That's my girl

Just a few pics of Claire, taken in the last week:

Claire, browsing through a Birks catalogue. I may not have given birth to her, but she's definitely my daughter!











Claire started making this funny face almost a week ago.











Peeking into one of her toy boxes

A few new things

First words
When we received Claire, she already said Mama, Baba and Dadda. She uses Baba and Dadda / Daddy a lot, especially when she sees Paul's picture or when he first comes home from work. She still says Mama but usually only when coaxed.

Before Easter, she suddenly began saying Kitsya (our cat's name) and Kitty. She consistently says Kitty now and as of the weekend, has begun calling everything furry Kitty. She still says Kitsya but not as often and it doesn't always come out as clearly as it did before.

Last Friday, she suddenly began saying Baby and seems to know what it means.

Favourite toy
Her favourite toy is a stuffed toy kitty from Great-Grandma Pauline.

New actions
Claire is really into kisses right now. She kisses all her stuffed animals on the mouth and even kisses pictures of animals in her books. The other night during a game of Peekaboo, she smothered Paul with kisses, which of course he loved.

She also likes to tease: she reaches out for us but when we reach for her, she suddenly pulls away and giggles before reaching out for us again.

Claire's not walking by herself yet but I'm convinced she could if she wanted to. As posted earlier, she's cruising big time and is now even cruising along the walls.

She did two stairs by herself last Thursday but seemed to lose her confidence when she lost her footing on the second step. She hasn't tried stairs since, which is probably just as well - stairs would mean big trouble for me!

For a couple of weeks now, Claire has been able to crawl (as opposed to pulling herself along) but often decides to pull herself along on her tummy instead. I did manage, however, to get a short clip of her crawling yesterday.



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A visit with Ava and her mom

Beth and Ava visited us today which gave us a good opportunity to catch up on things. (Although we usually see each other at a playgroup every two weeks, there is usually so much going on that we don't get the best visit.)

Claire was pretty quiet - just taking in her guests - while Ava was very animated and interested in playing with Claire. She even gave Claire a really sweet kiss, as you can see from a picture I've posted. (And yes, I think it may have been a french kiss from the look of it!)

I wish I knew what Claire was thinking here!

Claire's first haircut

After much deliberation, we decided it was time for Claire's first haircut. We just love all her hair and love seeing how it is growing in, but it was getting quite long in the back compared to the rest (yes, it was a sort of baby mullet) and so we thought it should get evened out.

Morgan, my hair stylist, was awesome with Claire, and of course all the other women in the salon fussed over Claire, which she totally ate up. As for the actual haircutting, Claire sat so still and just took the whole process in. She even offered a few smiles when Morgan spritzed her hair at the beginning.

Getting settled in ...

Not too much around the ears, okay?

The "after" shot, taken from the back because that's where most of the work was done.

More cruising

Claire is really cruising around the house now - pulling herself up, walking along furniture and transferring to pretty much anything that will offer her support. Last week she took four steps by herself (walking between Paul and me) but I don't think she has the confidence yet to walk on her own again. Maybe in a week?

Here's another clip of Claire cruising along a little obstacle course I created for her.


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Claire's birthday celebration, part 2: outfit change and gifts

Our gift to Claire was a jade pendant with her lunar animal (a dog) depicted on it. We were told that it is a tradition in China to give this as a gift to a child on their first year (or month?) birthday but I haven't verified this story yet - for all I know it was made up to entice us to shop or else I remembered it wrong.

Anyway, because of the necklace (and also the icing on her outfit), we played dress-up some more and put her in a little red silk dress we got for her in China.

Here's Claire mid-outfit change when she accepted a call from Grandma W.

Claire with her new necklace

Claire's birthday celebration, part 1: the feast

Claire had her third taste of her own birthday cake (or cupcake, as was the case tonight) today and finally had a chance to really get into it as you can see from the second picture. It was just us celebrating her birthday tonight - a very quiet night ... until Claire got her sugar buzz. She was so silly and hyper! We had a lot of fun watching her.

Sappy alert: the next paragraph may be overly sappy to some (i.e. Stu) so discretion is recommended.

