Christmas time is here!

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ~Isaiah 9:6 Listen to this passage

Iris is sooooo aware of Christmas this year! Her excitement over presents and learning about the story of Jesus's birth, complete with angels, sheep, and stars was fun to watch. By December 25th, Iris could barely stop talking or sit still, except to watch a Christmas DVD. So, what was Advent and Christmas like for us?

* Christmas concert at preschool on Dec. 3, when Iris did not want to sing and only wanted to sit with Mommy and Daddy in the audience. Of course, she had no trouble asking for cookies afterward. By Christmas day, she got good at singing songs, such as "Jingle Bells", "O, Christmas Tree", "Joy to the World", "Frosty the Snowman", "Santa Claus is Coming to Town", " Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer", and "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing".

* Helping Mommy and Daddy decorate the house and outside with lights and ornaments.

* Helping to wrap gifts and send Christmas cards. She especially liked licking the envelopes. Can't someone die from envelope poisoning? Not a habit that we wish to encourage.

* Attending the Singing Christmas Tree concert at church, where Mommy was "camera 1" videographer.

* Lighting the advent candles each week.

* Baking gingerbread cookies with Mommy.

* Keeping secrets (NOT!) about where the presents were for Mommy and Daddy. Shhhhh!

* Putting ice skates on for the first time. Iris stood on the rubber mats fine, but didn't want to touch her feet on the ice. It was more fun for her to sit in a chair which Mommy pushed around the ice rink.

* Visiting A-ma and A-gong for the weekend, and celebrating Auntie Ruth's birthday with delicious cake. Mmmmmm!

* Watching in wonder and amazement at the mini-drama during the Christmas Eve children's service. After she saw the living nativity scene outside (with a cow and donkeys, as well as sheep!), she remarked that she wanted to be the angel sitting above the shed where the manger scene was.

*Opening presents on Christmas Day. Here are a couple of videos with Iris playing with her new doll house and figures:




As I was late and short on time to get Christmas cards out, I pray that many friends and relatives enjoyed a marvelous Christmas and had a taste of the true Holy Spirit which comes from Christ our Lord. He is born-Emmanuel, Savior, and our Redeemer.
Joy to the World!

November in a nutshell

We could call this movie, "All about Iris" - at least her birthday.


The party date was set for November 13, but both Iris had a flu or cold bug. A few weeks later, her preschool director sent an e-mail about a "Fifth disease". Iris may have had that, but she was well enough for her party the following week. This was her party with friends, Michael, Grayson, and their families. In all there were five children 3 years and younger with six adult parents. The lunch was pizza and there was an in-house simulation of a lion dance parade through the Avenell house. The music was great with Michael's dad, Chris, playing a loud drum.
Iris really caught onto the princess theme, too, with a pink canopy above her bed to encourage her to sleep on her "big girl" twin bed. However, she has more frequently preferred sleeping on the floor over the bed. It must be a maturation thing...I hope.

Two days later on her actual birthdate, she celebrated with friends and teachers at preschool. Mom sent along mini cupcakes. She had a candle and people sang, "Happy Birthday" to her. That same evening, we packed up the car to drive to AZ where grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were waiting to shower her with another birthday cake and presents. There was a fabulous "doll" cake, where a Barbie size doll (standing up) was placed in the center of the cake, which became her "gown"of frosting. Iris loved it!
Then, Thanksgiving came complete with pies, gingerbread house, and time playing with cousins. It was a great visit, except for a run-in with the Westie dog named Riley. Iris was quite cooperative on the long drives there and back because she slept a lot. However, she was most creative with the pen that was meant for doodling in a notebook, not on her face, legs and Barbie doll. That was accomplished after we spent nearly one hour going 10 miles on Interstate 10 in AZ. We were all glad to have made it home safe and sound. Iris was super excited, too, about the presents that we brought back with us.


