Some explanations about yesterday's letter

First of all, the age discrepancy -- it actually comes from two things. In many areas of China, the time the baby is in utero counts as part of their age. Therefore, on what we would consider their first birthday, they turn 2-years-old. Additionally, many Chinese consider the Chinese New Year (February) as the time that they turn a year older, rather than on their birthday. Therefore, since Shaling was born on October 5, 2001, she considers 2010 the year she turns 10, but instead of waiting for October 5, in her mind, she turned 10 during this past February.

Next, thanks to one of the other adoptive families I interact with on Yahoo, I've discovered that when Shaling mentioned liking yo-yos, she didn't mean American yo-yos. Apparently, in China, yo-yos (also known as diabolos) come with two sticks that you use to roll the discs up and down the large string. I'm including some pictures below to show what they look like. This will be something we can buy for Shaling during our stay in China. I've been pondering what sort of Chinese items we could bring home to help her retain her cultural heritage. Looks like I found one.