Nina had a really good Christmas. Loved the tree, loved the candles, loved the music, loved the pageant, loved the presents. She got a gift card from Bebe (her grandpa) and we went shopping yesterday. Here she is with her purchases. She had some parental guidance ("You may pick one toy," "You may pick one book," "You may pick one dress," etc), but she did really well, didn't she? It's going to be a long year waiting for next Christmas.

As you can tell from the pictures, Nina was in the angel choir for the church Christmas pageant (or as Nina says the "Chrischris" pageant). She did great although she was tired by the end. She tried singing along with some of the hymns, kept her halo on for most of the production, and smiled broadly when the congregation clapped for the kids at the end. All in all, it was quite successful.

Happy Birthday, Dear One!

We went trick-or-treating on Greenwood Avenue on the afternoon of Halloween. Nina was a bit uncertain about the whole thing at first, but caught on after a while. She had a giraffe costume that she rejected just minutes before our planned departure time so we found a pretty dress in our hand-me-down collection, added her beloved backpack, and she became the princess and the frog. She spent a bit of time sorting through her candy when we got home. Most of the rejects were chocolate and I happily helped her by eating them. Her favorite are Dum Dum lollipops.

Nina had her first school field trip, and we went to a pumpkin patch. We had fun. I had a hard time getting her to pick a pumpkin since she kept rejecting any that were muddy - an impossible feat on a cold, rainy day.

We spent a long weekend "camping" along the coast. I use the term "camping" loosely because the motor home in which we camp is compact but quite luxurious. Nina had her first trip to the beach (at least with us). When we crested the sand dune between our campsite and the beach, she started yelling, "Sandbox! Sandbox!" and ran out without fear. She was a little more hesitant about the water, but when Baba took off his shoes and walked in, she did too.

This is one of the things I love about kids. Where an adult sees a step-stool and a fly-swatter, a child (who as recently been river rafting with her family) sees a boat and an oar. I'll grant you that Nina was cooped up in a camper at the time, but I still think it is rather imaginative.

Here are the happy faces of the giant sliders!! Nina and Craig came down twice!

Nina got to meet her grandma last week, and we had a great time! We went to the Columbus Zoo, river rafting, and the Ohio State Fair. She enjoyed it all and seems to be pretty adventurous. She loved the giant slide at the fair and was quite upset when they kicked her off the kiddie roller coaster because she is 1/2 inch too short.

We re-finalized our adoption yesterday. When the judge asked the two adults to raise their right hands and asked, "Do you both swear or affirm...," Nina looked at each of us, then very solemnly raised her right hand too. The judge was impressive. Without missing a beat, he said to her, "And you too," then continued to swear us in.

We are now recognized as a family in all 50 states. Woo hoo!

Today at Vacation Bible School, I was standing at the back of the group of 50+ kids and numerous volunteers while Nina was sitting on the floor with her class about eight feet in front of me listening to the story. She turned her head and waved at me, and as she turned back to listen to the rest of the story, I heard her say to no one in particular, "This one MY mama." I was so happy that I just about burst into tears.

"Because I said so."

I made if through five days of almost constant "Why? Why? Why?" before the classic phrase of parents rolled off my tongue. Hopefully we'll move through this phase quickly.

Nina's language is developing well - at least it seems so to me. She is routinely using 4 and 5 word sentences and adds new words to her vocabulary daily. She has learned phrases like "Oh my gosh" and "Oh for Pete's sake" from us and is able to use them in the proper context. Some of her words are pronounced fairly well and others not so well. For some reason, "sunglasses" sounds more like "carkeek" and has for a month or so now. I'll check with the pediatrician next time we see him, but it seems to me that Nina's language is developing appropriately.

FYI - Nina is 50/50 with our names. Half the time we are Mama and Baba, the other half we are Mommy and Bobby.

One of the seagulls from "Finding Nemo" has moved into our house, and the most common thing we hear these days is "Mine!" The seagull's cousin came along for fun, and the second most frequent thing we hear is "Why?" I'm not sure Nina really knows what "Why?" means, but she says it all the time. She definitely knows what "Mine!" means.

What’s in a name? 

Our daughter’s full first name (which we never use) is Huiying, and it is pronounced Hway-ying. Her traditional Chinese nickname is Ying Ying. These were given to her in China and we chose to keep them. A few months back, she began calling herself Nini which we started using along with Ying Ying. Nini morphed into Nina and she became a child with three names along with a variety of endearments. Last week, she told me she wanted the teachers at school to call her Nina instead of Ying Ying, and this week she has corrected the teachers if they still call her Ying Ying. It appears that our daughter will be Nina for a while. 

I have been Mama since Nina first started speaking to us. Yesterday, I became Mommy. We wondered if Baba had become Daddy so we asked what his name is. By her logic, if Mama is now Mommy, Baba must now be Bobby so that was her answer. We, of course, laughed quite loud and long, therefore reinforcing the new name. When Craig got home this evening, her gleeful call was, “Bobby!!” We’ll see how long that lasts.

I thought I'd (finally!!) add a couple of recent photos to the blog so you can get a glimpse of how Ying Ying is doing.

Ying Ying got a new sandbox a few weeks ago and has been enjoying it a great deal. As with many other things, we had to show her how to play with sand, but it only took a couple of minutes before she realized how much fun can be had with sand and a few toys.

Ying Ying loves her cousin! She talks about her all the time and tries all kinds of new things when they are together - lip gloss, sunglasses, and chewing gum to name a few. It is really fun!

