Poll

I'm taking a poll...

Is that the most mischievous little face you have EVER seen??

Christmas 2006 in review

When The Kid came out into the living room Chrismas morning, she totally ignored all the presents and the tree and went straight to Grandmumsy.

Finally acknowledging the presents.

Next year, a KEYTAR! And also note the Blue Mickey Shirt from Santa....a big hit.


















Playing with some of the toys that 'Santa' was too busy (or lazy) to wrap before the BIG fun began.








All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas and hope that all of our friends and family did, too. Check back in a day or so, as I hope to have video of The Kid's first lounge act performance.

Merry Christmas!

For those of you who celebrate it, Merry Christmas! We are hoping Santa will be good to you all this year.

Three birds.....one post

Donna over at Double Happiness is having another Family Fotofun picture challenge. The challenge this week is PIGTAILS! (click on over to see some of the other adorable participants!)

Last week's challenge was PAJAMAS and the challenge before that was Christmas Tree Photos so I should be all caught up now!

Doctor and bed time

Little Miss had her 2 year checkup today (yeah, I know....I'm four months late. Deal.) Anyway, she is on the US growth charts! 10th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. She also had to have about 15 gallons of blood drawn and some shots. Needless to say, we got ice cream afterwards.

Here's her newest thing.....we have had variations on this for the last few nights, but this was pretty much how it went down tonight. I put her to bed (which she has ALWAYS gone to bed super easy) and as soon as I get her all tucked in, she jumps up and starts saying "nowantgonightnight nowantgonightnight". We finally get settled from that and then she goes to bed. TONIGHT, she wakes up about 2 hours after bedtime, and is JUMPING up and down in her crib screaming "OWOWOWOWOWOWWOWWW! MAMA! OW! OW! OW!"

I go in and ask her what's wrong. "Knee hurt mama!"
"Which one?" I say.
"Knee hurt mama!"

I pick up her nearest leg and give her knee a kiss. "Thanks mama."
"You are welcome honey. Now go back to sleep."

I go back to what I was doing and five minutes later hear "MAMA!!! MAMA!!!! MAMA!!!! Oh, no! OH, NO!!!"

I try to tell her that everything is fine and just to go back to sleep but she starts crying really hard. I go in her room and she is standing up in bed again and I see tears on her face (I am such a sucker!).

"What's the matter, honey?" I ask.
"Poo, mama! Chay dia!" (change diaper)

There are no *signs* that she needs her diaper changed, but I take her word for it (big mistake). As I suspected to begin with, there was no reason to change her diaper, so I start getting her all dressed again.

"No caca-poopoo, mama?" she asks. "No honey."
"No fahhhhr, mama?" "No sweetie," I answer.
She stands up and gives me the sweetest hug and says, "I sorry, mama. I sorry."

Light a candle

This was from an email I received...
Today, Bristol-Myers Squibb, the pharmaceutical monolith that charges nearly $1,000 for a 30 day supply of one of its HIV/AIDS medications, is donating $1 to the National AIDS Fund for each person who simply visits their website and "virtually lights a candle."

The tally is near 1, 500,000 now.

Please, please take a minute to "light a candle":

http://www.lighttounite.org/

Christmas with Santa

Here is the best Santa picture we have this year.

We went to see the mall Santa a couple of weeks ago and he was a jerk. The Kid wanted NOTHING to do with him so I had to be in the picture with them. All copies have been destroyed....

This was from my company Family Christmas Party. I bribed her to go up to him by telling her he would give her a candy cane. This was her LEAPING out of his lap as soon as she got the loot.

In other news, she DESPERATELY wants a 'blue Mickey shirt' from Santa. I *think* that Santa is going to be able to come through for her as long as the US Postal Service cooperates. She has also mentioned once or twice that she would like a choo-choo train. But I think that is just because ALL SHE TALKS ABOUT IS RIDING THE TRAIN AT THE MALL. Seriously. She is obsessed. This morning when she got up, I asked her if she had fun last night (meaning our Christmas Party) and she said "YEAH! Ride choo-choo train!!" I said "did you ride a choo-choo train yesterday??" "YEAH!!! Choo-choo train!!!" Grandmumsy denies that story.

Tonight when I put her down for bed this was the 'good night list'.

"Nigh-nigh blue Mick shirt!"
*Then mama must repeat*
"Nigh-nigh Santa Claus!"
*Mama repeats*
"Nigh-nigh Aww Pickles!"
*Mama repeats followed by hysterical laughter for a good 10 minutes.

Luck

There is a rumor circulating that come 2007, China will no longer adopt to single parents. When I first heard that, I was pretty upset. Not because I was planning on adopting again (I was going to think about it again in a few years.....but I wasn't committing to anything), but because now I no longer have the option. If I had decided to adopt again, I would have gone back to China because then the two kiddos would have a common bond. I know how close my sister and I are and I would love for The Kid to have that, too. But, as Doris Day sang, que sera sera.

After I thought all that through, then I was worked up thinking about my situation. If things in my situation had happened later, I might not have been able to be that sweet little girl's mom. I might not be a mom. That thought just about brings me to tears. I think about all the other hopeful 'someday' parents who maybe didn't luck into a single's slot like I did or who didn't quite meet all the requirements yet. I can't help but feel for them.

I don't buy the whole ladybugs and redthreads theories and all of that, but I do know one thing. My daughter's Chinese name means New Luck. And for whatever reason, we were lucky enough to both be in the right place at the right time.

Christmas Card tradition BEGINS!

This is the Christmas card picture of us kids that my parents sent out in 1978 (I was 5).

Note the $TAR WAR$ shirt I am sporting. (Nice of me to get all gussied up, wasn't it?? Apparently I didn't get the memo about the striped turtleneck sweaters.)

I have saved that shirt and will be forcing Ms. R to wear it for her Christmas Card picture in a couple of years. Funny, but it will be funky, retro and cool when she does it. I was just a nerd. Maybe she can pass it onto her child(ren) along with my Smurfette t-shirt I wore for my 3rd grade school picture.