The Big Sand Box

Hi; Laina has been enjoying her summer. This year she is more interested in the sand than the water and calls the beach the "big sandbox". Here's a couple of pictures of her playing and watching the sunset with us, one of her with her friend Colin, and also one of her in her sandbox at home. We built it within our fenced garden area which works out great! I can enjoy working in the garden and still be close, while I know she is nearby and safe. In a couple of weeks, on August 9, we are going to have a reunion with the extended China group of 28 families. It will be so much fun to see them all together, all but Laina will be 2 or older and she'll turn 2 herself on the 12th of August. They are very fast at this age but hopefully we'll get some good photos, especially with the "Guangxi Girls", our four girls from the same province. Can't wait to see them all! Some recent milestones for Laina include; jumping (and actually getting her feet off the ground), walking heel-to-toe across a beam without holding anyone's hand, climbing everything, saying "please" and "thank you" and "excuse me" and even "I'm sorry". She has too many words to count now and speaks in full sentences quite often. She can handle the stairs without holding hands and is getting better around people she doesn't know, although she still waits to get to know people before she really speaks to them. Enjoy the new pictures!

Sleeping Beauty and the Kiss of Prince Taylor

Laina had a fantastic 4th of July. We went to the big parade and she seemed to enjoy it a lot.Jimmy marched with a fife and drum corp on the second time they came by(our parade route goes in a big circle so you get to see everything twice) , it surprised her to spot him and she started yelling "Daddy, Daddy!" and I had to run after him with her in my arms, weaving through the crowd until he was able to glance her way. We met with her friend, Taylor at an annual party and we asked him to give her another kiss, like last year. She didn't want to at first, until we said she could wear his beads.Then she said okay. The power of jewelry, eh girls? Later, she fell instantly asleep in the car for the ride home, closing her eyes and murmuring.."where Taylor go?"... Jimmy took a shot of her sleeping that really shows how beautiful she is. I love it and just printed it for a frame. I also took a shot of Laina with her Day Caregiver, Nancy, who she really adores and you can tell just by the way she looks at her. Laina knows that Nancy is my name too and today she addressed me as "Mommy Nancy, my Mommy". OOps, just put up the wrong picture with Taylor, so I'll add the kiss shot too. There's a photo in last July's posts of the two of them in the same spot. Check it out by going to the Blog archives and searching by date. This is also the way to read about our China trip to bring Laina home in April 2007.

Summertime.....and the Livin' is easy

Summertime has finally arrived. The first houseguests have started to come, the first zucchini was picked tonight, the first sunburns have come and gone, Laina is brown and swimming at Day Care, life is good. We are incredibly busy with Laina, work, and a revolving door of guests. Our first were Nancy's Mom and Dad. There's a photo for you of Grampa reading a bedtime story to her. He's a great storyteller and we all enjoyed it. Laina got a beautiful, handmade wooden rocking horse from Jimmy's Mom and Dad, brother Richard, and his wife Mary. We'll post a picture of Jimmy and Laina having a horse race. One night, recently, Laina saw not only her first rainbow, but actually her first 2 rainbows. Look closely at the photo of her and Jimmy. We also had an actual family time at the beach one Sunday and there's a picture of her there. She calls this photo "Daddy's Hand" and laughs and points at it. We'll be going to a 4th of July Parade and having more guests so hopefully we'll be posting lots more photos soon. It's great for her to socialize and get to know everyone in both of our large families. This year she remembers all of the names(with a little practice looking at her family photo album) and asks about people. She'll say something like "Robert home?" when she's thinking about her cousin who was recently here.She has been talking very well, and has a very rich vocabulary with full sentences. One morning I caught her raiding the cabinet before breakfast and getting out a big box of animal crackers. I said "No, no, Laina, you can't have cookies for breakfast." She looked at me very seriously and said "Just a couple of monkeys, Mommy." We laugh a lot around here, and she is starting to show a good sense of humor, as well as a strong will and defiant streak that is in anticipation of the "Terrible twos", but mostly she is even tempered and so much fun to be around. Enjoy all the new pictures, more to come!

