Gabriel celebrated his first ever Chinese New Year in the US on Saturday. Despite his Chinese New Year outfit not fitting this year (hopefully he'll grow into it by next winter), it was a wonderful day!! As I have mentioned on a previous Facebook post, one of Gabriel's friends, "Momo" for short, will soon be adopted by a family that lives very close to us. After I expressed an interest in doing something with them and their daughters as well as another adoptive family who brought their son, Liam, home on Christmas Eve, Momo's mom offered to host Chinese New Year at her home, and all of us gladly accepted the invitation!
She made a wonderful meal, which included Chinese salad, a chicken-rice-pineapple dish, Chinese-seasoned broccoli, Chinese noodles, fruit, and cookies. Not only this. It was dairy and gluten-free, AND she made sure that it all met Gabriel's requirements of whole grains (no white flour). So often, he has to eat something different from everyone else. Even though he was more interested in playing with the other kids, WE appreciated the effort she put into making foods that every single person could enjoy. She also took the time to give me the recipe for the cookies. Gabriel never gets to have real cookies, because nearly all cookies out there contain either white flour or white rice flour. These contain oat and brown rice flour! Yay!! We have a winner!! Mama is going to have to do some baking!!
Gabriel had fun running around with the girls and Liam all evening long while we parents got a break to discuss parenting life. It was nice to have that time to ourselves while knowing that our kids were having an equally fun time. We gave tips and helpful information about travelling to China to Momo's parents, and they told us some stories of when their girls were babies and experienced some of the things that our children are experiencing now, even though Gabriel is 2.5 and Liam is almost 4. Yes, we missed out on the lives of our children when they were babies. However, we still get the opportunity to parent them as if they are babies. They need that, and we need that.
Lately, Gabriel will even ask to be held like a baby. Most people see regression as a negative thing, but in the world of international adoption, regression is a positive. It's a sign of attachment. He needs that need met, because he never got it. He spent the first six months of his life in a hospital. It breaks our heart to think about that-- to wonder if anyone ever took the time to look into those precious eyes and speak through his or her eyes that he is loved. How we wish we could have been there then. Now, he has begun to gaze into our eyes as we look into his. That took some time, but the important thing is that it's here now. We're here now. And he knows he is loved now by two people who will never leave him. We're still working on helping him realize that we'll never leave him, but we're getting there.
As we mark the Lunar New Year, we also are marking a sharp increase in Gabriel's language development. He's saying more phrases now, and we'll soon have to record him saying, "Lalalovu" before it is gone and replaced with the clearer phrase of "I love you" for good. This is great progress, but we'll miss some of those phrases that only we can translate. He's far from getting rid of all of them at once, but bit by bit, it's going to happen. Time to record for memories' sake. This week's new phrases have included, "Silly Mama" and "Silly Baba" as well as "chicken butt." Don't ask. lol Let's just say that Baba will be expected to answer certain questions at parent-teacher conferences some day. :)
I was going to end the blog shortly after this paragraph above, but we continued to celebrate Chinese New Year today with my parents. We went to church together and then went to Panda Express for lunch. They didn't have his favorite-- teriyaki chicken (which he calls yacki chicken)-- but he made due with the string bean chicken-- at least the chicken part of that dish and some of the steamed veggies as a side. Here's a picture of the three of us and another of Gabriel with his grandparents (my parents).
Well, it's time for us to get some sleep. Weekends go much too fast around here, but this one was a fun one. Here's a picture of Gabriel "hamming it up" for the camera. He LOVES to have his picture taken. It also shows off his new hair cut. The side burns are gone for good (I hope)!!
Have a wonderful week, and stay warm!!
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