"Ah-mi"

Yesterday I noticed that Jake kept finishing lots of things that he was saying with "ah-mi".  I couldn't imagine what in the world that little one was trying to say.  I thought maybe "more" or "again".  Sometimes I am so slow.  But then I kept noticing that he was saying it when he'd come running.  Still no clue.  Finally I realized that he was trying to say "Mommy"!!!  Oh, what joy!!!  I had been "Mama" which is said a little differently in Chinese and for Jake can mean anyone that's a woman that's older and motherly (sounds exciting huh?).  But then to hear him trying to call me by what he heard the other children saying just really touched my heart.  How precious!!  He is picking up the English language so fast.  It is really amazing.  Today we visited with another family and he got to spend some one-on-one time with one of their children while the others went to the pool.  Before we left he was saying this child's name so plainly.  I feel like any homeschool mom feels when her child is learning to read or something of that magnitude and yet it's just acquiring another language (this would be a mountain-sized task for me so I don't mean to belittle it, I just know it's much easier for a little one).  I am so excited that we are connecting even more and one of the ways that that happens is through language.

Jake seems to be adjusting so well.  He looks me in the eye multiples of times a day and smiles and says "Wo aye ni" which means I love you.  He just loves to play one on one games and mimicing me.  Last night while I was rocking him he heard my stomach growl.  I just took his hand and pressed my stomach and made some crazy face.  Well that has been the game of the day.  I am running out of crazy faces to make when he does it.  But what's even funnier is that sometimes I totally forget what he's doing and wonder "why on earth is this child pushing so hard on my belly and making such faces".  And then I remember our game.  There are tons of little things like that we do and I believe all of them help us to connect more and more.  It's our secret language.  By the way, a stomach growl is a stomach growl in all languages.

Here are a few pictures.  I am most certainly the proud Ah-mi aren't I?