Merry Christmas

Last year for Jack's school halloween parade I was a sushi roll. My friend, Jill, showed up as a ginger bread cookie. After I was asked how my pilates classes were coming along I was determined to be something more flattering in 2008. I announced that I would be a "sexy" Christmas tree. I had a whole year to figure it out and, of course, put it off to the last minute. Nevertheless, I felt like I achieved my goal in a Project Runway sort of way. Jill was at a loss as to what to be so I made her "present" costume and we paraded around the school as a team. It was pretty funny. I had battery operated Christmas lights (that you can't really see in the picture) and the star on my head actually blinked. This all came in handy when we went trick-or-treating later that night. Everyone could see me coming a mile away.
Makena was a Flamenco dancer. She wore my authentic Spanish dress! My father (the pack rat) kept it for me all these years and then mailed it to me when we came home with Makena. It fit her perfectly. She thought she was a princess.

Jack was a surfer eaten by a shark. We were going to bloody him up but he was concerned that he might scare the Kindergarteners. He later ditched the shark costume and went out in a bathing suit and rash guard because he could cover more ground in his quest for chocolate.

This was Mak's first real Halloween going door-to-door and being handed candy. She lasted all of four houses before falling asleep in the golf cart between stretches of houses. EM and grandpa drove her around while we proceeded on foot. She woke up the next morning made a b-line for the pillow case and dove into the candy before anyone noticed and could stop her. When we found her, her eyes were pinwheels. She was hooked. She was vibrating from the sugar rush and she had a whopper of a tantrum when we cut her off. She not only ate a third of the bag she actually hoarded some of the chocolate away. I found some under our sheets, under her bed and under the couch. She must have known that this was too good to be true. It was. The candy spent 48 hours in the house before we donated it back to our school, who then gave it away to some local nursing homes. Seniors deserve every opportunity to be jacked on sugar, after all.

Is-a-happy Halloween

3

Makena turned three on the 28th. We celebrated her birthday by taking her and her friend, Willa, to Disneyland for the day. Jack generously offered to take the day off school to help supervise the girls. I agreed and made him promise not to whine and beg to go on the older kids' rides and he held true to his word. He was awesome and a very much needed extra pair of eyes.



Makena has made me replay this merry-go-round clip and the subsequent two for her about fifty times since her birthday. I figured I should memorialize them in the blog.


Makena loved the Dumbo ride. We waited in line two more times so that she could fly again. I did'nt take her on the "It's A Smal World" because that song drives me crazy and If I hear it twice it stays with me for a month. So Pass.


This clip is funny because Makena accidentally bumps into someone while moving and dancing and then bows, as if apologizing, and then runs into Jack who stands there obliviously devouring a churro.

It was a great day. I think Makena spent all of ten minutes in the stroller, otherwise she was running left and right taking it all in. She had a great day.

Is-a-recovering from the happiest place on earth.

Manatee

Jack's fifth grade class went on a sleep-over field trip to Sea World in San Diego. We checked in at 5PM and were led on a private tour of the park. The kids learned about manatees. Did you know that they are related to elephants? Go figure. I drove a few parents crazy by combating the camp songs the Sea World counselors were shouting out by singing the words I remembered from John Lithgow's book "I Am A Manatee." Jack loved this book when he was younger and it has become one of Makena's favorites too. "From time to time I dream that I'm a manatee, unshackled by the chains of mere humanity..." And on and on I went. I can't sing.

The evening ended around midnight when we piled into the manatee hall and inflated our air mattresses and promptly fell asleep to the glowing ghostly shapes of these sweet mammals. The next morning wasn't so charming or magical. Having to clean up in a public bathroom with the cold water tap spewing three-seconds' worth of water at a time and clothing falling into pools of unmentionable liquids... I even sacrificed my already bad hair to ride the Atlantis coaster (three times.) I was soaked. What we won't do for our children. (And Jack had a great time too.)
We came home really tired only to find Rommel waiting for us at the front door. Who needs field trips when we live in one every day of our lives.

Is-a-manatee lover

Two tu

The last day of being terribly two in a tutu.
Wondering how impossible three will be...

