Month: February 2007

Celebrating the New Year

Let me begin by wishing everyone a happy Shrove Tuesday. We don’t actually do anything for Lent but today gives us the excuse to eat pancakes for dinner. This year we actually managed to enlist Katrine to help mix them up before swim class.

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This past weekend saw my Nana turn 95 and the arrival of the Year of the Golden Pig, which in our house has also become known as “The Year when Elspeth will likely be born…maybe”. We had dinner in Chinatown on New Year’s Eve with two other families from Katrine’s travel group. We had all gone to see the Chinese New Year children’s symphony at Roy Thompson Hall. It was not quite what we expected and Katrine was not that impressed; probably because she was required to sit still AND quietly. The only part that she truly enjoyed was when a piece was presented on traditional Chinese instruments. Then they had her full attention. The girls really enjoyed seeing each other.

Sunday was a quiet day at home full of tobogganing in the backyard, puzzles, crafts and of course Dora’s Around the World DVD (we must watch it everyday). Then we cooked Chinese food for the three of us before Katrine opened her Hong Bao. Much quieter than last year’s family banquet but more in tune with our lives over the past few months.

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Tomorrow is our 2nd Gotchaversary. It is hard to believe that two years ago today we were on the verge of meeting our little fireball. That day was certainly a blessing. Katrine has brought us a lot of laughter and joy. It has been wonderful to see how she has grown and learned these past two years. We will be going out to dinner and skating (weather permitting) to mark the occassion. Then on Saturday, we will be getting together with alot of the families who we traveled with so that the girls can play together and get re-aquainted. We will miss our families out west but we will be thinking about them.

February Fun Begins

We have had some fun mixed in between viruses. Yesterday afternoon we took Katrine out to the backyard and broke out the toboggan. As you can see, we have a MASSIVE hill leading into the yard. The perfect size for a two year old.

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In the evening we headed out to the FCC (Families with Children from China) Chinese New Year banquet. The actual new year’s eve is not until this coming Sunday but we started early. We were joined by a group of families who we traveled with which helped to make it even more special. We ate a full banquet, were entertained by singers & dancers and also a lion dance put on by some of the girls. Katrine was especially impressed by the red envelopes that she received. She told me tonight, “We eat Chinese. My tummy full. I like play my friends and see Aie’s. I get red money and chocolate.”

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Doing her own Dragon Dance

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Can you believe that she turns 3 in April?

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Welcome to February!

Two years ago this month we were packing and flying over to China for Katrine. Time flies.

The past month we have spent trying to get Katrine use to her single blade skates. It has been really fun watching her give it her all. She has no fear of falling, in fact she thinks that it is funny. More importantly though, she has no idea that learning to skate is hard work. To her it is simply another game. We have been very blessed in that. She is making remarkable progress. She is quite comfortable in her skates and is actually able to propel herself forward a little bit before falling down. She is also teaching herself how to regain her balance when she starts to fall. That is taking a bit though. She is really good at pushing off with her right foot (can you tell which is her dominant side?) so she tends to go to the side as opposed to straight but she is only two. She was impressed by how the boys playing hockey could “run” on their skates and that seems to have helped motivate her —either that or the fact that she gets to spend one on one time with mom or dad on the ice.

Enjoy the photos!

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