Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

What a year! In February we celebrated Jess's 2nd anniversary of her Gotcha Day. I cannot believe she's been home almost 3 years now! Someone asked me last night if I had trouble teaching her English when she came home. Mmmm....no, her speech is quite good and sometimes advanced. When she came home at 17 months, all she understood was Mandarin of course, but children pick up languages very quickly; that is why we should be teaching new langauges way before high school or middle school. Jess knows a little ASL as does Jason which is what I used when we were transitioning from Mandarin to English as it's easier to learn. This summer I had the chance to visit with family I don't know well in CA as well as some I do. We toured San Francisco with my brother and then caught up with cousins from my father's side of the family. We also got to catch up with Sharon, Dan and Keira who were part of our adoption group. The last few months of 2009 have been difficult. My mom had surgery this summer for a twisted hiatel hernia and has gone downhill quickly since then. We don't know if it's the anesthesia from the surgery (read since then that that can accelerate dementia in the elderly), the brain bleed she has, or if this would have happened without either of those things. I'm grateful she still remembers her children and her grandchildren although the details fluctuate (she thought Jess was 6, she thinks I work where I did when I was 16) but it is painful to see how lost she is. A year ago she was living in an assisted living apartment, now she's in an alzheimers unit in a nursing home.

On a happier note, my neighbor had some people over last night and I was thrilled to go. I don't drive on New Years Eve. There are too many crazies out there. Jess took a late nap (got up at 7:30) and I took her over since Mike was working. She took a bit to warm up as usual but after half an hour, she was talking to all the adults and playing with Deb's cat. We left about 10:30 and Jess was not happy about that. She wanted to stay but Jason was at home so I wanted to get back. We saw the New Years in together with noisemakers, hats, and sparkling apple cider.

Here's to 2010!!