You can hardly see it but the little barrette in her hair is probably about 28 years old. My dad was never a big shopper and gift-giver so when he did buy something for me, I held on to it. He gave me a set of little gold barrettes - nothing expensive, probably just bought at the drugstore or grocery store - when I was four or five. I had pretty thick, unruly hair at that age (go figure) so they were already a little small for my hair. I came across the one remaining barrette a few weeks ago and realized it would probably be perfect for Claire, which it is. Dad died just over a year ago; although he knew our adoption plans, he never got to meet Claire. Having her wear this little barrette that I'm sure he'd never remember buying is just one way we can remember him and make him a part of our daily lives.



Our little family













Digging in and loving it!

Our girl is one today!

Happy Birthday, Claire!

For those of you wondering why I was blogging like crazy yesterday, I wanted to catch up so that today's posts could be all about Claire joining the one-year club.

Claire's having a great day so far: she slept in until 9, had a yummy bottle, played a bit, had a splish-splashy bath and then had a great time at Kindermusic. We're home now, just hanging out and enjoying some quiet time together.

We're having a very quiet celebration tonight (just Claire, Paul and I and maybe Stu). I had thought about having a party this Saturday but I'm glad we decided not to fuss too much this year - our weekend was so busy (but fun!). Thanks for all the birthday wishes on our last post.

Monday - a Xinyu Sisters' reunion

Paul, Claire and I were ecstatic to meet Shea, Caia, Raelene, Girard and Bryn for breakfast on Monday morning. It was great to finally see the girls in person again after following their lives on their blogs - I knew they had grown and changed a lot but to see it in person was amazing.

Claire wasn't quite herself during the visit (I think she was a tad overstimulated on the weekend!) but she enjoyed herself nonetheless. I've posted some pictures of the three together. Check out Claire's bags under her eyes (poor kid - I had to wake her up to get her ready for our visit). Bryn is in the pink and orange; Caia is in the white Easter sweater.

Thanks, Shea, for having us over for breakfast, and thank you Rae and Girard for making the effort to see us as well!

And even more photos from Easter Sunday!

Watching Paul's dad with Claire, it's easy to see why Paul is such a great dad to Claire: he had a great role model. Here are a couple more photos of Grandpa with Claire.

More photos from Easter Sunday - meeting Great-Grandma Pauline

One of Claire's middle names - Pauline - was inspired by her two Great-Grandma Paulines. On Easter Sunday, she got to meet Paul's Grandma Pauline. As you can see from Claire's smile in the first picture, Claire loved Great-Grandma from the get-go.

Paul's mom and Grandma with Claire

Sunday - a shared birthday celebration

We spent all day Sunday with Paul's family. Sunday was not only Easter Sunday but also Paul's dad's 64th birthday. Since Claire's birthday is tomorrow, he shared his birthday celebration with Claire, which was really special.


Highlights of the day include:

• Claire's stellar reaction to gifts. For example, when she received a large stuffed toy kitty from her Great-Grandma Pauline, she broke out into a huge grin, said "Kitsya" (our cat's name - which she spoke aloud for the first time last week) and gave it a big hug and kiss.
• Claire tasting cabbage rolls (well, the rice filling) for the first time ever.
• Meeting several great-aunts and uncles.
• Watching Claire squeal and giggle when Great-Auntie Ruth played peekaboo with her.
• Claire's reaction to her first birthday gift from Grandma and Grandpa. They gave her a beautiful porcelain Chinese doll which happens to be pretty much the same size as Claire. When I lifted it out of the box and held it, Claire's face turned angry - she was jealous!
• Grandpa holding Claire and blowing out their birthday candles.
• Claire receiving a beautiful Ukrainian Easter egg to celebrate her first Easter with us.
• Dorian and Sylvie agreeing to be Claire's godparents.
• Watching Claire giggle like crazy while playing with Grandma and Grandpa.

