Herding cats

It’s official. No further research or attempts are required.

Trying to get 9 very excited little girls to sit together on a couch for the length of time it takes to get a picture - which given the number of cameras in the room was actually a considerable length of time – is the equivalent to herding cats on … speed… at night… armed only with a kazoo. It is an impossible task. There is no way to successfully accomplish it, so it’s best to take what you can get in such endeavors. Hence, here is the best picture available from the Chinese New Year celebration.

In truth, if I had the space, and the patience, it’s actually quite hilarious to see all of the attempted pictures in succession. Nothing spells hilarity like 12 adults trying to get 9 little girls to sit still… and smile… for a picture, especially when said little girls are dressed in rather slippery silk and seem to slink down the couch as soon as released. Ah well, no one said parenting would be easy.

Despite the rather ill-conceived picture adventure, a good time was had by all at the first (hopefully annual) celebration with friends from the adoption community. The girls were adorable decked out in their traditional gear, and the wattage from the beaming parents could have powered a whole city for a month. We were treated to some really good food from the Northern Han (a wonderful suggestion from Valerie) and a wonderful song in Mandarin from Allie (who put on a stellar performance of a song she learned in her Mandarin class). The girls all whooped in up and seemed to enjoy the barely contained chaos of 9 little girls feeding of each others excitement.

The only hiccup of the evening for us was when Kiyomi had her first real attack of stranger anxiety. Emerging from her Maru-Maru tent – temporarily set up in the living room for the girls to play in – and seeing neither Kohji nor I in the room sent her into a wee bit of a tailspin, and she made darn sure we were close at hand for the rest of the evening. She seems to have started into a bit of a separation anxiety phase, with a mommy preference. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t music to my ears given all the horror stories regarding attachment and bonding that you hear about during the adoption process (that and a damn undergrad paper on maternal deprivation)! For the moment, anyway, she only shows mild signs of stranger anxiety and is usually pretty quick to get over them, so we’re not too fussed about it.

The week after the party, the whole fan-damily headed out to the wilds of BC for a week of skiing at Silverstar Mountain Resort. While we had been up to Le Massif for a weekend earlier in February, Silverstar was more or less our inaugural attempt at a ski vacation. We went with a group of friends, so Kohji and I each had people to ski with when we traded off skiing half days, and in the end, it worked out well. The first couple of days were a little tough (not helped by about 10 cms of fresh powder and our luggage getting waylaid for half a day), with each of us kinda itchin’ to hit the slopes, but all in all skiing half days worked out reasonably well. Kiyomi had a great time hanging out with her buddy Ella, and pretty much happily followed her around the condo most of the time. When she wasn’t shadowing Ella, she turned everyone in the room into her personal readers. By the end of the week, it’s safe to say that not a single one of the adults really cared where the heck Maisy was!

Upon returning to Ottawa, we were all promptly hit with a lovely little flu. In one of those wonderful parenting moments, we discovered that Kiyomi had the flu when she threw up all over her dinner (and her dad). Sure, she was crying, and tired and cranky, but we chalked it up to jetlag and hunger because she seemed to stop her crying long enough to take a bite. That was, of course, until said bites of dinner (and of her mid-afternoon snack) came right back up again. It wasn’t until a couple days later, when Kohji was laying on the kitchen floor clutching a bucket and I was popping in a video for Kiyomi at 10 am because I couldn’t sit up long enough to read her a book without feeling nauseous that it dawned on us, hey, maybe she had the flu? Ah, proud parenting moments indeed.

Despite our parenting ineptitude, Kiyomi seems to be toddling along quite well, picking up new tricks and skills all the time. Her comprehension is pretty impressive now. You can ask her to do things, and she will actually do them. I know, I know, this is a very short lived stage, and pretty soon, she'll be ignorning me entirely. However, for the moment, I never tire of watching her toddle to the kitchen, open the cupboard and throw something in the trash on command. It's reached a point where we'll have to start watching what we say though, especially given her latest pronouncments. I'm not sure where she learned it (I swear!), but she seems to have started saying "ash hoo" over and over again. Not sure if it is indeed what it sounds like, but if it is, it means we've been baaaad parents, yet again!

Well, that’s probably more than enough info about this little family for one post. The parting shot tonight is proof positive that Kiyomi will be a skier! Good night from Ottawa.

