There's a First for everything

Laina has been a very busy girl. She had her first dentist visit and actually behaved. She usually freaks out and has a tantrum whenever she is at the doctor's so we were thrilled. She also had her first pony ride. She was so excited about it that she woke up before 5 a.m. and asked me "did the pony rides start yet? Will they have a big one? I want a big horse! I had to calm her down and tell her that it didn't start for hours and that we'd get there as soon as it opened. That same day, after the "real" pony ride, she also wanted to ride a mechanical horse outside a local market and then her wooden Rocking Horse, named Grandma when she got home. She informed me that Grandma now needs a saddle too. We've had at least one early beach day when some good weather snuck through, and some good clean fun at the playgrounds around here. She is at a "look at me!" stage, doing lots of jumping and twirling and climbing tricks.She adds after we watch each of her extraordinary feats, "babies can't do that!". Today we were mowing our lawn and she wanted her toy mower, so the 3 of us were all mowing it was very cute. She's growing out of all her clothes suddenly, jumping from 18-24 mos. to 3T. She wants a ponytail very badly so we are letting her hair grow, it's all over her face because she's too active to ever keep a barrette in. We lose one just about everyday. I'll throw in a couple extra photos to make up for the long time between posts.

Puppies, Horses and the Easter Bunny

We've had a busy holiday. Laina went to see the Easter Bunny and had some fun at a Merry-Go-Round and Game room with our friends, Jeff, Marjory and their son, Luke who is 1 1/2. They stayed for the weekend and we all had a great time. When we were sitting next to the Easter Bunny for our photo, she stared at him and then suddenly said, "Thank you for the basket". It was so sweet. She really liked riding the carousel this year, last year she was a bit scared. She also rode a little car in the game room and tasted cotton candy for the first time. Yummy! A little while ago, my photographer friend, Lisa, invited us to a photo shoot at the beach where she was taking photos of 11 Black Lab puppies! Yup...11. Laina had a great time running around with them(so did we of course).

Refinalized

Yesterday we went to refinalize Laina's adoption.This is not required as when an adoption is from China it is finalized when you are there, and she became a U.S. Citizen as soon as we hit U.S. airspace on the way home. However, Laina has a Chinese birth certificate and the U.S. requires this refinalization in front of a Judge to get her a U.S Birth certificate. Everyone recommends it since it will make her life easier, getting enrolled in school, getting her driver's license and everything else you need it for. It gave us a sense of closure and we had friends come with us. Also, today is the anniversary of Gotcha Day, the first time Laina was put in our arms. We have so much to be thankful for. I think I'll keep this post simple, with a photo of us yesterday at the courthouse with the judge and maybe a couple of photos from the actual Gotcha Day 2 years ago. The best day of our lives!

Chicks and Chips

This past weekend we attended a Family Day for the local school to celebrate spring. They had Face Painting, bean bag games, egg decorating, tissue paper flower making, and baby animals, as well as some other things. Laina had no interest in anything but the animals. We went into the room with baby chicks that the kids could hold and she held one, ever so gently in her arms for almost 45 minutes! It was so relaxed that it fell asleep and she absolutely refused to put it down. She was kissing it and cooing, it was so very cute. I had a hard time getting a picture because of the crowd. The yellow chick is the one she fell in love with, the brown is the first one she held.(we tried to get her to the other games at the fair but she just wanted to go back in with the chicks). When we got home later, we made some cookies and took a photo of her in one of her aprons with a chef hat on. She came up with the idea to make Daddy a really Big Cookie so we did and he was very happy about it as you can see. Laina was not happy at that point, it was naptime so she "hid" behind him and did not want to have her picture taken. At two years old, she can be an angel one minute and then suddenly turn into a big grouch, but we are managing. We've had to start time-outs and occasional loss of priveleges that she really wants, like books at bedtime.She told Jimmy one day that he wasn't the Boss, and when she is really angry she says "You're not my friend!". She is really testing her limits! The joys outweigh the frustrations always though, and she is growing up and learning quickly. What a kid!