Weekend Fun

Here's some new photos for you. The first one is Laina with her first bandaid. She had a bad bugbite on her head that she kept scratching. I gave her a little travel mirror to see her bandaid and she was thrilled with it. She tells me constantly now that she has a boo-boo and needs another one! She is running around a lot now and will suddenly just fall asleep. She likes to play in "holes", which are just spaces that we make in between piles of pillows. There's a shot of her in a pillow hole, fast asleep. We went to the beach and she had a terrific time and actually wore her sunglasses. I will post a picture of her with Jimmy at the beach and one of her in her glasses. There's also one of Laina and her Daddy asleep on the couch. He and Laina are alike in that they really like their naps! When you play hard, you sleep well. We are currently working on tooth-brushing and washing at the sink, counting and letters, she is trying her potty chair sometimes, lots of pretend eating and tea parties. Today she was crawling around and meowing like a kitty, and also puts her toys to bed and pretends to change their diapers. We get to hear a lot of singing and she seems to have an ear for music, gets the melodies and sounds like she is on-key. Lately I have been playing more grown-up music and she is just fine with that and is learning some of the lyrics to the music I listen to, not just the kid stuff. On June 12, she will be 22 months old. Wow! Two in August, hard to believe, it goes so fast

Mom's Days

We're still here! So sorry to take so long between posts. Here's some new pictures. Laina is just growing like crazy. She has sprouted out of all her clothes and so now I am starting to open up the "Big kid's clothes" that people have given us. She is talking extremely well and sings all the time. We are having so much fun watching her. She is doing puzzles, building towers, playing dress-up, having tea parties and doing so many things. We have recently visited some spring lambs and some baby chickens so there's a photo of that.Laina likes to wear my radio-headphones that I bring to work(I am a house painter) so I'll post a picture of that. She cuts quite a figure with a full tummy! There's also a cute one of her playing with Nick our kitty.As you can see, her hair is finally growing and tends to stick up a lot. I have been thinking a lot about Mother's Day and feeling incredibly happy about our little family. We are just so in love with Laina, it is hard to imagine life withour her. I love being her Mommy. She has now been home for over a year and we have definitely completely forever-bonded and it feels FANTASTIC! Every day is Mom's Day.

Guangxi Girls

We have been very busy lately, every weekend there has been reason to celebrate. First we had a reunion with our Guangxi families. This would be our four families, and our "Peeps" who were together in the same province to bring our girls home. I am posting a photo of the four of them, in tee shirts that Bella's Mom, Tina, had made up. They say "I'm a Guangxi Girl" and have their American names in English on the front and in Chinese on the back. Laina is the yawning, but clapping one. From left to right, they are: Roma, Laina, Bella, and Jianna. We had a wonderful visit and hope to get together often. Yesterday was our official "Gotcha Day" anniversary from when they were placed in our arms. What an amazing time the last year has been. We can't imagine our lives without Laina. I will also post a photo of Roma and Bella just because it's cute! This past weekend Laina and I went for a "Girls Only Weekend" with her Aunt Betsy, to visit Grandma and Grampa and her Aunt Kathy, and anyone else we could see on our journey. It was great to show everyone how much she has grown and we only wish we could visit more often. Traveling with a 20-month old is a real adventure! She was well-behaved though and managed the long drive like a champion, sleeping almost all the way; only waking up for a little singing and a snack now and then.I'm having a little trouble with my photo program, so that's it for now. I hope to add more soon. We have had a fun couple of weeks but right now, I am just so happy to look into the baby's dimly lit room and stare at her beautiful sleeping face and feel thankful.