Chinese New Year - Year of the Pig (or Boar)

GONG XI FA CAI

This weekend marks the turn of the lunar calendar. On February 18th, 2007, the calendar officially changes over from the year of the dog to the year of the pig. Chinese New Year is a time of celebration with family and loved-ones. For our family, this marks the first one we will celebration all together.

We have a couple of celebrations planned for the weekend, including a get together with our travel group (don't worry pictures of all the beautiful girls in their dresses will be forthcoming). We have a little red (colour of celebration) and plan on seeing friends and loved-ones (the pivotal part of the new year celebrations). We may not get around to the deep cleaning (cleanse away bad spirits), but we've got lots of feasting on the agenda and will toast the passing of a year of amazing good fortune and happiness, while welcoming one overflowing with new adventures, challenges and happiness.

Kiyomi, Kohji and I hope the year of the pig brings you health, happiness, prosperity... and lots of laughter.

Six months already ?!?!

Six months have come and gone in a flash. It’s hard to believe that it’s been over six months since Kiyomi’s been with us. I think I can speak for Kohji and I, and our respective families, when I say it feels like she’s just always been here. In early January, we had our 2nd last meeting with our social worker, which is a required 6-month report. Pretty painless and short, interrupted only by the arrival of a package from Nana, containing Kiyomi’s very own singing frog (apparently, they're not just for Christmas anymore).

I’ll admit, I haven’t been that good at updating regularly. To be honest, there hasn’t been a lot new and exciting. It’s winter in Canada – staying inside, sipping cocoa, skiing and snowshoeing, that’s what we do in winter. Singing frogs notwithstanding, we’ve been pretty much getting down to the business of hunkering down for the winter.

While she hasn’t tried snowshoing – or hot chocolate for that matter – Kiyomi has been skiing a number of times now and seems to enjoy (aka tolerate) the baby glider. There isn’t a tone of enthusiasm, nor are there any complaints, so we’re assuming it’s a somewhat enjoyable activity for her. On our most recent expedition, it was -17 outside, so it was quite the endeavour. All there was of Kiyomi was a nose and eyes peeking out from underneath layers of clothing and two sleeping bags. Most people who peeked in were able to see her toy monkey better than they were able to see her little eyes peeking back at them.

Waiting for the snow to fall, we did head out for a morning at the Canadian Aviation Museum. If you’re looking for a place to let your kids run wild, this is it. A big open hanger, with huge airplanes and tons of room to run, run, run. Kiyomi took little interest in the planes, but she did like having the space to test her new found running skills. She especially loved making friends with a couple of older girls who seemed to take an interest in her from the get-go. Before we knew it, they were fast friends, giggling away together.

This past weekend, we headed out to the wilds of central Ontario for the annual Lumina Lodge excursion (after spending some time in Thunder Bay in my formative years, I refuse to call Algonquin Park northern Ontario). It was a small, but hardy, group this year with only us and the 3 Ms. The star for Kiyomi was Mika, and the two girls once again proved that you can have a ton of fun with a … scarf. If I had only known, I wouldn’t have bothered with the whole toy thing and given Kiyomi a box of scarves. A good time was had by all, although poor uncle Martin was suffering not only from a cold, but a mild overdose of Nyquil which kept him uncharacteristically in the cabin.

As for Kiyomi developments, well the words keep coming, as does the coordination, or at least a reasonable facimile thereof. She probably has a repertoire of 3 dozen words, and seems to be learning more and more everyday. The coordination is amazing. She can now climb a step stool all on her own and has been working rather earnestly at jumping. She still climbs everything in sight, but with much more confident and stability now. We’re not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing – one of us is still trying to ensure that she never takes to rock climbing.

Another interesting development is a greater interest in cuddling and hugs. While she’s been acquiesing to hugs when asked for a while now, she has started in the last couple of weeks to initiate hugs and want to cuddle. It’s heartmelting and will make either of us stop in our tracks to be on the receiving end of one of those hugs. Kiyomi has also started to ever so slightly ‘make-strange’. Not an unexpected development at her age, but for those of you who know anything about adoption, it is one of the last milestones to knowing that there has been a firm and stable attachment.

All and all, we’re starting to get glimpses of the little girl inside the baby, and it’s thrilling, frightening and a wee bit sad all at the same time. She’s outgrowing her clothes, getting taller, rounder and working at growing-up, and we can’t stop it (although sometimes when we’re pulling all 25 pounds of her in the baby glider, we sure would like to)! There is, alas, no stopping time and as thrilling as it is to see her learning and growing, there is always a little good-bye to the baby she was.

