A China Hope Christmas

We had just finished a little Christmas Day nap

Just thinking

Hope had asked Santa for a "big baby"

If I had a dollar for every time one of us said, "this time last year" I could pay for next year's Christmas in advance. Last year at Christmas we knew who she was and what she looked like (sort of), and couldn't wait for the next few weeks to pass. The last year has seemed to fly by, and Hope has changed so much and so fast.

Her language skills are amazing and funny. She has a huge vocabulary but still has problems with her enunciation. Sometimes we have to get her to repeat something several times before we understand. She comes up with some of the most unusual phrases.

At bedtime she lays between Becky and me and likes to play "I'm Mama's baby, no I'm Daddy's baby" for a few minutes. When it's time to settle down she will say, " I go to sleep fast and you go to sleep slow". Usually she will be asleep within 4 or 5 minutes after that.

A few months ago one of her favorite expressions was "Yes, No?" when she asked us a question. It reminded me of the Mandarin expression "hao bu hao?" meaning "good or not good".

One of my favorites is "remember?" She says this when something that she enjoyed in the recent past is repeated. It may be something she ate, or something she saw in a movie, etc. Sometimes says " remember asterday" she is having a little trouble with Ys. She is so cute when she says it because she cuts her eyes to the left and acts like it is a secret.

Of course my favorite is "I love ooh" The Y problem persists. We get a lot of "I love oohs" and the most fun ones are spontaneous, not prompted. We also get some "I love oohs" that just happen to occur right before Hope asks to bring all of her toys at once into to the living room, or for me to make her a tent, etc.

We know that she looks like a little angel, and we wouldn't want to mislead anyone. We do experience times when she needs discipline just like any other four year old. We pray for special wisdom because we know that she still has struggles adapting and overcoming three tough years before coming into our home. We are thankful and amazed at how well she progressing.

Ronnie