The Dangers of Swim Class

Today, I took Leonor over to Dot's house to clean. You may recall Aunt Dot is suffering from a broken arm, and will be casted up for another 5 weeks or so. She pretty much gets daily lectures from me, about how she's not resting her arm...which is necessary to have it heal properly and to reduce pain. Like everyone else in my life, Dot pretty much ignores my lectures. She did, though, realize she needed some help with heavy cleaning, and I took Leonor over to assist.

T and I took advantage of th opportunity to get in some pool time at Dot's great pool. Unfortunately, there are no pics from the day, as I forgot my camera. It was a perfect pic day, too. Dot was confined to a lounger, similar to how I was confined to the pool deck on our last Disney trip and could have gotten some great shots. Ah well.

Meanwhile, let me dwell for a moment on the dangers of swim class. Remember the old adage: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing? That fairly accurately describes my life at the momment. T believes she knows how to swim. In fact, she'll tell you that quite emphatically, if asked. She even makes impromptu public service announcements about it...just in case anyone in the grocery store, the restaurant, or Nordstroms is wondering. Problem is, she's only 1/2 right.

T can push off from somewhere and swim about 6 feet, or whatever distance it is that she can hold her breath. Then, its all over. May DAy...May Day....! T can't yet take another breath and she sinks like stone. We're still majorly working on those skills. No matter, though, who needs to breath in the pool?

After our two swim class lessons (the other 3 cancelled due to rain), T has totally lost her fear of the water, and jumps right in from the deck. She swims to me, turns around, swims to the wall, climbs out, and does it all over again. Over. And over. And over. After about 20 minutes of frenzied swimming, she sat on the steps, and implored me to sit with her...which I did. I figured she was resting. Silly me.

I'm sitting right next to her, and she gets up. Dummy me thinks she is just going to play on the steps. Nope. The kid from a step or two down, launches herself out into the great blue yonder and starts swimming away...with me still sitting on the step! I lose my mind and go tearing after her, and catch her before she gets into trouble, i.e. needs to take a breath. Well, you can imagine the lecture that she received after that. Unfortunately, my lectures really don't make too much of an impression on her. She suffers through them with the panache of a sixteen year old. I swear if the kid knew how to roll her eyes in her head, she would. So, with an obligatory, "OK mama, Sorry Mama", she was off swimming again.

As I said, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Thank you, Aunt Dot

Here's T modeling her new nightgown, courtesy of Aunt Dot. She loves it, despite the fact that she refused to put Woody down to pose for the picture!

Meanwhile, swim class tonight was a big success. She'll have her skills back in no time!

The Tails Survived

I'm happy to report that the pigtails survived school today. In fact, they survived so well, the I worry I won't be able to get them out of her hair tonight.
T has spent the whole night changing from one dress-up outfit to the next. Over. And over. And over again. Each time, she'd hold her pigtails to ensure that they were still in place. She was protecting them so much that you'd think they were the Holy Grail.

For the first time she chose this outfit, which was a nice hand-me-down gift from Sophia P., who outgrew it. T didn't quite know what to make of the tube-top-like shirt.

Pray for me. I forsee a big tantrum tonight, when I take them out of her hair for bathtime. Meanwhile, it was another crappy day in Miami. Pretty much rained the whole day. Swim class was cancelled.

We shall see what tomorrow brings.

Pigtails on the Fly

T is slow to rouse on any morning. Today was particularly slow. Not sure why. Note her patented "sleepy morning" look.

As we're walking out of the house this morning, T asked for a ponytail. Since her hair won't do that, I gave her pigtails instead. Despite the zig-zaggy part (isn't that the style these days, anyway?), I think a did a pretty good job for doing it on the fly.
I'm very interested to see how these tails last through a hard day at daycare. Especially since today is a water-play day!

SWIM CLASS HAS STARTED!

Swim Class has officially started. Yesterday, to be exact. T did very well, and many commented that she was the only kid there that was actually excited to go into the pool. Of course, she was one of the only kids there for a refresher course vs. first-timers, so her lack of hysterics wasn't such a big deal. In fact, T was so excited that she literally wouldn't stop moving. As Miss Julie reached up to bring her into the pool, T was busy kicking her legs in mid-air. She was like the little energizer bunny in the pool. Not much work was done on floating, but she certainly worked on her swimming and kicking skills.

Today, swim class was cancelled. Its been raining all damn day in Miami...the perfect day to stay in bed all day snuggling under the covers and watching soaps. However, I was at work :( What's worse, my cell phone wasn't charged today, so the only way we knew swim class was cancelled was showing up there, and seeing the empty park and pool. So instead, T is running around the house playing in her swimsuit. Oh well, perhaps we can do it tomorrow.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, remind me in the future never to let T play in a swimsuit with embroidery. See those 3 cute little flowers on her suit? Now, there's more like 2 and a half. There was about a 45 minute lull in the noise factor last night. I knew I should have gone and investigated! Apparently, she spent that time busily picking apart one of the flowers. Crap.