As for upcoming events, well, the biggy is on February 18 – Chinese New Year. This one promises to be a fair bit different than last year. There is so much to celebrate this year, that we’ve decided to have a party with our travel group and have a little family celebration in honour of the year of the Pig.

The parting shot for tonight is of one of those rare Canadian creatures... the elusive purple snow bunny. Good night from Ottawa.

Still waiting for winter...

You know, given what snow-junkies Kohji and I are, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that soon after Kiyomi came into our lives, we were telling her about the wonderful winters she’ll get to experience in Canada. Not surpisingly, we told her about skiing in Gatineau Park, skating on the Canal, making snow angels and all the general merriment one gets to enjoy with the wonders of winter, especially over Christmas!

Well, it would seem this country has proven us to be liars. There is not even a centimeter of snow out there. Oh sure, there have been some hopeful signs – a couple days worth of precipitation. But it has been promptly snuffed out by 10 degree weather. Luckily, this did not serve to dim the Christmas fun. And in fact, I must admit, it made the Christmas travelling less stressful.

We started off in the Christmas mode by getting ourselves a great, big Christmas tree. We picked it out with Kiyomi in tow, strapped it to the car, and waited to see the wonder in her eyes when she saw a tree in the house. Well, we kinda forgot that actually, for a toddler, everything is so new and different, that something like a tree in the house can appear actually quite common place. Given her reaction, I am quite convinced that we have now taught our daughter that trees grow in houses, no biggie!

Our first seasonal merriment came when we headed down to London for the Miller-family Christmas. We started out well, until we hit the God forsaken land known as Toronto. Yup, we timed it perfectly. Not only did we hit rush hour traffic, we found ourselves a lovely little accident that backed up the 401 for 20 kilometers or so. The 6 hour trip took us nine, and every adult in the car was chomping at the bit to get out of the car. As for the toddler, well, she figured it was great cause she actually got to sit in the back with Katie (my cousin) and watch Buzz and Woody. How good is that?

Kiyomi didn’t quite get the hang of the present opening thing, but she sure got spoiled. In addition to a toy piano, she is now the proud owner of a Dora shopping cart, a sound effects barn and a myriad of other things that barely fit in our little Civic. While she didn’t quite catch on to present opening itself, she sure got the hang of the singing frogs. Here’s an image for you – a little toddler, sitting in a giant easy chair, directing a grown woman (my aunty Dawn) to make the frogs go on said toddler’s command. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the frog phenonemon, Kiyomi’s Nana has a collection of stuffed singing frogs, courtesy of Kiyomi’s Zufu. Some ribbit jingle bells, some just ribbit and one does a passable imitation of Louis Armstrong singing “Wonderful World”. This is one case, where a picture has to speak for me, cause it was priceless to watch.


Kiyomi really enjoyed spending time with Nana, Zufu, uncles Brahm and Tristan, my aunt Dawn and cousin Katie. Nana also took her for her first visit with Santa. As you’d expect, he wasn’t a big hit with her, but she did point at his nose and shout “DAAATTT!!” An added bonus of the London visit was that Kohji and I were actually able to catch a matinee. It was the first time I’d set foot in a movie theater in several months. Quite the treat! Needless to say, I made sure Cineplex Odeon took full advantage of me by buying a popcorn and a drink (no wonder I feel the need to run a little more often these days).

Returning to Ottawa, we had the Suzuki-family Christmas a few days later when Obaachan, Ojiichan, aunt Miyo, uncle Martin, and of course cousin Mika came for a visit. Kiyomi had a blast with Mika – who knew the landing on the stairs could provide hours of entertainment?! They tore around the place and were beside themselves with the Maru-Maru tent that Ojiichan and Obaachan got for Kiyomi. It came with dozens of little whiffle balls, which respond surprisingly well to toddler tosses. As a result, we’re still finding some whiffle balls lodged in some strange places.

We did get a wee bit of snow, so we were able to get out skiing a little bit. I guess the novelty of the baby glider has warn off on Kiyomi. The last time she was in it, she fell asleep. I also pulled it for the first time. I’ve determined that if I can do that regularly, I will be in awesome shape this winter. Nothing like skiing with 35 pounds of dead weight behind you to make your heart, and thighs, work.

