Monday, April 14, 2008
CLUBB FAMILY UPDATE

It is so hard to believe we are writing our one year update! As all parents probably feel at some point, it seems like we have had Ainsley forever, but it also feels like it was just yesterday that we were settling in as a family of four. Last year on this day, we were united as a family as David and Ainsley returned home from China to meet back with Shannon and little 5-week-old Griffin. We had many friends and family join us at the Pittsburgh airport for the reunion and first meeting between Shannon and Ainsley.

Thinking back to those initial days reminds us of how far we have all really come – how a quiet, solemn-faced little girl grew into a spunky, smiling 2-year old; how our newborn son grew into a walking, climbing, eating machine; and how we as parents continue to settle in more and more from those new days of a parenthood fog to having a year of parenting under our belts! There is much we can already look back on and wish we would have done differently, yet at the same time, we are proud of how our family is growing, learning, and adapting together.
 

Ainsley turned 24 months – TWO YEARS old – on April 5! Did we mention that already?! Besides Ainsley’s birthday and first haircut, another big highlight this month was picking out her brand new potty chair! She actually learned pretty quickly and was using it once a day for about a week and a half before something caused her to seem afraid of going in it and so now we’re just kind of giving her some time before trying again. Even so, she still asks to go “ba” (bathroom), but then she gets herself so worked up when she really starts to go that it ends up being just a lot of screaming and crying.

She had a great 2-year check up with our wonderful pediatrician who was very impressed at how relaxed and friendly Ainsley was – something he said is totally not the norm for a two-year-old’s visit. She is healthy and doing great developmentally. She weighed 22 pounds and 4 ounces, which is less than ½ pound more than her “little” brother, Griffin, who recently weighed in at 21 pounds 13 ounces (and that was 3 weeks earlier). Ainsley remains at 5% on the weight chart and 25% on the height chart, so she is a petite little girl! But, believe us, she carries a lot of energy and a strong presence in that little frame!

Ainsley now asks daily if we can go to the slide, even being quite specific as to which slide she wants to go to – the one at the “mall” or “playground” (during the winter we went to the indoor playground at the mall when it was too cold outside). She loves to slide and run and play and has gotten much braver in the last few weeks, attempting new slides or tunnels on her own as we stand back and watch! Just a few months ago, she would insist on not going on the new slides or insist that one of us go with her. Now she just takes off and goes, which we feel is another sign of her comfort, security and adventurous spirit too.

She loves to sing. Her three current favorites are Happy Birthday, Jesus Loves Me, and The Wheels on the Bus. She also loves to hear music (asking “nic?” when she wants to hear some) and still loves to dance. She likes to point out the things she sees when we are in the car – bus, truck, house, church, etc. She has also learned to recognize the concept of more than one of something. So, if we are driving and see two buses, two babies, etc., she will proudly say “baby…baby….two baby!” She is putting more and more words together to form short sentences and she often talks all day long! One of her other favorite things to do is go through her list of familiar people, pretending they are in her toy car or asking if they will be at the park or if they are on the other end of the telephone. She is a social little girl who has made a big journey this past year of her life.

We still marvel at the fact that somehow this little life born in China made her way to our home to become our daughter. Looking back at the photos really shows how much she has changed in this past year, looking more like a toddler now than when she first came home (although at the time we thought she looked so old because all we knew was 5-week old Griffin) and showing life behind her eyes rather than a sad little face. We are so thankful she has adapted so well up to this point and that she can feel safe and secure and love being at home with her family.
 

Griffin turned 13 months old on April 9. He is an adventurer and a daredevil at heart. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to climb up and sit on top of the new table-and-chair set we got Griffin and Ainsley. And he proudly smiles and laughs when he conquers these obstacles and stands triumphantly atop his Mount Everest (i.e., the table), where he knows he is not supposed to be! He has figured out how to climb up the back of our couches and chairs. He discovered how to climb UP the slide at the playground (something his Daddy taught him) and slide right back down, repeating it over and over. It really is amazing how much strength and balance he has to muster up to do this. You would be amazed if you watched him with his little toes gripping the slide as he leverages his way up. And after doing this successfully several times this past weekend, he then tried to just casually walk right up the slide. But he soon realized he is a little too big for his britches and went back to a crab crawl up it! He also usually opts for climbing over ledges when available rather than taking steps or normal method of getting down from things.

Just in the last few days he has shown a new big interest in books and will bring one of us a book and plop himself down on our lap and listen to it over and over and over again! He does not tire of the same pictures and story and likes to point out the familiar things each time. Griffin’s vocabulary and ways of communicating are also increasing. He says “thank you,” barks when he sees a dog, quacks when he sees a duck, says “yuck-yuck,” pretends he is wiping his hands off when he wants to get down from the dinner table, and probably much more than we can really keep track of!

He loves chasing his sister around and has started mimicking some of what she does, occasionally putting his face in the water in the bathtub, pretending to go “night-night,” and just giggling away. The best sound in the world is the sound of the two of them contentedly playing and laughing together! It is so sweet. Griffin also tries to sing along to some songs. And we can actually catch on to when he is trying to sing The Wheels on the Bus. He loves to dance too.

Basically, Griffin is a man on the move and is constantly into something (unless he’s standing at our front door watching the cars go by, which is another favorite pastime for him) – discovering, playing, laughing, and loving life! It is hard to believe how much can change in a short year from the tiny baby he was last year at this time to the active child with an amazing personality now. We love him and his adventurous spirit!

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

● Ainsley's "Gotcha Day" – One year ago, on April 3, 2007, David held Ainsley in his arms for the very first time in China. We spent this special day this year, April 3, 2008, reflecting and being thankful for Ainsley. We went with Meme and Grandpa and had a special lunch at PF Chang's – the same place Shannon and Griffin celebrated this special day a year before while they were at home in Pittsburgh and David and the “traveling Grandmas” were in China.

This is our final update to this site, which has been a wonderful resource to us this past year and beyond as we shared our journey with friends and family who live far away. We have much appreciation for the folks at My Adoption Website. They did not simply treat us as customers. They entered into our excitement and our journey. And for that, we are grateful.

And thank you to all of you who have played a role in our life and our children’s lives throughout this entire season – from the time we made the decision to adopt (coincidentally on April 3, 2005, 2 years to the date before “Gotcha Day in China,” April 3, 2007), to discovering we were also pregnant (and letting people know via a mysterious picture of a message written in the sand while we were on vacation in Jamaica), to the ups and downs during the adoption waiting (which ended up being much longer than we thought), to the ups and downs of becoming new parents, and much, much more. You are all so very special to us and we cherish the support and encouragement you have offered us each step of the way. And, while we will never know her, we are so thankful to Ainsley’s birth mother who for whatever reason chose life for the child she was carrying – who is now this beautiful, sweet, smiling little girl we can call our daughter!

Love,
David, Shannon, Ainsley, and Griffin