The Coaster Train

As part of our reward system, we let Casey pick something fun he'd like to do when he earns enough stickers (we're working in intervals of 10 stickers for each reward for the time being). After seeing the blue train while riding the red trolley two weekends ago, Casey wanted to ride the big blue train. I think he meant the Amtrak train, but that train costs like $36 per person for the same distance as our commuter train-- the Coaster. And since both trains are blue-ish, we decided to spend the day riding the Coaster.

Jason gave up his jiu jitsu training for the day so he could go. You see, the Coaster doesn't run right in the middle of the day because it's a commuter train. And it doesn't run on Sundays, either-- at least not from the stop we wanted to take.

We drove over to our stop-- where there was another family of four doing the same exact thing! Here is a picture of me with the kids waiting to get on the train:

It is a beautiful day here in San Diego. It's got to be in the high '70s near the coast! Anyway, we boarded the train and climbed up to the second level. Casey enjoyed watching all the surfers in the ocean as we traveled up the coast:

While Casey watched the surfers, Marcie played her "Up-Down" game. That's where she tells us she wants up-- then we pick her up. Then she wants down, so we put her down. Up and down, up and down. And so it goes. It drives me nuts. She doesn't sit still unless she has to. If I've learned nothing else from our train rides, it's that we will need to buy Marcie her own seat when we fly east this summer so we can buckler her in to the carseat. It's safer. And it's saner.

We had originally planned to ride the coaster all the way to Carlsbad Village to stop for lunch. But that would have only given us about 20 minutes before the next rain south arrived, or we would have had to wait more than 3 hours. So instead we stopped off at Encinitas. We disemarked to a street market, walked through it, then found a nice set of benches to sit at and eat lunch. Casey and Marcie were both really well behaved (in a compelte 360 from last weekend), and they were pleasant as can be. Another interesting thing is that because the Coaster goes through some pretty affluent areas (at least this is what we assume), the stations are all really well-kept and clean. When we rode the trolley two weeks ago, we had to hold our breath in the elevator because someone had clearly been using it as a urinal of sorts. No such trouble with the Coaster-- even the public restrooms at the Encinitas station were clean!

One nice thing about rewarding Casey with these events is that it's something we can do together as a family. And it's not that expensive. Riding the trolley cost us like $6.00 round trip, plus the cost of the carousel. And the Coaster was only around $20. The kids don't care that we pack a lunch-- so we save some money that way. Not only are we teaching Casey about trains and other forms of public transportation, but we're spending less money than admission to the science museum or the zoo would cost us. We're encouraging Casey to select a bus as our next adventure. The local express buses to downtown or the mall are easy to access and very clean-- and we can maybe go to his favorite restaurant for lunch as part of the treat!

Happy Valentines Day!

Dear Grandma H,


Thank you for the yummy Valentine's treats. Casey and I tore open our cards on Valentine's Eve to see who the package was from. I carried mine around the house until bedtime. I tried to take Casey's card, too-- because I love the color red. But he wouldn't let me have it. I tried screaming at him to make him give it to me, but he just screamed right back.


On Valentine's morning, I chewed on my card all the way to Grandma S's house. Mommy let me carry the packaged cookie in the car, too. But she didn't let me eat it until after dinner on Valentine's night.


Casey got to eat some of his chocolate race cars that you sent-- but he wouldn't share them with me. Mommy said he didn't have to because they were a special gift from you and Grandpa. But she also told me I didn't have to share my cookie with him either, so that was okay. Plus Mommy and Daddy bought us both MnMs, so I got my chocolate fill just fine.


It sure was a yummy cookie. Mommy took some pictures of me eating it. Why is Mommy always taking funny pictures of me eating?


Anyway, we miss you Grandma. When are you going to come visit us again? I hope it's soon!