Hoppy Easter

Laina enjoyed her first Easter celebration since she came home(last year,Laina was placed in our arms on April 9, but at home it was April 10, Easter Day 2007!)This will always be a very special time for our family. This year, we had some friends visit with their baby, Luke, who is 5 months old. We went to see the Easter Bunny and they both had their first Merry Go Round rides. I did not get a good photo at the carousel, but here's one of Laina in her bunny ears, which she wears around a lot. We all have them and she likes us all to march around with musical instruments and have a parade. Parades are a nightly event in the Benoit household and Laina always leads the way. Jimmy and I make up silly words and sometimes manage to cook and set up for dinner as we shake our maracas and keep marching through the kitchen! There's another one of her with Jimmy and the Easter Bunny. I will post a photo of Luke with his cool glasses on, with his Dad Jeff, and one of Laina, reading a story with Luke's Mom, Marjory. It was a fun and busy weekend and it will be hard to get back to work tomorrow. We have a Guangxi reunion next weekend though, so there's something great to look forward to. Also, Laina and I are going to have a Mother/Daughter weekend at her Grandma and Grampas house the weekend after that.Should be a lot of photo opportunities coming up!

Hi everyone; Laina is finally napping so I can catch up a little! She is transitioning from two to one nap so I never know lately when she'll take one, or for how long. She has 2 new teeth, the lower canines are just peeking out. I think that makes 15, but wouldn't gamble on it. She is talking up a storm! Everyday there are new words, and lots of singing. In the car she just sings away from her car seat, mostly Happy Birthday, or The ABC Song, with a few 'doo-dahs' for effect.Today I will put up a picture of her riding a train at Day Care. Her Caregiver, Nancy always has special things for them to do on different days. This was also "pajama Day" so she's all comfy in feety pj's. Another shot is of her in her glamour Girl sunglasses on the swing with her Lambie. This toy is in many pictures, it is a "Lambchop" puppet and has become her special comfort thing. I can barely wash it.She likes to make us smell her for some reason, which is probably a familiar friendly smell to her, but can be well, umm, kind of yucky. And you have say "ummm, very nice, or something special about Lambie after you smell it. She makes me check the dryer every couple of minutes when the Lamb is in there.I was trying to post a video but haven't figured it out yet, so may be able to do that later. As we approach Easter, and our 1 year anniversary, we are amazed at how she has blossomed and how much in love with her we are. We feel so very lucky to have her in our lives and our family. Soon, we have a reunion with our group of 4 babies from the same province in China, Guangxi, and their families. We are really looking forward to seeing them all. When you share something like this, you really bond for life and we hope to keep them in Laina's life and ours, forever.

So sorry, it has been too long since our last post! Laina is getting much "busier", running and exploring everything. She has been getting ideas...like standing on something to get to something else. We have to watch her very carefully. There's new bumps and bruises more often as she finds her way, but she is doing very well over all. Now 1 1/2 years old, she has lots of teeth. In fact, I'm not sure how many, maybe 13, and she wants to eat everything we eat, and also does not want cut-up little baby bites. She has tons of new words, more than we can count and she sings all the time.It's so much fun!Here's some pictures for you; there's one of her riding in her wagon, swinging on the new swings in town(she was the first one on them!), riding in a box with my sister Betsy's dog, Sophie and a cute one of Laina and Jimmy playing with stickers.

Although I posted yesterday, I decided that since it was a "flashback" to give you some new stuff too. Here's Laina in a cute purple dress, one of her with her Grampa, one of her outside in the snow, and one of her with her buddy, our cat Nick who really seems to like her and is very tolerant of her crawling all over him as you can see.There's also one of her in her new beanbag chair from Christmas. She likes having her own spot to sit and she plays on it a lot too.Lately, she has been getting very brave about climbing on things and wants desperately to go down the stairs. It gets scary sometimes! She has progressed a great deal with her dexterity and is doing a lot of puzzles and shape sorting. We sing the "Happy Birthday" song a few billion times a day, with an occasional burst of "Twinkle, twinkle little star"-she is getting more words everyday and fills in with her own sounds but she is starting to get the melodies.I could listen to her all day. My radio broke in my van and I don't even care!