Jammin'

Hi; Here we are again. We have been very busy lately. Our most recent adventure was a trip to the New England Aquarium on Feb,28. We had a great time, Laina was very excited and kept running ahead, coming back and grabbing my hand to see the next thing. Her favorite things were the penguins(when we arrived, they were feeding them). and the jellyfish. She liked to have them swim by her face up against the glass. Unfortunately, our camera was acting up and we have no pictures of the event. I have been trying to post some that were emailed to us by Uncle Paul, but something is glitchy. Hopefully I can figure it out.For now, you'll have to see some that were taken here at home. One is of her playing her guitar for me, and some are of her eating a muffin with jam, lots of jam...and playing at the sink, and wearing an envelope hat. We have been enjoying a couple days of nice weather, Laina and I went to the swings yesterday and she was practicing pumping all by herself. She likes to sing the whole time she swings so it is great fun to be there with her. She absolutely will not leave the playground until she has been on ALL the things either. If we miss one, she will remind me at home,"We forgot to climb the dinosaur Mommy!" She counted to 14 yesterday, all by herself, so I think we've overcome the number 12 hurdle. She had been stuck there, saying 11 and then 8. We have also noticed a great interest in letters and reading, she pretends to read "grownup" books and must have one of mine for the game. We play pretend a LOT, Jimmy and I must always be ready, at any time, anyplace, to instantly become a bear, a baby, an alligator, a lost kitty, or anything. It's very tricky sometimes. A funny new game is playing "babysitter". It's funny because when my friend, Wendy babysat for us, the power went out. Poor Wendy had an irate and bossy 2 year old yelling "Put on my Winnie the Pooh Light NOW!", and she didn't know where our candles or anything were. So now, when we play babysitter, Laina means "Get the flashlight, and pretend the power is out". I laugh every time!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day! Laina had a party at school yesterday and this morning her Daddy gave us both flowers and candy, and together we gave her some stickers and small stuff. Today we went to a local puppet show and tonight we'll have a special dinner, so we are all having a very nice day. All Laina is interested in is the candy, of course. Every couple of minutes she says, "can I have some candy now?, how about some chocolate? Where are my treats?"..the sugar radar is ON. Here're some photos for you. One is her photo from yesterday in her heart shirt for school.One is of her painting, with 4 brushes at once! One is in her "Lounge Singer" getup, she asked special permission to get on the table, "just for a minute, for my show", and a couple of other fun outfits she put together. Thanks Holly(and Holly's Girls) and Betsy, and Grandma for all the dressups, as you can see, they are getting some attention! She is very independent lately, trying to put on her clothes and doing a lot more by herself. She feeds the cats every morning and has informed us that we can give away her high chair to another baby. She helps me all the time, and also has started brushing my hair. She finally has some hair herself and will let me put barrettes in it sometimes. Seems like progress! She uses the potty 1 or 2 times a day, when we mention it, but has not started telling us when she has to go.She asked me why boys have "peanuts" and recently pointed some out to me on a nude male statue in a local statue park, so we are having some more talk about bodies. She asked a pregnant friend if she could see her baby so we had to tell her it was still growing in there. She also told her Day Caregiver, Nancy, that "I was born in Mama's arms, in China" Gave me some big warm fuzzies to hear that!

