for our family and friends back home as the new parents of Claire. Last year seems so recent and yet so distant at the same time. For some reason, while you are waiting for your child to come home, the days seem to crawl by so slowly. But, from the moment Ling Ling (Claire) was placed in our arms time has somehow magically sped up. I guess before we spent our time wondering where she was and what and how she was doing, and now we know exactly where she is and exactly how wonderfully she is doing. We will forever be grateful to all the people and organizations that helped make it possible for this amazing child to be a part of our family. If you would like to look back at those first few moments with Claire I have put together a very short video that you can watch here.

Although we adopted Claire from a SN list, she came home and continues to be perfectly healthy. She is in the 80% in height on the American charts and the 60% in weight. She has grown 4 ¼ inches and gained 8 pounds. (She was in the 50% in height and 50% in weight when we got home from China.) She was obviously well taken care of by her foster mother and we are very thankful for that.

Claire is definitely looking forward to Christmas. She has thoroughly studied each ornament on the tree and she loves talking to Santa. She always looks for the baby Jesus in every manger scene.

Claire is a child that is almost always happy. She has a long attentions span and is easy to discipline. We can almost always just lean down and whisper in Claire’s ear and she will do what we ask. She continues to be a fashion queen! She loves clothes, shoes, and shopping.

We took Claire for an eye exam this past week and she had to identify some pictures for the test. At first we couldn’t see the pictures she was being shown, but we could hear Claire’s answers. When the man showed her the pictures we could hear her saying, “duck, car, telephone, cake, a man on a ma…” The man giving the test said, “What was that last one?” Claire said, “A man on a ma.” The man said no. Can you look again?” At this point James and I realize what is happening and had to jump in. You see, one of the Mandarin words that Claire still uses is ma, which means horse. What Claire was really saying was “A man on a horse.” We explained to the eye examiner that ma was the Mandarin word for horse and that Claire often uses it instead of horse. The man looked at Claire and asked her if she could say horse and Claire said “Horse.” He said, “Good! Now what is this picture?” Claire said, “A man on a ma!” Needless to say she finished the test using a little Mandarin! BTW, she passed and doesn’t need glasses either.

To celebrate our one year together we went to see Santa tonight and then we ate at P. F. Chang's. Claire got a few gifts including a little pearl ring. She was very excited as she always enjoys being the center of attention. We went all out and shared “The Great Wall of Chocolate” cake. It was quite yummy. It is hard to believe that after one year together, Claire has still only spent 1/3 of her life with us. It seems like she has been with us forever. We look forward to all the tomorrows with her and although we certainly don’t want to rush our time away with her, we also look forward to the day that she has been home with us longer than she was in China without us.

Claire ready to decorate the tree.

Gorgeous in a close-up.

Chase, Claire, Laura, and Connor.

This year's Christmas card.

Claire enjoying a visit with Santa.

Claire excited about her package!

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