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This morning Catherine and I had a child-free morning because Li Li spent the night at Catherine’s parents house while we went to a play. Before Li Li, we never truly cherished sleeping in, going out for a leisurely breakfast or any of the options a married couple without kids can enjoy without thought. Now given our daughter’s penchant for waking between 6:15 and 6:30 – sleeping in a gift and even then it’s only a partial sleep. Eating out for breakfast is not even in the realm of possibility.

Of course Catherine might say that most of my mornings are child-free but can I help it that Li Li only wants to see her mommy?

Here are some recent pictures.

Catherine and Li Li enjoy a lazy morning in pajamas on the couch.

Li Li likes to peel her own oranges. “I do!”

Maggie is completed entertained with a jar of peanut butter and we don’t have to worry about any pesky salmonella.

For those of who who have spent any time with us, you know that proper english isn’t one of our highest priorities. It’s not that we don’t value said skill, it’s just that we can be a little casual with grammar, contractions, etc. Our daughter however is a different story. These are some recent quotes:

“shall we go downstairs?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“That would be fun”

The “shall we go downstairs” really threw us for a loop. We have watched her add words and phrases on a daily basis but the addition of “shall we” to her repertoire struck us as particularly incongruous. It’s just not something we use and aren’t sure where she picked it up. She sounds like a proper British character right out of a Merchant Ivory production. Given that she first used the phrase one morning about 7am, you can imagine just how gobsmacked we were. We simply burst out laughing.

On a related but different note, we are told increasing by a variety of native Chinese speakers that Li Li is speaking Chinese but we are still somewhat skeptical, if hopeful, because it’s so obvious that Catherine and I want Li Li to be able to speak Chinese and we fear that people are just being polite. Lately when I use a chinese phrase for something Li Li will more often than not translate it into English by saying “that means …..” with a big smile on her face. She hasn’t done any translations from English into Chinese yet but I imagine they are just a few weeks away as she works out what’s english and what’s Chinese.

For the record “high five” in English is roughly translated as “pa shou” in chinese which actually would be translated back into English as “hit hand”. -t

This week driving Li Li to daycare the light and the air reminded me of sunlit mornings in Beijing. Here’s a little haiku in honor of those Beijing winter mornings.

Slanting winter sun
casts long shadows, morning dust
turning air sepia

Although we only skimmed the surface of the city and were never part of the rhythms of living in the city, I wonder about the Hutongs we walked through and how many of them are still there? Walking through the hutongs provided a glimpse of the rhythms even if we weren’t part of them and even during our short stay we saw active open stores demolished overnight. How long before all the shops and courtyard homes we saw are removed in the name of progress for a condo project or apartment building with rents 6 times what they are paying now? Even at 3 in the morning the hutongs were alive with people eating in little noodle shops and small stores but the new big buildings and city blocks right next door to the hutong were cold, lifeless and a little scary.

I wonder about the immigrants to the city. How are they doing now that the Olympics is over and the economy is cratering?

Just questions without answers but if you take the long view as any student of chinese history must, you’ll know that whatever happens will be interesting to watch and probably a little scary as well. -t

It’s been almost two years now. Hard to believe that our little girl who bounces and climbs everywhere couldn’t even sit up by herself 2 years ago. It’s been an amazing two years and we’ve all learned so much. Li Li’s personality manifests itself more visibly every day, whether it’s her sheer joy in using the word no – both in volume and repetition; or her carrying around one of her Pandas and letting us know the Panda is crying.

She’s always been a puzzle girl and the complexity of the puzzles she’s doing and the speed at which she does them amaze me. Watching her do a puzzle in minutes that only weeks earlier completely flumooxed her is so much fun. The confidence with which she picks up a piece and quickly slots it into the proper spot really takes your breath away and makes you want to pick her up and hug her.

She is such a social butterfly and rarely fails to charm every adult and most children wherever she is. For those of you who knows us, you know how different this is from her parents. We recently had dinner at a friends house and there were 5 teenagers, four of them teenage adoptees, in addition to 2 pre-school age adoptee girls. Watching Li Li charm these teenagers was amazing. She had them all eating out of her hand which is slightly scary to behold.

We will post new photos soon.

Ciao, Thom