Finally, on December 5th, Iris celebrated her last birthday party with a playgroup in which most of the children were born in late 2007. So, there were about 8 children gathered around a table to decorate birthday cupcakes. Once the decorations were available, the children wanted to eat them more than the cupcakes. The moms drew names, so that only one gift needed to be given to each child. This made things simple. The potluck meal was great, too, especially for the Dads that don't know each other well.

By this time, Iris knew well how to sing, "Happy Birthday to_________". And that was needed for her Auntie Ruth's birthday and for Christmas as she practiced singing for Jesus. Through the month, I believe Iris learned how to open presents well, eat cupcakes and say "Thank you" when people gave her presents.

As I reflect about the change between her 2nd and 3rd birthdays, I am in awe of her development in language, motor and attention skills. I'm also very thankful that she is healthy, growing taller, listening some of the time, and coming along with toilet training (It's been well over one year since we started!). I love her smile, laughter, her expressions that she copies from us. Mommy and Daddy will have to watch that more carefully now. It's also nice to hear when she wants me or Daddy, but at bedtime, this is what I call a "stall tactic" because crying ensues, which we need to ignore in order for her not to get used to us coming in, and for her to self-soothe. What's next?

Christmas is coming.....

What happened in October?

Yes, we're still together-Dada, Iris and Mama. It has been said a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are several thousand words...not literally.

First, our relaxing times: hike in a new county park called Taylor Mountain (pictured above), in our backyard with a new cat friend that we named, "Miss Puff", beach fun in Mendocino county where we spent a weekend in early October. The water was freezing, but Iris loved being there!


Birthdays: Friend Joshua turned four the same day that Mama had celebrated another birthday. Iris helped Dada with the cake and couldn't stop talking about sprinkles.


Harvest time: Playgroup friends had great fun at Oluf's Pumpkin Patch, annual pumpkin patch visit and jack o'lantern carving with cousins Matthew and Noah and Aunt Ruth, but no corn maze fun this year. :(


Halloween: Preschool had a Halloween parade and cookie treats, which Iris thoroughly enjoyed. Bottom line-Iris likes sweets! Of course by Halloween, she was ready and primed for trick-or-treating. She really was impressed by the glow-in-the-dark outlined people costumes that she calls, "green people". She was a truly happy pumpkin by the time we returned home from our neighborhood rounds.


Today is All Saints' Day, and I think of all the saintly people in our lives that continue to help us, love us, and point us to the true light of Christ. Thank you and thanks be to God!

2nd Anniversary of Happy Day

For those who have adopted internationally, "Happy Day" is the date on which all paperwork is signed and your son or daughter is officially and legally under your care. What a responsibility! Little did we know two years ago just how huge that commitment was. However, God continues to sustain and teach us to walk humbly and love Iris to the best we can.

A snapshot of this second anniversary:
-Iris is starting not to take naps. It's still quiet time in the bedroom, so mom can do things like blog and clean the house. Occasionally, that means naptime for mama.
-Iris is over three feet tall and weighs about 30 lbs.
-She likes to sing "Happy Birthday" and knows that her birthday is coming up soon.
-She insists on things, such as choosing which pull-up design or which pair of shorts she's going to wear.
-She'd rather walk than sit in a stroller, but it's not long before she wants us to pick her "Up. Uppy". Then, Daddy or Mama is the ride.
-She names people more often. She has great associations, such as "Dale...chocolate. Popie...flowers.
-Iris also likes to requests songs for Mama to sing, including a Japanese tune that A-ma taught us.
-She likes to watch herself in videos, as we've been showing her videos from our first meeting in China.
-She's gotten good at tantrums, whining or fake crying to try getting her way.
-Her pronunciation is very clear when she says, "Go away." "Stop it." "I want Mommy or Dada." and "Come here."
-She knows the polite phrase, "May I have....?" She even complimented Dada for "Nice asking" when he politely requested something.

-She loves being in her room with her books and stuffed animal friends.

-She is definitely testing the limits to her doing the opposite of what we ask her. For example, dropping food off the table. If she does that, she must pick it up.

Suffice it to say that Iris is a "typical" two-year old. As she's going to be three years old soon, I wonder how many more toddler independence years we have ahead of us. Some have said that the testing doesn't end, but changes in nature. God help us!

