New Beginnings

Madison started school on Tuesday. She will be going for three hours for the first two weeks, and hopefully, if all is goes well, she will start full-time after that. She is basically working on English and also has an art class. Her ELL teacher is surprised at how much Madison does know especially since Madison didn't get to attend regular school in China. Madison is making friends even with the language barrier. There are some great girls in her class that have offered to help Madison get around school. As a mother, I was so glad to hear Madison talk about her friend Sabrina.

In some regards, Madison is your typical teenager, she does not want to get up in the mornings for school, and she was very happy when Saturday finally got here. John woke her up yesterday after he got ready for work and then I had to go up two more times to finally rouse her up. She likes to say, "No school, sleep!"

It has been remarkable at how fast Madison is learning English, we use the translator less and less when going through our daily routines since she has learned these words, phrases, and sentences. This morning I asked her if she wanted to go with me to yi ma's (my younger sister's) or stay home with dad and Sean. She understood everything and quickly decided that she wanted to go with me. We have been using Mandarin words for family, because it is hard for Madison to remember who is who or what their relationship is to mom and dad. In Mandarin, instead of calling both sets of grandparents, grandma and grandpa, they have specific names for each one. For example, my mom is wai po for maternal grandmother, and John's mom is nai nai for paternal grandmother.

Madison is very funny and loves to laugh. The other day while Madison and I were at the dining room table, I would occassionaly look out the window that was behind Madison. Each time I looked, Madison would turn around and to see what I was looking at. I started to tease her by saying, "Made you look!" She quickly caught on, unfortunately, because now she does it to me. Last night, we were in the car and Madison pointed out the window and told me and John to look at a cat, when we both looked for the cat, she started laughing very loudly because she "made us look."

We dropped Sean and his new girlfriend off at the movie theater last night, and later, while we waited for them to come out, Madison took on her little sister role perfectly by practicing kissing sounds and saying "I love you." It was so hilarious.

While Sean and his girlfriend were at the movies, we took Madison to get her ears pierced, which she wanted to do. However, when it came time, she held both our hands very tightly, tensed her whole body, and gritted her teeth. I felt like she needed a bit of rawhide to clamp down on. We were afraid that she would not get the second ear pierced after experiencing the first, so we had two people at each ear and they pierced on the count of three. Now she has beautiful, sparkly flowers on each little, red earlobe.

Baby Shower

Here we are at Madison's shower given by my very dear friends and co-workers at Inman Primary School in Red Oak, Iowa. Madison hates to get her picture taken, so she is giving me an unfavorable look in the picture with just the two of us. She got lots of wonderful gifts and even though it may have been hard to tell, she really enjoyed herself.

Madison went to her first high school basketball game last night in Shenandoah. Oddly enough, they played the school I work for and Madison's new school, Red Oak. My niece and nephew attend Shenandoah, and it was my nephew Koby's last game to play the drums in the pep band, so I had to support both sides. I think Madison truly enjoyed the excitement of the evening. She clapped when Shenandoah scored and scowled when they missed the basket. I tried to explain that we were playing her new school, but I don't think she understood. It won't be long until she knows she is really a Red Oak tiger.

Madison has been poked and prodded...again. She went to the dentist on Wednesday for a brutal cleaning...there were tears..., the eye doctor Thursday morning, and the doctor that afternoon. She DID NOT like getting her blood taken and quickly grew tired of the x-rays. We are checking into what, if anything, can be done to correct her hip area and left leg. I'm not too sure she will want anything done, since she does not like shots or anything that may cause even the slightest pain. I suppose none of us do, but it will be a huge decision if surgery can correct her leg.

The two people with me and Madison at the shower are my mom, Vicki, and my sister, Theresa.

Weekend Update

Madison and I went shopping on Saturday with my mom, sister, neice, and Mikelle. Madison loves to shop, but she got tired walking so much at the mall. Come to think of it, so did I.

