Happy Birthday!

Today is Anyssa's birthday. 6 years old already...WOW! They grow up so fast. Seems like we've only known her 6 months! OK...c'mon...you have to let me get that joke off every so often!

Anyway, as I mentioned, today is Anyssa's birthday. From we can gather, she's never had a "party" before. We are going to have something at the "Jump Zone" in a few weeks. The Jump Zone is a kids party place with inflatable slides and climbing things...just like the places we DIDN'T have as kids, but would have loved! We are also planning a family party. I'm sure that by the time it's all over, she will be sick of parties and gifts. (yeah, right!)

But, today is her birthday, so we had to do something to celebrate. She got a special Happy Birthday banner and some balloons (which she loves.) Laura and I took her out for a special dinner...at the Golden Chopsticks restaurant. The waitress commented that "she looks like she's Chinese." It's funny that we had to tell her that she was! I guess it's still not that common for Chinese folks to see white people with Asian kids. Anyssa had her favorite...RICE! And some chicken, of course. She wore her little paper birthday crown that she got at school. When we got home, she opened a present that she received from Carlson's all the way from Wisconsin. This is no exaggeration to say this, but SHE LOVED THE CLOTHES AND JEWELRY!! It was the kind of honest outburst that only a kid can pull off. No lie. She got a beautiful coordinated top and short/skirt with a matching bracelet and hair clips. From owning absolutley nothing 7 months ago until today...I have no idea how she can process what has happened to her. We just enjoy the fact that she enjoys it.

Here are a couple of pictures from the restaurant. More will follow shortly!!

Such a shy little girl!

Coming home

It's funny...as you get older, your priorities do indeed change. Used to be that when I would travel for work, way before I got married, when I walked through the door upon arriving home, the first thing I wanted was a beer. Oh, how times have changed. I had an over-nighter in Toledo and Fort Wayne. On my way home yesterday, as I approached the house, all I could think of was walking through the door and having my little girl run to me and give me one of those oh-so-tight hugs that only she can give. Let's just say that I wasn't let down.

People thought we were crazy to be adopting "so late in life" but all I can say is that as far as I'm concerned, this is the perfect time. I don't look at Anyssa as an obstacle to my happiness, I look at her as PART of my happiness. Maybe I'm vicariously living a second childhood through her. That's OK...I know what to expect now.

I checked the weather today and it finally looks like it's gonna be nice...maybe we can all take a nice walk tonight. Or maybe we'll walk while Anyssa rides her bike. So many choices... Or MAYBE she and I will go out and buy Mothers' Day cards for mommy!

LIfe keeps rolling along

I'm sitting here by the computer so I thought I'd drop a message here. Laura and Anyssa took Ducky to the vet. I was supposed to be watching Anyssa, but at the last minute she decided she wanted to go with. In Anyssa's quest to calm Ducky (who was less than pleased to be going) I think she might have freaked him out even more. But hey, when you're 5, that's what you do, right? I am pleased to report that with the weather getting better, Anyssa becoming more aclimated and the cats getting used to her, they are coming upstairs more. Since her arrival, they've relocated to basement and only venturing upstairs once the pitter-patter of small feet has quieted for the night.


Anyway, here a couple of the swing-set pictures I promised you...I think her smile shows that she's happy with it. Thanks to Mike, Dawn, Connor and Evan for the set.

My own swingset?

Yes, it's true. Our little girl has inherited a playset from the neighbors who were no longer using it. We set it up yesterday. When she got off the school bus today, she bolted towards the house yelling "slide!" I'll go out and snap a couple of pictures of her in a few minutes. She is changing into her "play clothes" to head out. A swing, a glider, a slide and a playhouse...all for you!! I cannot possibly imagine what is going on in this little girls mind. She doesn't seem to remember any Mandarin...everytime I point to some Chinese characters and ask her what it says, she simply says "ni hao." However, she IS talking more about China, which she refers to as "my China". She remembers who Tao Ji Yuan is (her) and even corrected us on how to pronounce it...Tow Jee Yen...not WEN. We need to make notes because she's not gonna remember any of this in a year or so.