This is from an outing to an apple farm.


-

Summer whirlwind

Officially there is one more month of summer, but because of the unseasonably cool weather, many are asking, "Did we have a summer?"

Iris continues to astound us with her developing language skills, memory and fixation on video stories, such as Cinderella. She is echoing more of what we say, and trying to start up "conversation" in a random way. References are hard to put into context. For example at dinnertime, she'll say something about some phrase she heard in the morning. It's touching that she asks for the adult who is absent when she wakes up from sleep in the morning or afternoon-Daddy, Mommy or A-ma.

So, sleep is the topic on my mind these days. We spent a few days in a small town near Yosemite, during which time she didn't get to sleep before 10:30pm; room light on and door wide open. Since coming home, we have weaned her down to a bright night light and door open, going to sleep between 8-9pm. I don't know why she has been so insistent on the light or door. Recently, I learned of some tips on getting children settled and more secure so that they can fall asleep without too much orchestration or prolonging rituals. I really want to try them, but am currently busy with work things.

Finally, her habit is to do a fake cry and protest with whining when she can't get exactly what she wants. These a "minor" temper tantrums, but they seem to be increasing in frequency. We can rely on the fact that "She's a two-year-old', and yet, I wonder what habits she's picking up from us, other children or just extensions of her temperament. She still doesn't have the language to explain well what she wants. She is cute when she uses shortened phrases, like "This?" for "What's this?", or "Daddy doing? for "What's daddy doing?"

Overall, Iris has done well with a trip to AZ in early June, two weeks of Daddy taking her to preschool four mornings per week, a dentist visit when she sat in mom's lap to watch, and her first theater show ("Peter Pan") that happened during her usual nap time. She's healthy, shares a little bit, and continues to like being neat and putting things away....sometimes. In general, we still love it when she yells, "Momma (or Daddy), come here!" The most amazing thing is that it's been nearly 2 years since we traveled to meet Iris. Currently, her province (Gansu) is experiencing flooding with over 1,000 lives lost. How incredibly different our travel and Iris's life may have been had something like that happened two years ago.

As for our families, both grandfathers have had to go to the hospital a few times in the past three month for different reasons. I am thinking a bit selfishly that Iris get more years with them because they are important to Momma and Daddy. They are in their seventies, so their lives have been full. We both hope to live at least that age, and maybe see Iris married with children before we meet our Maker/Creator.

Things to love about Iris

As Iris is smack dab in the middle of her two's, we continue to marvel at her learning, her personality, and interests. Last week, she started sleeping on a mattress without her crib. So, she is comforted by many stuffed animal friends, and enough blankets to cover her whole bedroom floor. She loves her blankets, with the yellow one that we brought to China as her favorite. Lately, she wants to wear it like a dress tied around the back.
Other things we love about Iris:
- her growing desire to cook in her play kitchen and serve plastic food to us and friends.
- her hobby of squirting the bottle to clean her playhouse and other patio furniture
- her new desire to play "ABC" (she says, "EZ") games on the computer.
- her saying, "no, sing mommy", so that she can sing her versions of "Old Mcdonald had a Farm", "Baa Baa Black Sheep" "Jesus Loves me" "Do you know the muffin man?"
- how she laughs when she hears herself snort
- her "uppy" when she wants one of us to carry her
- Saying "take it" when she means "get it" or "keep it"
- reciting lines from books, such as Cinderella, Go Dog Go, and Green Eggs and Ham
- her signal to "watch" a video from her growing video collection (Note: Blue's clues and Vegie Tale series are still popular with her)

Here's a photo of her sitting with new vegetable "toys" knitted by dear Aunt Ruth. There's an eggplant, tomato, two cucumbers, two pea pods, and a carrot coming soon.

