Sept Update

Celebrating Two Years together...a day late. Don't tell Marie. Jim had judo class on the actual date so we pushed our dinner out one day. Here she is shortly before we went to the restaurant.
Her two current faves are with her: Neenee and Hoho. Ironically, both are Chinese. Neenee is one of the Olympic mascots that Aunt Ab brought back from the actual games; Hoho is a character on the Nick Jr. show, "Ni Hao, Kai Lan." She has been sporting them around the house with her since mid-August.

At the Chinese Restaurant. The waiter was fascinated with Marie. He chatted with us all night, telling us about the area she is from and wrote out "Jiangxi girl" in Mandarin for us to take home. He was very concerned that she wasn't learning Chinese but...we are in Northern Michigan. Frankly, I want to learn Chinese too!

We had an exhausting weekend. I got roped into running this year's Homecoming Dance at my school (the year that we added 400 new kids to the school). Friday night we went to the football game and Marie loved the marching band. "Where did the band go?" was heard repeatedly for the first half. She did clap enthusiastically at every good play though! Her babysitter was also home from college and Marie was so excited to see her. "MY FRIEND!" she kept saying over and over! This being Traverse City, we also saw her teacher, my former students, neighbors, etc. It was fun. Saturday was planned as Daddy-Daughter day. Jim had his most brilliant moment in our 10 years of marriage. Instead of paying to take Marie to gymnastics, he snuck her in to the kids judo class. She played on the mats and "threw" the teacher down. We think this will be her regular Sat morning routine. Sunday turned out to be Daddy-Daughter day as well as I didn't fall asleep till extremely late Sat night and was in bad shape Sunday. Here are the two of of them making muffins Sun afternoon.

Oh yeah...I hear there was a Michigan football game too! Something about the biggest comeback ever and the 500th game at the Big House. I was crepe papering-and-ballooning the cafeteria and Jim had Marie out and about; we both missed it!

Two Years

First moments together in the hotel room in Nanchang

First glimpse of our little peanut...one in green staring right at us!

Today, insisting on being naked for her post-nap snack

Looking at her Jiangxi Sisters book with Daddy, celebrating 9 families

Enjoying the moment with Hoho the Monkey

Two years ago today. Two years ago today, Yi Hong was awakened very early, put in a new green polyester outfit and red shoes that were way too large. She and 8 of her sisters went on a long ride from a small village of Yihuang to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province. They arrived at the Gloria Hotel sleepy and hungry and hot. They were rushed into a conference room and placed on the floor. Most of them starting crying immediately. But they had faced a lot of change recently. All were in foster care until a few weeks prior; the last few weeks saw them returned to the orphanage. Until this busy Sunday morning. Now, one at a time, each girl was placed into the arms of a person who had waited for that moment their whole life. Both parent and child cried, for different reasons. The new families were sent up to their rooms to take care of their daughter, with instructions to return back downstairs in the late afternoon to finish paperwork. And the story began...

Today, two years later, was a very different day. When I picked Marie up at her preschool, I was greeted with an enormous smile and hug. She had a wonderful morning. After her nap, she insisted on being naked for her snack. I finally got her to put clothes back on and we went outside for a swing in the hammock. She had a nice dinner with Daddy and then the 3 of us enjoyed looking at this year's book of our Jiangxi Families. To them and our dear Chongqing families, Happy Family Day!

R U Ready for Some Football???

Sadly, while Marie and Aunt Abigail prepped with their pre-game breakfast and were ready, the U of M team was not...

School!

Here we are at the entrance to Marie's school. This was actually her individual class visit. The new ones first had a visit from their teacher in their home, then they got to check out the classroom for 1/2 hour with no other kids around. I appreciate the time they took to make her feel at ease. I snuck out of our first staff mtg for this - Jim left work too - you can see our work keys and tags!
Here Marie is with her teacher, Ms. Julie. Ms. Julie and I chuckle because HER son is a student at MY school across the street. So we can keep close tabs on each other's "baby!"

Another great feature of the school is "car line." At the busy morning drop-off time, they have it down to a science. Jim drives in and their is a lady in the parking lot who reads the sign on our dash with Marie's name on it. She points Jim to a open spot in front of the school and radios in for someone to come out and pick up Marie. An adult comes to the car, takes her out and walks her into school and Jim drives away. It's a great set-up. We also are welcome to come into the room at any time. You can come into the class or observe through the window.

Marie has also decided to bring some lessons home. She now announces to us that she has to go potty "By MYSELF" and goes into the bathroom and shuts the door on us. We cannot go in! She hikes her little body up on the seat (refuses to use her potty seat) and does it all. Comes out with her clothes back on, not knowing that one of us is on the other side of the door listening to it all.

For the first few days, she did stay right at Ms. Julie's side. She held her hand for most of one day, except when Ms. Julie explained she needed her hand for a lesson. So Marie observed many lessons as she stayed right with her teacher. She has gotten a little more adventurous every day, we hear. We hear nothing from Marie. When we ask, "Did you have a good day?" we hear, "Maybe." "Did you eat lunch?" "Maybe." So she might like school; we aren't sure!