Happy Baba's Day

Note the blurry feet, swinging with glee.

Brian and I joke about never thinking we'd ever see this day. And now it's passed without much fanfare! Our little family has been sick this past week. Brian brought home a cold with coughing and sneezing and congestion (probably from some germ-ridden middle-schooler) who passed it on to me, who also got a fever. Sydney somehow avoided the coughing and sneezing and congestion but got the fever, just for a short while. Needless to say, we are getting ourselves back to normal just in time for school to get out for Brian this coming Thursday. Father's Day was uneventful but at least we got some rest. Thanks to Grandpa Jim and Grammy Kathie for taking care of Sydney on those sick days when Mama couldn't!

Here's where Sydney liked to lay for a while when she had a fever.

We got a visit last Saturday (the 9th) from cousins Mark and Anna Quan, who were in town for a wedding. Coincidently, the groom of the wedding they attended happened to be the brother of a teacher at Brian's school. Thanks for the outfit and the soccer goal! She's on her way!

Here's proof for all that Mark and Anna were here:

Here's Sydney and Baba just chillin', watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Sydney just likes the first minute and the last minute of the show with the music and dancing.

Here's our little noodle princess:

Sydney fits perfectly in our laps!

New words Sydney says these days include "hat" and "hot". She still picks up little tiny bits of crumbs and trash, but they don't necessarily go right into the mouth; she brings them to us to throw away. One of her favorite foods is edamame, and she has taken a liking to raisins, which Mama can't believe. Speaking of Mama, she seems to have replaced the word Baba with Mama and now calls both of us Mama. Oh well. There you have it. How apropo, for Father's Day!

Let's Get Together, Yeah Yeah Yeah

Last Sunday Sydney got to go to the Oregon Zoo for the second week in a row! But this time, we didn't even bother trying to see the elephants because we were there to meet up with most of our travel group. In retrospect, we probably could have just met at a park. We only managed to see a few zoo animals due to all the visiting and catching up with our friends. We did manage to get former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber, who was there that day, to take our picture below. Thanks to Tim for being brave enough to ask him.

Here's Group 98 as we are known at our adoption agency. Left to right are us, Paul, Lydia and Maya, Ama, Joanna and Zanna, and Inge, Tim and Natalie. We're sorry that Janet and JoLi couldn't join us as they live in Naperville, IL.

Here are the Fu girls as we sometimes refer to them; they are from Fuzhou, Nanchang. Of course, this is one of the best shots we could get as they are all very active and happy now! (Even though it looks as if Sydney is being nonsocial...) Think how far they've come since the red couch photo in Guangzhou!

Maya just couldn't contain herself.

That's a little better...except for Maya. She refuses to be held up by Sydney again!

Sydney and Zanna are learning to share. Zanna has Sydney's sippy cup and vice versa. Looks like Sydney wants both.

Maya: "Love your shoes. Where did you get them?"

Sydney: "Why are you touching my foot?"

Stroller buddies...

It was great catching up with everyone there. We all have a common bond that will never end.

In other news...

Here's Sydney gathering pinecones on a recent visit to the Round Lake trail in Camas.

Sydney continues to grow and surprise us every day. Recently she is saying "nana" for banana, "umpa" for Grandpa, and I even caught her saying "Sydney" one morning as she pointed to herself. She has rediscovered watermelon and says four syllables (baby babble) to represent one of her favorite foods. We figure it's because they grow watermelon in Nanchang. This morning on our walk with Ellie, she held her pinched fingers to her nose, as I was pooper-scooping and saying "P.U., stinky poo-poo!" She has seen me do this before and loves to copy. She also picks up little bits of trash or crumbs and brings them to us to throw away. Our budding environmentalist?

Visitors from the East

Whew! After a nice long weekend visit from Uncle Dennis and cousin Anna from Pennsylvania, Sydney's sleep clock seems a bit off. She has gotten up twice this week about an hour and a half earlier than usual. Of course, this made her a bit confused and she immediately fell asleep a couple of hours later. Perhaps she is trying to be on East Coast time with her uncle and cousin.

Here she is waiting at the airport for them, with Grammy's diet Coke:

We had lots of fun hanging out with Uncle Dennis and Anna.

Here we are just chillin' at Grammy and Grandpa's:

In the computer room.

Uncle Dennis has a big mouth!

He makes funny sounds......and plays with food.

I think I like him!

Here we are at the Oregon Zoo:

I call this one "Cowgirl Cousins"....

Just start singing the William Tell Overture and Sydney will start galloping in place.

Once again, not looking at the elephants.

But I did like pushing my own stroller around. And I always like petting the sheep.

Here we are playing mini-golf. Sydney is in charge of ball collection.

Here we are just hanging out at our crib. (That's baby homie talk for home.)

