This is an important week for the People of the Republic of China. On January 23, 2012 they celebrated the Chinese New year. The year 2012 is The Year of the Dragon and 2013 will be the Year of the Snake! The Chinese New Year begins according to the Chinese calendar which consists of both Gregorian and lunar-solar calendar systems. Because the track of the new moon changes from year to year, the Chinese New Year can begin anytime between late January and mid-February! So, for all who may read this blog entry. Wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year, once again! Hope it is a great year for everyone!
I cannot believe it, Zoe has been home now for approximately 8 months now. Oh how time flies. In those eight months we have seen Zoe make some remarkable strides as she adjusts to a new family in a new country.
1. When she first arrived to our home, she was in terror of our two dogs. She would run to the coach and stand on the coach so the dogs could not get her. She would also look around and make sure the path was clear and would run a top speed hoping not to see the dogs when she was going from room to room. Today, she will pet both dogs and at times play with them. She shows no fear of them. She will let them go outside in our fenced back yard and will often times want to feed them. Now she still prefers her stuffed Minnie Mouse over them, but still great progress.
2. Zoe’s crying in the middle of the night in bed has subsided. She still whimpers from time to time. But it is not nearly as pronounced.
3. Her room…well let’s just say she is like any other boy or girl. Her room looks like a tornado swept through it. When she is asked to clean she has every intent to clean but gets distracted and begins playing. When she does clean, everything gets pushed under the bed. She fooled me a time or two until I saw some tale tell signs of toys not completely hidden under the bed. I did not know she could fit so much under there.
4. Her vocabulary continues to expand. She must have picked up a naughty word from the TV and started to use it in her speech. However, not being able to master all of the sounds of vowels and consonants it took a minute for me to figure out what she was saying, “Sh_t” however she was saying “Tch_t”. I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or try to correct her. It was funny and cute.
5. Zoe and Nathaniel are much more accepting of each other. When she first arrived home she would raise her hand at Nathaniel and would nod her head at him as if she was taunting him. He on the other hand would go out of his way to ignore her. On several occasions now I have seen them watching TV together, wrestling one another and plotting against their parents. I think he is giving her tips on how to influence and gain a competitive edge against both Sonja and I.
6. I have found that if I promise to buy her a hot dog, maybe a bag of popcorn and a soda she is pretty good at sitting through Nathaniel’s wrestling meets. Although it is fun watching Nathaniel, believe you me when I tell you that staying to watch wrestling is about as boring as it comes. So, you have to spread out the treats over time to keep her somewhat happy. Popcorn is great because she eats one ta piece at a time and will take her 30-45 minutes to eat half a bag.
Zoe is a very happy go lucky child. She has adjusted very well at school. All the kids at school want her to sit by them when she gets there. Which is great! Sonja has been taking her to gymnastics and she is excelling. She just received her second ribbon. Her latest ribbon demonstrates that she is proficient at 20 skills that they teach in gymnastics class. She often times likes to show us her back bends. It is amazing she is able to bend like that! When she is done, she asks us to copy her. Sonja and I had to deny her that request. So all is going well. At this progress, Sonja and I really believe she is going to be ready to start kindergarten next year. The only thing we may have to is get her help on is her pronunciation as she still struggles with a number of sounds when she speaks. It is just amazing how quickly she has adjusted to a new language, culture, food and our family. We have really been lucky!
In regards to Nathaniel and his activities, there is light at the end of the tunnel. His wrestling season, we believe comes to an end next week. He has had a great Freshman season. Last weekend, he went to a JV tournament and took first place by pinning all the kids he was matched up with. It has been a long season. He dropped weight from 129 to 120 pounds and then had to keep his weight there. Although I was impressed with his ability to drop and maintain the weight. It was at a cost. The rest of us felt guilty every time we had something he felt he could not have. It has been brutal. But one more week and we are done. We will have a two-three week break before he has to begin worrying about try-outs for High School baseball. Woo Hoo! Cannot wait for baseball season, as that is a signal for spring and warmer weather. Now, truly I cannot complain so far. Nebraska has had unseasonably warm and dry weather unlike last year when we were hit with a number of significant snow falls. Needless to say…I cannot wait for consistently warmer weather.
All is well here. Hope you have a happy New Year!
