Flower Girl

This post is one of 2 I intend to post today. Our neice, Sarah, recently got married and asked Laina to be the Flower Girl. She was very proud and excited to do it. I helped her prepare by telling her about her "Princess" dress and how special she will be to be in the wedding party.It was all I could do to keep her clean for the hour before the ceremony that they were taking pictures of the bride, her and the bridesmaids. There was a frog pond and she so-o-o wanted to pick one up. They gave her a "magic wand" made of real flowers and glitter and she walked down the aisle with her cousin, Jacob, who is just a little older and was the Ring Bearer. They held hands and rang all the bells and whistles on the Cute-ometer! The Groom and Ushers wore kilts, as did Jacob, which made him even cuter. Laina felt so important that when thy were giving the vows she stood RIGHT THERE and couldn't be cajoled back to us. She turned around and wagged her finger and whispered "No, Daddy, they're getting married!" and pointed to them. She wanted to hear every word. At the Reception, she was anxious to dance and kept asking me, "when can we dance? Can we dance now? ", eventually of course, they let us and she started by trying a slow dance with Jake. She held him tight but he kept his arms straight down, I think she was a little too enthusiastic! And then, "Mommy, I need to take off this hairband, and these shoes, and these tights, so I can DANCE! Oh, and can I change into a dancing dress?", she was so funny. I luckily had predicted this and had another, loose dress so she could show off all her moves. She and her Dad really rocked the house and I have a funny picture of them, standing in front of the fans, cooling off. All in all, she was a beautiful Flower Girl and a good girl and we all had a fantastic time. Congratulations to Sarah and Bill! And special thanks to John and Betsy for sharing their photos with me.

Happy Third Birthday

Laina just turned 3 years old on August 12, it's hard to believe.She woke up that day and looked at her self and then said "Look Mommy, I'm enormous!" Yesterday she got out of bed and went to the potty by herself, she wants to choose all her clothes, and is basically wanting to do everything all by herself all the time. It's a challenge to encourage her but at the same time educate her on how things should be done. I have a lot of photos, we had a fun backyard party for her on Saturday the 15th and invited about 10 other toddlers. They had a great time in our 2 kiddie pools. We also had cupcakes at home on the 12th and gave her a new tricycle. She got a cool "make your own "saxaphone game from our friends, Robin and Hollis and she and Jimmy had fun making a double one.We had a lobster Feast and I have a picture of her with her Uncle Paul. There's a funny picture of her in a very small plastic bowl that I had given to her to play with on a hot day out on the deck. I found her sitting in it and then jumping out and sitting on the deck. When I asked her what she was doing, she said "making butt prints". Sure enough, there were some cute little, heart-shaped butt marks.She even got everyone to play this game at the Day Care. We also recently went to a Fair and took a couple of pictures of her on some rides with her friend, Ivy. There's a shot of her trying on some grownup sunglasses and maybe more...

Laina Marie-About to be 3

Hi everyone; We are still here, just busy busy. We are having a fun summer,the weather finally feels right. Laina is so very busy, it is exhausting just watching her. She is climbing everywhere, learning to skip and gallop. She has to do everything herself, like pick out her clothes and getting into her car seat, etc. We are constantly challenged by her unique ideas for playing pretend. I recently had to be a "scorpion named Jose', a zebra who lives under water and a carrot that talks when somebody tries to pick it. I am posting a bunch of photos for you: Laina and her Day Caregiver, Nancy at Fourth of July, a tea party with her little friend Brooklyn, painting at her easel, crabbing with Daddy, posing with both of us before going to a wedding, and riding on a boogie board. Maybe even more! Her third birthday is next wednesday and we'll be having a kids' party next weekend. We are doing kiddie pools, bubbles and water play. Laina can entertain herself with our hose for a whole afternoon lately. Last year she wanted nothing to do with the water so that's a new world for her. She blows bubbles and tries to swim in the tub or pool too. We are still working on potty training, getting rid of the pacifier, and big-girl manners. She has told me that she wants a big-girl bed now. She also informed me the other day that "I don't want to be an animal doctor anymore, I want to be a fairy". I told her that maybe she could be both, heal the animals with her wand...not sure about the fairy business, but a magic wand could sure come in handy!

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!