Happy One Year, Annie!!!!


This time last year I was wide awake in the middle of the night in China on “Gotcha Day,” too excited about the fact that we were going to meet our new daughter later that morning. What a treasure this little girl has been in our lives this last year! We have watched her gain confidence over the year in herself and her role in our family, and in us. 

She has always been our little ray of sunshine (I’m seriously going to buy her a t-shirt that says, “Hugs!,” because she is just a hug waiting to happen!) However, her big brother nick named her, “Gong Zhu Bing,” which translated from Mandarin means, “Sick Princess,” or “Princess Disease.” She tends to throw her head down into her arms when she doesn’t get to do what she wants, or especially when she doesn’t get to go on an errand with one of us - oh, the sorrow!! He has now just shortened this to “Bing-Bing,” to which she always responds, “I not Bing Bing. My name Annie!”

She really loves her American name, and in fact has refused to be called her beautiful Chinese name Ji Cui (pronounced Jee tSway) since coming home. She also pretends that she doesn’t understand people when they try to speak to her in Mandarin. And, oh yes, she did know Mandarin well, as she was always quick to tell me when her little brother who came home from a different orphanage at the same time said something naughty (more on that next week when we celebrate his gotcha day!)

Annie has always been my little helper. She loves to take care of everyone, and anticipates what is needed before she is even asked to do something.  I have a feeling she got lots of praise from her nannies in China for this, because she loves to pitch in around the house, and frankly when she came home, really did not know how to do much else. She had to learn to play, learn to look at a book or even decide what to do at all. For the first months she mostly stayed glued to my side, telling me over and over again how much she loved me and asking for a hug. She is still very demonstrative and affectionate, but she is now finally able to come up with things to do on her own, pretend-play with her siblings, look at books, watch a movie, etc. 

Annie also loves school! We weren’t planning on having her go to school until the following year, but a few months after she came home we decided it was just what she needed, and boy were we right! Right off the bat she was a huge hit with the students and teachers there. The principal told me that she was the new rock star of the school! Part of this I’m sure if due to her sunny personality, but also because of her total confidence in herself there. She just goes up and talks to other kids like she knows they will like her, and they do! I have watched in awe as it happens!! These kids don’t care that she spends half the day in her general-ed. class and half in special-ed, or that she walks with a brace, or that she doesn’t quite speak English fluently yet. They just like her because she is sweet, cheerful, confident, and because she likes them!

This coming year will bring Annie two new little sisters, to whom she is very excited to become the big sister (or little mother). She loves to be in charge, and is kind of like my XO (executive officer), as she repeats my commands to her siblings just after I give them. I know that she is going to be a huge help to me, and it will be nice for her to have some other girls around since her only other sister is grown and lives a thousand miles away in another state. 

This last year has gone so very fast (much faster than the year that we had to wait for Annie to come home!) I have found myself being able to sit and enjoy hanging out, playing and laughing with the kids in a way that I don’t think I was able to as a younger mother. Even though I missed the first seven plus years with Annie that she spent in the orphanage, I am getting to cherish each day with her, watching her grow and experience new things. 

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