Past and Present

On this date, two years ago, we became a family.

Last night I read through our blog posts from that time; I smiled (and teared up a little) as I remembered those first few days of discovering one another.

As is our custom, we had pizza and Cheerios for dinner tonight - just as we did for our first family meal together in China. As she sat there slurping down her chocolate milk and making goofy faces at me - the latest of which I call her "great Norma Desmond" look - I couldn't help but think about how far we've come. It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that there was a time when she wouldn't even let me hold her, even though I know it's true.

Today was also what Wynn calls a "girl day" - when I'm home for the summer, and she stays home from daycare. The big excitement on this day was that it was Wynn's first time going to music class at the MacPhail Center.

Now, I happen to be sick as a proverbial dog this week - we've been taking turns with the stuffy nose, low-grade fever thing, and it's my turn at bat. But I managed to take enough Tylenol and decongestant to get us over to Minneapolis and through our first class.

Wynn was oddly shy for much of it. Maybe it was the unfamiliar people and surroundings. Or that she wasn't quite sure whether I was staying or leaving. In any case, instead of pretending to fly around like a woodpecker, Wynn wanted to be held by Mom. So I held her, and we flew like a woodpecker together. And it was fun.

Near the end of the class, the teacher brought out a parachute to play with. Wynn got one look at it and started jumping up and down, "Oh, I like THAT!" And any hint of shyness disappeared.

Six-Month Assessment

Wynn's surgeon has us come in for a speech assessment and check-up every six months, so we went in today to see how our girl's doing.

Though she acted very shy and insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time, she was very good with the speech therapist - talked about the pictures on the cards, repeated words when asked, etc. All went well until the therapist brought out the fancy gizmo - it was black board, kind of shaped like a smile, with microphones on the top and bottom. Wynn was to hold part of the board on her "moustache" and repeat some sounds; then the device would measure how much of the sound was coming through her mouth and how much was being directed up through her nose.

Simple.

Non-invasive.

Kinda cool because you got to see little blips on the computer screen that showed the data.

Wynn was not buying it.

The therapist did it.

I did it.

We talked about how silly it was that we were drawing pictures with our noses.

Wynn still wasn't buying it.

We put the thing against her face, and she went completely mute. The therapist even tried to bribe Wynn with assorted candies, but the stubborn little one just said, "No."

The therapist had enough data from the other assessments to tell us that Wynn has good resonance, has made great strides in the last sixth months, and still needs to work on her initial consonants. No big surprises.

We moved to to height and weight - 25 pounds and 35.5" - and then went to meet with the surgeon.

He asked Wynn to repeat a few words and looked in her mouth. Then he asked if she'd seen anyone in speech today. When I told him who, he stepped out in the hall and barked at the nurse to, "Get speech on the phone." I could hear him talking to her about consonant substitutions and initial p's and b's, and I could tell he was not pleased.

He came back in and told me that he's very concerned about Wynn's struggles with initial p and b sounds and the way she substitutes other consonants in their place ("Blue's clues" comes out "glue's clues", and "puppy" sometimes sounds more like "duppy"). He told me that at her age and with the amount of speech services she's been receiving, he'd expect her to be doing better. If she doesn't show great improvement by our appointment in December, she'll need to have another operation.

The surgery would entail taking tissue from the back of her throat and bringing it up over her palate. It takes about half an hour, requires two nights in the hospital, and has a "rough" recovery. Apparently, about 20% of cleft palate kids end up needing this.

As he talked about the surgery, my heart just dropped. All I could picture was how miserable she was after that last operation - how she stood there and cried, drooling blood and holding out her arms in those hideous no-no sleeves. Then I looked over at her in the exam room, happily showing her Dora doll how to do a puzzle, and thought about what a sweet little girl she is. And how much I love her. And how I want to protect her from pain.

So the next six months are going to be all about words that start with p and b. We're going to practice like crazy and hope that her speech issues can be resolved with our efforts instead of with a surgeon's knife.

We know she's made tremendous progress in the last six months, and that makes us hopeful that we can accomplish this very-specific goal in the next six.

Wish us luck.

3 weeks from now, we'll be right up there

Good news on the passport - I called the NPIC at 8 am Friday morning (which apparently is the right time to do it; was on hold for only a minute) and they confirmed receiving Wynn's Certificate of Citizenship. Processing has resumed for her passport.

Also good news with the germs; this cold seems to last only a few days. I'm feeling much better compared to mid-week, and Ann seems to have only suffered a glancing blow. Wynn would appear to be getting better too (although some mighty sneezing has taken place this morning.)

We head out on Monday the 29th, and return on the 4th of July.

Coming up this week is Gotcha Day, the 2nd anniversary of our coming together as a family. Hard to believe it has been that long!

--Scott

So very ready for summer

Summer Vacation starts for Ann next week and it couldn't be coming at a better time, unless you're thinking of two or three weeks ago, in which case, yes, I guess it could have come at a better time.

About four times per week we've strapped on our hiking shoes & put Wynn in the backpack to do a vigorous 40 minutes at the nearby park. These walks are something we did before going to China to improve our stamina and endurance; it worked for us then & it is working now. (I've lost six pounds so far this season and dropped a pants size.) With a little over two weeks to go before the Tokyo trip, we are putting more miles on on our nightly hikes than we're likely to walk each day while overseas.

