First School Photographs

Typical week night: 5:30 - 5:45 pm ( Cracker & Juice)

When Natalie first arrives home, she immediately asks for "cracker" and "juice". We have been substituting fruits for crackers and water for juice for some time now, but as long as Natalie is happy with her snack, then there's no reason to let her know that she's eating healthier.

Typical week night: 5:45 - 6:00 pm (Baby, Ball & Book)

Once snack time is over, Natalie specifically asks for her favorite toys. First, she asks for her Baby. Once she has her Baby, Natalie asks for her Ball. After Natalie has played with her Ball for a little while, she asks for her book. It's amazing that she specifically asks for these three things (all starting with B) every day in more or less the same order.

Typical week night: 6:00 - 6:15 pm (Daddu arrives)

As soon as she hears the door open, Natalie immediately lights up and runs to her Dad (a.k.a. Daddu). For the first few minutes, she follows Daddu around - she even likes to go out to the mailbox to see what might have arrived that day.

Typical week night: 6:15 - 6:30 pm (Dinner Time)

We have not yet gotten into the routine of having dinner together - Natalie still needs some special assistance. For the most part, she's able to feed herself (though not completely accurately). Pasta nights usually end up looking like a horror film at the end.

Typical week night: 6:30 - 7:00 pm (Relaxing in front of the TV)

Natalie loves television - in fact, she's already referring to it as "tee tee". If left to her own devices, Natalie could spend countless hours watching TV - she's always fascinated by it. However, Mom and Dad limit Natalie to 30 minutes in the evening (and 15 minutes in the morning) - both of these TV breaks allow Mom and Dad to get some things done around the house.

Typical week night: 7:00 - 7:30 pm (Family Time)

Family time is usually spent on the couch in the family room. Natalie loves to sit on Mom's lap and crawl over Dad whenever she gets the chance. It's nice to have a few moments each day when the family can celebrate its time together.

Typical week night: 7:30 - 7:40 pm (Potty Time)

Although Natalie is not yet potty-trained, she has figured out how to use her potty. This is a part of her night-time routine when Natalie becomes very animated and babbles almost nonstop. In addition to being animated, Natalie is also often productive.

Typical week night: 7:40 - 7:50 pm (Bed time Story)

Natalie's has started to look forward to her bed-time story. She especially likes the book "Good Night Moon". As Mom reads it to her over and over again, Natalie has started to learn what the main elements of the story are. She points to the characters and provides the sound-track to Mom's reading. Natalie really likes to "meow" like a cat and whisper "hush" during her favorite parts of the story.

Typical week night: 7:50 - 8:00 pm (Prayer & Tuck in)

To finish off the evening, Natalie says her good-night prayers and Mom & Dad tuck her into bed. These days, Natalie doesn't need as many night-time rituals as she used to. She's usually tired and ready to go to sleep.

Cherishing Every Moment

Once in a while, it seems like everything comes together and Natalie is just the most wonderful child imaginable. While we've seen a lot of Natalie's different moods, we've mostly seen her change a great deal during the time that she's been in our lives. It's hard to believe that this is the same terrified little girl we first met in China almost 5 months ago. Today, Natalie was especially cheerful, confident and happy.

While Natalie has changed a great deal over the past few months, Mom and Dad have also changed a great deal. We're no longer the same nervous, tentative first-time parents. We're now in a great routine that seems very natural and fun.

Natalie's favorite doll

Natalie now has a favorite doll she calls "baby." Every day when she returns home from school, Natalie invariably asks for her baby. She loves to hug and kiss her baby as well as carry her around everywhere.

Natalie does the Hokey Pokey with Elmo

Thanks to Charene and Vinu, Natalie got an Elmo doll that does the Hokey Pokey. At first, Natalie was very curious, but shy, and just stood and watched while Elmo danced. Over time, Natalie became more engrossed in the action and started to dance along with Elmo - first, by just doing the turnaround part, but later by doing the entire dance. Her dance moves are still far from perfect, so she'll have to keep practicing with Elmo.

Charene, Vinu and Gina Visited Natalie Last Sunday

Natalie had some friends visit from ABSG this weekend. Charene, Vinu and Gina came over to finally meet Natalie in person this Sunday. Natalie had a great time playing with everyone. She also enjoyed the Dancing Elmo doll that they brought her. Gina started educating Natalie about which fashion brands she should aspire to.

Learning to eat with a spoon is messy!

While Natalie has been eating finger foods for some time, she is still learning how to eat with utensils. Today, she made some significant, but messy progress in eating with silverware. At first, Mom needed to guide Natalie's hand - scooping up the pasta was probably the most difficult part. However, Natalie was soon able to pick up the pasta fairly well. As you can see in these photos, getting the pasta from the spoon to her mouth was also quite tricky. Ultimately, the pasta almost always went into her mouth, but the sauce was another matter. Natalie was cheered on every step of the way by Mom and Dad. In the end, she was able to feed herself fairly quickly if not 100% accurately. We're very proud of all of Natalie's progress.

Sunday Morning with the Newspaper

On most Sunday mornings, Natalie loves to look at all the different sections of the paper - taking them apart and gathering them back together. As always, she takes her activities very seriously and keeps herself very busy.

Our Little Mermaid

Saturday evening Natalie was our little mermaid. While she had been in the pool a few times before, even once with her floatation vest, this time Natalie was especially eager to swim and play in the water.

Mom and Dad were astonished at how easily Natalie entered the pool, pushed ahead into the deeper water and splashed along with us. It's a little scary to see just how fearless this little girl really is. She was happy to float along on her stomach as well as her back - she even made attempts at swimming. Natalie also made progress in terms of putting her face in the water. Actually, she has no problem with putting her face in, but she still needs to work on keeping her mouth closed and only breathing out.

Towards the end of the evening, Natalie was able to hang on to the edge of the pool to support herself, even pushing us away at times. She also loved to play splashing games and cheer on her Mom whenever she swam. It will be a long time before we're comfortable with letting Natalie be near the pool, but it's great to see that she enjoys being in the water.

Meet the latest Person of Indian Origin in the Dallas Area

Yesterday, Natalie received her official designation as a Person of Indian Origin (PIO). At first, this may seem a little odd given that she is originally Chinese. However, it was very important to us to establish her formal ties to India as well as taking care of all the different facets of becoming an American. Natalie will always have a connection to China and she'll live her life as an American, but she is also connected to India through her Mom.

As her parents, we hope that Natalie will see herself as a citizen of the world - someone who is comfortable anywhere - someone who is comfortable being with anyone, regardless of where that person may be from.

Below, Natalie is examining her formal travel documents - her expired Chinese passport, her new US passport and her brand new PIO card that is similar to a US Green Card (full rights except for voting).

Spa Time After a Hot 4th of July

Natalie got to spend some extra time in the her bath after being out in the heat on July 4th. Normally, Natalie's morning baths are quick and efficient, but today she was allowed some extra time to splash and play, and really enjoy herself. Natalie was delighted to have some additional fun time in the water with her rubber ducks.