Its been over a year since Wu Yi came home with us! She turned 8 shortly after her arrival, and she was miserable on that day. She hated having everyone's attention. She wouldn't blow out her candles, eat her cake, or open her presents. She had her head down dejectedly, hiding behind her bangs, looking like she wanted to crawl under a log and disappear. She spoke no English then. She tells me now (she is embarrassed to recall her behavior) that she had a stomachache that day.
She was very excited for her birthday this year! She had a "princess themed" party at the local roller skating rink and invited all 8 girls from her class. 5 of them were able to join us and they had a blast!
We were on Spring Break the week she turned 9, and we traveled to Seattle to visit family and friends. First we had a mini-reunion with our fellow China travelers, the McCains and the Chens. In China, we were a peaceful group of 9. At the reunion, with all of the siblings, we numbered 17! It was pizza, chaos, and lots of catching up and reminiscing. Little Ella Grace and Jesse are both doing so well! Wu Yi was a little bit uncomfortable with it all. I haven't seen that side of her for quite awhile. She seemed irritated by the slide show of our trip to China and wanted only my attention and mostly ignored the other kids. I'm sure she was tired from the long drive. We left with her in tears, which is very rare these days. Anyway, our friends were happy to finally see her talking and full of life!
We also spent a couple of day with our friends the Hawks. Wu Yi and their daughter Elizabeth bonded last summer and they wasted no time in rekindling their friendship. Lark and Stephanie are two of our very best friends and it is so fun to see our daughters together!
We spent a day with my birth mom "Mema" at her house in Everett. She has another granddaughter close to Wu Yi's age and they spent the day together happily climbing the tree in Mema's backyard. The boys also got to meet their Uncle Nate (my half brother) who shares Daniel's love of fishing and Kellen's love of snowboarding. It was a great day! Wu Yi came to America with a negative attitude towards her birth mom. She said she was "naughty" for abandoning her. As an adoptee myself, I think its never a good thing for kids to think their birth parents are bad people or that they did a bad thing. Even if you don't know anything about their circumstances (and Wu Yi will never really know hers), it can only make a child feel badly about themself if they think they came from bad beginnings. Giving me up for adoption was the hardest thing Mema ever did. I told Wu Yi my birth story and when Wu Yi met Mema (and she loved Mema from the very first day they were together!), I think it helped her realize that adoption is, often, the ultimate act of love.
After Mema's, we headed for Bellingham to visit our friends, the Taylors. The boys did some spring skiing at Mt Baker, while Sue and I caught up on life, and Wu Yi played with the siamese cats. The Taylor girls are teenagers and it didn't take Wu Yi long to notice their sizeable collection of Barbie toys. Stephanie and Amy weren't interested in their Barbies anymore and they offered Wu Yi whatever she wanted (that was the ultimate gift!) I'm surprised we made it home without having to strap the new Barbie house on top of our car. :)
We also spent a day at the Seattle zoo (our favorites were the playful interactive gorillas, and the grizzly who was swimming around trying to catch fish ~ we had a close-up, underwater view!), and we returned to the Great Wolf Lodge for a day of swimming and MagiQuest.
The last day of spring break we spent at Schweitzer Mtn. It had rained early that day, so the slopes were empty when we arrived for a clear sunny afternoon. Wu Yi is still loving her skis, and mostly loves to go on the trails in the trees! The end to another ski season . . .
She received a special gift in the mail from her "sister" Eva, who lives in New Hampshire. It was a homemade beaded bracelet with the letters "B-F-F". Eva is now speaking pretty good English (she has been in America for about 6 months) and the girls happily Skyped for a couple of hours the previous weekend. I am determined to figure out a way for these two to get together in person someday soon! They endured alot together in China and have continued to face a great deal as they learn to adapt to new familes, new cultures, new schools, and medical procedures.
Speaking of that . . .
Wu Yi graduated from speech therapy at the outpatient rehab clinic!! After her 2nd surgery, last October, she was able to start mastering some of the sounds which were impossible for her to pronounce before ~ the "explosive" sounds like K D G T. She is now able to make these sounds and just needs to practice everyday. She is a perfectionist and works very hard on this. Her biggest problem is that she LOVES to talk. She has so much to say and she has to talk very quickly sometimes, just to get it all out! In order to properly pronunciate, she has to slow down. She is starting to read, and this is when we hear her best speech. She will continue with speech therapy at school, twice a week for 20 minutes each, but it is a relief to no longer have to take her out of school for her long weekly rehab session. Its also a relief to her that people aren't asking her to repeat herself so often. Thanks so much to Nicole for helping her through the last 9 months!!
And continuing on . . .
Wu Yi visits the orthodontist in June to get her Xrays and moldings done for braces. She needs to have her teeth in proper position for her next surgery, which will happen in a little over a year. This next surgery is to give her a pretty smile with all of her own teeth. With cleft palate, the upper part of the mouth has a strip of open tissue and bone, from the back of the throat, all the way forward past the front teeth. Her palate repair surgery, done a year ago, closed the roof of her mouth with a tissue graft from the sides of her mouth. The inside of her mouth now looks pretty normal. However, under her gums in the front, there is a section with no bone. This means that no tooth can come down in this spot. This means that, without surgery, she will be missing a tooth right in the front of her mouth. The surgery to correct this is pretty amazing. Through a tiny incision in the front of her hip, a small piece of bone will be removed and transferred to that spot in her mouth. Once it heals, one of her grown up teeth that is still hidden up in her gums, will come down through that piece of bone! She will likely need orthodontic treatment for quite awhile to help guide all of her teeth into the proper position. With cleft palate, the teeth on the affected side can be pretty messed up. Sometimes there are extra teeth, sometimes there are missing teeth, sometimes there are odd little fragments of teeth. Wu Yi has a very pretty smile right now, with only one tooth in that area which is completely sideways and one missing from the "boneless" spot. (Not so unusual looking at this age!) Both Evan and Daniel have had braces, so she is not very concerned about any of it.
8th birthday. How far she's come!