We are getting a package ready for our translator Evelyn who lives in Beijing. There is another group from our agency heading there in 2 days so one of the case workers has agreed to hand carry something to her. We got her a picture book on Chicago. We told her that when she gets a visa to come here, she can stay with us. Laura said she could be our nanny!

OK...I will add playset pictures later. In the meantime, here are some Easter pix.

Wow! A new post so soon??

Yes folks, parenthood is catching up with me. You have to give me credit for good intentions...I MEAN to post something almost every day! Unfortunately, time has a way of doing a number on you. I wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, put Anyssa to bed, then put Roger to bed. Repeat. Daily.

Seriously, it's not that bad. I really enjoy the fatherhood part. She is turning into a typical kid. Oves school, rides the bus, hates homework, loves TV. She really likes her teacher and seems to be learning pretty well. How exactly do you measure a kid who has only been exposed to the English language or alphabet for less than 6 months? I think she is doing FANTASTIC! I'm not sure what I already said but she will be repeatling kindergarten again. The teacher and principal think this will be best and I have to take their experience to heart. As much as I'd like her to keep moving, we need to do what will be best for her.

She definitely has daddy wrapped around her finger. Not too tightly, I might add. She is learning her boundaries and tests them hourly. She loves to ride on my shoulders...having 9' ceilings is a plus. It's also a good workout!

Wow...that was quick. I am being paged to keep her busy while mommy does the dishes. I will bail here and post more SOON.

Here, for your amusement and astonishment, are the before and after photos of our daughter. The first is her orphanage mug shot, the 2nd is her American girl glamour shot. Peace!!

Party girl

On Saturday, our neighbors had a birthday party for their daughter who was turning 5. Anyssa was invited. By now, she knows the word "party" and was very excited to go. On Saturday, I took her to my brothers to visit, then we came home. She had a shower and we were ready to get dressed. However, the nice new jeans with the colored gemstones was not what she wanted to wear. She wanted to wear a DRESS. Not just ANY dress,mind you, but the dress she wore for CHRISTMAS. We tried to explain to her that the jeans would be better because they might be playing games and besides, the Christmas dress looks, well, too much like Christmas. Mommy left the room and daddy went to work on her without any success. Under the tears, she kept saying that she wanted to look "beautiful." By now I know that the line a parent is supposed to say about how kids always look beautiful wasn't going to work, so I had a talk with mommy. Laura said we could try the dress she wore at another friends first communion...a nice gray/pink design that looked cute. We showed her, and she smiled. When all was done, she looked at us and pointed to her smile and said "See? Happy!" And she was.

FWIW...she was not the only girl in a dress and without even seeing the other girls, I know she was the most beautiful one there.

The things we take for granted...

Sometimes it takes something very simple to serve a s awake up call to life as most of knew it growing up. Here is something that happened yesterday that was a major eye opener to both of us.

As Anyssa stands next to her growth chart, it's becoming more and more obvious that she was malnourished while she was in the social welfare institute. In the first 6 weeks she was with us, she grew (no lie) 2 inches. As she grew vertically, she grew in other areas also. Specifically, her feet. we bought her shoes when we first got home, but due to the fact that there was so much going on, it was no big deal. lately, she was complaining that her toes were hurting. Lo and behold, she had outgrown the shoes she got a few months ago. So, off to Target. Since she is a major fan of Dora the Explorer, it made sense that when we spotted the Dora shoes, we showed them to her. She seemed to like them, so we went through the ritual of " stand up, wiggle your toes" as we felt for the right sizing. When we were happy, we asked her "do you want these?" The answer was a subdued yes...no big deal, she needs shoes and this was the pair. She immediately wanted to put them on but we explained that we had to pay for them first. "The car" she repeated...yes, we told her, when we get to the car. We made it all the way home and she hopped up on the dining room chair and pulled off her old shoes. I put on the new shoes and that was it. She was smiles from ear to ear. She ran to show mommy then ran around the house. She wore them all evening.

