Birthday Parties and Fun in the Sun

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Time easily gets away from me these days and the next thing I know, I am downloading over 400 pictures from my camera. Don't worry, I am not going to post them all here.

Josie continues to improve with her walking. She is now walking more regularly of her own accord. She is walking much longer distances and she will walk to her toys instead of to only a person such as me, Wim, or her brother and sister.

I found this cute little play slide and climber at a local consignment shop last week. In typical Dong Dong fashion, Josie was very tentative about the new toy at first. Josie does not like grass. It is quite funny. If you put her feet on it she lifts them up and whines. I was sitting on a blanket with her in our backyard and showed her that I put my feet in the grass. Josie didn't care for that either. She whined and used her hands to try to pick up my feet and put them back on the blanket.



With some parental encouragement, she soon overcame her nervousness about the toy and being in the yard. After a couple of days, and much to our amazement began scaling her slide and using it without any help from us.






Notice the blanket at the bottom of the slide.

Last weekend was very eventful. It was Gabrielle's 12th birthday. Can we have a drum roll please . . . the last year until we hit the TEEN YEARS!

Gabrielle was up and ready for the day Saturday, but being the gracious young woman that she is fast becoming, she wanted to wait until everyone was awake before she opened her presents.

Josie Dong Dong was very interested in Gabrielle's presents and kept offering to help her out if she needed it.

Being a typical brother of age 10, Xavier was sort of awake-- awake enough for Gabrielle to get started on her presents.

Josie Dong Dong was very interested in Gabrielle's presents and kept offering to help her out if she needed it.

The end of May and first part of June is a busy birthday time for the Shaw/Chase clan. Gabrielle's is the end of May as is one of our Nephew's; Wim's sister's is in early June and mine is about mid-June. So, we all decided to get together last weekend and celebrate!

Wim's Sister, Becky, was great at volunteering to host a wonderful cookout with her hubby Bob, as the master chef.

It was a lovely sunny day and everyone had a great time just hanging out, catching up, and enjoying the food.

Here is Becky, Wim, and Josie Dong Dong chilling on a blanket. Notice that Josie is sitting solo a little bit these days-- not always right on top of (mostly me). She still mostly wants to sit on me in these types of situations, but she is relaxing a bit and doing some of her own thing at least for a little while.

Steve and Cheri's son, Ethan (one of the b-day stars) is in the background playing with a really REALLY cool glitter ball.

Here is Bob manning the grill while Wim's brother, Steve, gets a jump start on being first in line. The men in the Chase family are big and come with big appetites!

Do you think Josie Dong Dong liked the food at the party?

"C'mon DAD! Give me my bite!"

In case you can't quite make it out-- here is a close-up shot of Josie Dong Dong, the Red Sox's newest and cutest cheerleader.The kids had a great time playing with toys.Here is Steve pushing his daughter Abbie around in the backyard.

Even Xavier and Gabrielle joined on the fun with the kiddie toys.

Here is our nephew, Nate (Becky and Bob's son). He is fresh from a nap in the picture and ready to get the party started!

Also fresh from a nap, Becky and Bob's little baby girl, the ever so lovely Miss Emily.
That pretty much sums up all our latest news.

It is suppose to be gorgeous and hot this weekend so Wim and I are planning to hit one of the beaches in South County with little Dong Dong. I am sure I will have more tales and pictures to share.

Until then, here are some closing ham-bone shots of Josie Dong Dong with one of her newest favorite activities-- crawling and walking around with Mommy's shoes on her hands! Time to buy stock in Antibacterial Hand Gel!

Love,

Reena

First Day at The Beach

Hi Everyone,

Josie continues to adjust well. She slept through the night for 4 non-consecutive nights this past week. On the nights she woke, she was back to sleep within 10-20 minutes. Josie has not slept on the futon with either of us for over a week.

Sooo, feeling confident-- Yesterday, Wim and I decided to move the futon mattress out of her room and replace it with one of the extra twin mattresses we have from replacing the kid's beds this past Christmas.

Feeling even more confident in our little Dong Dong, we decided to try letting her sleep in her room alone, for the first time last night.

We had a few friends over last night for a cook out. Our friends Kathi and Robert brought their little girl, Angeline, also adopted from China. Josie had a good time playing outside on the blanket and holding court with all her loyal subjects. It was a late night for the Dong Dong Empress-- she didn't fall asleep until after 9:00 pm.

