Happy Birthday!!

November has been busy and Maiya continues to grow & change every day. We mailed off our 6 month report to Vietnam - November 14th was the 6 month anniversary of our Giving & Receiving Adoption Ceremony. It seems like it's been so much longer, and just yesterday at the same time. We will continue to send reports until she is 18, as part of the international adoption agreement between Vietnam & Ontario. It's a great way to reflect on all that she's accomplished in such a short time!

Maiya officially celebrated her first birthday on November 28th! It's hard to believe she's already a year old! She's definitely changing from being our little baby to being our little girl.

We celebrated with grandparents, aunts, uncles & cousins on Sunday - and most people managed to brave the snow, ice & rain to get to Toronto! We were a little worried we'd have a lot of food & no guests!

The party started with a Toi Noi "ceremony". Traditionally, Vietnamese usually celebrate their birthdays on Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. However, first birthdays are sometimes celebrated, and one tradition in the first year is to lay out a variety of objects in front of the child to see which ones she picks first. Each object is meant to symbolize something that her future holds. At first Maiya just sat and looked at everyone looking at her, so we were a little worried, but then she leaned over & grabbed the Vietnamese money, and then wondered what all the fuss was about when everyone cheered! She then grabbed the pen, a hairbrush, a calculator & a map. So as far as we can tell, she is going to be a wealthy writer with great beauty who will be successful in business (like Daddy) and a traveler (like Mommy)!

Maiya had lots of fun - although the party ended up getting into full swing right around nap time, so she was a little grumpy at times...until she had her first sweet taste of her delicious, sugar-laden birthday cake that is! As you can see in the video, her tears stopped pretty quickly once she realized what was being offered! (NOTE: I can't get the video to load - will keep trying so check back for the video in the next couple days!) She ate the WHOLE piece - very delicately, pulling off one little piece at a time!

The sugar was enough to keep her going through gifts, and she eventually passed out on Aunt Shannon's lap - just long enough to re-energize for another few hours of play time with her cousins & the dog.

So all in all, it was a great 1st birthday! We are so lucky to have such an amazing daughter, and although we are always conscious of it, on her birthday we think even more of Maiya's birth family and the many wonderful caregivers at the orphanage who took care of her until we arrived. In honour of her birth family, who is forever a part of us, we are planting a bulb which will then flower in the spring around the time of the anniversary of her adoption. We hope this will be an annual tradition that will eventually result in a beautiful commemorative garden that will help us celebrate Maiya's birth family with her. We are also hoping to donate a washing machine to the orphanage where she stayed to help with the care of other children there waiting to meet their new families.

Looking forward to the Christmas & New Year season and hope to see lots of you then! Will post a blog for the holidays so check back again in a few weeks!