Baby Take a Shower & Trucks Take a Bath

It has been an exhausting weekend! The kids loved every bit of it, but were all worn down tonight. We are going to take it easy the next couple of days.

On Saturday I attended a baby shower with Alana for my cousin and his wife who are expecting in December. What should have been a 35 minute drive took an hour and 15 minutes due to road construction. Ugh!! Alana did pretty well though and had me cracking up on the way there.

When we first hit the traffic and were sitting completely still on the highway, Alana noticed the fumes from the big trucks around us. She kept complaining about the smell. I told her it was the stinky trucks. A little while later she told me that the trucks need to take a bath! How cute is that?

She also had a really difficult time comprehending a baby shower. She knows what babies are and she knows what I'm doing when I tell her I'm going to "take a shower." She kept calling the baby shower a "baby take a shower." She also kept asking me about the present we were taking. She thought she was going to get to open it. I explained it was for the baby. So, then she thought the baby was going to open the present. I tried my best to explain that the baby was still in her mommy's tummy and she couldn't see the baby. I don't know how much (if any) of that she understood. She had a good time anyway and looked adorable in her pink dress.

Whasee Da?

Part of the reason my little girl has such an amazing vocabulary is she is so very curious about everything! Walking through the store can be comical (or stressful depending on my mood), because she asks what everything is! She has to stop and ask "What's that?" or "Whasee Da?" as she pronounces it. Today she even pointed to the floor tile in the entry and asked me what it is. I love that about her!

I started a reading program with Alana yesterday. I used this program with Collin when he was 6 and in kindergarten, but the book says it is designed for 4 year olds. I've been waiting anxiously for her English to get to a certain level to start it with her because I know that she is incredibly bright and will certainly be reading early. I should probably wait another few months, but we are just going to take it really slow and see how it goes. If it becomes stressful, we will stop and start again later. So far she really likes it and I think it will help with her pronunciation. Yesterday's lesson was learning the M and S sounds and then writing those letters. We will probably do the same lesson for 2 or 3 days until she masters it before moving on. There are 100 lessons in the book. I figure by the time we finish the book her English will be at a very solid level.

Little Miss Independent

I don't think I've mentioned how fiercely independent Alana is becoming. She wants to do everything like a big girl and refuses help much of the time. She has her moods when she wants to be a baby and have mommy do things for her (and she still wants me to rock her before bed at night). For the most part though she wants to do everything her big brother is doing. I'm trying to stand back and let her try to do things on her own. If she asks for help I assist, but I'm trying not to be overbearing about helping her. I think it is great that she is curious about this great big world and that she wants to tackle it head on! I cringe when I think of how limited her experiences were in the orphanage and what an amazing place this must still seem like to her.

I'm glad to report that Alana is doing much better with sharing. I've been praising her profusely when I catch her sharing and she LOVES to be praised!! I also praise Dylan when he shares with Alana and that brings out her competitive nature. She can't have Dylan getting all the attention!

Our next behavior that we are working on his not rubbing other peoples noses in their mistakes. This is going to be even trickier than sharing to communicate to her. For example, if Collin spills food in his lap at dinner, I'll remind him to lean over his plate. Alana will quickly get my attention and point out that SHE is leaning over her plate. This goes on and on and on and on. Anytime someone else is corrected, you better believe that she is going to point out how she is doing that very same thing correctly. I can only imagine how aggravated other children in her school will be (never mind her teacher) if we don't get this under control. Initially I would respond when she did this and agree that she is doing a good job. Then I started nodding and weakly smiling when she would do it. Then I tried ignoring her (which doesn't work by the way -- she will say things OVER and OVER until you pay attention to her). So, now I'm having to provide some negative reinforcement. I'm just telling her that is not nice, but I don't know that she understands what is not nice about it. Oh well, we'll get to that eventually!

Small World

Tonight we attended an Autumn Moon Festival through Culture Essentials. This is the company that is providing tutoring for Alana. Alana's tutor was there and she was thrilled! She wanted to sit by John, talk to John, eat with John -- you get the picture! I tried to get her to play with some of the other little girls there, but she just wanted to hang with the adults. Not sure what that was about.

