Sunday, January 08, 2012

An unexpected, belated, yet amazing Christmas gift.

Yesterday we received a surprise in the mail. When P came inside he said "THIS gave me the chills." P is not a hippy, tree hugging kind of guy, so that statement made me very curious. He handed me an envelope addressed to SS, using her full name. As soon as I saw it I realized why P was intrigued.

We have not had any real communication with SS's SWI since she came home. About a year ago someone adopted a two year old girl from SS's SWI, and I was able to contact the mother before she traveled. It is one of the reasons why I still check almost daily on the adoption website that was our lifeline during our wait. There aren't many Yunnan Yummies or Kunming Kuties out there. Whenever referrals come out it's the usual Hunan and Jiangxi mix of babies. The mother sent a message that if any Yunnan parents wanted to send updates to the SWI she would be happy to deliver them. I found the message just before she was due to travel and FedExed a nice package of pictures covering SS's time with us. We were so happy when she contacted me to let me know she received the package and would deliver it on Family Day. We have always wondered how it was received. Did they remember our duckling now morphed into a beautiful swan? Heck, did they even care. Normal parent worries. We also wondered why now, SS has been home three and a half years, what could be inside? We made a point of carefully opening the envelope, because whatever it was it would be a treasure for our daughter. Let's see...

A Christmas card! This is the outside, and we immediately fell in love with the Chinese characters.

The inside of the card and the gift. Can you see it? We were elated that they chose that particular picture of the Stone Forest. Not only because we visited the place, but if you have been here from the beginning you will know that it was our blog header for quite a while. We both got emotional and SS was wondering what all the fuss was about. OK, back to the gift, do you see the last line? It's a yahoo email address! SS's SWI is finally online and reachable, and we intend to take advantage of this gift.

I have been worried about SS's complete lack of curiosity about her origins. P is just fine with it, but I know that at almost five her sisters and brothers have brought up their concerns for one or two years. Heck, JJ is my bio kid and he wondered why I had curly, black hair, and he had straight, sandy brown hair. He was curious as to why his bio father and I had very light brown eyes, and his eyes were such a dark brown. That is why at three he knew about recessive genes. But not SS, she knows she was born in China, she knows we traveled to China and brought her to her forever home, she knows she is adopted, she knows JJ came from my womb and she did not, but it does not bother her one bit. Now THAT worries me, because we are all curious as to where we originated. We hope to send updates to her SWI and maybe when SS has questions they will help us with some answers.

After our unexpected gift was thoroughly enjoyed we took SS to see Puss in Boots. Typical SS, she did not even notice the Kitty character (voice of Selma Hayek) but was totally into Puss in Boots (voice of Antonio Banderas). She already decided that she will be Puss in Boots for Halloween, and it makes sense because like her Mama, she has a boot fetish. At least we have a heck of a heads up. Except that she talked about showing off her awesome costume at preschool. P burst her bubble and informed her she would not be at preschool next Halloween and tears were shed. That is another post because P's past is heavily weighing on SS's educational future, and I might be forced to make a decision he will not like. It will get ugly, but if she is not ready I can't send her off into not only real school, but an academically demanding Mandarin immersion program. Stay tuned. :)

As you can see below, SS has a strange sense of style but it works for her. That is one her Baba's Angels hat she is wearing like a thug. Just wish she had not chosen the stained, well worn one.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Happy Puke Year




SS woke up about five minutes before midnight. Our girl loves herself a good countdown so we gathered in front of the TV and watched the ball drop. Hugs and kisses were exchanged as well as wishes for a better year. P was holding SS, she turned to him and said "Baba, my tummy hurts." P told her we would go upstairs and cuddle together, SS placed her head on P's shoulder, P turns around (his back to me) and that is when the pukefest began. Poor SS vomited more than we have seen before, as in that one time she vomited. It went all over the back of P's shirt and on my boots, floor, you name it. Funny that I had not had a darn thing to drink and still ended up with puke on my boots.

SS has been sick all day, was not able to keep popsicles down. We are starting her on Gat0r@de now. We have a gallon of the stuff, it should do the job. I have been around many babies and am no stranger to puke messes, but the whole covering the back of a shirt thing SS pulled off was a first to me. Gotta hand it to her, the girl's got talent, not a marketable one, but it takes skillz to christen Baba's virgin body with such style. Again, no stranger to being puked on here, by my child and many others. But I was worried about P, who did not blink, just took care of his baby. Oh well, Happy Puke Year!