Things are going really well. Ying Ying calls herself Nini which (at least for Mama) is turning into Nina. Her language is really beginning to blossom. It seems like she learns at least one new word each day and is stringing several words together to make sentences. She is bright, curious and energetic. She attends a local preschool a few days a week plus plays with her cousins, the twins who live next door, and kids at church so she is making progress with her social skills. She is much stronger and much more coordinated than she was when she first came home with us, but she is still very slender. She doesn't seem to have gained much weight, but she has grown about an inch in height - yea!  We see the pediatrician later this week so we'll get more of an update from him.

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted.

We've taken Ying Ying biking a couple of times now. She rides in a trailer attached to her dad's bike. The first time we went out, we used a helmet that had been passed down to us. It didn't work very well because it has a pointy, aerodynamic back which caused it to come down over her eyes anytime she rested her head on the seatback. This is her new helmet - smooth all the way around. It worked great!

Here are some before and after shots of Ying Ying's haircut. She was pretty anxious while it was happening (wouldn't wear the smock, wouldn't sit on the chair alone), but enjoyed goofing off with Baba in the salon when it was over while Mama had her hair cut. Craig had his cut while Ying Ying's was being cut so it was a family outing.

One of the areas in which we've seen Ying Ying develop is her enjoyment of the park. Until just a couple of weeks ago, she would stand frozen in place at any park or play area. We don't know if she was afraid or if she just didn't know what to do, but after several visits to the park a block from our house (both alone and with the twins next door) she has finally warmed up to the place. We've also seen her doing a lot more running and jumping when we're out walking around. Yea!

Contrary to what one might think when noticing the frequency of my posts, we are all alive and well - it's just a lot more intense parenting a 3 year old in reality than it is in theory. I am exhausted much of the time. Tonight is no different than any other night in that regard, so in order to post an update on the 2 month anniversary of adoption day but still get to bed in the not too distant future, I'm posting part of an update I gave last Sunday at church to let you see how things are going.

Here it is:

The first two months have been challenging, but, considering all of the “worst case scenario” material that I read before we left for China, things have been going quite well. Ying Ying is growing in her comfort level in our home and with us, some of her extended family and their pets. She is growing in her comfort level with large groups of people such as in the church. And she is showing fairly obvious signs of separation anxiety, crying and screaming when I leave the house, which is a good news/bad news thing – it’s bad news because it is really hard on Craig to listen to it for almost the whole time I’m gone, but it’s good news because it means Ying Ying is making the first steps in attaching to her mom. We’ve received the results of her medical tests and most things seem to be in or near normal ranges. And we learned at last week’s doctor visit that she has gained two pounds in the last month, which is a lot when you start the month at 21 pounds.

I have found a great deal of joy in being a mom. It has been a joy to watch Ying Ying learn. She watches everything that goes on around her and imitates what she sees. Some of the things she learns we have tried with intention to teach her, other thing she has learned on her own. Several weeks ago, she learned how to eat orange slices and how to have a tea party with a doll. Last week, she learned to wave hello to the animals she saw at the zoo and spoke her first verifiable English word, which, since she is three years old, was “No!” And this week, when she rediscovered a pair of sunglasses she had received as a gift that got set aside in the shuffle for a couple of days, she put them on, found them to be dirty, took them off, and held them up to her mouth to blow on them to clean them. She is a mimic.

While I find great joy at watching Ying Ying learn, I take even more pleasure in feeling that she is beginning to connect with me and Craig, with her mom and her dad. The happy sound of her voice and her bright smile when Craig walks in the door at the end of the day is wonderful music to our ears, and there is really nothing that makes me happier right now than when she runs gleefully across a room to me with her arms outstretched wanting to be picked up and hugged.

There is much that I am pleased about in our developing relationship with Ying Ying, but the last eight weeks have certainly had their challenges. Sleep has been difficult, and I expect it will continue to be so for quite a while. She makes crying sounds in her sleep and tosses about in her bed several times each night. I think she must be having nightmares which isn’t surprising given how much she has gone through and how much she has lost in her short life. She also has a great deal of difficulty falling asleep, perhaps because she is afraid of her dreams, perhaps because she is afraid we will abandon her as she sleeps. And in the last few days she has taken up whining – at least it seems like whining from the tone, we don’t share a language yet. Whining is said to be a good sign for attachment in post-institutionalized children, and for that I’m thankful, but it is still one of the most annoying sounds I can imagine.

I think the hardest part for me has been that I never really get any time alone anymore. When I take a shower, she peeks around the curtain every couple of minutes to make sure I’m still there. When I go downstairs to throw a damp shirt in the dryer, she comes halfway down the stairs to watch what I’m doing. I think she’s adorable and she’s a lot of fun, but it is pretty intense having someone who follows me around every moment that she can and who whines and cries when she can’t.

That's it for last week's update at church. We've made a few strides this week. We've changed our sleep situation, and I, for one, am sleeping better at night. This means I am less cranky and irritable during the day which has to help with bonding. We also went back to giving Ying Ying afternoon naps after a 10 day experiment with no naps which was a failure (perhaps accounting in part for the above mentioned whining.) We had our first family outing to the hair salon. Ying Ying's haircut is adorable (in my completely unbiased opinion), and I'll try to post pictures soon.

Thank you for your patience with my lack of posts and for your love and support as we continue to navigate our new life together.

There is nothing our girl loves to wear more than a sweater with a hood unless it is a sweater with a hood and pockets. She owns at least six now and it is always difficult to decide which one to wear!

She's learning to brush her teeth.