Update hello

It has been a wacky few weeks here with all sorts of medical appointments and minor hiccups...all which become incredibly complicated when we have Elizabeth with us. We are slowly learning how to manage life while trying to make sure she is taken care of. I think when she is about 18 we will have it under control.


As for the little Empress, she is doing really well.

I don't think I filled you in on our trip to the fancy Los Angeles eye specialist...where we learned Elizabeth does indeed have Strabismus (crossed eye) and she will need to continue to wear her patch (photos to come) for a few more months and will likely need some eye surgery. I am currently in denial about that whole process but from what I understand the surgery is not too risky and is relatively common. Which makes me think of the saying, "surgery on someone else is minor surgery, any surgery on yourself is major surgery". I guess we will cross that bridge when it shows up but in the meantime I am glad that she is going to be in the care of one of the best doctors for this problem.

Elizabeth is also growing and maturing by leaps and bounds as you might imagine. She LOVES to go out and do things and every morning she is busy running around the house gathering up everyone's shoes and making the "car" sign (imitating using a steering wheel) and saying "bye bye". She is what I would call an "on the go" kind of girl.

She loves to go out to eat, loves to go to malls, supermarkets, beaches, pools, playgrounds--you name it. This is where living in Orange County California could lead to a culturally deprived child. There isn't a worthy museum in driving distance--although she is probably a tad young for that anyway. Although I would feel better strolling her around the Musuem of Natural History or the Met than I do having to take her to South Coast Plaza mall as often as I do. Alas...at least I don't have to worry about shlepping her in the rain and show.


She also love spending time with her grandparents and they seem to be part of the mutual admiration society. I have to snap a few more photos of them together.

Generally she is a happy and very social kid. She says hello and bye bye to pretty much everyone she meets--and I mean everyone! She is particularly drawn to scary looking fellas with lots of tattoos...no joke. Interestingly, she often gets wonderful smiles out of some of the meanest looking folks. Unlike her mamma she was not brought up in New York City where you learn VERY early not to make eye contact with anyone--and if they look scary you walk down another street! Not this baby...she is a Californian on that score.

Happy Times with George & Carmela

Last week friends George and Carmela came to visit us...well, actually I think they came to visit Elizabeth--and boy was she glad. She had a wonderful time --as we all did.

And it turns out that George could fill in for one of the Wiggles fellas should they ever retire. I have honestly never seen Elizabeth laugh as much as she did as when she was around George. One night we were out to dinner and I can tell you that George had Elizabeth laughing for at least an hour at his antics. She was totally smitten--who could blame her?

It was so nice to have Carmela and George here.

Dinner with her girlfriends

Elizabeth had a fun time with her friends Meagan and Lien who are also adopted from China. Everyone met for dinner and the girls got to run around like crazy girls afterwards. Lien is actually three years old already--and Meagan is one day older than Elizabeth and they are doing great.

Vote

Here is a photo of the little miss in her get out the Vote tee-shirt. She is trying to help dad in whatever way she can. Speaking of which--they needed a photo of an Asian young person for the textbook this year--so shameless nepotism aside--Elizabeth may be making an appearance in her daddy's book next year--right between McCain and Obama. Hey, she may deserve more votes than either of those two! (opps...did I say that?)

Having fun at the fountain

Here she is playing in the fountain at Fashion Island. As you can see she has no qualms about getting wet--even when she isn't dressed for the occasion.

Last week we met up with three of her girlfriends from China Gracie, Maria and Kaila and all the girls seemed to have a great time. She and Kaila even found another fire hydrant to play with.

Elizabeth finds the pool

So we packed Elizabeth into the car and headed south to beautiful LaJolla--which only took us about an hour--to meet our friends Ginny and Craig and some of their family. We met Ginny and Craig on one of our cruises through the Baltics (ahh...those were the days!). We were thrilled to get to see them on their family tour through California.

And it was a wonderful visit and a momentous one as well--Elizabeth had her first swimming experience (outside of the bathtub) with dada and Callie and she had a blast. We couldn't drag her out of the pool and I suspect we will be making a lot of visits to our neighborhood pool.












Here are Ginny and Elizabeth trading fashion secrets--and Elizabeth is wearing Callie's sunglasses. Darling....you look divine!



Here you can see that our little darlin' adapts well to the laid back California lifestyle.



So who would have thought that having a nine year old girl around would be such a big help? Well, if the little girl is Callie--it can be a great help. Craig and Ginny's granddaughter Callie was lovely and sweet and so charming with Elizabeth. She managed to be a little mommy all afternoon and I was even able to eat my own lunch for once! Callie did a great job feeding her and entertaining her. Oh...now why can't Callie live next door? Elizabeth was crazy about her--can you blame her?








Craig and Ginny's granddaughter Sophia and her mom Neva joined us at the pool. Is that the cutest smile!



Here is Elizabeth with Craig having fun modeling his designer sunglasses!

Janet and Elizabeth

Last week Aunt Janet came down from L.A. to see Elizabeth and Elizabeth, as you can see here, loved spending time with her. People always think Janet and I are sisters so it makes sense that Elizabeth takes such a shine to her--don't ya think???








Can you see the rainbow behind Janet and Elizabeth here?