The silence is broken!

For the last few days, Claire's new thing has been babbling! I know it seems strange to get excited about a 2 1/2 year old that babbles, but this kid has given us the silent treatment for almost four weeks! During the first week she would point to herself in the mirror and ever so quietly say, "Tong". But, as we began to call her Claire more, she stopped. Oh yes, she would cry and she would laugh but that was pretty much it.

Then several days ago, she began to babble while she played. She started out softly and if she caught you watching her, she would shyly turn her head and promptly clam-up again. Now she can be very LOUD and but most of it takes place at home where she feels comfortable. She carries on sometimes like she thinks she is having a conversation with you!

Claire can say one English word consistently....DIAPER! Why she says that word, I do not know. But that is, other than Mama, her first word! Mama doesn't really count because the Chinese word for Mama....is Mama! So, diaper is on record as her first English word! I thought you might enjoy some video. I tried to catch her talking but only got a little.

The Graduate

The Gour Gang, a family of seven!
With Meme and Papa Stroud!
The Happy Graduate!

Lizzie's graduation was lovely and went off without a hitch. We got the opportunity to grab a hug and a few pictures with her right afterwards. Claire would not even look at her but that is understandable. There was a crowd and she was not comfortable, but she behaved beautifully, as did the other children! It do not have a "cap and gown" picture yet. It was HOT afterwards and Lizzie, understandably, refused to dawn the gown again!

LIZZIE

Our beautiful, sweet Lizzie is all grown up now and she will graduate high school tomorrow!



I met Lizzie in February of 1991, when I was dating Paul. She walked up to me and matter-of-factly stated that she was going to be a Paleontologist when she grew up! I knew I was in trouble then, because that precocious two year old had to explain to me what a Paleontologist was! She's been schooling me ever since!

Although Lizzie has never lived in our home, we endeavored to make her part of our lives as much as possible. From weekend visits, holidays and vacations, we carved out a life with her that we could only hope meant as much to her as it did to us. Always a flurry of activity and creativity, she has been a source of joy and inspiration in our home. Parker, Noah and Isabel love and respect her deeply. Claire has yet to meet her and our only regret is that we weren't able to adopt her when Lizzie was younger so she would get to bond with her too. Our fond memories include Dad's frozen underwear, room sized blanket forts and "boot camp", Lord of the Ring marathons and Harry Potter trivia games, scary movies 'till dawn, Renaissance festivals and stand-up comedy reenactments. We've had treasure hunts and a New Years Eve murder mystery party. We've been to Washington DC, Cherokee, Busch Gardens and Sea World. Each memory is cherished and we wait patiently to make new ones!



Unfortunately our time with Lizzie is limited now. Life caught up with her this year and she found she had to spend her free time studying to complete her senior year, applying for colleges and working a part time job. But, even amid all the activity, she found time to visit with us a few times and continues to email with us and the kids. And, all her hard work paid off. She applied to and was accepted at four colleges-Randolph Macon, Clemson, College of Charleston and UNC-Wilmington!

Lizzie is planning to pursue an undergraduate degree in anthropology with a concentration on archeology. She intends to go to graduate school as well. However, her dream is to study abroad and she hopes to go to Ireland in her junior year.

She is still writing and acting when she gets the chance. I think she will continue with the acting in college, taking some drama classes. She has been working on a novel for a while now. I know she will continue to work on this every chance she gets. I've read the first part and it is quite good. Her imagination astounds me!

Lizzie has worked hard and we are so very proud of her! We love you, Lizzie!

Daddy, Mom, Parker, Noah, Isabel and Claire Hope

Good News!

We took Claire to the ENT appointment and the doctor thinks her ears are "perfect and beautiful"! He found no fluid and thinks she can hear just fine! He scheduled her for a hearing test to be on the safe side but believes she will pass it. The test she will have is called an ABR. I do not know what that means but the test involves sticking some electrodes on her head, playing sounds in her ears and recording the brain activity in response to the sounds. He said that she was so easy going during his exam he thinks he can do it without putting her to sleep!

Speaking of sleep...did I tell you how good this kid is at it! We were putting her to bed at 9PM and she was going to sleep shortly after that. Now, our little turkey has figured out that she can pull up on the crib and cruise the rectangle so it takes a little longer for her to settle down. But, if I tell her to lay down she will! She will cry...for a minute and then be quiet. Once she goes to sleep, she sleeps through the night and she takes a good nap every afternoon!

One thing that fascinates Claire is to look in the mirror. She likes to see herself but she has even more fun moving the mirror around to look at other things in the room! She will laugh and laugh when she sees another person watching her through the mirror!

Firsts

Loves to feed herself!

This has been a week of firsts-first time in the pool, first time to eat peanut butter and jelly and first time to go to church! It was the second time we took her to the doctor though. The good news is that her ear infection is all cleared up. The bad news....she can't hear. That would explain why she isn't verbalizing very much! The doctor noticed that there was still a lot of fluid in Claire's ears and after I told her that the foster mother said she didn't talk much and when she did it wasn't clear, Dr. Hutton decided to check for hearing. First she used a machine to blow air in the ear canals to see if the ear drum moved. One ear did not respond and the other responded, but not enough to be considered in the normal range. Next, The doctor put another machine in Claire's ears to check for hearing. One ear failed and the other just barely passed. Needless to say, we have an appointment with the ENT on Monday morning!

First time my Godfather got to hold me!