Sep 2006
One Last Post
Tuesday, September 19 2006 Filed in: HuiHui
Updates
In Which Kai celebrates his Family Day, and We
Say Goodbye.
A year ago on September 18, the five of us were in China. Tina, Cam, Ben and I started the day waking up all together in a small hotel room in Beijing; the four of us anxious and excited for what lay ahead. I assume Kai started his day waking up for the last time in his crib at the S.W.I. with all his roommates. We wonder how much he had been prepared for our arrival. We had sent a gift package to his S.W.I. that included photos of us, a disposable camera, and a questionnaire in Chinese about Kai. His nannies had used the camera for us and answered our questions, but we don’t know what became of the rest of the package. Had he seen the pictures of us? Had they told him about our impending arrival? He seemed very apprehensive upon our first meeting and was understandably hesitant to interact. He clung to his nanny and balked at letting Tina hold him. I had a little Hot Wheels car with me (a green BMW convertible) I rolled it to him across the floor. He stared at it as it rolled into his foot, but he wouldn’t smile or pick it up. This little car is now kept in a special box on top of the piano. Kai plays with it sometimes, but it stays separate from the large basket of “working” cars he inherited from his older brothers. The other night I took the little green bimmer from its box and rolled it across the floor to Kai. It bumped into his toes just like that day in Baoding, this time Kai laughed and rolled it back to me. We rolled it back and forth a few times like we often do with cars; Kai didn’t seem to think anything special of the moment, but it was quite poignant for me.
Kai has been with us for one year! Sometimes it seems like he has been with us forever, other times I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since we went to China to get him. It’s difficult to see a child's growth when you're with them everyday, it’s such a gradual process day by day, but over a year it adds up dramatically. Kai has grown three and half inches in height and gained nearly ten pounds. Even more impressive than his physical growth are the gains he has made in language and other cognitive areas, he is an amazing little boy! He is much more active and physically coordinated than when we received him. He has developed a very powerful imagination and loves make-believe. He enjoys playing with his Brio trains, he likes coloring, and cutting paper with scissors. He likes listening to stories and will listen to whole chapters of the original Winnie-the-Pooh and Beatrix Potter stories. He takes long walks with me and is learning new words every day.
So how did we mark our special day? We had our 12-month post placement interview with our social worker. JoAnn Vesper! This was actually quite nice, as it made us sit down and really focus on how the last year has gone for Kai. Tina had made a cake. It was round and white so we called it a "Moon Cake". This was to signify that the day we received Kai in China last year was on the Moon Festival. (This year Moon Festival will be on October 6th). Kai didn't want to eat any but he enjoyed blowing out the candle about a dozen times and he shared his piece with Stinky Mouse.
One other tradition we started was an idea we borrowed from another family. We dressed Kai in the clothes he came to us in and took a picture to see how he had grown.
In his hands Kai is holding a little toy his nanny gave to him, we keep this with the outfit he wore. He's not wearing the shoes as his feet will no longer fit into them...
Here is a video montage I put together celebrating our first year with Kai.
And now, as I said at the beginning of this post, we come to a close. I was first inspired to start this blog when I discovered the blogs of other families adopting from China nearly two years ago. It seemed like a good way to let family and friends know about our progress as we made our way through the pre-adoption paperwork, and to stay in touch while we traveled in China to unite with Kai. I didn’t really think about what would happen with the blog after we returned; it had become a fun habit and I enjoyed documenting our life with Kai, so I continued journaling his first year with us. Now that year has come to a close, and so too does this blog. I want to thank everyone who had read our story and sent us such wonderful email messages and comments; your encouragement has been very much appreciated. The content of this blog and all email messages and comments it has generated will become a part of Kai's Life Book. Again, thank you for reading along.
A year ago on September 18, the five of us were in China. Tina, Cam, Ben and I started the day waking up all together in a small hotel room in Beijing; the four of us anxious and excited for what lay ahead. I assume Kai started his day waking up for the last time in his crib at the S.W.I. with all his roommates. We wonder how much he had been prepared for our arrival. We had sent a gift package to his S.W.I. that included photos of us, a disposable camera, and a questionnaire in Chinese about Kai. His nannies had used the camera for us and answered our questions, but we don’t know what became of the rest of the package. Had he seen the pictures of us? Had they told him about our impending arrival? He seemed very apprehensive upon our first meeting and was understandably hesitant to interact. He clung to his nanny and balked at letting Tina hold him. I had a little Hot Wheels car with me (a green BMW convertible) I rolled it to him across the floor. He stared at it as it rolled into his foot, but he wouldn’t smile or pick it up. This little car is now kept in a special box on top of the piano. Kai plays with it sometimes, but it stays separate from the large basket of “working” cars he inherited from his older brothers. The other night I took the little green bimmer from its box and rolled it across the floor to Kai. It bumped into his toes just like that day in Baoding, this time Kai laughed and rolled it back to me. We rolled it back and forth a few times like we often do with cars; Kai didn’t seem to think anything special of the moment, but it was quite poignant for me.
Kai has been with us for one year! Sometimes it seems like he has been with us forever, other times I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since we went to China to get him. It’s difficult to see a child's growth when you're with them everyday, it’s such a gradual process day by day, but over a year it adds up dramatically. Kai has grown three and half inches in height and gained nearly ten pounds. Even more impressive than his physical growth are the gains he has made in language and other cognitive areas, he is an amazing little boy! He is much more active and physically coordinated than when we received him. He has developed a very powerful imagination and loves make-believe. He enjoys playing with his Brio trains, he likes coloring, and cutting paper with scissors. He likes listening to stories and will listen to whole chapters of the original Winnie-the-Pooh and Beatrix Potter stories. He takes long walks with me and is learning new words every day.
So how did we mark our special day? We had our 12-month post placement interview with our social worker. JoAnn Vesper! This was actually quite nice, as it made us sit down and really focus on how the last year has gone for Kai. Tina had made a cake. It was round and white so we called it a "Moon Cake". This was to signify that the day we received Kai in China last year was on the Moon Festival. (This year Moon Festival will be on October 6th). Kai didn't want to eat any but he enjoyed blowing out the candle about a dozen times and he shared his piece with Stinky Mouse.
One other tradition we started was an idea we borrowed from another family. We dressed Kai in the clothes he came to us in and took a picture to see how he had grown.
In his hands Kai is holding a little toy his nanny gave to him, we keep this with the outfit he wore. He's not wearing the shoes as his feet will no longer fit into them...
Here is a video montage I put together celebrating our first year with Kai.
And now, as I said at the beginning of this post, we come to a close. I was first inspired to start this blog when I discovered the blogs of other families adopting from China nearly two years ago. It seemed like a good way to let family and friends know about our progress as we made our way through the pre-adoption paperwork, and to stay in touch while we traveled in China to unite with Kai. I didn’t really think about what would happen with the blog after we returned; it had become a fun habit and I enjoyed documenting our life with Kai, so I continued journaling his first year with us. Now that year has come to a close, and so too does this blog. I want to thank everyone who had read our story and sent us such wonderful email messages and comments; your encouragement has been very much appreciated. The content of this blog and all email messages and comments it has generated will become a part of Kai's Life Book. Again, thank you for reading along.
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