Monday, January 22, 2007
JANUARY? ALREADY?

Ay-yi-yi….where to start….perhaps with an apology for letting so much time lapse between updates! I don’t know where our days go, but they are zipping by quickly. I collapse in a heap at the end of the day (usually into the pile of laundry that has accumulated on my bed, waiting to be folded) and wonder why I got so little done…and then it hits me. Hello! We have a two year old again! Oh yeah……………..

So….Miss Grace is settled right in here. She is still struggling to teach us her language, but seems to have mastered understanding ours. She will say, “a-dwun” and I will respond, “Sorry, baby..Mama isn’t done yet.” And then again, “a-dwun.” And I’ll say, “Oooooh!!!! You’re all done? Okay, give it to me.” And then again, “A-DWUN!!!”, this time accompanied by a sign and more frustration. “Oh, duh. You want a drink?” She nods and smiles. And our language barrier is hurdled! On the third try! But those are the good days. Most days she says “a-dwun” and I go, “Wha?...Huh?” and then she starts screaming in frustration. Poor thing. If only her family was as clever and adept at new languages as she. But through a lot of gesturing and sign language, we are muddling through, somewhat successfully. Every day we are so amazed at how smart and quick Gracie is. She picks things up so quickly by imitating the kids in their activities. It has been fun to watch her as she tries to do everything they do, just like them. Mostly this involves a lot of booty shaking with her two sisters to crazy music, but also a good dose of xbox and karaoke and tickling with her brother.

She has become attached to several of her dolls and loves to put on her purses, which are loaded with useful items like Polly Pockets and lip gloss and the odd calculator or pilfered watch, and putter around the house carrying the purse, her baby-doll AND a diaper bag. She received a little doll stroller for Christmas and lots of hand-me-down doll paraphernalia was already here from the girls, so she keeps quite busy, changing their diapers and feeding them and giving them kisses and baths. It is a treat to see her love on them so tenderly. She can say “Baby” and will often tell me, “Shh…baby nigh-night” when she has put one to bed. She still is ga-ga over her one, that’s right…just one!...Cedarmont Kids Bible Songs video. She calls it, “Mew”, and wants to watch it whenever she feels like some downtime. Which is not a lot. But enough to drive me cuckoo. Her latest thing is bread and juice. She’ll wake up at 5am, demanding bread and juice. But then she wants to munch on it in our bed while she watches the video. And she loves the color yellow. Or at least saying, “yellow”. She even named her sister’s stuffed elephant Yellow. When she first came home, she was terrified of the stuffed animals, but now she is crazy about them. It is really incredible to watch her overcome little hurdles and embrace all that her new life holds for her.

This has of course involved a whole bunch of firsts. She had a fun first Halloween this year, dressed as a Chinese tiger. She was not digging the door to door business too much, but loved the reward of free candy!!! Grace LOVES candy. We have a candy dish downstairs and if she wakes before us, which is often, she will sneak downstairs to get into it. There are always telltale wrappers stuffed in her pockets and scattered in her wake. Luckily, she also loves brushing her teeth. It is one of her favorite activities. Her hair is starting to grow out a bit and my flatiron and I have had fun trying to tease it into a little style. It’s very stubborn hair, like my own, but someone actually stopped us last week to ask me where I got it cut. Hopefully, they meant that in a good way!

November and December were filled with even more firsts as Grace was able to meet many family and friends. John’s folks came down the first part of November to meet their new granddaughter and we all headed out to Pennsylvania to visit with John’s aunt, uncle, cousins and Grandfather. Grace traveled beautifully and ate up the chance to get more time in a hotel pool. This little girl thinks she is a fish! Then, Thanksgiving was awesome as our dear, dear friends came all the way to Ohio to spend the week celebrating with us. There were four little girls now that had come home to their forever families from China, running around the house and chattering away. It was such a welcome sight as we had anticipated this day for so long, seeing them all together. More wonderful friends came soon after to help us celebrate my 40th birthday and to meet the famous Miss Grace.