Photos: Exercise Ball

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Lydia loves playing with her mom's exercise ball.

On this night, we brought it from its usual downstairs location to the upper landing area for Lydia.

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Doesn't Lydia look like she's enjoying herself?

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Lydia kissing the exercise ball.


Note: All these pictures were taken on August 12, 2007 in the upper landing area of our home.

Alderbrook Resort

October 12, 2007


Alderbrook Resort


SiowFong took leave today for two reasons. The first reason was so that we could have a family portrait done at Yuen Lui, and the second reason was so that we could leave town to spend today (Friday) and tomorrow (Saturday) at the Alderbrook Resort in Union, Washington.

Alderbrook Resort, a former retreat center, is located on the Olympic Peninsula about halfway between Bremerton to the north and Shelton to the south. Phil and Alison Wallace recommended this hotel to SiowFong as they had enjoyed staying there with their two young sons a few years ago.

The website for the resort describes the place as follows:

“Nestled on the scenic shores of Hood Canal just two hours from Seattle, Washington, Alderbrook Resort & Spa is a world away from the everyday. Our newly renovated resort offers a variety of luxurious accommodations, state-of-the-art conference and event facilities, a full service spa, and a first-class restaurant. And it's all in one convenient - not to mention breath taking - location. It's no wonder Alderbrook has become the Northwest's premier destination for both leisure travelers and conference retreat planners. Visit Alderbrook, and you'll be surrounded by spectacular views of the Olympic Mountains and the Hood Canal - a glacier-carved fjord more than 60 miles long. Eagles and osprey frequent our area, as do playful harbor seals. And the canal's glistening water is world renowned for scuba diving and a rich abundance of sea life, including oysters, mussels, and salmon.”

On our first day here, we relaxed. During part of the afternoon, SiowFong sat near the bay window while Lydia was playing near her. Later we ate a leisurely dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the neighboring town called Belfair. After supper, we saw a vivid sunset on the way back to the resort.

Lydia seemed to like the hotel, especially walking fast down the corridor following her mother on the way to our room. To help her to adjust to her new temporary surroundings, we followed Lydia’s regular schedule at home with respect to meal times and bedtime. (The hotel also provided a crib for Lydia.)

Photos: Chickens and Ducks

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Lydia was initially interested in the ducks.

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Lydia, however, lost all interest in the ducks when she saw this white chicken, whom she relentlessly pursued for ten minutes.

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Here's the white chicken running away from Lydia.

Note: SiowFong took all of these pictures on August 22, 2007 at the Country Village in Bothell, WA.

Matisse

October 12, 2007


Matisse

SiowFong, Lydia, and I first met Matisse eight and a half months ago when Lydia had her first portraits done at Yuen Lui at its Alderwood Mall location. We returned to that same studio in March for family portraits with Ma Wee, in July for Lydia’s portraits, and in August for Lydia’s portrait, and during those three occasions, Beryl, the studio’s permanent photographer, took the pictures.

Because Beryl had made so many of our pictures this year, SiowFong and I wanted to see what our experience would be like at another location, so we booked our family portrait that occurred this morning at 9:30 AM at the company’s Roosevelt studio. After we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to see Matisse again.

We asked Matisse why we had not seen her at the Alderwood site during our return visits there earlier this year, and she explained that she is the Roosevelt studio’s permanent photographer and had been working for Yuen Lui for the last two years. She added that she only works at Alderwood when they need extra assistance.

We were once again impressed with our twenty minute session with Matisse. Making portraits of other people’s children can be a hard task, but Matisse demonstrated her chemistry with children as she was able to prompt Lydia to smile and to laugh during many of today’s photos. She also evidenced her attention to detail. She notified us several times during the session when she saw anything that was out of place with respect to our posture, clothing, or facial expression that would diminish the quality of the photo; as a result, we made corrections before she clicked the shutter. Finally, she did her work in an unhurried, but efficient fashion, making about fifty portraits of us using four different backgrounds and three different sets of poses. She selected twenty-four of those for us to examine, and SiowFong remarked to me that choosing the top two portraits was a daunting task because many of them were good images. We finally decided on two, and we look forward to picking these up in two to three weeks.

Photography is part technical and part artistic, and every photographer infuses his or her own style or vision into the shots that he or she makes. SiowFong and I concur that Beryl is a good photographer, but Matisse is better; consequently, we shall be returning to the Roosevelt site for our future Yuen Lui portraits.

Photos: Ready for School

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With her right hand, Lydia is pointing to a piece of chalk that she dropped on the ground while holding an erase with her left hand and looking at her mom

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Lydia looking at the chalkboard

The doodle on the blackboard is Lydia's drawing.



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A head and shoulders view of Lydia

Note: All pictures were taken on July 24, 2007 in one of the exam rooms at the office of Dr. Julie Bledsoe, Lydia's pediatrician who specializes in adoption medicine, at the University of Washington's International Adoptoin Medicine Clinic in Seattle, WA.

A Fascination with Large Cars

October 10, 2007


A Fascination with Large Cars

One of the joys of parenting is witnessing a child’s evolving fascination with different things. For example, in Lydia’s Spanish playgroup this morning, she relished riding in the three large plastic toy cars in the room. Since we were the first to arrive at the Northshore Family Center, Lydia enjoyed these toys for the first fifteen to twenty minutes without any competition. In the room were balls, duplos (large legos), and three large plastic cars. After Lydia surveyed the choices, she immediately headed for a large car, which was about the size of those plastic cars attached to modified shopping carts that are designed for parents with small children.

After she sat in one plastic toy car that bore some resemblance to a Volkswagen beetle (this car measured about 3 feet in height and 3 feet in length), I pushed the car around the perimeter of the room, which previously was used as an auditorium. After one round, she exited the first car and climbed into the second, and then I pushed that second car around the room. Then we repeated the cycle with the third car, a smaller vehicle. After riding in the cars, Lydia also began pushing them around the room too.

Once the other eight children arrived, some competition for the cars arose. While another girl was inside the first car that looked like a Volkswagen beetle, Lydia’s favorite of the three plastic cars, Lydia opened the door and tried to climb in also. After I admonished her not to do that and to allow the other girl to play with the car, Lydia relented and found another toy to occupy her attention and time.

During the two other free play time periods in the playgroup, Lydia returned to play with the large cars. This scene reminded me of one of Lydia’s reports that we received during her referral that noted that she liked to play with small cars. From today’s activities, I know that she likes playing with big cars too.