Isabelle

Pink

I'm not quite sure when Makena's love affair with pink began. It crept up on us and has now laid a stranglehold on our world. I think it's karmic payback because I professed too loudly too long that I would never dress my daughter in such a color. For her shower, my friends knew better than to give me pink clothing but then the color snuck into her wardrobe by way of business gifts, hand-me-downs, glitter shoes (thank you Joan) and then the great deals on clothing that I couldn't pass up (I was weak). But the real catalyst for this pink obsession was Pinkalicious, a storybook Makena can't seem to get enough of. She has memorized the first few pages and recites the prose along with me when I read it to her.

She also -- as you well know by now -- has a very stubborn mind of her own and knows what she wants and aims to get it when she desires it. I bought her a new set of crayons and turned my attention elsewhere while she was busy creating. She immersed herself wholeheartedly on paper and on herself! And she pitched a fit when I attempted to intervene with her creative process and suggested that she use other colors.
My bad.

Is-a-pink convert

Splash

Makena's love affair with water began when we she took her first bath with me in Chongqing. As I lowered her into the tub, her eyes were wide and expressing a mixture of shock and pleasure. Until then, she had been expressionless. Her mouth was slightly open and the curves of a smile were forming on her lips. Then quite suddenly she began to thrash and kick her legs in the water. She was so slippery she was hard to hold onto.

It's been two plus years since we brought her home and I have been determined to make her water safe since then. The first session of swim lessons last year, comprised of teaching her to grab the side of the pool if she fell in and of holding her breath. I always new that she could hold it for six to eight seconds so when she launched herself into a hotel pool once, I was counting steamboats on my way to fishing her out when a perfectly coiffed (and fully clothed) woman dove into save her. Err... she was fine but the lady was pissed off by my lack of alarm. Not one of my better days.

This summer, with the help of Makena's swim teacher, she worked on moving through the water. She could almost cross the width of a pool without coming up for air. I didn't know how Makena was going to figure out how to grab a breath, but she did. This is footage of two-year old Makena (a month ago) jumping off the diving board in the deep end. The rest is history.



I'm dreaming of Makena competing in the 2024 Olympics; possibly giving China a run for their money in diving or swimming because this Mei Mei can do anything she sets her mind to.

Is-a-proud.

Home run

(Jack, Caelan and Skyler)
Jack -- ever the negotiator made a deal with EM that if he did well on the State test last May that he would take him to a Dodger game with a couple of his friends. The test results arrived by mail in late August and he rocked it. He scored advanced in language arts AND math-- a sweet academic home run as far as we were concerned. We were very proud of him (and still are.)

The game was especially exciting to Jack because Manny Ramirez plays for the Dodgers now and Jack is really a die hard Red Sox fan. We have no emotional ties to Boston so this is really a mystery or meant to antagonize his father (a die hard Dodger fan). Nevertheless Jack enjoyed a Friday night out with his buddies and suckered EM into purchasing the Manny look -- which I hope will now also double as his Halloween costume. If not, I may have to borrow that wig for my trick-or-treating purposes.

Is-a-fan

Boulder rocks

(Makena and the chalk cow at the Children's Museum of Denver.)
Makena and I just returned from a trip to Denver and Boulder which was a good excuse to visit our friends Olivia, Chloe and their parents. They were one of among sixteen families who traveled with us to China when we adopted Makena. We had several outings and play dates with them and the girls had a blast getting reacquainted. But as their mother, Karen, said:"Trying to get the three to sit still for a shot was like wrangling cats."
(Makena, Chloe and Olivia.)
(The girls at the butterfly museum.)
I hired the daughter of a friend of ours to chauffeur Jack to his activities and help him with his homework while I was away and he hardly missed me at all. Jack's teacher knew of my travels and e-mailed me to let me know that Jack didn't smell in spite of my absence. I was concerned that he may take a break from hygiene but I was wrong. He showered daily and obsessed over his hair. (He is ten going on seventeen and I am in so much trouble.)

As the plane landed at LAX, Makena turned to her doll and said."Baby, we are home." I felt the sme relief and happiness she felt. This was a long haul and I hope to stay put for a while. As soon as we stepped foot in the house, Makena ran to her room and proceeded to inspect every toy, puzzle and book she had hen promptly trashed her space.

