Ratatouille Review

Desheng Darling and SpicyGirl went to Movies 14 this morning to see Ratatouille, a new Disney movie. And, we were both on time….We were even EARLY! (I know that hard to believe, play group, but it’s true!) We had a good time. SG and DD entertained themselves while we waited in line for tickets.
I’m not sure exactly what they were doing, but I think SG was trying to show DD some exercises that she learned at camp.

The movie was cute, but I think it is better suited for older children. There were some positive aspects of the movie like stressing the importance of being loyal to your family and friends and discovering new things in life, but there was very little singing or dancing like pre-school children seem to enjoy, just mostly dialogue. There were words used in the dialogue that I would have preferred that they had left out. I know that I am super-conservative and over-protective, but I still don’t like to hear the words STUPID, SHUT UP, KILL, and the “kitchen from HELL” in a kid’s movie, not to mention a little unnecessary violence. Isn’t it funny how we try so hard to protect our kids from so many things and then unknowingly expose them by taking them to a movie for fun! OK, I’ll get down off of my soapbox. DD and SG probably didn’t even notice the things I did. I am quite a fuddy-duddy at times. They just loved being together and they had a great time!! It was good to get out of the house and spend time with friends and besides, the popcorn was yummy!!

A Few of Her Favorite Things

Desheng Darling really enjoys life. Her favorite things are simple. I am so thankful that she is having the opportunity to experience life with a family and friends who love her soooo much. We are blessed!

(Play group friends: This is one of the dresses I made for DD. Doodlebug has a matching one.)

We have a wonderful friend who is always finding things that she thinks DD NEEDS! Sometimes it’s toys; sometimes it’s books; at other times it may be clothes or candy, etc. Recently, she bought DD two great pairs of shoes (expensive)…a dressy pair and a casual pair. We love them! Along with the shoes, she also gave DD this box of Dixie Cups featuring characters from the Cars movie. It’s amazing how much better things taste when you drink them from a cup with Tow Mater or Lightning McQueen on it! Who would have thought that a box of cups would be one of her favorite things??? Thanks, Sandra.

Another thing that DD loves is playing outside, but the rain has really made it difficult for her to spend much time outdoors. Here she is playing in a mud puddle just off of our patio.

Sometimes she brings a little of the outdoors inside….including this roly-poly bug along with two of its family members. Yuk!

DD also enjoys a good book. It’s not uncommon to find her in her room “reading” and playing.

4 is such a good age!

Like most 4 yr. olds, DD loves to help…even if her helping prolongs the amount of time needed to complete the task…
Of course, Daddy Darling wouldn’t have it any other way.

Another one of her favorite things is spending time with Brother Darling. He may not always be the “best” influence on her, but don’t try telling her that. Lol
He thought it was a wonderful idea for him to teach her how to ride his old skateboard. Unfortunately, so did she!

Getting Back to Normal...Whatever that means!

Things are finally settling down a little around our house after the big announcement of our newest member, “Doodlebug.” I think we have all the “post-referral” paperwork, etc. under control. Now, we just have to review our packing list from DD’s trip and make sure we have everything we need.

In the meantime, DD continues to keep us busy. Tonight, on the way home she announced to us that she had SHORT-TERM MEMORY LOSS. Coming from a 4-year old, the announcement took Daddy Darling by surprise. It made more sense to him when I explained that she had been watching “Nemo” where one of the characters suffers from short-term memory loss. Why DD chose to announce this to us about herself, I don’t have a clue. She also said that Dorey, from the movie, had appeared to her in her room and told her this. That’s when she told me that she kept water in her pocket for her friends to swim in. Of course, I shouldn’t worry because she told me that she had sewn up the pocket so the water wouldn’t spill out.

Ummmm…..I think she may be watching too much television. Lol

Brother Darling kept DD earlier this week while I went to an appt. He was quite concerned about DD because she told him about her imaginary friend, “Wonder Rain.” WR originated around 2 weeks ago. DD first mentioned her friend while we were driving through a thunderstorm. She described her as having rainbow-colored hair and wearing pink eye-shadow. She knows that WR is pretend. I tried to explain that it is not uncommon for children to have imaginary friends, but after our conversation about Dorey appearing to her…..I’m not so sure!

Today, we met our playgroup at McDonald’s for lunch. The girls had a great time just playing and acting silly!

Ok, just so you won’t get the idea that DD is really weird, I want to mention a couple of things that she worked on this week. First of all, DD hates for me to be on the computer because it takes time away from her, so she always tries to find something for me to help her with. These are the problems that she wanted to do:
Just when we were beginning to get good at working problems written horizontally, she found this page. Amazingly, she learned to use a number line and worked a whole page of these problems. Not bad for a four year old.

Earlier this evening we were in the car and DD said, “Look, that's where I live.” We were nowhere near our home, so I asked her to explain. She said, “There, on that sign.” Well, it was a sign similar to this:

Of course she was referring to “Texas.” More interestingly she said, “It kind of looks like a hand------like this.”

See the resemblance? Pretty creative, don’t you think????

(Use your imagination. She's only four.)

In Living Color...

She was cute in black & white, but a little color never hurt anyone. Doesn’t she look precious? She’s beautiful! !!!!! I don’t believe a word about her being active, restless, or obstinate!!! lol

Not only does a little color help, I’m sure a bath wouldn’t hurt. I stopped by a Chinese restaurant today and asked them to read our paperwork. It will still be at least 2 wks before we receive our translation. We have deciphered most of the information by comparing it to DD’s referral papers. I wasn’t really prepared for this though….The interpreter read that Doodlebug received only 1 bath during the winter months and 3 during the summer months. You never know what she might look like after a good soaking in the tub! lol

Seriously, I know that many of these little girls have never had a tub bath. They are sponged off with a washcloth, so they are not accustomed to bathing as we know it. DD cried every time we tried to bathe her in China, but she loves a good, long bath now.