When bedtime came, we put on pajamas and, yep, you guessed it, the shoes. She looked cute running around with her jammies and shoes on. I told her that I hoped she knew that she could not wear them to bed. When it was time to sleep, she took off the shoes and put them neatly back into the box.

This morning, I was watching TV when she woke up. When she came downstairs, she was wearing the shoes. We sat her down and asked her "is this the first pair of new shoes you've ever gotten?" For the most part, it seemed that the answer was yes. Yeah, I know she had the pair we first bought her, but this was the first time she was involved in picking out something she wanted and approved of. It makes sense: back in China, the state owned everything and she probably had gotten nothing but hand-me-downs.

It was a real eye-opener to me that something that I not only took for granted but actually hated shopping for could be such a big deal. Before bed last night, when we said our prayers, she piped in and thanked Jesus for the money she got for the 2 teeth that fell out and for the shoes. Amen.

That said it all.

"100 day"

Yesterday was the 100th day of school (for everyone else...24 for Anyssa) so the kids had to decorate a shirt or something with 100 items on it. We found a couple packages of foam stickers that had tropical flowers so we went with that. Mommy and Anyssa started it, then daddy joined in so mommy could start dinner then Anyssa left because apparently, putting 100 of anything together when you're 5 can get pretty boring. I ended up finishing it with her joining in near the end. I'll swear there were 100 (more or less) of them on that shirt. Her teacher wrote us that since it was a special day, the kids could sit wherever they wanted. She said that all of the girls wanted to sit next to Anyssa. Wow...my little girl...Miss Popularity.

Today I had to go to the social security office to apply for Anyssa social security card. When filling out the original paperwork many months ago, there was a section that asked for her SS number. If you didn't have one, there was box to check if you wanted to APPLY for one. Silly us...we thought by checking the box, we would applying for a social security card. After 3 months with no response from the SS people, our agency told us it was hit and miss and if we didn't hear anything, to go in and apply again. I took everything I could think of that they would ask for. Long story short...we should be getting her card in 10-14 days. Fingers crossed. I was thinking that maybe her card had gotten swiped and someone was ruining her credit already!

Hopefully tonight we will finish her Valentines for her class. Once I explained to her what it was all about, she was pumped up! We'll see how Monday goes for her.

Another post? So soon??

We've been talking about whether we want to continue the blog or not and I would really like to. It's funny how much time a child takes out of your life. It seems like after she goes to bed, writing a blog about the daily mundane stuff she does would be kind of boring. However, this is all still pretty new to her. I find it hard to believe that Anyssa has been in the country LESS than 3 months. We put up a growth chart and after only 6 weeks, she has grown 2 inches. It's looking more and more that she was fairly malnourished is China.

Eating can still be a challenge. Foods she liked a month ago she doesn't want anything to do with. I mentioned earlier that she at least tries food before she says she doesn't like. This is still true, but we have to force the issue a bit. I tell her that if she tries something and really doesn't like it, she doesn't have to eat it. I find this an equitable approach and apparently so does she. I know we are dealing more with 5 year old issues rather than adoption issues. For example, she says she doesn't like carrots. When she was eating some chicken out of a Sam's Club sample, I snuck a large hunk of carrot into her mouth and she said it all tasted good. However, when I put another piece of carrot on the fork, showed it to her and asked her if she wanted it, I got the UGH face. Go figure...  :-)

We have been getting regular reports from her teacher. Anyssa needs constant reinforcement of letters and numbers. She knows them, but if you show her number, sometimes she doesn't remember which number it is. We have a counting book we use...we show her the "5" page and ask her what the number is. She'll count the pictures "1-2-3-4-5---5." It's hard to adapt to her thinking when we have so much we take for granted, but yes...she needs that reinforcement.

She was playing kind of rough the other day and she hit me purposely. I stopped her and said loudly and firmly..."You don't hit daddy...EVER!". So at least now, she knows the word "ever". I had cold hands and touched her back...she snapped around and yelled "no touching...EVER! EVER!!" and she got right in my face. It's hard to get mad when it just makes you smile.

OK...I will post more...I promise. Even if it's at work while my machine is doing it's thing...like right now. Pictures soon.

