March of Dimes WalkAmerica

Again this year, we are raising funds for the March of Dimes through the upcoming WalkAmerica event. We will be walking in a 10K on April 29th to raise money to support all that the March of Dimes is doing to prevent and to treat prematurity. We feel very strongly about this cause as our daughter, Emily, would not be alive today but through research supported by the March of Dimes. The following link provides more details on the ongoing Prematurity Campaign and National Agenda on Prematurity: http://www.marchofdimes.com/prematurity/21194_5576.asp

Please consider a donation to the March of Dimes via our WalkAmerica website, www.walkamerica.org/mansen, as we are attempting to raise $2000 for this year's event. Through the website, you can contribute via credit card or make a pledge and mail/hand us a check (written to March of Dimes) or cash.

"Tan Tan's laptop"

These pix were taken at Olivia's request. She loves Emily's Barbie laptop and while she was "working" on it, she pointed to the camera and said "sha-mile," asking me to take her picture. After a few shots she started playing hard to get, so I snapped a final one saying, "I see you," which she is now repeating over and over! That, and "Mommy's laptop...Tan Tan's laptop."

As I type this, Olivia is fixing my hair. She started out very gently, but is now twisting and twisting as she pats my shoulder and says "it's okay, it's okay." Oh, and now she's pretending to wash my hair as she chants her latest phrase, "I seeeeee you!" Boy, she's quicker than I can type...she's moved on to using a toy to pretend to curl my hair. Busy, busy! She's so fun to have around :)

Easter

Olivia enjoyed her first Easter and caught on to the egg hunts very quickly even though she doesn't much care for candy and chocolate (yet)! After our church's Easter service we met my mom & dad at White Pines State Park for a buffet dinner where the girls posed in front of the hearth in their matching dresses.

Easter's on its way!

Emily's neighbor friend joined us to color some Easter eggs. Olivia had a great time dropping eggs in the colors and trying to fish them out with the wire egg lifter.

Extreme Bed Head

Olivia often goes to sleep with her comforter over her head...and wakes up VERY sweaty! Today her hair was not only soaked after her nap but particularly funky!

Pix from today

The little girl who hated having her picture taken has now been requesting it by saying "shamile" (smile) and pointing to herself! She's also taken to Emily's Barbie laptop! She always wants to touch mine and play with the buttons and since she's been told "no touch" on several occasions, she's now been scolding me for touching my own laptop, saying, "No, no! No touching!" The problem is, she's not just being cute, she means it. If she can't touch it, she apparently doesn't think it's fair for me to, either! Hmmm...previously institutionalized kids are known to feel the need to be in control... She does has her feisty moments, but she's still a sweet heart most of the time :)

Temper, temper!

Olivia has been a pretty easy kid, BUT we haven't placed too many demands on her yet... Today, after happily scattering cards all around the room, I asked to clean up (yes, she knows what that means) and she very defiantly looked at me and shook her head NO. I asked her again and this time, again very defiantly, said, "NO" and gave me the what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it glare before trying to walk away from her mess. What a little stinker, obviously testing me. Well...she got her first Time In (like a Time Out, but near me) and didn't like it one bit. She showed me that she can have quite a temper and a strong set of lungs! But, I'm happy to report that after the timer rang and I asked her again to clean up, she did it :) I was happily surprised that after all her yelling and screaming in protest to being disciplined that she didn't continue to pout. After she cleaned up the card (still crying a bit), I sat her on my lap and told her she was a good girl and she gave me a kiss and a hug just like nothing had happened! I suppose being feisty has served her well in the orphanage, but may be challenging at times for us! Oh, the joys of parenting :)

P.S.
Olivia's playing with cards again and is making sure I see that she's cleaning up as she sings her version of the clean up song, "clean off, clean off..." Very cute.

Sisters

Things are still going smoothly, but lest I give the impression that it's always rosy, let me set the record straight. We do have some moments of discontent. There, I said it. Both our girls can be strong willed and those wills sometimes clash. Pretty typical sibling stuff. Emily often wants to mother her little sister, but Olivia doesn't always appreciate it (see exhibit A, the lower video!). Emily can't get enough of Olivia and she likes to dress her, lift her onto the toilet, lift her to wash her hands, etc., but Olivia would really rather that I do those things for her. She allows her some times and resists at other times so it's got to be tricky for Emily. And it's tricky for us, too, trying to not always scold Emily for persisting when her sister wails. I've enjoyed taking them to the indoor climb at Burger King because it's great for sister bonding. Olivia is too small to get through the tubes on her own and it's one place where she'll happily accept her sister's help :)

We are so thankful that really do get along well for the most part and adore each other. While Olivia is napping Emily is so impatient for her to hurry up and wake up! And Olivia gives Emily a great welcome home reception every day after school! It's so fun to watch them interact and laugh together.

