Julia and I worked on her time line for school this weekend.  We looked through our pictures of the last six years and she picked out pictures and I wrote what she said about them.  It was suggested that she have between 5 and 15 pictures; Julia picked almost 50 and all were “most important.”  We, at my insistence, reduced the picture number to 22 and the date entries to a few more.  We’ll see what fits on the paper that she brought home to do the project on.  It is because of all the hard events in Julia’s life that I felt I could not cut out the seemingly less important but happier events.  Some of what she wanted to include has been clearly influenced by the work that we’ve done with Marilyn and although sad, I am grateful that she is internalizing her story and making it her own.

This is what she has right now:

January, 2001.  I was born in China on January 16, 2001, in the year of the dragon.  I had a china mommy and daddy who did not take care of me.  I was named Xiao Zhi Kuang and I was called Bai Bai.  I lived in an orphanage with my friend, Maio Maio.  I played with her and took care of babies crying.  I had a hard life.  I missed my China mommy and daddy.

2005.  When I was four years old, I was in the Chinese playground and someone took a picture of me.  They sent pictures of me to my Mommy and Daddy.

August 28, 2006.  Mommy and Daddy and Cheshire came to pick me up.  We became a family.  My name became Julia ZhiKuang Buchko Schanker.  They called me Julia BaiBai.  I love my sister, Cheshire a lot.

October 2006.  For my first Halloween, I was a rose princess.

November 2006.   I started playing with clay. I started liking dinosaurs.

January 2007.  Cheshire made my first birthday cake at home.  I was six years old and I was growing.

January 2007.  I met Grandma and Grandpa in Florida.

April 2007.  Mommy, Daddy, and I sold our house in Indianapolis. We moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and I lost two of my baby teeth.  I love making clay dinosaurs.  

November 2007.  My whole family was together in Maryland for Thanksgiving.

May 2008.  Cheshire graduated from college, and I made a dinosaur.

July 2008.  Miao Maio and I hung out together.  I loved meeting Maio Maio again and I missed her so much.  

July 2008.  Bobsha, Mommy and I went to the beach in New Jersey.

October 2008.  Daddy and I carved pumpkins for Halloween.

March, 2009.  My grandpa had his 90th birthday.  We all went to Florida to celebrate.

March 2010.  My Dad got a new heart and the doctors tried to make him feel better.

May 2010.  My cousins, Heather and Joshua, had a baby named Noah.  I held him.

July 2010.  My Dad died because his new heart did not work right and we were really sad.  I hate this when he died.

August 2010.  I went to London and looked at a dinosaur.

April 2011.  I went to Disney World with Mommy and Cheshire.  I wore mouse ears and I met Lizzy.

May 2011.  I learned to hit a ball.

July 2011.  I went to my aunt Barbara’s farm in Virginia.

October 2011.  I was a dinosaur ballerina for Halloween.

March 2012.  I play my recorded in the spring concert.

June 2012.  We adopted a cat named Muta and I learned to ride my bike.

October 2012.  My cousin, Squeaker, and Lisa got married.