Keep moving forward!

That's one of my favorite lines from the Disney movie "Meet the Robinsons." It didn't get much attention, but TRUST ME...great for kids but also enough adult innuendo to keep it funny.

Laura and I met with Anyssa’s teacher yesterday just to get an idea of how she’s doing. I guess the short answer is “pretty well”…especially when you consider that only a mere 11 weeks ago, she was still in an orphanage in China. Mrs. Knizek commented that she is surprised at how Anyssa holds her pencil. Since we don’t know what to expect from other 5 year olds, we can’t be good judges of exactly how well she is doing. When we saw examples of other children in her class (most of who were born here) I can say that her writing is extremely good. She knows the alphabet song, but not the letters yet. We are also working on colors. I’m sure she knows the CHINESE words for them, but when I hold up a red crayon, she just kind of shrugs and says “pink.” Her motor skills are good. She happily joins in the class and tries her best to communicate. She also has 2 friends that she hangs out with…one named “Izzy” (Isabel) and I think the other little girl is Lily. That was GREAT to hear. All of the kids are good with her and want to help. Mrs. Knizek told us that before Anyssa’s first day, she got in front of the class and began teaching in Spanish. After a few minutes, she stopped and asked the class if they understood what she had said. They all looked puzzled and said “no.” She then told them about Anyssa and how SHE would feel so they should try and understand that and work with her. Apparently, that worked…the word is that they are all very helpful.

Mrs. Knizek also told us to be prepared in case she needs to repeat kindergarten. That is a question I had been pondering for awhile. I don’t want to hold her back, but I also don’t want to push her if she’s not ready. She had (has?) enough stress and I don’t want to put undo pressure on her. I would like to her to move on so she can stay with this group of kids, and also to take the pressure off of Laura so she can be more flexible in her work hours. However, if it looks like she could benefit from repeating this class, I respect that observation and will support her. Only time will tell.

Now, let’s work on those colors…

Magic bus

Our little girl has taken another step forward. She now takes the bus to and from kindergarten. They pick her up in front of our house and drop her off at the neighbor’s driveway. I cannot tell you how brave this kid is. It seems totally unfathomable that only 10 weeks ago, she was still in an orphanage in central China, not knowing what to expect from the future. How could she possibly imagine that she would end up here with us. I’m still blown away…I know I’m repeating myself, but it all seems so surreal. If I get up during the night, I’ll go into her room and just watch her sleep. If her hand is out, I will hold it. We’ve wanted a child for so long that it is so hard to process that she is finally here.

She is such a trip. She is so excited to show us everything she did in school and what she has brought home. She keeps shoving 1 paper after another at us so fast you can hardly see what it is. She appears to be doing quite well at school…as well as I could expect which is kind of a stupid statement, because I had no idea what to expect. She made us both sit down to show us (she just points at each of us and then at a spot on the sofa.) Yesterday, her class had PE. Then she started this little exercise routine that they had oviously done in class. She made us stand, then proceeded to make us do it with her…she gets such a kick out of showing us stuff…even if it is just the Scholastic book order form!

The other day, as I turned down our street, I saw that she and mommy were outside. As soon as she saw the truckster, she started jumping, pointing and yelling “Daddy! Daddy!!” When I stepped out, she threw her arms around me and it was the greatest feeling in the world.

I wonder how she knew that was exactly what I needed.



Our little scholar

I think I'm going to have to switch this into a weekly update. You might not believe this, but kids take up a LOT of your time!

Well, Anyssa is now in school. She attends kindergarten at Liberty Elementary in Plainfield, afternoon session. She appears to enjoy it. I've been in constant contact with her teacher and have been discussing plans and her pace at school. Her teacher (Mrs. Knizek) is working with her one-on-one to bring her up to speed on letters and numbers, letter sounds and counting. We have also been working on writing. It seems like she hasn't figured out whether she will write with her left or right hand...she switches back and forth. She seems to do better with her right hand. It's neat to see how far her writing has come in just a week. She gets frustrated sometimes when a letter doesn't come out "just right" but we are being positive and giving her positive reinforcement. Watching her everyday, it looks like her progress is low, but given the big picture, she is doing great. ESPECIALLY when you consider that a little over 2 months ago, she had NO contact with the outside world or the English language!

