You are somethin' special

Maliana ~

Oh boy, where to begin this week? First, it’s nice to be able to say that you are feeling like your healthy self again, finally kicking that nasty virus after over a week. Unfortunately, Daddy and I are still struggling with it, but it’s getting better.

On Monday when I picked you up from school, you insisted that you wanted to stay later and play on the playground before we went home. It gave me an opportunity to talk to your teacher, Ms Brandi, and see how you are doing. She said you’re doing great and since you’ve been with them, your vocabulary and speech have improved a lot. She also said you are like her “little referee” too. Evidently, whenever your classmates get into an argument, you try to help by stepping in the middle and trying to make peace and/or correcting them. She also said that you want to help her around the classroom all the time, anything from cleaning the room to helping remind your classmates to go potty or getting someone a tissue when they need it. You are such a helpful little soul, and it’s nice to hear that other people appreciate you as much as your Dad and I do.

This week has also given birth to something new, the “kiss like Daddy”. The other day when you and I were playing, you came over and out of the blue told me to tilt my head sideways, and then taking my face in your little hands, you planted a huge long kiss right on my lips. When you brought your head back, you said “kiss like Daddy”. This is your new thing (and it is hysterical!) You give me one of these kisses nearly every night now, and I love it! Thankfully, the subtle nuances of what my actual kisses for Daddy are like are lost on you. Ha ha.

Your Christmas show for school is also coming up this Friday, the 10th. We are all so excited! You have been practicing “Up On The Housetop” for a while, even doing it at home and wanting to hear the song over and over again. At bedtime, Daddy and I get a mini-concert with you standing on the bed and performing it for us. You are so proud of yourself and of course, we are so proud of you! I can’t wait to see you up there on stage – it will be so adorable (I just know it!) You also began doing another dance the other day, the Macarena. I have no idea how (or why) they are teaching you how to do that, but it is really funny.

Since we had all been fighting that virus this week, we all took it easy one night and watched the remake of the Karate Kid. It was set in China so it was really neat to see all of the various shots of Beijing and the Great Wall. You liked the movie and watched the entire thing with us. I actually got teared up at the beginning, just seeing them on the China Air airplane. It brought back fond memories of coming home with you. Then of course, seeing all of the footage in-country made Daddy and I really excited to take you back to visit someday. What a beautiful country and culture. Anyway, you did surprise us with one reaction to the film. You got “stuck” on the mother figure in the movie, and when she was not on screen, you kept asking, “His mama?” and wanting to know where she was. You did this throughout nearly the entire movie, and while it drove me a little crazy, I was intrigued by why this particular detail was so important to you when the mother figure was not a very critical piece to the story. I couldn’t help but wonder if somehow, you were worried that his mother would leave him and disappear, similar to how your birth-mother did, and then how your caregivers gave you to us and disappeared as well. I kept checking to see if it was too distressing to you, and it didn’t appear to be, but you were definitely taking it all in and processing it the whole time. It broke my heart to think about that, but it could very well be the truth and it is part of your story. I don’t want to fill in false details, I just wish you were a little bit older and could explain your thoughts more to us. Perhaps we’ll dig this movie back out when you’re older, to see what kind of reaction it conjures then. I am both excited and anxious to begin these conversations with you, about your story, your birth family. The anxiety comes from my fear that I won’t have the correct responses for you, and do more harm than good. I guess time will tell. I just want you to know that we welcome these discussions, in any way they occur.

Later this week, I ran out to get some odds and ends, and couldn’t help but pick up a little white mini-Christmas tree for you at the store. When I brought it home and told you it was your special tree, you got so excited, I can’t even describe the beautiful look on your face. You ran over to me, with your voice high pitched, wrapping your arms around my legs, and saying “Thank You Mommy!” over and over again. You kept doing this the rest of the night, all the way until bedtime, giving me lots of your now famous HUGE kisses and squealing when you’d hug me ever so tightly. You are so proud of your own special tree and were excited to set it up immediately. I thought you’d want to put it in your room, but no, you insisted it sit right next to our big tree in the living room. It’s a little cramped, but hey, it’s Christmas and it makes you happy, so I think it’s perfect! You have been so appreciative of that little tree, even after that first night when I brought it home, giving me “big hugs” (as you say), even the next day when you saw it again. You are just the most appreciative little thing and it is so wonderful to see.

your Mickey Mouse sleeping bag and your own special mini Christmas tree, what could be better?

