Day Tripper

Here are some shots from the past week, during which Beatrice graced the towns of Providence, Mystic, Newport, Cambridge, and Boston with cousin Miles and his parents Steve and Liza. You can see her here eating mangoes (what else would you consume at "Flo's Clam Shack?"), walking along the Cliff Walk in Newport, trying to make a move on blissfully naive Miles, awaiting her first meal at an Indian restaurant, walking near the harbor, tucking her tiny foot into Daddy's hand while being carried in the sling, and being squeezed by Mama at home. She has become so affectionate, by the way, not only giving hugs and kisses upon request, but initiating them, and often. When she wakes up in our bed, she leans in for a kiss to me, then immediately plants one on Daddy, complete with curled lip and an "mmmmm" sound. It has been so wonderful spending time with family, and Beatrice remains flexible as ever. Yesterday and today, though, we're enjoying being quiet at home and getting back into a normal routine.

More Baptism photos

Mango Magic

We have had a blur of busy-ness since my last post with 4 families from MD/VA coming (one still here 'til Friday) for Beatrice's baptism. She has spent over a week with her many cousins, grandparents, uncles and aunts, and accepted love from all of them. Her baptism was so beautiful and she couldn't have been more charming during the service. She even clapped "hurray" on cue as the congregation was congratulating her, and blew kisses to Fr. Gerry after the final blessing. Beatrice has the uncanny gift of being charming and hamming it up when she's center of attention, yet she doesn't demand it and is totally okay being in the background too. I hope she never loses that skill. We had a party after the baptism at our house with 50-something people, complete with Vietnamese food, Filipino food, ham & beans, cake, and mangoes. Lola brought 2 boxes of the most delicious yellow mangoes I've ever had and we have been devouring them every single day. Anna and Cindy, Beatrice's "cousins" from Pho Evergreen, delivered the Vietnamese food and hung out with us for a while, which was an awesome bonus. Beatrice continued to blossom this week with new things. Kissing on request, then initiating her own kisses, and on to blowing them, all happened since my last post. A few days ago she started walking if you gave her your hands, and last night she blew us away by walking on her own with this walker toy that's been in our house since we arrived home from Vietnam. This girl is moving forward and there are big changes nearly every single day. I think the mangoes she eats with her daily breakfast have been magical or something. She has been so incredibly flexible throughout the chaos. She was pretty good about letting others holding her as long as Anthony or I were in sight. Lola was her first babysitter for just under an hour one day as the time between Anthony's drawing class and my return home from work had a gap, and she did okay. Apparently when neither of us is in sight, she starts to search, but doesn't panic. I feel so good about her attachment to us. I recently listened to an audio tape about Reactive Attachement Disorder and they summed up a child with RAD as "wanting power and control more than love and more than having their basic needs met." That is definitely not Beatrice, and I am so, so grateful. Today marks the beginning of my 8 1/2-week summer vacation and for that I also am grateful. I'm sure when I return at the end of August, my baby girl will have made even more leaps and bounds toward toddlerhood. I am so looking forward to being with her every single day.

On the grass with Lola and Lolo

My mom and dad are in town and we've been spending time getting them reacquainted with Beatrice, or is it the other way around? Yesterday we went out to lunch with Michelle's father at Pub 99 and today we stayed home doing some yard work mostly. Beatrice is getting used to being on grass. She actually picked up weeds with her Lola (Filipino for grandma). My dad went out to fix Michelle's bike so he can ride the many hills of Putnam and neighboring towns. Yesterday my friend Mike had to give my dad directions from our house to Michelle's father's house which is just down the road. He had my new hybrid bike and was carrying large cutting shears and appeared to be lost. It feels great to have my family come to town and even better that my daughter is growing to love her Lola and Lolo.

Keep Off the Grass!

We had a fun time in Providence yesterday, visiting a gallery and eating Indian food on Thayer Street with Martha & Erik. While we were waiting for them to arrive, Anthony showed me a new game that Beatrice enjoys. He hides a wooden ball in one of his hands, then mixes them up and presents her with 2 fists and she has to guess which hand the ball is in. Here are some photos of that, a video of more cruising which she's now doing all over the place, and of her in Providence on the grass. Beatrice does not care for the feel of grass on her feet/legs/hands, so if she can, she lifts a body part off of the grass so that it doesn't have to touch it. Sometimes she'll even alternate lifting right leg/left leg, and so on. It's pretty hysterical and she achieved one amazing position with her leg straight out and she held it long enough for me to dig the camera out of the diaper bag and catch it on film. She doesn't cry or say anything, just freezes like a statue and lifts something up. Check out her "Bruce Lee" hairdo, as Daddy refers to it, when she takes the accessories out of her hair. She definitely has a good helmet-head when she wakes up each morning.