Anyway, it is just so funny how many connections we seem to be forming. We found our way to Culture Essentials through Meg, who we first met at Collin's school. She works for CHI and our agency happens to be letting Culture Essentials use their office space to provide a Mandarin language class to a few CHI families. Well, we are at their Autumn Moon Festival and in walks a former co-worker of mine from years ago. I worked with Kevin for years before I stayed home full-time. He lives about a mile from us, but I haven't run into him in at least two years and probably closer to three. We talked for quite a while tonight and I found out his wife's family is from the Beijing area and his family is from a city near Shanghai (close to where Alana's orphanage is). He is friends with some of the people at Culture Essentials and he and his oldest daughter stopped by the get together. We swapped e-mail addresses and we are possibly going to get our families together and go out for real Chinese food in KC. He knows of places were actual Chinese families eat actual Chinese food! Not the Americanized Chinese food we are used to! =) I would be so happy if I could get something like the Dim Sum food I had in Guangzhou. Anyway, it was so nice to meet an old acquaintance. He and his wife have a daughter in 10th grade and also have a 3-year-old. She will likely be in the grade just between Dylan and Alana, but they will all be in the same Elementary school.

There was also another family at the get together who we'd seen a couple of times before, but had never met. They got up at our very first CHI meeting to show off their beautiful second daughter from China. Then at the meeting that we were welcoming Alana, the husband was giving a father's day speech. They have a 4.5 year old and 2 year old, so we may end up getting together for play dates in the future.

One more kind of strange thing at the meeting. There was a family with a little girl who had only been home one month. She had these little baby shoes on they bought in China. We were sitting behind them and I noticed that the bottom of the shoes had "Xinyi" printed on them. I'm not sure if that is a brand in China or if it means something else besides "happy heart", but I thought it was so strange to see her Chinese name of the bottom of someone's shoes. It was just an evening full of strange connections. It felt really good though. I feel like we are starting to be a part of the China adoption community, and more importantly, the Chinese community here in KC.

Rainforest Cafe

We had dinner the other night at Rainforest Cafe. We met our friends Jennifer and Joey and their kids Alex and Lauren. It is funny that Jennifer and Joey are both from KC, but we met them while Joey and Victor were in the Army stationed in Texas!

Collin adores Alex and followed his every move. It was Alex's 10th birthday and Collin's 8th birthday is next weekend. The boys had their new ages put on balloon hats and the girls both got balloon animals. Dylan still puts everything in his mouth, so no balloon for the baby!

Joey will be deploying overseas soon. It is hard knowing that our friends and their children will be separated for so long. I still remember when Victor was sent to Kuwait for 2 1/2 months early in our marriage. I did not handle it well at all! I am so grateful for all of the U.S. soldiers and for their families. I know that their jobs and family lives are challenging. We are thinking of them and pray that this conflict ends soon and everyone comes home safe and sound!!

Angels

Each of our children has a special person who helped lead us to them. For Collin, it was a co-worker of Victor's. We were just starting on our path to adoption and he overheard a co-worker in the workout room talking about his adopted son from Guatemala. Victor didn't know this guy, but went up to him and asked questions. We ended up using the same agency and were blessed with Collin. I don't have a picture of Collin with Mitch, but plan to get one this year. I've included a picture of Collin at about 6 or 7 months old while he was waiting for us in Guatemala. I want all of our children to know about the angel on earth who helped bring us together.

Dylan's angel was our foster family social worker, Shelly. We fostered a baby right before Dylan and I was devastated when she left. Our social worker called the next day and said that even though she knew we really wanted a baby girl, would we consider a premature baby boy who was in the NICU at a local hospital? We didn't think at first that we would adopt Dylan, but you can imagine how quickly that changed. He is so wonderful and we are thankful to Shelly everyday.

Alana's angel has many connections to our family. Meg's youngest daughter, Jillian, was also adopted from China and we first met when Collin and Jillian were in preschool together. Later we found out that Meg and her family also attend our church. Meg's husband, Rick, coached Collin's kindergarten soccer team and Collin and Jillian were in first grade, and now second grade, together. Meg started working part-time at Children's Hope just before we decided to adopt. So when we got serious about international adoption, she was the first person I called. As you all know the rest is history! We now have our wonderful daughter, Alana!

