So Many Firsts . . .

I would think that when you have lived in an orphanage in China for the first three years of your life and then are whisked away to America to begin anew, it would be a little overwhelming . . . My little bird is taking it all in stride, or perhaps I should say in flight! A couple of evenings ago she took a little time out to do some tree climbing with Survivor Guy, a.k.a. biggest brother.

As you can see, she was as carefree as a bird!

Today, another first . . . littlest big brother introduced her to Play-Doh.

She loved it, and sat for the next 75 minutes and played--no kidding!

So much to be discovered! Check out the sitting position,

she's flexible to the max.

Such concentration!

Play-Doh poses by The Grinner

This stuff is grrrrrreat!

When your world seems as though it has been turned

upside down, perhaps you should check your sunglasses!

(Thank you new friends Jake and Josh for the sweet baby doll!)

Yesterday's "new" was a bike ride with Baba . . . in Brogie's

old seat. She was a little unsure at first, but loved the helmet

. . . counting it as another way to accessorize!

Ready to roll . . .

and there they go!

On Monday was "Cooking With Mama and Xiao Xioa",

as she helped mama prepare a cheesecake

for biggest brother.

I'm likin' this cooking stuff . . .

She licked the beater for about 20 minutes, and then decided

the dog should have a lick too--at that point big sister took the

dog licked beater away. Instant crocodile tears, sometimes

"firsts" can be soooo very hard!

Our communication is growing by leaps and bounds . . . she is beginning to use more English, besides just "Mama" and "Baba". . .

"Brogan", "shoes" (her favorite), "belly", "pee-pee" ( used after the Pull-Up is wet -- we're working on that), "NO" (mocking mama), "STOP!" (again, mocking mama), "eat", "more" and tonight "book", which sounded like "book-uh". . . . much like Bryce sounds like "Bryce-uh"!

On the mocking mama part. It is very hard not to use "stop" and "no" as opposed to more positive answers with the language barrier. For instance "Xiao Xiao please don't grab the dog's tail, that will hurt him." would probably sound like "Xiao Xiao . . .blah . . .blah . . .blah . . .blah . . . . . . dog . . .blah, blah, blah. You get the point. By this time the dog would be growling and the antics would continue. So I say, "Stop" and she yells "--OP" . . . and then on occasion, very rare occasion, she stops. For the most part I am beginning to think that "no" and "stop" spoken in English, translate in Chinese to mean, "Please carry on . . . only this time give it all you got!" Yea baby! We'll get there . . . and hopefully the dog will too!

She's a smart girl! She has begun making her teddy bear sign as we lay in her bed at night. Two nights ago she had finished off the water in her sippy, she signed and asked for "more" and I told her, "No, night, night" A few minutes later she picked up her bear, and made him sign "more" and she spoke "mo" -- I said, "Very good"! So impressed! And then she made the bear sign again, and she motioned to her empty sippy on the dresser. When I repeated the dreaded "no" answer the bear promptly lost his comfy place in the bed with a toss to the floor! Poor bear, good signing -- no pay off!

Last night in bed, after much tossing and turning, she finally started to fall asleep (as mama tried hard to stay awake). About the time I thought she was o-u-t, she rolled over and wrapped her little arm tightly around my neck and gave me about three face smooshing, heart melting kisses. Then she did the sign for kiss, followed by the sign for mama! (She had just learned these signs on her new DVD from her friends Marrin and Jake). Be still my heart! "Kiss mama" . . . Yes indeed, it's a whole new world!

Blessings from my nest~

Tina