New Year’s Day brought the traditional Oshyougatsu celebration. Part of the tradition involves getting dressed up for special breakfast and an annual picture. Kiyomi wore a dress that we had got for her in China, and looked radiant. She and Mika, herself looking absolutely splendid in a princess dress, possed for many pictures. I’m sure they were seeing stars by the end from the flashes. Now, I just have to figure out how to get spittle and apple juice stains out of silk…

In other news, Kiyomi has learned a few new words – “up” and “turtle” being her current favourites. But, a more stellar achievement is that she is now sleeping in her own room. Until last week, she’d been in our room, but we figured it was time. Unfortunately, it couldn’t be a gradual move as the crib doesn’t fit through any of our doorways. So far, naps are no problem, but she’s not comfortable in there at night, so we wind up having to sit with her until she falls asleep. Hopefully, this is only a temporary set back. Otherwise, I need to go get some more books to read while I’m in there.

The final shot for tonight lets you see Kiyomi's latest trick. Somewhere, she's picked up the habit of resting her head on her hands. Perhaps she's channeling Rodin's Thinker?

Waiting for winter

I’ve been suitably chastised by a number of people for not updating the blog more regularly. To be honest, I’ve resisted posting because much of what’s been happening as of late has been the rather dull day to day activities of family life – which we love, but figured it would be pretty darn boring to anyone else. It would seem, however, that Kiyomi has some pretty die-hard fans out there (the gods love you), so here’s a rather lengthy update (or at least a lot of pictures).

November was a busy travel month. The weekend following the trip to Thunder Bay, we piled into aunty Laura’s car for our first serious road trip. A seven hour drive to see Nana, Zufu and uncles Brahm and Tristan. After dropping Kohji in Toronto, so he could surprise his mom on her birthday, Laura, Kiyomi and I headed south for London. Ready to hit the highway, feel the wind in our hair (figuratively), pushing for the home stretch, we headed straight into… Toronto traffic. Now, at the best of times, I am incredibly inpatient with sitting in traffic, as are most people. However, on my first road trip with a toddler, I was the queen of anxiety. Laura stopped counting the number of times I said I hated Toronto. Kiyomi, in the end, did way better than me. On the first sign of fussiness, we pulled out the magic toddler tamer (aka the portable dvd player). There were a few minutes of nausea inducing manoeuvering on Laura’s part to get the thing set up, but once it was rolling, Buzz and Woody worked their magic again, and kept Kiyomi happily giggling most of the way to London.

The London visit itself was short, but enjoyable. Kiyomi got to meet her Zufu and uncle Tristan for the very first time, as well as her great aunt and my cousin. She wasn’t too sure what the make of them at first, but started to come around. The highlight for her was a toy monkey that Nana gave her. It actually danced, gurgled and sighed. By the time we left, Kiyomi had found a new best friend (we’re not really sure whether she knows that it’s actually an inanimate object).

After London, it was a trip to Montreal for a weekend where Kiyomi and her friend Ella did the town right. Yup, wandered St. Catherines, checked out the train station, swam in the hotel pool and basically had the run of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel. I tell ya, these girls know how to travel in style. They capped the weekend off with a trip to the duck pond on Mount Royal.

It’s a good thing that Kiyomi’s been travelling across the country so much. I mean, as one of Canada’s newest citizens, she has a responsibility to this country (or so Monty Solberg informed her in the letter that accompanied her citizenship card). That’s right, after less than 6 months, Kiyomi officially has full Canadian citizenship with all its rights and privileges. I know these things are all pre-formed, electronic signatures, and all that, but you’d think somewhere along the line, someone would clue in that they were telling a 1 year old that she needed to recognize her responsibilities of citizenship. Other than the giggle we got out of reading that, it was certainly nice to get the citizenship thing out of the way. We had been told to expect to wait a year, so it’s arrival only 4 months after we sent in the application was a treat.

In other exciting news, Kiyomi went for her first ski this past weekend. Yes, there is no snow in Ottawa, yes, there is no snow anywhere in Eastern Ontario. However, when you have a dad who is ski obsessed, apparently icy slush and wet ice qualify as skiable. I grumbly followed along, dubious of the whole enterprise. Kiyomi - other than trying to deal with her parents' obvious difference of opinion on what actually constitutes snow – seemed to take the whole thing in stride. She loved sitting in the Baby Glider while it was in the living room, but was a little less sure of the whole thing when it was actually outdoors trudging its way up hill (or rather being trudged up hill by Kohji). I volunteered for the downhill portion.

