Daddy's girl!

Nora received a gift last weekend from someone who thought of Scott when she saw this shirt. As Nora is still saying "Da-Da" only sporadically, Iris wanted to make Scott feel better. (Thanks, by the way!)

The shirt's caption: "My heart belongs to Daddy". Very fun. Am I surprised that Scott dressed Nora in this the first time it showed up in her dresser drawer? Not one bit. :)

Looks like Nora is giving Daddy her heart, but I think she did that a few months ago!

And two more sweet shots...

Nora's playdate

After many emails, Megumi and I finally were able to get together for lunch yesterday. We dressed the girls in the matching dresses that Megumi had given them... her daugher has the 6 month size, while Nora is wearing 12 months. We didn't wait much longer to take their pictures together as they're both growing.

The girls kept checking each other frequently...

"Why are you wearing my dress?!"

It was a very fun afternoon... Happy Birthday, Megumi!

Sunday fun

Our little lass, Nora! This dress is special, as it was one that we gave our niece, Kailey, nine years ago. Never thought we'd get a chance to use it! 

Love those dimples!

Nora is being contemplative about something.

Later, after changing out of her church clothes, Scott decided to have Nora pose with the pointsetta. (I found her standing on the table, which was a little scary!)

Nora was obviously enjoying herself, I just hope that she doesn't think standing on the table should be a regular occurence! :)

Blowing "raspberries" seems to be what Nora does now when you ask her to smile. Not so cute when she "blows bubbles" into her bottle, which she started doing this weekend.

Rosie does have her moments of enjoying Nora. Anything involving motion will have the dog right there. Nora has a lot of fondness for Rosie, often using sign language to indicate she's heard Rosie barking outside.

Meeting new friends...

This was our third visit out to get together with other local families that have adopted children from China. Presently Nora is the youngest, which gives us the benefit of learning from those who have gone before. I'm really enjoying meeting these women and their beautiful children.

Nora is always eager to interact, and has no hesitation about just getting down to the business of play.

Every month, we all get to see how Nora's hair has lengthened. I'm looking forward to some stying tips soon!

This sweetie is 16 months old, just 2 months older than Nora.

New "Resources"

I had this "feature" on our adoption blog, and thought I'd continue on with it here of listing new books and videos pertaining to adoption/China/Chinese stories etc.  Because, in case you didn't know it, books are my close friends.

To add to my Pearl S. Buck novel collection, a gift for Christmas that I bought myself!:

Three Daughters of Madame Liang
   ~ by Pearl S. Buck

The story of three daughters returning to Communist China after having been educated in America in the 1960's.






 

A story of Chinese Adoption:

Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China
   ~ by Beth Nonte Russell

The first book I read after returning from China with Nora. I appreciated reading about Nora's province, and the adoption process from a decade earlier. The author's personal beliefs in having lived a previous life in China are definitely out there, but the adoption story itself is very moving.

 Adding to my collection of Asian folktales, two books from my wonderful sister, Ann:

The Love of Two Stars: A Korean Legend
      ~by Janie Jaehyun Park

The story of how two "stars" meet in the Milky Way each year.

Lon Po Po: A Red-Riding Hood Story from China
  ~by Ed Young

How three ingenious sisters stay out of harm's way!

A few more Asian-inspired stories, also from Ann:

The Butterfly Boy
 ~ by Laurence Yep/ Illustrated by Jeanne M. Lee

The perspective a boy has when viewing the world as if he was a butterfly... never sure which he likes to be better. Beautiful artwork.

The Story About Ping

  ~by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese

A classic from 1933, about Ping's adventures on the Yangtze river.

While We Were Out
  ~by Ho Baek Lee

A universal adventurous rabbit story, from a Korean perspective in the artwork.

Two gifts for Nora from my book friend, Donna Lynn... she always  knows the best books!

Crow Boy ~ by Taro Yashima

A Japanese tale of how a shy boy overcomes the taunting of his class-mates.









The Five Chinese Brothers
  ~ by Claire Huchet Bishop and Kurt Wiese

This is from 1938, which is why I recall having seen this book growing up, but only now have just read it. Talk about a tall tale! Pretty funny...

