Word Of The Day And Other Updates

Chase's word of the day is ... bubble. Pronounced "buhba."

With this new English word comes a new Chinese word, "baba," which means Dad.

She also knows the Chinese word for horse - "ma." At first I thought she was saying "ma" for "mama," (as in 'hey mom, check out this horse') but then I realized - after she did it three different times in three different situations on three different days - that she wasn't actually saying "mama," she was saying "ma." Clever girl.

She also knows the word milk (pronounced "mil") and she recognizes, but can't pronounce sticker, dog, ear, eye, nose, toes, and belly button. Sometimes she knows the word 'hair.' And of course I have no idea how many words she knows in Chinese, but she seems to understand Flora pretty well (she actually does what Flora asks).

She's learned to blow kisses, but likes to do it on her own (unprompted). As if to tell me "I'm going to decide when and where I give away kisses, Mama."

I have also been surprised by how easily she gives things to other children. She's quite good at it and doesn't seem to miss the item after she's given it away - which should put her in good stead for dealing with others in the future.

She's decided she doesn't like to sit and splash in the bath anymore. She prefers to stand (perhaps because she sees Mommy and Daddy standing in the shower). It doesn't matter how many toys we introduce - she just wants to chew on her little toothbrush and be done with the bath as quickly as possible.

Chase is growing so quickly we decided to purchase a new bed for her. A real mattress, made for a big person. I debated over queen vs full/double for quite some time and finally settled on a full/double. It is currently "airing out" in our sun room. It smelled a little toxic when it arrived. I'm prepared to keep it in the sun room as long as it takes to remove the smell (think nail polish).

My poor darling Chase has been in pain over the last week or so - she has her first molar (bottom left) and three others are forcing their way through the gum as we speak. So I was up last night from 2-3:30. She was wide awake - so I changed her, gave her some milk, and sang her a couple tunes.

Eventually she fell asleep - as did I - and must mention here that I had a strange dream about trying to get somewhere in China and being stuck on a boat and finding out it was going to take me 22 days to get there.

The funny part is I remember thinking, "oh this is just g-r-e-a-t, I just know Hubs is going to ask me why I didn't ask how long it would take to get there before I got on the boat." Weird.

Anyway ...

Today we went over to Ho Di's home and he didn't cry at all, so I think he and Chase will be friends afterall. He was sans diaper (as they all are here), which still makes me laugh - only because it is so different from how things are done in the US.

Tomorrow we pick up Chase's Chinese glamour shots. Should be seriously hilarious. I was so tempted to dress her up like a pineapple, but then I realized that not only would she never forgive me - I would never forgive myself. So I settled for one picture of Chase in a red, Chinese outfit (with a red lantern and funny food on a stick as props), one picture of Chase dressed like an angel (with a strange outdoor backdrop and a carriage and dove used as props) and a picture of her in a pink tutu (with shoes that were too small).

Should be interesting!