One year ago today

One year ago today, in a dimly lit hallway in Zhengzhou, I was handed a tiny (surprisingly heavy!) little girl, who was wearing three layers of clothing (despite the temperature being in the 70s). She was very serious, and she was also pretty much bald. She did not cry, but was very curious about her new mama and sister. She could not understand anything we said to her, except possibly our attempts at saying "I love you" in Chinese. Still, she must have known that she was embarking on a new and exciting journey into a loving family, for on that same afternoon, the woman who'd handed Abigail to me in the morning reached out for Abby, and Abby refused to go to her. Abigail had decided that she was staying in the loving arms of her forever family. No confusion about that. She has grown and flourished during the past year, from a quiet, serious, physically weak baby into a sassy, silly, big strong girl. She is a special gift from God to our family.

She is such a two-year-old!

According to Abigail, the reigning two-year-old in the Bushnell household, everything belongs to her! Whenever anyone else touches something in the house, Abigail casually remarks, "Oh...that's mine."
Apparently, ownership extends as far as facial expressions and phrases. The other day, Abby came up to me, saying, "Ffff, ffff, ffff." I made the sound back to her, and she said, "No, Mom! That's my fffff!"
Last week, she kept saying, "Oh my gosh." Frances said it back to her, and Abigail shouted, "No! That's my applesauce!" I have no idea what the connection is there, but Frances and I cracked up!

This is what Abigail does with a baseball glove...

Almost a year ago...

Here are bathtub photos from Feb 2009 and October 2009! Both girls have more hair...




I can hardly believe that it will be a year since Abigail joined our family. On October 21, 2008, Li DanYang became Abigail Grace Bushnell. What a blessing she is, as she runs and shouts her way through life, with a big smile on her face! Our funny, bossy, sassy little MeiMei...

A test of manual dexterity...

Abigail has been trying to make the hand sign for "I love you" for a year. Frances and I flash the sign to each other frequently, and Abigail has learned what it means, but it has apparently been a difficult position for her little hand. She kept holding her hand out to Frances, so that Fran could bend Abby's little fingers into the right shape. Finally, Abigail can do it on her own, and she is so proud. Like Frances, she has started giving me the sign spontaneously, sometimes saying "I love you, Mom" along with it.

Halloween is coming!

This year, if the weather is warm, Abigail can wear her ladybug costume from last year. If it's cold, she can wear the elephant costume that Frances wore when she was this age. I think Abby wants it to be cold, because she is fascinated with the elephant! For Frances, we have prowled the thrift stores. For trick-or-treating, Frances and her 26-year-old friend Haley are going to be Sonny & Cher. For Frances, as Sonny, we found a fringed vest, some black platform shoes, 1970s-looking jeans, a peace symbol necklace, and a wig that we will be using for both the hair and moustache. But she has several occasions for dressing up during the next few weeks, and she can't be half of Sonny & Cher!

That's where those great thrift stores come in handy. We found a rock star costume for $1.98, as well as a terrific, high-quality child's wig. She can use one of her dress-up costumes plus the wig to be Snow White (for a church fall festival or the piano recital), or she can be a rock star (not so appropriate for the previously mentioned events, as you can see!), and last Saturday, she wore a knight costume to a birthday/costume party.

The black wig has become an interesting fashion accessory at our house. We have been trying to get Abigail to put it on, so that we can see what she will look like when she has hair! We finally got her to try it this weekend. She was not thrilled about it, but Frances and I laughed our heads off.

Build-A-Bear Workshop

We recently took a trip to our local Build-A-Bear store, and the girls both made stuffed animals. Frances is an old pro at this, having more than 50 stuffed animals in her room! Abigail is still afraid of the machine that blows the stuffing into the animal, but she liked looking at all of her animal options. She picked up each one, kissed it, and said, "Oh, cute." She finally chose a cat, while Frances chose a bear. The girls each made a wish on the little heart that goes into the animal before it is sewn up...



Frances dressed her bear in High School Musical pajamas, but Abigail wanted her cat to be naked. When it came time to enter the animals' names into the computer, Frances typed her bear's info in all by herself. Her bear is named Cinnamon. I was typing the info for Abby's cat, and I asked her what the cat's name was. "Five," she replied.
"Is that how old the cat is?" I asked.
Abigail looked at me like I was dense. "Nooo," she replied.
Again I asked, "What's the cat's name?"
And again (but with more emphasis), she said, "Five." So her cat is named Five.

Maybe public school scares it out of her....

My fabulous babysitters pick up Abby from my work/school. They drop off three of their kids, and pick up one of mine. Abby plays in my classroom for a few minutes, and then climbs into the big 6-seat stroller (it's called a bye-bye buggy) and we go out to the front of the school to get my little students off the bus. Each morning, about 60 seconds after we enter my classroom, Abigail has a bowel movement. Great. What is it about my classroom that does it to her?! So this morning, I decided that I would drop off the purse and diaper bag in my classroom, then take Abby down the hall to the little tiny toilet, and see if she would put out. After sitting there for a few minutes (she told me, "Shhh. Hear that? Poopoo comin', mom") she did it! Yahoo! Toilet training is definitely on the agenda in the near future.