Two years ago today we met each other in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China!
So much has changed since then...
Or maybe not...
May 2005
May 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
One year together! - Our favorite things!
Note that this blog entry is a work in progress. I started it on our adoption anniversary and meant to finish it right up and then post it. But, sigh, 3 weeks have gone by and I haven't finished yet, so I'm going to go ahead and post it and then do updates (yeah, sure). -Andrea
In honor of one year together, here are some of our favorite things from this past year:
Bella's favorite color: Blue!
Bella's favorite animal: Doggies! She loved our doggies from the first and continues to love to watch doggies of all types.
Bella's favorite toy: Mama and Daddy! Doggies! Boxes! Bottles and Jars! Anything Mama or Daddy didn't really want her to find! Okay, her favorite toy that was originally intended as such would have to be either Bubbles, or her Eeyore on wheels. Eeyore was a hand-me-down, and boy were we happy Susie passed it on to us! Before she could walk Bella used Eeyore to become mobile. Once she was walking well we thought she might turn to other things, but she still uses Eeyore several times a week. The velcro tail is a great attraction as well.
Bella's favorite game: Chasing! as in "Chasing Daddy!" "Chasing Mama" "Chasing Zima!" Usually this chasing involves one of us holding her and doing the actual legwork of the chase. Sometimes, though, she will go self-propelled on rolling Eeyore. Zima (dog) thinks this is great fun. Iris runs and hides.
Mama and Daddy's favorite mess avoiders:
Doggies! They clean up the floor around Bella's chair pretty much instantly and also often do the intial cleanup of the tray and dishes (the social workers aren't reading this, right?).
Long sleeved Bib! This is an amazing thing for catching all the yummy yogurt messes!
Favorite books:
A Mother for Choco, by Keiko Kasza. This is the bestest adoption book for wee ones!
The Big Dog and Little Dog books by Dav Pilkey (of Captain Underpants fame). These are sooo funny! And they are the earliest books with plots that a child can understand. It will NOT drive parents crazy to read these a thousand times! Seriously, I read these to my adult friends before I even had kids (okay, so I'm a little weird).
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. This is a classic, and for good reason. The repetition and the monkeys make this oh so fun! Not sure what the monkeys are doing in what is obviously Eastern Europe, but I'll let that pass. Thanks to our friend Richard for this book.
My Friends, by Taro Gomi. "I learned to sing from my friends the birds.... I learned to watch the night sky from my friend the owl... I learned to read from my friends the books. I learned to play from my friends at school.... I learned to love from a friend like you." Awwwww!
A Chair for my mother, by Vera B. Williams. Bella just loves this recently, wants to read it most every night. It is about a family saving their money for a big, soft chair, after everything is destroyed in a fire. The pictures are wonderful and so is the story, but it isn't really meant for a 2 year old. I think maybe it is the fascination with the scary that a lot of kids have (and adults). Not sure. It is a lovely book, though; Vera B. Williams is wonderful!
Belly Button Book! by Sandra Boynton. 'Nuff said!
Snuggle Puppy (a love song), by Sandra Boynton. This is the most wonderful book for professing out and out love! You do have to be able to sing, though. Well, anyway, the whole book is a song. I just made up a tune. We both love it!
Wow! City! by Robert Neubecker. This book has huge, bright, busy pictures of a little girl named Izzy's first trip to The City. Everything is exciting! There are fire engines, subways, dinosaurs (in a museum) and a parade with a huge dragon! And there is a yellow dog to be found somewhere on every page. Highly recommended!
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. This has been a favorite for many months. She doesn't pick it out as often now, but she did just last night at a friend's house. An "old favorite"!
Favorite thing of all: Each Other (awwww!)
In honor of one year together, here are some of our favorite things from this past year:
Bella's favorite color: Blue!
Bella's favorite animal: Doggies! She loved our doggies from the first and continues to love to watch doggies of all types.
Bella's favorite toy: Mama and Daddy! Doggies! Boxes! Bottles and Jars! Anything Mama or Daddy didn't really want her to find! Okay, her favorite toy that was originally intended as such would have to be either Bubbles, or her Eeyore on wheels. Eeyore was a hand-me-down, and boy were we happy Susie passed it on to us! Before she could walk Bella used Eeyore to become mobile. Once she was walking well we thought she might turn to other things, but she still uses Eeyore several times a week. The velcro tail is a great attraction as well.
Bella's favorite game: Chasing! as in "Chasing Daddy!" "Chasing Mama" "Chasing Zima!" Usually this chasing involves one of us holding her and doing the actual legwork of the chase. Sometimes, though, she will go self-propelled on rolling Eeyore. Zima (dog) thinks this is great fun. Iris runs and hides.
