Wow has Hsin been growing up. I can't believe that we are only a little over a month away from her 3rd birthday and our 2nd family day. Time really does fly.

What is Hsin up to these days...lets see...(these will be totally in random order)

-wore big girl underwear for a whole day (except nap and bedtime) and was dry the whole day.

-is beginning to tell me when she has to go potty even if I don't ask her

-LOVES singing. Favorites are "I'm a little teapot", "Pat a Cake", "Twinkle, Twinkle", "ABC's", "Old McDonald".

-We are entering the terrible 3's. Don't get me wrong, Hsin is still very good...but I am starting to understand why everyone told me that 2 was easy and the real challenge would start at 3.

-Hsin has an opinion and doesn't mind sharing it

-Has gotten smart and tries to change the subject when she gets in trouble. Her famous line if she is in trouble is "My tummy hurts". We know its all fake :-)

-Has a clear preference for certain friends at school...but has just started hitting when she is frustrated with them. Not good.

-Loves wearing a dress or skirt...she calls them "ballerinas".

-Loves running. She was upset the other night when I had a race and there wasn't one for her. She said she wanted to "runny fast and get a necklace"...meaning a medal.

-tells us every morning "I'm SO tired". She still LOVES to sleep, and sleeps like the dead :-)

-has so much emotion and sass when speaking or doing anything. She constantly has us cracking up. We asked her during dinner one night if she wanted to go to Target (Hsin LOVES Target) and she said with an attitude "Uh, let me eat dinner first".

-Oh..Hsin also still loves to eat and eats in quantities that put grown adults in awe. Current favorites are: tuna sashimi, edamame, tomatoes, mac and cheese, scrambled eggs, cheese, grapes, watermelon, water ice, tortilla chips and salsa, bread, soup and candy.

-can do most letters of the alphabet in sign language with a little help. LOVES singing the ABC's and trying to do all the signs like Mommy and Daddy. When we do each letter individually, she asks for help to get her fingers just right.

-loves practicing her letters, numbers, colors and animals at bedtime. She calls it "doing pictures".

-still loves the water. If we are filling up her little pool, she starts stripping naked to get in the ice cold water as soon as possible. Pours buckets of water over her head while squealing in the pool and in the bathtub.

-can take off her own shoes and socks and puts her dirty socks in the laundry and her shoes in "the spot" which means next to her laundry basket.

-if I pee on the potty, or do something that we are usually proud of her for doing, she will put her hands gently on each side of your face and say "Mommy, I so proud of you". I guess they are little sponges and hear averything you say :-) It is kinda nice at 34 years old, having a cheerleader for me on the potty. Who knew not peeing my pants would be such a big deal at my age!!!

-As far as the cats...pretty much ignores Mr. Peepers, which is fine by him...he ignores her too. Loves to play and play rough with Pei Ling...which is fine by her, because she is a kitten and loves to goof around. Now Lily. Lily is old and sick and no matter how ornery and angry she gets she has infinite patience for Hsin. And the sweetest thing is that Hsin reciprocates. She is always so concerned about Lily's well being, and if the other cats are treating her right. If Lily cries (which is all the time) Hsin walks beside her, gently hugging and petting her saying "Its OK Lily, you're OK Lily". It is usually very soft and quiet and really meant only for Lily's ears. If the other cats go near Lily's food or are generally annoying her, Hsin steps in on Lily's behalf and will yell "Pei Ling...you no be mean to Lily...or you no eat Lily's food". She does not however intervene on any other cats behalf. It does my heart good that Hsin has so much compassion just born in her heart that she knows Lily is old and ill and needs to be treated just a little more gently. This is one of my favorite qualities about Hsin.

-Hsin knows she is from Taiwan and will tell you that if you ask her. She also understands that her foster Mom is still in Taiwan, and that her Mama is still in Taiwan. We have started to talk in a little more detail about both of these important ladies in Hsin's life. We think she is getting old enough to understand some basic concepts about them.

-When saying goodnight to the picture of her Mama last night and talking about her a little, Hsin told me "I like Mama...she's pretty". Melted my heart (and she is beautiful...looks a lot like Hsin).

-Thinks that Shiu her mouse takes the bus to school. Everytime she sees a school or public bus she yells "Shiu's school bus...I will see him in my cubby". We have a duplicate Shiu that stays at school so I don't have to drag him back and forth everyday. I needed SOME explanation for how he gets there and home each day if he doesn't go in the car with us. So, we told her that he takes the bus with all his stuffed animal friends. She bought it hook, line and sinker...and I am sticking to that story for as long as I can. Hopefully until Kindergarten when Shiu probably won't go to school with her anymore. (Oh man that just made me sad. Both thinking about Hsin in kindergarten, and thinking of a time when she is "too old" for Shiu to be with her all day).