New medical findings

Last Wednesday Olivia had a check-up with five shots, a TB scratch, and five vials of blood drawn. Not fun, but she recovered well and didn't hold it against us. She also screamed through a failed ear irrigation, but the wax was so hard and dry that nothing budged. We're going to try again at home, but may need to go to an ENT to get her ears cleaned out to ensure she's hearing well as she's trying learn a new language. She seems to be learning quickly and hearing well, but the doctor couldn't even see her ear drums and was afraid she'd be hearing everything muffled only through bone conduction...

We don't have all the lab results in yet, but there were two irregularities so far that require follow-ups with specialists in addition to the cardiologist (who we can't get in to see until July 20!) Olivia had a high level of a thyroid stimulation hormone suggesting sub-clinical hypothyroidism...so in a few weeks we'll be visiting an endocrinologist. And we need to start a daily dose of iron for anemia and we may need to follow up with a hematologist if the iron doesn't improve because it may not be due to iron deficiency. The doctor suggested having her drink the iron through a straw to minimize teeth staining. Sounds like fun. The pharmacy had to special order it so we haven't tried yet.

So our possible line up of specialist now includes a dentist (Friday), an endocrinologist, a hematologist, a cardiologist, an ENT, an ophthalmologist, and developmental screening. Wow, that's a lot! I'm worn out just thinking about all that, but we'll get through it.

P.S.
Forgot to mention that the pediatrician listened for a heart murmur and could not hear one :) We'd thought her Dec. '05 open heart surgery had corrected everything and were surprised, at her exit exam in China, to hear the doctor say she still (again?) had a murmur...but apparently if she has one, it must not be glaringly obvious. Either way, I imagine the cardiologist will order a slew of his own tests to get a clear picture of her heart status.

Love the glasses!

Video + language update

Hot off the press, er, camera! Yes, another phone video...this time Olivia and Emily were talking on a real phone with Daddy (in speaker mode). It was the first time Olivia actually stayed on to say more than just "hello!" It's neat to see her get so excited about everyday things :)Just a reminder, you may have to double click on the "play" arrow and it may stutter and hiccup a lot the first time through. After it all buffers the first time through it'll play much smoother if you try again.

In answer to some questions about language...

Olivia's very good at communicating through words and gestures and is pretty good at letting us know what she wants. She looks like a toddler and the language fits right in with a toddler's style of communicating, so it's not that different than having a toddler with emerging language. It hasn't really been much of a problem and she's picking up words every day. If she can't tell us something, she'll just say, "come on" and drag us to what she wants. Fortunately the first words she learned were "go potty." If she's wants a drink, she'll get a cup and say "milk" or "juice." She loves going outside and in the car and will try to get us out by bringing her shoes and saying "shoes on" or "go bye-bye."

If she doesn't want something, she's quit to let us no by shaking her head and hand and saying, "no." The basics aren't too hard to figure out, but there are many times when she jabbers to us in Chinese and it'd be nice to know what she's saying. I think she knows we don't understand though and doesn't seem to get frustrated about it. She's learning more and more English every day and from what I hear, she'll probably be conversationally fluent within 8-12 months of arriving and sound like any other American kid. Pretty amazing, huh?!

The sad part is that since she's not immersed in Chinese, even if she were enrolled in a Chinese class, she will lose her native language and the ability to understand it. It's officially called subtractive bilingualism; her English is going to replace her Chinese instead of acquiring a second language. Immigrants who still hear their native language at home become bilingual, but unfortunately Olivia won't have that luxury. Even if we wanted to attempt to retain her language, there are no classes available in her native tongue which is a little Cantonese, a little Mandarin and a lot of a local Guangxi dialect that most other Chinese can't understand or translate for us. Most Chinese classes are in only taught in Mandarin and our school district is now offering it. It'll be interesting to see if Mandarin will come easily to her if she chooses to take it in school. I imagine she'll be able to pick up the sounds and tones more readily than most.

Video: chatting on the phone

Playing in the neighbors' back yard.



I overheard Olivia chatting on this toy phone tonight while I was making dinner and was able to capture some of it before I burned it too much. Listen closely and you'll hear some English sprinkled into her conversation. There are some "um"s, "okay?"s, a "nope" and some "no"s mixed in there! She's a quick study and is picking up new words every day.