Sorry!

My apologies for not posting sooner. As you can well imagine, Christmas has been very hectic around here. We never reached that point of "whew...we're done"...we were wrapping presents until 2 AM Christmas morning. We had a very abbreviated display this year. We are normally a 2-tree family with the tree in the family room being the "family" tree and the onle in the living room being the "formal" tree. We only got the family room tree up and didn't even get the LGB up and running this year. Simply too many unknowns with how Anyssa would react and we also did not want to overwhelm her any more than she already was.

We all went to church at 5:00 for the family service. Anyssa wore her first dress (probably EVER). I dressed her and when mommy saw her, she (mommy) cried. She is a beautiful little girl. She did well at the service and when we got home we got jammies on and got ready for bed.

Anyssa's kindergarten teacher gave her some "reindeer food" in a little plastic ziploc bag...basically some Quaker Oats and she put some glitter in too. You're supposed to sprinkle it on your front porch so Santa will know to stop at your house. Again, we had no idea what her thinking on all this was. So...we decided to see how far she would go. We sat her down and explained slowly that tonight, Santa would be coming and would deliver her a present. She got kinda puzzled looking as if to say "here?". Yes, I said...I told her that I let Santa know that Anyssa lived here and to please bring her something because she was very good. I wish I would have had the camera ready because she looked like the Home Alone kid. We got her! She was in for the whole routine. We took her to the computer and went to the NORAD Santa-tracking website and watched him bounce around Michigan into Canada. I showed her on the map where we lived and that he had not been here yet. We went downstairs and put the magic reindeer food out, wrote a note to Santa and left out some cookies. I told her that if she wasn't asleep when he got here, he might not stop. Needless to say, going to bed was pretty easy on Christmas eve.

On Christmas morning, she was up at about 8 which normally would be good except for us still wrapping the presents at 2 AM. No problem...we all went downstairs and would you believe it? Santa had indeed stopped and left her some gifts. He even knew that Dora the Explorer was her favorite character because all of the toosy-fromsies were Dora themed. Wow! She got a toy cell phone (so she could leave ours alone) and some markers and coloring stuff...basic stuff that most kids might turn their noses up at but because it was new to her, it was great. She also got a game for the Wii (which we just got but have not yet hooked up.)

Here is our family picture from church. I'll post more shortly!

School time

Wow...time sure flies. Seems like we just got Anyssa a month ago and now our baby is starting kindergarten! Oh, wait...it HAS only been a month. Time flies when they're so little. Anyway, Anyssa is registered for kindergarten and will be starting when the Christmas break is over in January. Yesterday, the kindergarten teacher called and spoke with Laura and she invited Anyssa to attend the holiday party today. So...she went! She fit right in started doing crafts with some of the other kids. It turns out that our Godson Chima is in her class! We're sitting in the back looking at everyone and all of a sudden, there's this kid waving at us. How cool! We met a couple of the moms, too. I remembered back when our neighbors kids started going to school, they got new friends...the parents of the kids their kids were in school with. Well, I figured that these were the people we would probably get to know over the next few years. They SEEMED like they were younger than us, but I have no idea how THAT could be... :-)

Anyssa on YouTube

I posted a little video that Laura made of Anyssa doing a little song and dance that she learned in China. If anyone has any idea of what she's singing, let us know!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwsWpgb4Uk0

Life continues...

Sorry for the delay in getting a post up. Just like the plate spinner on Bozo's Circus, I've been busy making sure none of the plates hit the ground! So far, so good...  :-)

Anyway...where are we. We saw Dr. Ochs and found out that Anyssa's lead levels are down significantly. Still a little ways to go, but moving in the right direction. Today she had her first dental appointment and all looks good. We had our appointment at school and the registration for kindergarten is moving along nicely. She should be starting kindergarten after Christmas break (yes...I still call it Christmas break...not "Winter Break", "Holiday Break" or any of that other PC stuff). I think she will do great. We took a tour of the school and she looked intrigued. We stopped at her classroom to peek in. There was a substitute teacher that day and she invited us in. No hesitation from Anyssa...she walked right in. The kids came over and all said "hello". I think she is more than ready to enter a social setting like school. We are both extremely pleased...looking better than we planned, although I'm not sure exactly what we had planned.

