money

Yesterday Hannah reached into Kevin's pants pocket. He asked her what she was looking for. She replied, "money." {She likes dropping coins into her piggy bank.} Oh, Kevin... the first of MANY money requests to come!

Redirect: Guess who came to our house to play?

photo credit: Lora at The Cole Connection

Hannah and I had a FABULOUS playdate with Allie and Lora on Friday, as always. Lora took some great pics of the girls playing. Head on over to their blog for some double cuteness! I always get a little choked up when Lora talks about seeing Hannah at the orphanage in Taiwan. She describes seeing a three month old Hannah as the littlest baby she ever saw.

Hannah's having her first overnight away from both of her parents tonight, enjoying a lakeside weekend with Nana and Papa. After I got off work Kevin and I took a trip to Lowes sans toddler. Every once in a while we caught ourselves looking for where Hannah ran off to. It's AMAZING how much one can accomplish at home without a toddler running around, asking you to color, refill sippy cups, turn on Elmo, let's read books, etc. What did I do with all of my time before we had kids???? Is having two easier than one because they entertain each other, or does it end up being double the work?

Redirect: Asian American Children's Literature

My thoughts this evening:

I've started following Kimchi Mamas. Lots of good stuff here. Today there was a post that links to a HUGE list of Asian American Children's Literature that further categorizes the books into specific groups (Vietnamese, Filipino, Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, etc.) Of course, there's a little Taiwanese and Taiwanese American collection as well.

Thinking a lot about less of a focus on adoption themed children's books (because they are obviously written from the viewpoint of adoptive parents and FOR ADOPTIVE PARENTS, 'cause that's who's buying them) and more on literature that is written by Asian Americans. If you are interested in Asian American Children's Literature, be sure to check out the link to Dr. Sarah Park's blog.

FL vocabulary and the pirates

Looking for geckos is a lot more fun when your toddler calls them DINOSAURS and looks at each little green creature with amazement.


Nana and Hannah played together with a Magna Doodle. My mom asks Hannah to name the people in her family, and then Nana writes their names, spelling out each letter. "Hannah. H-A-N-N-A-H. Hannah." Hannah is really getting into it, and likes watching the names bring written on the board.

The next day while walking on the pier at Fort Myers Beach, Hannah pointed out to a spot below the fishing pier and shouted, "H!" We didn't understand what was going on, until we saw this written in the sand. Hannah found an H!

I've been so worried about vocabulary and expression with Hannah that I hadn't even thought about starting to work on letters yet. So far with just a little work, she knows H, S, O, and sometimes A.

Having four grandparents and one great grandparent around in the last two weeks in addition to Mama and Dada has been amazing for Hannah's vocabulary. New words include sand, beach, giraffe, owl, tatoo (only the temporary rub on kind, folks) and all sorts of things I can't remember right now. Oh, and encouraging a toddler to say "sunny beach" provides hours of entertainment, too. Phrases such as "All done with sand," have amazed me. Having all of these grandparents around spolied Hannah a bit, too. She's become used to bossing people around. "Color! Color! Sit! Color!" as she hands you the crayon that she selected for you. When Sedona came from being boarded Hannah instructed the dog to, "Sit. Pink Chair. Sit!!!" Of course, she's wanting carried all of the time, too... because that's what grandparents do, right?

And just for giggles, I'll share the pirate photos with you, too. :)

"Mama sleep."

This afternoon I unsuccessfully tried to take a nap together with Hannah in my bed. Oh yeah, with the little dog, too. Everyone piled in. Hannah would not lay down and just wanted to fool around. I closed my eyes to rest, hoping that she'd think I was boring and would settle down as well. After closing my eyes, little fingers tried to pry my eyelids open... and a little voice said, "Mama sleep." I told her to leave my eyelids alone because I wanted to sleep, and closed my eyes again. A minute later Hannah snuggled up against me and kissed me on the lips for the FIRST time! That's MAMA BLISS!

gotta love that Tea, especially when it's really on the cheap

For my mommy friends that are lovers of Tea Collection, there's a bunch of new markdowns and supposedly coupon code DLE25 will take 25% off these already reduced prices. We have this double decker butterfly dress and love it. On sale for $19.50 minus 25% off is pretty sweet, regular price was $29. There are striped leggings for $16.50 that match to make this a great outfit cooler weather.

This is a favorite, too! Cute cute cute. I love the prints in this Korean inspired line!

Redirect: Taiwan: The Threatened Democracy

Three years ago our TIVO found a program on CSPAN for us (and we NEVER watch CSPAN) by Bruce Herschensohn titled Taiwan: The Threatened Democracy. Watching this program was an enlightening experience for me, an opened my eyes to how our state (and other nationals around the world) treats Taiwan. We don't recognize that Taiwan built their own democracy, rising out of a martial law forced upon them, and instead we go out of our way to cater to the People's Republic of China.

Today I found out that the video of this program I watched is available online HERE. I think this is a must watch for Taiwan Pre-Adoptive Parents and Adoptive Parents.

nearing the end of a relaxing week

taste of sand

About five minutes after this last photo was taken, Hannah said, "ALL DONE WITH SAND!"

We're pretty busy this week in the water, sand, and sun. More pics to come.
My internet access is from a tethered cell phone this week.

Hannah has the attention of ALL four grandparents and a great granny.
I think she's going to go through attention withdrawls next week. Not gonna be pretty.