I'm sure you all know where this is heading . . .

All the excitement of the evening came back to haunt us in the WEEEE hours of the morning. Josie Dong Dong was up at 1:25 am. Since we had the baby monitor in our room-- both of us were wakened by our little Empress-- but Wim got to go right back to sleep-- it was my night to serve in Dong Dong Land.

She wasn't crying-- just very chatty and kissy face. I guess she wanted to talk about all the fun she had at the cook out. Josie didn't fall back to sleep (on the little twin mattress with me) until about 3:00 am.

Last night (Wim's night on Dong Dong Patrol) she slept through the night. It is my turn tonight, so we'll see what happens.

Below are pictures from last weekend.



Daddy and Josie Dong Dong watching the Red Sox Game.

We surprised Daddy by coming into the living room with Josie Dong Dong sporting her brand new "1st Red Sox T-shirt," because OF COURSE
the Red Sox are the Royal team here in Dong Dong Dynasty Land.

There is no routing for the New York Yuckies in this realm!

We also spent a few hours at the beach in Goddard Park, Josie's first time with sand and watching her siblings make the most of a lovely morning.



Xavier throwing a Frisbee at the beach.

He is really growing into a handsome young man.















Xavier found a clam while playing Frisbee and is showing it to Wim. Xavier later decided to eat the clam after he dug it out of the shell.

Is he a native Rhode Islander or what?










Gabrielle likes to play with Josie Dong Dong. One of Josie's favorites is when Gabrielle gives her a green rubber band as a bracelet.

Josie thinks it is the BEST!









A solid Emerald bracelet!


Josie really thought she was Queen of the Sand Castles!



"Pictures are fine, but no autographs please."







Josie was tentative about playing on the sand or touching the water, so Gabrielle brought a pail of water to her. She thought it was really funny that the water tasted salty.














After playing around being silly with Mommy, Josie Dong Dong started splashing her foot around in the pail of water. She thought it was the funnest thing in world to splash cold water on Mommy.







Josie settled in after a bit and decided to play in the sand on her own for a little while. But it wasn't long before Daddy threw a wrench into her playtime.


















Daddy decided to try on Josie Dong Dong's sunglasses. By the looks of little Dong Dong, she wasn't too happy by his initiative.











"Daddy! You look ridiculous!"


Things went from bad to worse when Daddy swiped her sunhat and added it to his ensemble.











Josie Dong Dong isn't one to take such threats sitting down. She quickly called upon her loyal subjects to wage war on her behalf and that of the Dong Dong Dynasty.



Bis Sis, Gabrielle, was hopping mad when she heard what Daddy had done!

She immediately came to lend Josie a hand.














Big Brother Xavier used a special wishing rock he found on the beach and knocked Daddy sideways.












She really looks like the little Sheriff in this shot!


With the help of her older siblings, it didn't take long for Josie Dong Dong to pin Daddy to the beach and retrieve all of her sun shields.












Waging war is tiring work and the little Empress and her loyal subjects were all ready for a nap on the way home.


Love,
Reena

More Play Dates and Silly Faces

Hi Everyone,

We had two special play dates last week and Josie did a lot of hanging out making silly faces.

This is how we typically start the day during the week. After Josie Dong Dong wakes up, I bring her down onto the royal futon pad to lay with me for a little while so we can wake up.

While we are coming out of dreamland, we usually hear Daddy out in the kitchen getting his breakfast going. Josie then opens the door so she can peek out to see what is going on. Daddy caught us by surprise with the camera this morning.

During breakfast, Josie Dong Dong usually manages to do at least one silly thing to crack herself up and get some laughs from everyone else.

After breakfast, we either run errands or, if there are no errands, we hang out in the living-room and play for a while.

Josie Dong Dong never has any trouble being silly and laughing at herself. I have no idea what was tickling her funny bone in this picture, but she was riot! Laughing and laughing at whatever.

Later in the week my friend Andrada visited us with her daughter, Ela and we had a great time with the girls playing in morning and well into the afternoon.

Josie Dong Dong really took to Auntie Andrada and was soon offering her kisses.

The girls were so busy having fun-- we had to work really hard to get this picture! Talk about an action shot.

