The blog lives...

Okay, yes, despite not having posted since forever, we're both alive. Here's my weak excuse for not posting: first computer issues, then just lack of time, followed closely by either laziness or lack of blogging rhythm. So there, done...

This was a big week for Lulu who is now a great big four and a half years old, though her teacher says she's definitely at least 40!

First, on Tuesday, July 24th, the wiggly tooth was finally plucked! Wahooo. It was creeping me out watching that thing bend 90 degrees one way and then the other. We'd been trying for a couple of weeks to pluck it out, but success finally came, as did the tooth fairy the next morning bearing Hello Kitty lip gloss and nail polish and some shiny quarters. Here's the video of the tooth pulling.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

Then, we had the California readopt on Wednesday. It was a pain to gather all that paperwork myself, but $20 to do-it-myself was better than forking out $500 to have my agency do it. It wasn't much of a ceremony, but I signed a final document in the Judge's chambers, took a quick pic and were back off to the routine. I dropped her back off at school and then zipped to work. Later, after swimming lessons, I had promised her dinner at the restaurant of her choice, so unfortunately, we celebrated at McDonald's. Of course, how can you beat a "restaurant" that gives out toys with your meal and has a labyrinth of colorful tubes you can climb and slide through!

On Thursday, Lulu took a leap off the diving board into the 13 foot end of the pool. She's only had about 10 hours of swimming lessons and up until we started about a month ago, she'd been in a real pool only once or twice. (We live where it's too dang cold to swim almost any time of the year.) Lulu is an absolute fish with literally no fear of anything water related! Her teacher calls her his little nuclear reactor. On the first day of class she was the youngest by at least 2.5 years and all the other kids had been swimming for ages. There wasn't a thing that they asked the kids to do that she didn't raise her hand and scream, "I can do it!" And she usually did; though she often sunk after a forward glide or backstroke, but she never panicked. Now, just a few weeks later, she's got the whole blowing bubbles, arm-stroking, side-breathing (sometimes), kick like all hell thing down. I never, ever thought she'd get this far when I enrolled her. I just thought that in preparation for our trip to Hawaii, it might be good for her to have a little bit of confidence in the water. Who knew this little Guilin girl was part fish?



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

And hey, this video just cute (I uploaded this accidentally trying to upload the pool one, but since it was uploaded, I thought I'd share.)



Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

So we are down to the last week of summer here. School starts on August 6th. Lulu's preschool follows the local school schedule, so she'll be moving up to the pre-K class from the preschooler class. She'll be 5 in December, but if she was about 5 days older she'd be starting Kindergarten! Whoa, where did the time go? In any event, I'm glad I don't have to make the decision as to whether or not to send her off to Kindergarten at 4 and a half. But she's probably perfectly ready academically: she's got all the letter sounds down and is figuring out that when those sounds go together she can read words. Nothing earth-shattering, mostly short vowel three-letter words, but for a kiddo who didn't know a word of the English language 18 months ago, a pretty darn amazing feat. She saw Akeelah and the Bee a few weeks ago, and now she wants to spell everything. I find little pieces of scratch paper all over the house with words she's written - even saw one that said COLGATE on it and it was written so neatly I thought I had started a grocery list!

Well, I'm sure you can't tell at all that I love my girl. She's the chattiest, goofiest, giggliest, most sweet, loving, sensitive soul I have ever known. I won the lottery with this little one for sure. I'll try to pull myself away from her more regularly to post to this blog. I'll try...

Long-awaited update - November 2006

Yeah, I know, it's been a loooong time since I've blogged. Well, nothing earthshattering has happened, just a flurry of end of the year and holiday activity. I've been telling people I'm lucky to leave the house each day fully clothed. Blogging fell down on the priority list somewhere below dusting. Anyway, I'm back. I figure I have two ways to go on this - lots of short posts detailing the last two months, or a long one. I'll shoot for November at least... And I have been taking photos, so I'll add a lot of those to make up for the dry spell.


Trick or Treating -



It was fun. Temperature was comfortable. Lulu was only scared at a couple of houses decked out with moving ghouls. Collected a lot of candy, most of which is still in the pumkin on the kitchen table. I guess it's time I dump that thing.

