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Go Fly A Kite
We finally had some nice weather over the past few weekends. Nice according to Hannah, that is. It fit within her two degree comfort zone and was accompanied by moderate humidity and plenty of sunshine. On one of these nice, windy days we thought we would try a kite. So, off to Target we went to get a Barbie kite, of course. She indicated that she had done this before, but maybe kite flying in China is a little different from here. She let the kite have about 5 feet of line and ran with it to keep it in the air. We tried to show her a less physical way to fly a kite. After the usual hesitation, she reluctantly agreed that letting the wind do the work was better. As with most things, interest in the kite waned in short order. You’ll be able to follow the progression of her decreasing interest in the photos below. She started out running with it before we enlightened her on an easier way to fly a kite. Then it went to holding it and moving the line as necessary. Next, she sat down and tried not to look too bored. The final step in the progression was lying down with her eyes closed and calling dad to get the line from her. This short video says it all. If kite flying isn’t holding her interest, we can hardly blame her. All her energy and brain power is going into English. Hannah got a very pleasant surprise when we sat down to read "Green Eggs and Ham." We asked her to try to read it to us. She really didn’t want to. But as she started to read, she realized that she actually knew almost all the words. Aside from a couple words we had to help her with, she read the whole book. I don’t think anyone was more surprised than her. She had a huge smile on her face (so did her mom and dad). We are so proud of our girl and all the progress she has made. Hannah recently received a much anticipated and belated birthday gift from her foster parents and foster sisters. They sent her a very nice box of goodies. Hannah had lots of smiles that evening. It was good for her to have something from her China family.
(Posted: 5/31/2009)
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Zen And The Art of Mowing
What kind of landscaping help makes the task take twice as long? HANNAH! Last week Hannah saw a neighbor mowing their lawn with a regular push mower. She told us that she wanted to mow the lawn. That was a Wednesday and she asked about it every day until Saturday when the lawn actually needed mowing. Most of the family was taking bets that she wouldn’t last a full two strips of grass with the mower. Well, she actually lasted for most of the side yard which is fairly large. A couple of times she wanted Jon to straighten out the wavy lines she had made, but other than that she pushed it herself. In all, it took 3 hours to finish the lawn with Hannah’s "help". That is an hour and a half more than normal. That might actually be cause for alarm if she was going to help every time. Have no fear, there was no offer from Hannah to help with the lawn this week even though Jon asked if she wanted to. My guess is that it was just too much for her that she couldn’t get a straight line with the mower. OCD anyone? Also, something I forgot to mention a couple of weeks ago, we had an incident during bath time. In China, Hannah always wanted to take baths and never showers. The few times I pointed out the shower head to her she shook her head "no" very vehemently. Once we got home, she took a few baths before I tried the shower thing again. She decided to try it. Well, to say that she likes it is an understatement. She would spend all night in the shower if it didn’t get cold. In fact, the first time that she outlasted the hot water, she screamed for me to come in the bathroom and pointed with disgust at the shower head that was now spewing cold water. It was a lesson that had to be learned eventually. Her showers are always very hot, and I have tried to discourage this for many reasons. One night, when her shower was particularly hot, the steam from her shower set off our fire alarm. Apparently the fan in the bathroom was not enough. In all our years living in this house, we have never set off our fire alarm with steam from a shower. I never even knew it was possible. Hannah is teaching us so much! And now, on to the photos. We've also included a brief video of Hannah's first attempt at mowing.
(Posted: 5/18/2009)
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Hannah's Birthday, Part 2
Hannah had her big birthday party last weekend. She was thrilled with another day all about her. She got some great gifts and has been happily playing with everything this week. Her loot included among many other things an origami flower book (she has been making flowers all week), a Razor scooter (it’s been a good week for outside fun) and an iPod nano (she has barely begun to tap all the possibilities there). It was a good day for her but we are happy that our lives will finally calm down. Since Hannah came home, she has had Easter, her 2 birthday parties, doctors, dentists, school, and now mother’s day. We are welcoming the chance for some boredom and routine. A couple of tidbits from the life of Hannah this week. We had another dentist appointment. She had to get a particularly bad cavity filled. As with her teeth extractions, she got a Novocain shot beforehand. When we got home, we promised her ice cream as soon as she was able to eat again. As it got closer to the time for ice cream, she started asking where grandpa and grandma were. We told her that they were at home and that just the three of us were going out for ice cream. Oddly enough, she didn’t seem to understand. We finally figured out that the cause of the confusion was related to her first dental appointment. After that appointment grandma and grandpa came over with ice cream. In Hannah’s mind this time should be no different; a dental appointment equals ice cream with grandma and grandpa afterward. Since debating this point was impossible, we had grandma and grandpa meet us at DQ and all was right with the world again. Hannah also gave us an incredible gift this week. At one point she asked for paper because she wanted to draw something with different color highlighters. She wouldn’t let us see what she was doing. After a while, she called us both into the room to see what she had done. It was a flower (origami) attached to a note that said, "I love you dad, mom". That was our first unsolicited "I love you", which is a huge step in attaching and bonding. It’s also really nice to hear! On an educational note, we are amazed how rapidly Hannah is learning English at school. Her principal told us she was doing very well and learning a lot. We can see the difference at home. Although she still speaks little English, she understands quite a bit of what we are saying. The only words she doesn’t seem to understand are school, homework, and bedtime. When we bring up these topics, she just tilts her head, furrows her brow and says, "HUH?" It’s really convincing for the first 20 times. And now, on to the photos.
(Posted: 5/08/2009)
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Family Updates For May 2009
Here are the current happenings in our family:
