Norman, Erica and Charlotte

This past weekend, we attended our local adoption agency's annual picnic. We finally got to meet Norman!!! He is the man responsible for facilitating the China portion of our adoptions. His agency, USAsianAffairs, translates our documents, sends them to China, arranges our travel and accompanies us while in China. Norman travels with every group and it is said that he also personally approves each match of parent(s) to baby for his clients.
We had never met him before because we didn't get to travel with our group last time; most of you know that long story. Anyway, we stood in line for over an hour to meet him, he is like a celebrity! I was so incredibly amazed and moved as I listened to him talking to the families ahead of us. He remembered each child! Even the babies from 1996! When it was our turn, we introduced ourselves and he said, "Oh yes, Gao Ruiyun, from Jiangxi." We said, "That's right!" And then he also remembered that we had to stay at The White Swan Hotel instead of the usual China Hotel. Amazing!!!

We are losing the only babysitter we've ever had :(
Erica is going to UCSB to complete her undergrad.
Even though I know she is sooo excited to go, we are going to miss her. And now we have to find a new sitter. How are we ever going to find another beautiful, smart, gentle, accomodating Chinese girl to watch Attie?
Any leads would be appreciated.




How cute is this tent????
Attie's Gao'an sister, Charlotte gave this to her for her birthday.
She has had so much fun in it. Mostly she loves to take her fellas inside and read to them.
Charlotte, I hope you can visit soon and play in the tent!!!

Fun with Ayumi

Tomoko and Ayumi came home from Japan for about a month, and Attie and Ayumi stepped up "dress-up" play to the next level...
Here they are pretending to be pregnant. I think this has everything to do with Tomoko being pregnant and the anticipation of the adoption of Attie's meimei (little sister). On this night, they each gave birth several times and packed for trips to China to adopt babies. Although we were entertained, we were also freaking out and wishing to turn back time. They are not so innocent any more and their world is expanding every day as they discover new things. Poor Ayumi is on the fast track as she follows Attie.



Now this is more like it!
We spent an afternoon at the pool.
Attie is getting more comfortable in the water. I put her in a life jacket so she and I could have a little more independence. She would kick and reach for me a little, but lessons are definitely in order.



We also had a paint play date. It took more time to set up the easel, get them in their smocks, and prepare the paints than it did for them to each create a masterpiece, but they had fun.

All the Bergan's are back in Japan now until Christmas. The visit helped to break up the time apart and we got to see Tomoko showing. Miss you guys already!

Back to School

Atticus is back in school! I can't believe the summer is over. I can remember last year's first day of school like it was yesterday. She is such a big girl now and was very excited to go back to school. Despite a new classroom and two new teachers, she had no trouble saying goodbye in the morning. And when I picked her up, she said, "Mommy, I did fine." Her English teacher said Atticus could teach the class and her Mandarin teacher said she is doing great and getting more confident in speaking. I am learning new phrases everyday from her teacher and our friends. We are the annoying parents who bother the director every day about the curriculum and already have our sights on the end of this year when we expect her to read Chapter books and do simple addition and subtraction. But they are very patient with us and despite our constant pestering, they love Atticus and I am so happy that she is immersed in this Chinese culture of Waha. Her favorite subject is still recess?????