Life Around Here

Making up for four years of
no hair accessories in one day!

Life has been pretty good around here lately. Johanna is becoming more comfortable day by day...more words, less whining, fewer meltdowns, etc. She picks up on things very quickly and can already sing along and do the motions to several songs, including the alphabet, "Itsy Bitsy Spider," "Wheels on the Bus," "Little Bunny Fufu," and more. She understands a ton and talks up a storm at home with us (often a mix of Mandarin and English), but she's still basically silent out in public or around others. We're happy that she's learned the word "yes" in addition to "no," though her words that end in "s" often have a "ch" sound to them, so "yes" is more like "yetch."

Dressed up for our mother-daughter date!

We've been able to take Johanna on a few more outings, and they've gone well. Last weekend, we had a mother-daughter outing to a Chinese New Year show put on by performers from her province in China (totally coincidental that they were in Denver)! She loved the music and dancing, and we had a nice girly night out.

Some day Johanna will be doing this, right?!

On Valentine's Day, Johanna came with me to Jonas's party at school, and she enjoyed sitting next to him for some snacks. We had a pretty relaxing evening at home with a heart-shaped pizza and a living room dance party, but we did get out for some ice cream that afternoon.

Despite her expression here,
she was actually having fun!

On Wednesday, after a bit of coaxing, Johanna actually participated in gymnastics class with Jonas, and she had a great time! It was cute to see her so proud of herself for doing it. Can't wait for her to do it again this week!


















Johanna had an ophthalmology appointment last week, and her eyes look great, so she won't be twinsies with Jonas in the glasses department at this point. She also caught up on immunizations with eight shots at once (ugh!). Zack took her to the appointment, and apparently she actually cried out appropriately when they stuck her. It's weird to be kind of happy about that! We're still battling the molluscum on her face with various remedies.

Johanna has been to church twice now, just sitting with us and taking it all in. She likes watching the musicians and trying to figure out what's going on up front, so she wants to be held a lot so she can see. Playing on the playground outside afterward is also a nice perk!
















Jonas and Johanna are still two peas in a pod. They play hide and seek on their own, build forts together, and fight like siblings who've been together forever! Yesterday they went to a birthday party with Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and it was pretty adorable. Johanna did remarkably well, mostly because Jonas was there and she feels comfortable around him.















Johanna's mattress is still downstairs next to our bed, and it will be for the foreseeable future. I stay with her until she falls asleep, but then I often go back upstairs to watch a show with Zack or do something else before bed. The other night, she woke up when I was already gone, and she freaked out. So obviously that fear of abandonment is still there, understandably. But the major meltdowns are far and few between now and of a much shorter duration.













So overall, things are getting easier day by day. I'm not sure how many more of these update posts I'll be doing, as we're kind of settling into "normal life," and my Instagram account has basically become my much-easier-to-update daily picture log with captions that tell what we're up to. I will have a couple more general adoption posts about our experience. But check out my Instagram account HERE if you're interested in keeping up with the Keys!