Anyssa went to her first birthday party last weekend. It was Dylan's birthday (he live across the street) and he was turning 5. The party was held at a McDonald's at the Playplace. When we walked in, she just looked around. Slowly, she moved towards the slides. When Dylan's older sister Hailley came over with a couple of friends and invited her to play, that was all she needed. She climbed into the tube montrosity and several minutes later, she popped out of one of the slides at the bottom, smile literally from ear-to-ear. There was a 7 year old girl named Abby who played big sister to Anyssa and hung with her all night...even getting her over to eat and including her in everything. I think she needed that time with other kids...hanging around with 2 (slightly) older people like me and Laura can probably be a drag.

Today, she helped Laura and Miss Dawn make cookies. Carol from church made her a little apron, which she was still wearing when I got home from work, just like mommy. Mommy said she was a big help. I could tell from Anyssa's smile that she had fun, too. One note...I'm old fashioned and prefer if kids address adults with Mr., Mrs. or Miss. So, our neighbors Dawn and Mike are "Miss Dawn" and "Mr. Mike". Laura agrees with me so we'll take this as far as we can. Oh...the cookies were great!

Today, she let let Laura film her doing a song and dance routine that she obviously learned in China. I will upload it to YouTube and post the link later. It's so cute!

Of course, here are your pictures for the past few days



Anyssa and Abby at Dylan's birthday party.




The 2 cookie monsters!



Ear tubes are in

Today was "surgery" day. I put surgery in quotes because it's really a procedure...no cutting involved. They called us last night and wanted us at the hospital at (ugh) 6:30 AM. Laura and I were up early and got dressed. I started the truckster to get the heat blowing (it was 19 degrees this AM with a wind chill at 0). When we were ready, we grabbed Anyssa from a sound sleep, put her coat on her, wrapped her bare feet in a blanket and bolted for the truckster. Got to the hospital and got checked in. The procedure went smoothly. We barely had time to relax in the surgical waiting room when they were calling us to recovery. All in all, it took about 10 minutes. The doctor said that there was a small vacuum behind the ear drum that he released. He vacuumed out a small bit of fluid and inserted the tubes. When we got to her room, she was kind of awake. They put her in Laura's lap and took out the bed. Anyssa slowly gained consciousness and about an hour later, we were back in the truckster heading home. Of course, we were inside just long enough for the engine to cool completely down so we bundled up for a couple of miles until it was blowing warm.

In my opinion, if you ever need to go to the hospital for anything, you want to go to Edwards Hospital. It is more like a luxury hotel that offers health care than a hospital. Coffee in the waiting room? You have to select from about 8 different styles/flavors...unless you prefer tea, that is. Then you only get 6 to choose from. You put your choice into the coffee maker, select your strength and wait for about 30 seconds. It's extremely nice. Yes, the coffee is all I can comment on because other than the staff, that's all I can comment on. Oh...the staff was great too.

We are home and Anyssa can hear. They say she can hear better but we don't know that yet. Only time will tell. We have her admissions appointment at school tomorrow and back to Dr. Ochs to have her TB test read on Friday. Oy! WE hope all goes well with the school because we won't have her hearing test done for about 2 weeks. They'll have to rely on the doctors word and the fact that she responds to sound that she can hear.

Back to the doctor

Tomorrow we head back to Dr. Ochs for Anyssa's follow up visit. We are not sure what he's going to tell us, but we hope he'll be able to complete the vaccination section of the school registration papers. Surgery for ear tubes is Wednesday and then the registration appointment on Thursday. Cross your fingers. Christy (the school principal) said that she thinks Anyssa will do great in kindergarten. I think so too, but then again, I'm biased. It will be good for her to be out of the house in a social situation with kids her own age. Her English is coming along, albeit slowly. I just think of that radio commercial for Rosetta Stone where they talk about how kids don't LEARN a language...they ABSORB it. That seems to be the case.

