I Go to the Hills...

Good news today: we received M's final adoption paperwork from the county court. Not that you (or we) were waiting in suspense...


Last weekend, we needed a break and used a colleague's summer house near Grandfather Mountain. We went up on Friday afternoon and returned Sunday afternoon. The weather was hot in Charlotte and very pleasant in the mountains (surprisingly, it only dropped to 60 at night!).

Saturday morning we went to Grandfather mountain. We went to the top first since the weather was good. At the top (that is, the top of the road, not the top of the mountain) is a "mile high swinging bridge." Fortunately, the 2000s version doesn't really swing. But it leads you to a short walk to a rock outcropping where you can get a 360 view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. It was hazy, but you could still see quite well.


We then went to the "zoo." C was very excited to see the cougars, the otters, the deer, and the bears (ok, just about everything that was large and moved). You could buy food to throw to the bears, so they just sat up with their mouths open to catch the food. One was so lazy (and apparently well fed) that he wouldn't even bother to get up to pick up food that didn't land directly in his mouth. We also saw the nature museum and had lunch at a picnic shelter. One of the workers brought a corn snake. After her short presentation, everyone could pet the snake. C refused to touch it, but interestingly enough, later declared that seeing the snake was the best part of the day. M has little fear and touched the snake (she probably would have put it in her mouth had we given her the chance...)


Thereafter, we went to Tweetsie Railroad, a small amusement park between Boone and Blowing Rock. As luck would have it, it was their opening weekend for the summer. The rides are mostly oriented towards kids, so C had a good time. And, of course, he got to ride the train which was a big thrill. M enjoyed looking out the window of the train too--things were moving and she was out of the stroller.


Around 5 pm, the cold winds kicked up and we noticed dark clouds covering the mountains. Normally, this is a sign that you should get moving to avoid a thunderstorm, but apparently there is an exemption to this rule if you have not yet stopped at the candy shop. (I can concede, that by Rogers and Hammerstein's logic, if candy is one of your favorite things, it will make you feel better during a thunderstorm.) Fortunately, we did not get hit by a thunderstorm, but that didn't mean we totally avoided trouble. Rather than take the Blue Ridge Parkway back to the weekend house (the way we came), we took the state route that was lower (I thought it stayed in the valley) and thus was less likely to be foggy. It was lower than the Parkway, but it was a very curvy mountain road with plenty of fog--though it was not thick enough to be dangerous. Upon our return to the house, went out to enjoy the evening on the deck and saw a fox down on the golf course.

Sunday morning the clouds were low and moving quickly. Our journey for the morning was to Linville Falls, a short hike off the Blue Ridge Parkway. M took the stroller and smiled and waved to everyone we passed while C helped Mum Mum when he wasn't jumping off rocks or tree stumps. We walked past the falls to an overlook where we got a great view of the falls. Then we walked back to the falls where we could see lots of water disappearing over big rocks (the traditional top of the falls view!). Linville Falls get lots of press in NC but we were less impressed with them than falls in Dupont Forest outside of Hendersonville. Our hypothesis is that Linville Falls get more attention because they are closer to the tourist areas.


Kids updates. C has been doing very well at preschool. His vocabulary has expanded and he knows his numbers and letters. He likes to draw and brings home many scraps of paper with his scribblings daily. He likes for me to sit on the swing and have me pull him as high as possible before releasing the swing. His instructions are worth sharing and are said with superfast speed and super enthusiasm: "Please get me superhigh that I ever saw. Higher than [the tree, the house, the sky, outerspace, rocket ships] so that no one can see me [or my head and eyes and ears, or my arm, my eyebrows]. Eyebrows is my all-time personal favorite. M is regularly pulling herself to standing position and moving laterally along the furniture. She can push herself up to standing position from the floor and hold it for a few seconds. She'll walk several steps holding an adult's hands. It won't be too long until she's walking. In fact, she'll be walking before she has her first teeth (despite T's weekly predictions for the past 6 months that teething has started.) M's first birthday is the 16th and baptism is Memorial Day weekend, so we should get a disorienting flurry of posts this month!

Getting to No

M has made lots of progress in the last month. Since starting to crawl, she is now pulling herself to a standing position using furniture, bathtubs, toilets, my leg, etc. She is also communicating when she does not what something. Obviously this can come in the form of scrunchy faces and screeches, but it also comes in the form of both arms waving in front of her chest, with her arms fully crossing her body and each other. As in: "You come near me with that, you lose a hand in my buzzsaw." Even though she can't say the word "no" yet, she can send a clear message. She also lets us know her displeasure when we remove something from her grasp that is on its way to her mouth. As something is on her way to her mouth several times a minute, she is either putting something in her mouth or telling us off for preventing her from succeeding in her mission.