Mama and Daddy's favorite mess avoiders:
Doggies! They clean up the floor around Bella's chair pretty much instantly and also often do the intial cleanup of the tray and dishes (the social workers aren't reading this, right?).
Long sleeved Bib! This is an amazing thing for catching all the yummy yogurt messes!
Favorite books:
A Mother for Choco, by Keiko Kasza. This is the bestest adoption book for wee ones!
The Big Dog and Little Dog books by Dav Pilkey (of Captain Underpants fame). These are sooo funny! And they are the earliest books with plots that a child can understand. It will NOT drive parents crazy to read these a thousand times! Seriously, I read these to my adult friends before I even had kids (okay, so I'm a little weird).
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. This is a classic, and for good reason. The repetition and the monkeys make this oh so fun! Not sure what the monkeys are doing in what is obviously Eastern Europe, but I'll let that pass. Thanks to our friend Richard for this book.
My Friends, by Taro Gomi. "I learned to sing from my friends the birds.... I learned to watch the night sky from my friend the owl... I learned to read from my friends the books. I learned to play from my friends at school.... I learned to love from a friend like you." Awwwww!
A Chair for my mother, by Vera B. Williams. Bella just loves this recently, wants to read it most every night. It is about a family saving their money for a big, soft chair, after everything is destroyed in a fire. The pictures are wonderful and so is the story, but it isn't really meant for a 2 year old. I think maybe it is the fascination with the scary that a lot of kids have (and adults). Not sure. It is a lovely book, though; Vera B. Williams is wonderful!
Belly Button Book! by Sandra Boynton. 'Nuff said!
Snuggle Puppy (a love song), by Sandra Boynton. This is the most wonderful book for professing out and out love! You do have to be able to sing, though. Well, anyway, the whole book is a song. I just made up a tune. We both love it!
Wow! City! by Robert Neubecker. This book has huge, bright, busy pictures of a little girl named Izzy's first trip to The City. Everything is exciting! There are fire engines, subways, dinosaurs (in a museum) and a parade with a huge dragon! And there is a yellow dog to be found somewhere on every page. Highly recommended!
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. This has been a favorite for many months. She doesn't pick it out as often now, but she did just last night at a friend's house. An "old favorite"!
Favorite thing of all: Each Other (awwww!)
One year ago...
One year ago we met in China!It is hard to believe a year has gone by so quickly.
We are so happy to be a family!
It doesn't seem like nearly a year has passed. And yet Bella has changed so much! And of course we have changed, too.
We love you sooo much, Bella!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Bellaphant!
She was in rare form this evening, and the Bellaphant photos were the highlight.
Click the picture for more Bellaphants, Backpack wearing and Eeyore riding.
Click the picture for more Bellaphants, Backpack wearing and Eeyore riding.
Chopsticks!
She can eat with chopsticks! We are so proud! We got special training chopsticks in Chinatown (can't figure out how to do the rubber band trick for attaching them), and Bella works very hard to eat with the chopsticks.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Wearing mama's hat and gloves
Bella had the most fun dressing up in my beret and gloves one evening during her pre-bed manic phase. There were so many cute moments we missed, but we got a few fun poses anyway. Click on the photo to see more in the photo album.
Snow!
Both in February and March, Bella got to visit the snow at her grandparent's house up the hill in Bonny Doon.(They have had snow 5 times this year--on the Central California coast! But of course there is no climate change going on...)
Bella had lots of fun playing in the snow, stomping around and hearing it crunch, watching it fall, throwing snowballs, being hit by snowballs, building snowmen (well, given the stickiness of the snow and the thinness of the layer, they were almost half "dirt men" or "redwood duff men", but still they were fun!), and especially KNOCKING SNOWMEN DOWN!!!
Bella had lots of fun playing in the snow, stomping around and hearing it crunch, watching it fall, throwing snowballs, being hit by snowballs, building snowmen (well, given the stickiness of the snow and the thinness of the layer, they were almost half "dirt men" or "redwood duff men", but still they were fun!), and especially KNOCKING SNOWMEN DOWN!!!
Monday, December 12, 2005
Daddy... Man... Daddy... Man
This is Bella's current obesession. She converses quite effectively when we are really interacting, but sitting in her carseat or before going to sleep or just toddling around the house she babbles a lot, seeming to work things out for herself. Currently she seems to be working on gender. She repeats the words: "Daddy... Man... Daddy...Man" over and over. Sometimes she talks about Mama being a woman, too, and about other people but mostly it is Daddy. (Actually she was saying "Mama... Man" for awhile yesterday and we went back and forth about this for awhile! I think "man" is just a lot easier to say than "woman"--at least I hope that's it!)
I'm working on introducing the concept of "grownup," so I don't automatically attach a gender to everyone--and heck, with some of our magazines it is pretty much impossible to say for sure! We already are using "kid" and "baby."