And finally, here's one for Grammy:

Mayday Mayhem

I'm ready for Disneyland, homies! (Minnie hat courtesy of Cousin Tiffany, Nike bib courtesy of the Greenes.)

When we last left our brave girl Sydney, there was not much to report. However, so much can happen in a small person's life in just a couple of weeks! We have started jotting things down just to remember them for this blog.

I mentioned before how cool it is to say or do something and have her understand. Sydney now complies when asked to close a door or a drawer, gives Ellie her Milkbone ball treat, puts things back, and even puts Mommy's shoes away at the hallway shoe rack. In fact, the other day I found her little red shoes resting on top of Daddy's shoes on the shoe rack. I asked Brian if he had put them there - nope. It was our smart girl who knows where the shoes go when not on the feet.

Sydney knows to kiss owies - Mommy cut her finger and had a bandaid on it, and she repeatedly kissed it. Of course, she also grabbed it roughly and pulled it to her mouth to kiss it, squeezing it and making Mommy say "Owie!" for real, but she means well. She also shares her Cheerios freely with anyone who will take them.

Here she is reading her new "Pat the Bunny" book - a classic. Thanks, Grandma Joe!

She is quite the teaser when she gets a hold of something she shouldn't have, like the TV remote. She will offer it to us and then pull it away and laugh and nonverbally ask us to chase her with it. She also does this when getting dressed or when getting undressed to take a bath - she breaks free sometimes and bolts down the hallway, squealing with glee.

Sydney is now beginning to enjoy brushing her teeth again. She is slowly getting a mouth full of them, but now she will take control of the brush and do it herself.

Here's Sydney having fun exploring the backyard:

Peeking through the knothole at the neighbor dogs.

It is a challenge to get her to stand still for the photo op!

A few fun things Sydney has done with Grandpa Jim:

Played at a local playground.

Went to Klineline Park. And she's off!

Sat on a horse! (No, not Ellie...)

Just chillin' with Grandpa Jim.

Sydney's new word: Up. Actually it comes out as "Bup" but we get it. She will squat down when we say down, and stand back up when we say up. "Up" comes in handy all day long...

Here's our aspiring pianist banging out some tunes.

Finally, here's Sydney balancing on Mommy's lap desk. Peace out, Surfer Girl!

Happy Mother's Day

Technically, this is my (Wendy's) third Mother's Day - First came Ellie the dog, and then last year when Sydney was born (however, of course we didn't know exactly when). But nonetheless, I am happy beyond belief. These past few months have flown by and I still can hardly believe that this little baby girl is my daughter. Life is good!

New hat and sunglasses - ready for Summer!

Not much to update in terms of development and growth, although Sydney is perfecting her animal sounds. She is currently trying to moo like a cow (it comes out more like a "mmm"), and, did you know, lots of animals sound like monkeys? - or at least, they all seem to look like monkeys to her and thus the monkey sound. The movie "Shrek" was just on tonight and she started in with her monkey sound when she saw him.

Here she is horsing around with Daddy.


She also enjoys using a fork - or at least, watching Mommy stab pancakes with the fork while holding onto said fork and bringing the fork to her mouth. And she has recently showed signs of encouragement as she pats us on the shoulder or grabs our arm close to her, pats it and hugs it.

Here's Sydney getting some teething relief from an ice cube.


She gets over-the-top excited whenever she hears music playing on the TV or radio; she bops and boogies in place on the floor, or sways and kicks in her highchair or carseat. She squeals when Ellie approaches her, tries to get away, and yet mostly loves to get her face washed by Ellie's infamous tongue. She is also able to follow simple directions like "take this to Daddy" or "go get your other beads". It is very cool to see this little human being understand and comprehend what we're asking her.

Here's our aspiring Chinese acrobat, balancing some cups on her feet. (She actually placed them on her feet herself and lifted them up!)


Sydney's walking is much faster and is keeping us on our toes. She has officially had three bloody noses, although one happened while sleeping (?). I went into her room to get her up one morning and her nose was encrusted in dried blood, her jammies were bloody, and the crib sheet had a big blood spot. Poor little girl. She paid absolutely no attention to it all so I guess she's okay. Scared me though!
She still gets annoyed when we brush her teeth (fussy is more like it), and she recently displayed high levels of frustration when she couldn't hold all of her crayons in her arms without dropping a few here and there. The plastic cups above also frustrate her when she can't make them fit into one another. Frustration culminates in loud screaming, whining and tossing of objects.

Here's our little peanut in a nice ensemble for the cool Spring days in Vancouver:


And finally, for your viewing pleasure, here's our packrat who somehow managed to find a couple of used, wrapped up diapers to tote around. Ewww! Well, she thought it was funny.