As you can see in this picture, she continues to enjoy painting and asking mom to draw Big Bird and Barkley because of the video, "Big Bird in China". I can't wait to see how she channels her creativity. I also wonder what she really thinks about her mama and Dada when we're being silly and making her food talk.
Well, this entry could go long, so let me close by saying that we still enjoy being her parents and are constantly asking ourselves, "What's the next change and/or issue to address with Iris?" Disciplining her "cuteness" is a toughy. Please pray that we'll respond her with firmness and love.

From house to house

For two months, Iris has been saying, "Wendy house" that refers to her playhouse that Dad has been building in the garage. So, the house is up, thanks in part to our two tall, young nephews that helped carry the floor & walls and hammered together the pieces to place the new playhouse in the backyard. Although the doors and windows still need to be put in, it looks very good and Iris loves it. She's into using a squirt bottle and a towel to clean around her house. Who knows why! I think she likes water and likes the control of spraying around. Here's a photo with her Ai-yi Ruth.
In addition to that house, Iris recently took a trip to see Dad's side of the family. It was to celebrate Grandpa and Grandma's 50th wedding anniversary. She stayed with the grandparents for two nights and one night with an aunt. There were several cousins who enjoyed watching her, especially in the pool. Iris really liked the "boat ride" on the inflatable raft that Dad pushed her around the pool in. The worst part of the visit was the cough, runny nose and fever that Iris suffered on the day she returned home. She is on the mend, but the cough was bad enough to change her voice. I think the travel was just too much after days of excitement with relatives that she's only seen a few times.

She is not quite back into a routine and she'll be attending a week of Vacation Bible School at Mom's church next week. As she continues to say more words and ask for things, it will be interesting to see what she learns there next week. Summer school for me starts, too. It is for keeping sane with all the summer activities and busy-ness of work that I would like prayers. God help us all!

Iris at 2 1/2 years

Each day I marvel at the small and big developments in Iris's life. What does she like/dislike? Why does she do or NOT do things? What's behind the crying and whining? Yeah, yeah..I know that she's two years old and that explains a lot, but not all. Before time gets away from me, I want to put down all the fun facts about Iris at this age:

Books: Her current favorites are "Red is a Dragon", "Cordoruy", "Ten Apples up on Top", "Green Eggs and Ham", and she's starting to like the Charlie Brown "Peanuts" comics.

Songs: "It's raining, it's pouring", Ring around the Rosie", "Joy is like the Rain", "Holy, Holy, Holy", "Jesus Loves Me",

Foods: The 4 C's- cookie, cake, chocolate (Thanks to Dale F.!), cracker. She also associates donuts in the large hall where we see friends between worship services at the church. She continues to enjoy milk, juice, yogurt, all kinds of fruit, and noodles. She has eaten and enjoyed avocado, papaya, and hummus at different times. Getting her to eat vegetables still seems to be the challenge, but I've discovered a food item called "Yottabar" that has 9 kinds of vegetables with apple mixed in. They're convenient to pack and don't taste too bad.

Activities: watching videos, painting, finding roly poly (a.k.a. potato) bugs or worms outside, splashing in puddles with her boots on, and "reading" books. Popular videos include "Snow White", Kai Lan or Blues Clues (Nick Jr.), and "Nemo". Dad also likes to watch Wallace and Grommit, "Babe", and "Toy Story" with her.

Sleep: It's great when she finally gets down. She's definitely getting more particular about how many books we read before laying down, where she sleeps (crib or futon bed), and whether she has her sleeping bag, many blankets, a tissue, or a book, OR all of the the above when she is going to sleep. I'm planning to read a book on healthy sleep habits that another mom recommended.

Language: "No" is still prominent, followed by her name "Iris". She started saying "mine", as she grabs things. I'm trying to explain that she should ask by saying "May I..." before "taking" things. She says, "Sorry" even when I should be the one saying it to her. (She must hear it a lot from me.) It's funny when she randomly refers to things that happened hours or days before, such as needing a bandaid for a "boo boo". She is understanding so much because she repeatedly tries to say a word that I may not understand. For example, she says something like "umber" for "umbrella". I find it fascinating how she mixes Chinese with English. For example, she says "fang here", which means "put (something) here".

