Yeah, Mon.

For those who don't know, we made it here safely.  For those who know even less, here is Jamaica.  We are on a 7-day trip with our friends Jamie and Christine and their little girl, Olivia.  We are at a villa named Cannon Cottage in the Silver Sands community.  It is absolutely amazing.  We have great views of the sea, a wonderful staff (cook, maid, and handyman), and a one-minute walk to a very private beach.  You will, of course, see photographic evidence below.

Natalie is having a really good time.  She gets a little timid in the water.  She really likes it when we hold her and take her out.  She is starting to warm up to going out on her own a little too.  She spends most of the time filling one bucket with sand, pouring water from another bucket (that any adult around her paying attention has to fill up periodically), and mixing it together.  She is usually making a cake.

Let me talk a little bit about the food.  It really is great.  Lorna, the cook, is fantastic.  She makes local dishes for us at every meal.  I have not had anything yet that wasn't fantastic.  Tonight we are scheduled to have curried chicken and shrimp.  Sounds horrible, right?  We are waiting for the local fishermen to bring a good catch to have some fresh fish.  They aren't having much luck out there right now as the water is pretty choppy, though not so on the beach in the morning at least.  The fruit is so flavorful.  Everything comes fresh from the trees.  It doesn't have to spend a week on a boat or truck to get to the market like it does at home.

Anyway, I hope you are all jealous.  For those of you thinking we are rich, we aren't.  This is a VERY GOOD deal and I recommend it to anyone interested.  Finally, Amy is concerned that I am telling everyone that we are on vacation and not at home.  I say, anyone reading the blog is either a close relative or friend or doesn't know where we live.  Just in case, though, we have very nosy neighbors (love you, Mom) and a ferocious guard cat.

Sadly, though, the pictures will not appear today. We don't have the cable to transfer from camera to laptop.

Much better the second time around

We had a party for Natalie's 3rd birthday on May 12th since we will be gone on her actual birthday.  Where will we be gone you ask?  Jamaica.  Yeah, that's right.  We might put some pictures up of that also for those interested.  But I digress (which I have been doing a lot lately as the idea of going on a vacation is very distracting).  So, we had a birthday party.  Outside.  Again.  It rained.  Again.  This time Amy had the foresight to move it up earlier in the afternoon to avoid the storms which usually come during the evening here.  It worked for the most part.  Rain came at the end, but we were able to eat, open presents, and have cake all outside.  The party was really winding down when the drops started to fall.

Overall it was a raging success compared to last year.  Thanks for all who came and for all the gifts.  She loves them all as I don't think there is a single toy that she hasn't played with for at least an hour.

In year three of Natalie's life we will hope for improved listening, less pouting, more picking up after herself, and lots of love.  I think we will get one of those things.  That is more than we could ever ask for.

Lily was a great helper.

Natalie really wanting to blow out the candles.

PS  I will make sure Amy makes an appearance in the Jamaica photos.  I have a feeling there will be plenty.

Easter

No words.  Just pictures.

She Dreams of Paradise

There’s been a lot going on in Natalie’s world these last couple of months (we really should update this blog more!). Her biggest accomplishment came in early February, when she finally turned the corner and mastered potty training. We even take most naps with just underwear now. I think it’s been quite liberating for all of us! There are still accidents, but for the most part she’s been doing great with it. Nighttime potty training confuses me, but we’ll get there when she’s ready for that.

A few weeks ago, Natalie had her first soccer practice. I’ll have to admit that I couldn’t believe how adorable she looks in her cleats and shin guards. We’re seeing improvement every week, and she’s really enjoying it, especially since her partner in crime, Lily, is on her team. We’re looking forward to the first game! Distractions are a bit of a problem at this point for everyone; as long as a plane doesn’t fly over and Natalie doesn’t start leading the team on a grass-pulling expedition, everything should be fine. In other sporting news, she’s still going to gymnastics for now, and after months of encouragement, she finally mustered the courage to do a flip on the bar—and followed up with a repeat performance the following week! She’s also just realized that she can do a backward roll off the recliner, her favorite discovery of late.

Natalie, Lily, and Coach (Amanda)

I want to capture here a few “Natalie-isms,” including both current ones and a couple we’ve sadly lost. I knew the day would come when she’s stop asking for nammas and ask for a plain old banana, but man, that sure was cute. She’s able to say “th” now, so unless she’s tired, we’ve also had to say farewell to anysing. Our favorite use of this word was when she would be frustrated about being asked questions. (Hey, sweetie, we wouldn’t ask so many times if you’d answer the first time.) Her response if, say, we were trying to get her to choose between a couple of snack items: “No! I don’t want anysing!” Kind of hard to command power when you so sweetly mispronounce a word. A couple of current gems:

 “Whatyousaid?” (Hey, slow down so I can understand, Mama.)

Todeggar (You know, as in “Let’s work as a team and do this todeggar.”)

She’s also surprised us with a few new vocabulary words used in the correct context: sensational, fabulous, and technology. On a related note, we are deeply entrenched in the “why” phase. Mighty inquisitive at this age, aren’t they?

Like a lot of kids, Natalie fixates on a particular song, and for the last few months the song of choice has been “Paradise.” I was playing Coldplay’s latest CD (zip it, Uncle Jason!) and that one just clicked for her. She knows almost all the words and sings it with all her might. She plays the drums along with it if she’s really into it, and she’s always had to dance at the beginning of it (“I’m gonna have to wiggle!”) We recently stumbled across another version of the song, which Natalie calls “African Paradise.” We listen to it at least twice every time we’re in the car, and she loves watching the video as well. As a result, she’s learned her first Swahili word, peponi. Have a look and listen yourself; Natalie loves to point out the cello. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgovv8jWETM

We promise not to make you wait until Memorial Day to see Natalie in her Easter dress.  ~ Amy

We don't always make her do the dishes.

