Language Update & Another Family Dinner

School is going very well for Megan. She really enjoys the singing and movement of the three year old classroom. Her language is expanding rapidly. She is now saying things like "I do", "I sleep", "I eat", "I cut", "Mine", "Myself" and many other "proper noun-verb" combos. She understands things like "We need the umbrellas" and can easily go and get them for me. It's really quite amazing. We can understand many of her words, with context, but her articulation is still very distorted (improving) and she leaves the endings off most words. The sign language is very helpful to us all!!

Iris & Dad hosted a pre Thanksgiving family dinner for us (as we travel to GA to see my brother and his family each year), complete with Turkey and fixings. It was wonderful. We met, Jordan, a friend of the family, who is a very amazing young man. He is 16 years old and fascinated with China. He has taught himself to read, write and speak fluently in Chinese! He talked and played with Megan and they both really enjoyed themselves. Megan seemed to understand some of what he said, and responded a tiny bit in what sounded like some Chinese, but as it was in China when we first met her, she seemed to have not much more ability to make Chinese sounds than she does in English. On the way home she was yelling something that sounded like "I love Jordan (jah jah)!" making me laugh.

Here are some photos. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture of Megan and Jordan, although he offered to baby sit anytime and I will definately take him up on it and get a picture then!!

Sue & Jim

Silly Megan!

Mary Alice's Birthday Party

We celebrated Mary Alice's 10th Birthday with a few friends at a local riding stable that she loves to go to. She has been riding there for three years, and she really feels comfortable and at home. She is suddenly seeming so much more grown up to me. She and Megan are developing a loving and fun relationship and it really brings me joy to see how much they like to laugh together.

Megan looks a little stunned in this picture but she loved riding!!!

I think this is a beautiful set of photos.

Here is her American Girl, Kelsey, in her new western riding outfit (thanks Grandma Judy), saddle and hat!

Re-Adoption Day

On Tuesday, we went downtown to the courthouse for Megan's re-adoption Ceremony. Despite the glowing photo, the morning was anything but calm as Matthew aggravated a pulled muscle in his neck getting up out of bed and was writhing in pain, and Mary Alice was sick for the 2nd day in a row with a miserable cold. Everyone was rather grumpy, and I did not know what to do with two very unhappy, uncomfortable children and a court date at 10:30 downtown. I called the pediatrician's office in desperation and ended up taking them right away to the doctor and just making it in time to the appointment. It turned out to be nothing too serious for Matthew, but at least we learned how to treat it and Mary Alice was reminded to use her nasal spray and it has helped a lot. All of us are feeling better. It happened to be that Eric's dad died 13 years ago on this very day, so we had lots of mixed emotions. He would have loved Megan Ling.

I recently bought a webcam to talk to my mom in Florida! It works great and Megan loves it. Mary Alice does not like to feel so exposed though, and runs away 50% of the time. Her is Megan talking to Grandma Judy!

Mary Alice will turn 10 next week, so we had a family dinner last weekend to celebrate hers and Iris' birthdays. It was the first family dinner I felt I could host in a long time, I guess I have been feeling well over my normal limit. It's been hard to keep up my normal level of expectations. September is a difficult month for me each year and this year I have had so much to do. I went back to my organizing business, working with clients on Tuesdays and half day Fridays, and it is really a lot of pressure for me. I love doing it, but it may have been better if I had given myself another month. I am really watching what I am committed to and trying to say "yes" very sparingly.



Megan is doing so well, I can hardly believe it. Her language is really blossoming and she uses so many signs and vocal combinations. She is starting to put three and four word sentences together and is generalizing all kinds of things. She still does not have 1-1 correspondence, but she loves to count 1-2-3! She loves to sing and we can get her to cooperate with us even if she doesn't want to, by turning it into a song (which is exhausting, but nonetheless, a good technique). Her special ed teacher suggested that she try going to the three's class at preschool, instead of the fours and see how it works for her. I agreed to try it last Monday and she did great. It is a much better fit for her at this point and we will see what happens later. They are focusing on concrete skills of colors and shapes and counting and she is not too far over her head. In the fours it was just way too abstract. She is happy no matter where she is, and she loves her school and all her teachers. These are her new teachers.

Miss Sue

Miss Laura

This is a creation that Megan made out of blocks! We have been home with her for 4 months now and in January it will be a year since I first saw her face on a photo. I can hardly believe it, yet, I cannot imagine my life without her. What a blessing and so much to be Thankful for.