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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Shameless mommy brag

Sophie got tested for reading at school. She's in first grade and tested in the 91st percentile, or at a 2nd grade 5th month level. This means she's about two years ahead since she should still be in Kindergarten. She brought home all As and one A+ on her latest report. I'm glad I did not keep her in K last year as she would be bored to tears.

Meanwhile, Little Miss M. is working on potty training. We're trying to sit her on the tiny potty in the evening and we've had some successes. Shame that I did not keep up the whistling training they had done in China!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Irritated with ballet school and loose hamster

I tried to sign up Sophie last trimester and the Thursday class in our neighborhood go canceled. Because Sophie was in soccer, I could not move her to Saturday morning (the only other class that would have worked for working parents). Now I tried again this month, the Th. class gets canceled - again - so I move to Saturday morning (soccer season is over). I order the supplies from the online retailer they recommend - they don't show in time. So, yesterday I make a last minute run to the dance store and I get an e-mail today saying the classes are canceled today due to weather conditions! What weather conditions? Looks fine outside to me. An e-mail a couple of hours before the class is due to start. That's pretty lame if you ask me.

Other topic - Teddy the new hamster thought it was a good idea to get out of its cage while we had both cats, and the dog, sleeping in the house. He must have a hamster guardian angel because we did find him alive.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Margaux signed up for Pre-school

I can't believe my baby is going to go to preschool in just a few short months! I went ahead and signed up Margaux for the 2-yr old class starting in August at CTK. That's where Sophie has been since pre-K4. I love the pre-school. It is really bittersweet to see her growing so fast. I was watching an episode or "rediscovering China" and I'm almost thinking I would like us to go back and adopt a SN (cleft) boy. Okay, I am not really seriously thinking that, 2 is plenty for us, but it has crossed my mind.

The week has been pretty quiet. Margaux has slept through the night last night for the first time in several weeks. She's had a runny nose and keeps on waking up.

Sophie celebrated the 100th day at school. She still seems to enjoy first grade. She's starting ballet tomorrow. We'll let you know how it goes!

I forgot to post the pictures we had done on Jan 2 when my mom and step-dad were here. You can see them below this post.

We also had Chinese New Year with FCC this past Saturday and I need to post some pictures of that. It's nice to finally have a little one to take after 4 years of going to this event!

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

New favorite word

Margaux has a new favorite word: "Alright!". Everything is "alright". Her language has really exploded lately and she probably has 20 to 30 words. She also said her first two word sentence "no, mine!" while arguing over a toy with sissy. She just went to an ear check-up appointment and weighed a whopping 24.8 lbs! Yikes, she's put on a couple pounds in a very brief period.

We are getting ready to celebrate Chinese New Year this weekend and I am looking forward to dressing the girls in their Chinese outfits we bought while we were in Guanghzhou.

Oh yeah, and daddy locked Margaux in the car yesterday after leaving the doctor's office. I had to rush back out with the extra key to let her out.

The crib was taken apart a couple of weeks ago. Margaux is sleeping on a full size bed. She's been doing a little better, but she sill wakes up once or twice a night. I miss the times a few months ago when she slept the whole night through. She really has not done that ever since she got sick with hand, foot, and mouth.

Time to go help Sophie with her homework.

Friday, January 4, 2008

One year ago today!


One year ago today, we received the long awaited "call". It was a very surreal moment for us. After all this time waiting and waiting, CCAI called (our agency) and gave us some details about our new little girl. A few minutes later they e-mailed a picture. Of course it was love at first sight! :) We could not see much on this tiny mug shot taken when she was 6 months old, but we got a couple more pictures the next day via FedEx. It has been a crazy, busy year. First we had to prepare for the trip, then we were in China for 2 1/2 weeks, then we had to get used to being at home. Margaux had a hard time with the time change. Sophie had to share mommy and daddy. All in all, everyone fared pretty well even though Sophie had written her list of prospective new parents for Margaux.

Margaux has blossomed into a beautiful, happy, headstrong, healthy little girl and we are so thankful to have her in our lives. My thoughts at this time are with the families (and the children) still waiting. In exactly one year, China has only referred three months of LIDs. In retrospect, I realize that if we had encountered even more paperwork issues or if we had procrastinated we would still be a family of three today!

Hugs to everyone still waiting. May your children find you very soon!