We went specifically to J. C. Penney so that Kyra, my neice, could purchase a new comforter she's had her eye on. Madison also showed me some comforters that she would like too. There was only one problem, she just got a new comforter last weekend for her birthday from my mom. I tried to explain that she did not need a new comforter along with many other things she wanted throughout the day. I did get her a couple new shirts and a belt, and my mom got her some things from Claire's. Hopefully, she will soon learn that when we go shopping, we don't buy whatever we see that we want.

The school I work at is throwing us a shower tomorrow. I'm not sure how I can explain what a shower is. Madison may think it's another birthday party.

We took Madison to church for the second time yesterday. John told Pastor Jeff that he has succeeded in boring two cultures during his sermon. Thankfully, Jeff and John share the same kind of humor, so Jeff wasn't insulted. I also hope Jeff wasn't insulted when Madison kept looking at John's watch to see if noon was getting any closer, when church usually ends.

Well, I have to go to work today for parent/teacher conferences. Fortunately, my mom is coming over to stay with Madison until John or Sean get home. Even though she is fourteen, I don't think she's ready to be left alone.

Madison's 14th Birthday

Madison turned 14 on February 4! We celebrated at Godfather's Pizza with Mikelle, Sean, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and lots of cousins. The ice cream cake looks small in the picture, but it fed everyone at the party. She got lots of presents including new bedding, a Nintendo DS, games for the DS, a big pink stuffed animal that now sleeps beside Madison and Sponge Bob, lots of fingernail polish, some nail clippers, and a file so she can have lovely nails, a bracelet, and a hair straightener.

John's birthday is today so I made his favorite dish, lasagna, and Madison picked out a small cake when we went grocery shopping today. It was just me, John, Sean, and Madison here for supper since Mikelle had to work. It was quiet, but nice. Earlier, after Madison and I returned home from the store, I signed John's card and asked Madison if she wanted to sign it. She said no and informed me by using our hand-held translator that she already had something for John. So, after we ate our cake and ice cream, Madison gave John a card she had made, and she even had a little present all wrapped up for him. She wrapped it using left over tissue paper from one of her presents. The present was a little figurine of Madison's from the Monkey King, Pigsy. The Monkey King is a Chinese legend. While we were in China, we got to watch the T.V. series about every day, since it was another of Madison's favorite shows. Even though we have missed out on a lot of her growing up, we are getting to experience her youthful innocence and generosity. Happy Birthday Madison and John!

A New Post Is Here!

I don't know if anyone is checking the blog any more since I haven't written for a week now, but I've heard that perhaps there may still be people checking up on Madison.

We are still trying to find food that she likes. Breakfast is no problem, she likes cold cereal, poptarts, eggs, toast with jelly, hash browns, and she even had oatmeal today (cinnamon roll flavor). Last night we had spaghetti. She just had the tomato sauce without meat on her pasta and ate it all. She didn't want seconds, but she ate three slices of garlic bread. We don't have any problems with desserts either, so obviously, she has a sweet tooth.

Tomorrow is Madison's 14th birthday. We are having a party at Godfather's in Shenandoah with mine and John's family. I hope she is not too overwhelmed, but she has met most of the people that will be there.

We took a tour of Madison's new school this afternoon. She didn't seem nervous and didn't have any questions afterward. We are starting her in 7th grade on Feb. 17, and she will go from 8 A.M. to 11 A.M. for the first couple of weeks before starting full-time. The majority of her time will be spent learning English. When she goes full-time, she will have art, band (hopefully), and keyboarding. At first Madison did not want to do band because she thought she'd have to sing, but we cleared that up real quick. I work with Madison's ELL teacher, Sonia, at the primary school, but she also works at the middle and high school. Fortunately, Sonia will be able to devote quite a bit of time to Madison each morning.

I just read this out loud to John and Madison heard her name and pointed to herself. I can't wait for the day that we can talk back and forth. I'm sure she looks forward to that day too when she can tell us how she's feeling, what she wants, etc.