For Dalia's birthday, her brother, Calder designed a colorful three-tier cake, made up of three of Dalia's favorite shapes -- heart, star and triangle. It was beautiful! He and Grandma Ginger baked and decorated it with colorful frosting, flowers and streaming ribbons. It looked festive in a Chinese way. Grandma Gin-Gin, Grandpa Ralph, Mama, Baba (Daddy), Calder, Henry, Blair, John and Virginia all came to celebrate. Truly a joyous occasion. I was thankful all day that this little girl has come into my and our lives.
She has grown so much since we met her on March 7th. Every day is a day to appreciate her! We gave her a Xi Yang Yang sweatshirt and matching backpack that we bought in Lanzhou, China, when we bought her some colorful sneakers. We kept it for her over the past 6 months. Good to see that even though Elmo is her new favorite, she still loves Yang Yang. ("Pleasant Goat" - her favorite Chinese cartoon character)
Dalia and I are at Grandma Patty's in Wisconsin. Today was a big day as she took a swimming lesson at the YMCA with 3 other little boys and their mamas, along with me. Ginger has taken her swimming in the Middlebury town pool - it's clear she's been ready for lessons. The Y kiddie pool is perfect, with a gradual ramp into deeper water. We kicked, we splashed, we submerged, we swam after balls, we sang songs. This may be the first class Dalia has taken. She was somewhat distracted by all of the action but I think she liked it. She loves to swim! She is leaning to blow bubbles in the pool water -- a huge step with her new lip. We'll return the next 3 days. She was the only Asian child in the pool.
She has been saying many more words, words with multiple syllables, and putting phrases together. "Hummingbird"; "Come back, sun"; "Grandma's house", "running shoes," "bathing suit", etc.
Her diet is rich in good foods - for dinner, she had salmon, hard-boiled egg, almond butter, a fresh peach, garbanzo beans, rice milk, water, and zucchini bread. She still loves popsicles and has learned to slurp.
She remembers names of people she meets and talks about them afterwards. What good company you are, Dalia!
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