Yikes!! She Didn’t!!

Yup…she did!

While Mommy had the audacity to use the bathroom, Hannah cut her own hair!  I didn’t notice when I spoke with her but then walked into the kitchen and saw this on the floor

and then this in the garbage.

I’ll admit that I had joked on other blogs in the past that I was sure it was only a matter of time before Hannah cut her own hair but still – I was shocked and she quickly found herself in timeout. (see pic above)  Mommy needed time to  breathe and calm down.  It wasn’t so much to the fact that her hair was cut but the disappointment that she had done this when each time she’d had her hair cut we’d talked about only Mommy and Miss Ruth Anne cutting her hair.  I also found myself smiling (not when she could see) as really, it was only a matter of time!  It’s almost a right of passage for little girls as so many of them do this!  My niece cut her bangs super short the week before kindergarten.

The funny part (I can laugh about it now) is that earlier that day she had offered to make breakfast for us.   A few minutes after she went downstairs I heard, ‘Mommy!  HELP!!’  at which point I raced down the stairs.   I was met by my adorable little girl surrounded by a milk flood.  The milk bag (I know, crazy eh?!  See this link for more about our milk that is purchased in bags) needed to be replaced which meant it also needed to be opened.

Normally we put the bag into the container pictured above and then open the corner of the bag using scissors.  At the time she said, ‘I know I’m not allowed to touch the scissors.’ so she got creative!  (Wish she’d remembered about not touching the scissors 5 hours later!!)  I asked her out of curiosity what she’d used to open the milk.  Why – a chopstick of course!!  LOL!  I wasn’t in the room but I’m pretty sure the first hole she impaled into the bag that was laying on the counter was okay but then the second stab turned the first one into a small milk fountain!!  Oye!!  Thankfully she called me quickly as the flood was heading to my new computer that was only hours old and wasn’t even out of the box yet!

So….at 8am she remembered she wasn’t supposed to touch the scissors.  At 1pm – not so much.

Needless to say, ‘quiet time’ went out the window and instead we made our way to a children’s hair salon since Miss Ruth Ann was on vacation.  I sometimes trim her bangs but wasn’t sure about this cut as we attempted to blend in the short bit without cutting it all as short as her personal trim job. 

I think she looks absolutely adorable in her new slightly shorter cut!

And so, scissors are in timeout for the month of April which is tough for my crafty girl. 

But, if I were being totally honest the big question would be, ‘How long will it be until I’m posting another “Yikes!  She Didn’t”’ post!  I’m hoping never but with my spunky kiddo, who knows?  After all, school picture day is just a few weeks away and kiddos seem to be infamous for cutting their own hair right before picture day. 

Shhhh….I’m not telling Hannah that.  She’s more focused on counting down the days until it’s May and her beloved scissors are back!  I know she’s learned her lesson and was immediately sorry for what she’d done.

Did you do this as a kiddo?  I’ll have to ask my Mom!

A Day Filled with Family and Fun!

Sundays are normally days when we have a nice combination of activities and quiet time together at home.  This past Sunday was all that with a couple of birthday celebrations thrown in for good measure!
We started our day at church which is a special part of our week.  I smiled when Hannah hopped up on this pew and began to ‘read’ to herself from the hymnal.  I love her interest in ‘reading’ and hearing the stories that she creates.
After church we hurried home to prepare for some birthday celebrations.
First we decorated Nana’s birthday cake.
We went for our normal lunch at Nana and Papa’s and celebrated Nana’s birthday with Papa, Tor, Josh and Grandma Dale.

Hannah helping Papa with the dishes.
Later in the afternoon Grandma and Grandpa came over so that we could celebrate his birthday too.  He was singing Happy birthday to himself so Hannah stopped him.
A birthday pic with Grandpa and Grandma.  Hannah was in charge of the candles at both parties.  She felt the straight line approach was best!
Our day ended with a little time outdoors.  The weather was warmer and the sun up later so we took advantage of it.  You can tell when I get tired of winter because I take days like this and shovel the snow off the lawn and throw it on the road to melt.  Today I was doing that and Hannah decided a much better idea was to build a snow castle on the driveway.  So creative!
Ta da!!!
I love Sundays and I think you can see why.  Lots of time with my sweetie at church, home and with family!

