Families with Children from China Fishing Trip

Today we joined our local FCC group at a nearby lake for a day of fishing fun. Matthew was thrilled. About 12 families joined in and a good time was had by all.

Megan Ling caught a small fish.

Daddy helped a lot. Mary Alice is in the background. She caught a fish too, but let it go before I got the camera.

Matthew caught a big fish! 15"!

Mia, a new friend, caught one!


Megan Ling appointed herself the event photographer!


Megan Ling and Chindi are taking a close look.

Busy Life!

Since my last post we have been busy!

First of all, Matthew was recognized at the School District Board of Education meeting for his performance on the National French Exam. It was a very wonderful honor. I think I mentioned in another post that he ranked first in his level locally and sixth nationally. Over 100,000 students took the national exam. We took this photos, but it turned out blurry. You can kind of see that he was on TV as it was broadcast to the room and to a local cable channel. The other boy is the first place winner for the 6th grade level exam from the district (Matthew is 7th grade).


Megan Ling went to the dentist this week. No cavities! Yay. She handled it well, with no tears! She has a problem with her bite and will need a palate expander (like Matthew and Mary Alice each had) and possibly braces but we will not be able to start any treatment until she gets her 6 year molars, so quite a ways away.

Here she is with Katie, the hygienist, before:

and with her "presents" and clean teeth, after!

Mary Alice and her friends at school during a open house gallery presentation of their projects.

On Thursday, my sister, Sue, celebrated her 50th birthday with a party at a riverside bar, where a friend of hers plays guitar. Her boyfriend, Jim, sang a few songs and Sue played Maracas.

Happy Birthday, Sue!

Here are Dad and Iris (notice Megan Ling in the background with her thumb up!)

Megan Ling really liked the loud music! It was a late night but she did great!

Here are Sue and her oldest son, Ben.

Sister hug. OXOX

The Cake!

Sue's friends!

Sue's youngest son, Alex, and his girlfriend, Ashley. Congratulations to Alex as he is graduating this month from High School. Way to go, Alex!

I took Megan Ling for a developmental evaluation today. Like I thought, they believe she qualifies for educational services as a "preschooler with a disability". I took along Hsiaoshan, who speaks Mandarin, and she helped with the interpretation (at the last minute their interpreter couldn't come and they were going to reschedule the evaluation until July and I did not want that-Thank you for helping out Hsiaoshan!)

The evaluators looked at speech, cognitive, pre-academic, behavior, adaptive skills, audiological and fine motor. Her hearing tested out just fine. She showed a lot of inconsistency and some difficulty understanding what to do (following visual and verbal directions) even in Chinese. Generally, her speech, academic and problem solving skills fell within a 24 -30 month level (2-2 1/2 years), and a little bit lower in expressive language 18 months-2 years. It was what I expected to hear. We are also going to have a PT evaluation on 6/23 to look at her gross motor coordination and strength.

The evaluation team is recommending services in Speech and Special Education (which means individualized assistance in both areas) and will likely be provided in a combination of the home and preschool environments). They feel socially and adaptively (taking care of herself) she is right on target for her age. We will have a meeting with the school district in July to determine the exact services and they will start in September.

For those who are not familiar with this type of thing, it is a free service available in all states and can be accessed through the local school district. Parents can request an evaluation at any time they are concerned. The services, if deemed necessary are provided at no charge as well. It is part of the Federal Law that children are entitled to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Visit this link for more information on this law: http://idea.ed.gov/

She is "soooo big"..... and soooo happy.

One Month with Megan Ling

Today marks the 4th week that we have been with Megan Ling. I can't believe how fast the time has gone by. Each day she seems to be more and more confident and comfortable with all of us. There have been no new developments with her nose and everything seems to be just fine. I still cannot believe that whole thing.

Our good friend's Ken & Jen, welcomed their new grandson, Jackson, into the world earlier this week. He is beautiful and healthy! Congratulations!



Mary Alice was very sweet with Megan Ling yesterday as we introduced the new wading pool. She ran out of the picture at the last second though, so here is Megan and Abby in the pool,


and Mary Alice with blue teeth from her Popsicle....

Mary Alice was busy making a picnic for her Webkinz and Jazzy the cat joined in the fun. She is quite a character!

The neighborhood teens all love Megan Ling! It warms my heart to see how smitten the boys are with her! Here are friends, Jeffrey and Jeffrey. She loves them back! They love to jump with her on the trampoline (gently-don't worry-they are so careful).

The Nose Knows!

