Giggles and Barney

I was pretty surprised the other day when I was taking some video of Bryn and she didn't stop what she was doing or turn the other way like she usually does when the camera comes out. In fact, she went on and on and on.

Here are a couple of clips of my silly girl.








The next day things returned to normal and she was back to not looking at the camera. I guess she just doesn't like having video taken so we'll have to settle for a lot of footage of the back of her head.

All Things Bryn

Here's Bryn patiently waiting for her birthday cake. This was taken on her actual birthday, the day after her big party. 

Now that Bryn is two years old and has been home with us for one full year (we got home from China a year ago yesterday) I thought it would be a good time for a newsy update. So here are some tidbits on her latest stats and what she's been up to for the past while, plus a few cute-to-me stories.

• She weighs 27 lbs. and is 33.25" tall. That's a gain of 11 lbs. and approx. 5" in one year. That puts her around the 50 percentile for both height and weight, definitely over the top by Asian standards! She has 17 teeth and is working on 3 new molars.
  

• She loves to sing and dance and does a great rendition of Head and Shoulders. Her favorite songs are Wheels on the Bus, Mama Loves and I Love You (Barney song).
  

• Her favorite TV show is The Backyardigans, the only show she'll watch from start to finish. She doesn't watch a lot of TV but I'm sure she'd sit through a Backyardigans marathon no problem.
  

• She's still a restless sleeper and very seldom sleeps through the night without fussing. Sigh. She's also become very good at stalling bedtime! She's always asking for one more song or one more cuddle. How can I say no to one more cuddle?
  

• She gives the best hugs and kisses and I've never laughed so much at so many silly things in my life.

• Bryn has never been very adventurous and is always wary of anything new but she's getting braver all the time. Her gym class has been a huge help. She plops down on her butt (a big accomplishment for her!), loves the balancing beam, and tries to jump up in the air (though at 27 lbs. that's not an easy thing to do). She also likes swimming but doesn't like to get her head wet and she loves playing outside in the snow and tobogganing.
  

• Bryn is definitely a follower and her blogging Xinyu sisters seem to be her greatest influences. She likes to "jump like Caia", pour "water on head like Tennedy" when she's in the tub (in Bryn's case it's just a few drops of water), have "two ponies like Affa", "wiggle toes like Culaire" and "go slide like Maefe". Bryn loves to see photos of the girls on their blogs and wants to watch their videos over and over again.

• She's already putting me in my place by correcting my grammar. If I say "hey?" or "huh?" she'll say "No hey, say pardon".  Little rotter.
  

• I always have a laugh when I'm getting her to try on new clothes because they're are either "too big, too small or too fits".
  

• She knows all of her basic shapes -- circle, square, rectangle, triangle, heart, star, etc. She sings "I know my shapes" from a Baby Einstein video.
  

• She can recite her numbers from 1 to 10. I can't say she counts to 10 because she doesn't really understand all the numbers as an amount, though she does know how many 1 and 2 are. She can pick all the numbers out when asked except for 6 which she always calls 9.
  

• She knows all the letters of the alphabet except V and S and has a word to go with each of them. One day we were going through her letters and when I asked what L is for (usually it's love you or llama), she said "Ella".  Hmmmm.
  

• Bryn's vocabulary continues to amaze us. Believe it or not, by the time she was 19 months old she knew over 200 words. I quit writing them down at that point but I know she's more than doubled that by now. I'm sure most people think I'm exaggerating with the numbers because she doesn't talk much when she's around other people but believe me, when it's just us around she talks non-stop. Maybe that's why I have a headache every day. :)
  

• She still carries her wet cloth around. Next to food it's her favorite thing.

• She loves talking on her play phone or anything that looks like a phone. The other day she picked up my calculator ("Looks like phone, mom!"), put it next to her ear and said "Hiyo. Whats you doin? I'm fine, and you?" Yep, that's what she said.
  

• The latest "OMG I can't believe she said that" moments:  We were looking at a book and I said look, there's a goose. She said, "Atch-ee-yee it's a duck." And just this weekend Girard and Bryn were looking out the front window at the rink across the street, and he said "Someday Bryn and dad can play hockey" and she said "That will be fun".

• She doesn't like having her picture taken and turns away from the camera as soon as I pull it out. If I follow her she turns the other way. Videos are even worse. She can be singing away or doing something really cute and I run to get the camera to take video and she stops whatever it was she was doing. Her highchair is the only place I manage to get half-decent videos. Yes, it's very frustrating!
  

• Her hair has grown a lot in the past year but she still hasn't had a haircut. We've trimmed the odd stray long hair from her bangs but that's about it. That's quite different from some of the other girls who have their hair cut every couple of months!

• She loves puzzles and is really getting into playing pretend with her toys. She likes to cook me yogurt and Special K and coffee with her play dishes. She loves to talk to Jessie and show her things like pictures in her books.

