Happy New Year!

This year we celebrated Chinese New Year, for the first time- We went with friends for dim sum in our international district, and then watched the CNY festivities in the streets. The next day we went to a wonderful gathering for families with children from China- Emma was transfixed by the performances of Chinese dances, and has been imitating them in our living room since.

Emma did eventually recover from her Christmas illness... we were never really sure what she had, but it was a doozy. Our Christmas was very quiet. I included a few pre-Christmas things here too.

Emma's favorite things these days are Barbies, Polly Pockets, understanding how the human body works, ocean animals, elephants/mammoths/mastodons. Dance performances in the living room (fully dressed in layers of dressup clothes) after dinner. Team jerseys (she is in a little sports class and often wears hers to bed). And not a day goes by that I don't stop and wonder how I got so blessed to have this wonderful girl in my life..

A Quiet Christmas

This year, we opted not to travel for the holidays, and stay home.. I was looking forward to being here for Christmas, and made all sorts of plans. Seattle got snowed in, and it was beautiful. Emma and I had a memorable trip to visit friends, her on her pink saucer, flying along on the sidewalk, and me pulling, walking/running and enjoying the exercise. I decided the next day we’d get out the skis I had bought her as an early Christmas present.

And that evening Emma suddenly got very sick, with sustained high fevers/chills, body pains, later an awful cough. Some sort of flu (tho we both were immunized) or a flu-like virus. We’ve been house-bound since then, except for a trip (with chains on the car) to the doc, as more and more snow fell. It has been 5 days, and Emma is still fairly sick, only now starting to improve.

So tomorrow we will spend the day, just of the two of us together, unwrapping presents, and it is totally ok… All I need in this world, right now, is to see her recovering and happy. This season has been a good reminder of what is really important- our loved ones and our health. Merry Christmas everyone.

Thanksgiving at Rainier, Santa's coming!

We had our traditional (for us) Thanksgiving on Mount Rainier, shared with our Seattle 'family'. A little sun, a little snow falling... perfect. Emma threw the first snowball.

Christmas is so much fun with a 4yo, Emma is totally into it. She was most impressed that Santa actually made it to Seattle, at the Tgiving w/e parade. Our tree is now up, I'd post a pic but the rest of the place is in chaos. This weekend..

Emma turns four, and 2yr Anniversary

The end of October is a busy time of year for us- Halloween, Emma's birthday, and our anniversary together. Emma was a cute-as-a-button Dora for Halloween- we went trick or treating at the nearby shopping center, it has a walking area.. what a scene, full of tots in costume. Emma was wide-eyed at all the candy being given out.. I don't think she knew that much candy existed. Very fun. The photo is of her preschool class in their Halloween finery.

We had a "Dora" birthday party, complete with a Dora adventure (Swiper stole the bday cake, the girls needed to follow the map to find it). "Big kids" Sam and Helen dressed up in costume for their roles, part of the hunt wound thru the back yard, etc. Kind of hard to explain in a sentence/two, but Emma is still talking about it.

On our "Gotcha Day", I gave Emma a Chinese silk dress. Two years is a bit of a marking point- for only now has Emma has been with me, as long as she was in China. This is a thoughtful time of the year for me- we celebrate Emma's birthday, and at the same time I think of those in China that took care of her for so long. I can't even begin to imagine parting with a child after two years, and I wonder how her foster parents are. And of course her birthparents are in my mind at this time.

Emma is still recovering from her fall, both physically and emotionally.. this next week we will start getting some additional help, on both accounts, to hopefully help things along.

Scary fall

Emma took a bad fall from the play structure at her little preschool... climbing on the rounded outside of a tunnel, where it wasn't designed for kids to go... it was on the backside of the structure, out of direct view of the teacher. Needless to say, they are making some changes and it looks like a new play structure will be implemented. It happened 5 minutes before I arrived to pick her up, Emma was so shaken she couldn't communicate.. I immediately packed her in her carseat and drove her to our Children's Hospital ER, where we spent the next 6 hours getting xrays, a CT, etc. Fortunately no damage to the bones.

Emma spent a week in a neck collar- and is rapidly recovering. But it will take her longer to feel secure again. Our old nemesis, separation anxiety, is back.. We will get past this in time again, on her schedule.

What a summer

What a summer! Much of it was spent outdoors enjoying the various local outdoor pools and beaches. Emma's Aunt Pam and her boys met us in Oregon for a wonderful week of camping. Emma's cousin Emily came for a visit (during an atypical heat wave). And at the end of the summer we spent a few weekends in a row, cramming in lots of camping and high mountain meadow experiences (ummhh.. most elevation gain done by the car). Emma loves picking huckleberries in the mountains, and just being outside- she has a genuine appreciation for outdoor beauty that I adore.

July 4th in the snow

Emma and I had a wonderful Fourth at Mt Rainier- playing in the snow up high, hiking in the big trees lower down. Up high we saw a black fox and a white fox, both very close. Emma spotted a nearby marmot first and was thrilled.. she's been pretending to be a marmot (call and all) since. Best memories were just hanging on the lodge porch, eating and reading and watching the nearby deer.