Love,

Marcie

P.S. The shirt in the first picture really does say "Marcie" in Chinese characters. I got it as a present from my friend Amelia for Casey's birthday. Mommy thought it might say something crazy like "Happy Restaurant" because most Americans can't read Chinese characters anyway. But Grandma S told her it really does say "Marcie." I guess the characters make the sound Marcie because Marcie isn't a real word in Chinese. It's still pretty neat, don't you think?

The Beach

On Saturday we were able to catch some of Brad and Gene's show at Cathedral Catholic High School (Brad is Ava's dad, and we met Gene in China because he traveled with Brad and Joia on the adventure). Then we headed to Torrey Pines Beach for a picnic lunch. I chose Torrey Pines just because it's the closest beach. It was still overcast, but not insanely cold or anything, so that was good at least.

Of course, going to a sandy place with four children around the age of 1, a 5 year old, and a 4 year old with impulse control issues who likes to chase seagulls was a bit much for me. You can see each child enjoyed him or herself in their own way:

This one is Caedmon, Ava's younger brother. For some reason, I don't have any pictures of her older brother, Jack. Jack kept Casey company chasing the birds-- except Jack knows to return to "home base" when called-- a task that seemed to escape Casey's abilities (or his willingness)

This one is of Ava. You can see she is exploring the sand here, as well. . .

Here is Marcie holding her hat on her head. A little after this, she dug into the dirt for some exploring of her own . . .

For some reason, I don't have any solo shots of Cassidy, but Larry did snap this one of me with Marcie and Kyndra with Cassidy.

And this photo sort of epitomizes the weekend with Casey-- at least where I stood in relation to him. After I tracked him down from the forage north chasing birds (which, as you can see, have all flown away at this point), I sat him down on the blankets to eat lunch. He got through half his sandwich when some birds returned. Then he proceeded to throw shoes and socks and rocks at the birds, much to my dismay. Not even his own shoes and socks-- Kyndra's! At that point, I realized I really couldn't control his behavior, so I packed him up, grabbed Marcie, and with Larry's help dragged them both to the car, leaving our guests behind. Yeah, I was embarrassed to be ditching them-- but what could I do? I can't have him throwing things at birds!



Casey got the last word, though. I didn't even take time to dust off his sandy feet because I was so mad and so embarrassed. I just buckled him in the car and took off for home. On the ride, though, he grabbed Marcie's jacket and used it as a blanket. Check it out:

Sea World

Rather than go back to the post about our visitors from this past weekend, I thought I'd post a whole series of photos from the experience. So this is the first of those posts. To remind you of what I'm talking about, two of Marcie's "first sisters"-- girls she lived in Yunyang Chenxiang Social Welfare Institute with-- came to visit from Colorado this past weekend (with their families, of course). They arrived on a Thursday and on Friday we headed out to Sea World, in an effort to beat the rain that was forecast for the weekend.



Joia, Ava's mom, brought a cool gift for the girls! You can see her treat in this photo:





Now, for those of you who don't know, girls from the Municipality of Chongqing are known for having firecracker personalities and beautiful, fair skin. Marcie is certainly no exception to either of these stereotypes (just last night when I told her to "come here," she smiled, said "no" and ran the other way!-- I can tell the "terrible twos" are going to be a lot of fun when they hit!). Anyway, Joia had these cute shirts made that say Spicy Girl, so we dressed the girls in them and hit the town. This is the best photo I could get of all three of them in the shirts (actually, Larry took the photo-- that's Cassidy's mom). In the picture, I'm to the far left with Marcie, Kyndra is in the middle with her daughter Cassidy, and Joia is on the right with Ava.



For the most part, everyone was very well behaved. Everyone, that is, except Casey. He just couldn't help himself, I guess. When you are accustomed to always having your way, it's gotta be hard to suddenly have to take someone else's desires and schedule into consideration. And Casey just isn't used to that yet. Despite his less-than-stellar behavior (which resulted in my snapping him into the stroller at one point in a time out while he screamed and cried and carried on like he was losing his left foot on one occassion and resulted in Larry booking after him as he took off chasing birds on another occassion), I think he had fun. He got to see the dolphin show and the Shamu show, and we got to see these beautiful dolphins (which look like miniature killer whales, but of course are not). He also got to touch sea stars and view the sharks, which he really wanted to do.



