My sister is 11!

------ In front of Disneyland-----------------------------------------------------I am too tired to stay awake--------

-----Yay, my sister (jiejie) is 11!-------------------------------------------------I also like my sister's Mickey Mouse doll---------

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Isn't my sister's earring pretty? ----------------------------- I am dancing and singing a song I learned from preschool-------

丽亚昨天过了11岁生日。 我们的大学老同学正好到南加州来开会，我们开车把她送到迪斯尼附近的宾馆，然后走到迪斯尼一条街给丽亚买了个米老鼠玩具。安娜这期间一直在睡觉。今天我又领着丽亚和她的好朋友去扎了耳朵眼儿， 这也是丽亚在几个月前就要的生日礼物。安娜也跟着去了，她感到很害怕，我问她是否也要扎耳朵眼儿，她赶紧把两个耳朵捂上，大声说不要。 Leah turned 11 on the 25th. Our old college friend came down to Southern California for a conference, so we drove her to her hotel. The hotel was right next to Disneyland, so we walked to downtown Disney and Leah picked a Mickey Mouse stuffed animal as her birthday gift. Anna was sleeping pretty much the whole time while we were wandering around. We also took Leah and her friend to have their ears pierced as a birthday present. Anna was scared about it, and when I asked if she also wanted to do it, she covered her ears and immediately said "no."

East coast vacation

我们全家刚刚从东海岸度假回来。安娜玩得很开心，当然了，她最喜欢的还是各种吃的和甜食。尤其是两顿“包肥”(buffet), 她不知吃了多少螃蟹腿。 她也非常喜欢去纽约时代广场的巧克力豆店，玩具店，及冰激凌店。我们都很享受观看百老汇的歌舞表演。看完演出时，都已经半夜了，可令人吃惊的是时代广场周围还是人山人海，纽约真是个不夜城。说起时代广场，我就笑自己真是一个乡下人。 我们就住在广场边上，来到这儿，我就找广场在哪儿， 一说到广场，我就想起了天安门广场，我左看右看，也没有看到广场的迹象，就问先生，广场在哪儿，他说“别逗了，这条街就是大名顶顶的时代广场啊."

这趟旅行，我们还见到了大学及研究生时的好友，他们都很喜欢安娜，我们也参观了东部的几所大学，哥哥明年就要上大学了， 这些校园介绍及向导游览，是个很好的了解大学的机会。总之，这趟旅行，玩得很愉快，给我们留下了美好的记忆。

We just got back from our East Coast family vacation. Anna loved the trip, especially the food and sweets. She loved visiting the M&M'S store, Toys R Us, and the ice cream store at Times Square in New York City. She was very excited to see all the new places. We also had a great time watching Mary Poppins on Broadway. It was almost midnight when the show finished, and the streets were still completely full of people, which was amazing.

We visited several of our college and graduate school friends and they all enjoyed meeting Anna. We also visited colleges in Boston, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia because David is going to college next year, and this was a good opportunity for him to get a feel for the colleges he is considering. All in all, we made many memories and had a great time.

First dentist appoinment

-------------------Waiting for my turn------------------------------------------------------I can do it--------------------

------I am too tired ---------------------------------------------My swim suit fits well (that is a toy between my legs)

----------------I want to have ice cream--------------------------------------Forget about it. Mama, I can almost do the splits!------------

今天，我们全家去看牙医，先是让安娜看姐姐怎样洗牙，然后告诉她也要一样的洗。安娜表现得出人意料的好，她两个小手背在身后，躺在椅子上，给她洗牙，检查，她都特别配合。牙医和他的助理都非常惊讶， 说从来没有遇到过三岁孩子表现得这么好。检查结果，居然一个虫牙也没有。姐姐象她这么大时，有8颗虫牙。看完牙后，我们去给安娜买游泳衣，因为从下周开始，她的学校有玩水日。 由于看牙，安娜没有午睡，到了商店她已经悃坏了，坐在购物车上就睡着了，我们赶紧把她抱到下面躺下睡，她睡了有一小时。
安娜还会时不时的发小脾气。前两天，她要吃冰激灵，因为快到晚饭时间了，我没让她吃，她开始缠着我要，见我不给就躺在沙发上生气。不过没几分钟，她就又蹦又跳了，还练习劈腿给我看。真是来得快，去得也快。
Today, we visited the dentist. Anna did a wonderful job, she did everything the dentist asked her to do without making any fuss. The dentist and his assistant were very amazed that Anna was so cooperative. Knowing that she eats a lot of sweets, we were very surprised that she doesn't have any cavities. That was great news because when Leah was her age, she had 8 cavities. After that, we went to Target to get Anna a swim suit since she will have water days at her preschool. She was so exhausted since it was way passed her nap time, she fell asleep while sitting in the shopping cart, so we lifted her into the bigger basket. She seemed to be very comfortable and slept for an hour.
Anna still occasionally throws fits. The other day, I didn't let her to eat ice cream since we were about to have dinner. First she just pouted and whined and then she ran to the couch and tried to ignore me. But she gets over her tantrums very quickly, which is an improvement。 Just a few minutes later, she shouted at me that she was doing splits. All in all, Anna is doing great.

