Growing Up So Fast

When you have a newborn, you wonder if you'll ever sleep again. If you'll ever eat a meal while it's warm. If you'll ever go somewhere without Cheerios and a juice box. People stop you at the grocery store and plead with you to cherish the days. You smile politely but think they're nuts. Caring for a baby is HARD.

But then they're growing and exploring and touching and learning. They're into everything and falling constantly and you're exhausted trying to keep them alive and safe.

Sweet preschool years go by quickly with apple farm visits and petting zoo outings. Sticky fingers and big smiles fill the days and you wonder if you'll ever stop singing the Barney theme song. Or the Mr. Rogers theme song. Or the Sesame Street theme song. You get my point.

And then it happens....they go to school. They climb the bus steps, lunchbox in hand, and wave a happy goodbye. You realize that a part of their lives is over and they're one foot further on the road to independence.

This week as I shot N's picture, all these images flurried through my mind. It's going so fast and it's all so true! I'm now cherishing the days I have left with this passionate, funny, gifted young man. All too soon he'll be off to culinary school and I'll be in the wings cheering him on. I think letting others take center stage in his life might be difficult, but watching him fly will be so worth it.

I love you, N.

Football Lessons

Every school day afternoon, N is the first boy home. He and M share a snack and N works on his homework while it's still relatively quiet. When that magic time comes when all is done, he loves to spend time one on one with his little sister. On this beautiful fall day it was time for football lessons. Here he's checking out her skills...
Since her eyes are closed, he realizes she needs a little practice at catching. ;-)
Eyes open, but definitely a little unsure...
Now she's realizing how fun this can be!
But it's hard work, too!
Laughing themselves silly...
And this is when we see how much they love each other!

Sweet Smiles This Morning

Words, Words, Words

How many times a day does a mother say, "Use your words!" Seriously. Have you ever counted? That phrase plus the ever present "Did you brush your teeth?" seem to be permanently lodged between my lips. I am forever encouraging our children to express themselves with words as best they can.

For M, it's HARD. While her language skills are growing, we felt it was time for some help from a local speech therapist. Today M and I traveled to our local elementary school where she took the first part of her language assessment. The teacher shared that even without a full scoring, M was several years AHEAD of her US born peers in receptive language. This means that she understands A LOT. Her expressive language, on the other hand, has been very slow in coming and is quite hard to understand.

I can't imagine learning to pronounce Mandarin correctly after learning English first. The same is true with her. English after Mandarin is hard. As one of our boys used to say...."It's twicky."

We can tell she has SO much she wants to tell us but she just gets mired in trying to figure it out and gives up. Today she came to me and repeated the same phrase over and over and over and...you get the point.

I tried everything to figure out...context, pointing, asking questions. I asked her to use different words. Nothing worked. She finally burst into tears and buried her head into my shoulder and whispered it.

A lightbulb went on.

"Iwll. Ungy."

"Still Hungry."

Poor thing!!!!

We hope to hear within a few weeks that M qualifies for speech services through our town. What a blessing it will be to all of us. But mostly to M!

Watch Out, Baba!

M just told me when she is tall (her way of saying grown up) Baba will buy her diamonds. :-)

Then she said..."Uh, 2 Big Ones!"

Uh-Oh!

God is Good

Today M said just two simple words to me that left me reeling. "Goodbye, Mum." Her pigtails brightly perched on each side of her tiny ears, she hugged my legs and looked up at me with eyes full of love. It was our normal preschool drop off routine, but I was mesmerized.

When did this beautiful girl change from being an orphan to being my daughter? Our goodbyes were as if we had been together our whole lives yet we have only been together for a year.

I remember the day R and I recited our pledge in a Chinese government building to care for her. I remember the day her hand was stamped. I remember the day we went through US Immigration and the big brown envelope was opened. I remember.

What I can't remember is when we first held hands like we belonged together. When we first looked at each other and felt deep inside that this was right.

But somehow...in the quiet moments and busy hours of living life as a family we somehow became one...and while our faces look as a different as the countries of our birth, we know deep inside that we belong together.

God is good.