Over the next few weeks I'll get her back into her routine and figure out the preschool options and other classes I want to check out with her. Right now I just want to be a vegetable.

I have to say that in spite of all the changes in scenery and lodging over the last three months that our Mei Mei has become an amazing little traveler. Something I was incapable of predicting as far back as last April but something I am incredibly proud of.

Is-happy to be home

Blink

The summer went by in the blink of an eye. It often felt like I was on a class three rapid navigating all the things I did to keep my children busy (and spoiled.) Below are the photograph that capture the time spent over the last ten weeks.
My nephew, Stefan. came for an almost three week visit at the beginning of the summer.
We celebrated Jack's tenth birthday with his friends.
We rented a house with some friends and spent a week in Martha's Vineyard.
We moved on to visit our friends in Worthington, Massachusetts. They live on a blueberry farm and Jack and his friend, Jack, spent an entire day selling blueberries.
Check out the size of these berries!
We drove up to Mont Tremblant, Quebec, and visited with Anouk and her family and spent a few days playing with them and boating on the lake.
I love this picture of Jack. After our stay we drove south to Vermont to drop Jack of at camp where he spent the following two weeks there honing his tennis and soccer skills. My sister picked him up at the end of the session and took him back to Montreal for three days. He flew home as an "unaccompanied minor" (with a connection in Chicago!)
While Jack was at camp, I flew from the East Coast out to San Francisco to spend the weekend celebrating the second anniversary of Makena's adoption with her China cousins an their families. It was great. The girls were all extraordinary, with such different personalities, and a lot of fun to watch and play with.
Jack came home, EM took the week off and we repacked our bags and flew out to Montana to spend the week at a dude ranch. It was great. The sky was big. The air was clean but we spent most days freezing. (The coldest winter I ever spent was my summer in Montana!)
I finally managed to get Makena on a horse and she loved it. I'm psyched because by the end of our stay she was comfortable enough in the saddle that I could envisage taking her out on my horse around the neighborhood. That is, when I finally make it back.

I am presently in Boulder, Colorado with Makena. Jack is at home with his dad and getting used to being a fifth grader. Hopefully, he is also showering.

Is-exhausted.

Tang Soo Panda

Jack finally tested for, and received, his red belt in Tang Soo Do karate. He is pictured breaking a board with a side kick. EM almost didn't get the shot because Jack broke through on his second try!

Jack is now officially one color away from black. If he applies himself, he could be invited to test for the black belt by the time he enters middle school. This is huge. I know he does it because of my insistence (it teaches him coordination, discipline, mental focus and self-defense). I told him that if he really felt strongly about stopping, that he could quit the sport once he received his second degree black belt. So he plugs away at it week in, week out, wax on, wax off.


No sooner was his belt singed around his waist did he point his finger at me and order me to start taking classes, because of a silly little promise promise I made him about a year and a half ago (to keep him motivated) that I would start as soon as he hit red.

Okay, so I am now a Tang Soo newbie with two classes under my white belt (no pun intended.) If I apply myself, in a year, I could be taking classes with Jack -- which would be cool because we would have that to do together (AKA quality time) and because he would essentially be my (gulp) coach.

On a related matter, we took Makena to see her first movie in a theater. It was Kung Fu Panda. She sat on my lap for most of it until she couldn't take it any longer and jumped off. She spent the rest of the movie either punching Jack and me or kicking us in the shins.

EM was waiting for us when we got out of the theater and she ran out and kicked him in the knee.

Needless to say, Makena will soon be taking karate classes too.

Is a karate mom

Father's day

The special day started off with Jack making breakfast for his dad and grandpa. We had beautiful warm weather so we headed back out on the water to try our hand at catching some lake trout. Makena loved her new vest and didn't fight me when I put it on her. I suspect because it was pink.
We didn't catch anything AGAIN. I was so looking forward to gutting and scaling fish. I especially enjoy the residual smell it leaves on my hands and clothes. Alas.

It was a perfect day.

