Yet more pictures to add...

Above pic: Jamie loved having us wrap the scarf around his neck like daddy was doing, even though Jamie only wore it around the house, lol.

Jamie wanted us to take a picture of him so he posed in his antique rocker

Happy boy!! (Notice how he squishes his kitty in front and doggie behind in the car to take his pets around with him as he 'go go goes' as he says. )

Waffle. BAH!!!

I don't quite get Jamie sometimes. Today he learned to clearly say waffle. We were really impressed. He didn't say waff but waffle, and came tearing into the kitchen to get one, yelling, " WAFFLLLLEEE!!!" But he continues to only say, "Bah!" for up. We are always saying, " Up?" when he wants up but he says bah. It used to be mah and now it is bah. But the kid can clearly say waffle and is trying to say his uncle's name Daniel (Dah oool.) So if you are ever hanging around Jamie and he says Bah! He either is trying to say he saw a sheep picture or he wants up. ;-)

Pictures from snowy day today!

It is a rarity to see snow in these parts. How fun that we got some today so Jamie could experience it. I would say so Jamie could enjoy it but I am not sure whether he really enjoyed it or not, lol. He liked being pulled on the sled but was happy to go inside too. He clearly enjoed looking at the snow while inside and hearing us talk about it with him. He spent a good deal of time peering out the door and windows. ;-) I wish we got more snow in the winters where we live. Jamie seems to have a great sense of balance and he loves to move on objects either standing or sitting (he successfully stood on a razor scooter (a type of streamlined scooter that is cool) with me only lightly holding him on it the other day while I rolled it back, forth and in a circle!) I could see him really enjoying skiiing if we had a lot of snow around us.

Anyway, here are the snowy day pictures! After going outside, you can see Jamie enjoying a warmed bottle of milk. We usually save those for nap and nighttime but his cheeks were cold from outdoors. While I didn't get pictures of this, Jamie also enjoyed watching the many wild birds eating birdseed that David sprinkled out on the snow on the deck. (This is what he is doing while drinking that bottle in the picture.) We had 13 morning doves, about 13 Juncos, the typical array of chickadees, titmice, cardinals, sparrows, etc and a few new-comers like Rufous-sided Tohees (David got a kick out me saying, "Look!! A rufous-sided towhee!!" (I took ornithology in college otherwise I'd never know a lot of breeds.) And at some points of the day all of these birds were assembled *at the same time* on the deck! Oh, and 4 squirrels. Jamie enjoys watching these birds and squirrels every day while he eats breakfast and when it snows, boy do the birds come in droves! He seemed impressed w/ the sheer number of visitors to the deck.

You know what is cute? We recently taught Jamie that chickadees say, " Chicka-dee-dee-dee-dee" and now if you ask Jamie, " What does the Chickadee say?" he will answer " Uhh dee dee". He also knows that crows say caw caw and tonight he remembered that even though it's been some days since I told him that. He is one smart kid! Okay, bragging done for now. ;-)

How about some pictures?

I can only seem to post 5 pictures per post b/c I don't know how to do otherwise, sorry! I'll make several posts right now in a row w/ pictures.

Re. the last picture, a good friend of mine sent Jamie a stuffed orange tabby cat for Christmas. You can see he enjoys taking kitty cat for a ride in his car!

As you can see from the other pictures, Jamie likes to put his hats on sometimes when he is inside. He will pick up the hat and sign help to have me put it on his head. He liked having me take pictures of him in his hats and then showing him the pictures. One of my friends gave me that red one w/ the ear flaps. I love it! We bought the other two at a kids' consignment shop. I love consignment sales for his clothing!

I'll make another post in a few minutes about our day of snow today. It was Jamie's first time out in the snow (with us at least! I don't know that he ever got snow in his city in China?)

Quack Quack!

If you are a vegetarian you might want to skip this entry b/c I'm talking about meat getting cut up.

Quack Quack is what Jamie said yesterday when he saw a man chopping up duck meat at our favorite Chinese grocery store (which also has an eating area.) I laughed so hard, Jamie wasn't sure why I was laughing, but another customer next to me was quite amused as well. I told him that the duck wasn't quacking anymore, that it was cooked and people were going to eat it. He was really interested in the man making the chopping sounds on the cutting board with his cleaver. (That was more interesting to him than the meat I think.)

We were eating lunch in the cafe area after shopping the first time Jamie heard the cleaver pounding on the board. I told him they were cutting up meat w/ a knife and I imitated with my hand in a pounding motion. He imitated and started moving his hand in a chopping motion every time he heard the man cutting up the cooked meat for customers. They have whole ducks and chickens, cooked, hanging from hooks in a display case so I don't know if Jamie saw that first and identified it as a duck, but when we walked over to where the man was chopping up another duck later on for a customer, I think Jamie might have seen the duck head/neck portion that the man lifted (eww). Anyway, Jamie said loudly, "Quack! Quack!" I wonder some times what Jamie will feel like as he gets a little older and understands that the cute animals get eaten for food. I sometimes wonder if he'll decide to be a vegetarian. Anyway, at this young age he certainly only sees the animal for what it is and he likes to say the sound.

Last weekend my parents came for a visit and they took us out to one of our favorite Italian restaurants (Jamie loves red sauce.) Pop Pop (what Jamie calls my dad) was cutting up some chicken to give to Jamie and asked Jamie if he'd like some chicken and offered him some on a fork. Jamie immediately said, " Bah Bah!" (his version of bok bok or however you spell what a chicken says.) We all had a good laugh and even Jamie laughed though he had no idea what he was laughing about.

