Summertime

Its been just over 4 months since we first met our daughter in China.  Its unbelieveable how far she has come.  She is settling in as a member of our family, laughs alot, speaks pretty darn good English, is increasingly confident around new people, and is eagerly experiencing so many new things!  I would describe her as a generally happy girl, despite her sadness at leaving her friends behind and her determination to return to China when she grows up (at least she knows she is staying with us for the duration of her childhood!).

We returned to her surgeon last week to get the final "OK" on her palate repair.  She will continue to follow up with him every six months to make sure that the muscles under the flap are starting to move.  She started speech therapy last week as well, which will be a key component in getting those muscles moving.  Her palate is pretty tight and if she struggles with her speech despite therapy, there is a small possibilty that she would need another procedure to stretch that graft.  Otherwise, her next surgery will be a bone graft to her dental rim which will be taken from her hip at around age 12.  She cannot have any surgery to her nose until she is full grown.  She is otherwise very healthy.

We finished off the school year with her spending 2 1/2 hours each day in the 2nd grade classroom.  She spent part of that time with the ESL (English as a 2nd language) teacher and the rest of that time in small groups.  She was not doing alot of active participation as far as academic work, but she was making definite progress as far as her confidence level with the teachers and kids.  She is fairly determined to not make new friends out of loyalty to her friends in China, but she was smiling, talking, and even hugging some of the teachers by the end of the year.  We are planning to keep her in that same 2nd grade class this fall and are hoping to start her full time as well.  If she isn't ready for a full day in Sept, I'm sure she will be within a couple of months.  My mom has been a lifesaver in helping out with Wu Yi while Don and I are at work.  We started a summer tutoring program for her to try and help her do some catching up.  She does this for about and hour and a half, three days a week.  She is bright and curious about so many things.  She can be stubborn at times about "formal" education, but she will get there.

I am continually amazed how confident she can be!  Despite being basically "abandoned" two times in her fairly recent memory by trusted adults (foster family and orphanage), she has faith in me.  I can leave her to go to work or to go out for a run or even to be gone overnight (when I am on call at the hospital) and she is ok with it.  I show her on her Cinderella watch when I will be home, and tell her specifically who will be with her and what she will be doing.  If I am late coming home, she gets mad at me, so I have learned to give myself some extra time when I point to her watch.

For the first three months of her life in America, sitting in front of the TV was her comfort place.  She watched alot of TV in China and I think it was her "escape" when she was stressed here.  She still loves Barbie and Princess cartoons (and learned alot of new language from them!), but she is starting to show us a whole new outdoor and adventurous side of her personality!  She loves to ride her bike and her scooter.  She loves to hike (and she wants to be in the front ~ leading the way!), she loves to fish (and she can tell a good fish tale about catching the biggest monster in the lake), and she loves to camp.  All of the things we love to do!  We have been on two camping trips and she enjoys everything about them, except the porta potties.  (What is up with that??  Does she not remember squatty potties???)

She has many things on her "wish list" that she asks me to buy her.  Kittens, bunnies, a pink Barbie guitar, a Barbie sing along DVD and microphone, a battery operated stuffed dog that goes for a walk, a fancy swing set for the backyard, ballet lessons, gymnastic lessons, a trip to Disneyland, etc, etc.  Some things I say "yes" to.  Some things I say "maybe when you are bigger" to.  Some things I say "no" to.  We talk about money alot and now, when she sees a fancy swing set, she says to the kids playing on it "You have lots of money!".

And, now for the biggest update . . . Wu Yi and Don are making progress!!  She is no longer afraid of him.  She no longer tenses up when he comes in the house.  She is still mildly uncomfortable around him, but, he takes her hiking and he takes her fishing and he takes her to shoot targets with the coin operated rifles at Cabelas!  In other words, he is a pretty fun guy!  She tells me he is a hairy monkey because of the hair on his arms (actually all men in this country are monkeys), but she is starting to acknowledge him when he talks to her and will actually choose going with him over going with me if he is doing something more fun.  What a huge relief!  I think by the end of the summer, she is going to love him!  :)