2 years ago...

June 24, 2007: Our first day meeting Lucy. Oh, she was so scared, and oh, so were we. And she was freaked, and we were freaked, and she was floppy, and we were HOT, and on and on.


And now (well, not LITERALLY now because LITERALLY now she's sick and feverish and in pain...my god, does anyone really NEED that many teeth?!), she's a happy, joyful, goofy, loving, sweet sweet kid. We're so very lucky.

Yes officer? Oh, my, was I speeding? Little ol' me? I sure do hope there's something I can do to make it up to you?

Mama and Lulu see an airplane. Hi, airplane!

OK, I think she's making a point here: "see? Do you like it when I try to cram food down your throat?" Point taken, goofball.

My favorite lopsided smile in the world. Happy two years, kiddo. We love you so much.

The Jerk

Lucy's doing me a favor and re-creating one of my favorite movie scenes lately; this week she's paying tribute to Steve Martin in The Jerk. Unfortunately I can't find a clip but remember the scene near the end when he's sulking and leaving his home and...

"Well I'm gonna to go then. And I don't need any of this. I don't need this stuff, and I don't need you. I don't need anything except this. [picks up an ashtray]. And that's it and that's the only thing I need, is this. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - I need this. The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. And this. And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair. And I don't need one other thing, except my dog. I don't need my dog."

Lately she walks around picking stuff up until she can't carry more, and

"all I need is this pink cat and this empty yogurt cup and this drumstick. And that's all I need. I don't need you, I just need this. And this ball. That's all I need. And this shoe. And that's all I need."

What a loveable little Jerk.

We did it! Lo hicimos!

(Insert mental image of me doing my Dora Dance here (if you dare).)

First night in big girl bed: successful (with a little help from our friend Benedryl)! Fell asleep easily with dad, didn't wake when he left, didn't wake when I snuck in to spy on her. DID wake at her ridiculously early usual 5:30, but woke happy and calm...she just walked over to her door, which sticks a little so she can't open it, yelped a little, and when I came in her room climbed back into bed with me and snuggled a little. So happy for her!

(And because I'm compulsive like that and didn't realize the black flowered bedspread also had red and blue dots on it, not just yellow...new bedspread too. I love Target so much. It doesn't look this nice yet because the mattress is just sitting on the floor, but you get the idea.)

To sleep, perchance to dream

Despite my hope and intention to leave her in her crib for a long long time (like, till she's 9), her incessant growing up has foiled me. When I lay her down in her crib these days it's almost laughable how big she is. She still loves it, and has never tried to get out, but she can't comfortably turn and toss as she'd like to and I think it's time to make the switch.

So we bought a full-sized mattress (and this cute comforter) and will just put it on the floor in her room, I think with the crib there too? But that's what I'm asking for advice on now. How to transition:

1. 1. Follow her lead, wait till she expresses interest in the mattress (she's not anywhere near the level of expressiveness with language that would allow her to do that, though)


2. Cold turkey, take the crib out and do all mattress, all the time, from this point forward?


3. Make the mattress a fun play place, as well as a sleeping place, or just identify it as somewhere to sleep?


4. Lay down with her on the mattress at night and sleep with her there for a while?


5. Other advice?

Miss Manners would weep

I'm not sure what's going on here with Lulu, but over the past few weeks she's lost complete control over her table manners. It's never been great, but it's never been this bad either. I will enumerate, in hopes that you all might have some advice on the various and sundry ridiculousness that is Lucy.

1. The kitchen table. She WILL NOT eat there, at all. She used to...usually not for long, and it was never pretty, but she used to be willing to sit there. Now, freak out the minute it seems we're heading in that direction; if we force it, she throws a major fit (and most of the tableware).

2. Spitting out food. Pretty self-explanatory...she spits out her food. Fairly often. What the hell?!

3. Other tables. For a while I've been trying to have her sit at the porch table outside for a change of scenery; that works maybe 40% of the time. The other times, it's just like the kitchen table.

4. Throwing her silverware. Pretty self-explanatory, too. I understand that at school she eats fairly well and fairly civilly, although she is certainly not good there either.

5. Speaking of fits...when she does, which is pretty much at the end of EVERY SINGLE MEAL at home, it is uncontrollable sobbing completen with real tears, and also clawing at her mouth. She can't STILL be teething, can she? For the love of The Tooth Fairy, she's almost 3!! If we don't get the fit under control, she also will eventually lash out and scratch or hit either (or both) herself or us.

So. What IS that, anyone know? Is it finally the terrible twos, as she's almost three? We thought we'd perhaps skipped them, but maybe she's just on her own timeline as she is with everything else? She's getting enough nutrition because she'll drink liquids without a problem, so she's drinking yogurt smoothies, soy milk, and pediasure. And she eats well at school. She also eats better at restaurants than at home, for the most part. And the last embarassing fact I need to share is that she eats ok-ish in front of the TV, which is what we too often end up doing after we've fought the good fight (and lost).

OK, on that less than happy note, let's move on to this weekend at the farmer's market. Have you ever seen such a happy joyful kid (when we're not torturing her by making her (horror of all horrors) eat delicious food)?

This, I think, is a strong contender for my favorite picture of her ever. It really shows her personality -- happy, mischevious. She's sneaking her hand into my bag there at the bottom of the screen.

It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing

"Up up up up up up up!"

The only thing better than swinging, perhaps: balloons. Here, her goofy face is because she's asking for help detatching one to take away with her ("helphelphelphelphelp!!?").

Dora is her latest obsession (especially the episode with babies -- she hates them in real life but is facinated by them in doll or TV-form). She does the "We Did It" dance so adorably.

And then we went home. And she sucked (and seemingly got stoned) on a green marker. Oh, Lu.

Fish food

Dangling over the koi pond at the surprisingly gorgeous Chinese Gardens this weekend...I figured the fish would appreciate the crust of filth on her face, so I didn't clean it off on purpose (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

I'm so backlogged in my blog reading; I miss everyone! These blog relationships are so odd...I was trying to ask a favor of a "real life friend (RLF)" on behalf of a "blog friend (BF)" this weekend, and trying to describe how I knew the BF to the RLF and I think I seemed oddly defensive..."I know her through blogging but she's really nice and smart and I've even met her in real life once..." (Hi Gretchen!) Odd. But these BFships are some of the closest I've had. Who else in my RL circle of Fs knows Vietnam adoption? Who else can bear to even listen as I obsess(ed) about whether a particular behavior is normal toddler behavior or adoption-related? And then as we go beyond our adoption common ground, we find even more connections -- you loved "The Great Brain" books too! You read the Twilight books in a single day! You can quote favorite movie lines at the drop of a hat! I love that song you refered me to! and it's hard to even justify the distinction between BFs and RLFs any more. You know?

Anyway, hi. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone.

M