Our Silly Boy!

The past couple of weeks have been full of work, daycare, errands, church and more. The weather has been crazy here. It is in the 70s one day and freezing the next. As soon as we are almost dried out from days of rain, it starts pouring again. We are ready for warm, sunny days.

Michael's little personality is starting to develop more and more. He is the silliest, cutest, smartest little boy we know. (We are not at all biased. Can you tell?) He does things just to make people laugh. He makes the silliest faces. He just starts laughing for no reason at all, which makes us laugh in return. He surprises us everyday with the new things he can do and say. His vocabulary is growing every day. He is also starting to say more phrases. I am not sure what this says about us. However, he calls every store we go in "walllll marrrrr." That is Michael for Walmart.

The best thing we have seen over the past couple of months is that he is starting to form stronger relationships and bonds with other family members and friends. He has always enjoyed being around certain people, but now you can just see his eyes light up when he sees them. He is always asking to call Gamma & Papa on the "computer phone" via Skype. He loves looking at pictures and repeating everyone's names. He gets a huge smile on his face when he sees his Aunt "Arweeeee" (Carrie) in the pictures and in person. He loves his Grandpa, Uncle "Wo" (Joe), and "Wo Wo" (Joseph). He jumps into Grandpa's arms. He wanted "Wo" to rock him to sleep the other night. He loves playing with Joseph. He runs to Uncle David when he sees him to get a hug and he always has to find "Ronnnnnnnnn" at church. He adores his teachers at daycare. I could go on and on.

Next week will be very busy. We have visitors coming from the south and from the north. Gamma is driving from New Hampshire on Monday. Then, Papa is flying in on Thursday. On Friday, Mamaw and Papaw Ryan will arrive from Alabama. We are looking forward to seeing and spending time with everyone. This will be Michael's first Easter. We are excited that he will get to spend it with a lot of our family. We plan on going to see Aunt Carrie on Easter Sunday.

Below are some pictures from last couple of weeks.

Licking the Bowl After Making Cupcakes

Michael got very mad at Mama, because she put them in the oven.

This is Serious Business

It was 70 degrees outside and Michael decided to put on his winter hat.
Can you tell he put it on himself?


Our Fashionable Trend Setter
Wearing Your Hat Backwards and Crooked - New Spring Fashion for '09


Sunday Afternoon Nap

Country

Blues

Rock & Roll!!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our Lucky Little Leprechaun

Another month has passed

It is amazing to me how fast the time flies. We have had a very busy month. First, the weather has been crazy. We had 12" of snow and a week later the temperature was 80 degrees. The temperature here has been on a roller coaster ride.

It started to snow on Sunday March 1st and did not quit until Monday. We ended up with about 12" of snow. On Monday morning at 4 a.m., our power went out. We bundled up and waited around the house hoping it would come back on. At around 4 p.m., we loaded up our things and headed to David and Anne's house. They had a house full. Since we live beside Nana, Joseph, and Joe, Nana and Joe were their, too. Joseph stayed with a friend. We had dinner and Michael and I stayed the night. Bill came home to take care of the animals. The power company said at 10 p.m. that our power was back on. However, it was not. It stayed out until Tuesday afternoon. We are very grateful to Anne, David, and the girls for their hospitality. They fed us and gave us a warm place to stay.

Last Sunday, Aunt Carrie surprised us by showing up on our door step. She drove from Charlottesville to visit. We didn't know she was coming until she knocked on the door. It was a short, but good visit. Hopefully, she will come back soon.

This week we broke down and traded Bill's little green truck in for a minivan. The little truck was not the best vehicle for Bill to drive Michael around in. It didn't have a backseat and you could not turn the passenger's side airbag off. Also, my Escape was starting to get very crowded. A lot of times when we go places, it is myself, Michael, Bill, Joe, and Joseph. Joseph is getting taller and taller. With the car seat and the addition of Joe and Joseph to the backseat, there wasn't much room for anyone to move. It was close quarters. We have alleviated these problems. We bought a used 2008 Chrysler Town & Country. It had under 14,000 miles on it. Michael and Joseph both love it.

It looks like posting to this blog may be a monthly thing. I will try to do better, but cannot promise that there will be more.

Chinese New Year Pics

Michael is doing well. He says more words every day. We do not have a lot new to report. Since the holidays, we have gotten back into our daily routine of work and daycare. We have speech therapy on Mondays. On the weekends, we run our errands and just spend time together. We also bought a membership the the Children’s Museum. Michael really likes going there to play.

There is one question that we are continually asked about Michael. It is, “Is he always this happy?” The answer is always, “Yes.” He is a very happy boy. He loves to laugh, play, dance, etc. One of the few times that I can think of that he is not happy is when he thinks we are not getting his food ready fast enough for him. Have you figured out by now that this boy loves to eat???

