 |
| First Steps |
 |
| First Family Birthday Celebration |
 |
| First Chinese New Year With Us |
 |
| First Time Swimming |
 |
| First Kiss |
 |
| First Playdate |
Jaida took her first step on New Year`s Eve so it was a great way to bring in the New Year. She slowly started to improve with three steps and would clap for herself feeling so proud. The last two days she has been walking more so it won`t be long before she doesn`t want to crawl at all.
On Jan 16 my oldest child turned 16 and I can`t believe it. I can`t believe I am old enough to have a 16 year old but also can`t believe my children range in age from 16 to 1 year old :) This is his special year and he has been looking forward to it for quite awhile-since we were at a hotel when he was little and he couldn`t go in the hot tub because you had to be 16. He is now happy to be 16 because we will allow him to watch 18A movies and he can get his license. Life isn`t quite as innocent but still good. The time has gone by so fast and I can`t believe in a couple more years he will be gone to university. The plus of have large age gaps with our children is I will still have company at home and be able to keep myself busy. I am so proud of the wonderful young man he has become and all his great qualities.
This is our first year of celebrating Chinese New Year. It was so much fun and I am so thankful to have our daughter with us and to bring this new tradition into our lives. I was honoured to be invited to Hayden`s class to help with their celebrations. I dressed Jaida up and Hayden and all his friends were so excited to see her. One of his friend`s Dad came and spoke to the class about Chinese New Year and they did crafts, tried eating rice with chopsticks and had lots of special things to take home. I think it is great this holiday is celebrated in the schools and hope whatever school Jaida goes to, she will also have the celebrations. We decorated our house, all wore red, gave them red envelopes and ate chinese food (still miss the food in China). Jason thought one tradition we should have is everyone has to use chopsticks for the entire meal. He was the first one to break the traditon-as soon as he tried to eat rice. It was one of my favourite nights and everyone was so happy to celebrate it. There are a few traditions we didn`t get to do this year (getting haircuts and cleaning the house). I don`t think the boys will be as excited about the cleaning tradition but will be convenient to throw that one in and actually have my house clean.
We tried to keep Jaida`s world as small as possible to slowly get her use to everything, so I didn`t join her in anything and stayed mostly in the house. I am starting to go out more and she is doing quite well. I still try not to go out two days in a row and if I am out with her for too long she lets me know. I joined her in swimming (which is suggested to help with bonding) and library. I want her to be around some children her own age as right now she is use to being with her older brothers (and loving it of course). We have taking her swimming three times this month and she seems to like it. At first, she has that unsure/not so impressed look that we have seen a lot but after awhile she is smiling and splashing lots.
What brought tears to my eyes this month is Jaida now gives me kisses. She really did not like them but that did not slow down kissing her constantly in China and since we have been home. She probably wasn`t kissed in the orphanage so she had no idea what I was doing. So I asked her for a kiss a couple of weeks ago and she turned her head and gave me one on the lips. It was the wettest, most beautiful kiss I have ever had. So now we are always asking for them and I am sure she is sorry she started-haha Trying to get a picture of the special moment is challenging because as soon as she sees the camera she wants it (made the mistake the other day of letting her play with my camera) and pays no attention to me. Another reason why I am so excited she gave me kisses is because it shows she understands what we are saying. She isn`t saying any words so it is hard to know what she understands.
Jaida`s first playdate was with her friend, Jill. We first met on Forever Family Day in Nanchang (with the same agency) and spent 10 days together. I was so happy Brian and Kerri invited me to their home for coffee and have the girls play together. I think it is really special for them to have this early friendship and lucky we live close enough to get together. Their birthdays are only a day a part and we both had waited a long time for our beautiful girls.
 |
| Kerri and me with our beautiful girls |
