Visit to Grandma's

Grandma and Hannah at the organ">

Hannah with her cousin Michael
Hannah coloring with her cousin Becca

Hannah and Aunt Sharon playing with the dog's ball













Hannah eating lunch with her cousin Jess









Hannah and Mommy went to visit Grandma in Kentucky. Hannah loves "Mamaw"! Poor Hannah - I think she's bored at home because there aren't a bunch of people entertaining her all the time.

She had a great time meeting all her cousins and aunts and uncles. So far, the only aunt she has a special name for is Aunt Janet - "Adgie". It was nice having other people to play with her so she wasn't just on top of me all the time. I thought I would get a lot of knitting done while I was at Mom's, but I didn't knit a stitch. I actually knitted a little on the plane on the way home - we had an empty seat next to us and Hannah slept in it for a while. I'm knitting her a pair of mittens to go with the hat Mom made for her.

On the plane, I was showing Hannah the lights on the ground. I said, "Look, Hannah - see the lights." She looked and said, "Bubbles!" I guess she thought the sparkle was light reflecting off the bubbles.

Hannah has discovered crayons. She loves to sit on our laps and color with us. Hannah is a very bossy little girl. She prefers to have her current servant color with her and she likes to determine which crayon we use. Once we have colored enough with a certain crayon, she will take it away from us and demand that we color with another, while she uses the first crayon. Abby likes crayons too. But she prefers to eat them. She has already eaten a yellow and part of a red. Good thing they're non-toxic.


I had to post a picture of Hannah on her cell phone in the car to prove that she takes after her daddy in lots of ways!

Chinese New Year

On January 29, we went to the Chinese New Celebration hosted by our agency, CCAI at a Chinese Seafood Restaurant in Denver. Our friends Susy and Arthur and their little boys Zach (4) and Morissey (2) went with us. We had a good time but it was a little hard on Hannah. The time between "courses" was long for a little one, and she was a little put off by all the people. As always, she loved seeing her friends Zach and Morissey - especially Zach. I think she has a crush on him; is that possible? She looks at him all the time with admiration and a big smile, copying whatever he does. Morissey doesn't give her the time of day! Susy says he doesn't like someone littler than him stealing the attention. Which will be interesting since Susy is expecting another boy in a few weeks.

It was a little odd seeing all these Chinese kids, and relatively few Asian adults - but that's the Chinese adoption community. Arthur was one of the few Asian parents there. One lady mistook him for a waiter and asked for a high chair. We all laughed at the assumption that an Asian adult at this party had to be a waiter at the Chinese restaurant. Then Arthur pointed out that he was wearing black pants and a white shirt, just like the waiters. But the lady was still embarrassed when Arthur told her he didn't work there.

They had a Lion Dance, with dancers dressed up as lions (sort of like the Chinese dragons, but a lion). It scared some of the kids because there were loud drums to accompany the dancing, and the lions were a little scary looking. Hannah just sat in my arms sucking her thumb and watching solemnly. Most of the kids (Chinese kids and their Caucasian siblings) and some of the parents were dressed in traditional Chinese outfits. Everyone gets some fancy silk dresses and pants for their kids while in China, so this is about the only chance they get to wear them. Dressing a Chinese kid in Chinese traditional costume looks odd unless it's a Chinese holiday or occasion - it's like they're dolls or something. Hannah wore one of her little dresses and, of course, she looked very cute.













Top: Mommy, Hannah and Daddy (between courses) Bottom: Zach, Arthur, Susy and Morissey


















Zach mugging for the camera (with his dad)

Hannah and her daddy, kicking back in their PJ's on a Saturday night.


Hannah and I are slipping more into a routine that makes it easier to be home with her all day without thinking I don't know what I'm doing or what to do next. She is an active little girl, and likes to be into something and doing something all the time, so I have to keep her entertained. Otherwise she tends to pick activities I prefer she not do: pulling my knitting out of the bag and playing with it, climbing the stairs by herself, or chasing the dogs around so she can grab their tails. She is sweet and has a good sense of humor.

This morning I was trying to play a DVD and for some reason it wouldn't play. I wondered aloud, "Did I press the wrong button?" Hannah said, "I don't know." She may not have known what it meant, and it may have been gibberish that accidentally sounded like English. But she definitely did say the words, with the right intonation. Lindsey and I just looked at each other. I said, "Did she say 'I don't know'?" Lindsey said, "That's what I was just thinking." I know it sounds crazy but she said it. She looked a little surprised at our reaction. I said the same sentence over again and she said something like, "Dobbi-dobbi-da!" (instead of repeating that she didn't know), so odds are it was an accident. But it was pretty funny. What a genius!