Isabelle

Freeze Bobos

We had freakish weather over Memorial Day. A blizzard in May. Snow came down so hard and so fast that I had to pack chains to get up the mountain. Nevertheless, I persevered and we made it to the lake house safely. The foul weather was followed by a blanket of fog.Once it lifted, the sun came out and the snow melted but the weather was still biting cold. That didn't stop us from getting out on the lake for some fishing.

The only thing we caught was a picture of the four of us in the same frame.

A prize catch! I'm going to stuff it and mount it on the wall.

Isabelle

The Mei Meis

If you ask Makena what her name is, she will respond "Mei Mei." Until now, we have never referred to her that way. She has always been Makena, Mak, Kiki or La Diabla. Her Chinese name is Li Han. The reason I am slightly amazed is because the term happens to mean "little sister" in Mandarin. So I wonder if the diminutive is just a coincidence or if she has some memories of Chinese and is calling herself that because she might have been referred to as "Mei Mei," in her foster home or at the orphanage. The bottom line is, she is now called Mei Mei about 80% of the time.

Willa and Ruby, two little mei mei friends of Makena's came over to the house for our her first official play date. It was a challenging social experiment for our two-year old and she passed with flying colors. Until then, most of Makena's social/play activities had been centered around going to the park and interacting with children she met there, or while attending dance or music classes. This time she was the host and was subjected to having to share her toys and her space with two curious, lovely and charming three-year old girls.

We started the date off with an art session which really kept them focused for a long time and then we had the girls run around the yard looking for Rommel (pictured above,) petting the horses and trying to catch the chickens. The only emotional distress occurred at lunch time and was centered around having to share the (one) princess cup. Until then, Makena had graciously tolerated the assault on her toys and the trashing of her room but she drew the line at her Cinderella goblet. That was off-limits. For the safety and well-being of her guests, we let her win that battle.

The girls really drew Makena out of her shell and by the time they had to leave (for their naps,) she was interacting with them and bossing them around to follow her along on her cavalcades. It made me feel happy and very proud.

I can't wait to get the mei meis back together again soon.

Isabelle

Secret Identity

A phone call from Sears took me for a bit of a tailspin last Thursday. A woman called me from the store to ask if I had added anyone to my list of authorized users on my Sears card. I hadn't. She went on to say that a woman had purchased over five thousand dollars in goods at two store. This was done in person and giving enough of my personal information to get away with it until someone became suspicious and called me. I can't believe I actually picked up the phone. I'm a screener.

I spent Friday on the phone with the fraud department for all my credit cards, we established new passwords and checked my credit report (apparently, your mother's maiden name is part of the public record). I am now waiting to fill out a dossier they will be sending me shortly. I have to get it notarized.I have to include a police report. I have to go to my local sheriff and report it. Ugh.

I opened my mailbox on Saturday to discover a letter from the doctor's office (where I had my mammogram last week). I immediately assumed that since he hadn't sent me a purple postcard telling me that everything was fine, then the letter meant that he had something more ominous to share with me. I was right, except I was wrong.

A woman posing as a driver for a messenger company the doctor's office uses for their billing, stole all the personal billing records of the patients who had been examined the day I was there. We're talking: Social Security, driver's license, home address, birthday, etc. That's how my identity was stolen! They haven't caught her yet. They weren't able to nab the woman who had a shopping spree on my good credit either (maybe they are one and the same.) Why she couldn't steal my attention deficit or my procrastination or the little voice inside my head that encourages me to have an extra bite of cake when I shouldn't have any, really gets my goat. I might have let her shop a little bit longer out of sheer gratitude. I'm done.

I had to get that off my chest.

Is- not shopping

A thousand words

This is Makena. She is 2.5 years old and leaping off a diving board in the deep end of her swim teacher's pool. She can't swim, although thinks she can. She moves her body through the water like a dolphin and holds her breath until we fish her out for a breath of air.

I'm so glad we don't have a pool at home.

Is- staying dry... so far.

Proof

(Makena,discovering the joys of spelunking through a narrow box.)


(Jack investigating Makena's recycled wonderland.)



(The result: A half hour of impromptu sibling Co-play.)

