Our Adoption(s?) From Taiwan: May 2008

Between rounds of toddler basketball yesterday, Ryan and I met two of my friends for lunch. Ryan had his favorite "meal" of fries and ketchup, played with the napkin, and showed off his big smile (after being shy for the first ten minutes).

By the end of the meal, Ryan banned the high chair and decided to sit in a regular chair. Look how long those legs are getting -- quite an asset for a budding basketball player!

How I Spent My Memorial Day Weekend, by Ryan

The next morning, I couldn't even wait to get dressed before going out to shoot more baskets!

I had to clap for myself after making that shot!

Believe it or not, the weekend wasn't all basketball -- I also went to the pool on Saturday, for the first time ever! I had a great time splashing around in the water. We don't have any pictures though, since it was just me and Mommy (poor Daddy had to work all weekend).

With this post, I’ve set a record of posting 5 days in a row! (As long as it doesn’t count that some of the photos in my last post were “recycled.”)

This is another of my favorite recent pictures of Ryan. He falls asleep in his car seat a lot lately (and of course I think every instance merits photographic recording). I love how he sleeps with his “napkin”/handkerchief (his security object) next to his head.

I wish I could keep him this little and sweet forever!

Three years ago today, Rob and I became a family of two.

We knew we wanted to become three soon after, but never could have imagined exactly how that would come about, or that it would be a beautiful little boy from the other side of the world who would become our son.

And now we can’t imagine it any other way.

Ryan _loves_ our pets (a cat and a dog). Ten months after Ryan joined our family, the cat has finally begun warming up to him, and now allows Ryan to pet him if I am nearby. I guess he's finally accepted that Ryan is here to stay and figured he might as well get some petting out of it. When we tell Ryan to "give the kitty-cat a hug," he leans his head against the cat and smiles. So sweet!

This is the beautiful mother-child necklace Ryan and Rob gave me for Mothers' Day. It has both a large and a small pendant, each imprinted with a blooming lotus flower and a bud. I knew that lotuses were common in Asian art, so today I did some internet research on their symbolism in Chinese culture. According to one website I found on Chinese painting, “The Chinese words for lotus have the same meanings as to bind or connect.” Another website on Chinese painting states: “[One] symbolic characteristic of the Chinese lotus flower leads from the observation that the plant's stalk is easy to bend in two, but is very hard to break because of its many strong sinuous fibers. Poets use this to represent a close unbreakable relationship between…the members within a family….” Perfect.

Happy Mothers' Day to all the moms and moms-to-be! We had a nice dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, a Brazilian place which features _awesome_ grilled meat of all kinds. Ryan, who is not much of a carnivore, ate goldfish crackers and Cheerios, and spent most of dinner playing with a straw in Daddy's water glass.

I can't get enough of my little guy, but he's had enough of my lap and can't wait to get down and run around. What a face! (So much for the great mother-son pictures I had hoped to take today!)