We feel so blessed to have all of these people in our lives and we cherish the special ways they brought us to our children!

Spelling

Is it bad when you don't know what your 2nd grader's spelling word means? Collin comes home today with "chrysalis" as a spelling word. What the heck! He also has government and constitution on his list. Granted these are challenge words, but the cool thing is that he can spell them!

In case anyone is curious -- I looked this up on the internet:

"Before it becomes a butterfly, a caterpillar goes through a growth stage during which it is called a "chrysalis." On the surface it may not look like much is happening, but the delicate chrysalis process changes the fuzzy caterpillar into an awesome butterfly with wings of intricate designs and intense colors."

What's been going on

I saw this guy on a motorcycle down the street from my house. Yes, I'm a dork and took a picture of him (I don't think he noticed). His shirt says "Maschler Construction" (my maiden name is Maschler). I the company is owned by a relative in town -- I'd just never heard of it.



Here are my two little ones carefully paying attention to Collin's soccer game this morning (just kidding - they are all about the suckers!). It was a little chilly today!



Collin didn't seem to mind the weather. He is playing so much better this year. He is much more aggressive going after the ball and is paying attention so much better. He was the goalie for the entire first half and did a great job!



Alana had her first private tutoring session today (that is her instructor playing cars with her). John spoke Mandarin to her exclusively during the session and she understood him, but would usually answer in English or jibberish. She has forgotten how to speak Mandarin! By the end of the session she was using some Mandarin words though and even a few sentences. I think it will take a few weeks, but I'm sure we will see a lot of progress. (At least I hope we do!)

Chinese School

Well, it turned out that the Chinese school we started on Sunday wasn't a good fit. First, Alana was much too wiggly to sit through an hour and a half class. The class is geared for 6-15 year olds, but they made an exception for Alana. Second, the class is designed for children who don't speak any Mandarin, so the material was much too basic for Alana. The good news is, the same agency that put on this class offers private tutoring. They talked to Alana in Mandarin quite a bit on Sunday and she seemed to understand everything they said, she just hardly said anything back. So, we are going to do private tutoring for 1 hour a week where they will just try to get her to talk. I envision them playing games and looking at picture books and just talking for an hour. Even though the class on Sunday didn't work out, I noticed an immediate difference in her. She was singing some of the Chinese songs from one of her DVDs the next day in the car. I think it made her feel more comfortable with using her Mandarin. She is watching Mulan in Mandarin right now as I type this message. I still plan to enroll her in the preschool Mandarin class in January and may or may not continue tutoring after the class starts. We'll just see where we are!

Alana and Collin also switched rooms this week. Collin's old bedroom is right above our bedroom and that kid just can not sleep much past 6:30. That wouldn't be such an issue if he would lay quietly or go downstairs and watch TV quietly. Most of the time he is pretty good, but every once in a while he decides to play in his room. I think the carpet pad must be very thin up there or the floors need more soundproofing, because it sounds like herds of elephants running when he is walking around. Lately he has just starting bouncing in his bed. I had to sneak upstairs and catch him in the act to even figure out what he was doing (still don't know why). Well, he woke us up just after 6:00 on Monday by bouncing in his bed and we decided that was the last time. So, we moved Alana to Collin's room and Collin to the smaller room over the kitchen. They both seem very happy with move (Collin had been warned it might happen), but Collin wants me to paint his room some color other than pink! I told him he should have thought of that before bouncing in his bed!! =)

I'm excited that we will be attending several play dates in the next couple of weeks with other little girls adopted from China. I think Alana will really enjoy making some new friends her age. We are also attending one (and maybe two) Autumn Moon Festivals next weekend. Should be fun!

Soccer Game

Today was Collins' first soccer game of the season. It is much more like a real soccer game in second grade with a real referee (instead of the coaches on the field) and the teams play a goalie this year. Victor has been working with Collin in the backyard and it is really starting to show. He was going after the ball instead of standing around waiting for someone to pass to him. It was so much fun to watch him today. We'll probably try to get him to a Wizards game this year to keep him excited about soccer. He is turning into quite the sports junkie (just like his dad).

