Jumping one more US government hurdle

Yesterday completed one more step to making Kylie a full-fledged US citizen. Her official Certificate of Citizenship arrived last Monday in the mail. It is a really cool piece of paper and I'd love to post it, but at the bottom it states that it is punishable by law to copy or photograph it, so I'll just tell you that it is here! (Turns out that any of us could send some money to the US government and get one ourselves.)

Armed with her Certificate of Citizenship, our Adoption Decree (and the English translation), her Chinese passport (with the ever critical IR-3 stamp which serves as her temporary proof of being a US citizen), and our own photo IDs, we headed to our local Social Security Office to file for a number for her. It was a really LONG wait, but at least we had an adorable sweetie to help pass the time. Once we finally got called to a window, it was about 15 minutes of the kind social security officer looking over Kylie's documents, typing in the computer, and asking a few questions.

We left with a letter stating that we should get Kylie's card in the next two weeks. After that we can finally open a savings account for her college education (with inflation that should run us about a million dollars I think...) and then apply for her US passport. No, there are no out of country trips in the works, but since passports for minors are valid for 5 years, it never hurts to have one ready... Who knows where we may go in that amount of time!

In other breaking news here at home, Kylie has finally discovered a love for Gerber puffs. This breakthrough happened Sunday (the best April fool's in a while ~ "Hey Mommy, I will never eat yucky food that isn't in a bottle! April Fool's, I LOVE puffs and I'll try anything on a spoon now!") and she hasn't looked back. Even foods that bring a grimace to her face she will take a second bite of just to be sure. Major favorites right now are pears, sweet potatoes, carrots and ANY flavor of Gerber puff! I think this shot of her eating a snack is a new favorite of mine!