And Kyndra took Casey to see the polar bears. Marcie and I had to stay behind with Larry and Cassidy because the girls were sleeping and they don't allow strollers anymore (they did the last time I was at Sea World, so I'm not sure why the change, but whatever. I was actually quite impressed that Cassidy and Marcie slept so well. Marcie isn't a great napper-- and it turns out neither are Cassidy and Ava! I guess all the information we got from the orphanage about the three naps a day just meant they put the girls in the cribs three times a day-- doesn't necessarily mean they slept!

In the meantime, Ava was wide awake with her brother Caedmon, but she sure was quiet in her stroller. Ava is three months older than her younger brother.



After the polar bears, we headed home. It was almost 5pm, and even if the girls weren't tired, their parents were exhausted. Even Casey slept on the way home-- though he wasn't willing to let go of that popcorn!

On the way home from Sea World, we picked up Gene to join us for dinner. All I can say is that I'm so very grateful Gene was with me for the drive home. Despite the peaceful sleepy look of Casey in the photo, Marcie screamed the entire ride home. I'm not sure how Casey slept through it. It was a total repeat of the Automobile Meltdown post from a while ago, only this time we had company in the car. Of course I apologized every 3 minutes or so for her screaming, but I knew the only thing that would calm her would be me holding her-- and we needed to get home to do that. So a special thank you to Gene for (literally) talking me through the situation and helping me hold on to my sanity during the 30 minute ride home!

Sleep Training

Have you ever thought about this? The notion that we actually train to put ourselves to sleep? That most infants and toddlers actually wake up multiple times during the night and simply put themselves back to sleep?

I haven't given this too much thought. Whatever your opinions are on how to sleep train children, I am a softy. I'm just not the kind of person who can let my child cry and cry and cry and cry. Jason Ferberized Casey once I started law school. Casey was around 9 months old. But that just doesn't seem appropriate with Marcie. . .

So here's my dilemma. Marcie goes to bed just fine. She has her sippy cup of milk, rocks a bit with Jason, and then he puts her to bed in her crib-- awake-- with her silky blanket (which she chews on). And she puts herself to sleep. No fuss. No trouble.

When Jason and I are home with Marcie, we put her down for a nap around 1pm. Sometimes she cries for a few minutes-- like 5-- and then she falls to sleep, usually for a couple hours (though sometimes only for 1 hour). I am not sure what happens on the days when we aren't home (which would be Monday through Friday). I suspect she is rocked to sleep or in a family-bed-style situation (this is what was done with Casey). I don't necessarily take issue with this-- as long as it doesn't mean that she expects to sleep with us.

Marcie has been waking up around 4am. For a long time, I thought she was hungry. But then one night I just held her and rocked her and then laid her back down in her crib and she went to sleep. Since then I haven't been feeding her. I figured this 4am waking was just a phase-- and noted that she is adopted and that she may just want to be held for comfort.

Then we went to Vegas. And after we were gone for two nights, Casey decided he needed to start sleeping with us. He also puts himself to sleep without a hitch. But then some time in the middle of the night, he crawls into our bed between us. He even brings his own pillow. This has been going on nightly for about a month now. We've brought him back to his own bed, offered him rewards for staying in his own bed, and sometimes we've just let him sleep with us. Nothing has seemed to help us get him back into his own bed permanently. So we'll have to get tougher and walk him back to bed as many times as he comes into our room-- at least this is what I'm anticipating.

