Back in September, we packed up our bags and headed up to Seattle for the weekend. When Xiao Yu first arrived, we took him to see a pediatrician there who specializes in international adoptees and we were headed back to the same clinic for a 6-month follow-up visit.
The kids found ways to entertain themselves in the car. Elvin had gotten a couple of face masks that they were handing out at work. They were pink and he instantly knew that they would be a hit with the girls. Here is Eliana relaxing with hers, while listening to a book-on-tape, which she loves doing. She was in heaven.
It turned out that in our rush to get out the door, Karina had not put on a pair of shoes and we didn't think to check either. Since Elvin didn't want to carry her like a baby for the whole weekend, we had to stop at the store to get her a pair of shoes. These are Frozen themed, and light up, so she definitely came out of top for because of her absentmindedness this time.
We finally made it! We met up with Emily's sister's family and headed to the Science museum.
The kids enjoyed seeing the dinosaur exhibit.
Eliana held a hissing cockroach from Madagascar.
The butterfly arboretum was pretty neat. You could get really close to the butterflies.
Gabey enjoyed the play area for kids, especially this car.
Afterwards, we headed to the University District to go to Din Tai Fung, the Chinese restaurant famous for their steamed dumplings. Since the wait was about an hour, we headed into the mall to let the kids play around.
Elvin took Gabey to the cooking store where he basically wanted to buy everything his eyes touched. Here, he is saying that he wants three pans, because he is three!
Xiao Yu really liked this car.
And he really enjoyed rocking on this toy. Actually, a little bit too much.
Finally, we got the call that our reservation was ready.
We watched the workers make the dumplings for a little while. The restaurant was super crowded and there was barely any room to stand.
Once we sat down, they put out plates including little dishes that you're supposed to put your dipping sauce in. There were strands of chopped ginger in there which Xiao Yu had to try. He liked it at first, but then decided that it was too pungent for him. The kids kept laughing at him, which made him put more in his mouth because he is a little performer.
The restaurant had these straws that were super curly, and came out tied in a knot. The kids really liked them.
And then the food arrived! Everyone enjoyed the dumplings and everything else! This was the first time we took our family there. We really liked the food, however we thought the portions were a little small especially given the price.
Afterwards, we stopped at a local Walgreens to visit the ice cream section for dessert.
We finally got to the hotel to unload the car. The kids LOOOOVE using the baggage cart.
And they also LOOOOVE sticking the key card into the door. Things can be very exciting when you are 5 years old!
And finally it was dessert time! This scene, to Elvin, is reminiscent of feeding hour at the zoo.
And finally it was bed time!
The next morning, we got up and tried to quickly eat breakfast, as Xiao Yu's appointment was at 9am and we still had to drive there and park. We picked this hotel because it had a good continental breakfast and also had this peculiar automatic pancake making machine. You press a button and about 1 minute later, it spits out a pancake for you!
Here we are eating breakfast and hopefully not being too loud.
We finally made it to the doctor's office.
The doctor was wonderful and checked out Xiao Yu. She noted that Xiao Yu has gone from being in the 50th percentile for height and weight at his check up months ago to where he is now at the 80th percentile for both things. She said that this was a very good sign that all the stress that he was under is now gone, and that his body is now reaching its maximum potential. This was very encouraging to us.
Because Xiao Yu still has speech and some comprehension delays, the doctor recommended that he get a hearing test to rule that out. Xiao Yu did NOT like it when the nurse lady stuck the ear buds into his ear. Which is peculiar because at home he wants to stick everything into his ears and we have to scold him to keep him from doing that.
The hearing test in the doctor's office was inconclusive because he was screaming so much. So later, they scheduled us for a hearing test at the audiology clinic at Seattle Children's Hospital. At that test, which took about an hour (!), they said that he seems to have normal hearing. So now we know that's not the cause of his speech delays and we will keep him going to his speech therapy every week. He actually has progressed in the past couple of months, where he is saying new phrases like "this one" and "move please". But he still doesn't make a lot of the consonant sounds beyond the m, p, b, d, and g sounds. And even for those sounds, he can say in the beginning of a word, but not the end of a word. (Like when trying to say "bump" he will say "bum" even though we know he can say the p sound.) His speech therapist has us drilling all these sounds with him and says that those sounds will come with time.
Then something that Xiao Yu REALLY wasn't going to like was his immunizations. He cried and cried, and after 1 minute, he was fine.
Gabey, himself not a fan of shots, couldn't bear to watch!
Then we went downstairs for some blood work. Poor little Xiao Yu did not remember when we were here months ago and didn't know what was coming. The fish tank kept him distracted until they called him in.
At this lab, they do a really good job. They had one worker pin down one arm, had Elvin pin down the other and then another worker took care of business. They took about of half a dozen vials of blood! We got a letter in the mail later saying all the tests came back normal. Yay!
After the blood draw, Xiao Yu showed his bandaged arm to his siblings, hoping for some sympathy, which he got.
We headed home that day as Elvin had to work the next day. The kids were exhausted and fell asleep on the way home.
The rainy season is now in full swing, but this year, it started late. Our kids, being Pacific Northwesterners, missed the rain and RAN out of the house at the first downpour so that they could frolic in the puddles.
Xiao Yu, ran out after them, not because he loves the rain, but because he is Xiao Yu and Xiao Yu does not like getting behind.
After the rain was mostly gone, out came the bicycles. Eliana's riding has gotten good to the point where she can ride tight circles on the driveway.
Karina got on Gabriel's tricycle. And it has a convenient, Xiao Yu-sized ledge on the back.
Which Xiao Yu loves to climb on for the ride. The poor kid has a hand-me-down helmet from his sisters--it is purple with a puppy on it.
And here is Gabey on the plasma car which he thinks is his. He can get pretty fast on it, wearing flips flops none the less!
Halloween seemed to arrive really quickly this year and we spent Friday carving our pumpkins.
Although the kids "help" out, usually it's mommy and daddy doing most of the work. This year, however, Eliana was big enough where she could do most of the cutting and scooping of seeds.
The pumpkin that Gabey picked out was smallish. So it was easy to clean and carve. He opted for a traditional jack-o-lantern face.
At first, he said he did not want the pumpkin's smile to have teeth. Then, after Elvin was done cutting, he said he did want teeth. Elvin had to add them after the fact, making them stay there using toothpicks.
Karina tried valiantly to carve the face by herself.
But her little hands got tired and Daddy had to take over.
And here are the finished products. Karina's pumpkin has the assymetrical eyes--she thought that would make it look scarier. Eliana's is the panda. She mostly carved it all by herself (with a pattern!
Here are the kids wearing their costumes. This year, Eliana was a mermaid. Karina was Elsa from the movie Frozen. Xiao Yu was content wearing a doggie costume and Gabey was....himself. As usual, he did not like putting on any costume.
We then started trick-or-treating. It's our tradition that we always visit our next door neighbor's house first. They have known our kids since they were born and enjoy seeing their costumes every year.
We then drove over to a friend's house that was having a Halloween party. There were LOTS of kids there and they went trick-or-treating as a large pack. It was raining heavily so that's why you see the umbrellas. But for these kids that have grown up in the Pacific Northwest, rain will NOT deter them from their share of candy.
Here are the girls looking for the next house to visit...
In the end, the kids did not get a huge amount of candy, which is just fine by us. Hope you guys had a good Halloween!
