New Friends and More on the Go

Hi Everyone,

I'll do my best to start off where we left off the last time-- which shouldn't be too hard. As I recall from last time Josie was running around-- very much on The GO! Nothing has changed there LOL.

The biggest news we have since the last post is that Josie got to meet her newest friend, Callie, recently home from China. We were lucky to spend a few hours playing with Callie at her house earlier this month. We also shared some yummy snacks, which Josie Dong Dong refers to as 'Snnaaah.'

"Mmmm, look at all those SNACKS!"

"Callie, the bestest English word to learn is 'Snnaaah' for yummy things to eat."

"Mommy! I Love You! Pick me up and let's have some -- what Josie said."

We had a lovely time visiting with Callie and her mommy. We can't wait to see them again and have more fun times together.

Josie has also been very busy at Day Care, which Wim has started calling, Baby School. Now we all call it baby school and Josie Dong Dong absolutely loves it! Here she is running around the living room with her space hat on. Just one of the many crafts she has made at Baby School.

"I'm an astronaut! To the Moon and Beyond!"

A bouncy house came to Josie's day care and she got to have some fun bouncing around. She wasn't too sure about this new adventure.

Josie did have a blast with the crazy hair day at Baby School. One of her teachers did her hair up in a whole bunch of pony tails.

Josie also really enjoys Water Table Fun-- pretty much anything involving water is a big hit!
It doesn't really seem to matter what is going on at Baby School, Josie Dong Dong has a great time laughing-it-up with the other toddlers and her teachers.
All of the pictures from Baby School are courtesy of Josie's teacher-- emailing pictures to the parents is a little extra thing this teacher likes to do.

For the most part, we pretty much do the same stuff-- but it is always a little different because Josie Dong Dong always wants to put a comedy spin on whatever we're doing. She still loves shoes and to play with my shoes, Wim's shoes, Gabrielle's Shoes, and Xavier's shoes. I'll have to get some more picts of her in everyone's shoes. Not only does she put them on, but now she is walking in them . . .

"Oh Boy! Mommy's brown shoes! I'm putting them on!"

"Nothing like strutting around in Mommy's brown shoes with a good thumb."Josie is just as happy to walk around the house in my Keen sandals-- pretty much any shoes bigger than her own.

"I should wear these shoes to Baby School!"

She is definitely a proud little girl-- and she should be. To think that it was only a few short months ago that she wasn't hardly walking at all-- now she is walking like a pro-- and wearing big shoes too!

Josie also enjoys getting into other's people stuff-- mostly mine! Here she is pulling out all kinds of stuff from our closet. Stuff I didn't even know was there!

"Wow! Look at all this STUFF I found!"

Josie is still ready with the silly faces . . .

"Can you guess what is in mouth? Wanna See?"

"What's so funny? I'm not doing anything unusual."

More pictures of Josie at her and Mommy's favorite park. Josie is starting to move on from the thrill of the stairs-- she still wants to do them, but she also plays on other things as well.

Today at the park she had a blast playing on the car. She was pretty insistent that I also sit in the car with her and both acted like we were driving. She especially likes it when I make a beeping sound for the horn.

"I'm driving just like Mommy."

Oh NO! Not another Back Seat Driver!

After playing on the car for a while, Josie decided to check out the Choo-Choo train. I think she was tired of driving-- she seemed to like the caboose the most.

"All Aboard!"

"Tickets Please."

Summer is quickly coming to an end here in Rhode Island. Summer always goes by quickly, but even more so here in New England. We can feel the change in the air-- especially at night and in the morning.

It is hard for us to believe, but it has been 5 months since we first held Josie Dong Dong in our arms. In one thought we can't believe that much time has gone by. In another thought it's like it happened yesterday. Wim and I have completed the first of two post placement adoption reports that will be sent on to China. They like to hear how everyone is doing. We visited with our Social worker a few weeks ago and I mailed the final report and a few pictures off to our adoption agency today.