This is proof that a brother and sister (seven years apart in age) can find commonality in cardboard and that with a little imagination and enough packaging to go around, fun can be free. Of course whatever was in the boxes cost us an arm and a leg. But that is beside the point. Or is it?

Isabelle

Wicked

My family took me to Denny's for Mother's day. I'd like to say that the decor was beautiful and that the food was delicious... The carnation the hostess handed me when I walked in ended up smeared in egg yolk. I still took it home but it never made it out of the car. I discovered it (the rotting egg smell lead me to it) under my driver's seat, a few days ago.

The Denny's setting was picked primarily for the novelty (some good friends of ours were going there with their young daughter and asked us to tag along) and secondarily, because we knew that we could take Makena and not lose too much sleep over her trashing the place. Of course, bucking convention, Makena sat politely the entire meal and only left her seat once. She didn't scream or throw her food about. She quietly dunked grapes in jelly, wiped her hands and colored on a sheet of paper. Go figure. She gave me the gift of good behavior. Jack made me a beautiful card and coupons that were good for: cleaning his room, laughing at my jokes, 20% off his allowance (for a limited time only!) and a breakfast in bed. EM gave me tickets to see Wicked. Wicked! And then as I was mucking the horse corral later that morning, thinking my special day was over, EM reminded me that he was taking me to a Phil Lesh concert. I was psyched. Not because I was a Dead head (I'm a Dead Head's wife,) but because it meant an evening out. As I was getting ready, I was instructed to go easy on the make-up. I think EM didn't want me stick out among the aging hippie crowd. Of course I didn't listen to him and slapped on some security eye-liner and self-esteem mascara and left the house feeling good about myself. The shower also helped.(Me, before the make-over.)

We had so much fun.

Moreover since the writing of this post began, we went to see Wicked at the Pantages in Los Angeles. It was AWESOME. We took Jack with us and he was blown away by the show. I felt bad that we had waited until he was almost ten years old to expose him to musical theater, until then his only reference had been the few school plays he had acted in. His mouth was open the entire time. I don't think he knew anything like this was possible. We had ridiculously amazing seats which helped him connect. I do know that he will probably look back on that evening with us as the starting point in his love affair with the stage. He has already asked us to take him to another musical so I will keep my eyes peeled on the calendar section of our paper and hopefully select a show that will keep him engaged and excited.

What an amazing Mother's Day--that stretched into a Mother's Month. And to think it all started at Denny's over a breakfast of Country fried steak. Now if I could only get rid the stench from my car everything would be perfect.

Is- a loved
PS Don't forget the children in China. www.halfthesky.org

Astrocamp

Jack, and ninety-five percent of his school's fourth grade, left for a three-day field trip to Astrocamp in the San Bernardino mountains. It was an amazing experience for him and his friends, filled with days of science, star gazing and rocket launching fun.

Jack was so excited in the days leading up to this adventure. He took great care in planning what he was going to pack and wear for the road trip. He asked me about fifty times if his cow alarm clock had made it into his suitcase. He was in charge of waking up his bunk mates and thought that the sound of a cow "mooing" would be the right mood setter.

Jack is not good at saying his goodbyes and would have preferred that I make a rolling stop so that he could jump out of the car and pretend that I didn't exist. I would have obliged him but he had too many cumbersome bags to tote. Some were simply too big to throw out a window. And besides, there were a very large number of (caring) parents hanging out with their children who would have been a witness to this. So after I parked and unloaded everything, he insisted on lugging all of his belongings to the drop-off (in a show of independence). Kissing him goodbye was out of the question. I did that while were still at home in the driveway.

I did, however, set my foot down and made him pose with two of his classmates (Sophie and Skyler) before taking off. I have blogging obligations, after all.

I know that "mother of the year" points were deducted off my score sheet for leaving before the buses had even arrived but I had very specific instructions from my nine-year old and I followed them to the letter. EM stayed at home with Makena who was still asleep when it was time for us to leave.

Jack had a blast. We all missed him while he was gone. He was so exhausted when he returned that he mistakenly allowed me to hug him in public without protesting.

I was thrilled.

Isabelle

PS Please consider making a donation to Half the Sky to help the young victims of the Sichuan earthquake.