Back from Outer Space and "Ming!"

If I may state the obvious: I am hugely behind on posting and I have a bunch of photos, video and reports (and hundreds of irretrievable thoughts) I want to share so I'll just do a bit at a time.

How do you post about a three week blogging lapse anyway? Well, it's just not going to happen. This is my new reality. Like the rest of my trains of thought and attempts to start and complete a task in the same day, or the same week for that matter, it's gonna have to get done piecemeal. I'm a new mom. I can play that card for a little while longer right? (By the way, why didn't anyone tell me how HUGE of an adjustment this would be for someone who is very detail and task-oriented??)

As for a quick and general report, we are doing great. It's almost been three months since we brought our daughter home (oh and she is the coolest girl ever!). Andrey's parents were here for a month but went back to Canada just before Christmas. Their visit was a smashing success. Not only did they time their visit so they'd be here while Andrey was in the States for 10 days, Ella exceeded all of our expectations and connected with them quickly. What fun to see their relationship bud and flourish.

We had a lovely first Christmas as a family of three. It was so special. After a crazy busy season of work and travel, Andrey is home and off this whole week with little work to distract him. He and Michella are reconnecting and bringing the bonding between father and daughter to a new level, which is awesome (more on that later).

Now for that funny thing my daughter does to words... She shortens them to their last syllable. Only Andrey and I can tell you that min = vitamin, pee! = yippee!, pul = apple, and Ming! = SWIMMING!!! And that word is spoken with much excitement anytime a pool or water is seen or mentioned.

Ella's inner motivation to swim is impressive for a two-year-old. Aside from giving her lots of swimming opportunities, we have done no persuading of her learning to swim. During our first weeks together she started dipping her head under water spontaneously and has gradually progressed to what you see on the video below. We are amazed as we watch her determination and fearlessness push her to new levels of swimming success. As my mother-in-law pointed out, perhaps this is how she approaches life.

This is from a trip to Bantayan Island in mid-December.

Ella, Grandma and a Clown Nose

  It stays on Grandma's nose...

 

... but why doesn't it stay on my nose??

Bouncing Back

I feel like I've been officially initiated into this motherhood thing. I took care of our child when I was sick with a flu-like virus that Michella and I came down with last week. I had seven days of fever, Michella five. Interesting how the same virus can affect mother and child so differently. Her? Other than the high fever and a slight increase in neediness, she appeared fine. Me? My entire body hurt, I was nauseated, I lost my appetite and I felt completely weak. Suddenly my 11 kg daughter felt like she suddenly gained weight. I felt so bad I thought we had Dengue fever. Thankfully that wasn't the case. And Thank God my in-laws were here to help! Especially since Andrey has been in the US for the past 10 days and had to leave a few days after we fell ill. We've been well now for most of this week. Oh to feel normal again. Good health is such a blessing!

Andrey's parents are still here and will be till just before Christmas. Their visit is going GREAT! We all had low expectations of how their time would go with Michella. Once again, our daughter has blown us away with her progress. It didn't take long before she went for walks with Grandma and called out for Grandpa, "Pa! Pa!" She hugs them both before bed each night and is super excited when they come out of their bedroom in the morning.

Michella has lots of new tricks these days. I'll try to list some of them just so I can keep a record.

• Toasting - She must have seen us do this once and now she is toasting us (continually) at the dinner table
• Singing twinkle twinkle little star - It's not super clear but you know what she's singing. She will take a star ornament from our Christmas tree and initiate the song, to which we all chime in on numerous times a day
• More new words, including "light!" and "bee!" (when we're traveling and passing a Jollibee)
• Reaching for the sky - she loves doing this on walks with Grandma
• Good sharing - we had a play date the other day and Michella is especially good at sharing with younger children
• We got a car seat!! I can drive again!!! We started putting her in the seat with a lap belt just a few days ago to see if I could drive and it worked! With Grandma next to her she enjoyed the short experimental ride so we pulled out a booster seat a friend gave me and put it in the back seat. Michella did great with this too! We just got our car seat yesterday and so far on two trips, she's used it, and seems to really enjoy being in it. She even fell asleep in it twice today.
• Using a stroller - I rented one at the mall the other day and it went relatively well. I wanted to see how it would go since Andrey is bringing home a stroller we bought in the States. I am especially excited about this as it will make shopping so much easier. I am currently still needing to carry her most of the time anytime we're out. It's okay for now while I have the in-laws to help me carry everything else but that won't last forever.
• More interested in books
• Loves to help clear the table after dinner, sweep, wipe the table, etc...
• Hails taxi - she's quite good at this and does it without any encouragement from me, even when we aren't waiting for a taxi, we just happen to be near the street. Hilarious.

Andrey is coming home tonight. Yay!! We really missed him!

Well that's enough for now. Here are a few photos and a video just for fun...

Seeing a photo of herself with her Daddy on Grandpa's desktop...

 

The Early Teen Years

 

My brother sent me this photo the other day. It's a photo of me and my brother on vacation with our parents in Florida in the late 80s. 

There is something that changes when you have kids. I now look at this photo and immediately empathize with my mother. I remember how this day was supposed to be fun but all my brother and I did was act like a couple of jerks with major attitudes. We no doubt turned the day from one with lots of potential family-fun to a day that frustrated the heck out of my parents. 

This is what my mother had to deal with often. Oh Lord have mercy! May my daughter extend more grace to me than I did to my own mother when criticizing her mothering abilities!