Happy Chinese New Year (and catching up)

No Chinese New Year pictures yet! That will have to wait until next weekend when we attend the big celebration put on by our adoption agency, CCAI. We are looking forward to some fun! It has been a long two weeks. Lily has been sick with a fever, sinus infection and swollen vocal chords. She's missed 2 weeks of preschool, Chinese class and ballet. Poor thing! She is finally better, thanks to some heavy duty antibiotics and breathing treatments. She is finally getting her appetite back and finally getting some restful sleep. I'm finally seeing her shining smile again :)

Another mom and I are hosting a little Chinese New Year party at her preschool this week. Lily loved helping me make the goodie bags. We are bringing in a Chinese New Year book to read to her classmates. I LOVE how excited Lily gets about celebrating Chinese New Year. We have red lanterns hanging in the house, and she got to open her lucky red envelope this morning. Her new purple silk dress is hanging in her closet, ready for the big party. I feel badly that she had to miss a few fun events due to being so sick, but we are back on track (expect for mama, who has caught her cold!)

We had a lot of downtime these past two weeks, and aside from the sickness, it was so nice to just "be" with her. We did a lot of snuggling, reading books, puzzles, crafts, pretend play and making up songs. It seems like she came out the other side of being sick with a big leap in her development. Last night, she skipped down the hall to her waiting bubble bath. What surprised me is that I did not know she knew how to skip! She made the cutest Valentines for her daddy and big brothers. It was the first time she has been able to use scissors and cut along a line without help from me. I have a darling video of her singing an original tune, "I love a day in the wintertime". Her absolute favorite book right now is The Snowy Day. It's not a very long or wordy book, but she and I can sit and look at the pictures for a really long time. She makes up all sorts of tales about the pictures in the book. "Reading" to her stuffed animals and babies is another favorite of hers. She loves to draw snowmen and write her name. She knows all of her upper and lower case letters and sounds and she is just beginning to blend sounds to make a word. Her counting skills have also exploded this week. It is so fun to watch her grow and learn. It is an indescribable joy to be her mommy. She blesses all of us, every single day :) I often think that I cannot possibly love this child anymore then I currently do and yet, it always happens. I love her more and more and more and more!

Happy Chinese New Year! Wishing everyone health and happiness!!