I am discovering that my normally picky son is not very picky *if* you feed him foods similar to what he was used to in China. At our quack quack outing I bought a very soft curd homemade tofu with soup that they make at the cafe part of the store and it had fresh scallions and cilantro in it, cooked tree fungus strips and lily buds. He ate it all and was begging for it as fast and furious as he does when I give him shrimp! (I'm allergic to shrimp so can't prepare it at home but once we discovered he loves it so much I get it out often on buffets, etc.) So there he was, the kid that doesn't like vegetables normally, downing raw scallion bits and cilantro leaves and wood fungus and lilly buds. I may have mentioned before that if we make a Chinese noodle soup for him at home he'll eat finely chopped green veggies like baby bok choy, etc. and he'll eat almost any vegetable if you do Chinese fried noodles w/ the veggies minced in. He also really likes mushrooms if they have a Chinese-flavored sauce soaked into them. So maybe he isn't so picky after all and just doesn't like the way Americans make a pile of one type of veggie in larger pieces with butter. I don't mind too much b/c I prefer Chinese food anyway so we make it once or twice a week now. He just started liking canned peas though, which is new for him b/c he hated peas before that. Still doesn't like fresh/frozen.

By the way, Jame Jame has a cold right now and is pretty congested but his fever seems to have broken at least for now and he's been in good spirits the whole time and his fever was never very high. Once he is over this cold I plan on starting to get involved in the adoption playgroups locally and join a little gym gym class once a week and the library time for toddlers once a week. I can't wait to get out more with him with other people gathered besides just strollering him or carting him in grocery stores and playing at outdoor parks. B/c of the giardia thing and now the cold we've had little time w/ other children and often only go outside in the neighborhood or to stores. While I am looking forward to getting out more with Jamie, I have to keep reminding myself that it isn't going to be this really relaxing fun time where he plays with other children while I chat w/ the moms the whole time. He is at the very normal MINE stage where he wants whatever someone else has and doesn't want it taken from him. So it will be a lot of teaching time I'm sure. Hopefully he'll have some fun too though he does tend to get kind of stressed out around other kids, wanting everything they have and not being satisfied w/ anything for long. I guess that is normal too. Hopefully we'll find some good fits for us.

I'll add some recent pictures later or tomorrow. ;-)

Vote for Half the Sky today or next couple of days!

Here is the link for the Chase Community giving page on Facebook. http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/

Here is the link to the Half the Sky page on Chase Community directly:

http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/670139?src=wallpost&ref=mf

HELP Half the Sky starting on 15th!!

PLEASE take the time to vote for Half the Sky to be the one non-profit to win 1 million. They have been selected to be one of 100 non-profits which will have one winner winning 1 million. If they win, they will be able to help EVERY orphanage in China by training caregivers with their techniques. Jamie is on target and even ahead developmentally soley b/c of the great work of Half the Sky. His orphanage was really awful before Half the Sky stepped in and revamped it and trained caregivers and changed everything. He could have easily been in an orphanage where he was rarely given any attention and just laid in a crib all day long w/ no stimulation, company or care and a bottle propped the whole time. Instead he was singing music, playing with toys, being held by his loving nanny (who only cared for a total of 4 kids!) Some orphanages have dozens of kids per care giver.

The voting will take place on Facebook. If you don't have a Facebook account would you consider joining it even for a couple of days in order to vote for them?


Here is their announcement:
January, 2010Dear Friends of Half the Sky,
If you haven’t heard it already, you’re about to hear some wonderful news.
Half the Sky has the great good fortune of being one in only 100 nonprofits competing for a $1 Million prize in the Facebook Chase Community Giving contest.
If we win, we will be able to do something we’ve only dreamed about. We will be able to transform the lives of ALL of China’s orphans within just a few short years.
I know it’s a long shot, but I just keep thinking of all of the people who pulled together and voted so that I could carry the Olympic Torch on behalf of China’s orphans.
And I think of all the people who pitched in to help Half the Sky provide relief and comfort to thousands of children whose lives were shattered by the Sichuan earthquake.
And I think of a kind supporter named Julie, who wrote to us during the holidays: “I would give you guys a million dollars if I had it. You are awesome and make such a difference to so many children. Thanks for all you do.”
And I’ve just got to believe that we might have a chance.
We need your help.
If you have a Facebook account, we need you to vote for our “Big Idea” January 15-22.
If you don’t have a Facebook account, we need you to start one – if only for a day or two.
Watch and forward our video and our Big Idea
Post our video and stories about Half the Sky on Facebook walls
Tweet the news
Become a fan of Chase Community Giving and
Vote January 15 – 22
When the vote starts on Friday, you’ll be hearing from me daily. It’s only a week.
And what a difference we can make if we win. Please tell your friends and your family and your co-workers and everybody you know who thinks all children deserve a chance. Tell the world.
A vote for Half the Sky is a vote for every forgotten child."


Here is the email I received from communications director of HTS (when I emailed to tell her the voting instructions were not clear):

"Because the voting doesn't start until January 15 and we're notrunning the contest, we want to make sure that any instructions we provideare accurate. So Pam Han (I've copied her) and some other of our tech-savvystaff are going to vote first thing January 15 and then we're going to comeup with very clear instructions.
The instructions will be on this page of our website--Pam can correct me ifI'm wrong, but I believe I have the correct link:http://www.halfthesky.org/help/Chase.php.
In general, what I have been told, is that to vote you have to become a"Fan" of Chase Community Giving and download an app. But we'll spell it allout for people like me who are not computer savvy when the voting starts.
And thank you for your kind words. I am so happy that your son is thrivingat home. We love hearing about children who used to be in our programs.
Finally, feel free to post this note or whatever portion of it you wouldlike to post on the message boards you're part of.
Thank you so much. I'm sure we'll have very clear instructions when thevoting starts!
Best regards,
Patricia
Patricia KingCommunications DirectorHalf the Sky Foundation"