3 Months and 19 Days

It has been just about 3 months and 19 days since the moment Marty and I laid our eyes upon Elizabeth in person.

And when I think of it in those terms it is so amazing how far she has come--both literally and figuratively.

Slowly but surely we are getting to know this little wonder of a girl as she weaves her way into every aspect of our lives.

Just about three months ago two scared adults and one sleeping child were making their way across the ocean from China on their way to make a new life together.

Marty said on the day we got Elizabeth that "Elizabeth had 9 and a half months of practice at being a great baby and we had zero months of experience at being good parents". Well, we are trying to catch up for sure...but I think she still has a good lead on us.

I would say that Elizabeth is doing great, but I am Irish and that would be mean I would have to knock on wood--since anytime you say something is going well it is a sure invite for trouble.

But I can tell you that Elizabeth is learning so much! We have been teaching her sign language and she is picking it up extremely quickly. So far she knows the signs for:

"More" (she learned that one in China when we taught her how to ask for "more" food)

"Eat" (yes, that is one of her favorite signs)

"Please" (that is a cute one and hard to resist when she makes the sign for "please" and wants a dangerous kitchen item)

"Up" (as in get me up out of this high chair. She just learned this sign this week and she is using it a lot!)

"Book" (she asks for books all the time...although her attention span is such that she keeps asking for more books before you get to page 3)

"Bottle" (she learned this a while ago also)

"Shoe" (I taught her this one but not sure it so helpful, especially when she is going to sleep and then asks you to get her her shoes)

The sign language has been great for the most part. This morning she was a little cranky and then made the sign for "eat" and I realized the little darlin' was hungry.

As for the spoken word so far she is pretty much just saying "mama". Ahhhhh, how do you like that. She is however making a lot of sounds and I think a few more words are just around the corner.


And as for walking she is walking as if she has been doing it forever. And, thanks to a day at the park with a couple of older girls (2 year olds) she learned how to climb and is now trying to climb the stairs and everything else in her path. We had to call BooBoo Busters Babyproofers service on an emergency call the day after Elizabeth played with the 2 year olds. She learned so many new physical skills in one day that we were overwhelmed and realized we needed heavy duty babyproofing.

And on the social level she is really blossoming and communicating. Now she waves hello to lots of people and generally seems to understand and be able to communicate a good number of of her thoughts and feeling.

Yes, "Elizabeth the baby" is evolving into "Elizabeth the little girl".

Funny how everytime Elizabeth seems to understand and communicate I am continually amazed. I suppose when babies are little they are really more like dolls than they are like people. And then all of a sudden in the blink of an eye--this little person begins to emerge.

And Elizabeth, what a lovely little person you are.

Hello Holly

Well, it was a great day for Elizabeth when my dear friend Holly came all the way from Oak Park, CA to visit us! Holly was my roommate in college and it is soooo hard to believe that it has really been well over twenty years since we have lived together! Can that be true? Oh, time where does it go? Holly and her husband Bruce have two great kids Zach (14) and Becky (13)-- Elizabeth is looking forward to meeting all of them!

And,as I expected Elizabeth loved Holly and they had a great time together. And, Holly was so sweet to have brought her some great presents including a toy shopping cart which she loves and this teensy tinsy itty bitty red sort of polka dot bikini. Isn't it adorable.

Elizabeth is really living! Last week she gets a Juicy bathing suit and this week a Red bikini! Newport Beach....here she comes!

Evidence of Genius

So this may look like any other ordinary stuffed animal to you...but to me it is now evidence that Elizabeth may just have a little bit of genius after all.

Marty and I have an ongoing debate as to whether Elizabeth is a genius of not. I keep saying I have seen no such evidence and he keeps saying she is a genius.

Well, this morning Elizabeth proved she knows a heck of a lot more than I think she does--which is likely true for most kids!

I have been trying to teach Elizabeth some simple words and so far she has gotten --mama and lala (which we think is hello) but she still has a ways to go. This morning I said, "where is cat?" thinking she would look for Bodhi, but instead she pointed across the room to this stuffed animal (which by the way I have never even shown her-much less labeled as "cat"). I then said, "go get mama the cat" to which she obliged and walked across the room and brought me this little "cat". It probably helped that the stuffed animal does resemble Bodhi in coloring!

