This is what 4:00-7:00 looks like

We ended the night with a little ice cream

Auntie Louise makes sure she doesn't miss a morsel

She's entering the "do it myself" phase

Serious conversation going on

Watching some kids playing on the playset

This might be my favorite photo so far....

In her "big girl" car seat

Daddy's home!...these next 3 are in reverse order

Spoon? Hands? Why argue....just use both!

"Feeding" Sula laundry lint

wheeling around her new grocery carriage

Contemplating life behind bars....

Remember those sunflowers we planted in May????

Helping Mama with laundry. She loves to put the clothespins in the basket

Trying to touch the lens of the camera

This was my red boot cup, bought at Gerardi's Store for 39 cents between 1970-1974

How can I NOT wait to get home each day???

School is going well, and many times during the day I look ahead to 4:00, the time I arrive home. Beatrice and Anthony are doing really well together, and it is obvious when I come home how happy she has been. This makes leaving in the morning sooooo much easier. Today was a gorgeous fall-ish day and Anthony headed out to teach a drawing class, so Beatrice and I were all alone, as we are a couple afternoons/evening per week now with this new schedule. We had a ridiculously good time together doing simple little jobs, eating dinner together, eating, and playing. I decided it was time to take some photos. Here is a sampling of the hundred or so that I took.

Bac Lieu Orphans

I've been following a few blogs of people in the U.S. who still are awaiting approval to travel to pick up their babies in Vietnam after over a year of being matched. There are still a handful of children, all over two years old now, who are stuck and cannot be united with their families. Needless to say these families are losing their minds. I know at least one family had to walk away because of the uncertainty. I can't imagine how painful it must have been to come to the conclusion that they would never actually have a life with the child they had been matched with, a fear that I barely allowed to enter my mind while we were waiting and waiting, but was there nonetheless. It's hard to know whether the "blame" rests in the hands of the VN government or ours, or a combination of the two. All I know is that, with an unlucky turn of fate, this could have been us, one of these children could have been Beatrice. The future of these children, should they remain in Vietnam, is grim. The adoptive parents have decided to do what they can and take turns volunteering over there, trying to stimulate the children in different ways, nourish them, and expose them to English as they cling to the hope that things will be resolved. Amazing people. They may never bring their children home, but they are trying desperately to better the lives of these children, the children that they love and consider their own. I watched the video below and, while the province, orphanage, and adoption agency are all different, so much was familiar to me...the sounds, the courtyard, the linoleum....I am so, so, so grateful and, in Vietnamese terms, so very very "lucky."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QELsGAoianQ

What Kind of Fool....

Puts a bookshelf at her child's level and expects said child NOT to pull them all off on a daily basis? Yup, that'd be me. You cannot imagine how many books and small toys per day get pulled off and the really lucky ones get shoved between the wooden bars on the landing onto the stairway or into the foyer one floor down. Didn't think of that when we were planning the bookcase and toys there. Oops.

Big milestone this weekend....no more rear-facing car seat. Beatrice has been busting out of the one we had, which went from base to base in each car and we now have two beautiful seats that are SOOOOO much easier to get her in and out of. (Thank you Lallys and Dan & Kathleen!) Another milestone....she made it through an entire church service without having to be taken out. (it helps that we have new priests and the masses are 15-25 minutes shorter, but still!) I almost gave her a donut in true Catholic fashion! Couple other things that were cool this weekend were that she is really starting to laugh and giggle at things. Sula just cracks her up, and believe me Sula is NOT trying. Any trick she does, any time she scratches herself, or if I put a "hat" on Sula, Beatrice thinks it's the best thing. Also, she really enjoys her swing now and was signing "more" many times today, not wanting to stop and giggling wildly when I was tickling her toes. The other noteworthy thing this weekend, not as cool, is that she's taken to screaming her lungs out ten or twenty or thirty times a day when she's unhappy about something. She directs it mainly at me, so I can't help but think this is payback for going back to work. This too shall pass I'm sure, and I'm trying my best to ignore it, ignore her, or try to redirect her, but I'll tell you this girl can leave a humming sound on an eardrum. I think toddlerhood is in full-swing. I recalled my mother's story about the ob-gyn asking her how she felt about having a baby at age 41 (that was me). My mother replied "I'm not worried at all. It's having a 2-year old at 43 that worries me!" I hear you Ma! Which is why I'm heading to bed at 8:38 right now......

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Going Private

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A Day with Daddy Wears a Girl Out

Beatrice had a rough dinner-time since she was so overtired today from two way-too-short naps. When she gets tired or frustrated, she pulls at and rubs her hair/head, so it resulted in this lovely "do." Also, very annoyed, she pushed away the cup of water I was offering her to drink, and the water went flying and splashed her right in the face. You can imagine how much that helped the situation! She set a new record, being sound asleep by 7:25, without even being rocked.

I title this one "Napless in Putnam"

Then she mustered a "cheese" for the camera, flashing her large new molar