Christmas ballerina

December 2007 pictures

Here are a bunch of images from December including some pictures from Christmas in Raleigh, NC.

New drums for Christmas.

She's not camera shy.

Tea time conversation.

Aunt Elizabeth in Raleigh.

Christmas day dress.

Elizabeth, Grandma Ludy, Sadie and Jackie.


Grandma and Sadie playing with a new doll.

Standard outfit for a trip to the bank or grocery store.

This is the best part of the day.

Christmas music box.

Unsupervised 2 year old surfing the web.

Sadie and Kai Li visiting Santa in early Dec.

Goodbye 2007

2007 was a fun year as we watched Sadie grow from toddler to little girl. Her vocabulary is exploding with new words added daily. It was great to watch her discover ballet now her current obsession. Her love for Elmo is steadfast as ever as is her love of mushrooms. She knows all the subways by heart and can tell you which stop is hers when she's coming 'downtown' on all the trains she usually rides. She's developing a bizarre fashion sense which we don't discourage because at least she's putting on clothes (she sleeps topless and prefers to be naked whenever possible no matter how cold the apartment is). She's a cunning manipulator as in "Mommy say yes, Daddy say no. Hmmm", this is her common reaction when she notices mom and dad are not entirely on the same page. Sadie knows all the doormen by name as well as her neighbors which is more than I can say. Further, if we've misplaced something all we have to do is ask Sadie where the missing item is and she'll tell us or go get it because nothing escapes her and she remembers everything.

We'll try to post more often in 2008.

More pictures from summer of 2007

here's a bunch more photos of Sadie. Also, I totally forgot to mention Sadie had her first modeling gig this summer, see her groundbreaking work here: http://www.buddhabellynyc.com/details.html.

End of summer '07

Sadie's second summer in the city is winding down. She's had a great time, grew up a lot, is talking constantly and never stops moving. Giving her a bath is like trying to give a large live salmon a bath. Same for changing her or dressing her. She's in constant high speed motion. Here are some pictures and video from her summer:

Sadie in the Summer

In Sadie's world the playground is all hers, ice cream can be eaten
at any hour, Elmo hugs her back, airplanes can be plucked from the
sky once seen and given to her papa, and her crib is really for
jumping. She turned two on June 5 and will sometimes answer
with a peace sign and "two man" when she is asked how old she
is. She also says "one man" so who knows. She is the great
negotiator. Reading two books will turn into four books. One popsicle
will suddenly become two.

She is independent which breaks my heart. I mean I want her to be
her own person. We've been encouraging her in everyway possible. But
when she turns to me in her pigtails and backpack to wave bye-bye and
disappears around the corner with her papa, I want her back in my arms
needing me to round that corner.

Sadie loves the water dodo

Summer afternoon

Sadie run!

Have it!

Referral 1 Year Anniversary

A year ago today we received our referral for Sadie and saw her picture for the first time. Many of the families in our group received their referrals today and went up to the agency on the upper east side to see their new daughters for the first time as well. (the picture on the left under the title of the blog is the first picture we saw of Sadie)

This evening we went to eat at our favorite restaurant in Tribeca to celebrate then went across the street to the playground. Sadie now climbs on the jungle gyms by herself and goes down the slides by herself. She started doing this unassisted this past weekend. It struck me watching her climb up and down the stairs and climbing all over the jungle gym how far she has come since we brought her home back in June.

way off schedule

As I type this Sadie is in her crib sreaming bloody murder. She went to bed fine but within a couple of minutes she started screaming. Jackie went in to check on her twice and she immediately stopped screaming and said "bye bye" and waved. She's fine, she's just really into controlling her environment right now.

Last night she woke up at 3:20 AM screaming, when I went to her crib she was sitting up and said "milk" like it was time to get up. I got her out of the crib, changed her diaper but she wouldn't go back down, she wanted milk. I took her into the kitchen and she was wide awake and in a great mood, except it was 3:30 in the morning. After a full cup of milk I took her back to our bed and layed down. She layed on top of the covers and stared up at the ceiling for about 40 minutes then let me put her back into her crib. Needless to say today has been tough. Her mood swings are frequent and dramatic. Dinner was a fiasco i.e. she didn't eat and just sat in her chair screaming.

She is extremely particular and demanding, she must choose her own plate, her own cup, her own straw, her own fork and if she doesn't get to choose there is hell to pay. Her granola bar has to be unwrapped exactly so or she will through it down and cry as if mortally wounded. Getting dressed, getting in her stroller, food, on and on - she's in total control. Its kind of nuts and wears us down.

All that being said she is so cute and loveable most of the time you just want to eat her up. She's got personality in spades and charms everyone she meets. She's such a great kid it makes the tyrannical behavior almost tolerable.

Here's a video from today:

Catching up

Sorry for the long delay in posting but its been a busy few months. Sadie's first holidays in the US were low key for the most part and we all spent a lot of quality time together. After the holidays things at home really changed with Mom being home full-time and Sadie leaving day care. The transition has been great for Sadie, she's happier, healthier and more secure.

Sadie has been making lots of friends in the neighborhood and is going on play dates nearly everyday. Her vocabulary is exploding too; banana, tunnel, Mommy, stuck, help, big star, keys, taxi, big bird, Ernie, airplane. She understands everything we say to her, even seemingly obscure things like "catch you later" said in an offhand manner and she'll respond without missing a beat, "bye" and not even look up from her playing. Scary.