My brother was right! There was something else in her nose. At his suggestion, and because of the continued smell coming from her skin, I called my pediatrician about it today and by the time the office got back to me, it was late in the afternoon. The office referred me to an ENT and called to set up an appointment on my behalf. The ENT office told my pediatrician's office that I should take her immediately to the ER at Children’s hospital because it could go into her windpipe if she sniffs it up. I did not think it was that much of an emergency but I went anyway. There was a very wonderful ENT from that office on duty. She was very sweet and good with Megan Ling. Right away she said she had the "foreign body smell". She looked way up her nose and could see something, deep inside and she reached in with a long, bent forceps and after a few moments she pulled it out. It was enormous! A little larger than the size of a nickel! I am not really sure what it was, but it was horrible smelling and it seemed very hard. I cannot believe it was in there. Megan Ling did not even cry. Not even a sound, just complete compliance and she never moved. She even helped hold the doctor’s light. We were amazed. The doctor said she had never seen a child behave like that. Like my Grandma always said “Oh boy, what a girl!”

And just in case you have forgotten how cute she is, here are pictures of her baking her first chocolate chip cookies:





and loving her cat, Misty.
Again, I thank God for this child!

June 3rd, already??

It is like Megan Ling has always been here. All that waiting and now the time races by. There has been all kinds of adjusting of routines and expectations and personal space and so on, but all in all, the transition has been wonderful and most of the adjusting has been focused on those of us who have lived here all our lives. Matthew and Mary Alice continue to learn how Megan Ling fits into their lives and how they can be part of hers. We all love her very much and she brings us great joy into the smallest of occasions.

Megan Ling continues to follow a routine day with waking up around 7:00 AM, breakfast with me and the kids, then off to the bus stop to say good bye to the big kids. Then we either go on appointments or errands, or do something fun at home. Lunch, then nap (which has been typically about two hours-and the only time I have to get things done), then off to the bus stop again, as Mary Alice arrives at 3:00 PM and Matthew at 4:00. The neighborhood girls and boys like to play with her after school (and I can sometimes cook dinner at this time) and then dinner and reading and bedtime. She is beginning to understand the idea of books, and is now stopping to look at each page and sometimes allows me to actually read the words before she turns the pages. Her vocabulary is becoming stronger and she is using some of the functional (English) words like "eat", "up" and "help" independently, without prompting. She loves silly games and seeks us out to play. She recognizes all of us in pictures and can name us, but most of the M names sound the same "mmeh mmeh", very similar to Mama! She knows the difference though!

Megan Ling likes to wear all of our shoes. Here she is in Daddy's shoes. She likes to say "Shoes" too!

She also loves to help. Here she is unloading the silverware from the dishwasher.

And using the dustbuster!

And vacuuming!!!

She is really good at it!!

I also found that she frequently makes her bed after waking from the night or naptime! Can you imagine! I need those nannies here for some training for the rest of us!

We went shopping at Wegmans' and she was thrilled with the Banana Display! I think I may have to make a second weekly stop, as we are already fresh out.


Last week we went to the playground and saw other kids there. She really moves more like a mid two to beginning three year old and needs lots of practice on the equipment. But that did not stop her. She wanted to do just what the other kids were doing. A grandma helped me get her up the big pole ladder. Thank you, nice lady!

Last week, we went to Matthew's violin concert and Megan Ling sat with rapt attention through it all. Afterwards, Mary Alice helped her play on the drums. Sorry it's blurry, but still cute.



Matthew , in his quiet time this weekend, did this puzzle, then removed the pieces to create the message.

Megan Ling has received many lovely gifts from friends and family. Here she is with her new "Palm Pilot". She loves it so much and can draw on the erasable screen. It plays music, talks to her and sings a days of the week song. Matthew likes it, too!

Someone had left a comment asking why the girls hair is so short, and I don't really know the answer for sure. I think it has to do with both hygiene and convenience. I am sure it is easier for the nannies to deal with shorter hair and most of the very young ones (under five) seem to have their heads shaved short in the warmer months. The older girls have it a little longer and some of the teens have long hair (as do the nannies). I think it makes it hard to tell the difference between the boys and the girls.

I am planning on growing it. I think Megan Ling will like that as she loves to "smooth" her bangs in the mirror. She loves to look at herself in the full length mirror that we hung in her room. She turns around so she can see the back, the front, the back, the front, etc. etc.

I also posted before about the 3rd wheel, ride behind bike that we bought for her. Well, we traded it in for a sit down trailer. Once we saw her we realized that she would not be ready for that for a long time. I haven't hooked it up to my bike yet, but maybe this week.