Two-wheeling.

 For the most part Kerry's bike was ignored all last summer.  But this year, it's been a different story.  She has been asking to ride almost daily and it's getting very hard to keep up with her, she goes so fast! 

 

 

  I've noticed her watching some of the other neighborhood kids and grown-ups lately as they ride around sans training-wheels and I knew what was coming. 



 

Sure enough, last night she asked Daddy to take them off.

 

 

She wants so much, now, to be a "big girl".  She's insisting on doing all sorts of things on her own and my super picky-eater has even been trying all sorts of new things simply because "that's what big girls do."  Today she even ordered a cheeseburger instead of her usual nuggets and ate the entire thing, bread and all!  She does not normally eat bread of any kind.  

 



But, back to the bike.   She and Daddy practiced and practiced...and she practiced some more with me today.  She's not there yet, but I'm betting my determined girl with be riding solo with no training wheels very soon.

 

 

So I'm posting one last photo of those training wheels...just because.  They really do grow up fast don't they?!

 

 

 

Just can't get enough of this girl-o-mine.  I still can't believe she's been with us four years now.  Crazy how time flies when you're having fun. 

 As usual when I started snapping pictures she started into "silly Kerry" mode.  

 

 

But that's okay. "Silly Kerry" makes for much better photos than "grumpy Kerry" anyway.  And it makes me happy to see her so happy.

 

Penguin Puppet has been MIA for weeks now so "Baby Penguin" has moved up in the ranks.   I think I'm going to have to try to order a replacement though because she really misses Penguin Puppet. 

Speaking of the fact that you can find absolutely anything on the internet this is what I ordered for Kerry's charm bracelet this year.  Each year on her "gotcha' day  I add a new charm that represents something significant that happened or just represents Kerry for that year.  This year I got her a paint palette with a little paint brush because she's always saying she wants to be "big painter" when she grows up...because, of course, she's just a "little painter" right now, hehe.  She is obsessed with rainbows in particular and know the colors of the rainbow in their order since about 2 1/2 and never, ever paints them out of order.  My girl is all about doing things in order.  So I specifically ordered this charm because, in the photo at least, it had all of the colors and in their order.  Of course she noticed that orange is missing.  Nevertheless she is thrilled with her new charm and proudly wore her bracelet to church this morning. 

 

Occasionally Kerry will pick up the camera and take a took a few pictures of her own.  One of her favorite subjects is our kitty, LG. 

 

And here she caught me hard at work on the computer.  Hey, that candy ain't gonna crush itself, y'all.

 

 

Happy Sunday!

Four Years ago today....

Four years ago today we flew from Beijing to Nanchang and rushed to our hotel where, maybe a half hour later, we opened our hotel door to meet our daughter for the very first time.  She was accompanied by the orphanage director, assistant director, and an Ayi.  We were informed that she could walk,  and that she likes to sleep on her belly.  Although I can't recall having ever seen her sleep that way since that day.  She laid her little head on my shoulder and my heart just melted.  I was able to ask how she liked her bottle made and how to pronounce her Chinese name.  And just like that, they were gone.  And just like that, we were parents.  She was silent, stoic, bewildered, very observant, and so much braver than any 15 month old should ever have to be.  That broke my heart a little.  Well...a lot.  She wore a diaper that was about 2 sizes too large, and smelled like sweat and baby-powder (which I later found caked in her little neck rolls) after an almost 4 hour car ride.  She looked very healthy, and she was the most beautiful sight we'd ever laid eyes on.  And she was ours.  After almost 13 years we went from being a couple, to being a family.  And she went from being an "orphan" to being a daughter.  I once read in this post that adoption is like Gods redemptive answer to a tragic situation, and I truly believe that. 

 

 

By the next day we were starting to see the many sides of her personality showing through.  Silly, sweet, spicy, funny, yet serious and moody at times, strong, brave, keenly observant, and incredibly smart.  She is, to this day, every bit the same girl we met on Father's Day, June 21, 2009.  She is a complicated, multi-faceted girl and we wouldn't have her any other way.   She has been the perfect fit for our family since day one and we couldn't imagine our lives without our girl now.    

 It's been almost two years since we enrolled Kerry in a Mother's Day Out program.  At the time she was still struggling with some severe separation anxiety. Not much scares this girl so to see the panic and fear in her eyes when I'd leave for work, or just try to leave her in the church nursery for an hour or so was just heartbreaking!.  So when she started to show some signs of being ready to "stretch herself" in that area I found this one day a week program and decided it might be the perfect thing to help her get ready for the separation that would be coming later with her entry into school.  It has been such a blessing.  The fact that it's just one day a week, coupled with the fact that she knows her teacher, Mrs. Danna, from church has helped our girl come so far in this area! 

 

She loves her "school" and looks forward to seeing her friends each week.  She loves the little projects they work on and she's always extra excited for the almost monthly "Tumble-Bus" visit.

 

 

Look at that smile!

 

 

She was so proud to be "Congraduating", hehee.

 

This little guy and Kerry seem to have a, umm, special relationship.  She talks about him...a lot.  When she first started there she would always talk about "Va-Daniel" and I could never figure out who that was.  Well, when she suddenly started talking about "Nathaniel" every week I figured out that they were that same kid and that she had just learned to say his name correctly.  So funny.  And a few weeks back when I picked her up he kept hugging her and saying goodbye.  Mrs. Danna called me over kind of surreptitiously and told me that earlier in the day they were playing and Kerry, out of the blue, said "I just love you Nathaniel."  Oh my.





 

How cute are they, singing their little hearts out?!

 



 

A fuzzy shot of her getting her "diploma" from the wonderful director, Mrs. Marilyn.

 

I am so proud of my brave girl.  She seems to have faced her biggest fear, and conquered it!  And now she is ready face the big world of...Kindergarten..(sniff sniff).