So Stinkin Cute!!!

It probably isn't proper social etiquette to brag about how cute your kid is but since I had absolutely nothing to do with it, I think I can get away with it. Isn't he just too cute for words? I'll have to post his referral pictures one of these times because when I sent his file to Dan's work to review, he called me and said, "well we obviously aren't basing our decision on looks". He looked like a 20 year old convict in one of his referral pictures and then the other ones weren't so great either. Then we started getting updates and this little beauty popped up! It doesn't matter, we would take him regardless of his looks.

Please pray for our little guy Kang Kang because he has been having some health problems. He had pneumonia, bronchitis and a very high fever and had a febrile seizure. He is doing well at the moment, but we would really like to get him home very soon, so that he can be in our care. Please pray that it is God's will and the Chinese Governments will that we can expedite his papers. We need that little guy home in our arms.

Sledding Video

Brains and Brawn

Bei really enjoys swimming these days with his "gurggles"!

As I have blogged before, I do day care on Wednesdays for our little neighbor girl. Two events this afternoon struck a cord with me in regards to how children differ in their misbehavior and how smart they are to use their strengths. Here is what happened: The minute Vanna walked in Bei was a pistol. We usually have 30 minutes of music time where we dance to the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance, etc...well he was a rascal and didn't want to dance and that meant he didn't want me to dance. Once he realized that wasn't going to stop me dancing, then he wanted me to hold him while I danced...ugh...kid!!!! So after lunch, Bei had been in a timeout once already and Vanna was headed for one soon, if she kept pushing her behavior. Basically, I am exasperated already...and it has only been an hour. We went down stairs and I decided that maybe if I did something visual for them to see, it would help them keep their behavior in check and they would try to get along with one another. So I told them that if they were good for 1 hour, then each of them would get a popsicle. I told them "I'm writing your name on the chalk board, so at the end of the hour if your name is still up here, then, I'll know that you get a popsicle." "Okay?" I get a deer in the headlight look from both of them and they go back to playing very nicely with one another. I get busy folding clothes and Bei gets up, grabs a paper towel, erases Savanah's name, and then continues to play with Vanna. Luckily, Savanah doesn't say anything to this, so I just go and write her name again. Bei gets up to go to the board and says "Vanna doesn't get a popsicle because her name is not on the board" and proceeds to wipe it out again. Bei gets a warning, he does it again, and he will have his name erased and no popsicle...little smarty pants... They are playing nicely again with a little peoples slide and each of them have a foam ball. They are taking turns letting it slide down the slide. Vanna's ball goes flying across the room. She quietly gets up and begins to walk towards her ball and as she is walking past Bei, she graps the collar of his shirt and drags him along with her so that he doesn't get a turn before she returns with her ball. It was actually quite comical because it was so unexpected and poor Bei didn't have a chance because he was being dragged backwards across the playroom floor.

Apparently, Bei's way in dealing with Savanah is cerebral, trying to outsmart me, so she won't get a treat. While Vanna is totally physical because I promise you, she will someday win the Iron Man contest...she is the most incredibly strong 3 year old I have ever met! I have to watch myself if I'm down on the floor because she likes to jump on my back and grab me around the throat with her arm...I'm usually gasping to Bei to "dial 911". Anyway, Bei kind of won in the end, he got what he wanted,because Savanah's name was taken off the board and she didn't get a popsicle. As most of you know, I am a softy and I gave her another chance to behave for the following hour and she did, so she eventually got her popsicle.

All I have to say is I have two smart kids on my hands that know how to use their strengths to their advantage.

Becky Home Ecky???

Spending some quality time with Grandma Dene and Katherine

It is Christmas Cookie making time again with Kathy!

I have to admit that I'm still learning this "domestication thing". Last night at 11:00 p.m. I invited my friend Kathy via email to come over and bake Christmas cookies with us. Well, I woke up late and I had a message on my phone from Kathy telling me she would love to come over and bake cookies...uh oh...I usually pick up at night after Bei goes to bed and wash my dishes, but being the bad homemaker that I am, I caught up on emails and surfed the web instead...much more fun and satisfying to me at that moment. My place this morning looked like a disaster! Here is where the "new" me, the mom me comes in...in my old world the first thing I would have thought is screw my house, I need to look beautiful when Kathy gets here. I would take a shower, do my hair, make sure my make-up is on to a T. I would have tried on at least 3 different outfits and I would have spent the entire two and half hours fixing myself up. And if my house was messy...oh well...at least I look good! I must measure my value and success differently now, because I immediately started scrubbing the pots and pans, swept the kitchen, cleaned the oven, swept the foyer and cleaned the toilet and bathroom sink! I don't even know who I am anymore....

Another story that relates to not knowing who I am any more is an incident that happened between Dan and Bei. Over Thanksgiving weekend we went out for breakfast and I ran to the bathroom right before we were going to leave the restaurant. Bei pulled a candy Starburst out of his pocket that he had gotten from the pinata the night before at Aunt Nanette's house. He just sat with it in his hand and so Dan finally said "Bei you can eat that." And Bei said "No, I have to ask Momma" Dan said "Bei, it is okay, you can eat it"... "No, I have to ask Momma"...."Bei, I'm your dad and I said you can eat it!" I walked up just as Dan said this with alot of frustration in his voice. Bei looked up and said real sweet "mom, can I have this candy"...."Sure Bei!" So the other night, we were laying in bed and Dan said out of the blue "Bei, who is the boss? Momma or Daddy?"...Bei shouted "Momma!" Wow! I've never been the boss of anyone before...this is kind of cool!

