Quote of the Evening

"Mommy! I really love you! I love you more than God! But just a little bit more!"

Voting!

We voted! I did it in the early voting and Steve went today. Tian went along to vote in "Kids Vote". We had a discussion about it. I showed her who both of them were on a news show on television. She said, "I'm voting for the dawk skinned one because he looks mo' like a pwesident!" And there you have it!

Tian's Most Recent Imaginative Personalities

Thomas the Train: must wear blue panties, very helpful, has all of the other trains as her friends... Percy, James, Sir Top M. Hat.

A few weeks ago at church, she was Thomas. I didn't realize she was still Thomas when we walked past her Sunday School teacher. Mrs. Brown said, "Hello Tian!" Tian whispered in my ear, "Tell her I'm Thomas." I whispered back, "This is church and you are not Thomas. You are Tian here!" She burst into tears, melted all the way down. Reality was too much for her at that moment. She worked through it and I believe she was Tian for the rest of the morning. Later in the morning, Mrs. Brown said, "Hello Tian!" Tian said, "Hi Mrs. Brown." The drama!!

"Rolly" or "Packer" from Bob the Builder, I am Wendy and Steve is Bob. All of the other cars are invisible and have personalities also. It can get pretty complicated. She loves to drive into the mud and then go through a car wash made from my skirt hanging down. When she is Packer she loves to say, "Pack me up and watch me GO GO!"

Stretch: the measuring tape from Handy Manny, has all of the tool friends like Rusty, Squeeze, ... Kelly...

This one is hilarious. She sticks her tongue out like the end of the measuring tape and looks for things to measure. Then she calls her friends over to fix things.

Pete: the mean one on Mickey Mouse... she has a snarl on her face the whole time she plays him and talks with a voice similar to his on the show! When she wakes up from a fake nap, she barks, "What is all the commotion awound heah?"

Emma: sister Savannah who is invisible, sister Mia who is her Asian Bitty Baby, I am Bridget, Steve is Kevin... This is a family that just returned from China with a daughter. The eight year old is one of Tian's favorite people in the world.

The other day, "Emma" and I were talking. I asked her who her teacher was at school, thinking it would make her break character. She never does! Never! She answered, "Mrs. Knupp." I had no idea she knew who the real Emma's teacher was... She studies these characters - it is amazing!

Mercy: twins are Luke and Sophie (2 of her dolls), Micah is invisible and causing a raucous, I am Jen and Steve is "Mawk". This is a family from church and from her play school. They have included Tian on a field trip and a trip to their grandmother's house. Tian is fascinated with a family of five children, when she is included as the fifth. 

I could go on and on... Is this normal?

Sometimes I wonder...

about her... 

Tonight we went to Moes to eat! It always costs us 5.84 no matter what we order! And that is why we go there to eat! It may relate to the fact that Steve's daughter is one of the manager's so we always seem to have an invisible coupon... 

Tian ordered her "Tian plate" that her sister always prepares for her. But it wasn't Alexa fixing it. It was a new guy at the assembly bar. He threw the chicken on the plate, sprinkled it with cheese, and then garnished it with black olives. A lovely presentation, was what I thought! Tian took one look at the plate and had a semi-horrified facial expression. Alexa knows Tian and puts the chicken in one part of the plate, the cheese in another section, and the black olives in another. They don't touch. 

So we got to the table and Tian immediately started pushing the olives over to one corner. I asked what she was doing. She looked up and said, "I'm just ohganizin it!"

She is hilarious! But I wonder what she is going to be diagnosed with and what medicines we are going to have to write on her school health forms.

Ummmmmm

Tian tonight...

threw her arms around me and said sweetly, "I love you too much to get rid of you!"

Qi Qi and Qin Qin

I've read a lot about adoption and birthparents. From what I have read, it is really important for children to have an ease about discussing birthparents. Personally, I have not wanted to use the word China mommy because I don't want to confuse Tian with two mommy names. So today she and I had a talk. As we were swinging on the swings in the woods, I asked her what she would like to call her Birthmother. She thought for a moment and said, "chee chee." We talked about that for awhile and then asked her what she would like to call her Birthfather. She said, "You name him." So I named him, "chin chin." We talked and laughed about whether she might like to swing, if he had ever used a fork....

Later when I came in and Tian was napping, I researched the Chinese spellings of those pronunciations. This is what I came up with:

Qi means breath or spirit... 

Qin is the name of the emperor during the building of the Great Wall....

So Tian now has names for the very special people who gave her life from a physical standpoint. We are grateful to God for breathing life through them to create our family.

By the way... this should really be a scrapbook page about Tian's first fishing trip today! Caught two rainbow trout!! But although I remembered the camera, I forgot to check the battery! No pictures! But they were HUGE and tasted great at supper tonight!

Cousin Anna

Tian has a very sweet cousin, Anna Grace! Although she is 10 years old to Tian's young 4 years, she manages to adapt to whatever Tian wants to do when she comes to visit. Anna is long suffering and very patient! 

But the funniest thing about the whole relationship is how many times Tian wakes up in the morning or pops out of a room and announces a transformation! "I'm Anna Gwace now, and you (Daddy) are Uncle Ben (Anna's dad), and you are Zizi (Anna's mom, my sister)." Then we are a different family and Tian will not break character until she decided she is finished being Anna. Every time I call her Tian, she politely corrects me, "I'm Anna Gwace!" She tries new foods, shows us all the independent things she can actually do, "reads", and always says, "I can do this because I'm ten." We're so glad Anna is a wonderful example since Tian morphs into her so often.

 

But speaking of transformations, Tian also becomes Thomas the Train, Brum (an English car who is extremely helpful), her "twin" named Tian who is 3 years old (confusing at best!), a dog named Pickles, and many more that I can't think of right now!

At one time, I was worried that she didn't have an imagination!

Egypt

One of Tian's newest interests is Egypt. When we were at Busch Gardens a few weeks ago, Steve wanted to visit the King Tut exhibit there in "Egypt". I thought it would scare Tian but she walked through (in Steve's arms) with eyes wide. When we came home, she found a pyramid, 3-D book I had on King Tut's tomb. For the past week, she has begged to read it for bed time and we have complied.  What fun to discover all of the hidden pages and 3-D images in the book. We've talked about what King Tut believed about needing to bring treasures to his life after death and what we believe as Christians.  

Last night...

Dear God,

Thank-you that when I die and I am buried in the dirt, I will be in heaven and all the stuff will already be there!

Amen

Would you still love me??

Last night when I was putting Tian to bed, this was the conversation...

Mommy, would you still love me if I stuck my finger up your nose?

Yes, of course, I would!

Mommy, would you still love me if I poked you in the eye?

Yes, I still would! But I might have trouble seeing you!

Mommy, would you still love me if I went to China?

Yes, and I would follow you there because I love you!

But what if I found a really good hiding place like under a bed?

Yes, I would find you under the bed in China!

...

Mommy, can I stick my finger up your nose right now!

Sure! (Knowing she would be grossed out immediately!

She did it... barely!)

See! I still love you!!

And that conversation, my friends, was motivation to start blogging again!

Welcome to My Blog

I have no idea why I just created this blog... I have way to much to do and my computer isn't working so I really have no way of keeping this up. 

Okay, I'm going to do it because I can't get my act together to scrapbook these amazing days of raising Tian! (7/2/08)