A Girl's Life

Jiejie turned 7 years old a few days ago. She started the morning by hiding. Breakfast was ready, and Jiejie was nowhere to be found. Daddy finally located her and brought her downstairs. It seems she was upset because, although the cupcakes I had labored long and late to produce were coming to school, I was not accompanying them.

"Why aren't you coming?"" she whined.
"Honey, I have to work.
""Take a day off!"
"Sweetie, it’s my deadline day, I can't."
"But who will tell my life story?"

What???? Life story???

Well, apparently that is the tradition in first grade. The teacher interviews you or your parent sitting beside you, about the highlights of your first seven years. That was the first I had heard of it.

To Be Continued...

Surprise, Surprise

Peace and quiet are rare events in families with small children, and maybe in families with not so small children, but the last few weeks have been full of those resonant moments that can be life-changing.

Submitted for your inspection, the curious case of Jiejie and her new pal from the after-school chess class. We invited the new pal for a play date and met her older sis, mom and dad. It turns out that Mom and Dad are from China, Sis was born in the U.S. and Jiejie's friend was adopted from China. When they had gone, I swept Jiejie up into my arms and gave her a hug. "Isn't it amazing that your friend is adopted, too?" I said.

Jiejie, veteran of many "little talks," guest of honor at five Happy Adoption Day parties and traveler to five China Sisters reunions of adoptive families looked up, wide-eyed.

"I'm adopted?"

Meimei the Dream-Catcher

Another conversation with Meimei. This morning, she was eating the second batch of turkey bacon Daddy made after Joyce the Cat managed to nab the first.

A native American dream-catcher, brought down from Clare's room, was on the table, and Davyn abd I were talking about dreams.

"Know what my good dream is, Mama?" she asked.

"Tell me," I said.

"About dogs!" she squealed.

"And when you have a bad dream what is that about?"

"Cats stealing bacon!"

Meimei's Latest Hit

Meimei is a singer, a sort of minstrel or roving librettist. But a few of her numbers have been codified lately. Presented for your delectation:

Don't Wake Up

Don't wake up if the dog bites.
I not worry.
Because I loooovvveee doooogggs.

(repeat until someone applauds).

Calling Cat Heaven

Meimei still misses Raptor, our longtime tabby who died many months ago. I overheard her talking on her pink plastic cell phone in a tearful voice.
"Raptor, come back. I miss you all the times." She cried into the phone a little.
"You are died. You come back. I love you."
The phone snapped shut and we had a nice snuggle and a little talk about Raptor.
Meimei feels connections intensely and shows a great deal of compassion and empathy toward humans, animals and even stuffed animals.
I hope I can protect that little heart from breaking.

Hit the Road, Jack

On the way home from a President's Weekend trip to Philadelphia! (The faux cheetah bags are Jiejie's. The floppy puppy is the newest dog in Meimei's stuffed animal family, Silly.

Skating Away

I took Jiejie to her ice-skating class today for the first time. It was her third class, and she bravely took to the ice with a large group of flailing fledglings. She was upright most of the time, going forward and backward, doing "snowplows" and giving a little hop between glides. The tentativeness of the baby we brought home, and the toddler who struggled against her sensory processing issues were hardly visible. At her instruction, I stayed in one place so she could see me, although she did not dare wave.
Nothing could have wiped that smile from my face; it gave way once to a bit of a wince when there was a five-kid pileup on the ice.

When we got home, Jiejie and Meimei discovered they could watch Meimei's "Max and Ruby" DVD in French, so they did. Jiejie had her French dictionary (with pictures) in hand and began constructing quiz questions with some of the words, while Meimei kept her eyes on her pal Max.
"Pourquoi?" said Meimei, imitating Max.

And I squeezed her a little tighter because she can't skate away quite so fast -- yet.

Faces From the Past

Jiejie was proud last week to be helping a student who is new to her school. The little girl, Elissa, "looks just like me!" Jiejie told us excitedly. I asked her what that meant. She took her long, shiny hair and folded it up around her shoulders. "Just look at me. Her hair is like mine only this short. Her face is like mine."

This was the first time Jiejie has made a visual observation aloud about being Asian, an important step in building a strong identity as a Chinese-American girl. I have worried a lot that this might be something she learns on the playground in a difficult moment instead of observing it on her own. After all, when we watched Martin Luther King on TV when she was 5, when we stayed up late on election night, when we sat raptly watching the inauguration, Jiejie spoke sympathetically of the inequality black Americans had endured at the hands of "white people" like us. She often put her arm up to mine to show how closely our skin colors "matched." But as she gazed at me with the news of her classmate it was clear that Jiejie identified with her so fully that by changing her own hair she became Elissa.

I think she is on her way to understanding, really understanding inside, where she comes from, the first step to becoming who she is.