Referral Update...Thank you Debbie!

The last few days have been pretty stressful. For those of you have adopted internationally, I am sure you can identify with me.

It goes something like this:

You rush, rush, rush to get your paperwork turned in to your agency with every little detail perfected. Then you wait, wait, wait, and wait for your referral. Once you receive the referral and return back to earth, you rush, rush, and rush to do your post-referral paperwork. And then you start the waiting process all over again to travel. Sounds easy enough doesn’t it?

Well, we got a call from our agency representative on June 6th informing us that the date of our travel meeting had been moved up a week and that we would need attend the meeting on June 9th. In order to do this, we would have to travel over 1300 miles. We immediately called American Airlines only to find that these dates were blacked out and we wouldn’t be able to use our free mileage to purchase tickets. For a mere $3000.00 we could purchase tickets and attend the 4 hr meeting. Needless to say, we weren’t able to attend.

Thank Goodness, I found a very nice lady online who is using the same agency and attended the meeting!!!!!What a relief.!!!! You can see her beautiful daughter at http://emasjourney.blogspot.com/ We had a nice phone conversation this morning and I feel a little better informed. THANK YOU SO MUCH DEBBIE. I’ve also made many new online friends who have children from the same Children’s Welfare Institute as our little Doodlebug.

It looks like we will be traveling around mid-August. This is later than I wanted, but I’ll take what I can get at this point. I am expecting to get the original pictures and more forms from our agency tomorrow.

I haven’t mentioned DD’s activities in a few days, but she’s alive and well! She tells everyone she meets about going to China to get her little sister. A man from Best Buy knows all about her, as well as a nice lady in Office Depot.

A visit to Nanny's

Driving me crazy!

Hold on Tight and Get Ready for the Rapids

DD’s little sister is ...Not So Little!
Although we haven’t received any new information, I’ve had a few minutes to look through what we received via email from our agency. First of all, our little doodlebug is not so little! On the growth chart for Chinese girls, she falls into the 97th percentile for height and 95% percentile for weight. Wow! DD falls into the 50% category for both height and weight.

On the chart for American girls DD is in the 15% category while Doodlebug falls into the 75th percentile! Oh my!!!!!!!

DD’s paperwork described her as timid, shy, quiet, and fairly introverted. Doodlebug, on the other hand, is described as active, restless, fond of imitating, extroverted, and sometimes OBSTINATE! Double oh my!!! I guess I had better get ready for the challenge! There’s nothing quite like the terrible twos!!!!

We also think that the symbols in her name mean:
Ling-pure, virtuous
Ao-bay, inlet
I’m not really sure how they fit together. Her SWI appears to be very close to the Changjiang River. This may have played a role in their choice of names for her. Maybe it refers to pure peaceful water, but based on her earlier description, I think we had better hang on tight and get ready for the rapids! Quick! Somebody throw me a life jacket!

Disclaimer: The paperwork does not always accurately describe the children. Maybe I will survive with just floaties!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE..........INTRODUCING

Ling Ao

Just when we had accepted the fact that we would have to wait until Friday, we received a phone call telling us that we would be receiving an email today which would include all of our referral information! Of course most of it is in Chinese, but a picture of a child is beautiful in any language (even if it’s in black & white.) We are so thankful and thrilled to introduce our new daughter, Ling Ao. She is from the Tongling Children’s Welfare Institution, Anhui Province and she is just beautiful. She is currently 22months old. I haven’t had much time to research her name, etc., but I will try to post more information when I get it.

What a Blessing!!!

NEWS ...BUT NO NEWS

We got the call today!!!!! We're in!!!! Unfortunately, that's about all we know right now. Our agency will FedEx us the info on Friday. The agency representative said that she didn't know the age, the sex, or the birthplace. What a bummer. I really tried to get the information out of her, but she stuck with her story. Soooooooo......I guess the waiting game will continue for a couple of days. Come on FedEx....Come on Friday!!!

SHE'S ON HER WAY

Do you know how long I have waited to use this picture???? It seems like FOREVER!

We heard today that some agencies have received referrals including the ones for the 11/07/05 LID group!!! That means we’re in!!! We should receive a call from our agency tomorrow telling us which part of China our daughter is from, along with her age, etc. I am sooo excited! I will try to post more tomorrow. Stay tuned!

SUGAR & SPICE and EVERYTHING NICE

It’s the “everything nice” part that sometimes leaves me confused. I think of things like butterflies, flowers, baby dolls, pretty jewelry, pretty shoes and nails as being “nice” or “girly”.

Something like this: Or this:Or even this:

DD showing us her princess purse, jewelry, and play shoes

Of course, inside that purse are her FAVORITE TOYS: Lightning McQueen (a race car) and Tow Mater (tow truck) from the Cars movie, Bob and Larry (VeggieTales), along with Bob the Builder!!!

Maybe that’s why this picture doesn’t surprise me:

DD helping Daddy D clean mud off of the driveway after some really heavy rains (which is what sometimes happens when you live at the bottom of the hill)

Oh well, she'll always be our “Sugar and Spice” but we may just have to leave “everything nice” up to her imagination. Does it help that she refers to Lightning McQueen and Mater as her “sweet babies?” I didn’t think so.