Saturday - meeting Mama's side of the family

On Saturday, we spent most of the day with my family. Highlights include:

• having lunch all together at the Saigon Rose, the best Vietnamese restaurant ever;


• watching Claire meet all the family pets: Garth, Bones, Sadie, Pockets and Circa;


• seeing Claire with her aunts, uncles and cousins after imagining the moment for so long;


• my oldest brother Randy dancing with Claire; and


• celebrating Claire's birthday (a little early - it's actually tomorrow) with the clan.

At the Saigon Rose

Our nephew Matthew is great with kids. Here he is entertaining Claire.

Since Claire doesn't know how to blow out candles yet, we asked her four-year old cousin Mia to do it for her. Here's a photo of the moment after the candle went out. (Check out the slippage of Paul's hat.)

Friday - the drive and the reunion with Grandparents

Last Friday was our first long road-trip with Claire and it went swimmingly, thanks in large part to my brother Stu who acted as the manny in the backseat with Claire. I think it may also have been due in part to a generous offer he made ...

It all started when we picked him up at his apartment and he was looking a little green from the previous night's activities. As soon as he hopped in the car, he said he'd pay for Claire's college education if she didn't make a peep the whole way home. Well, 100 km in, Claire still hadn't made a sound. Pretty unusual for our happy babbling baby (and she knows Stu, so she wasn't making strange). Stu started getting kind of nervous and said it would have to be a cheap college or maybe Clown college. I hear there is a good one in Paris, I said. At last, at 314 km, Claire let Stu off the hook with a happy exclamation. Stu looked super-relieved, as you can imagine.

That night, Claire had a very happy reunion with Paul's parents. Here's a video clip of Claire and Grandpa participating in a bizarre head-butting ritual.


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Claire also met Uncle Dorian and Auntie Sylvie that night - her future godparents. Here's a photo of the family that night.

Getting ready to celebrate Grandpa's birthday

In preparation for Grandpa's birthday on Sunday, we spent part of Thursday making a special birthday card with Claire's handprint. Here are some pics of Claire after our hand and foot-stamping fun.

Don't worry - the paint was non-toxic finger-paint (thanks for the idea of finger-paint, Marianne!).

A very happy Easter

We arrived home from Saskatoon last night after an action-packed weekend of long drives, reunions with grandparents, birthday celebrations, first visits with great-grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-aunts, great-uncles, second cousins and even a third cousin, family pets and a reunion with two of Claire's Xinyu sisters and their families. We're tired.

But we're off again on another adventure! This afternoon, we're picking my mom up from the airport for a short visit during her stopover here on her way home to Saskatoon.

I have a lot of pictures to post and stories to tell, so I'll follow up this post with several more about our weekend. But maybe not right now. Whew - I need some coffee.

Two-month anniversary

Today marks two months since we received Claire and tomorrow will be two months since the adoption was finalized.

It's hard to believe it's been two months already, and on the other-hand, it's hard to believe we haven't always been together.

Claire has changed so much from the scared little bundle of heat that was placed in our arms that day. I've attached a picture of her first tentative smile at us. Her smile these days doesn't look anything like it; now, she smiles with great abandon, a huge grin complete with smiley eyes. She also had a look in the first few days that we haven't seen since. She'd sort of stick her jaw out, which made it look like she had an underbite. That must have been her "hmmm, I'm still sorting you guys out" look.

I'm also attaching a picture of our adoption certificate, which has a picture of us taken about a half hour after meeting Claire. By this time, she had clued in that something was changing for her in a BIG way and she was howling like crazy.

Happy Anniversary to all the families we travelled with: we miss you and think of you often.

And here's Claire crawling ...

Now that I've learned how to post video clips, I'm addicted! Here's Claire on March 31st crawling across the floor of her bedroom.

By the way, Happy Birthday to our nephew Liam today! He's four years old. Claire can't wait to meet him this weekend in Saskatoon.


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I'm cruisin'!

Claire cruised around some furniture for the first time last Wednesday (March 28). My latest challenge for her is to maneuver between two different heights, because I think it'll help her balance and coordination. (Well, that's my theory anyway!) She doesn't have far to walk, though, so I may have to create a new set-up. Here's a short clip (taken yesterday) of her mastering my latest challenge.


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