Jul 2006
So sorry Matt!
So I was given a book by
Karen's Mother a bit ago about being a daddy. It's a
cute little book with snippets of humorous wisdom for
what to know and expect with being the father of a
daughter, all the way through her teen years and
beyond. Cady, after a recent visit to see her cousins
Nicole and Matt, decided on her own that the umm..
girl on the cover of the book.. was umm.. Matt. We
really had no say in this, and have even tried to
explain that it was a little girl on the cover, and
that Matt was definitely not a little girl.
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Walking the dog
Belated Independence Day celebration
Here's to the 4th of July. And the 8th and the 9th too!
Because the 4th fell on a Tuesday this year, our evening was fairly uneventful. However, this weekend Cady was able to visit my family, and we celebrated a bit late. She thoroughly enjoys the company of extended family. Scott couldn't go with us because we stayed till Monday, and he couldn't afford the extra vacation day right now. But he really missed his little girl, and I heard about it every time we called home. I have to admit, I think Cady missed him too, but she was surrounded by so much attention and love that she kept herself busy enjoying her visit. Next time, hopefully Scott will be able to join us.
We stayed Saturday night at my mom's house where Cady decided to pose with the red, white and blues shown above. My son, Daniel, got to visit as well, and it was a wonderful time. My Mom received the privilege of sleeping with Cady in between her and me, in her bed, and I think poor Mom ended up with only 3 hours of sleep on that first night. Ya' see, Cady is a very busy sleeper. She tosses and turns and her head eventually touches every edge of her crib at least twice, in a normal night's sleep. Being in a bed (I'm sure) amplified that for her. Mom just smiled when I asked her how she slept, and said, "I have my whole life to sleep".
Mom and Cady have a very sweet relationship, and I'm very thankful for that.
Then it was off to my brother's and his family. The last time she visited my brother's family was in April, during the Easter visit, but she remembered Matt and Nicole immediately. She seems to be infatuated with her cousin, Nicole. I think part of it is the blonde (almost white) hair that Nicole has, but most likely it also has something to do with the one-on-one attention that Nicole constantly gives her as well. When we showed up, Nicole was downstairs, making Cady a felt purse. It was so cute. And by the time we left, Nicole had made her some crafts to take home.
I love this picture of the two girls together.
Cady learned very quickly that Nicole will gladly pick her up. And although she weighs 27 lbs, almost half Nicole's weight at 60 lbs, Nicole and Cady seemed to be joined at the hip on several occasions for this visit.
It was a wonderful visit with times of just lounging and playing.
Karen's Mom with her two granddaughters
Teething on a watermelon
We also went swimming, while Cady discovered 2 firsts.
1-She discovered that she can dunk her head underwater on the count of three, just like the big kids do. Well, sorta. I dunked her head with a lot of preparation while she was in my arms, in the pool. She would always come up a bit shocked but ended up with big smiles after wiping away the water from her eyes.
2-She also discovered the teething benefits of gnawing on cold watermelon. Lately this girl has more drool than old faithful has water. Her front molars are rearing their heads, and she will chew on whatever feels good. But from the looks of how many tooth marks were planted into her watermelon and not actually chewed off, watermelon is the latest best feel good.
Honorable mention.
Lastly, I wanted to post this picture of my nephew, Matt. Or as Cady refers to him, ma-TTT. Unfortuntely, Matt doesn't like to be photographed doing things that I think are adorable. So, I thought I'd give him his 15 seconds of fame with this picture. Just so you know, I did witness Matt dancing with Cady and playing with her and the monkey purse that he gave to her, because he knows how to be a thoughtful big cousin. But I was unable to get any pictures of it before he would move on.
I really love my niece and nephew. I don't tell them enough, but they're really good kids.
Picture fun
It amazes
me to no end that wherever I live, fireworks are not
allowed in city limits, yet I am never able to sleep
on July 4 because of all of the fireworks going off
continually around my home. I think all businesses
should make everyone work on the 4th and give
everyone the 5th off so that they can recover from
not being able to sleep the night before.
Now, I'm a patriot, and I love my country. I choose to show this patriotism every year by, you know, obeying the laws of this country, and the cities within it. I know, call me odd if you will.
Anyhow, I was playing a bit in photoshop with a picture that Karen took today.
The result is pleasing I think.
Now, I'm a patriot, and I love my country. I choose to show this patriotism every year by, you know, obeying the laws of this country, and the cities within it. I know, call me odd if you will.
Anyhow, I was playing a bit in photoshop with a picture that Karen took today.
The result is pleasing I think.
Another movie
We've
already put up the pictures for
this, but here are the movie files that Karen shot
during that time.
New achievements
So, I thought I'd start this post with a picture of Cady imitating her daddy. No real reason, only that it's a fun picture.
Yesterday was Cady's second day of pre-school. Man! This school stuff is tough on me!! I never really thought that sending my child to pre-school would be so hard on the psyche. When my son was younger I ran a home daycare, so I never really felt the effects of being a working mom. But she (we)...I?? have to get used to this.
I've noticed two things about Cady while she's around other children. She won't share. Instead, she gives a rather brilliant puppy dog face while she tilts her head and says, "nooooo". But, the other thing I noticed around other children, is this; if there is a child in need of comfort, she will find a toy and try to entertain her/him with that toy, and gladly give it as a gift. These actions not only make me believe that our daughter is empathetic toward others in her environment, but that might also have been her way of helping the younger children cope with sadness in the orphanage.
She's been home for 3 months now, and we've really noticed growth on all levels.
-She's gained a vast amount of language acquisition:
-She says 25-30 words, although some are words that only we understand.