A Nice Calm Weekend

Yep, its always nice when you have a nice, calm weekend where nothing special happens. We did some gardening...a home depot run for mulch and then planting some succulents in pots. T, of course, timed having to go peepee until right as we approached the cashier after waiting in line. Therefore, had to vere out of line, and go charging through the whole store like crazy women, to get to the bathroom in time. Luckily, we were successful. I'm certain, though, that she holds it until the perfectly most inappropriate time, just to drive me nuts.

On Sunday, we did a Target run after visiting my parents. Bought a new Incredibles and Toy Story 2 DVD, since she has worn out the old ones. Also scored some pint-sized gardening gloves and two pint-sized folding lawn chairs. Target's got all their summer/gardening stuff 50% off to make way for all their back to school crap.
Lastly, I leave you with a picture of T enjoying her ice cream cone. We're very excited, b/c swim class starts tomorrow (Monday). T's class is at 7:00 p.m, every night, M - F. No one will be more relieved than me, when T regains her skills. Hopefully, it won't take too long.

Ciao for now

Another MaoNan Sister in Florida!

It is with great joy, that I add the blog Journey to MaryAlice to the list of T's MaoNan sisters. I discovered this blog via the Rumor Queen. Mom (S) is single, lives in No. Florida and received a referral, which due to private reasons she had to reject...a singularly scary and brave thing to do given China's anti-single-mom sentiments. Well, before S received her first referral, I had predicted that her baby was in Guangdong...where T was from. Very recently, S was referred a second baby. A gorgeous baby girl from T's same SWI! Yippee! T will have another MaoNan sister living in Florida. We hope to meet someday.

I look at little MaryAlice's face, and see T, Sara, Audrey and all the other girls in our group in her face. She has the same eyebrows, dark thick hair, and big eyes of T. Her nose is a little more petite and pointy like Sara or Audrey. Cute cheeks like MaeLi, Emma, and Olivia. I'm thrilled to see that Half the Sky, a charitable organization which now works out of MaoNan, is having positive effects. I see new, nicer backgrounds in the picture, and most of all...she's a healthy little pudge...at least compared to our poor emaciated little girls at the time of their referral!

During T's time at MaoNan before Half the Sky's presence, we're all very suspicious that our girls were never given solid food...as almost none of them knew how to eat, some at very advanced ages. T still has food issues, especially with stuff with new textures.

The photo of MaryAlice laying on her stomach also reminds me of T...remember that alert look like she's interacting with someone beyond the camera? It didn't register with me until all the experienced moms commented on it. And boy, was that a harbinger of things to come! I couldn't ask for a more alert, curious, energetic, mischievious little girl. Good Lord, T even more energetic would kill me! Anyway, check out S's site. She's got photos up. I can't wait to follow along and see her get her daughter.

T's First "Mama Party"

The last thing to report from our trip to Tampa was that I bought shoes. REAL SHOES! Today is the first day that I wore them. This is such a big deal I can't even say. You can't imagine how nice it is to put on a real pair of shoes after not being able to for over 3 months. Unfortunately, these shoes cost a king's ransom, but they're the only shoes that fit both my feet. So, I also bought them in black. Look closely, they even have a heel! The brand is BeautiFeel, and I can testify that they truely do feel beautiful on my feet. Lots of support, an arch in the right place, and leather that feels like butter.

I wore the shoes today, because we had to go to a "Mama Party" tonight. A friend has been appointed judge, and her going away party was tonight after work. I had T practicing on the way there, and right on cue she said, Congratulations. Hello Judge Flora. T was quite the hit, but of course, we were only there for about 20 - 30 minutes. Enough time to put in an appearance and then get out of dodge before you-know-who acted up. However, T was on her best behavior albeit slightly disappointed when she realized there was no birthday cake.

So, since we were already dressed up, off to Nordstroms we went for dinner and a girls' night out. Yummy!
Meanwhile, I had to bribe T and let her take a picture of me, before she would pose nicely for me. She's becoming quite the photographer. That's all for tonight. We're looking forward to a nice, uneventful weekend.

Cute things she's said...

Here's a few cute things she's said that has made me laugh:

* Ceci gave us a bunch of leotards. T put one on and said, "I want to go to the pool". No, Baby, this was for ballet or tumbling, not the pool.

*while typing on the computer, T took a sip of my soda. Since we're out of diet coke, I'm drinking Cherry Coke Zero. T's never tasted that before. She takes a sip, gets a funny face, and says, "I like that medicine soda".

*T saw a Disney Fairies commercial, and screamed, "Wow, just like my panties!" Yes, now everyone knows that T is the proud new owner of disney fairies panties.

...she then proceeded to sit on the floor and do her yoga.

Gabby Shirt

Here's a shirt from the Gabriella line, teamed with hot pink shorts, sneakers, and socks with purple piping to match the back of the shirt. The Perfect Daycare Ensemble!