The games we play

Jake already is a computer whiz, and many times we can just set him up on one of his sites and let him go. Here are a few of his favorite places to surf:

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-traditional.htm

I think this was one of the first sites we found for Jake. It has some classic songs we sang when we were kids, albeit with a British accent. Jake loves his music and always asks for incy spider. It was a good tool to get him to talk.

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http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/colorshapes/default.asp

This site is pretty much how Jake has learned his colors and shapes. We stopped at a Love's convenience store on the highway once and he pointed out the hearts on the building.

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http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f

Starfall is the best in our book. Jake can identify all of his letters and still loves to go through these,

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http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2601&e=gamesByAge&mcat=game_toddler&site=us

We haven't gone to this one as much, but we do every once in a while. I wish our printer worked. I would love the coloring pages.

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http://sheppardsoftware.com/content/animals/kidscorner/matching/mmammals.htm

Jake is a matching fool!

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http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/countthescore/default.asp

A good counting game.

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http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/tx-/p.pdf

This is a good site I found for speech therapy. Again, a printer would be nice. Remember to make sure they say the words the right way.

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http://www.fisher-price.com/us/fun/games/phonics/default.asp

Here is another letters page that focuses on the sounds of the letters.

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https://bigidea.com/products/music/jmm_find.aspx?pid=405&name=Jake

And finally, if you type your name in on this site and listen to the audio sample, you're child might get a kick out of hearing his or her name in the song snippet. Jake loves it.

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And now, a picture. Just because. :)

Look, it's an elephant!

This has nothing to do with Jake, but last night in the city near where we live (and where we both work), an elephant escaped from a circus and ended up getting in a traffic accident.

It certainly isn't something that happens every day here. LOL

Here's a screen shot of the newspaper's Web page:

Halloween fun

Jake had a great time celebrating Halloween.
Last year, he was sick and missed out. This year, he was a Wild West sheriff and did his part to round up his share of the candy.
First, we went to visit Violet's mom so she could see the little man, and he got to do a little trick-or-treating there and at Violet's sister's house. Then, he visited Kevin's mom who was a little under the weather.
Finally, we all went to church for some fun and games at the annual Family Fun Night.

Sheriff Jake rides his two horses in search of bad guys and goodies.



Crawling through the tunnel set up at church. It's amazing what fun kids can have with just a few cardboard boxes.



There was a long tube set up where the kids could roll small pumpkins and then look in and watch them roll down. Jake loved it.

Getting ready to roll.



Watching them roll.



Picking up the pumpkins again.



The real Wild Bunch.

Happy birthday baby!

Jake's birthday officially is Monday, Oct. 26, 2009, but we celebrated a day early with family who came to town for the occasion. Besides, by the time the pizza was on the plates and the cake was cut it was the 26th in China.

Good pal Elmo showed up:



Practicing for the candles (hey, he couldn't push out air on his 2nd birthday)



Here comes the cake!



No help needed with these candles (thanks, cleft team)



Good cake:



School bus just like Papa's (grandpa's):



Picture's worth a thousand words:



Strike a pose:



Riding his trike with his new Sesame Street riding gear:

Jake's Mama no more?

A year ago today, Jake stepped off the airplane to a new world — one filled with a Mama and a Baba and grandparents and aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
We have been so blessed throughout this past year and look forward to many years of being a family.
Some months ago, our little boy stopped calling us Mama and Baba, and as he developed enough English skills to communicate on his own, and he started calling us Mommy and Daddy.
We're not sure when the change was made, but all of the sudden it was there. Kevin mentioned long ago he kind of missed being Baba, but our Little Man is showing his personality by calling us what he would call us. Of course, at the time, he was still calling me Mama some, so I had the best of it all.
His grandpa made himself known as Papa, which for a little boy with a cleft was easier to say than Grandpa, and, of course, Jake being smart and all, he figured out Mama was easier than Grandma for both his grandmas.
However, it was even more confusing because that's Mama's name.
At first, he called his grandmas MaMi (the i is long) and I encouraged that greatly, but eventually the more he called me Mommy the more he called grandmas Mama, even though he still says MaMi and even Grandma some, too.
But it really doesn't matter so much now. To our little man I am Mommy, Daddy is Daddy and he loves his Papa and two Mamas. We are a wonderful family.
He met all his grandparents and some of his aunts, cousins and friends for the first time Oct. 16, 2008.
Yes, it has been a year.
We have said it before: We are blessed.
It is so good to know that all the years of worry and pain all worked out to a perfect ending that God knew all along.
Happy anniversary to our family.

Jake and Grandma:


Jake and Grandma:


Jake and Grandpa:


Jake and Mommy and Daddy:


Jake a few days in our arms:


Jake now:

The time of our lives

It's been one year since Jake entered our lives, one year since our sweet boy was united with us.

That first day was a little rough. Jake obviously was upset, which was totally understandable. He's made such tremendous progress in a year. We truly don't remember what life was like without him. Our big plans for a one-year celebration, though, didn't materialize like we wanted. The weather was kind of yucky, overcast and drizzly all day, and Jake was suffering from a stomach virus. But, just being together was celebration enough.

By the way, the photo of the hotel room door in our previous post was taken just after the two orphanage directors, the nanny and our guide knocked on the door with Jake.

Here are a couple of then and now photos.

Jake and his mommy



Jake and his daddy

The door

Behind this door stands everything.