She had her 9 month check-up last week. She's doing very well on everything but is only in the 3rd percentile in weight. We're now giving her some stage 3 foods and feeding her a bit more often. Of course, since most American kids now seem to be classified as obese, it may not take being anorexic to be well below average in weight.



Normally, we would post a picture of C; however, he has suddenly developed an acute case of camera-itis. The past few times T tried to capture C in photography, he's channeled his inner Kate Austen (non-Lost fans are most likely lost themselves) and took flight, saying "Camera, mommy, run, hide!"

C is doing a great job as a big brother, though he doesn't like M to touch him or play with his toys while he is playing with them. Somewhat surprisingly, he doesn't seem to mind if she plays with one when he is playing with another type of toy or is occupied doing something else.

We had a conference with his pre-school teacher on President's Day. She said he is very social. He can never tell us what he has done that day because his day revolves around doing things with particular classmates not around doing particular activities. (So I've shifted my "on the drive home question" from "What did you do this morning?" to "Who did you play with this morning?" Though I think the most common response is still "I don't know.") He is the leader of a roving band of mischief-makers. (I've dubbed them the "unholy trinity".) That's an interesting change from last year when he tended to be a follower. It is important to keep him interested and engaged in something or he starts to plan mayhem. He generally, however, is very cooperative and obeys when asked to stop what he is doing. He learns very quickly but if he doesn't get something right away, can get frustrated easily. One thing he has learned is that if he gets a time-out at pre-school, he loses TV privileges at home. So when it happens, he no longer throws another fit over losing TV. He does, however, have the not uncommon ability to forget entirely that he has been given a time-out at pre-school. Last week, the teacher stuck her head out of the door at pick-up time. (And all the parents start thinking, "Don't look at me! Don't let it be my kid.") She walks up to me, smiles and says, "We have a really unique one." If you can simultaneously chuckle and groan, that's what I did. C was taking puzzle pieces, ripping them apart, and then eating them. Yes indeed, that is a unique one! When he exited the room, he claimed no recollection of anything to do with puzzles or with putting anything (including snacks) in his mouth that morning. I should have asked him if he remembered eating breakfast...apparently it wasn't enough...

On Tuesday, we had our fourth snow of the winter! A record in my 10 years down here. It started snowing about noon and snowed steadily all afternoon but didn't start laying on the grass until about 5. The roads just remained wet. By the next morning we had about half an inch on the grass and of course it melted by noon. So we didn't get any snowmen or snow balls out of this one. As it is now March, we may have to wait until next year...

Only 12 days left until St. Patrick's Day. Better start stocking up on, ahem, cabbage...

She likes to move it, move it...

Life as we know it is over (in a good way, of course). Miss M is now an official crawler - yes, you read it right - crawler, as in forward momentum. We're not talking a few scoots, folks. Just yesterday (literally), Miss M was able to scoot forward two spaces. And now, let the video speak for itself...

Christmas 2009

With C and M both crashing early this evening (no naps due to the roof replacement), opportunities presented themselves for creating a Christmas slideshow. Hope you enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Go for Snow Time...

Welcome to the merged blog debut. In lieu of separate blogs, Ba and Mum-mum decided to combine C's and M's antics together for your one-stop reading and viewing pleasure!

Jan. 29--Mena's first snow!!! As you'll see in the photos below, she didn't quite know what to make of it. C had a wonderful time. It started snowing late in the day, so we went out after dinner. There wasn't enough on the ground to make a snowman, unfortunately, because overnight it turned to sleet, then back to snow again. What lay on the ground in the morning, then, was two inches of "crust" that was too hard to do anything with. But that was better than the two inches of ice on the roads. It was a quiet weekend as no one could go anywhere, church was canceled on Sunday, schools were still canceled on Monday. C and I got out everyday to play in the snow and had a good time.

M is moving around on her own quite a bit. Mostly, its a backwards crawl; she hasn't figure out how to propel forward yet. She's had a few days of runny nose in the past month, but overall has been very healthy through a cold month.