Like I said, you finished fighting that virus this week, but we still have been giving you your children’s Sudafed that is a grape-flavored liquid, just to be sure your congestion stayed manageable. Anyway, I cracked up the other night when your reaction made me have a flashback of my own, however inappropriate it might have been. I gave you your little “shot glass” of medicine before bed, and you knocked it back like a pro. Then, you looked at me, wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, and said “No wawer” (aka no water), and then swaggered off to the bedroom to read your bedtime books. I couldn’t help but have a certain memory of my own, shortly after turning 21 and getting the hang of drinking in college. Perhaps, not needing your water chaser after your medicine is the toddler equivalent of not needing a beer chaser after some type of nasty shot in college? Either way, it made me laugh. My little girl is growing up! Ha ha.

We dug out some more Christmas stuff this week too, namely the recorded “Twas the Night Before Christmas” book that Blaize made for you last year. You have read this numerous times since we’ve gotten it out. I am excited this year as you are starting to put the pieces together about the holiday. After we read this book the first time, I took you outside to show you our chimney and then back inside to show you our fireplace, trying to explain that that is the same as was in the book. I think it was clicking, but we still have nearly 3 weeks to work on the concept. I am so excited!

On Saturday, Daddy and I went to a CPR refresher training and Lao Lao came to take you out for the day. You had a GREAT time and were so happy upon coming home! You went to see your first movie in a theatre, Tangled (in 3D). Lao Lao sent us a picture of you in the big theatre seat and you looked so teeny in it! She said you did great through the whole thing except got spooked by the intensity of the last 30 minutes. She had you stay though so you wouldn’t leave the theatre with a bad feeling and by the end of the movie, it got happy again (as all Disney movies do) and you loved it. You even came home and told me about the movie that night. It’s so cute to hear you talk about stuff. You also conned Lao Lao into taking you to see Santa again at Easton. You climbed right up on his lap again, no fear at all anymore! The funniest part though, was that you took Lao Lao’s camera while you waited in line and before you jumped up on Santa’s lap, you stopped to take a picture of him. It was a pretty darn good picture too! You are too funny kiddo.



text from Lao Lao, just before the movie started. the seat and 3D glasses look so HUGE!

here's what Santa looks like from your perspective - photo you took just before it was your turn to see "the big man"

look at my big girl!

Today, Sunday, was a fairly lazy day for us all. Daddy is still pretty darn sick, and so am I. I have been sleeping on the couch the last couple of days due to my congestion and not being able to lie down or I get clogged up. Well, you woke up at about 3am and came all the way down the stairs in the dark to find me this morning. I brought you back upstairs and lay down with you until you fell asleep again, then went back on the couch upstairs. At about 7:45am, I woke again to see you standing over me on the couch. You climbed into my lap and when I told I was sleeping out here because I felt sick, you lifted up my shirt thinking it was my belly that felt bad. I told you that it was actually my head, nose, ear, and throat. You then proceeded to kiss every one of those body parts, asking if I was “happy?” You are so sweet. I love seeing those glimmers of empathy developing as you grow into such a beautiful little girl, inside and out.

I did some laundry later and while you watched me fold it, I showed you your blanket for school that I just washed. You said, “Thank you Mommy!” Once again, your appreciation for things astounds me.

I took you out to see Lao Lao tonight and you checked out her Christmas tree and played with their cat, Max. You helped her make these beaded candy cane ornaments with all of our names on them and also helped her make dinner, eggplant lasagna w/spaghetti squash. I sat there and watched you help her layer it and it reminded me of those times when I used to help her do the exact same things. It was really neat. When it came out of the oven, you ate nearly one and a half bowls of it! You also played a bunch with Max, who has to be one of the most patient cats I know. He kept coming over to rub you and even let you snuggle with him on the floor. It was so cute and you are a real gentle kid, giving him a hug and a kiss goodbye when we left.

helping prepare dinner, just like I used to do with Lao Lao

that cat puts up with SOO much, he must really love you

This week, like the last, has been tough due to illness. However, it has also shown me even more ways that you are “somethin’ special”. From the appreciation that you show for something as simple as me washing your blankie for school, your desire to be the best helper you can be, your talents (whether with a camera, singing a song, as a “cat whisperer”, and many others), or even your self-confidence and desire to step in as a peacekeeper at school among your classmates. You are more amazing to me, just as you are, than any of my wildest dreams I ever had about you before I knew you. I am so lucky to be your mom.

Love,
Mama