Okay, she is working her way to "genius" level. But I may be a little "non-objective" here!

She keeps on walking....

Here is another somewhat lengthy video, but you can get a sense of how Elizabeth is really progressing with her walking. Olympics 2020 here we come!

Sports Illustrated Messed Up!

Okay, so last night on David Letterman, Sports Illustrated revealed their swimsuit model of the year. They definitely messed up. Clearly they didn't get the photo of Elizabeth in her new Juicy swimsuit. Of course--Elizabeth told me she would have refused the invitation. Oh yeah, she is a woman's libber all the way! She wants to be valued for her brains and spectacular human beingness, not her stunning face and figure.



Oh yes, Elizabeth may be super cute in her new suit...but when you see her on the beach this summer she might just be reading Dostoevsky!



And yes, this is a JUICY swimsuit. Janet you were soooo right when you said that you saw Elizabeth written all over this swimsuit! Fits her like a glove too! Thank you! Now she really has to get to those swim classes!



Oh, and no Kate Moss look for Elizabeth! She has one healthy little set of baby legs!

No More Paparazzi please!

So we were just trying to get a few new photos of Elizabeth, but as you can see here, she is starting to tire of all the paparazzi! I told her that being as cute as she is--she had better get used to it.


Elizabeth and DaDa


Here is Elizabeth in her new hip shirt "Girls Rock" she wears it well!

She Voted

Yes, Elizabeth went to her polling place on Tuesday and managed to almost knock over the polling booth. Luckily the booth survived her.

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Today is Chinese New Year's Day. Happy Chinese New Year to all of our friends. Elizabeth was lucky enough to attend a Chinese New Year party with some of her girlfriends who were also adopted from China this year!

She had a wonderful time and watched all the girls walking, talking and eating up a storm.

I have just had a little bit of time to research the Chinese New Year traditions this year so the only ones we followed this year were-not washing our hair on New Year's Day, wearing red, wearing new clothes and having oranges and tangerines. There are lots of do's and don'ts for Chinese New Year. Oh boy,just what a superstituous Irish girl needs--more superstitions she is forced to follow! Oh well, it is actually kind of fun--although it wasn't the best day not to wash Elizabeth hair since she decided to glob most of her banana and yogurt breakfast in her hair this morning!


Here is Elizabeth with all of her girlfriends celebrating Chinese New Year. There is Emma and Lienne, and Megan. All the girls area amazing!


Here is Elizabeth with Emma. Emma has one gorgeous head of thick shiny hair!



Here is Elizabeth with Megan's dad, Foster. Elizabeth did okay with Foster for about a minute before she started to cry. Foster and Norma were the hosts of the party and they were the wonderful!



Here is Norma with Elizabeth. Norma speaks Cantonese and she tried to see if Elizabeth understood any Cantonese, but it seems she has forgotten all she may have learned in China, owing to the fact that her mama knows about zero Cantonese.
I will have her learn at least some of the basic language as she gets older. The doctor says to wait until she is at least three years old and is doing well with English.

Elizabeth Loves New York

Gee, I wonder where she got that shirt?
Yeah, New York City....my hometown. Do I miss it? Oh yeah. What do I miss about it...mostly the neighborhoods and the ability to walk everywhere. One of the least appealing aspect of California has to be that you have to DRIVE everywhere.

And when I think about growing up in New York City--how great it was to be able to walk to the corner candy store, playground and movie theater. As a kid you were able to be pretty independant at a young age. Here in California, kids are 15 and 16 and there parents are still driving them all over the place.

Walking Baby

So, in fairness the last video posted was about a month old. This one shows Elizabeth much more up to date--and WALKING! Oh yeah, she is going mobile! Watch out world.
She may never forgive me for showing her in her diaper duds, but she looks so darn cute--I couldn't help it.

Elizabeth's Favorite Person

Okay, be forewarned...this is a looonnnggg video. But you may want to check out at least a little of it so you can see that Elizabeth has a very amusing little friend--the one in the mirror. She has an amazing ability to sit herself in front of a mirror and amuse herself for a heck of a long time!
Hope she continues to get such a kick out of herself. What a girl!