A Very Special Birthday

It was the first birthday with her family. It was a day she'd anticipated since Christmas. It was birthday # 10 for Maya and very special. We had a great lunch with the family. She loves all you can eat buffet because she can have a bit of everything. I did make sure she had the main course before dessert. Sometimes she does sneak in the sweets before the meal but I work hard at making sure she gets good food to keep her growing. She's grown quite a bit since she came home from China. Her arms and legs were very thin before but now she's looking much better. Maya opened presents at the restauran and then we went home to have the birthday cake and all that goes with it like sing the birthday song and get some treasured pictures. Then we were off to playland. All in all Maya had a great time. She made sure to make some wishes, ones I hope all come true for her.

Happy birthday Maya Lanlan Josephine

Life With Maya

Our daughter is eager to try new things so I've let her try her hand at making breakfast and she does well. She's usually proud of her accomplishments but likes to get quite perturbed if things are not going well though that's quickly alleviated if I show her a way to get things done. She especially likes to make eggs with tomatoes and anything green she can find.

Maya is very consciences of how she looks and spends time making sure her daily outfit is proper in color and design so I've suggested she may want to be a fashion designer but that is not to be because she says she wants to be a movie star.  I'd said she'd have to be an actress first. Though fashion designing is not in the cards I thought this outfit she'd put together from scrap material on her sporty doll is quite cool.

Maya has also been going to swimming lessons so we can be ready for the beach, that is if summer ever comes around. We are starting to thaw out so that may be a possibility. Swimming is coming along rather slow as it's a bit of work she has to do. She likes to do thing and likes to do it perfectly but the actual work part is still something she has to learn to do.

And last but not least we paid a visit to the dentist for the very first time in Canada and in her whole life. The girl has never seen a dentist before and her mouth shows it. She's got lots of cavities from all the candies she likes to eat, so we're watching the candy intake. At first she seemed fine with the dentist but as he leaned over her nerves started to show.  Luckily, he only did an assessment and we're to come back for the fillings another time. We didn't want to traumatise her too much on the first go. Eventually, braces will come into play as well but none of that hinders her beautiful smile.

Chinese New Year 2015

Backtracking a little again to the Chinese New Year. We started talking about it and making decorations long before. The Chinese take their New Year seriously and as we know it's more important and more celebrated than Christmas. Maya tells me there are usually small gifts handed out of apples and oranges and money for good luck and a prosperous year.

Well, we were lucky enough to join a group of other adoptive parents from China and celebrate New Year in proper party fashion of Chinese food, family and lots of fun for the kids.  Only a couple of kids actually spoke Chinese as all others were adopted when they were babies but really all spoke English anyway. Maya still wanted to wear another Chinese outfit she got from her sister Sherie who also joined us with her son and fiancé for the fun.

Outside was a serious snow storm going on, one of many this year but inside was warm and cosy. This was our first celebration of Chinese New Year with hopefully more to come.