Some Jia-isms

As requested by my buddy Stefanie. These are all exact quotes of stuff Jia has said.

* Jia has been contrary at times lately so if I suggest "two books" she will always say, "No, three books," etc. She was eating a cracker at my parents' house and I said, "Jia, can you please just sit in one place to eat it?" She said, "No, I want to sit in TWO places!"

* Jia has been spending a lot of time in her little outdoor pool. Unfortunately we find many butterflies floating in it. We saw another one recently and she said, "Hmm, maybe he wanted a drink! Or [sigh] maybe he just wanted to die."

* Joe's friend sent him the movie "Blades of Glory." Jia saw the DVD cover with Will Ferrell on it dressed as a flamboyant ice skater.


She said, "Oh, that scares me!" (We found this especially funny because NOTHING typically frightening scares Jia.) Then she asked, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

* If you recall, I posted about our dinner routine where we say what we liked about our day, what we didn't like and what we're thankful for. Before, Jia always talked about food. Now she only reflects on baby sister (and remembers everything in great detail). During a typical dinner she'll say: "I like that Willa is eating some cheese. I don't like that she fussed when we were upstairs in her room earlier today." But she still almost always ends with: "I am thankful that we're all eating dinner!"

* Speaking of eating dinner, we were eating dinner outside recently and at the end of dinner I went inside to get something. When I returned outside and sat down, a puddle of something on my chair instantly soaked through my pants. I jumped up and said, "Why is my chair all wet?" Jia, after a great pause, then said, "There was pepper in my mouth and I had to spit it out." Being that this was no minor amount of spit, I went in and changed my pants. When questioned why she didn't use her napkin, Jia later said, "My napkin blew away and got stuck in the deck." I informed her there were alternate solutions. My parents were over at the time and laughed all the way home.

* Moving along the gross factor: Jia is already a very skilled negotiator and has an answer for everything. She was protesting bedtime and then told me she had to poop. I asked (not really expecting a response), "Do you really need to poop or are you stalling because you don't want to go to bed?" She replied, "I actually need to poop, but it's going to take a while. I don't want to strain myself. Can you get me some books please?"

* And ending with a sweet one: Joe said, "I can't believe you're turning 3, Jia!" She said, "That's okay, Baba. I'll still be your and Mama's baby. I just need to grow up and be a Mama and help people."

That's all for now, folks.

Travel Group Fun!

We got together with the two other families from our travel group. Back in 2006 we all traveled to Qichun to adopt our girls Jia, Carrie and Jia. Marie, Carrie's older sister, also traveled with us.

I was astonished at how amazingly well the girls all got along. Perfectly, really. They were cohorts immediately even though it had been a year since they last saw each other. The Jias both called each other "the other Jia" and they both happen to call their dads, Bobby. Willa even made it up past 8:00 p.m.! It was a truly wonderful day.

Family Day Festivities

Like last year, we went to Underwater Adventures, a huge aquarium, today to celebrate Jia's Family Day. Jia loved touching the rays and seeing the sharks swim overhead. Willa liked it too and peered around while kicking her legs the entire time.

We returned home and had Chinese food for dinner. Jia asked me to read her fortune cookie. I normally read what they actually say and then explain it but, for fun, tonight I said, "It says, 'You're a cutie pie Jia and your family loves you very much.'" Jia then exclaimed, "Oh, that's a good one!"

When we were in China we bought Jia a present for every Family Day until she turns 18. We gave her a sleeping doll last year. This year we gave her a matching awake doll. She was more thrilled than I imagined! She promptly put both of them to bed and then she "went to bed" as well.

Jia's Two-Year Familiversary!

Today is the two-year anniversary of when Jia joined our family! It some ways it has been a really long two years, and in some ways very short.

Our first year with Jia was likely one of the toughest we've ever faced. We wrote about it here. Being a parent is hands-down the hardest job we've ever had. It's, of course, also the most rewarding by far.

Jia has made huge strides in the last year when it comes to attachment and development. It has truly been astonishing. She is also becoming the sweetest little girl.

For example, Joe and Jia went to get sandwiches the other day. When they returned Jia raced in excitedly yelling, "Mommy, they put tomato on it for you!!" There's something very touching about a kid who cares so much about sharing this joy with me.

I was wearing my Lucky Mommy t-shirt yesterday and I asked her if she knew why I was lucky. She said, "Because you get to be with me!" She couldn't be more right.

Little update on Willa

Willa has been making some fun developmental strides lately. She is seven months old. She can now successfully pick up a puff and put other easy-to-pick-up food into her mouth on her own. We can tell this pleases her greatly because she sometimes yells at us if we don't feed her quickly enough after she's finished her last bite!

She has also begun to stick her little bottom up in the air so it looks like she's making the steps toward crawling. She can get around really well just by rolling and scooting anyway. She scooted from room to room today and ended up all the way under the dining room table.

She's starting to babble more and it's fun to hear all her noises. She has great eye contact and instantly smiles when we look at her. When she laughs her smile is so big that all you see are huge cheeks and a wide mouth with two tiny teeth.

The below images were taken when she just started to laugh so you can't get the full effect, but you can get an idea...

Happy 4th of July!

Our two little citizens celebrating the 4th!

Just a few photos

Here are a few recent photos. The ones of Jia were taken tonight so you can see how much her eye has healed. (Thank goodness!) We were planting our cherry pits and avocado seed from our dinner tonight, just to see what happens.


And some of Willa, of course...