I knew this day was coming but...

Last week I had to go to New York for a board meeting of an organization I'm deeply involved with. The best part was I got to visit a family we traveled to China with and witness the amazing transformation of their beautiful daughter, who is so changed in 10 months it's just incredible. The worst part is we had to use the nanny service for the first time. Two half days, two different nannies. My goal was to have him in family care only for six months and we made to to 10, so I should be happy, but still.

Quinn, little soldier that he is, did well with both women. I was slightly panicked from afar and kept hoping everything was going okay.

Does this get easier? Will we ever think date night is a good idea??

Chinese food!

I'm learning to cook Chinese food, with a goal of having at least one Chinese meal a week. This was my first success: rice noodles with tofu and vegetables (and lots of rice vinegar). Quinn, a true Beijing noodle boy, dug right in!

Graduation day nears

Since arriving home, Quinn has been in various types of therapy for his various developmental delays. Now home 10 months, he is starting to catch up to his chronological age.

First to go was occupational therapy, when the state-provided therapist said she didn't feel like she was needed anymore. Now we're looking at the end of speech therapy and physical therapy. The speech therapist said Quinn is approaching normal for a late talker, and she may start cutting back from weekly to twice-monthly sessions. The physical therapist said Quinn's shoulder is as good as it's going to get without surgery (we're still waiting to hear what the insurance company is willing to pay for) and she's happy with his physical development except that he stands with his feet too far apart, making his ankles roll inward. So she's going away for a month, during which we're supposed to put him in a tight little skirt made of an ace bandage for a while each day to force his legs together. He loves putting on MaMa's shoes and sunglasses, let's see how he feels about skirts!

It's hot!

This summer has been one of the worst ever. It's been over 100 almost every day in August, with none of our usual summer rains to cool us down. Even so, Quinn LOVES to be outside. He spends a good deal of his inside time standing at the back door in hopes someone will take him outside. Then when he's outside his entire head and face are soaked in sweat within seconds. Poor kid.

Quinn seriously can't get enough of this sandbox. Unfortunately, the same goes for Buttons the dog. Sometimes they have a stare-down to determine who gets to play in it first!

This is one of my favorite recent pictures of Quinn. It's so horribly hot outside, and look how contented he looks!

The three-legged race

This picture is hard to see, but I was so proud of Quinn this day. If you look way in the back on the right side of the frame you'll see Quinn and me holding hands. We're running the three-legged race at my company picnic. This child actually let me tie his leg to mine and ran the entire race with me, including picking himself up when he fell and getting right back to it. We did not win, but I could not have been prouder of this spunky, sweet, fabulous little guy.

Red Egg and Ginger Party

Our local chapter of Families with Children from China hosted an awesome Red Egg and Ginger party for children who have arrived in China in the past year.

Here is an explanation, from about.com:

"In Chinese culture, a baby's first month birthday calls for a celebration. Proud parents introduce their latest addition to friends and relatives by holding a red egg and ginger party. Traditionally, the baby's name is also announced at this time.

"Guests attending red egg and ginger parties bring gifts. Lysee or "lucky money" in red envelopes is often given to baby boys, while girls may receive expensive jewelry. The guests don't leave empty handed, either. The parents hand out red-dyed eggs, symbolizing happiness and the renewal of life.

"Red egg and ginger parties have their origins in ancient Chinese culture. As in other countries, infant mortality rates in China were quite high prior to the medical advances of the twentieth century. A baby who reached one month of age was likely to survive, and so the event was celebrated."

At our event there were eight kids, and after a delicious banquet dinner at a Chinese restaurant each family was invited to make a short presentation, and then we each got a beautiful laquered red egg carved with our child's name in Chinese.

Some families showed slides or talked about their adoption experience. All the stories were great to hear, and so different - the kids ranged from babies to 14! All of them had special needs of some sort, or were older.

Rather than do a presentation, we decided to read the kids our favorite adoption book: "A Mother for Choco." If you haven't read it, check it out. Quinn sat in my lap and all the kids gathered around us, which was fun.

It was a really special night. If you ever get invited to a Red Egg and Ginger party, go!


The setting was beautiful and the food was yummy.


Grandma Marj came with us. Check out Quinn's cool summer outfit, bought at Michael's in Guanghzou.


In typical Chinese banquet style, the food kept coming and coming. Quinn LOVED the ginger noodles.

Quite shockingly, the kid who will not eat anything cold went quite nutty for the ginger ice cream. He ate his entire bowl, and went for mine, too!

Here's a sign of the times: Of the eight kids who came from this year in our chapter, four of them are boys!

It looks like surgery - times two

Thanks to the amazing parents on the various adoption-related Yahoo groups I follow, we learned of a doctor in Houston who specializes in treating brachial plexus injury, a nerve injury that can occur at birth if the baby gets stuck and is yanked out. Even better, we learned that he occasionally holds free clinics around the country, so we took a short flight to San Diego last Sunday and met him. Our intention was simply to get a second opinion on whether Quinn needed surgery, but we were so impressed by him that we decided we'd really like him to do the surgery.

The good news is that while the orthopedic surgeon we have been visiting said we'd need to choose between a surgery that would allow him to reach up to the sky and one that would allow him to rotate him arm outward, Dr. Nath does both. He said Quinn's level of injury is on the not-so-serious side (he ranked it at 40 percent, with 100 percent being the most serious), which makes him a good candidate for surgery and gives him a good chance of a full or near-full recovery. However, that means two surgeries — and two trips to Houston. We're negotiating now with our insurance company to see whether they'll cover it.

So keep Quinn in your thoughts!