Hannah's First Hanukkah

Tonight is the first night of Hanukkah. Lindsey and I decided to keep up with our Christmas tradition and go to the Golden Bee at the Broadmoor. It's an old English pub that was actually brought over here from England and re-assembled and put in place at the Broadmoor, which is an old five-star resort. Anyway, Lindsey and I like to go places on holidays and days off - nothing expensive, just out of the house. Nothing is open on Christmas; most people are at home that day. So a few years ago we discovered that the Golden Bee is open on Christmas, so we have been going there - they have the best cheese dip they give you as a free appetizer. This year, we met a friend there (also Jewish) and her two kids. We had a good time, and Hannah was well-behaved and charming.

When we got home we lit the Hannukah candles and opened gifts. Johanna and Clint gave us a gift certificate to Best Buy and to Cinemark...and said they would babysit so we could go to a movie! Lindsey gave me a couple of DVD's (Must Love Dogs and the Waltons first season). Must Love Dogs was the movie I didn't see on the flight to China (I was asleep), and I have always loved the Waltons since it first ran in the 70's. Of course, Lindsey also gave me a beautiful string of black pearls and matching earrings he bought in China - but I nagged him so much about having a little present just to open on Hanukkah, that he finally gave in. I gave Lindsey some studio pictures of Hannah I had done when we went to Chapel Hills with Arthur and his kids. I'll scan them here because they turned out pretty good. We gave Hannah a Dora the Explorer convertible sofa, and Johanna and Clint gave her a noisy phonics type toy - she loves it, of course.

Play Date

Yesterday Hannah and I went on our first play date. Arthur brought Zach and Morissey to Chapel Hills Mall and we met there in the food court for lunch. McDonald's Happy Meals for the kids - Hannah's first fast food. She didn't seem to like it very much, but she enjoyed eating Zach's fries. She sat next to Zach and kept looking up at him and smiling and laughing. She likes other kids. Either that, or she's a little flirt.




After lunch we went to a play/climbing area in the mall. It was packed, of course - three days before Christmas. Hannah had a great time there - she especially loved the slides, and following after the older kids. Arthur pointed out to me a caucasian woman with an Asian child. The woman asked me if Hannah was from China, and said her daughter, now 3 years old, was from Korea, and they adopted her when she was four months old. She told me when her little girl saw Hannah she said, "Mommy, that little girl looks like my little sister!" The mother said her daughter is beginning to realize that she looks different than her parents, and that there are other people who look like her. She also said that she recently went on a trip to New York, and they got a lot of stares. She said that Colorado is different because there are so many kids from China here; people are more used to seeing Asian kids with caucasian parents. They don't get as many stares, and everybody has a family member or neighbor who has adopted from China.

Hannah's haircut

Well, I took Hannah to get her hair cut yesterday. That long hair hanging in her eyes was really bugging me, and she won't keep barrettes or pony tails in her hair.

Hannah did a pretty good job being patient while Lori was cutting her hair. Except she was her usual squirmy worm during the process. One of the other woman who works there tried to distract her with Christmas decorations and things, but Hannah was pretty antsy.

It only took about 15 minutes and when I asked what I owed her, Lori said, "The first hair cut is free!" She also told me I should bring her back in a few weeks to have another trim because she was getting a lot of new hair growth.

After the hair cut, we took a little walk at Prospect Lake (well I walked, Hannah sat in her stroller). It was pretty warm (above 50 degrees) and the sun was warm. There were quite a few people out: people walking dogs, girls roller-skating. Hannah pointed out each dog we passed, saying, "Doggie! Doggie!" and she waved at each one as we walked by. There were lots of geese and ducks and other birds - Hannah referred to them all as "Doggie!".

Hannah's new look!

The burning question...

The answer to the question: "I wonder if Hannah likes chocolate chip cookies?" is:

















"DUH!!!"

Back home...

We've been home with Hannah a month now - in some ways it seems like just yesterday that we brought her home. But it also seems like she's been with us forever.

Hannah is a beautiful, sweet, sometimes obstinate kid who definitely has her own ideas about how things should be done. She has a smile and a laugh that could make me feel better no matter what else was going on. She dances whenever she hears music. She imitates whatever sound other people make. She calls everything a variant of "Da-da": Daddy, the doggies, her ducky, her congee, Grandma. It seems that it's her all-purpose word that changes meaning according to context. It also seems like she uses some version of the tones heard in Mandarin. She walks around the house with her toy phone carrying on a conversation with "somebody", complete with loud exclamations, what sound like long stories, and laughter as if the person on the other end is telling jokes. She loves the dogs, and loves to pet them, pull their hair and step on them. Needless to say she is not allowed to pull their hair or step on them. She knows this. But if she looks like she is about to step on their tail or their "feathers", and one of us says, "Hannah, NO!", she looks at us calmly and very deliberately raises her foot to step on the poor dog. The dogs are very patient with her, but after a while, each of them needs a break and stands by our closed bedroom door, patiently waiting for me to open the door so they can lay on the bed for a nap.

Mom is here visiting right now. Hannah really loves her...she plays with her, gives her hugs, and talks to her in her own special language with all the "da-da's" and other sounds.

The photos above are mostly self-explanatory. The one with Hannah and the TV needs a little explanation. On the TV is Ann Miller in the "Too Darn Hot" number from "Kiss Me Kate." Hannah is doing what she always does whenever she hears music - dancing. Please note that Hannah's arms are in exactly the same position as Ann Miller's. This is a talented child.