Sunday Afternoon Photo Shoot

I love this little dress and Hannah was in good form so we had an impromptu photo shoot in Grandma and Grandpa’s beautiful back yard.

A Moment in Time: Sometimes I Forget…

…that Hannah doesn’t remember the day we became a family as I do. 
Now, that may seem like a funny thing to say as she was only 8 months at the time but a little background will help explain what I mean.  (Please bear with me…this post wanders a bit.)
Right now one of Hannah’s favourite games to play is ‘Baby.’  She will suddenly pretend to cry like a baby, want cuddles, to be picked up, snuggled and comforted with, ‘Shhh…it’s okay baby, Mommy’s here.’  She’ll do her pretend cry a little longer, all the while with a big smile on her face and stifling a giggle while I hold her close and rock her.  (Any opportunity to snuggle and cuddle my independent little sweetie is a good one!)
Something else Hannah loves to do is ‘Pway.’  We say her bedtime prayers each night and now she adds her own personal requests.  Often she’ll say, ‘Mommy, pway for me when I was a baby in China.’ and I’ll pray something like, ‘Lord, thank you so much that you knew before the beginning of time that Hannah and I would be a family.  Thank you for creating us to be a family and for brining us together in China to be together forever.’  I use this sweet time of prayer to reassure her that God designed our family and that we will always be together. 
Each nigh after our prayers we cuddle for a few minutes before I go downstairs.  She’ll normally grab hold of my arm and say, ‘I keep you!’ and try to hold me, all the while with her with a huge smile on her face!  We giggle together with our faces mere inches from one another and I say, ‘Yes sweetie, you can keep me forever!’  Eventually I wiggle away with the reassurance that I’ll be back very soon.  We end our little time of night-time fun with me placing a kiss on her forehead and her placing one on mine.  (Any attempt to kiss her sweet rosebud lips right now is met with that kiss being thrown away as she laughs!  I still do it and oh how she giggles and she announces, ‘I frow it away! )  
I’ve often heard and read on other people’s blogs that ‘big’ conversations often seem to happen in the car.  Sometimes planned by parents that way, other times it’s just spontaneous conversation.
Yesterday as we were driving home from one of her little friend’s birthday parties we were praying for safe travels for those at the party as the roads were snowy and some families had a distance to travel.  After that prayer she said, ‘Mommy, let’s pway for Baby Anna in China.’  I asked if she meant Baby Ellie and she said yes.  Baby Ellie is the sweet daughter of friends who are traveling to China this week to meet their daughter!!  Although Pam and I have never met in person and only met via our blogs, the friendship is a dear, precious one and we know that someday we will meet.  Cannot wait!!
And now, to get to the reason for the title of today’s post.  As we were driving down the road and ‘pwaying’ for a variety of things and people Hannah wanted to pray about she said,
‘Mommy, pway for me when I was a baby in your tummy in China.’
It suddenly struck me that even though I know we didn’t meet until she was 8 months, 6 days old and we’ve often talked about that day and looked at videos and pictures, she doesn’t understand (nor have the ability to understand that) quite yet.  
I was surprised by her innocent request and all at the same time my heart began to race and tears threatened my eyes while trying to sound as ‘normal’ and calm as I could as I responded to her sweet request. 
My response?  We prayed, ‘Lord, thank you so much that you knew before the beginning of time that Hannah and I would be a family. Thank you for creating us to be a family and for brining us together in China to be together forever.’  Someday I will want to delve further into this matter but for now, I responded in the way I believe her little 2yo mind could handle.
I know in time these questions and many, many more will come and I am already praying (oh boy if you could have heard the arrow prayers I shot up as we drove yesterday!!  Talk about multitasking!!) that when we have these discussions that Hannah will view her adoption as a positive thing.   That she would not be angry with her situation, God, her birth parents, China or I’ll be honest, me.  I’m not in denial that some/all of these feelings may come but if/when they do I pray they do not last.  I pray that Hannah will see and believe that God brought us together to be a family.  A family designed by Him.  The perfect family for us.
Together, forever.