I'm working on introducing the concept of "grownup," so I don't automatically attach a gender to everyone--and heck, with some of our magazines it is pretty much impossible to say for sure! We already are using "kid" and "baby."
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Halloween!
Okay, finally getting around to posting Halloween photos. I was happy to find this puppy costume for Isabella, since she likes doggies sooooo much. This picture is from the day before Halloween in Capitola, where they hold an annual costume parade down to the beach. I took several pictures of Bella running around on the beach--where I'm pretty sure dogs are not allowed!
.
At the parade we ran into Bella's friend Liang, who is also adopted from China and is 2 days older. She was a lobster. Still, despite the species conflict, they seemed to get along very well for 20 month olds.
Click on either of the photo for LOTS more costume pictures and more photos with Liang.
-Andrea
With Natalie (and parents)
Bella and Natalie had a playdate a few weeks back--and the parents got to play, too! We all had fun sliding, eating strawberries, and petting a pekinese in a little red wagon at a local park. Afterwards Natalie, Dana and Lester came over for dinner and a food fight (just kidding! it only seemed like that, but not for long with our lab mix around)
Natalie and Bella also had fun playing at the Accept picnic back in September. They found the best toy--a box!
Bella and Natalie are from the same county: Tonggu, Jiangxi Province, China.
Click on the picture for a link to LOTS more pictures of the two girls playing--and a few of the parents as well!
Natalie and Bella also had fun playing at the Accept picnic back in September. They found the best toy--a box!
Bella and Natalie are from the same county: Tonggu, Jiangxi Province, China.
Click on the picture for a link to LOTS more pictures of the two girls playing--and a few of the parents as well!
In Mama's sailor suit!
This sailor suit belonged to me when I was a baby! I'm completely amazed my Aunt Jan kept it all these years--Thanks Aunt Jan! Click on the photo for more cute shots of Bella in this sailor suit.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Peekaboo with Daddy
The title pretty much sums it up. Bella had so much fun playing peekaboo behind the chair at Grandma Lorrie and Grandpa Ron's house.
Click on the photo for more pictures of the peekaboo game
Click on the photo for more pictures of the peekaboo game
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Talking and more Talking!
Bella is talking so much now! We lost track of how many words she knows sometime in September, at over 50. She has started speaking many of her signs as well. (I mean besides MORE, which she's been both signing and saying since May!) Some favorites are airplane, stars, bubbles, arm, knee, Uh-oh, bye-bye, up and eye.
Some words are a little hard to understand, at least without context. The dogs, known to us as Zima and Iris, are called Mimi and Aiiii (eye). And her good friends Ch'aska (age 6 1/2) and Callum (4 1/2) are Dada and Mum! (hmm, I thought that was us?).
Our current favorite, though (and the reason I chose this photo to illustrate the blog) is her word for Hug, which sounds just like Oak! She likes this word so much now that she is forever going around asking for an Oak! So cute we have a hard time not laughing. We have even tossed around the idea of faking her out and pretending that really is the way to pronounce it, so that she won't change, but figured that would mark us as "bad parents," so we won't (probably).
Some words are a little hard to understand, at least without context. The dogs, known to us as Zima and Iris, are called Mimi and Aiiii (eye). And her good friends Ch'aska (age 6 1/2) and Callum (4 1/2) are Dada and Mum! (hmm, I thought that was us?).
Our current favorite, though (and the reason I chose this photo to illustrate the blog) is her word for Hug, which sounds just like Oak! She likes this word so much now that she is forever going around asking for an Oak! So cute we have a hard time not laughing. We have even tossed around the idea of faking her out and pretending that really is the way to pronounce it, so that she won't change, but figured that would mark us as "bad parents," so we won't (probably).
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Vacation at Silver Lake
Okay, very far behind in blogging. I put up this bunch of pictures, though, from our vacation (in early August!) to Silver Lake, by Carson Pass and Kirkwood, in the Sierra. Click on the picture at right to see more.
Isabella had sooo much fun on this vacation! We had a housekeeping cabin right by the lake, and Jeff's parents and brother had another a few hundred meters away. So the day consisted of walking over to Grandma's and eating, then walking home and changing and going to the beach and playing in the water, then changing again and walking back to Grandma's and eating, then a hike or maybe more beach, and then walking back (she was having great fun practicing walking at this point, since it had only been about 2 or 3 weeks) for an extended eating period in the evening, and then early bed. And parents focused just on her, with no pesky phones or computers. And lots of birds and squirrels to watch. The only thing missing was her doggies, but otherwise this was heaven!
We really had a good time too! Jeff's family first rented one of these cabins 42 years ago (see photo in the album by clicking on the picture above) and have come most years since then. This year was pretty different from previous years--not nearly as much hiking or long paddles, but we got some very nice hikes in and had so much fun watching Bella having fun! And the sunsets were beautiful, and there was a really cool sun dog that we had to take lots of pictures of as well. Click on the photo to see all of the above and more.