One funny thing I gotta tell you. I took along an issue of Popular Mechanics to read on the plane and I told Laura that I was going to bring it with to the Great Wall. I told her to take my picture with it and I would send it to the editors...they post pictures of people reading the mag in interesting places. Well, the other day I got a message form the assistant editor...she said they were interested in publishing my pic! No word yet, but if all goes well, you'll all be able to see my mug in the letters section of a future issue of PM!

Anyssa got her first taste of a midwestern winter. When it snowed the other day, Laura and I took her downstairs and plopped her in front of the window and raised the blinds. Classic. The mouth opened and the eyes bugged out. Man! She's seen snow on TV but we don't know if she ever thought she would experience it. I went out to shovel while mommy got her dressed. Then we all headed to the neighbors who were building a snowman. It didn't take long before a snowball fight started...she had a blast! I do have to say that I need to work on her arm...she throws like a girl ;-)

Yesterday we went to the Bass Pro Shop to see the Christmas village they set up. We didn't wait in line for Santa because we didn't think she would know what was going on. I can see it now...half an hour in line, going to see the big guy and her freezing in her tracks. We just stood by the side and Santa waved at her. The big smiles came when she got to climb on the quad-runners and the boats! Those are some pictures to send back to the orphanage!

I'll let you all know how the doctor visit went. Maybe we'll swing by Jim's studio again if he's around. Anyssa like looking at the press and the art!

Getting ready for school...

Our visits to doctors in order to complete the kindergarten registration process is almost complete. We need to return to Dr. Ochs on Tuesday and have him determine which vaccinations she will need. On Wednesday, Anyssa will have surgery to place ear tubes. Apparently she has fluid buildup around her ear drum (complications from the cleft palate). They say that what she hears now probably sounds muffled which could explai why she has trouble with hard letter...T and K specifically. On Thursday, we have an appointment at the school and will hopefully have her registered for kindergarten. She will also be assessed by the ELL teacher and determine what she will need to help her learn English. Sounds easy but this has been a pain to try and get data that you would be building over 5 years ready in 2 weeks. She had her vision test today and passed fine...no glasses needed at this time.

One more question...is it normal for a 5 year old to show you the contents of his/her mouth after chewing food but before swallowing? My guess is yes, but it never hurts to ask!

Where do I start?

I am so glad that I never claimed to have all the answers when it comes to parenting or raising children. I would be forced to eat those words if I had. I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what is going on in the brain of a 5-year old. If Anyssa had been born to us, we would have some idea of her personality and where she was emotionally, but with her coming to us from a foreign country, not speaking our language and having built up a personality developed from her surroundings in an orphanage, I simply don't know. I've mentioned some of what we've been experiencing to other parents and their response is something like "that's not because she came from China, it's because she's 5!" That might be, but is still difficult to deal with.

If anyone has the answers, please fill me in. What is it about bedtime that suddenly gives kids a burst of energy that Olympic athletes would envy? Why does she want to throw pretty much everything? Why does she pick the weirdest battles to fight? She is picking up English...at least she seems to understand more of what we say. If she could convey what she is dealing with or feeling, even if it was just "I don't wanna!", that would at least let me know where she is coming from. It's a total hit and miss. I pray for guidance and know that this is simply the beginning of a new life for us all.

I put up the Christmas tree this weekend and today we all helped in decorating it. For awhile, anyway. After about 20 minutes, Anyssa was pretty much bored with it so we called it a night. We're going to have a simpler Christmas this year. One tree (instead of our usual 2), probably no train around the tree, and simpler decorations. I wonder if she thinks that this is a year round event...the Christmas season was in full swing when she arrived here. Hopefully by next Christmas, she will be more grounded and a tiny, itty-bit more mature than now. I am more realistic that to assume that we were going to have a Currier and Ives type holiday this year.

Anyway, the above comments represent the reason that I haven't posted much this week. I will try to post more frequently as the holidays progress. Stay tuned!