A Vietnamese Kiss

We try our best to keep Thianna and Nathanh connected to their Vietnamese heritage.  In the past we have done Vietnamese singing classes with a group of families that have adopted from Vietnam but this year we decided to rejoin a Vietnamese language and cultural class with other adopted families.  We had been to it in the past and really liked it but it is a bit far away and it always conflicted with Nathanh's nap time.  Anyways, we wanted to make a renewed effort to go, especially for Thianna since she might actually understand the language component.

It was evident after the first class that she definitely is more comfortable in English than Vietnamese.  But there have definitely been words that she knows and understands in Vietnamese.  I can tell when it is familiar because she smiles and says the word and then laughs.  

Anyways, last weekend we had a guest teacher and we learned a few things about Vietnamese culture and Thianna. The first thing is that a Vietnamese kiss and a Canadian kiss are different.  In Canada, we pucker up and give a kiss with our lips which has a "mua" sound.  In Vietnam, they kiss by putting their nose to the person and smelling.  In other words, they give a big sniff against the head.  This is what Thianna used to do when we first got her.  I thought, at the time, how sad she has never been taught  how to kiss.  I even remember wondering if this was a rejection of us because when she put her face to mine for a kiss she just never gave me a kiss, she just kind of breathed against my face.  Looking back on it now, with this new piece of information, she was giving us kisses, we just didn't speak the language!  Once I had this piece of information, I started to think back to her nounous saying goodbye to her and these were the kisses that they gave her!

The other piece of language that we learned was "da" in Vietnamese (sorry I can't put the accent under the d on my computer) pronounced "yeah" with a downward intonation.  This is a form of acknowledgement that a child would use with an adult.  Basically, a politeness a child would use when an adult is talking to them.  It is not a yes or a no to answer a question, just a way to say "I hear you".  Anyways, this too is something Thianna always said when we first got her.  We used to laugh because we could ask her any question and she would say "yeah" which to us meant yes.  We would ask her if she wanted more of something or if she liked something and she would answer "yeah".  We thought, what an agreeable child!  But it didn't always work out so well if we gave her what we thought she asked for and she didn't really want it.  We actually made a point to stop the "yeah" and taught her to replace it with yes or no. Although, this is much more practical for our understanding now and for Thianna in general in Canada, it makes me realize (and a little bit sad) that we took away a little bit of her culture.  Hopefully, we will pick up more little pieces of information that will help us to better understand our precious little girl.

I ventured out early this year to get our photo with Santa done.  Last year, I was so busy working full-time that by the time I got around to thinking about taking Nathanh, the line ups were two hours long and I couldn't put either of us through that.  Thianna was thrilled about getting to see Santa.  This was very clearly a word that she already knew. I have a few pictures of her from last year at the orphanage and in one, all of the kids are wearing Santa hats.  Anyways, here is Nathanh and Thianna's first Santa photo together.

Since they were looking so cute that day, I made a point of getting a few more shots in and outside of the mall.

She was pretty excited to see all of the animals in Santa's forest!

Yup, my two little cutie pies!  It is going to be a very fun Christmas!

This and That

We've been pretty busy over the past couple of weeks.  Lots of things to write about  - just not much time!  

Thianna finally had her Pediatrician appointment.  This is a standard thing after an international adoption.  We have only had one concern since we met her and that is her legs.  When she stands straight she can bend her knees back.  It looks quite odd but both Erwin and I think it has decreased over the past couple of months due to much more activity in her life.  But just to be sure the Pediatrician has asked that we photograph her legs once a month so that we can get a comparison.  She has also referred us on to the Infant Development Centre to see if she will need any physiotherapy.  I doubt it will come to that and will probably self correct but I'd rather err on the side of caution and get her looked at.

Other than that we are just waiting to do all the standard blood work and vaccinations.  I'd like to get this all done but we have not received Thianna's CareCard yet.  In fact, we have not received ANY of her paperwork yet.  After we brought Nathanh home everything was really quick.  I think his name change was back to us within about two weeks.  And everything else hinges on the name change as there is really no point in getting documents issued in Thianna's Vietnamese name and then paying to have them all reissued with her English name.  So I am VERY frustrated with the paperwork this time round.  My work made a mistake on her medical stuff so that had to be started over. It is just frustrating and Erwin and I want to book some trips but I am nervous to do anything until Thianna's passport and medical coverage are officially completed.

On November 9th we celebrated Nathanh's (and our) Family Day.  It is hard to believe that it has been four year's since we travelled to Vietnam the first time to adopt Nathanh.  We usually celebrate with other families from our adoption group but due to timing and busy schedules we have postponed our group celebration by a couple of weeks.

We visited some friends (with daughters) on Nathanh's Family Day.  He saw their roller skates and really wanted to try them out.  Pink does not deter my boy!

We have been having terrific weather, although a bit cold, the last couple of weeks so I've been trying to get the kids outside as much as possible. Nathanh likes riding his bike and I will often bring it with us to parks.

Yup, bike riding and puddle stomping - such fun.  

Thianna had sort of inherited Nathanh's strider bike however she really has not taken to it.  Every time I bring it out she points out that it doesn't have peddles.  I've tried explaining it to her and having Nathanh show it to her but nonetheless I feel like she thinks I've given her the defective bike with no peddles every time I give it to her.  So I found her a little, second hand tricycle for her to use while she is learning to balance on the strider .

