Time Well Spent

I’ve decided I need to find a more productive way to spend the rest of the wait for Macy. A couple of weeks ago I broke down (finally believing that I was the mother of two girls) and started buying matching outfits for Macy and Nina. It didn’t take long for me to go way overboard and now I am officially out of room in their closet! The problem is buying stuff for Macy makes me feel closer to her and with all the delays I need some sort of connection. I realize how pathetic that sounds but it isn’t the first time I’ve used retail therapy as a serotonin booster and it probably wont be the last. Still, I am out of space so it might just be time for a more rationale (less temporal) distraction.

So what’s a mom in waiting to do when the mall is off limits? Take Chinese lessons of course! So last night I signed up for an online Mandarin course for adoptive parents. I am really impressed with the format of the program. I studied French for 8 years and I’m still not sure I could order a meal or ask for the rest room in a french restaurant. So it suffices to say I am not exactly gifted when it comes to new languages. Add to that my bereft exposure to Chinese (basically a half dozen episodes of Ni Hao Kai-Lan) and I was not initially optimistic.  After my first lesson though I feel very much encouraged that at least some basic communication will be possible.

My first lesson focused on a child’s basic needs thus I learned; I am thirsty, hungry, sick and I have to pee and poop. Since I know I’m not exactly a linguist I plan to study just one lesson per week with at least a once daily review. In an attempt at kinetic learning I've also printed out the phrases in the lesson and posted them around the house in places where they make sense, (ie "I need to pee and poop"- in bathroom, "I’m hungry"-on the fridge, "I’m sick"-on the medicine cabinet).

I know that there is a local dialect that I will have to contend with not to mention possible speech delays with Macy so it may turn out that I wont be able to use much with my daughter. It will however be a much needed distraction from the wait, a much less expensive strategy than better living through wardrobe building, and hey if we meet a random Mandarin speaking person who tells me they need to poop, I’m going to be ready!