Frustrating story developing with our government about getting Wynn's passport. We put her application on April 25, before we even booked the trip, and with plenty of time for processing. We know that there are more applications being processed than usual because of new border-crossing rules, but as we hit Week 6 of waiting, we started getting antsy. Well, two days ago we received a letter from the State Department saying they couldn't process her application further because they needed her Certificate of Citizenship issued by the US CIS back in 2007.

Now, I'll note what the passport application instructions say we have to provide for a child:

STEP 2: Submit Evidence of US Citizenship (One of the following):

• Previously issued, undamaged US Passport
• Certified birth certificate issued by the city, county, or state
• Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certification of Birth
• Naturalization Certificate
• Certificate of Citizenship

We included the birth certificate from the State of Minnesota. That would seem to meet what the rules spell out - after all, it says ONE of the following... but apparently, if you've adopted from overseas, there are Super Secret Rules you don't get told about.

All the more frustrating: the letter was written from the Passport Center on June 2, not mailed until June 3, and took a full five days to get here. Why, I ask then, do they want us to give them phone numbers and email addresses on the application form, if they're not going to use them when there's an issue?

Doing the math, it seemed dubious that I could get Wynn's Certificate of Citizenship down to the Passport Center (Charleston, SC), have them finish processing, and get the completed Passport up to Minnesota before the trip.

So, Monday night I called the National Passport Information Center looking for some clarification: was the Minnesota birth certificate not good enough? Doesn't the Homeland Security computer talk with the Social Security computer and the two of them talk with the State Department computer?

After an hour on hold, I finally got through to a live operator who quickly established she really couldn't help me at all, outside of proving that our government's computers do not talk with one another. "What does the letter say? Well, that's what you should do, then."

As this was now well after 9 pm, the only thing left for me to do was to run down to the nearest post office and send her Certificate of Citizenship out via overnight envelope. (I just checked the tracking code and it arrived in Charleston this afternoon.)

I'll have to call the NPIC on Friday (during work hours, I'm afraid) and sit on hold for who knows how long to find out whether they've resumed work on her application & when we'll get her actual Passport.

Meanwhile, I've been fighting a miserable cold since Sunday. Wynn just barfed up a bellyful of snot, and Ann is beginning to feel it in her throat and chest. No fever in any of us, so we think this is merely a cold. They're scanning for fever among arriving passengers at Narita Airport in the H1N1 "crisis", so this had darned well better be a cold.

More later this week - still much to do. --Scott

Mother's Day = Girls' Day

(Mother's Day morning, at home)

Me: Wynn, should we go to the zoo today and see the animals?

Wynn: Oh, yeah.

Me: Should we invite Baba?

Wynn: No. Just you and me. Girls' day.

Me: But, what will Baba do while we're at the zoo?

Wynn: Um ... play with Shadow!

(at the zoo, looking at the lowland gorillas, surrounded by noisy, chaotic crowd of stroller-wielding families)

Me: Look how big that gorilla is!

Wynn: Oh, yeah. He bigger than Baba. 

Me: You're right. 

Wynn: And Baba real BIIIGG. (accompanied with arm gestures for emphasis)

Me: There's another gorilla over there, see? Oh, she has a baby on her back.

Wynn: Mom and baby. That like me and you. (big hug)

Cute pictures, completely unrelated to the story ...

Mystery Date

Today Wynn had a mystery date with Grandma and Grandpa. She knew she was going to spend the day with them, but she didn't know where they'd be taking her.  

Lunch at the Asian all-you-can-eat buffet was a promising start. We hear she enjoyed eating the fried skin off the chicken instead of the meat, and that the ice cream dessert was very much to her liking. Her announcement, "That's from China!" on seeing the decor earned her instant adoration from the staff.

After lunch, the big surprise came. Grandma and Grandpa had made arrangements with some friends of theirs for Wynn to visit their horse today. (She had met a horse with Grandma last spring and still talks about it, so this was a BIG deal.) Grandpa said Wynn's jaw literally dropped when she saw the beautiful saddlebred go by pulling a cart. 

Wynn got to feed her some grass ...

And she even got to go for a ride in the cart ...

(Click on the pictures to get a closer look.)

Her day of adventure was rounded out with some kite flying with Uncle Paul, who brought dinner (complete with cupcakes!) over to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

She came home really tired - but really happy too.

We're going on vacation - to Tokyo!

We're going to take this show on the road for a week at the beginning of July!  We will be hanging out in Tokyo: exploring a different neighborhood each day, eating gyoza and yakisoba, and looking at as much Hello Kitty as Wynn is up for.

We'd also considered a week in Seattle for this getaway, but Japan was surprisingly only a few hundred dollars more per person - including airfare. Hard to imagine it ever being so inexpensive! (London came in $500 more per person than Tokyo!)

We sent in Wynn's passport application this morning & booked our package this afternoon. These next two months are going to fly by...

If any of our readers have suggestions about fun family activities, "must see" locations, food, or getting around, please click on 'comments' below - we're happy to receive advice. And yes, we'll be blogging the trip!

--Scott