Andrada and Ela brought Josie Dong Dong some new toys. In this picture Josie is taking a bath with some duckies that light up and change colors. Super cool and both Josie Dong Dong and Mommy like to play with them in the tub.

This is what happens to Josie Dong Dong when Daddy gives her a bath.

I think she prefers barrettes.

Saturday we had a play date at ImPossible Dreams with my friend Kate and her little boy Miles.

That is Miles in the dolphin swing gazing lovingly at Josie swinging next to him. What do you expect? Josie is, after all, an older woman by about 2 months!

Here is miles being manly as only a toddler can be-- pushing a john deer tractor with nothing but sheer baby muscle!

Josie Dong Done gazed on-- quite impressed with his brute baby strength.

There may be more to this story in the coming years!

Until then . . .

Peace Out from Josie Dong Dong and her Mommy.

Mother's Day

Hi Everyone,

We've been pretty busy with more Doctor appointments this week-- lots more tears!

So far everything is checking out OK with Miss Josie Dong Dong. We have one more Dr. appointment later this month to go over her blood work and fill out forms for day care. Hopefully, she won't need any more shots.

Her night time schedule has not changed too much. I am still sleeping in her room during the week and Wim sleeps in her room on the weekend so I can get some consistent rest. Josie typically wakes only once during the night-- usually between midnight and 1:00 am-- something about the witching hour. On a usually night I can get her back to sleep in about 30- minutes. On a really good night it only takes about 10-minutes. Some nights, she simply cannot settle to sleep. She seems to want to go back to sleep but tosses and turns for up to 2 hours. Lately I've found that if I pick her up and hold her really REALLY tight so she cannot move around, she will fall back asleep sooner. We'll see how this tactic works.

Mother's Day weekend was awesome! We kicked it off on Saturday with a trip to ImPossible Dream. I think I mentioned this park in an earlier post. As you can see from the pictures-- it was a brisk day here in Rhode Island. Nothing like a cold Spring day in New England!



Josie playing on a little tricycle at the park.

It looks like Daddy gave her a good push on the dolphin swing. Josie really likes this swing-- she gives it kisses, but she is almost too big to ride in it.

The slide is definitely a favorite for her. She is all smiles and giggles when we put her at the top.

She finally pushed herself down the slide and really caught herself off guard. Once she caught her breath she wanted to go back to the top and slide some more.

Back at home Josie Dong Dong begged Daddy for some of his apple. She really is a Daddy's girl if food is involved!

We spent the rest of the day playing with Josie and her toys. A toy of choice this day was her Little People Farm. She likes to move the rooster and listen to the Old McDonald song that plays.

On Sunday, Mother's Day, we went to church. This was our first time going to church since we returned home from China.

Doesn't she look like the perfect little church-girl?

Church went mostly OK. She fussed a little bit here and there. We brought a few toys and some snacks (of course). The service ran into her snack time which is followed by her nap, so we left just as the service was ending.

I think all the preaching and singing really wore-out Josie. Here she is shortly after we put her in the van after church-- with one of her favorite sleep buddies.

After Church we went to a local nursery so I could pick out my Mother's Day present-- a dogwood tree and some shrubs for our yard. Josie did wake up for this trip and seemed to enjoy strolling around looking at all the flowers and trees.










I don't think Josie was quite expecting to be sharing her seat with a tree, which turned into yet another-- thumb-sucking moment.

Once we got home, Josie changed into some play clothes and gave me her card.

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with her toys. Josie really likes her Little People sets-- this one is the Zoo (Mommy likes the Little People sets too!).

This toy is a series of animals that link together with a rope to their tails. The first one is an elephant and when Josie pulls his rope-trunk he plays a funky circus song and then makes either an elephant trumpet noise or a monkey sound.

Josie really seems to like toys that play happy tunes-- And, NO, they are not getting on my nerves.

Below are some random shots from the week of Josie being her usual ham bone self.

Getting out of the bath all duded up in her yellow duckie towel.

Josie likes to have her teeth brushed-- or as I call them-- her toofers! I use a soft brush that fits over my finger. Josie loves the baby toothpaste! Here she is being silly after I brushed her toofers-- sucking on her toothbrush.

She is so funny! She totally cracks herself up.

One shot of sweet slumbers-- Josie taking a little nap.

Love,

Reena