A story about being adopted from China:

Emma's Story
  ~ by Deborah Hodge, illustrated by Song Nan Zhang

Teaching the many ways we become family, whether we look similar or not to each other. The author is from BC.

And something for the older child, again from Ann...

White Lily ~ by Ting-xing Ye

How White Lily evades the food-binding of her day, to defy tradition and pursue an education.

Children's non-fiction:

The Children of China: An Artist's Journey

  ~by Song Nan Zhang

Beautiful artwork of children from the diverse provinces of China. A gift from Ann... she owned this during her years of living in China in the late '90's.

 

Great movies to watch....

The Last Emperor ~ made in 1987

A gift for Scott from me (how convenient), as our guide in China recommended we watch this epic movie to understand Chinese history better. We'd both seen it as young adults, but it was certainly more interesting now that we've been to the Forbidden City.

Mao's Last Dancer ~ released Jan. 2011

I will definitely buy this later on... had heard great reviews about it already, and we did enjoy it last evening. Shows what life was like in Communist China in the late 1970's onward. The true story of an amazing ballet dancer who defects to America.

Getting older all the time!

Nora turned 14 months yesterday, which I sort of forgot as we were celebrating Scott's birthday then. Today is our oldest son James' birthday... he is now 17. For having been a mother for the same amount of time (Yikes!), I wish I could remember more "pearls of wisdom". I guess I'll never be writing that parenting book on how to raise boys. It's more about survival, I think! :)

The days go quickly with Nora, often with my feelings that we never did as much as I had hoped that day. Time to read books, sing a few songs, wrestle on the floor, play with the toys. I wish there was more time. I suppose I'm feeling that moreso as my leave from work ends at the end of the month. Then I would be called whenever work is available, so it's not like a definite amount of work, and I can always say I'm busy. I do feel some stress about how we will arrange childcare at the last minute, as that is generally how it works... I get the call when someone is sick. Occasionally, a shift can be pre-booked for vacation relief, which is more preferable. Being the least senior nurse however, I am usually the last call. :) I digress...

So, at 14 months, Nora is into everything. I understand her sense of curiousity is overwhelming, and that using her 5 senses is how she learns about her world. But I still feel my "sense" of frustration rising at times, as it's hard to stay a step ahead of her... The phrases "No touch!", "Stop", and "Nora!" are oft repeated now, along with the shaking of my head "No", picking Nora up to move her to another location, as well as moving the undesirable item or removing it from her mouth! I've done this stage before, but it's really getting old! Especially when Nora looks at you defiantly and does the exact same motion again. Today it was pulling out the vacuum cord from the outlet, placing artificial pine needles from the  Christmas tree into her mouth, and trying to pull things out of the diaper bag. Attempting to suck up the pine needles with the vaccuum caused the other problem with the plug... round and round it goes. So, Nora went for her nap a little earlier than usual...

Last night, Nora's move of the day was to whip out the bread knife by the cake as Scott was blowing out his candles. Suddenly she was wielding a 9 inch knife by his head. Dumb move on my part, but I don't always realize what will catch her eye, or estimate how quick she'll be. Here's that action on camera...

Yeah, Nora... you're hilarious!

In the past week: Our friends Tom and Kim came by after New Year's to celebrate an early birthday for Scott, even bringing the cake.

Nora was intrigued by the candles...

Here are a couple of hilarious shots of Nora... unlike how she pulls things out of her hair or off her head, she really didn't mind the sunglasses. She was a cool-looking girl...

We're not sure if she's telling us that she's "Number One"! One of kind, that's for sure...

Happy New Year!

Before 2010 ended, we did get a light snow... just enough to look pretty. Scott enjoyed his camera some more, and was even happy to "remove" the street lamps from the view down our street. Technology is cool sometimes!

Charles has been content this week to play with his new Ipod... his new photo muse is Nora. She is happy to pose. :) They have a lot of fun together. I'm not doing very well with her hair... After every nap, Nora has a mohawk of some variation!

Caught in the act... into something again! Her expression is classic... "Who, me?!"