She is pretty proud to have her own bike!

Here are a few more cute pictures from the past couple of weeks .

Nothing like being able to wade into the deepest puddle in the park!

Busy making ice cream!!

Sticker face !!

Trying out one of Nathanh's very old toys.    She actually just climbed into it while Nathanh was playing piano for us.

Loving her new jammies and her new toothbrush!  What a cutie :)

Parks and Pumpkins

We had our annual trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend with Nathanh's adoption group (well two of the the families were missing, but we hope to see them soon).  That is really something I am going to to miss for Thianna.  Having a group of children and families that adopted kids at the same time from the same orphanage.  It is really too bad too as she is at an age where she would know and remember them and they could form a strong, lifetime connection.  I always tell Nathanh that these are his special friends, that he has known them even longer than he has known mommy and daddy - and that they probably shared a crib at some point!  I am definitely grateful to have these families in our lives and I know that they will embrace Thianna just as much as Nathanh but I really do wish she could stay connected with some of her little friends from the orphanage.  That was Sunday...

On Monday, we enjoyed a day at the park, beach and another park with friends!  The kids loved it!  It was an all day event and both kiddos were asleep in the car on the way home!

Thianna, such a happy little girl!  She loved the motorcycle, perhaps it reminded her of Vietnam:)

This is Molly - a friendly little dog that we met at the park.  She is the second dog that Thianna has had the chance to pet.  She is definitely no longer trying to scare dogs away.  She actually seems to think it is her right to visit all dogs that she sees.  I just have to keep reminding her that she can't approach all dogs and that she needs to ask their owner first.  

Thianna was absolutely delighted with the ducks at this park.

Playing with a branch in the water.  All of the kids were thrilled with this activity. 

They are starting to play together more and more cooperatively.   I actually prefer taking them out to play.  When we are out there is no fighting over toys as there is nothing that belongs to either one of them.  And really, what kids don't like just being outside?

Of course, this was Halloween week too so we did a variety of things to get ready for the big event.  This is Thianna scooping the seeds out of her pumpkin.  I didn't know what she would think of cutting her pumpkin open but I think we had read enough books about it and seen a enough shows on tv that she knew what was going on.

Of course, after all that scooping you have to take the time to roast some pumpkin seeds!

I tried a new pumpkin seed recipe this year that included cinnamon and lots of sugar!  It was a hit!  Thianna opted to eat hers with a spoon.  I would say so that she didn't get her hands sticky but that would be untrue!

Thianna with her carved pumpkin.  She said she wanted star eyes, so star eyes she got:)

Yup, she was pretty happy with her pumpkin and somehow, at Nathanh's suggestion, got to sleep with it in her room as a night light.  Not to worry, it was a battery powered candle.

Nathanh and Daddy carving Nathanh's pumpkin.

Nathanh's pumpkin.  What would Halloween be without a little bit of Star Wars?

Ready for bed after pumpkin carving.

On Halloween day, my goal was to tire them both out in the morning so that they would both have a nap in the afternoon.  Here we are at the Y after open gym.  Thianna insisted on taking a cucumber for her snack.  Her choices were banana, cucumber or orange.  I thought for sure she would choose the banana however, when she saw that Nathanh took the cucumber, she insisted on having a cucumber too.  So far I have not gotten her to take more than a lick with a couple of teeth marks when it comes to cucumber, before spitting it out.  But since she insisted, I did not bring a back up snack for  her.  When she realized this, I thought I was in for a meltdown but she surprised me and (although she didn't like it) ate the whole thing!

There was still a little bit of Hallowen cooking to do before nap time.  I wanted to try out this pumpkin rice krispie recipe.  It actually was not that much fun to do with the kids.  They were tired (which was my plan) and the marshmallows were just a bit too sticky for them not to whine about sticky fingers!  But they did like the end result!!

Our pumpkins!  Thianna is nicely displaying a blue licorice in her mouth...her teeth are not really that colour!

And they are off...it was very hard to wait for daddy to get home from work so that we could leave the house for some tick-or-treating.

As I had predicted, Thianna did just fine with trick-or-treating.  Nathanh has never really gotten too into it.  This year we went out with our neighbours so that helped Nathanh a bit.  Thianna was very enthusiastic to knock on doors and get candy just given to her.  I am sure it seemed magical to her!  And I was so proud of her as I could hear her little voice try it's very best to say "trick-or-treat" when each and every door opened.  And even more proud when she always had the biggest and clearest "thank you" of the whole group:)

Nathanh wanted to head home after just one street.  Thianna didn't seem to mind as her bag was getting a bit full and heavy for her.  I was a bit disappointed to pack it in so quickly but really, they didn't need anymore candy!  Here they are enjoying their stash!

Everyone in our cul-de-sac is really good about turning off lights and calling it quits at 8:00 and this year was no different.  But since both kids had a good nap and a fair amount of candy we knew they were not ready to sleep.  So we decided to finish of our Halloween with a family movie night.  It is so much fun to watch Thianna enjoy all of the new experiences in her life.  Next up will be Christmas!