She loves her "blanky" and keeps it close by most of the morning. When she's ready for bed or nap time she'll announce "nigh nigh" and motion to the bedroom. When we put her in her crib she'll mess around a bit and say "bye bye" when we leave the room.

In the mornings we hear her wake up about 6:45 most of the time and sing and talk to herself for a half hour before calling out for us. Her little voice is so soft and sweet as she babbles it brings tears to your eyes. I can't think of a sweeter way to wake up.

Recent pictures....

first haircut. it was not fun. Sadie lost it.

first snow was fun, she liked it. the matching leopard skin boots and jacket helped.

January day in Central Park.

Mom and Sadie on Bow Bridge in Central Park.

Often meals become a test of wills.

Sadie in Winter

Its finally gotten really cold in the city and Sadie is taking it in stride. So far she doesn't put up too much of a fuss when we put on her hat and mittens. I'm sure that will change but for now its good.

Sadie has been seeing Christmas trees since late October and now she finally has one in her own living room. She doesn't pay it much mind, occasionally stopping to poke at an ornament but otherwise its just another big "flower" for her to smell and admire when she notices it.

We're going to be around the city for the holidays this year so her first Christmas will be a low key, calm one with just the three of us. I'm glad about that.

Jackie has been putting together Sadie photo albums in chronological order and its amazing to see how little she was just back in June. Looking at the China pictures it feels like we were just there. I can't believe how much Sadie is changing.

Today Sadie is at her first birthday party. A girl a bit older than Sadie who lives in our building is having the party at an indoor gym in Tribeca. I hope Sadie leaves some cake for the other kids.

Girls Gone Wild

Last Sunday we went to a christening for Kai, one of the girls who was a adopted with Sadie. At the reception afterwards, held at a great Irish pub in a private dining room, Sadie and the other girls were the life of the party - and they weren't even drinking. Something about the party atmosphere really inspired the girls to cut loose and have a great time.

We saw a new side to Sadie we kind of thought was there but never saw it in full effect. Sadie worked the whole room all night, table hopping, giving hugs and kisses to anyone who wanted one. At one point she disappeared for a moment only to show up on someones lap 3 tables away.

Either Jackie or I spent the night following Sadie around the room as she visited one table then another. I can only imagine what she's going to be like at her first wedding reception when there's a band playing and people dancing.

When it was time to leave we had to visit each table for Sadie to say goodbye. We left the party to choruses of "Bye Bye Sadie!!" from all of her new friends.

In the cab ride home we were speechless. We'd never seen Sadie on fire like she was at the reception. We were saying to each other "Who is this kid?"

After we got home the party didn't stop - Sadie had her own personal after-party. She took all her clothes off except for her patent leather shoes and danced to her favorite songs for another hour before finally passing out. Should we be worried?

Sadie's own personal after-party...


See the video below of Sadie working the room at the reception.

Sadie works the room

More milestones for Sadie

Sadie saw her first Christmas tree today in the World Financial Center. She wasn't too impressed but did say 'bye bye' to the tree when we walked away. Sadie is hitting all of the 16-18 month milestones including major melt downs and tantrums. Last week we took the train up to Tarrytown from the city to visit friends and Sadie had a great time however on the 40 minute train ride home she screamed bloody murder the whole way. It was pretty bad and pissed off a lot of people - including me - but thats how it goes with kids past their bed time on a commuter train.

This month we are taking her to an adoption clinic in Long Island for her 6 month adoption check up and 18 month baby check up. The clinic is great, Sadie and I drove out there a few weeks ago in a rental car and we saw a great doctor who checked her out and shed a lot of light on her development. My advice to anyone adopting from China is do not use a standard pediatrician to catch your child up on vaccines and to do the initial and early follow up exams. You need to be seeing a doctor who specializes in adopted children and if possible infectious diseases.

Sadie has had a bit of a cough since returning from China and its been an ongoing worry of ours. It was very reassuring to have a doctor familiar with girls from China exam her and tell us her cough was nothing infectious and probably just post nasal drip which apparently is common with some kids. Sadie also only has four teeth on the bottom and the doctor told us that often adopted Chinese girls are delayed in tooth development and need dental care sooner than American kids.

Sadie continues to amaze us with her sense of humor and resilience. The doctor also told us to take her off the bottle so without any ceremony we stopped giving her her morning, afternoon and bedtime bottle and she never once freaked out or asked for the bottle. That chapter is effectively over.

Despite the fact that Sadie is more or less a lit fuse ready to blow at any minute she's still an incredibly loving and sweet girl. I started a new job last week and worked late each night getting home about 7:30 or 8, just before her bedtime and each night when I came in the door Sadie would let out ear piercing shrieks of joy and run to me for a hug. Its pretty intense to be met with that much unbridled love and affection and as good as it feels it also hurts that I have to leave her at all. I'm sure its the same for every working parent.

Even though she's only 16 months I think she'll have a good holiday season and get off on all the lights and gift wrapping. She's also about to get her first real dose of cold weather and its not going to go away for several months. I'm wondering how that is going to effect her mood.

Here are a couple of other recent photos of Sadie:

Sadie loves to read with her mom.

Sadie helps keep my guitar in tune.