Saturday, February 09, 2008

Chinese Dance, fingernails, awards and various

I have a long post tonight so bare with me. I have a lot on mind.

First for your enjoyment, here is a video of the girls practicing at their Chinese dance class. They are supposed to perform in a recital on 4/20 and the teacher wants them to get the routine down so we taped it. As you can see, they have a lot to practice. Maddie is in the back in the pink flowered jacket and Sophie is in the front in the purple jacket.


Maddie's pinkie fingernail is falling off for some reason. I don't remember her slamming it in the door or anything. Her ears were also infected at her piercings, but we have been using antibiotic ointment on them and they are much better. She will get to keep them... yea!

I will brag about me for a minute. I won an Excellence award at work. It was for doing excellent work in 2007. You have to get nominated and I was nominated by somebody and got picked, along with 51 other people (out of 6000 plus). It was a really cool ceremony last night. AJ and I flew to Orlando (where corporate is) along with 1000's of others headed to a cheerleading competition and Bud shootout weekend. The Atlanta airport and Orlando airport were both very, very busy. The ceremony took place at a fancy hotel where we got to spend the night. The food was great and the ceremony was wonderful. I didn't want to go at first, but I'm glad we did. Thank you to my Aunt Charlotte, my mom and dad, my cousin Nathan, my brother Jeff and my other siblings for watching our children. We truely appreciate it.

On Thursday the girls took their red envelopes and snacks to school to share with everyone. The teachers were amazing. I had to work and couldn't make it so I just sent the envelopes with a note explaining what everything was. I expected the teachers to just hand everything out. They actually took the time to read the story I put in the envelopes and let the girls tell everyone what their Chinese names were. They then printed out what zodiac sign each child was and let them color it. I thought it was pretty cool.

Fricken government!!!! Everything that has gone wrong with Maddie and Sophie's adoptions has all been on the US side. We filed our tax return last Friday. We got a note back on Monday saying that it was returned because Sophie's name and number on her SS card did not match. At first it was because they had the name backwards. So it was fixed and refiled. It was denied again. I sent our accountant (AJ's uncle) Sophie's SS card because the I(fricken)R(fracken)S said that it was because of Sophie's SS, but wouldn't give him the reason. I ended up going to the SS office on Thursday. I hate them. Here's why

  • I couldn't change Brandon's name on his SS card with just his birth certificate because a birth certificate is not proof of who you are. I could however bring a letter from his school stating that Brandon's name was changed from blank to blank using his birth certificate. Yea I thought it was pretty stupid as well.
  • I tried to change Maddie's name on SS card. I brought her adoption finalization and her birth certificate and a couple of other documents. They said I needed to bring her certificate of citizenship. Okay, two weeks later I bring that. After waiting 30 minutes with two children in tow I get up to the window and they still won't change it. I brought Maddie's finalization, birth certificate, certificate of citizenship, all of her adoption paperwork, her Chinese passport and her green card. She said she couldn't change it because on the adoption finalization paperwork. Iit didn't have her Chinese name it only had her new name. Ugh! She told me I could take the paper to the clerk's office and have the clerk certify the document and also write in Maddie's Chinese name. Do you honestly think that the county clerk's office would do that? I didn't. How would they know that what I was telling them was true? Adoption records are sealed and the only way to get them unsealed is to go to court. She then asked me if I had Maddie's US passport. I don't, but it won't do any good because it will only have Maddie's new name not her old one. She said I could bring a shot record in, but I don't know what good that will do either because it will only have her new name on it. All very, very, very frustrating. Apparently this is for the safety of my child. You know, the child that I have sitting right next to me. The child that I have proof is my child.

Sophie's actually turned out to be because on her SS card she only has two names and the I*R*S was having a glitch with their system and people with two names. This was after I had gone to the SS office to find out what was wrong with her card and they couldn't tell me.

Lastly I wanted to talk about Ni Hao Kai-Lan. My girls love the show. They love the fact that she is Chinese and that they are learning Chinese. They also love the show as much as they love Dora and Diego. My girls are 4 and 5. They don't over analyze things. This is a cartoon show for children. It is not intended for adults. My girls think that Kai-Lan is beautiful. Here is an excerpt from a newspaper article describing the show: As a child in Texas, Ms. Chao collected bootleg tapes of Japanese anime dubbed in Chinese. She also was mad for Hello Kitty, whose graphic style has rubbed off on the “Ni Hao” characters. “Everything I draw is childish,” Ms. Chao said. Ms. Harrington confirmed dryly, “Yes, preschool was the prime of her life.”
Kai-lan inhabits a fantastical realm with an impulsive tiger, a koala who longs to be a panda, a pink rhino and a dumpling-loving monkey. Kai-lan is “a born leader who makes affirmative connections with people and nature, paying attention to the feelings of others,” said a consultant for the series, Dr. Janxin Leu, a cultural psychologist at the
University of Washington in Seattle who studies the dynamics of Chinese-American families. She is part of an advisory team of educational researchers and social scientists that helped develop curriculum goals for a show that builds on the interactivity of “Blue’s Clues” and the bilingualism of “Dora the Explorer.”
What matters to me is that the girls enjoy the show. We don't watch much TV here. The girls love Hannah Montana, Dora, Diego and now have Kai-Lan. I feel comfortable letting them watch the show because I know that they will get something out of it. I think it is a great show and I am glad and appreciate Nick Jr for choosing to do a show featuring an Asian. They could have chosen to do a show about something else. It is good that Sophie and Maddie have a show to look to

2 comments:

Chelley said...

WOW what a jam packed post!!!! I got worn out reading it!!

First I loved the Vid even though they need more pratcie I think that was sooooooooo CUTE!!!

How you didnt just rip up your taxs or just pull out your hair!! GAL!!

I got confused about what you were awarded for????? Maybe I am just having a blonde moment!!

Asher, Esther & Emma's Jie Jie said...

Love the video! They are too cute!! I need to get our girls into that! =)