Gung Ho Fat Choy

Today is the Chinese New Year and that is the traditional greeting which means "may prosperity be with you". This is a very important time of year in most of Asia. It is a time to celebrate new beginnings,and fresh starts. They celebrate for 15 days and here are some of the traditions and preparations: cleaning the house to "sweep away the bad luck from last year", getting haircuts and new clothes for a fresh, clean start, decorating the house with red banners and scrolls for good luck, placing live blooming plants around the house to symbolize renewal, and handing out red envelopes with money inside to all the children for good luck. We had a little family dinner celebration last night with some chinese food, decorated the house with lanterns and dragons, and gave Laina a couple of small gifts(at 2, money isn't all that interesting thank goodness). We started learning to count to 10 in Mandarin, and read some Chinese New Year stories we found at the library. In the coming years we intend to learn more about it and attend some of the parades and festivities in Chinatown, or with our China travel group and all of the kids. Tomorrow they will make paper lanterns at Laina's Day Care and read some of the stories I have to the other kids. In the Chinese zodiac this is the year of the Ox. The Chinese observe a 12-year cycle in which each year is named after a particular animal. Laina was born in 2006, the Year of the Dog, Jimmy is a Rabbit and I am an Ox. I used to have a link for the zodiac for you to click on, just scroll down on the side of the blog. Hopefully it works. So we wish all of our family and friends "Gung Ho Fat Choy" today and hope for a fantastic New Year for all of you!

Glamour Girl

This one speaks for itself.

Holiday Happiness

Happy New Year! The Benoits have had a terrific Christmas and winter so far. Laina enjoyed the holiday much more than last year when she was sick all Christmas Day. Some memorable moments this season: We read some Christmas cards to her and explained that "Peace on Earth" is when everyone likes each other and everyone is happy and that it might be a good thing to ask for from Santa. We were in the Post Office and someone came up and asked "What do you want from Santa this year,Laina?" and her response was "Peace on Earth and a couple of toys", and added "an alligator and a duckie". It was very cute. She made her first snowman, as last year we didn't get much snow where we live. After we came inside, we looked out the window at him and she said, "That's my first snowman in the Whole Wide World". On Christmas evening, we went to visit with our friends next door and their daughter had a new pet gerbil named Dolly. Laina asked to hold her and was very gentle with it, petting her with one finger and talking like a Mommy.."It's okay, Dolly, I'm holding you". Very sweet, she is not afraid of animals at all, sometimes teases our cats a little too much but is generally very gentle. One of her special gifts this year is a toy horse barn and paddock made by her Uncle Rob and Aunt Betsy.One of the photos is of when she flipped the roof open and put the horses up there.They also made her a Super Girl cape and accessories that she likes a lot. She played some new musical instruments while wearing her cape, it was a good show.There's also a photo of a really nice balloon puzzle that her Gampa made and a couple of other shots. Photo opportunities are many but I am often just too busy with her to pick up the camera.Today I am unable to crop or brighten or edit the photos for some reason so they are not as good as they might be. We'd welcome any good pictures from the family. We hope that all our friends and family are weathering the storms, and that 2009 will bring good fortune, health and happiness to us all.

Giving Thanks

We hope everyone had an excellent Thanksgiving. Laina did, although she came down with a terrible cold that day(sorry to all of you that caught it!)She met her Aunt Mary, cousins Lee and Greg, and their wives, Emily and Heather, for the first time. We were all so happy to see more of our extended family. The picture I took isn't great, but I'll post it anyway.
People have been asking for more funny stories, here's one that I told some of you already; Laina recently went for her annual physical and vaccinations. She was absolutely miserable, crying and sobbing "No, no, no"...the Pediatrician who is very nice was asking me some basic questions, and she said, "Is Laina putting together a couple of words yet?", Laina looked at her, stopped crying, then scowled and turned to me and said, very clearly "Mommy, I want to get OUT of this hospital!". We laughed, the Doc had to turn away so Laina wouldn't see her giggling. She has LOTS of words. She told Jimmy that the Doctor "hurt her with a pin!" She has started focusing more on art projects and coloring, etc. Here's a picture of us playing with stencils. There's also one of her giving one of her fingerpaintings to her Grandma, or Memmere'. She also spends some time "reading", and looking at her books by herself and making up stories. This morning, her story was " Once there was a Mommy, a Daddy and a Laina, and they went to Ice-Cream Island. They saw animals and it was fun". I think I would like that island...