We have not also had our first taste of parent panic mode! Kiyomi has been going to a toddler playgroup and music class at the local community center, just a few blocks from the house. It’s been great, and it’s close, so I can usually make it there on-time and I have no worries about weather, traffic, etc. Kiyomi and I have developed a happy little routine that I was keen on continuing. This, however, required venturing into the cut throat world of child program registration. Last time around, I had gone forward in ignorance, although I had heeded the advice of friends to make sure I registered right away – as in "as soon as they started on-line registration" at 11 pm. Not having had any problems getting the programs I wanted the first time around, I figured the advice was a little bit reactionary, until… I started hearing things like: “You’re in the Music and Movement program? How did you get into that? I tried at 11:15 and it was all booked up.” So, it would seem toddler programs are about as coveted as U2 concert tickets (the last time I dealt with on-line chaos).

All this was the lead up to last Wednesday, where I started at 10 pm., to make sure I was ready and on-line as soon as they launched on-line registration for the winter session at 11 pm. I typed in the appropriate web address… I got a screen which started with the words “oops”. I tried again… same thing. I double checked the address… it was right. I tried again… and again… I tried another computer in the house… same thing. I tried again, and again, and again, for almost an hour. By this time, I was in full scale panic. On-line registration was about to begin and I couldn’t get into the website. I cursed the inventors of the internet, I cursed their children and their children’s children. I paced, I grumbled, I snapped, I picked up the computer to hurl in across the room. As I was doing all this, Kohji calmly picked up the phone and called Kenji to ask him if he was able to get in. While I curled up in the fetal position and lambasted every soul who ever contributed to anything having to do with the home computer and bemoaned the fact that I would now have to drive to Sittisville for toddler programs and would spend the rest of my year off driving to a variety of no-mans land community clubs and recreation centers, Kohji and Kenji were busy registering Kiyomi for the music program and playgroup at our local community center. And this was only toddler programs people!! Imagine what I’m going to be like for daycares, pre-schools and universities?!

Other than that, it’s been the regular winter scene around here. Kohji and I have each been doing our little snow dances, hoping for the white stuff and trying not to completely butcher our renditions of “White Christmas”. We've also been getting Christmas preparations under way. We were rather curious to see what Kiyomi might think of a tree in the house, but in typical toddler fashion, she didn't seem to see anything strange about it at all.


This year, of course, there have been new challenges, like figuring out boots, and snowsuits, and hats, and mitts. Kiyomi is indeed taking it all in stride, and seems to be reasonably happy in her snowsuit. She especially likes the ‘jump-test’ to see if her boots are on properly. We haven't yet told her that she looks like a giant purple grape with it on though, so we're hoping she doesn't figure it out.

Kiyomi continues to grow and learn, despite our wishes that she’d stay our tiny little girl. In addition to mastering most barnyard animal sounds, she has a few funky ones, like “ssss” for snake and “huh-huh” for moose. She’s started to insist on using a real cup and wants her own spoon at mealtimes. Her comprehension hit a high point for us, when it became clear that she knew, and said, “mama” and “dada”. As for words, she’ll parrot just about anything you ask her to, although she will often put her own spin on it. Her most fun activity of late it climbing. And this includes pretty much anything – the couch, the coffee table, the highchair, a box, the toilet. It’s all pretty much irrelevant as long as she’s on top of it.

In the next month we’ll have our first Christmas as a family, which we are all very much looking forward to. We head down to London for the Miller family celebrations and back to Ottawa for the Suzuki ones. We already know that the Christmas loot for Kiyomi is going to be overwhelming thanks to the arrival in late November of her first Christmas present (thanks Gene and Kristina). Next month, we have to undertake the 6 month post-placement review (as required by the agency). It’s hard to believe it’s already been almost 6 months.

The parting shot for tonight is one of Kiyomi with one of her best buddies – her 2nd cousin Lola. Do these two look like they've been caught in the act or what? Good night from Ottawa.

Kids as toys

Children can be a lot of work. So, it's absolutely necessary every now and then to relax by using them as toys and laughing at them.

Dancing Queen

Kiyomi's long been a big lover of music, and nothing gets her going like the oldies. Crank up the sound, and enjoy....