As usual, the holiday season has kept us busy and has left me little time to post anything. With 2009 coming to a close, I thought I’d take the time to summarize the month of December in one post.
The start of the usual holiday chaos came at Thanksgiving. Wai-puo (Grandma Wang) came in from Beijing for a week and helped us host our first “formal” dinner in the “new” house. Our friends Chuck and Harriet, along with their mom, and Jack, Cara, and Ben joined us for turkey gorging. Everyone seemed to have a fun time, especially Zoe, who has really become a social creature in the last couple of months.


Shortly after Thanksgiving, we noticed that Zoe suddenly exploded with her vocabulary. She has always. Someone asked us how many words she can say, and I just guessed with about 20. But when we started listing them out, we realized it was a lot more than 20. She still construct sentences with babbles, but she can really say certain words clearly. We’ve also noticed that she will immediately repeat a word after we say it, so I guess now we really have to watch what we’re saying around her!
In the middle of the month, we took a trip to Illinois. We first drove down to Champaign for an early Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Stout. Although the weather was a bit on the chilly side, it was great to see everyone, including Aunt Heather who drove over from Lafayette with the dogs, Dera and Belle. Zoe loved having the big dogs around, and she even tried to help with carrying Belle, a 70 lb greyhound, after watching her aunt carry Dera, a much lighter dog, out to the car. Zoe surprised us all when we went to church to hear Grandma Ann speak about her trip to Malawi, and Zoe sat quietly through the service. We also helped set up Skype at the house so hopefully we’ll get to “see” them more in the future!


We then drove up to Chicago to see my aunt and uncle, grandma, and cousins Eileen and Cecilia. Zoe hadn’t seen Eileen since she was 8 months old, but she immediately grew attached to Eileen. Even after the trip, when we were back at home in Portland, Zoe constantly asked for Eileen. Unfortunately, we won’t see her again until May.
Christmas was celebrated in Portland with Grandma Pauline and Aunt Heather, who both came to town to be with us. Santa was very good to Zoe this year, and she had absolutely no difficulties with the concept of opening presents. She even opened some early when I wasn’t looking and helped the rest of us open ours. Thank you to everyone who were generous enough to include Zoe on their Christmas list! She may be too young to fully appreciate gesture, but we certainly do!



Zoe’s friend Iris and their parents Teresa and Dave came for Christmas dinner. They behaved as usual with their fighting for each other’s snacks, but they surprised us all when the two girls started to hug and kiss each other. It was a sweet moment caught on camera, even up to the point where Zoe got a bit overzealous and knocked Iris onto the hard wood floor.


It’s a been a fun-filled December, and I’m looking forward to a relaxing start of the new year. But I must admit a small part of me is sad to have the whirlwind come to an end. The holidays have always been an opportunity to be with family, but this year, with Zoe a little older and a little more aware, I’ve really come to cherish these moments. I feel incredibly lucky to be loved by such a wonderful family.
