2 Months with Emma

Well Emma has been with us for two months and home in the US for about a month and a half. I have to say and not just because she is our daughter, but she is a remarkable young lady. I have traveled and lived over seas twice (UK and Mexico) and been to many countries, so I know how strange it can be with language, customs, food etc. Well she is one heck of a kid. Her and Sadie have really fallen into the role of being sisters. She does not let their Mom really dress or do Sadie's hair anymore, she does it and with pleasure, sometimes they each change clothes several times a day,,, like sister dress up party! Emma has also fallen in good with relatives, loves playing with her cousins Nic and Nathan, although Nic(6 yrs old) is very enamored with her and is dying to kiss her. She always tells him NO and she will bop him! By the way Nic would kiss any older girl he meets, he is a ladies man!LOL! She loves my sister Jamie and her huby Bruce and is all about Gaga(my mother.) She only spent day or two with Deanna's parents before they went home to Tennessee but we are headed up for a week at Easter and she is very excited. When I told her it would be a 7 hour drive through mountains she said Oh My God! Then asked if we would stop to use the bathroom. I told her no, and Deanna got on me !LOL Emma and I have really taken to picking and teasing each other. We joke alot and she plays tricks on me. Mom is the comfort zone and homework helper, Dad is the fun one. Her and Sadie have even figured out f they team up Dad is a softie and they can get what they want.

School wise she has adapted remarkably well. Several girls in the class have become close friends with her. She likes school food(no idea why!) and enjoys her classes. She excels in Math, and her English has improved at a very very rapid pace. She read 15-20 mins of English out loud a night to myself or Deanna and we have even seen her reading some of Sadie's kids books to her. Her AR reading level tested at about mid 2nd grade for English, In Chinese she reads everything a typical teen would read and then some. A friend of hers who is in a local Chinese Language school has had Emma help her on homework. She said it was 7 and 8th grade level and Emma said oh 3rd grade in China! They help each other on Sunday afternoons when we get together. Emma even has 5 different boys competing to be her boyfriend but she tells me she says no to all of them, just what a father needs to hear!

Food wise, we still eat lots of noodles and hit one of the several Chinese places in town at least once a week. However, she likes sushi alot, spicier the better, hot wings(as hot as you can get them, so good for me!), Bojangles chicken., fajitas, spaghetti and hot dogs.Also lots of broccoli, peppers, onions etc. Munchos potato chips are a hit but we try and limit sweets and junk food. She is willing to at least try things, really only melted cheese is the only thing she has detested.

So going pretty good, I am sure there will be bumps in the road. We have had metltdowns and crying spells, but you expect that. It happened every day or two at first and now almost never. She says if she ever goes back to China to live we have to live with her and when I asked her what she wanted to do when she grew up and finished school,,,, live with us or either Gaga! SO Sadie and Emma have become as tight as sisters can be,,, we have a happy 12 year old who is a big big bundle of energy and growing like a weed and a 3 year old who has to do and be just like her big sister.(even down to trying to speak Chinese, which makes us all laugh)