Dripping Hot Day

What's better on a hot summer day than a popsicle on the porch? Here's some video of Beatrice today cooling down and showing off her newest trick: when I ask "How old are you?" she raises her pointer finger straight into the air showing "one." She's also learned to show or point to various body parts, and is starting to answer questions with sounds as well as nodding. You can hear her version of "yes" and "no" is something like "note" "note" "note." Today she said "mawwwww" as she signed "more."

We are incredibly excited as our friends are coming out tomorrow from Pennsylvania with their adorable 16-month old son Jonathan, adopted from Vietnam about six weeks before we got Beatrice. They came out to spend time with us over New Year's and now our two completed families can finally be together and our babies can meet. We had dreamed of being in Vietnam at the same time, but fate had it otherwise. They got their referral just hours before we did last July and it's strange because they were expecting a girl and we were expecting a boy. We are headed to the Newport Folk Festival on Saturday and other than that will probably just hang out, chase kids, stay up late, eat yummy food, and act like middle schoolers like we did in January.

Phun with iPhone

Anthony's latest toy is the new iPhone which, I have to admit, is pretty amazing. He has a ball practicing voice commands, dowloading apps for just about everything, and watching the maps turn red with traffic checks.  About the only thing it can't do is get us over the GWashington bridge on a Sunday night in less than three hours! Today he downloaded some videos and pics from our trip, and there was some good stuff that I'd forgotten about.  Here are some highlights:

Enjoying the ocean in the evening

Mama and Beatrice's sandy footprints

First carousel ride at Rehoboth Beach's Funland

First amusement park ride ever with Daddy and Truman.  Mama stood by and sobbed with pride of her little trucker.

This is my "never say never" shot.  In the Children's Place outlet, Beatrice was strolling along silently when all of a sudden an arm flew out of the stroller and grabbed these pants off the rack.  She refused to let them go and she is now the proud owner of a pair of size 12 mos. camouflage pants. (we had a gift card we had to use, so what the hey?) Yes, her parents are in Amnesty International, organize the local Peace Day celebration each year, and are vocal antiwar activists. We decided to get this hat too to complete her "tough guy" look.  I actually LOVE the hat on her....it's very Eponine from Les Mis.

Here's a clip from her first few moments in the water.  Within minutes she was racing into the water and she got more daring each day.

We finally caught on film (briefly) what we call her "spin" move in which she pivots one foot and circles around. She sometimes does it on command now. I've never seen or heard of any other baby doing this until a couple of weeks ago when my cousin told me his 11- month old daughter does the same thing:

Fun in the sand with a bucket of ocean water and cousin Raina:

Random shots from our getaway

Reading a story at the beach house with Hank, Auntie Louise, and Truman

Hanging out at the Ocean City Boardwalk

Showing off her swimsuit

Trying to get a pose with Raina and Linden, in their "triplet" shirts from Lola

Getting some practice in at Tito Tony's house

Beautiful gift, handmade from Tita/Ninang Lucy

Visiting cousins Nate & Yuen, parents-to-be in September!

Stopping by Old Maryland Farm, right next door to Lola and Lolo's house

Underwhelmed in our nation's capital

Eating egg drop soup in Chinatown

Vacation within a vacation

We arrived home at 3 a.m. this morning with a killer 12-hour trek from the beach, including a nearly 3-hour delay over the George Washington Bridge. We had a fabulous vacation in D.C., VA, and MD, and Beatrice had a ball with all of her cousins, her Lola and Lolo, and other family and friends. She sprouted tooth #9 yesterday morning and I think a few others are close by. She's standing for many seconds at a time but still not walking independently. Her bottle from the orphanage, which was her water bottle during the day, has bit the dust and she now drinks water from a cup or from a sippy cup. Beatrice is signing and nodding frequently, understanding more and more every day, and enjoys pretend play. Pretend eating, as well as real eating, is one of her favorite pasttimes now. It is so great today to see how happy she is to be home. This clearly is her home and she is rediscovering her toys and the rooms with wide smiles today. I will post a bunch of photos once I catch my breath, but for now here's one that I just took after laying her down for a hopefully very long afternoon nap on a hot muggy afternoon. Sometimes her beauty overwhelms me.

couldn't resist