With the end of summer comes fall-- and all the fun that fall and the holiday season has to offer. We are all looking forward to experiencing this time with Josie and she is looking forward to all the fun that awaits her-- this upcoming year and many more years to follow.

On the GO!

Hi Everyone,

I am afraid that my return to work is going result in less frequent posts to the blog. I hope to still post once every two weeks (or so), but we'll see how it goes. Time really flies now and it is hard to find time to load the pictures much less the blog etc.

Everyone is doing very well. Josie has started going to Day Care full time this past week. Basically, this means she now takes her afternoon nap at day care instead of at home. She just has time for her snack after waking from her nap before I pick her up. This schedule is actually working out better. Since she has napped when I pick her up, we are more able to head to a park or somewhere fun for the afternoon instead of straight home.

Below are several pictures of our "Tour de Playground." So many different apparatuses to play with and of them all-- Josie's most favorite are stairs.

Yes, you are reading that correctly-- STAIRS are all the rage in Dong Dong land at this time-- no matter where we go or what else is going on-- Josie is all about the STAIRS.

Here we are at the YMCA park.

"Oh boy! Look at this toy!"

"Ha HA! I made it to the top!"

We took some time out from the Playground tour to visit with Auntie Michelle. Josie had a great time playing mail. We are ALL anxiously waiting for Auntie Michelle to travel to China and bring home her little girl-- Josie's new playmate.

"I want to mail some yummy snacks to Grace."

Onward with our "Tour de Playground." This is another playground in Coventry. There are a lot of ball fields also at this playground. For some reason they designed this area so that the younger kid's playground is somewhat secluded. Mommy and Josie Dong Dong got the great pleasure of surprising two young lovers when we approached. Mommy was very happy that the event warranted only a PG-13 rating.

Josie took right off for her favorite-- THE STAIRS!

"Look Mommy! STAIRS! I want to climb up the STAIRS!"

"Look at me! I'm at the top!"

"I know how to hold on to the railings so I don't fall going down."

This picture isn't the greatest, but Josie's expression-- this is her "I'm so proud of myself" look.

Josie Dong Dong did decide to make one trip down the slide solo. Yes, I did go down it with her a couple of times first. I'm sure several of you would like to see photos of THAT, but it is hard to take a picture of oneself sliding down a slide with a toddler on slide that is built for toddlers.

"Wow! That was FAST!"

Next on our Tour is a park in West Warwick that had all kinds of stuff just the right size for little Miss Josie Dong Dong. Yes, even the right size STAIRS!

"These are just the right size for me!"

Gabrielle came with us to this park and was able to coax Josie into doing a few more things besides climbing up and down the stairs.

"Look Josie, I'm on a Zebra."
"OK. I'll try the Rhino, but you look a little silly on that Zebra."

"Whoa! My skirt is going to fly off!"
"Maybe we should just spend some quiet time going for a short walk."

At the homestead, Gabrielle often spends time reading to Josie, or simply playing silly games with her. Josie always enjoys spending time with her big sis.

Last weekend we went to my friend's wedding-- it was a new age style wedding with gongs and all kinds of really cool stuff. Below is a picture of Xavier showing something to Josie (I'm not sure what it is) just before the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Josie wanted to check out the gongs and the area where the ceremony took place.

"This place is pretty cool, but it would be better if it had some STAIRS!"

"I guess I'll make due with running around!"

Today, we spent the morning at our favorite park, ImPossible Dreams. Of course Josie spent a lot of time climbing up and down the stairs. She also enjoyed crawling through the tubes, the slides, and running around in general.

"Catch me Mommy. I'm going to slide all by myself."

That pretty much sums up our activities-- not really a whole lot of interest, just a whole lot of on the go-- speaking of which, gotta go.

Sherman Family Reunion and Then Some . . .

Hi Everyone,

Josie Dong Dong continues to do wonderfully in Day Care.

She quit crying at drop offs half way through last week (only her 2nd week!).