Can you believe it's been a month since Gotcha Day?! I'm amazed how much we've all attached in such a short amount of time! She is so sweet and lovable that it's still going extremely smoothly. We are so blessed with our two wonderful girls :)

What's in a name?

This is an interesting article about some changes in the way orphans are named in some parts of China. Orphans in Olivia's town were all given the name Rong after the town's name of RongXian, as is a common. Other towns historically named their orphans after the Communist Party or State. All these names clearly identify them as orphans so some orphanages are now changing their system to give them more common names.


China's orphans

Party girl
Mar 22nd 2007 BEIJING
From The Economist print edition

An orphan by any other name

AP




LIFE in China's orphanages can be bad enough, but life thereafter can be tough too. In much of China, children in state care are given unusual surnames that clearly identify them as orphans. Common choices are Dang meaning “party” (the Communist one, naturally), or Guo meaning “country” or “state”. Those saddled with these names face a lifetime of funny looks, or a bureaucratic quagmire trying to change them.

In February last year, the north-eastern city of Dalian caused a nationwide stir when it announced that it would no longer give all girl orphans the surname Dang and boys Guo. This had been the city's practice for 30 years, the legacy of an era when being called Comrade Party or Comrade State blended in more with the Orwellian spirit of the time. Party and State are surnames with ancient origins (long before the Communist Party was founded Dang meant simply a faction). But they are rare outside orphanages. Dalian said that henceforth only common surnames would be used.

After the fanfare with which Dalian ditched the Party/State naming system, others have been changing their policies too. Early last year, the southern city of Guangzhou stopped giving its orphans the surname Guang (the first character of the city's name) and given names after the district where they were found. This year nearby Dongguan stopped calling its orphans Guan, the second character of its name. This followed a complaint about the naming system raised by an adviser to the city's legislature. In January the northern city of Taiyuan gave up its practice of calling all orphans Party.

But there are a few, at least, who still regard the names Party or State as badges of honour. Last year, on the 30th anniversary of an earthquake that killed perhaps 600,000 people in Tangshan, near Beijing, the official press reported (approvingly) that a quake orphan surnamed Party had just joined the party and would not dream of changing her name to the one she was born with. In February, the party chief of the southern city of Zhanjiang met a group of local orphans, all surnamed Guo. A photographer asked the name of one of them. “Guo Yuqun,” came the reply. Anxious to distinguish the surname from a more common one also pronounced Guo, the orphan went on: “that's Guo meaning state”. Proudly, of course.

http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8896731

Intro to BK

Emily and I introduced Olivia TanTan to Burger King! She loved the chicken nuggets and fries, but when I offered her dessert she declined and instead chose to eat the catsup! Maybe she doesn't realize we don't have to finish the condiments! After the meal, Emily had fun showing her the ropes in the climbing area and they both had a good time. Even though we missed her first four years, there are still a lot of fun "firsts" to watch her experience :)

Twins?

Okay, so they're not twins, but they sure look cute in matching clothes! These pix were taken Sunday when the girls got to play with their cousins, Mike, Brian & Sara. Olivia sure likes Uncle Ed's magic blanket rides!

Videos: Olivia speaking Chinese

We'd been trying to capture her speaking Chinese on video, but she'd always clammed up when the camera came out...but this morning, while we were trying to get ready for the day, she was talking up a storm in Chinese and didn't seem to care about the camera. We don't know what she was saying, but maybe something about Emily getting dressed??

Videos:Bonding over basketball!

Last night Andy was watching Illini basketball and Olivia Tan Tan was having fun imitating all of Daddy's "Yeahs" and "woo hoos" (before they lost, that is) and was really bonding with him over basketball, of all things! She was luke warm with him before, but last night something clicked and Daddy was suddenly the funniest person alive--even when he wasn't trying to be!

Gotcha Day photo

Within an hour or so of getting Olivia, we had to get an official adoption picture taken. We were so impressed with how well it turned out that we ordered a copy for ourselves!

Impromptu photo shoot

Olivia cuddled up with a teddy bear and it struck me as a Kodak moment so I grabbed the camera and asked her if I could take her picture. She immediately hopped up and walked away so I took that as a "no," but what she was really doing was going to get the sunglasses she'd been photographed in earlier! Once she found her props, she nestled back in for a serious photo shoot. Although she didn't smile much, she kept telling the bear to!

Our super models

I know I already included some these photos in the previous slide show, but I thought I'd give them more air time. Olivia smiles and laughs a lot, but usually clams up once she sees a camera. However, she likes looking at herself on the computer and is slowly coming around to this whole photography concept :)