More scenes from Brentwood

Playing with Aunt Kay (but not letting go of the book!).

High five for Papa.

Her first paper airplane (designed by Daddy, of course).


With Daddy and great-grandmother.

Her special "aren't I too cute for words?" face.

Growing a Vandy fan

This photo is posted especially for Papa (look at that score!)

Growing a reader

Ting Ting won the "Growing Reader" award for May at her day care center. She's a "growing" reader because she needs someone to do the actual reading for her, of course. Fortunately, she has a lot of volunteers.
Papa read to her about the zoo.

Cousin Chad helped her grasp the concept of opposites.

Aunt Camille brought her a new book, and Aunt Kay read it to her right away.

Cousin Sam took some time out the day before her high school graduation to read that one, too. (Congratulations to Sam, who will be attending the University of Alabama this fall).

"No, no, you have it backwards. It's very simple, actually: Pie are round, corn bread are square."

Ting Ting's big brother

Ting Ting's cousins gave her this cool slide, and a few weeks ago her big brother, Brandon, helped Dad put it together. He could hardly wait for her to wake up from her nap to try it out.


Here I come!

I knew you'd catch me.




Afterwards, she had to give him a little hug of thanks. Ting Ting thinks big brother is da bomb.

Six months of Ting Ting

Our beloved Rachel Shu-Ting was placed in our arms for the first time six months ago today. The six-month anniversary of her adoption is tomorrow, June 5, but in my mind and Lance's, she was our daughter as soon as we held her on Dec. 4.

To mark the occasion, I (stole an idea from another blog and) put her back in the outfit she was wearing the day she came to us.

Here's a photo of her minutes before she was handed to me on Dec. 4.

And here she is this morning in the same outfit:


Ting Ting has gained at least five pounds and grown a couple of inches, so you might be surprised that the clothes still fit. As you can see in the photo, though, that poufy outerwear just swallowed her up. I can still remember putting my arms around all that fluff and wondering if there really was a baby in there somewhere.

(Notice that she's holding a camera in this morning's photo? That's the camera I was using originally, but she wanted it -- badly. After taking three photos in a row of her screaming and reaching for it, I gave it to her and called for Lance to bring the other one.)

Here's the complete Dec. 4 ensemble:
She was wearing pink Teletubby pajamas, the poufy yellow and orange outfit, lime green socks and hot pink shoes. All but the socks are still a bit big on her.

When we got back to our hotel that morning, we took the jacket off her but left on the rest of the clothing for awhile to avoid traumatizing her further. I gave her a bottle while she was still wearing the poufy pants.

The pants were soaked, though -- both pairs. So a few minutes later we stripped them off and put on a fresh diaper, leaving her in her pajama top and diaper. That's how she spent the afternoon, even meeting with Chinese officials in our room that way.



Here she is playing with her daddy a few hours later.





And in the jammies (WITH pants) today.


I had fun reminiscing this morning, but now I'm going to put away the clothes. When she's older I'll show her the outfit and tell her about her first day with us. And even when she's an old woman, she'll be able to hold that warm clothing and think about the people in China who gave her such a good start in life.

Lance and I will be forever grateful to them.