I have already written about some of Caleb's first holidays with us. You can read about his first Chinese New Year in the United States here and his first Valentine's Day
here.



Rather than focus merely on first holidays, I would like to focus on some of the other "firsts" in my children's lives. With all of my adopted children arriving at an older age, (4, 4 and 11) experiencing some of their "firsts" through their eyes has been such a joy.

I'm not sure that the children I gave birth to really appreciated their first Halloweens or first Christmases or first time they got on a pony as much as my children who were adopted. When you are 4 months old for your first Halloween as Nicole was, or 7 months old for your first Christmas as Lynn was, you're not real impressed with the holiday. Mom and Dad were of course excited and snapped lots of pictures, but for babies, these events were pretty much just another day.

Last week we went bowling, and although Ben and Micheline have been before, it was a first for Caleb. I told him where we were going and he was a bit puzzled even though I acted it out. Perhaps it is my poor technique as a bowler that confused him? Needless to say, I typed it into the translator and then he became excited. I asked him if he had been bowling before in China and he said no.

He was the first to run and jump in the car, hollering for his siblings to hurry up. When we arrived at the bowling alley, Ben was trying to explain to him that he would have to change his shoes. When the attendant gave us the right size shoes, Caleb lifted them off the counter and looked them over thoroughly before he put them on. I guess even a first time bowler can recognize that bowling shoes are downright ugly.

We headed down to the lane that we would be using and it thankfully already had the bumpers set up. A friend had reserved quite a few lanes for about 10 families since all of the kids were on Spring break, and the others had already started bowling.

Ben tends to think he is quite studly when he plays sports so he did what I call the "testosterone walk" as he prepared to bowl. It involves strutting jauntily with your arms flexed slightly in a manner that says, "Yes, I know I am cool." He has bowled quite a few times so he tried to show Caleb how it was done.



Caleb, on the other hand, was so excited that he couldn't have cared less how he looked to others. He didn't take to Ben's advice of how to run up and toss the ball. Instead, his technique involved walking up to the edge, swinging the ball back and forth and then finally letting go during one of his forward motions.

Micheline had what I call the helicopter style. It involved holding the ball with both hands and twisting at the waist until the ball was almost behind her and then turning quickly toward the lane and heaving it.



Judging from their scores, I'm not sure who had the better technique in the long run! Ben ended up with two strikes, Caleb ended up with strike and a spare, and Micheline got a spare, so they were all pretty excited. When it was over, Caleb said, "I like it Mama! Bowling...I like it!" Just gotta get past the look of those ugly shoes...