Mom's Trip to Alabama -

Had to go for work. This was the first time I had to leave Lulu alone for any real period of time. It was just three days. It was good for both of us. I enjoyed the non-mommy time and Lulu got three days of ultra-spoiling at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She missed me some, had one conversation waaay to close to her bedtime when she got a little weepy and said, "Mama, you no belong to Alabama, you belong me!" I have to agree, though I didn't really get to see any of Alabama as I arrived in a storm, never left the confines of the Birmingham Marriot, and left in the dark.

Lulu's Office -



Had to take Lulu to work with me one day before or after a doctor's appointment. She's not been there often, but she does like to "do her work."

Christmas Card Outtakes -

I certainly have a patient child. (Or a total ham) I took 100 photos of her in this hand-me down holiday dress. Definitely wasn't going to go in and get a portrait taken. I figured if I couldn't get a decent shot or two with my digital camera and a wrinkly sheet backdrop, then the money I spent on that undergraduate degree in film was wasted. Anyway, these didn't make the card, but I just loved them so much I had to put them somewhere.
















































































And this goofy shot, it, well, I don't know. But I had to post it too...

















Thanksgiving Feast at School -

This year's thanksgiving feast made me wax poetic about where I was just one year before. Lulu had already started school, but she was NOT a happy camper there yet. I think she had attended about 4 or 5 days by feast time last year. The two and three year olds dress as indians and the four and fives dress as pilgrims. So this was year two for Lulu to wear the feather and seed adorned indian paper bag vest and hat. She still looks uncomfortable in it, but I continued to flash back to last year when we had only been home a couple of weeks and the look I got from my new daughter was something on the order of, well at least in China we didn't have to wear paper clothes! But, what a difference a year makes. Last year she was still in somewhat of a daze and this year she took the camera and photographed all the parents and kids. She is a total natural with that thing. She knows how to review pix, enlarge, zoom, run the video.















And the other Thanksgiving feast -

Well, next in the order of things was thanksgiving. Small by normal Portuguese standards - I think we were 14. Man, there were years where we crammed 30+ people onto folding chairs in my grandparent's garage. Anyway, my nephew Brian was able to come and anytime Lulu and Brian are together, there pretty happy campers. They play so well together that it almost makes me think that a good choice for child number two would be an older boy. But Lulu wants a little sister so much, and is such a good helper/mentor to the little ones in her school it's hard to know what would be best.

School Halloween Party & Puppy Love

We went to the Halloween potluck at Lulu's school on Friday and I couldn't help but snap a few photos of her and her sweet friend Pookala (I'm sure I'm bludgeoning the spelling there).

When Lulu started at her preschool after two weeks home, the local school district was on break and her preschool (not associated with the district) often takes kids up to six years old during the breaks. So, that's when Lulu met Pookala. And that's where the puppy love began. He was in kindergarten and she wasn't quite three. I never got to see much of this, but the teachers told me how she would follow him around and he would be protective of her (at that point, she was scared to death of school). The few times I got to see them together, she was always attached to him at the hip, staring at him like he was some sort of idol.

So, anyway, Pookala, who has a brother that still attends school with Lulu, was at the party. Lulu about knocked over every person in the room to make her way to him. They had games set up and a movie playing with 8 or 10 tiny chairs in front of it. Pookala asks Lulu if she wants to go to the movies with him. A definite yes from the googly-eyed sleeping beauty. So there they sat, chomping popcorn and watching Monster House for much of the evening. He offered to get her a drink. She saved his seat (Don't sit there, that's my Pookala's seat!) and even sat in his lap for a while when the "theater" got crowded. It was hysterical and I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Oh, I'm going to be in trouble in about 10 years. And did I mention, when Pookala's off at "big kid school" Lulu's started calling Pookala's cousin Zion, "my Zion." Yep, big trouble.

























And here's Lulu carving her pumpkin for the school contest. She told me the pumpkin had a lot of seeds and spaghetti in his brain.