A Moment in Time: Feeding CNIB Puppy

One of the local grocery stores has a large plastic dog on display where donations can be made for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB).  Whenever we drive into the parking lot of this store Hannah calls out ‘Doggy Store!’ and always wants to go in.  It’s a challenge to get her to finish our groceries before ‘feeding’ the dog but when we’re done she runs over to give him a hug and make a donation.

Another fun place we like to put money is in the water at ‘It’s a Small World.’  For years I tossed coins into the Asia part of the ride as I awaited Hannah’s homecoming.   Now it’s my sweet little girl tossing ‘wishing coins’ into the water!  (Thanks for the idea to do this Bridge!)

A Moment in Time: Oh Canada Flag!

Hannah absolutely loves finding Canadian flags when we’re out and I’ll tell you, she’s good!!!  We can be driving in a completely new area and she’ll spot them in the hardest to find places and excitedly shout, ‘Canada Fwag!!!’ 

After she calls out it’s not unusual for me to hear, ‘Sing Mommy, sing!’  from the back seat.  Earlier this summer I began to sing the Canadian National Anthem with her when she first took a liking to Canadian flags and I’m really impressed with much she’s learned!

On this day we were driving in the car with Mom and Dad so I was in the back seat with her.  I started to sing, ‘Oh Canada’ but my independent Miss let me know that she could sing it herself thank-you-very-much!  I think she did GREAT, especially when I remember she’s not even 2 1/2 years old yet!  I giggle in a couple of places because of the way she’s added her own flare to the song.  ‘Oh Canada’ becomes ‘Oh Canada Fwag’ and each time she sings ‘Stand on guard for thee’ she changes it to ‘Stand on guard for the end.’  Heh….so cute!

Great finish XiaoFen! 

I know right now she’s all about Canadian flags but I hope at the same time I’m also instilling a love for our amazing, beautiful country in my daughter. 

A Moment in Time: Too Loud!!!

A few months ago I discovered the wonderful world of smoothies!  Since then I have enjoyed a smoothie almost every morning for breakfast.

Hannah and I have our morning routine down pat.  Wake up, get ready, she eats breakfast while I make my lunch and then as we’re getting ready to go to the car I put a smoothie together.  There are some days when she eats part of her yogurt and they she asks me to put the rest in the smoothie.  Too cute! 

Once all the ingredients together I’ll call out, ‘Are you ready?’ And she quickly covers her ears as I turn on the blender and calls out, ‘TOO LOUD!!!’

Once she’s safely buckled into her car seat and we’re ready to go I bring out the completed smoothie and the cutest little taste tester in the world gives me her opinion on that’s days creation.

I love this cute little morning tradition that we share together each day!

A Moment in Time: Highchair Scaling

My dear friend Kayce has begun a series on her blog called ‘A Moment in Time’ and I love her idea!  Each week I want to capture moments that are precious, everyday things (or once in a lifetime opportunities) that capture where Hannah is at at the moment.  At the time I think I’ll remember these moments forever but I know that just isn’t the case.  So now I have a reminder to capture them and another reason to take hold of them and save them for the future.  Someday Hannah and I can look back at these moments and enjoy them together!

This week’s ‘A Moment In Time’ entry is one picture that accurately captures where Hannah’s at right now.  One of her favourite sayings is, ‘I do it all myself!’  This particular night she was ready for supper and I just wasn’t getting to the high chair fast enough so she scaled the back of it and dove in head first!  Oh how I laughed when I turned around and saw those cute little feet in the air!

I love the independence she is showing and yet I also love that she’s not afraid to ask for help either.  It makes for a win-win situation.  She tries (and often succeeds) in doing things herself and when she needs some extra help she’s not afraid to say, ‘Mommy!  Help!’  Perfect!!

Blog Labels for Windows Live Writer

This is a test...please ignore. More CA fun coming soon!