She insists on seeing her bunny tail in the mirror.

"This is my art, Mama."

Not sure how I feel about this

Yes, that is Natalie "playing" a video game with her Baba.  She built the controller out of her Pooh Lego set.  So, while I appreciate her creativity and her wanting to be like me, I am not sure this is how I wanted her to emulate me.  What can we do other than shake our heads?  Well, I could always play video games less, but I don't really see that happening.

There is some other news to update everyone on.  Natalie had an appointment with the orthopedic specialist at Shriners Hospital in Lexington on Monday.  This was a regularly scheduled appearance, but there was a bit more to it than that for us.  Amy and I had recently become concerned as we could tell Natalie is starting to turn her surgically repaired foot inward a little when she runs and occasionally when she walks.  She also falls down a lot, but she is 2 and that happens at that age, right?  Help me out with that one, parents.  So there were concerns about a recurrence of her club foot issues.

The Dr. listened to our concerns, watched her walk and run, and even did a gait test in the Super Fab Lab. (We thought a fancy title would keep Natalie more interested. Turns out she did just fine.)  He was nowhere near as concerned as we were.  He continues to feel she is doing great.  He says that kids often have residual effects from this kind of condition and that they eventually grow out of them as they get older.  That means there may be some change physically as she matures, but most likely she will just learn to adapt.

So now we, or at least I, feel like overprotective or paranoid parent(s).  We have no reason to not trust this Dr. or the staff working with him. We just want what is best for Natalie and hate to see her struggle with something if  there is a way we can help and especially if there is a way we can prevent long-term issues.  Regardless, we move forward with our plan and with the Dr.'s blessing to have her play soccer in the spring.  She is very excited and I must admit that I am as well.  I really hope she takes to it as she likes to kick the ball around the house.  Also, despite the struggles mentioned previously, she seems pretty darn fast.  Finally, you know Natalie on the soccer pitch will make for great photos.

Speaking of photos. Enjoy.

Showing off some of her CNY gifts from China via the wonderful Julia and Marvin (and Suraiya)

Besties having fun at the Green Bamboo for CNY

Merry New Year?

I suppose I kind of have to combine the two since I am blogging post both holidays.  That just means more pictures and more for me to talk about, right?

So, Christmas...Well, Natalie had 5 Christmases this year.  That is a lot of work for one little girl.  I think she loved every bit of it, though.  She was much more into it this year.  By "into it" I am referring to actually opening the presents instead of sitting on the boxes (see last year's video if you don't remember).  She's still preoccupied with each gift, but usually the words "Natalie, you have another present" were followed by the sound of her little feet running to the holder of said gift.  She could even be seen playing Santa and handing out the gifts from time to time.  She may still be a little too young to REALLY get into it and enjoy the surprises, but she isn't so old that clothes are not still a great gift.  One of my favorite parts was her helping my father open his gifts.  He would hand them to her, she would unwrap them, then she would literally throw the box back at him.  Luckily they weren't breakable.

On to the pictures.  We loved this shawl and hat combo the minute we saw it and couldn't wait to put it on her.  Surprisingly, she liked it too and didn't fight to get it off.

She said she missed the tree when Amy took it down today.

Her favorite gift this year may be the salon set from her Aunt Brandi.  She loves giving everyone their "appointment time."

Putting on her fake lipstick.

I am a little worried that she was so amused by biting off the feet of this poor gingerbread man.

Natalie, Lily, and Lauren at the Kalightoscope exhibit at the Galt House.  We all had a good time.  Joe and I really enjoyed the scenery at dinner. #insidejoke

The new year, American version, has come now.  We obviously have so much to look forward to.  We start the year off as the duck family.  We have no idea where this is coming from, but Natalie insists on calling us Mama Duck and Baba Duck.  We usually have to refer to her as Baby Duck.  This is consequently the only time we are allowed to call her a baby. 

 We start the year off less one family member.  Natalie misses her and still talks about her.  She handled the news pretty well though and I think she understands she is gone.  She hasn't started asking for another pet yet, but I am hoping that once it is appropriate, we she can convince Mama to get a dog.  For now though, we are still remembering Abegail.

Chinese New Year will be here soon.  Natalie can expect more gifts.  Some from here and some from China.    You can expect some pictures.  In comes the year of the Dragon!

My First Girl

I lost one of my best friends yesterday—my dear Abegail. My friend Jessica Henderson and I adopted her on November 8, 1996, and I remember that day clearly. We were college sophomores, and the apartment we shared with two other friends was in desperate need of a feline roommate. We brought home that scared three-month-old orange tabby from the Lexington Humane Society, and I gained a beloved companion who would stay with me for fifteen years.

She was a feisty girl with a strong personality, and that’s what I loved about her the most. She was also very vocal; I’ll miss hearing all her different meows, guttural chirps, and growls. She even used to make a noise that sounded like a dog barking.

She was diagnosed with diabetes several years ago but continued to live a fairly active life. She eventually adjusted to my coming at her with a syringe twice a day. It will take me a while to adjust to her absence, as her care required twice-daily injections and I fed her five meals a day. Even while she was hospitalized, when it was shot time I had to remind myself that I didn’t need to worry about that.

Natalie doesn’t yet know that Abegail isn’t coming home; for now she knows that she’s been sick and at the doctor’s, but we will have to explain things to her in terms that she can understand—and very soon. We’re not looking forward to that at all, but Natalie is inquisitive and asks questions. She’s already been telling me that she misses Abegail. Sweetie, you don’t know the half of it.

I’ll keep my fond memories of Abegail Anne close, and although I miss her so terribly, I know she led a long, happy life. Goodbye, my sweet girl. You’ll always be in my heart.