An Online Journal of Our Adoption Journey

One Year Gotcha Day Reunion

April 18, 2004
At twelve months since returning from China we are extremely pleased with how well everything is going with our little family.  Autumn is happy, curious, willful, smart, and at ease.  She is a joy.

Routine
We try hard to keep a constant routine with Autumn so she'll feel secure in her environment.  That goes for meals, nap and bedtimes, and in the small chores of bath, changing, dressing, and getting into the car.  I truly believe small children thrive on routine.  Autumn certainly is.

Every other day she gets a plain, one egg omelet for breakfast.  On the other days she alternates between yogurt, oatmeal, or a waffle.  On workdays I take her to daycare where she spends the day with kids in her same age bracket.  At 4 Lise picks Autumn up on her bicycle and the two come home by way of the playground.  Dinner is usually chicken with noodles or rice, beef stew, fish sticks, or a sliced hot dog in ramen noodle soup.  We try to give her a half a jar of vegi baby food before the main course.  

Autumn is still a big eater, although she refuses certain types of food more than before.  Her favorite fruit is banana, but doesn't really like any other fruit.  She likes baby carrots, but that's about it in the vegetable department.  But she has been putting up with the baby food vegetables.

The past three months with Autumn have gone quickly.  She had another nasty cold, one that affected her stomach this time, as well as her nose and chest.  And right now she has a runny nose that might be a sinus infection.  

"No" is no longer her favorite word, or so it would seem.  "Mine" has now taken over.  My Milk, My Chair, My Daddy, My Mommy, My Everything.  Sometimes it's Autumn's Chair, or Autumn's Milk, but whatever it is, personal ownership is a concept she now knows well indeed.  And she loves to quickly claim other people's stuff as hers as well.  

She is also fond of saying "Happy to."  That's her shortening of "Happy Birthday to you."  We've had a number of parties in the last few months and she loves them.  So anytime it looks like we might be celebrating something she's quick to say Happy To Daddy, or Happy To Mommy, or, (her favorite) Happy To Autumn!

Last week we went to a Gotcha Day Reunion with the families that traveled to China together.  It was held in Las Vegas and six of the eight families managed to come!  Autumn, and us, really enjoyed seeing all the other kids.  All have grown and developed wonderfully.  I'm including the best pictures that I took here. 

We stayed at the Luxor Resort, visited the Lied Children's Museum, and had a reunion dinner at P.F. Chang's.  All went well, with only a few minor problems, and it was great to see everyone.  Hopefully we'll do another reunion next year.  

Reunion Photos