Now comes the part where you all think I'm a terribly selfish person. I need my sleep. I don't get many hours of it-- maybe 6 a night total most nights. Much of this is my own doing. I chose to go to law school, and studying at night means I can see my kids on the weekends. Studying at night also means I don't get to bed before midnight many nights. So if I'm falling into bed around 11:30 or midnight, then awoken again around 2am when Casey comes in, than again around 4am (sometimes not until 5am) when Marcie wants to get held I'm not getting much sleep. And two hours at a time does not sustain me. Even 4 hours at a time wouldn't really sustain me. And that means a weaker immune system. And that means catching a cold (like the one I have now).

Plus, I just can't sleep with my kids on a regular basis. And I mean that literally. When they are in my bed, I'm not really getting any rest. They wiggle. They squirm. They kick-- and not the occasional kick in the shin, but consistent, repetitive little kicks in the gut. They turn sideways and use my stomach as a pillow so I can't move. They knead their little toes and fingers into my body. They are both just active sleepers-- at least while they are putting themselves back to sleep. Which they do several times in a night. Now perhaps if we had a bigger bed, this wouldn't be an issue. But we don't. And I don't want a king size bed. So this is where we are.

So that's my problem. How do I get my kids to sleep-- in their own beds-- so that I can sleep? And not be sick and exhausted all the time.

And here's the kicker. I can't tell anymore what's most important here. Is Marcie waking up because she's teething? Because she is ready to dive into the day? Or is it related to the adoption?

Now this is where things get tricky. I think often times adoption becomes a scapegoat for bad behavior-- an excuse of sorts. Feel free to disagree with me, but I've given this quite a bit of thought. All children experience separation anxiety. All teenagers challenge their parents. Rebellion and testing boundaries-- these are a normal part of developing into independent thinkers. But sometimes parents of children who are adopted use the adoption as an excuse: Well, he is just challenging me because he never felt secure-- there was that subconscious abandonment. . . And there may be some truth to that. Certainly I believe attachment and bonding are very important. I am in no way suggesting attachment disorders are made up-- they aren't. Children need to feel safe and comforted and loved and wanted. But all children need these things. And I cannot tell how much of what is going on is Marcie's need for these things because she is adopted and how much of it is typical toddler angst. And might I handle these two causes differently? Perhaps in theory.

But in real-life-- if I'm honest, probably not. In this particular case, the reasoning for the middle-of-the-night-wake-up-calls might not make a difference to how we handle it. But maybe it should? Would I accept this behavior from a child who wasn't adopted at 9 months old? (Apparently yes since I can't get my 4 year old out of our bed!)

So that's how I'm feeling. Run down. Exhausted.

Yes, I knew having another child would be hard.
Yes, I am willing to make whatever sacrifices I need to make to make sure Marcie is happy and healthy.
I'm just asking what those sacrifices really need to be.

And so if you have some positive sleep experiences-- with a child you've adopted or not-- I'd love to hear them. And in particular if you've used the "pick up put down" method, I'd love to hear about that.

And now, I'm off to take a nap while the kids are at Grandma's and school and I can steal away an hour or so to rest . . .

Gross Things Infants and Toddlers Do

I recently received this e-mail from a friend:

Nothing like looking over and seeing that your daughter has spit up on the tile and is now licking/sucking it up. Gross.

Here's my reply:

Yeah. That's gross. Here are some more activities you can look
forward to:

1. Your daughter wandering up to you with a half-eaten hard piece of penne pasta that she clearly picked up the kitchen floor the morning after it was part of her dinner. The half-eaten part has soft ends, so you know the bites are recent.
2. Your daughter down on all fours, licking the carpet where there are pieces of popcorn left over from her afternoon snack. Nevermind that the carpet hasn't been vacuumed in a couple days and the dog has been traipsing all over it.
3. Your daughter drooling because her mouth is so full-- with the hard, small bites dog food your son fed her that day.
4. Your son picking up the dog water dish and tipping it into his mouth, just like you taught him to do with the leftover milk in the breakfast cereal bowl.
5. Your child leaned over into the toilet (yes, you read the right), lapping up the water (at least it was post-flushing).
6. Your child licking up the dirty, bubble-bathy water as it drains out of the tub.