What is this little guy smiling about???

He just found out that he is going to be a Krueger boy!!! His name is Wu Zheng Kang and he is currently 9 months old and is from Wuyishan Orphanage in the Fujian province. Our adoption paperwork is in China and we expect to travel some time in the spring/summer of 2010. As I find out more, I will fill you in on the details.

I bet alot of you are wondering how Bei is going to handle having a sibling??? Well...me too! He is starting to understand better that he will be getting a brother. If you ask him if he is getting a brother? He may answer "yes, broder OR a sister." Well no buddy, it is brother for sure. On Thursday as we were driving to my sister Nanette's house for Thanksgiving, I asked Bei "what should we name your little brother?" He didn't answer. So I said "How about Thomas?" "Noooo" Bei said, " that's a trains name." "How about Marcus?" Bei said "Nooooo". Okay, I am out of names kid....Then Bei shouts "Let's name him Nanette!" I just keep thinking of that Johnny Cash song "A boy named Sue."

I'm dreading this entire naming process again. It honestly is the worst part of having a kid for me. I'm still haunted by the fear that Bei is going to come back and say to us "this is it? my name is Bei? You were too lazy to figure out a better name so you let an orphanage name me??" Well it is a half truth, his given first name is Daniel. Plus I like the name Bei and we get alot of compliments on it. But the dilemma with the new little guy is that we can't follow the same protocol by calling him by his Chinese name of Kang and having his first name an English name. Kang is pronounced Kong in China and I refuse to call a child Kong. Donkey Kong...King Kong...the list could go on... So if anyone has any great boy names, let me know! I am open to ideas since I only have two at this point Thomas and Marcus...oh I mean three and Nanette!

The bubble is bursting...

Bei loves his Aunt Nanette!
Look ma...no hands!

Aunt Nanette has the 3 year old grin down pat!

Boy...in my opinion daycare providers are under appreciated and under paid! I'm babysitting on Wednesday afternoons for another 3 years old, our new neighbor Savannah! Talk about a rollercoaster...one week we all have a great week, the next week timeouts for everyone...I'm handing them out like candy, the next week one is good and the other one is naughty...it is so much tougher than I thought it would be! The good news is I am learning so much about parenting, alot about Bei and alot about myself. I'm always evaluating how the day went and what worked and what didn't work. One of the surprises to me was how Bei behaves with other kids. Bei's main friends prior to Vanna were Huckleberry, Curly Locks and Max, they were here when he arrived from China and so they treated him very special. He was the tiny little guy with the heart issue who would just observe, so they always tried to make him happy and would give up their toys for him and treated him very special. Rightly so, Savannah doesn't have that history or attitude, so the real world has hit Bei smack dab in the face. Two "only "children now need to figure out how to share and get along with one another...hence the rollercoaster ride for me! Bei's biggest concern is that I am going to hold or hug Vanna. Too bad for Bei, but I'm a hugger and Vanna is going to be snuggled by me at times. In all honesty, the opportunity to watch Vanna has come at the best time. Bei really needs to be confronted with a little bit more reality and it has provided a great opportunity to learn how to share and get along with other children.

Here is a sidenote of a silly story that happened to us recently.

Dan has been clearing a 2 acre lot that we have in Wisconsin. Cutting down trees, brush and buckthorn. He has been asking me for some time to go out there with him, but it just did not work out for my schedule until yesterday. Dan took the day off, we drove over there and on the way I also invited Dan's cousin, Kathy, who is a close friend of mine to stop by since she lives several miles away.

We are over there and we have a huge roaring fire burning the brush pile. Bei is a good helper for about 45 minutes but then he gets bored, so Dan pulls out his bike from the back of the truck, Bei gets on it and then Dan walks down the ravine down by the fire, down by where I am. Uh oh...Bei doesn't have his helmet on, plus he is on the road by himself, I need to go up and tend to him. I empty my arms that are full of branches into the fire, turn around and look to see where Bei is and initially don't see him. I look down the ditch and there he is with his bike on top of himl...in a pricker bush!!! Okay that is not funny...I run up get the bike off of him and he starts crying. Bei's biggest wounds are prickers from the bush which we have to get out of his hand. We get that done and then Bei just wants to cry in his mama's arms now and get that extra little bit of love that mom's have when their babies are hurt. So I am holding Bei when I turn to look over my shoulder and see Dan pulling Kathy's face off some boulders that we have at the bottom of the ditch. Somehow Kathy caught her foot on a vine and went sailing down the ditch face first. Okay...kind of funny...good thing I didn't see it because I laugh when people fall and it is very awkward for everyone involved (but isn't that why America Funniest Home Video's is such a hit). Kathy had scratches around her eye and forehead and her glasses were bent a little. But the truly funny part was the look on Dan's face... he was regretting the moment that he asked me to come "help" him. I won't be looking for an invite back out there any time soon. The good news is that both Bei and Kathy got to have Diego band-aids!

Trick or Treat

Bei went as Simba the Lion from the Lion King, but he thought he was a dog. When we went costume shopping, he kept saying he wanted to be a doggie. This is the closest that we could find. He didn't really care, he just enjoyed going. I was really proud of him, he would say Trick or Treat and then always say Thank you. We went with our new neighbors, Savannah and her mom, Alison. Bei calls her Vanna and she also is 3 years old. The first few houses Savannah and Bei tussled for position about who was going to ring the door bell, but it became clear very early on that Savannah is so much faster than Bei. She always beat him to the door. But she was sweet enough to wait for him after a while. They had a great time together.