One week

Kai Wei has been home for a week. It has gone by very quickly, but at the same time it's hard to believe it is only a week. We feel so comfortable together already. It's been a fun week. It hasn't all been perfect- there have been misunderstandings that led to tears and he's not above rolling around on the floor whining when he doesn't get his way, but mostly he has been amazingly adaptable and cheerful.

He discovered our cellphones also play music, and he goes around as often as we'll let him listening to them. He loves two songs in particular by Scott Krippayne, and he practically has them memorized already. It's so cute to hear him sing "stand up stand up, you don't have to be afraid" in a clear little voice. I don't think he understands a word he's singing, but he sure can sing along. He's a very good mimic.

We had another snow day today, so we went sledding at the local high school. We all had fun. Kai Wei really enjoyed the toboggan, which usually went farther than the other sleds. As we sped past everyone else who had already stopped he'd shout "bye-bye!" Jonathan built a ramp, whcih Kai Wei tried to go down, but his sled veered off to the side, heading right towards Jonathan and Daniel. They scattered, but left their sleds behind and he ran right over one, then somehow managed to get the edge of his sled under the toboggan. The toboggan flew into the air over his head and he landed sprawled on the snow. It looked scary to me, but he was up and laughing as soon as he landed.



Kai Wei loves to tease all of us. He calls Rebecca "gege" (big brother), and Tim "Timmy Baby". He makes fun of my Chinese pronunciation and the way I often reply "umhmm" He likes to strike funny poses representing different members of the family. He chatters away at us in Chinese and sometimes we understand what he's talking about, and other times we have no idea.

Kai Wei doing his "Timmy is strong" pose

Tonight he was clearing the table after dinner, and decided he wanted to be a waiter. He was going around getting drink orders from everyone and then presenting them with a flourish. Rebecca jokingly asked for a cup of tea, but he took her seriously. he came into the kitchen, got out a teacup, then asked me where we keep the tea. He asked her what kind she wanted, didn't understand the word "decaffeinated", so took it upon himself to choose green tea for her. He put the tea bag in the mug, filled it with water, and then stuck it in the microwave. Whenever she tried to come into the kitchen, he ushered her back out, presumably lecturing her on staying out of the kitchen. Once he'd delivered her tea (and some water and orange juice to other members of the family), he said to me "xiao jie, wo xiang yi bei orange juice" So I played along and delivered his orange juice, which he took with a very polite "thank you", and then just as if he was really in a restaurant giving orders, requested I add ice to his drink.

We had a web chat again tonight with Sarah Grace. It was fun to have Kai Wei on this end of the web chat. He didn't talk as much as I expected he would. When I told him to tell Ssu Ya about our sledding adventures he told me to tell Maria and she could translate for Ssu Ya! He did enjoy hunting down all the animals to show everyone and introducing all of us to his friends who also stopped by for a few minutes to say hello during the web chat.