Two months with my forever family

Hi! This is Ren. I'm not very good at typing yet so my big sister Claire is helping me. She's the best! And beautiful! And sweet! And a great singer! (Hey Claire, what are you typing? I haven't said anything for a while ...)

Yesterday was a big day for me. It was two months since I left the orphanage and joined my forever family. I miss my jie-jies at the orphanage very much [editor's note from Claire: Ren called his caregivers "Jie-Jie"] and I also miss my friends Yao Yao and Yin Yin. I have lots of pictures of me with them so I look at their pictures a lot and laugh about all the good times we had.

Things here at this place have been pretty good. The lady with the curly hair is pretty nice, when she's not cranky, and the tall man is very funny. Jie-Jie is an absolute joy!!! She's so hilarious! She makes me laugh all the time and shares absolutely everything with me! (Hey Claire, what are you typing again? I haven't said a word since I mentioned the tall man!) Anyway, as I was saying, the people here are pretty nice. I think the tall man's name is Daddy but I'm not sure what the lady with the curly hair is called. Sometimes we play this strange game where she says "Mama" and pats her chest. I then say "Mama" and pat my chest. She then says, "No, I'm Mama", so I try to show her I understand by patting my chest again and saying, "No, I'm Mama". I don't know why she doesn't understand that I get it, I really get: I'm Mama!

There are lots of things to do around here. I have a lot of books that I love to read. I like the shape-sorter a lot - I'm very good with shapes! I love Play-doh and puzzles and playing "mail" with my big sister. We go outside whenever we can but it's kinda cold out there. The lady with the curly hair bundles me up and makes me wear funny things on my hands sometimes. I've never seen such awful things like those before! I like to take them off whenever I can but the crazy lady usually puts them right back on. We go to the park a lot. We always take the wagon there and back. At the park, I love to swing, climb the climbing wall, go down slides, play in sand and run up and down the hill while the crazy lady warbles some wierd tune about Jack and Jill. (I don't know what she's talking about because my name is Ren and my Jie-Jie's name is Claire.) We also play in our yard a lot where we have a little climbing thingy with a slide, a playhouse, trikes, cars and lots of balls. I love my soccer ball. I am very good at kicking and throwing.

When I first came here, I thought this house was very hazardous: there are cliffs everywhere! At first I didn't really notice them and would walk right off them. Luckily, someone was always there to catch me. After that, the big people started putting up these little fences so that I wouldn't step off the cliffs. Once I figured out what the little cliffs were all about, I started to go down them on my bum or on my knees backwards. Sometimes a big person would hold my hand while I tried to go down them on my feet but that was awkward in the beginning. I thought we should go down really fast, head-first but the big people would keep holding my arm back in a funny way. Anyway, with a lot of practice, I now brave these cliffs all by myself. A big person always hovers over me but I don't need any help at all.

One of my favourite things to do in the house is close doors. Whenever there is a door open, you can count on me to close it! It doesn't matter whether it's a big room door, a sliding door at the bottom of that cooking thing, the wagon door or a little fence blocking a cliff - no door's too big, no door's too small, I close them all! It's just one of those little things I do to make life better for people wherever I go.

Maybe someone has told you about how I like to mimic people? Well, I do! I really like to study people and see how they do things. For instance, at the dinner table, the curly-haired lady will often sit in a funny way with her hand under her chin. One day, she took this picture of me trying to strike the same pose:

I also like the create things. These little lifts (made with something called "yogurt containers") are my latest creation:

Oh my gosh, did I mention how strangely the people talk here?! I swear they do not know a single real word. They talk a lot of weird gibberish. In an effort to communicate with them, I have picked up quite a bit of their language. Favourite words and phrases of mine are:

• "Wa wa ga?" (Claire's translation: "where did __ go?");


• "There a is!" (Claire's translation: "There it is!")
  
• "hewwo" ("hello")
  
• "bye bye"


• "sa er" ("soccer")


• "uppy" (either "puppy" or "hockey", depending on the context)


• "mo pees" ("more please") and


• "no mo" ("no more"). Sadly, I hear this one a lot.

Well, I better sign off. But before I do, let me tell you a little more about my stunningly beautiful and kind big sister. She is glorious! Never have I met a more talented girl! All day, every day, she is kind and loving to me. She is (Hey Claire, what are you typing? I haven't said a thing since "I better sign off!").