I think day care has been a big help toward Josie realizing that people come back-- not just leave and then never return.

Before she started day care I would have to rock her until she was asleep before putting her in the crib. Shortly after she started day care, I was able to rock her for a little bit and then put her in her crib before she was asleep. She is able to go to sleep on her own now. She fusses a little bit, but not full blown crying-- just making noise and she is usually out within a few minutes. Sometimes she stays up longer talking to her stuffed animals-- it is pretty funny to listen to her on the monitor.

She plays with the other kids in her class and has lots to talk about when I pick her up. They sing songs, dance, read books, have free play, play outside, make crafts-- heck, I want to spend the day there! She has also started trying to talk more-- she babbles a lot more than she did before day care.

I can't wait until she starts talking for real! She is trying and is now starting to say a few words that we can understand-- like, 'no' (of course), 'all three' which is more like 'ah tee.' That one is a longish story.

She says 'Da" for daddy and Dog.

She doesn't really say Mommy, which drives me slightly bonkers. She was saying it in China! Shortly after we were home, she dropped all her Cantonese except the 'Mmmmm' for 'no.' She held onto that for a while and then it went too. I guess she figured she was starting all over again.
She understands almost everything we say to her and she frequently sits on my lap and points to me and then to herself to which I say our names, Mommy-- Josie Dong Dong. She likes to do that ritual throughout the day. She is having a blast with her new friends. In the past weeks she has had opportunities to play a violin (not sure how that really works with a 20-month old), play water table games, see a magic show, and make lots of crafts.

Her special this week is a sun visor.

"Quit tickling me Daddy! I'm trying to give Mommy my 'cool' look!"

Our anniversary this year was a threesome event (absolutely no complaints from this couple!). This is Josie waiting for Daddy so we can go out to eat. It was a nice evening and Josie had a blast at the restaurant.

Daddy took longer than we expected, so Josie encouraged me in a few rounds of "Itsy bitsy spider." I made up a 2nd verse where the spider crawls all over her to bite her nose, toes, ears, and eyes.

As promised-- here are some picts from the Sherman Family reunion a few weekends ago.

Josie wasn't too sure what to think about her new surroundings and surprisingly enough-- it didn't turn into a thumb-sucking moment.

She quickly made friends with some of distant cousins and had a great time hanging-out with the big girls.

"This is a little different than what we usually do."

Josie Dong Dong making friends with her 2nd cousin, Emma.

"Hi Emma. Will you be my friend?"

Josie and Emma were soon joined by Jemma, whom I believe is Josie's third cousin.

"Wow! You girls have some really cool toys!"

Josie Dong Dong and the girls had lots of fun together and happily posed for a group shot.

Here is Becky and her daughter Emily. Emily is trying to figure out how to use a spoon.

"This has to be close to right-- mommy is always sticking one in my mouth-- Where's the food?"

Emily was full of smiles this afternoon and had a blast playing with Josie Dong Dong.

Cousin Marie holding Baby Emily.

Josie became very curious about Emily's bottle. It was somewhat of a trial to get Josie to completely get over not having a bottle anymore. I think there was a bit of envy in her stare.

"HMMM? What is going on here? What is that I see that Baby Emily has?"

"Um, is everyone sure it is OK for Baby Emily to have that Bottle?"

"Ok, but I at least want my sippy cup!"

Nate was also full of energy at the party. He is the master of all 3-year olds at giving "five" and getting into mischief. Josie loved watching him run around giving five and she picked up a thing or two.

Here is Josie playing coy with Nate.

Nate moves in for the cute-attack.

So much for being coy . . .

"Come here Nate. I've got "5" for you!"

Josie was so riled up giving five with Nate, that Daddy couldn't resist swooping her up and giving her a big tickle bug.

All three first cousins playing together.

It was a great time and wonderful to meet so many relatives on the other side of Wim's family.

Until our next post, here is Josie Dong Dong with her new kissy-face. We've moved on from open mouthed kisses to this!

"Can I have a kiss?"