Over the past few weeks, we have taken Michael and Joseph to two Chinese New Year celebrations. The first one was at the Children’s Museum on January 31. The second one was on February 7th at Godwin HS. At the second one, they had a parade. Joseph was asked to carry a balloon in the parade.


Below are pictures from the past couple of weeks:

First time ever I saw your face

A year ago today was the first time we saw a picture of Michael. We reviewed his file and files for a few other children on our agency's Children of Promise list. We made the request to be matched with either of a few different children. We would not know until February 21, 2007 that we were matched with Dang Anwei, our son Michael. Here are pictures from his referral and pictures taken in the last couple of weeks.

Also, I will be updating the blog with updates and pictures from our Chinese New Year celebrations as soon as possible.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Chinese New Year! 2009 is the year of the Ox. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

To celebrate Chinese New Year, we had Chinese food for dinner. When Bill and Michael stopped to pick it up on their way home from speech therapy, the girl behind the counter asked if Michael was from China. Bill told her that he was. She went in the back and came out with a red envelope. We opened it when he got home. There was a dollar bill in it. Children in China receive red envelopes with lucky money to celebrate the new year. We will be saving it for him and putting it in a scrapbook for when he gets older.

The past few couple of weeks have been busy as usual. For about a week, we had to fill out an accident report at school every other day for Michael. He fell and got rug burn on his forehead. They were playing limbo and another kid fell into him which caused him to fall into a book case. He ended up with a huge goose egg on the side of his head. Finally, he ended up with a scratch under his eye. Besides the injuries at school, he has had many bumps and bruises at home from being fearless and one from the cat. Boys will be boys!

Michael is talking up a storm. There are so many new words that we are having a hard time keeping up. The newest phrase is one we are trying to break him of. We are guessing that he learned it at daycare. When he first said it, we laughed because it was to the cat. Now, he says it to people and we are having to tell him that it is not nice. At first, he said, "O away at." That meant "Go away cat." Now, he is telling other people to "o away." It is hard explaining to a 2 year old that even though he is wants someone to leave him alone it is not nice to tell them to go away.

Michael is also growing very fast as most kids do. His feet are extra wide, so there are only a few places that I can find shoes for him. Plus, they are not the cheapest shoes in the world. On Friday, we went to a store that I buy his shoes at. The mall is an outdoor mall. Since it was a nice evening, we decided to walk around. Michael was in his stroller when we were approached by the elderly mall security guard. Michael had waved and said hi to him, so he talked to Michael. He said hi and told him how cute he was. He proceeded to ask Michael where he got his looks from, his mommy or his daddy. He then said bye and we all went on our way. It was funny because he never looked at us and didn't realize what he had asked. We get a lot of looks and are noticed for our differences. It was nice because he just saw us as another family out for a stroll around the mall.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Trying to fill Baba's shoes

One of his boo-boos

Doing what he loves
Eating and laughing
(see the bandage on his cheek)

Progress

It is really hard to believe that Michael has been with us for 6 months this coming Wednesday. He is such a happy boy. He loves to do things to make us all laugh. He wants to call Gamma and Papa everyday whether we use the phone or the webcam. He enjoys playing with his cousin Joseph. For now, he likes to help pick up his toys and put away his dirty clothes. He can't wait to take his bath and brush his teeth in the evenings. He loves to give hugs and kisses. He is just the sweetest little boy.

Also, He has made so much progress and has really grown. He has gained 7 lbs and grown 5 inches since we brought him home. He has wowed us and all of the doctors/therapists with his progress. 6 months ago this little boy was living in an orphanage and had never heard a word of English. In no time, he bonded with the two of us which amazed everyone. Also, he understands almost everything that we tell him. He has adjusted to life with us and going to daycare during the week beautifully. He also is eating all table food now. He LOVES to eat.

Over the past two weeks Michael has started saying new words and phrases almost daily. The words are not all perfect or exact, but we can tell what he is saying. Here are the things that he can say right now..... Mama (first word), Baba, hi, hike, hey, bye bye, yea, yay, Papa, Gamma, moo, milk, Manny (he loves the cartoon Handy Manny), home (which is our favorite word), up, out, eat, help, Elmo, baby, ow, woah, hat, ball, hair, car, Erica (one of his teachers), uhoh, more, hi Mama, hi Baba, more milk, uhoh Mama (his first phrase), and come here (he wiggles his finger at you when he says this one). I may be missing some, but we are trying to keep up as much as we can.

He has been through so much and is so resilient. There are days that I look at him and think about how much he has been through in 2 1/2 years and how he has handled it. It is just amazing. He is one of my heroes.

Below are 3 pictures. The first was taken on July 14th. This was the day we got to hold Michael for the first time. The second is from one of his Christmas pictures. The third is from Christmas day.