Happy 5th Birthday Minsy?

Minsy showing off WaWa, her new Build-a-Bear Snow Leopard
that Katie bought for her at the St. Louis Zoo for her birthday.
I love this picture!

Today is Minsy's 5th birthday ... at least it is the day appointed as her birthday by the Chinese orphanage where she was taken after being abandoned. And since we have no good way of figuring out another birthday for her we're just going to roll with this one. It still blows my mind to think of our little girl actually being five since she is barely the size of a two year-old. She has so much catching up to do -- in size, in language acquisition, in interpersonal skills, in intellectual ability. She has a long way to go in order to reach her peer group in ability. But she'll get there. It may take a little while, but she'll get there. For now we're just going to celebrate all things Minsy on her special day.

This was an unusual Blau family birthday because Herman and I ran up to Carrollton yesterday to help my mom get to the hospital, and then we stayed overnight to help my dad get everything settled. So we weren't there to welcome Minsy personally on her birthday morning. She didn't care too much though. She still doesn't quite know what these birthday celebrations are all about. Our plan was to leave my parents' house sometime in the late morning, but while I was out in Carrollton running some errands for my dad I pulled into the local ShopKo (which will always be Place's in my head since that was what the business was called when I was growing up).  Anyway, as I pulled into the parking lot the car seemed to slide a lot like it was hydroplaning. It had been raining the last two days, so the roads and parking lots were wet, but I wasn't really going fast enough to hydroplane. I wondered about that, but I just ran inside, made my purchases, and got back into the car. When I started to drive off the steering got wonky on me, and I thought that maybe I had a flat tire. When I got out of the car to check, I heard the engine making a horrendous noise. Something was terribly wrong. I called Herman, and he checked it out. To make a long story shorter, we headed to an auto parts store, the super nice guy working there drove over to our car to check it out, we realized that something bigger than our mechanical ability was wrong, we turned the car over to a mechanic in the area to work on (Thanks Andy!), we borrowed one of my parents' cars, and we didn't get out the door until later in the day. So we didn't get home until dinner time.

Luckily, Laney helped the family to get ready to celebrate Minsy's birthday when we returned.

Look at the gorgeous cake Laney made for Minsy!

She also made this sweet birthday crown,
bought her a Birthday Girl ribbon, and
dressed her in some sweet pearls from China!

The kids had cleaned up the house and set the table with fancy plates and place cards for all of us. Also, if you check out the picture below you see some cute little triangles on the wall in the background with the letters forming the words Happy Birthday. Fun fact: Do you know how my children choose to attach such cute letters to the wall when they can't find our tape? Elmer's school glue! Genius. They swore to me that it would come right off. I'm not so sure, and right now I'm too tired to test it for myself. I can't fault them too much for trying to make things nice for Minsy though.

Minsy counting her candles as Herman lit them.

Katie helped out a bit when Minsy gave up blowing.

Laney got to cut the cake since she made it.

And then after cake we headed over to Chopstiks for our not-so-traditional Chinese buffet (but it is a tradition for the Blau family to eat there when celebrating all things Minsy).

Minsy getting ready to work her chopstick skills.

So today, in honor of Minsy's fifth birthday, here are FIVE things I love about her:

1.  Her laugh. Minsy has the cutest laugh ever. When she giggles it is hard not to start laughing along. It didn't take long for us to hear her laugh. She was giggling all day the first day that we met her in China.

2.  Her smile. Minsy has a beautiful smile. It is super hard to catch her smiling for pictures. In China when they take pictures it isn't super common for the people to smile for them. I think that Minsy might have been trained to keep a straight face. She knows to pose with her fingers in a peace sign, but she doesn't automatically smile. Sometimes when we try to coax her to smile it ends up looking more like a grimace. But if we take lots of pictures and stay at the ready we are often lucky enough to catch one of those natural smiles.

3. Her enthusiasm for new things. Minsy views the world around her with wonder that is infectious. When she sees something that she loves she is always quick to look at me or Herman or Laney or someone near with a big smile on her face as she points and says "'ook" "'ook". She can't say her "L" sound, so it comes out super cute.

4. The way she welcomes us when we have been gone. If Herman or Laney or I leave the house and then return Minsy always runs right up to us screaming for joy as she yells out our name. Then she'll run headlong into our legs as she gives us a big gigantic hug. It's hard not to feel appreciated with that sort of greeting. Maybe I'll start greeting all the kids like that when they get home from school. Something tells me that what is cute behavior for a five year old would not look so endearing if I did it.

5.  The way she sings to herself. Minsy has always shows a love for music. When we were in China and walking the busy streets Minsy would stop and dance any time that she heard music coming from the businesses that lined our path. It was super cute. But it is even cuter to hear her singing to herself when she is playing alone. I'm not sure what songs she is singing. Maybe she's making them up. But it is adorable to hear the music, nevertheless. 

I feel so blessed to have Minsy in our family. It is like she has always been here, and I'm glad that I got the chance to celebrate her first birthday in the US today. She may be one of the smallest five year old girls around, but we're okay with that. Such a sweet, sweet little girl!