Learning the alphabet

最近，安娜突然对英文字母很感兴趣，这26个字母中。她能认出21个。我领她到外面散步时，她经常停在各种路标前，汽车牌照前，及她所有能注意到的标记前，大声的念这些字母。前两天，她突然跑到我这儿，给我看她写的字母，"A", "N", "L", 和 "D"，我真是欣喜万分，这小家伙居然自学成材，我真得吹吹牛了，我为她感到骄傲！Recently, Anna has become very interested in learning the alphabet. Out of the 26 letters, she can now recognize 21 of them. Whenever she sees the alphabet, for example, when we go out for a walk, she stops in front of a "STOP" sign, a car's license plate, and pretty much any letters she notices. She will point to them and spell them out loudly. She also started learning to write on her own. The other night, she showed me a few letters she wrote: “"A","N", "L" and "D". I am so proud of her.

Happy 4th of July!

Heading to Doheny State Beach ------------------------------------------I am ready for a full day of fun

我们同两家大学老同学去了橙县的州立海滩庆祝美国独立日。 俩个老同学一大早不到8点就到了海边，他们占到了最好的地方， 还有一个野餐桌子，架起了遮阳棚。我们于11点钟到达。大人孩子都高高兴兴的晚了一整天，大家带了各种饭菜， 一起野餐， 真香啊！ 安娜一直喜欢在游乐园玩儿，大的孩子在海边玩水和游戏。晚上9点一刻，开始放烟火，烟火是从海里的船上打出来的，我们坐在一个至高点上观看，景色非常壮观， 迷人， 持续了有30分钟。安娜觉得很新奇，看得很开心。看完后坐在汽车里已经10点多了，她还说个不停。可是几分钟后，她突然就没了动静，我一看已经进入梦乡了。到家时已经快11点了。 We went to Doheny State Beach in Orange County to meet two of our college classmates and their families to celebrate the 4th of July. Our classmates got there early in the morning in order to find a picnic table and a good spot. We got there at about 11 am. We all had a lot of fun playing games for the whole day. Anna enjoyed playing on the playground and the older girls enjoyed playing in the water. The boys enjoyed playing the board games. Anna was impressed when the fireworks show started from a boat in the ocean at around 9:15 pm. The fireworks lasted for about 30 minutes and we all walked quite a bit to our car. Anna was still very excited talking non-stop when she sat in her car seat, then a few minutes later, she suddenly became quiet and fell asleep. We didn't get home until almost 11 pm.

My brother turns 16

-----Yay, my brother is 16! -----------------------------------------------------“A"is for Anna

---- Our family's favorite dish, peanuts with anchovies-------

安娜这个星期和哥哥一起过了16岁生日。上个周末爷爷奶奶请我们全家在一家中餐馆吃饭，生日当天，我们又去了Pat and Oscar's 吃了晚饭，一是给哥哥过生日，同时也为了给我们当地“领养中国孩子家庭基金会" 捐款。今天，哥哥请了几个好朋友到家里来玩游戏。 安娜自己一边玩儿，一边看哥哥们玩儿，安娜最喜欢的玩具是小磁铁棒，可以搭各种形状，她经常自己没完没了地搭着玩儿。

Anna enjoyed several occasions celebrating gege's 16th birthday. Grandma and grandpa took all of us to a nice Chinese restaurant last weekend. On his birthday, the 25th, we went to Pat and Oscar's to have dinner, also as part of a fundraiser for our local FCC (Families with Children from China). Today, gege invited a few of his friends over to play games. Anna was playing with her own toys while watching the boys. Her most favorite toy is definitely the Supermag magnetic sticks, which she plays with all the time.

First Father's Day

An "I love dad" mug made in a ceramics store, and Anna's card for daddy

安娜在她的幼儿园作了一张“父亲节快乐！”的卡片。 我看见这张卡片告诉她是给爸爸的。她马上说：“不给，是我的。”我知道她还不明白父亲节的意思，于是跟她解释，后来终于明白了，很高兴得把卡片给了爸爸。今天早上一起来，我就让她跟爸爸说“爸爸节日快乐！”。
Anna made a "Happy Father's Day" card at her preschool. When she brought the card home on Friday and I told her the card is for daddy. She immediately said: "No, mine". I explained to her about what Father's Day meant and she finally got it ,and was happy to give the card to daddy. This morning, she said: "Happy BABA Day" to daddy, and I know she understands it.

