Nancy, this hair is for you!

B. definitely still sports the "whalespout" or "pineapple" often, but I've been putting it off to the side so it ends up falling to the back with gravity, but the comment yesterday made me revisit this look for her.....she absolutely looks younger this way, and it will forever remind me of the first moment we saw her and of our first weeks together.

Happy Birthday Wee-Wee

Last night we decided to get gussied up and to take Auntie Louise, aka "Wee wee" out to Pho Evergreen for a birthday dinner. My big sister turns 53 today, and when she and Bea get together, it's a mutual adoration party! We enjoyed their best-in-the-entire-world wonton soup, scallion pancakes, calamari, tofu curry, delicious salmon and noodles dishes, and finished it off with banana and strawberry flambe for dessert. What a feast. And even better than the food was the reception that we get from the Vo family. Such a great night.

Here's what the camera sees these days....

Latest Obsessions

Here are the two books that fill much of Beatrice's time with me recently. The UNICEF book is one I've had for years, a duplicate of a school copy which I use for our International Week each year. The French book is a recent Christmas present from our friend "Uncle David." (We are going to Paris this summer, so he thought this would be appropriate, but at this point we're just focusing on the English words.)Each morning,I lift Beatrice out of bed and she immediately wants to get down to run to the landing where one of these books is awaiting her. She sits in the near dark, with her hair covering her eyes, and flips through it slowly, often staying on one page for many minutes. When I call her into the bathroom, ten to twenty minutes later, to get her changed and dressed, she often resists and/or insists on carrying the book (which she can barely do alone due to its size and weight) to the bathroom with her. I have to promise her that I will read with her after she's done getting ready to get her through. Honestly, it is amazing what a little bookworm we have, and we are thrilled about it. I see her receptive vocabulary increasing daily and I'm shocked at what she recognizes when she's asked to find things. That's pretty much her favorite thing with these two books in particular. Pointing at pictures, counting the numbers, having us say the colors, etc. Her expression is slowly but steadily increasing as well. She's using about 40 individual words on her own at this point. It is miraculous to witness this tiny little person use her mind and express her thoughts.

Beatrice, meet Dr. King

I just read the I Have a Dream speech to Beatrice before putting her to bed. I have a book form of it that takes about ten minutes to read. She sat quietly through it, though there wasn't a picture anywhere, then refused to let me take it away when it was done, instead bringing it to bed with her and putting it under her head like a pillow. I intend to read this to her every year on this day. I defy anyone to read it aloud and not at least choke up. On the back cover there's a photograph of Dr. King dwarfed by a giant waving American flag. I showed her his photo and told her a few seconds worth of info. I told her his story has a sad ending that I'll tell her when she's older. How will I explain that? Today I feel keenly aware of all the sad lessons that Beatrice will someday learn. In due time she will learn about hatred, ignorance, violence, and all the 'isms. For now though I am grateful for this precious time and this age of wonder that is twenty months, a time when I am and I have all she needs, as well as all the answers. A time when a peek-a-boo brings utter bliss to her face, a bowl of noodles brings thirty minutes of joy, a new book offers endless happiness, a hug can comfort anything, and falling asleep between Mama and Daddy is pure ecstasy. These truly are the best of times.