We also went out to dinner tonight with my dad and Marilyn. Dylan showed off his party trick that Uncle Dominic taught him by hanging a spoon on his nose. Alana tried and was successful as well. Neither Victor nor I can master this, but our two and four years olds are pros!

House Guest

I found out today that we have a new house guest. It is a ground hog living under our back porch!! Here is a picture of him chowing down on one of our tomatoes. I did a double take when I saw him walk up and pluck one from the container this afternoon in broad daylight. Guess we'll have to figure out how to re-home him soon!

Rollercoaster Week

This week I've felt a bit like I'm riding a roller coaster. I received Collin's draft IEP (individualized education plan) for this school year. We have a meeting Friday to discuss Collin's educational status and goals for the year. They are wanting to increase his time out of the classroom to work on material he didn't learn last year. This of course means he gets further behind because he is missing new material to work on the old material! I have to break that cycle! I panicked when I read the report, but I talked to his resource teacher today and I think we are now on the same page. I really want to get him caught up and I think she will communicate the areas of need to me better than his previous resource teacher.

I've also been searching for a private speech therapist for Collin. He really needs a lot of extra work on his language skills and the 1 hour of speech per week he is receiving through the school is not cutting it. I think I may have found someone today who takes our insurance! I am praying that everything works out and he gets the help he so desperately needs! This therapist should come to our home for services, so I can see what she does with him and get some education myself on ways to help him.

I so desperately want my baby to succeed in school. He can learn, it just takes him a little longer than other kids. Plus, he is VERY visual and has difficulty with auditory processing. I hope we get things straightened out for him soon.

A girl on the go!

Alana got her first bike today! We tried out some different ones at the store and she was on the move within minutes. I had planed to get her a bike with training wheels, but I ended up getting her a tricycle to start with. Maybe we will get her a bigger bike for Christmas or her birthday. I felt like she needed the extra balance of a tricycle right now. She falls down so much running that I didn't want her falling off of a bike just yet.

Here are a couple of pictures of her riding tonight. We went out three different times today to ride bikes. I bet her little legs will be sore tomorrow!

Chuck E. Cheese's

We took Alana to Chuck E. Cheese's for the first time yesterday. As you can see by the pictures -- it was a total hit. Dalton was also with us and you can see a couple of pictures of him as well. We had a nice and pretty relaxing weekend. Back to the grind tomorrow! Collin's soccer season just started. He has had a couple of practices and his first game is this weekend. Alana and I will also go to our first Chinese class this weekend. Things are going to start getting busy!

The Zoo

We went to the zoo this morning and I took a few pictures of the kids riding the new carousel. Alana loved all the animals. She seems to like lions a lot (we went to the Africa section today). She kept talking about lions before and after we saw them.

Eating in China

Collin said something really funny today that I had to pass along. I need to preface this story by saying that prior to Alana's baptism we were trying out a lot of Chinese restaurants so I could decide who to have cater the food. Collin got sick of having lo mein, fried rice and tofu once or twice every week. He wouldn't even eat any food at Alana's party or any of the leftovers.

So, we have been thinking about our upcoming vacations. We are hoping to go to Guatemala in the next 2-3 years and China in the next 4-6 years as a family. Collin brought up Guatemala this morning and I asked if he would like to visit Guatemala in a couple of years. He said yes, which was unexpected since he has been saying he doesn't want to go for a while. Then again, he says he doesn't want to go to Hawaii either! I then mentioned that maybe after we go to Guatemala we could go to China as a family. He said "Nooooo!" I told him we would see all the fun places that mommy got to see like the Great Wall. His next question was "Do we have to eat there?" Um....yes! He has no concept of time or distance right now, but this question was just too funny!

What is really terrible is that Alana hates Mexican food as much as Collin hates Chinese food right now. Here is a picture of her at dinner the other night with a bite of nachos in her mouth that she refuses to swallow. I hope they both come around eventually!