-She understands 95% of what is said to or around her. Yesterday, I was holding her and told Scott that I need to do a few things, so he said to put her down (in normal conversation, with several other sentences) She was listening to us, because as soon as he said that, she pushed her legs up higher and clung to me like a sticky weed to a sock.
And she really listens when I tell Scott something that she did while he was away. She might not know what we are saying exactly, but she recognizes the emotions and happiness that is said with her name involved, and she starts looking very proud of herself.
-She will actually talk on the phone to someone on the other side. It might be babble, but it's definitely acknowledgment of the other person.
She's getting physically bigger:
-She's gained an inch and a half in height
She's interacting with her environment in positive (and very cute) ways:
-She's in the process of switching from treating Keegan (our dog) as a sibling to treating him as the "family dog". She'll grab his toy and throw it for him, knowing that it's HIS toy and HE is a dog. And the next minute, when I ask Keegan to dance for a treat, Cady is on her tip toes, hands up-bent at the wrists, and she's dancing in circles, competing with him for cheese, as a sibling.
Below is a video of them both competing for a treat:
-She draws small circular scribbles on paper and then points to the scribble then to herself and says "mama"
OK so that's one we need to still work on. She calls herself Mama. We think she might be associating herself with females, but we aren't sure. One of us will say, "that's Cady" pointing to the picture then to her...and she quickly replies with a quick nod of approval and says, "mama!"
-She also mimics everything. If someone is standing with their arms crossed, I'll look down and there's Cady, studying the adult, and crossing her own arms. If we're talking with friends and using hand motions, Cady will start using her hands and babbling....If you could imagine how it looks and sounds while playing Sims online, as one of the characters gives a party, then think of all the Sims gathering round to chat, and then you'll have an idea of how she contributes to the conversations.
We were in the car the other day, and I said to Scott, "this sucks!" Cady replied, "sucks". Scott then said, "Did you hear that, Karen?? We have to be careful, Cady just repeated the word sucks" To which, of course we hear again from the back seat, "sucks".
So, we're starting a new chapter in her interactions with others. Last week was her last week at My-Gym, and I'm very glad we enrolled her there. It was a great way to start her in the process of learning how to participate in circle time, and to work on her motor skills. When she first started there, I noticed that she was a little behind on motor skills from children her age. She had the knowledge and the desire to participate but she had never been given the opportunity. After 6 weeks she was ahead of others. It was like watching a child that had been blind, recover eye sight, and begin to discover her surroundings in a new way. It was also a wonderful thing that both my mom and son got to experience this with her.
Cady and Daniel (or as Cady calls him, Daw-daw)
Cady and Grandma (In Cady language: Mamah)
For Bill
Some time
ago, we wrote about Half the Sky, and
how people (and companies) can donate in many ways
to benefit the children in China's orphanages. We
had also written how we knew that Cady had a
sponsor, though we did not know who he was. Well,
as the title hints, we now do know. We've known
for a bit of time already, but this is the first
time that we have shared this outside of the home.
We were able to send messages over to Bill, and to
express our gratitude to him for being a sponsor
to our baby girl, and were thrilled to hear back
from him. We know that he reads the site on
occasion, and we want him to know that he is in
our thoughts and prayers always.
So we discovered something interesting recently. You've seen a lot of pictures of Cady (umm.. obviously) and most often she has this complete look of concentration on her face. We love that look about her, and she obviously learns so much in such little time, that it makes sense. She really is studying everything constantly. What we learned though, is that just by asking, we could get some incredible smiles from her. Ya I know, all we had to do was ask, right? Our daughter can say "cheese" now, and actually understands that it means that we want her to smile. I know this because if I ask her to say "cheese" while I am not pointing a camera (or at least something that looks like a camera) at her, she looks back as if to say "You don't have a camera, why are you asking me to do this?"
Mind you, she also knows what cheese is, and will happily gobble it up when offered to her.
That's all from me for now, and Karen will be writing very soon, directly from her own brand new Mac Mini (WOOO!). If the site starts looking odd from time to time, it's not her fault at all. I'm trying to see how I can share one blog file between two computers, and though I think I have it figured out, we'll see what happens when it really gets tested.
I'm thrilled at the number of great responses for the new site look, and yes, there is a distinct Monsters theme here. Appropriately enough, it is a theme from the Rapidweaver program used to create the site, and the theme is in fact called Monsters. I've customized the look to meet some of the requests, particularly the text coloring, though there are some things on it that I can't change with my limited modifying skills, though I keep trying.
Thank you all again.
So we discovered something interesting recently. You've seen a lot of pictures of Cady (umm.. obviously) and most often she has this complete look of concentration on her face. We love that look about her, and she obviously learns so much in such little time, that it makes sense. She really is studying everything constantly. What we learned though, is that just by asking, we could get some incredible smiles from her. Ya I know, all we had to do was ask, right? Our daughter can say "cheese" now, and actually understands that it means that we want her to smile. I know this because if I ask her to say "cheese" while I am not pointing a camera (or at least something that looks like a camera) at her, she looks back as if to say "You don't have a camera, why are you asking me to do this?"
Mind you, she also knows what cheese is, and will happily gobble it up when offered to her.
That's all from me for now, and Karen will be writing very soon, directly from her own brand new Mac Mini (WOOO!). If the site starts looking odd from time to time, it's not her fault at all. I'm trying to see how I can share one blog file between two computers, and though I think I have it figured out, we'll see what happens when it really gets tested.
I'm thrilled at the number of great responses for the new site look, and yes, there is a distinct Monsters theme here. Appropriately enough, it is a theme from the Rapidweaver program used to create the site, and the theme is in fact called Monsters. I've customized the look to meet some of the requests, particularly the text coloring, though there are some things on it that I can't change with my limited modifying skills, though I keep trying.
Thank you all again.