C has been the healthiest person in the household, he's had no problems. We've visted several magent schools in the past month so we can apply for kindergarten for him for next year. Earlier today, he identified rhyming words on his own: "muppet" and "puppet." (He's been obsessed by Muppet clips on YouTube the last several days, esp. the Muppets singing Bohemian Rhapsody).

Check it out...

Four months in the US and Miss M's already on camera. Check out her cameo at 1:38 in the video feed (oh yeah, Ba's there too starting at 1:25...):

Bella makes it offical

Miss M is now officially part of the family as determined by Mayor of the House, Bella Katt (the cat). M has been fascinated by Bella since we've returned from our Xmas trip to PA. When Bella enters the room, M stops whatever she is doing (including eating) to watch.

Today, I (Ba) was feeding M and Bella put her front paws up on the chair and raised her head so that I would pet her. I did, and noticing M's eyes bulging out of her head at having kitty so close, moved M's hand over to pat Bella's head. I expected Bella to leave forthwith, but Bella not only let M stroke her head, but proceeded to lick M's hand several times in return! This is the cat that rarely lets C or even T touch her.

This morning M was playing in her exersaucer and had picked up a pacifer and placed it in her mouth. We only give her a paci when it is naptime (or nighttime). So T asked M if she was going to take a nap. M closed her eyes, laid her head down on the tray of the saucer, and smiled up at T. Wonderful timing!

M had a great trip to PA. She is a remarkably good traveler, like her brother. She slept most of the way going both N and S, and remained contented even when she wasn't sleeping.

M's been making the transition from formula to baby food. She has liked everything she has tried except sweet peas. Her face was priceless when T put the spoon with pureed peas in her mouth; it said, "What the !@#$% are you putting in my mouth! Until now, I thought you were decent people..." She's also starting to skootch backwards (T calls it her "reverse commando crawl").

Some photos of M's first Christmas.

Simply Love t-shirt adoption fundraiser

After experiencing parenthood for the second time, I am overwhelmed with emotion at the fortune our family has experienced in both adoption journeys. In this season of giving, I'd like to share an adoption blog with you, http://mycrazyadoption.org

There are some great limited edition T-shirts that are great holiday gift ideas for anyone in your life touched by African adoptions, http://mycrazyadoption.org/crazy-christmas-t-shirt-giveaway-last-one-of-the-year

For now, Miss M and I will sign off for some "girl time" while big brother C is taking a nap.

Many hugs!
T

She's Not Heavy...

She's our daughter. But she has grown 5 inches and 3 pounds in the 3 months she's been home. The consensus option of the viewing public, however, is that her eyes are the biggest ever. They certainly are captivating!

M continues to be extremely contented and easy-going. She sleeps through the night most of the time now (Yeah!). She loves to be entertained by her brother's antics. She smiles and giggles at him. C is the best one at calming her down when she does get upset. He'll get up close to her, say sweetly "Meana, Beana", and do a Vulcan mind-meld forehead-to-forehead manuever, and she quiets.



She does her happy dance (asynchratic failing arms and legs) at the appearance of Ba or Mum mum (or perhaps its the bottle they are carrying, but never mind...). She likes to chatter, coo, squeal, give raspberries, and drool voluminously. We've been expecting teeth for some time now, but nothing yet to report.

T is convinced that she has a strong preference for clothing options and jewelry (no projection going on there...). T claims that M cries when she doesn't like the clothing she is dressed in. E notes that a) this never happens when he dresses her and b) previous mommies who provided us hand-me downs were somehow unable to keep matching sets of clothes, violating his German sense of order and decorum. Thus...stop the presses...he thinks someone actually needs more clothing (to be clear, provided that they match).

She's starting to taste semi-solid foods (eat is too strong a description). She initiated Ba on Sunday evening by baptizing him with pureed sweet potatoes. She preferred smacking the spoon to putting it in her mouth... She can sit up briefly on her own and is making pre-crawling motions. Actual crawling is probably still several weeks away as she only gets the front or the back half off the ground, never the tummy or both ends simultaneously.

M had her first encounter with the clan (i.e., E's family) during Thanksgiving. She was a much better traveler than Ba and Mum-mum could have ever expected (she slept during most of the drive). As expected, M was "popu-LER...LAR" - everyone wanted time to hold that beautiful baby...none more than Uncle K. M planted a big wet "kiss" on Uncle K's nose (see exhibit A below). Let's just say that nobody better mess with M - if they do, Uncle K will jump on the first plane to Charlotte and take care of business.

Mena Montage - October 2009

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com