-understands and loves the idea of birthday parties. If we tell her we are going to one, she instantly breaks into a rendition of "Happy Birthday". For some reason she adds an extra B to Birthday making it B-Birthday, and always pretends to blow out the candles at the end of the song. For her birthday this year, she requested a Nemo theme.

-Finding Nemo is her all time favorite movie. I'm surprised the DVD hasn't turned to dust we have watched it so many times. She also loves Kung Fu Panda, and Bambi...but if you ask her what movie she wants to watch...9 times out of 10 she says Nemo.

-Hsin is getting taller and taller, but not much thicker. Which is surprising given what she eats. I think she will have long legs and be pretty thin.

-Hsin's hair has finally gotten longer, which gives us lots of styling options. It is still on the thin side, but filling out everyday. We can do pigtails on both sides, pull it over to the side with a bow and do one big ponytail in the back. Hsin usually has a preference for what style she wants each day.

-Hsin is getting into playing with my hair. She will comb it, pretend to put ponytails and bows in it and all the while ask me "is it too tight?" and tell me "oh, you look so cute". Its adorable.

-While in Target last week, I was looking at sports bras, and Hsin grabbed a bright pink one off the shelf and proclaimed to the whole store "OH Mommy, that is SO cute"...and yes...she said it just like the CAPS imply...full of sass. A woman standing near us nearly fell over in tears laughing. Hsin has actually always had a thing about bras. She notices them in stores, yells about them, notices mine in the drawer, in a laundry basket and on my person. She has also been talking about "boobs" lately, and I am constantly reminding her that "boobs" are private and we shouldn't talk about them, or touch them :-) Oh the conversations you have to have with little people!!!

-Hsin knows she is adorable, and uses that and being affectionate to try to get out of trouble. We are going to have a long road ahead of us here, because she isn't getting any less cute or affectionate :-)

-Loves, loves, loves her bunkbeds. I think she sleeps deeper now than she ever did in her crib. She slept straight through a raging thunderstorm last night!!! There are some nights she will tell us mid-show, mid-story, or mid-song..."I go bed now. I sleep in my bunk beds". If we ask her if we can sleep in her room or in her bunk beds, she very firmly says "no". If Paul asks to sleep on the top bunk she tells him he is too big, and that only her cousin Maudee can sleep up there.

-Hsin still sleeps with her face buried in Shiu's tummy. She has added to the team, Hoppy, a bunny that the Easter bunny brought, and Bambi, whom she calls Bandaid. Shiu still travels everywhere with us all day and all night. Since Easter, so for about 2 months, Hoppy has been requested everywhere we go as well. Hsin can barely hold the two of them at the same time, tucked under her arm, but she will fight and wrestle with them to get a firm grip, because in her mind...there is no question whether they are coming with her.

-Everything is "lemme have..." right now. I don't know where it came from, because Paul and I don't say it...but almost every request we have to correct her to say "I would like ___ please" instead of "Lemme have". I have a feeling this is going to take a while.

-Hsin has a new Hello Kitty purse that is just her size. As soon as we gave it to her she said "I need monies for my pocketbook". I find it funny that her first thought was money...and that she calls it pocketbook. They must call it that at school, because I never say pocketbook. Paul also gave her old video cards and business cards which she thinks are her credit cards. If we ask her at the restaurant if she is paying, she will pull out her "pocketbook" and start taking out money :-)

-If Hsin wants to sit on your lap she will say "I sit on my lap".

-Oh...I forgot in the food one...Hsin loves meatballs and chicken parm now too.

-Hsin alternates between calling herself Hsin-Hsin and Hsin-Hua. She also has just started to want to pretend that I am Hsin-Hua and she is Mommy. She thinks its a riot when I call her Mommy and she calls me Hsin-Hua.

-One of the times we were playing this name switch game, she said "I need to pick you up Hsin-Hua" and proceeded to grunt and groan trying to pick me up by my leg. She finally proclaimed "You too heavy". Thanks Hsin. I'm working on it.

-If you ask her to come here, or to go somewhere and she doesn't really want to, she will tell you she is stuck in the mud.

-Hsin has started to go to the nail salon with me when I get a pedicure. She takes her shoes and socks off to stick her feet in the water with me. We usually play angry birds and if she is good, the ladies will paint her nails. She LOVES it.

-While getting a pedicure last weekend, I asked her what she wanted for lunch, and out of the clear blue she told me Whole Foods. OK...I love the salad bar at Whole Foods, and Hsin HAS been there...but not for weeks if not a few months. Not sure where it came from, but its funny how her mind works sometimes and what she remembers.

-Knows the difference between Mommy's car and Daddy's car and sometimes has a real preference for which one we take.

-Hsin recognizes running clothes and if you take them out she will say "You going running?" and if you put them on, she will say "Bye Bye...runny fast".

That is all I can seem to remember right now.

I will post some pics too...but they are going in a seperate post below so I don't have to fight with blogger to organize them in this post.