What we have been working on with Anna

Here is what Anna looked like when we didn't let her to blow bubbles

我一直都在讲安娜是多么好。 可能你会问：“她总是那么高兴吗？她总是那么好带吗？”。 当然不是。有的时候，她也很气人。以下几个方面，我们一直在帮安娜改进：

1.分享：安娜很多时候看到自己喜欢吃的或玩儿的东西，自己把着，不愿跟我们大家分享，我们一直在教她，我们家的东西都是大家一起用的。吃的东西不用怕不够，只要合理，一定会吃够。

2. 忽视：有时我们告诉安娜不应该做什么事情，她会装作没听见。 例如，在商店里，我们告诉她不要乱跑，她却装作没听见，一如既往的向前跑。
3. 倔强：有时我们告诉安娜如何正确的做某件事，她却连说“不不”，继续按她自己的一套干。
4. 大嗓门儿：安娜嗓门特别大。 时常不管场合，大声说话。有时去餐馆吃饭，她会突然大声发 表评论，如果我们不理她，她会声音越来越大。记得我们还在杭州时，去博物馆参观，里面静极了，她却突然一嗓子大叫：“啊。。。。。”。结果把旁边的工作人员下的一哆嗦，告诉我们，她再这样大喊， 就得出去。现在，我们每次去书店，图书馆，钢琴或芭蕾舞课，都得事先告诉她一定要安静。所以，安娜有时会很让人生气，但是她好得很快，嘴又甜，真是让人恨不起来。
It seems like I have only been praising Anna. Maybe you will ask “Is she always happy? Is she always easy going?” I would say, “Absolutely not! She does get difficult sometimes.” So what are the things we are still working on with her?

1. SHARING: Anna tends to hold on to things she likes and doesn’t want to share with the rest of us. We have been teaching her that most of the stuff in our house is for everybody to use. She is getting a lot better and most of the time she shares things after we explain to her.
2. IGNORING: Sometime, Anna ignores us if we tell her something she doesn’t like. For example, when we tell her not to run in a grocery store, she keeps on running even though we know she can hear us.
3. STUBBORNESS: Sometimes we tell Anna how to do something correctly, but she keeps on doing it her own way and keeps saying no to us.
4. LOUDNESS: Anna has a very loud voice. Sometimes, it can be good, but other times she needs to have a quiet voice. When we eat at a restaurant, she starts talking very loudly and if we don’t respond, she talks even louder. When we first got her, when we visited a quiet museum, all of a sudden, she yelled: “Ahh! Ahh!” and the museum staff told us that we had to leave if she kept on shouting. Now, when we go into a bookstore, a library or piano and ballet lessons, we have to tell her "Shhh….." She is much better now.

So, yes, Anna can be difficult sometimes, but she is very sweet and we love her so much.

Visiting the cardiologist

------------------------------------------ Watering the garden --------------------------

-------- I worte "A" again --------------------------------------Playing in Mission Bay Park----

-------I can't get down, help! ------

前两天，哥哥讲了一个笑话，说一个太太叫醒她的丈夫说“比尔，醒一醒，该吃安眠药了！” 我们都觉得很好笑。结果今天安娜闹了类似的笑话。今天早上姐姐在睡觉，我们告诉安娜不要大声把姐姐吵醒了。结果不久，姐姐就起来了，告诉我们安娜小声在她耳边叫“姐姐，姐姐”。看到姐姐睁开眼睛，她赶紧把手指放在嘴前“嘘！嘘!”。 把我们笑得够呛。

另外，这个星期，安娜去了两次儿童医院， 做了各种心脏检查， 包括心电图，X-光照像及彩色超声波检查。安娜还真是见多识广，这些检查在她身上贴放各种电极，涂抹导电胶，她居然没有任何反对，非常配合， 真是出乎我们的预料。尤其是超声波检查，用了将近一小时，变换各种姿势，她居然非常配合。 当然了，检查过程中，天花板上放着电影《功夫熊猫》。检查结果，一切都正常。医生和护士跟我们说，安娜虽然只有三岁，可她见过得医生和经过的各种检查，比我们大人都多，这一切对她来说，都习已为常了。想到这小家伙的经历，很让人心疼。医生跟我们说：“你们非常幸运，这小家伙非常健康.” 是啊，我们一直觉得非常幸运，安娜给我们带来的快乐，何以言表！
A few days ago, David told us a joke that a servant who woke his master up and said: “Sir, it's time to take your sleeping pills.” We all laughed about it. Coincidentially, Anna did something similar today. This morning when Leah was still sleeping, we told Anna to speak softly and not to wake her sister up. A few minutes later, Leah woke up and came downstairs, telling us that Anna was whispering by her ear “Jie Jie, Jie Jie (sister in Chinese)”. When Leah opened her eyes, she put her finger in front of her mouth, and went "Shhh, shhh."

This week, we took Anna to the Children’s hospital twice to have a thorough cardiology exam. The hospital performed an EKG, an X-ray, an Echocardiogram (ECHO) and a few other exams on her. To our surprise, Anna was very cooperative during all the exams, Especially the ECHO, since it took almost an hour and they put electrodes and gel all over her body. She didn’t complain at all and seemed to be very comfortable about it. Of course, she was watching “Kung Fu Panda” while they tested her. We were so happy that everything turned out to be normal. The doctor and nurses told us that although Anna is only 3 years old, she has probably seen more doctors than we have in our whole lives. The doctor also said to us that we are very lucky since she is such a healthy girl. We completely agree with what the doctor told us. We are very fortunate to have Anna, and she has brought so much joy to our lives.