Summer Feasts and Fun

OMG, can't believe it's been since April that we posted! Hopefully, someone is still looking... Laina is growing up so fast. This age, from 3-4 is so very much fun. She has an infinite imagination and it is so fun to see what she comes up with. When she says, "I have an idea...", everyone listens. Here is a photo of one of her more unusual napping places, right smack dab in the middle of the sliding doorway to our deck. She was so cute that no one minded. I woke her up one morning recently and her first words were.."you are wrecking my stew.." She was cooking in her dream. We had her Aunt Kathy and Uncle Tom for a visit and we enjoyed a great Lobster Feast, complete with corn on the cob and freshly caught striped bass, coleslaw and blueberry-peach pie for dessert. YUM. Laina eats her own lobster, and loves all seafood. She and Kathy had a "Mad Face" competition, not sure who won, but here's one of Laina's.(I won't post Kathy's because she is my big sister and well, her mad face can still scare me) We also had a nice visit with Grandma and Grampa and we went with them to a "Reptile and Bird World" that everyone enjoyed. Laina got to pet some baby owls. And of course, we went to the 4th of July Parade and Laina had a terrific time.This year, she brought her butterfly net to catch the candy and stuff that they throw from the floats, it worked out great. They would all aim for her net. Here's our annual photo of Laina with our dear friend Nancy. We are all having a good summer so far and the fun isn't over yet. In August we have our China Reunion, more family visits and an actual vacation to Maine for a few days. We'll take lots of pictures!

Catching Up

I'll try and tell you about some of the hightlights of our life with Laina from the past couple of months. In March, our good friends, Kristin and Brian welcomed their beautiful daughter, Alice Anne to the world. Laina went with us to visit. After she inspected the baby's tiny body parts, she asked,"Does she talk?" I said no, not yet. "Does she walk?", no, not yet Honey. Then she turned to the grownups in the room and said "Can somebody handle this baby so Mommy can go outside?". I guess the baby isn't too exciting yet! Laina is a Big Girl now, totally potty-trained. She just decided one day to wear underpants and hasn't had an accident yet. One time she went and sat on the potty but decided she didn't have to go after all. I said "False Alarm". A few weeks later, she went in and came out quickly and said to me, "Just an alarm clock Mommy." We went on an early spring beach walk and Laina found some cool caves to climb into under the cliffs. She also has learned to ride her trike this year. She finally had her first haircut in March, it has grown in beautifully and she loves to have braids and hairdos, although it is hard to sit still for them. I went to dress her one day in some brown leggings and she asked what she had done wrong. Apparently, wearing brown is a punishment to her! She also informed me that she needs more dresses. One day I was playing with her and she wanted me to wear dressups. Of course, I don't fit hers so I was putting on tiarras and beads, etc. Well, she said "wait her Mommy" and went to my bedroom closet and grabbed my bright purple dress and came back to the living room with her hands on her hips, saying "WHERE are your high heels?". I don't really have any, she couldn't believe it! We had a fun Easter, Laina decorated eggs and we all went to a really fun Potluck Brunch and Easter egg Hunt. Laina wore her high heels and a beautiful hand-knit purple cape from our friend Anne, and some cool sunglasses. She even brought extra shoes to change into from time to time. It was quite a fashion show. One evening, she was carefully folding things and putting them into a little lunchbox. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I am going on a trip to Hyannis and this is my suitcase." Inside she had all the perfect things, a dress, some underpants, a toy cell phone, some jewelry and a big magnet in the shape of lips. She had on a ballerina dress, some high heels and sunglasses. All of her pretend trips are either to Hyannis, New England or Australia or China. She recently was given a beautiful "Madeline" doll house from our friend Holly and her daughters(Thank you so much!) She loves it and so now we are changing teeny doll clothes and serving teeny cookies on teeny plates and talking in teeny voices....I have lots of photos, so here's a nice spread of pictures for you.

Chef Laina

Like most parents, we fantasize about what our daughter will be when she grows up. When we ask Laina, she has a different answer each time. Recently I asked her and she said a "Restaurant Lady", she has been enjoying anything that has to do with cooking(and eating!). Here is a photo of her first 'meatball lesson' with Daddy and another one of her making play dough pastries. She has incredible endurance when playing with play dough as you can see, she has a lineup of plates and is even pretending to use a tool from her doctor kit to decorate with. Tea parties are a regular event and always have been, in this photo she has invited Nick, our kitty, to have some milk which he was happy about. I also have a cute photo of her carrying wood in for our wood stove, she was so very proud to be able to lift 3 at once. Another is of her with her new baby doll.
Lately she has been talking about China little bit. A woman at a store recently asked her her name and she said "Laina, but my China name is Lai Fu Na". She often says to me when I am kissing her goodnight, "China kids are in the day now and I am going to sleep, and when I have wake-up time they go to bed". I showed her a nice photo book about her province and we saw some beautiful ladies and she said "I look like them, I am beautiful too, right Mommy?" I agreed wholeheartedly! She has finally made a breakthough with her potty training and has worn undies(Princess ones of course!) all of this week, except for sleeping. Yippee!!

OOh look at her

Here we are again at last. I find it very difficult to keep up the blog right now, Laina is so fast and independent. She won't let me take her picture if she doesn't feel like it, and the photo opportunities are trumped by my need to watch her. Here is a cute photo of her with her Grampa at Christmas, relaxing on the couch. She adores him and especially likes when he reads her stories. Another one is of her with a new Birthday Cake toy she loves, wearing a new nightie, both from her Auntie Pam and Uncle Paul. Another is of her with her new "puter" from Santa and wearing another new nightie that Grandma made. This one she has been putting on after school just to hang around and be comfy, she likes to twirl in it too.I somehow ended up with a "girlie Girl"; I am a woman who lives in jeans and sweatshirts and works as a housepainter. The last one is of her in some dress-ups, very sparkly. I try and remember funny things she says, there are so many everyday. I recently had my appendix out and tried to simplify my explanation to her but she was still wondering about it a few days later. She said "Mommy, did the doctor take out your stomach?" I said No, of course not Honey. I really need that to eat. Then she said "Did he take out your heart?" I said "OH no, sweetie, just the appendix which I didn't need." Then she finished with "Then you still love me and we can get some chocolate, right?" WOW, she really has a way of working things out. Her mind is on overtime and we really have to stay alert to avoid being tricked by her roundabout ways to get what she wants. Her ego is very healthy too. She gets all dressed up and then asks if we will say "Ooh, look at her!She must be a Princess, for real!" when she walks by. She also asks us to say "Bravo!" when she does a pretend show or a trick. I guess all 3 year olds are self-centered though so we are not worrying....yet.