Tears

Recently we have left our home of the past 4 years, the only home that my daughter has known. The move has been good but very hard. We find ourselves filled with sadness at just random times. It could be anything that sparks a memory and we are feeling sad about our far away home and friends. LanLan has done amazing through the whole transition and I am so proud of her! She is adjusting to English school and making friends quickly. Occasionally though we will find her sitting, crying. We would ask her what's wrong and she would reply that she was missing her friends in China, or her house in China or her room.

One day she was playing and came upstairs to find me. Her face was red and wet from crying and I asked her what was wrong, she said "I miss my friends!". I hugged her and said that I miss my friends as well. As I was hugging her I felt that her dress was soaking wet! I asked her: "Why is your dress so wet?"

LanLan replied: "It's from the wetness from my eyes!"

Survival of the fittest

The other day I sent LanLan to her room for a time out. A few minutes after she was there she called out to me to come quick. Thinking she was trying to get out of her punishment I didn't respond right away. But the tone in her voice was a little different so I did end up going into see her.

As I walked in her room she was very upset b/c this . . . .

was eating this . . .

Not really knowing what to do I tried to "rescue" the fish from the crayfish's mouth. He was still alive and tried swimming away. He wasn't very good as you can imagine a fish with no tail would be.

Later that day when my husband came home LanLan and him found this fish being eaten by his "brother" fish. The fish was still alive but now only had half a body. Again my husband "rescued" the fish but this time flushed him down the toilet.
Sorry little dude that I didn't flush you earlier and save you from all that anguish.

Can You Hear Me Now?

LanLan has had a few ear infections in her life. For the past 2 years she has seemed to have hearing issues after getting sick (w/ or w/o an ear infection). We also noticed that she seemed to have issues hearing after we flew on an airplane. As parents we have struggled to know if it has been true hearing issues or just a listening & obeying issue.

We decided that we would take LanLan to the ENT to have her hearing checked.

Waiting for the test took over an hour but the kids did great entertaining themselves with snacks & toy cars.

There were so many people waiting to have their hearing checked the audiology lab closed for the morning. Thankfully we already had our slip turned in to have the test done.

We prepared our little orchid before hand for what the test would be like. She was very excited to listen for the beep and raise her hand.

LanLan was so excited after the test she told me "Mama I heard it!"

We went back to talk to the doctor with the results to hear what he had to say. He actually wasn't very informative. All he told us was "She has a middle ear infection. Here is a prescription for medicine." He didn't even give us the dosage. I was shocked and said "How can you diagnose an ear infection from a hearing test?!" We didn't anything explained to us at the hospital, we weren't even sure about the results of the test.

When we arrived home I called my brother who is also an ENT. I read the results to him over the phone and he talked with me and explained everything to me. He told me that LanLan had significant hearing loss in the right ear (the left was normal). He said that there shouldn't be any permanent hearing loss and that as soon as the fluid build up/pressure in the ear (we don't think it really is an infection) was gone the hearing should return. My brother said that after 6 weeks the fluid/pressure should subside and the hearing should be normal. If it isn't we can go from there.
I had mixed feelings through this whole ordeal. Relieved that there actually is something wrong with LanLan's hearing (and she isn't just ignoring her mother's instructions). Sad that my baby girl actually does have a hearing issue making it hard for her to hear mama & daddy/her teachers/friends . . . Frustrated that the doctor at the hospital was not helpful or informative, but not surprised. Thankful that I have a brother who is an ENT and was able to explain things to me. Impatiant as we have to wait 6 weeks before we know what the next step will be.

Another Two Bite The Water

Two more of my daughter's fish died. LanLan came to me and said "Mom, come look! My fish is sleeping in the leaves, it's not dead." She was a little more upset about these two than the first one. I kept saying that the fish were dead and she kept insisting that they weren't dead, just sleeping. Her dad says that the fish are sick (they have white spot disease) and so they all will probably die. How very sad.