Of course, crying and whining are part of her communication, but it's hard to train her to calm down and use language to communicate what she wants. In one Kai Lan video, there is a lesson about calming down when one of the characters gets mad. I say that to her as she sits in a corner (my attempt at timeout) before I can respond to what she wants. It's tiring for her, as well as for me and Dada.

Dressing herself: She has one favorite purple tank top that she wears as an undershirt. She has a fascination with wearing tights, too. She has been noticing more things about people's appearances like colored fingernail polish, earrings, buttons, and tags (I tell her "tag in back").


We're very thankful for her happy nature, resilience, and neatness (When there is a crease or crumple, she flattens out one quilt that is laying on the floor of her bedroom.) Just how long these tendencies/preferences will last? God only knows, and it is in Him that I put my trust for her development and well-being. That's about it for now!

Enjoy these photos from recent outings:

Spring is here!

I can't believe April has ended. I had so many intentions of posting more than once. So, what happened?

First, Easter came. The Saturday before Easter Sunday, we met some friends (Lynette and Bobbie) at a park for a candy egg hunt, complete with a 6-foot tall bunny. There was a raffle of prizes, but we didn't win anything. On Easter morning, Iris dressed so nicely in her white dress. She fell down and scratched her chin. It was a rainy day, so after church we stayed home to have our own Easter egg hunt with plastic eggs. In the afternoon, Dada worked long and hard on the "Wendy House" (a.k.a. a playhouse) that he's building for Iris. It's going to be soooo nice and will be big enough to last several years. The materials cost a lot, but we think it will be worth the fun and laughs Iris will have. She already loves it, and it's not all put together yet!


Second, Iris has been enjoying playgroup, park visits, and visits from A-ma and A-gong (even though she says, "no, thank you" when they first come over.). The Monday playgroup met at our house the Monday after Easter, and it was the largest showing ever! There were about 13 children and 10 moms in our modest-sized home. It was great to see sunshine because then the children could go outside and explore our backyard vegetable garden and toys. Sometimes after her preschool time, Iris and I go to the park for awhile before I go to work and before Dada comes home. Several times, my parents helped out with babysitting while I attended work meetings. It's great to hear Iris laugh with them. It's even nicer when they come over because A-ma brings or cooks good Chinese food AND washes dishes. I want Iris to hear the lovely songs that A-ma sings, too. On April 17, there was a Spring social sponsored by the local moms club. Iris liked the food and the balloons. Before we left the event, we noticed the great sculpture/stature of Schroeder and Lucy from the Peanuts gang. What a cute photo op!

Finally, there was the celebration of Dada's birthday. Although he would have rather forgotten it, we had a great excuse to indulge in a delicious mocha chocolate cake, courtesy of my mom. Auntie Ruth stopped by for a quick visit and delivery of a hand-knitted poncho. It is beautiful! On the Sunday of his birthday, Dada decided that it would be good to go to the beach. After attending early worship service, I came back in time to pack up the car to go to the coast. The water was cold, the weather was sunny, and the sand was hot! There was just enough wind to see kites flying. Iris totally loved it and increased her vocabulary to include beach words. We didn't find any good seashells or crawling creatures, but she truly enjoyed splashing and jumping into the water as the waves came close. Playing in sand is always a hit with Iris, too. We were hoping that she would sleep on the drive back in the afternoon, but she only slept 10-15 minutes before we had to take her out of the car and put her in her room. She absolutely did not like that! She cried for over 1/2 hour and never went back to sleep.

Some side notes:
I had to be the single mom for one week early in April and will do it again next week, as Dad goes on business trips. This is new for me, but I thank God for friends who help and in whom I can trust to love Iris. Also, this past weekend, I was away for two nights, so Iris and Dada had some 24/7 bonding time. Through it all, she still seems to smile when we are around. I guess she likes us...a little.
Also, I sewed some curtains for Iris's room. I really need to take sewing lessons because it took a loooong time and the curtains are way too full. Oh well, they add a splash of color to her room, as well as block out the sunshine during naps and early morning.