The Eyebrow Girl

Or maybe Cinderella? Keep reading to find out!

So, like all my posts seem to be saying lately, Willow is growing so much! Her eyebrows too...I wonder what will become of those eyebrows in the next few years--they are just massive on her baby face! But, she makes them cute and dolls them up a lot, as if she knows that she has these crazy eyebrows with which she can make lots of different expressions. I think that I can do half of the things that she can do with her eyebrows.


She's also in love with her fingers. She loves to suck on her hands all the time, and I'm a little worried her hands are getting the rough side of the bargain since she's chomping on them with her two little teeth.


Something I just figured out is how much she also likes to bite on her burp cloths. I don't know what it is about those burp cloths--maybe because they've always been an arms length away from her for the past three months--but she loves them.



I love it when she is this tired and this calm. She's so precious! It's like she's too tired to make a fuss about it, and would rather just sit there until her eyes close and she drifts to sleep. I wish this was how every night worked out! :)



"Look at me, dad! I'm wearing my leopard print mini skirt to fellowship! What do you think?"


This picture was taken last Sunday, and she's gotten even better at sitting up since then. She needs a little support, but her balance is improving on a daily basis.


Working on her head control during tummy time. She's improved a lot in this area over the past month. She doesn't scream so much anymore and has built up a little stamina.


Last Sunday was the first time that she put her hands down and held herself up with her arms, however! Yay, Willow!


She held herself up like this for about a minute and just looked around in bewilderment. I think she shocked herself with her strength.



"Sometimes it's so hard to stay awake at night--I don't know what I want more....to eat or to sleep."

Friends of ours in Shenyang are lending this bumbo seat to Willow. She's a little unsure about her new get-up though. Take it easy, Willow!


She mostly looks at her feet while sitting in this chair. She's fascinated by her cute little feet and really likes to stare at the chicks on her socks.


It's starting to cool down here. In our first floor, cement walled/floored/ceilinged apartment, it stays chilly. Mornings and evenings are cool as we wait another two weeks for the heat to get turned on by the government.


I think they share an eyebrow resemblance...

Willow's Chinese name now has a fun story. I'm not sure what the characters look like as of right now, but I will figure it out soon. Willow tree in Mandarin is "liu shu". Rose in Mandarin is something with the word "mei" (which means flower). So, our Chinese friend told us that we should name Willow, "Liu Mei". We could choose which kind of 'mei' we wanted to use though. There are different tones in Mandarin which usually alter the meaning of the word. It might sound the same to foreigners, but little changes in the pitch of the word can totally change the meaning. Well, there are a few different meanings for the word 'mei', depending on how you say it. Sometimes, however, words are pronounced the same but can have different spellings--or characters--much like homophones in English. So, one meaning for 'mei' can be for flower, but it is also used in part of the word for eyebrow. Apparently, there is a Chinese word to talk about the flowers that grow on the Willow trees--Liu Mei--because it looks like the trees have eyebrows. Actually, the pronunciations of Liu Mei (Willow tree with the eyebrows) and Liu Mei (willow flower/rose) are the same...but the characters are different.

We decided to choose the characters where 'mei' is talking about eyebrows. It is fitting for our Willow because she has such crazy expressive eyebrows! Our friend was happy about this because he said it is a very fanciful name--like being named after a fairy tale. Apparently there is a famous fairy-tale type story written in China a few decades ago where the protagonist is a girl name Liu Mei (like the eyebrow). I asked him if this was like being named Cinderella....and he said yes! So, Willow has quite a unique name in English--but also an unusual name in Mandarin. A willow tree with a flower that's like an eyebrow....also like being named Cinderella. Oh my!

Sometime I'll have to explain some of the reasons why I really like Willow's name and the verse that goes along with it.

~julie