Children's Culture Connection

I was just asked to join the board of Children's Culture Connection - a dynamic non-profit that is doing some very exciting things. Its mission is to help kids from the U.S. develop an appreciation of other cultures, to foster cultural awareness within our own multiracial communities, and to raise funds to help at-risk children throughout the world.

Some of the programs include cross-cultural events that are designed to teach children about the world, a classroom exchange program, and a newsletter that educates kids about specific countries by providing interesting facts, recipes and funny language lessons. If you are interested in receiving the free newsletter for kids, or more involvement, click here!

I'm honored to be a part of this organization.

No hugging here

We had planned to go on a playdate the other day after nap. As soon as Jia woke up, she said, "Now we can go to Lily's house! They have hugging there!"

At first blush, it would appear that we, sadly, don't have hugging here. Those who know Lily, however, know about her generous hugs. Apparently her effusive nature has made a big impression on Jia!

Our little girl

Joe has been reminiscing with Jia about various things that they did together when she was younger. Recently, he started off a conversation by saying, "Remember when you were little..." He was going to launch into some story about her babyhood, when she cut him off and said: "I am little, Baba!"

Jia's statement, with sort of a "c'mon you idiot" tone, was a great reminder that, even though we feel she's quite accomplished, she is truly still so little!

With potty training comes...

...potty humor, apparently.

I heard Joe and Jia singing the old standby "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" the other night. At each verse, she chooses the animal and tells us what noise it makes. She typically picks a cow, horse, the usuals.

This time for the animal she said, "Baba's butt" and for the noise? "Toot toot," of course. I then heard them both roaring with laughter.

Sigh...

Hey!

Tonight at dinner, Jia gave us her interpretation of the word "hey" and what follows it. We must say it a lot. On her own, she went through this list one after the other (exact quotes from her):

"Hey, don't touch something!"
"Hey, be careful!"
"Hey, don't do that!"
"Hey, no!"
And our favorite, "Hey, that's not a good idea."

It was eye-opening, funny and somewhat sad all at the same time!

Let's Dream a Little...

...about something other than our children. One of my biggest passions in life is travel. My dream is to be able to join the Traveler's Century Club. To be able to join as a member, you need to have visited 100 countries. Thankfully, their country list is a little broader than what you may think. Their standard for what is a country includes those recognized as "politically, ethnologically or geographically different." As such, Hawaii is considered a country given its location and distinctiveness, as are the Galapagos Islands, and Vatican City. According to their list, I have visited 38 countries.

Here are the places:
North America: United States, Canada, Mexico
Central and South America: Panama, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Venezuela, Galapagos Islands
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Vatican City, Monaco, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland
Asia: Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), Japan and, of course, China. (Looking forward to adding Taiwan in the near future too!)
Other: Bonaire, Jamaica, Hawaii, Iceland

Some of these visits were brief. For others, I stayed quite a while: I attended school in France and once spent two months roaming around South America. I've been lucky in that I've been able to save up for the trips and delay start dates of new jobs so that I could travel. And being that I did most of this travel when I was younger, I didn't mind staying at $2/night hostels or places that didn't have heat or hot water (I still remember waking up and looking over at my travel clock in Ecuador and seeing that the room temp was a frigid 30 degrees).

My favorite place: the Amazon. We saw pink dolphins (yes, in the Amazon River), pet a sloth, caught and ate piranha, went on nighttime hunts for tarantula the size of dinner plates, slept in the open jungle among a troop of monkeys and were served masticated chicha by river tribespeople. I was in awe with every footstep. My second favorite trip: Cambodia.

Courtesy of our family car trips, I have also visited most of our states. A remaining dream state to visit: Alaska.

So, my dream trip, if I could go anywhere for any length of time, would be an extended trip of a few months around Africa visiting South Africa, Kenya (once it has settled down), Botswana, Tanzania, Egypt and Madagascar. And since we're really dreaming, I'd throw in a stop for some scuba diving in Tahiti.

Truthfully, I would be excited to go just about anywhere. How about you? What is your dream trip?

Civil Hearing Set!

We were just notified that the civil hearing date for Hsin-Yen's adoption is January 30th - a couple of weeks away! For a more detailed description of what all this entails, click here. We're thrilled to be one step closer to her!

Idioms-R-Us and other things of note

We've had some interesting moments with idioms lately.

1. Jia was eating her dinner really well and I said, "Wow, good use of your fork! Keep it up!" I then looked over and she was holding her fork up in the air over her head and giving me a look of utter confusion.


2. Joe left for work and said, "I'm off to bring home the bacon!" Jia, in a contrary mood, yelled, "No bacon, Baba! I don't want any bacon! NOOOOOOO BACON!"

Oh how she makes us laugh! And she makes us realize that we need to think carefully about everything we say!

Remember how Jia is a climber? I was in the bathroom and I heard her rustling around in another room and I asked, "Jia, what are you doing?" She replied, "Climbing! I'm WAY up high." I panicked thinking that she was hanging from the chandelier (again!) but no, when I ran out I saw that she was standing on a book, about an inch off the ground. Apparently everything is relative.

Jia joined our family 1 1/2 years ago today!

Hsin-Yen's Second Update!

We are so lucky! We just received three photos and a video of Hsin-Yen! Her hair continues its upward trend and she is looking pudgy and oh so huggable!

We did not receive updated measurements but did receive a developmental checklist which indicates that she is doing things like: responding to a voice with eye contact, lifting her head a little, calming down when held, and the best, responsive smiling and laughing! Enjoy!

An ode to adoption

Motherbridge of Love read by Amy Tan. Many adoption readings are somewhat off-putting for me for various reasons, but I think this is pretty well done and worth a listen.

Happy New Year!

We are really looking forward to this year and are thrilled about adding another daughter to our family!

Another thing to celebrate - Jia is newly potty trained! Yay Jia!