Gotcha Day Anniversary

One year... I find that nearly unbelievable that it was one year ago today that I walked into that room at the Welfare Lottery Hotel in Nanning and saw that cute little sweet pea for the first time. She has changed so much in the last year and in many ways is still the same spunky, opinionated, bright girl that I met that day. I am awed by her perseverance. In one year she's been yanked from a family she adored and was adored by, stuck on a train to meet her kooky single mama who whisked her away from all she'd ever known and brought her to a world where every sight and smell and sound was new. After two weeks home and when things were just starting to seem okay, she was placed in a preschool which had to have seemed just like an orphanage where she has to worry every day if mama was going to come back for her. Then came surgeries, two of them, and speech therapy. And she's fine, well adjusted and damn smart. No one every believes she's only been home a year. She is such a talker. While her speech is still not as clear as it needs to be, her vocabulary is at least a couple of years ahead of her age. I don't have this word for word, because it went on forever, but here's an example from yesterday (she'd come up with some fanciful story about something she had done at school, which I knew for sure she couldn't have done, so I asked her how she came up with it):

Lulu: I know why, it because I have a very big imagination inside my head, in my brain, in the bones inside the skeleton in my head. My brain is big, it working hard on my imagination so I can be thinking of things that are everywhere. (I'm cracking up at this point) Now listen to me, mama, that is rude to be laughing when I be telling you about my brain inside. You have to have patience! Now, sit down - cross your legs - put your hands in your lap and be quiet, okay. Now listen me better this time. (I comply) There, you a very good girl. That's good listening.

Me: Okay, go on with the story about the dinosaur that came to school.

Lulu: Yes. Miss Chris was sitting on the chair like this and then the dinosaur came and ate Jevon.

Me: Really? Poor boy. How did you feel?

Lulu: I was a little bit worried and a little bit sad. Why? Because the dinosaur ate Jevon, all of him.

Me: All of him?

Lulu: (waving her arms) All of him! Everything! His hands, his toes, his chin, his elbows all of Jevon was gone.

Me: Where was Jevon?

Lulu: Inside the dinosaur. In his mouth, then his troat, then his stomach! After that, then he poop it out.

(Mom's still laughing)

Lulu: Mama, it not funny. Jevon came out all dirty. Oooooh. Yucky. Poop all over his body.

Me: Was he okay?

Lulu: Yeah, he was all right. He took a bath to take all the poop off. Then it was all better. He learn his lesson.

Me: What lesson was that?

Lulu: Don't go inside a dinosaur!

Me: And all this really happened?

Lulu: Yes, at my school.

Me: And what happened to the dinosaur?

Lulu: Oh, it not a dinosaur. It was a mask. Inside the dinosaur, underneath, it was a panda. A purple panda. Inside. So, everything is okay now. Don't worry. It not a real dinosaur.

Me: But I thought it ate Jevon.

Lulu: Yeah. You not listening mama. I told you it inside my imagination! My imagination inside my skeleton in my head, in my brain...

And on, and on, and on...

So, we had a little party to celebrate the day. Nothing big. She wanted a strawberry cake (yeah, try to write happy gotcha day on a bunch of bumpy, glazed, strawberries!) So grandma and grandpa came over. We had some balloons, looked at pictures of gotcha day and looked at the clothes she came in (hey mom, no panties for me in China!) It was a fun day. Fun year. I'm so looking forward to the next year.

Here are some pics of the day:

Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

So, two days after the family pumkin patch trip, Lulu's preschool took a field trip to the local patch. I've got to give it preschool teachers - I don't know how they cope every day with 40-50 2-5 year olds!

Here's some of the gang:






















Yeah, try to get six girls to look at the camera at the same time!
















Lulu and buddy Karizma with their pumpkins:

Avila Beach

We went down to Avila Beach for Pumpkin huntin'. It was a remarkably nice day and just about every person had the same idea. We went with Grandma & Grandpa, Uncle Chis, Ayi Dianne and cousin Brian, as Lulu puts it, "the whole family, all of us!" The kiddos had a great time running around haystacks, petting animals, chomping down hot corn on the cob, all the while smell of hot baked pumpkin pie wafted through the air. Now I don't even like pumpkin pie that much and I was drooling. All in all a fun day.

Here are the munchkins with Grandma/Ava & Grandpa/Avo:
























Here's Lulu in a fit of laughter on the hayride (same hayride Mama fell off of and had to make a flying leap back onto to make it down to the pumpkin patch!):



































And this is Brian and Lulu showing off their Halloween costumes for each other. Lulu was absolutely fascinated about Superman's muscles! Just waaaay too cute.