• Some of her favorite foods are yogurt, grilled cheese sammies, noodles and tuna.  She also loves chocolate and french fries though both of those are rare treats. I'm a meanie, I know.
  

• Bryn has turned into quite the ham. She likes to tease or do something silly and then giggle and giggle. To use one example, she'll say "mood" instead of "moo" for a cow, and if you repeat that it's the funniest thing, to her.
  

• She still loves books. She likes to cuddle and read. Her favorite book right now is Good Night Moon. For Christmas she got a book called The Christmas Star and she knows the people as "Baby Jesus, Jofef and Mary had a little lamb". Kids really do say the darndest things.
  

• The newest funny just happened five minutes ago. Girard was going to give Bryn a bath so I told her to make sure to tell dad to wash her bum. "Or buttots,", she said. Some days my sides ache from laughing at this kid!
  

Bryn is 2!!

Today our girl is 2!

We had a great party yesterday with family and friends and Bryn had a ball. Unfortunately not everyone was able to be here because Mother Nature decided to be nasty and make it too cold for those who had planned on coming from out of town to travel (we missed you!) but we had a great time with those who could make it. Thanks to everyone for helping us celebrate Bryn's first birthday in Canada.

Since CNY was just this past Thursday and we still had those decorations up we went with "The Backyardigans in China" theme. We're nothing if not diverse!

Today we had another little party for just the three of us. Happy Birthday, Bryn, we love you!

Smile!

Bryn spent her 1st birthday at the Beijing Zoo where we saw the pandas. We had a beautiful panda this year in the form of a birthday cake.

Wow! Is everyone singing for me?!

Mmmmm....

Even though you can't see their faces, I love this photo of Bryn and Caia.

Blowing out the candle at today's mini-party.

She loves cake so she's pretty careful most of it ends up in her mouth!

Yay! I'm two!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Xin nian kuai le!

Love, Bryn (Yu Cai Xing)

A Year of Memories - Part 1

Our very first mother daughter photo.

A year ago today, on what adoptive families call Forever Family Day, we held Bryn in our arms for the first time. It seems like yesterday. It also seems like a hundred years ago.

To try to describe that day is almost impossible. It's difficult to put into words the sights and sounds and smells of China, the excitement in the room in the government office building where we all waited impatiently for the first glimpse of our babies, the surreal feeling the moment they called Girard and me to come forward and claim our daughter, the love I felt for her the instant they put her in my arms, the sudden realization that I was now a mom and responsible for this precious, beautiful girl. It's just so very hard to put into words.

So instead of trying to, and making myself all weepy in the process, I'm posting a looking back on the past year of our lives in photos. My apologies, as there are a lot of them! Most of the photos are everyday shots that require no explanation, some are of special people or special days we didn't get around to posting during the year and wish we had.

The changes in Bryn have been phenomenal. She's grown and flourished and we love her more every day. I'm sure you'll be as amazed as we are at the changes in her!

February 2007

Day three as a happy family.

Our last night in China, at the big farewell party.

Our first night home -- Welcome home, Bryn!!

Our two "girls" checking each other out for the first time.

March 2007

April 2007

A visit from Bryn's special cousins, Emmy and Mac.

Having fun with Auntie Nonie.

A Year of Memories - Part 2

May 2007

June 2007

If you click on this photo to enlarge it, you'll see why I love this picture!

A Year of Memories - Part 3

July 2007

The Kentucky Hengens Visit Saskatchewan!!

Girard's brother Dan, his wife LeighAnn and our nieces and nephew, Kirsten, Ramey and Brianna visited from Kentucky this summer. Our oldest nephew, Michael, wasn't able to come this year and we missed him a lot. Their visit was the highlight of July but for some reason I never got around to posting any of these photos (shame on me). Bryn was still pretty shy back then so there aren't many photos of her sitting with anyone but she really loved Brianna and Auntie LeighAnn scored big with her bubble blowing and endless supply of Cheerios.

The Hengen clan: Girard, Bryn, me, Kirsten, Michele, Ramey, Dave,

Dan, LeighAnn, Anna, Simone, Nicholas, Dave, Rita, Matthew,

Katja and Brianna.

Bryn's cousins wait patiently while we try to coax her to

stand still for the picture.

Brianna teaches Bryn her colors.

Ramey kickin' back. (No, that isn't his beer.)

A rare photo of the usually stoic brothers Dan and Girard.

Kirsten is still a proud Canadian at heart!

A high five from Auntie Simone.

Bryn and Brianna discuss shoe fashion.

Katja, Girard and Brianna.

Auntie LeighAnn (aka Auntie Bubbles) and Bryn share some Cheerios.

Bryn shows Brianna her books during a visit to our house.

A Year of Memories - Part 4

August 2007

She was so tired she didn't even have the energy to lay down.

Bryn's first merry-go-round ride with her Xinyu sister Caia.

September 2007

Bryn getting some loving from her cousin Jacey.

Helping Papa collect leaves.

October 2007

Kisses for Jessie.