Beatrice has learned to shake her head "yes" or "no" and has a strong preference for the latter. At the gallery yesterday, a stranger asked her if she could have a high-five and Beatrice very clearly shook her head "no." She did the same with Erik once later in the night and several times with me this morning when she was attempting to negotiate her breakfast. My baby is becoming a toddler more quickly than I'd like.

I don't know how much I'll blog these next couple of weeks because we have four families coming up from Maryland for Beatrice's baptism next Sunday and the studio, aka "the blogging room" will become a guest room for about ten nights. Should be a fun start to summer vacation!

Wanna Go Cruisin'?

I still think she's a ways away from really walking, and we're in no huge rush for her to do so, but Bizou had a first at Barnes & Noble last night as she took a few steps around the Thomas the Train table.  Today Anthony called me at work and very proudly reported that she had just cruised almost the entire length of our couch, so I tried her at the tub today with video in hand. Here she is:

three states in three days

Beatrice spent part of Thursday in New Haven and part in Hartford,  spent part of yesterday in Worcester, and the whole afternoon today in Providence. She's been a busy gal visiting college campuses to help Daddy advertise the gallery stroll and illustrator's show happening here in town July 3rd. We stopped along the river in Providence in pretty much the same spot Anthony and I went on our second date, almost five years ago to the day.  She loved looking at the water. On the way home we stopped at Pho Evergreen to see our friends, the owners, and to order some food for her baptism celebration in a couple of weeks.  When we walked in, they greeted us like family, and immediately came out with freshly fried rice chips for her and iced tea for us. Sometimes I miss Vietnam and Vietnamese people so much. The sun shone brightly today for the first time in what seems like ages. It was a great day.

Bizou Goes You Tube

I finally finished a slideshow of our trip to and in Vietnam.  I downloaded it at You Tube, so you can watch it there or a bit smaller version below this entry.The quality is not great because a 7GB file had to be compressed to 12MB, but it serves the purpose for sharing.  It was emotional revisiting some of the video clips and shots we took.  While only eight weeks ago, in some ways it seems like an eternity and I barely recognize the little baby in those scenes in the orphanage.  We went back to Yale today for her developmental assessment and I am thrilled to say that the doctors found her to be age appropriate or beyond.  Either Beatrice is invulnerable and incredibly resilient, or her caretakers deserve tons of credit, or a combination, because her fine and gross motor skills, communication, and cognition are all right where they should be.  The doctors said that there is absolutely no sign of ill effects from institutionalization and that while there's no guarantee she won't have learning issues in the future, that's no more likely than a non-adopted child at this age.  Whew.  My biggest worry about the length of time it took to get her home was the risks that came with each passing week, and now I can just say that everyone's prayers and positive thoughts must have seen her through.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.......

A Day Outside

Here are a few pictures of us out on the porch admiring the flowers.

I was in bed with Beatrice this morning and she had her head back on a pillow and she was just staring at me and all I could do was look into those dark eyes and see an eternity of happiness. We decided to take a stroll downtown today because the weather was just beautiful. She likes the River Walk and the waterfalls at Rotary Park. At times it seems so easy to make her happy. But when she insists on something she makes herself heard. Overall our days are spent exploring and playing, taking naps and eating. One would only need that schedule for a lifetime of contentment.

I spoke too soon.....

One slipper is off. Man, she's good!

Eskimo Summer

Even though the calendar says JUNE, it's 64 degrees in the house and Bizou's feet were freezing this morning.  Putting socks on her, and even certain shoes, is futile as she just pulls them off, but my cousin sent these adorable hand-knit slippers that I think have solved the problem! They fit perfectly and you tie them kind of tight so she can't get them off.  So thank you Margo for these adorable chaussettes/chinellas/slips!  (any one of those words is used interchangeably in our home) Anthony titled my outfit today...tshirt, shorts, and slips, "eskimo summer."