Disneyland

So, we are back and exhausted, but we sure had fun. Left at 5am last Saturday and got back Friday at about 6:30 pm. Man, did we go non stop. I really thought Lulu would need more downtime, but she was always ready to roll. We had lots of fun with family and friends while there: Grandma and Grandpa were down for a few days, my cousin came up from San Diego for a day, and a friend of mine zipped down for a couple of days too. It sure helped having extra adults around because when Lulu's happy, she's really happy, and when she's not, well, she's not. Here's the visual on the extacy and the agony of a Disney trip.







I got some kind of bug on the way back so this blog entry is mostly pix, but they pretty much tell the tale.






First off, Disneyland and DCA were all decked out for Halloween, so it was a great time to go. If you can get yourself there while the decor is up, do it. The crowds are generally light and it is really very nice to look at.



























We stopped off at Central Plaza to see the stone of my cousin Sean. He was a cleft kiddo and passed away a few years ago. He was a big reason I was comfortable adopting a child with a cleft lip and palate, so it was cool to let Lulu see his stone.





























We started out in Fantasyland with the more timid rides. Lulu loved the teacups and she could make those things spin!






We took a turn into Toon Town and discovered Lulu was scared to death of the Disney characters. She wanted nothing to do with them. We toured Mickey and Minnie's houses and then Lulu saw the Gadget Go Coaster, which is a very short, but real working roller coaster. "I wanna go faster" she begged. There was no line, so we went. She did the whole thing with her hands in the air. We're in the fourth car back in the pic. Wild child she is. Aside from the characters, she was absolutely fearless.










We had reservations made for Ariel's Grotto for a Disney Princess lunch. Given what I had seen with the characters, I was hoping she wouldn't be scared outta her mind by the princesses. She'd been asking about them for days. Where we were seated, we were the first stop on the "princess circuit, so it was always a suprise when a new one arrived. I don't have all the best shots as my back was to where they appeared, but my mom got some good ones I'll try to post later. We saw Jasmine, Belle, Cinderella, Ariel and Mulan. Lulu liked Jasmine, Ariel and Mulan, but was scared of the big billowy dresses on Cinderella and Belle and wouldn't get very close. Mama! After lunch they bring a big heap of cotton candy to the table, and honestly, that was the biggest thrill of the day for her. As you can see though, she was pretty exhausted by the end of the meal.



































































Lulu's favorite rides were the scary ones - both thematic and thrills. She loved Pirates, the Haunted Mansion, etc. and rode over and over again. And as she saw some of the more thrill type rides, you couldn't convince her not to ride. Fortunately, she made the 40 inch height requirement necessary for most of the rides. There are a few she couldn't ride, so we stayed clear of those areas in the park. She did Thunder Mountain (again, hands in the air most of the time - mom holding onto little body for fear of it flying out on a bump!), Soaring Over California, Star Tours, Space Mountain and even Tower of Terror. On that one, one time when the lights went on her whole body was trembling and she looked like she was scared out of her mind. She barely got out, "mmmmma mmmaaaa, I wanna go home..." I thought I'm going to a special mom hell for mama's who couldn't convince their kids not to ride the scariest of rides. Then, the next time the lights went on she had her hands in the air. When the ride ended, I asked her if she liked it and she said, "let's do it again!" Okay, she's an odd little kid. She really loves to be scared. I think I've got a future thrill seeker here for sure. Not really any pix of these rides because they're not exactly the kind of rides you can have your camera sitting on your lap for! I did get one of Lulu waiting in anticipation of boarding the Thunder Mountain Train.

Gosh, the rest is just a blur. I'll post more pix as soon as I get them from my mom. What else did we do? We ate at Ihop a lot because kids eat free. We did some swimming and Lulu is a fish. It was her first real time in the pool and she was floating around and having people dunk her head under water trying to turn summersaults. We went to Build a Bear Workshop to put together a $25 bear for $75 dollars but it was worth every penny. BTW - She picked a pink fluffy bear to be her "son!" The ride back was hell, I had a fever, Lulu was spent and started crying for her Grandpa and Grandma about 20 miles into the 350 mile drive. It took forever to get home. But, I've upgraded my 5 day pass to an annual pass so as soon as the memory of the drive back begins to fade, I'll be Disney bound again!