-Andrea
Isabella had sooo much fun on this vacation! We had a housekeeping cabin right by the lake, and Jeff's parents and brother had another a few hundred meters away. So the day consisted of walking over to Grandma's and eating, then walking home and changing and going to the beach and playing in the water, then changing again and walking back to Grandma's and eating, then a hike or maybe more beach, and then walking back (she was having great fun practicing walking at this point, since it had only been about 2 or 3 weeks) for an extended eating period in the evening, and then early bed. And parents focused just on her, with no pesky phones or computers. And lots of birds and squirrels to watch. The only thing missing was her doggies, but otherwise this was heaven!
We really had a good time too! Jeff's family first rented one of these cabins 42 years ago (see photo in the album by clicking on the picture above) and have come most years since then. This year was pretty different from previous years--not nearly as much hiking or long paddles, but we got some very nice hikes in and had so much fun watching Bella having fun! And the sunsets were beautiful, and there was a really cool sun dog that we had to take lots of pictures of as well. Click on the photo to see all of the above and more.
-Andrea
Monday, August 22, 2005
Red Egg and Ginger Party!
A Red Egg and Ginger party is held to celebrate a child’s turning 100 days old. Since Bella’s 100 days with us corresponds with her 18 month “birthday,” we thought it was a good time for a party!
Saturday, August 27th, 3pm to 8pm
Potluck—bring whatever you like! (Bella says to bring fruit!) (and you know there will be wine)
Bring wishes for Isabella for her scrapbook – there will be paper to write them on here, or you can use your own.
Bring kids—Bella loves older kids! (and of course younger ones are also welcome)
Need directions? Other questions? Email or call us.
Can’t make it, but want to meet her? Give us a call!
Best wishes, love and hugs to all of you, and we hope to see you there!
Andrea, Jeff and Isabella Youlan the MaoMaoChong
Red Egg and Ginger links:
http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa012303a.htm
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring99/wong/wong1.html
Saturday, August 27th, 3pm to 8pm
Potluck—bring whatever you like! (Bella says to bring fruit!) (and you know there will be wine)
Bring wishes for Isabella for her scrapbook – there will be paper to write them on here, or you can use your own.
Bring kids—Bella loves older kids! (and of course younger ones are also welcome)
Need directions? Other questions? Email or call us.
Can’t make it, but want to meet her? Give us a call!
Best wishes, love and hugs to all of you, and we hope to see you there!
Andrea, Jeff and Isabella Youlan the MaoMaoChong
Red Egg and Ginger links:
http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa012303a.htm
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring99/wong/wong1.html
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Look at her Walking!
Okay, she really is walking now, as of July 22nd. She played "fetch for about half an hour! Jeff joked that since we'd learned our parenting skills with dogs, it made sense that she'd be learning to walk by playing fetch. (Actually she's better at it than the dogs. Zima, especially just wonders why anyone would do something so boring and call it a game.)
Oh, and the ball she's using was given to her by Janus Blume, and was on the altar to celebrate Solstice, so maybe it had some magic in it!
(click on the photo for more walking shots, including one great one where she seems to be invoking her superpowers--more magic!)
Oh, and the ball she's using was given to her by Janus Blume, and was on the altar to celebrate Solstice, so maybe it had some magic in it!
(click on the photo for more walking shots, including one great one where she seems to be invoking her superpowers--more magic!)
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
At the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival
The last weekend in June, we went up to Laytonville, California (150 miles north of San Francisco) to the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival. Isabella really seemed to have a great time! She just loves music, and notices when the music is winding down and starts to clap! Even before everyone else! Plus there were a lot of attentive campmates around to dote on her and especially to FEED her!
We weren't sure how to handle sleeping arrangements, and even considered renting an RV till we saw how much that would cost. We ended up putting all our stuff in the tent and sleeping in our station wagon, with us in the back and MaoMaoChong in a special nest of pillows in the passenger seat. Everyone slept well, but the first morning after Bella woke up she cried for about 20 minutes. We imagined her thinking: "Is this my new house? It seems awfully small. I liked the last one better!" She cheered up after that, though. The howling pictures from the photo album are taken in the car the second morning.
We weren't sure how to handle sleeping arrangements, and even considered renting an RV till we saw how much that would cost. We ended up putting all our stuff in the tent and sleeping in our station wagon, with us in the back and MaoMaoChong in a special nest of pillows in the passenger seat. Everyone slept well, but the first morning after Bella woke up she cried for about 20 minutes. We imagined her thinking: "Is this my new house? It seems awfully small. I liked the last one better!" She cheered up after that, though. The howling pictures from the photo album are taken in the car the second morning.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