Licking up spit up is gross, but at least it's not full-blown vomit, right?

I must admit, though, I've had four years to collect these stories. So it's not as bad as the list may make it look!

Chaos? Exhaustion? Just a whole lotta fun?

Sorry I've been out of blogging commission for the weekend. I can hardly believe how much the girls have grown! I'll upload photos and write more later, but here are the highlights:

I arrived home Thursday evening to a house full-- boisterous activity. Lasagna. Some short conversations. Marcie was sleeping with us, and she wasn't happy about being put down in a pack n play in our bedroom, but she eventually fell asleep (with me patting her on the back, my arm stretched over the edge of the pack n play while this occurred).

Marcie wasn't the only one who had trouble falling asleep. Cassidy circled the crib. Literally. Apparently she woke up several times during the night, stared at her parents (in the bed next to the crib) and fell over, back to sleep.

Ava wins the weekend award for best sleeper. That girl can sleep! She goes to bed between 8:00pm and 8:30pm and sleeps like 11 hours! Lest you feel any jealousy for Ava's mom, though, don't. Ava's brother Caedmon (three months younger) keeps poor Joia up all hours of the night-- I think the night he was up only twice was a new record in fewest number of times. At least recently.

I will note, with great joy, that despite the first night's difficulty in putting Marcie to bed, she slept all the way through the night all three nights. No 4am feeding! I'm keeping my fingers crossed this sticks. My next goal is to get Casey out of my bed! He actually told me at one point (I was in the middle of our queen sized bed, between him in Jason): Mommy, move over. You're squishing me! I'm squishing him?!? That's a laugh!

Friday we headed over to Sea World. We caught the dolphin show, saw Shamu, explored the shark tank and saw sea turtles and manatees. Joia and her 5-year-old Jack experienced the very wet Atlantis ride (covered in water-proof ponchos) twice. Casey certainly gave me a run for my money. Thank goodness I had the double stroller to strap him into. His poor impulse control got the better of me, and he took off chasing birds twice. Thankfully Brad and Larry helped me wrangle him in.

Friday night Gene (who we met in China) arrived in town, and he joined us for dinner. Chicken, broccoli and rice. That was nice.

Saturday we went to watch Brad and Gene of Apex Ministries perform their show at a Catholic Youth Conference. Casey-- our child who ran around Sea World uncontrollably Friday, sat mesmerized by Brad's juggling. Unfortunately, his stillness did not accompany us to the beach, where we set off to picnic for lunch. Instead, we had to leave our friends behind because Casey couldn't keep from throwing things at the birds (shoes, socks, rocks-- whatever was lying around). And it was probably just as well-- Marcie was just about to eat a hand full of sand anyway.

Sunday it rained. We went to the Reuben H. Fleet Space Museum-- apparently with the rest of San Diego! The kids played a bit in the Kids Play exhibit. And we got to see grossology. Oh, and we ate at Waters, which is yummy. But there was that moment of panic when Casey disappeared. In his defense, he headed to the bathroom because he really had to go. But he should have said something first.

So there are more things to share, but I didn't want to lose track of the basics. I must say my personal favorites of the weekend were (in no particular order):

1. Having someone make a Starbucks run every morning to bring us delicious coffee treats.
2. Comparing what our pediatricians have told us and seeing how much the girls have grown.
3. Sharing stories/remembering the trip to China-- if nothing else, I hope we repeat this in front of the girls so that they "relive" the experience with us again and again
4. Seeing Brad and Gene perform live
5. Getting to know Brad and Joia and Larry and Kyndra a little better
6. Having Larry and Kyndra all over the dishes (I didn't do very much dish-washing this weekend!)

I don't know how they all felt staying at our house-- any time you bring together 6 adults and 8 children in a 4-bedroom, one-story, 1700 square foot home, you're bound for a little bit of chaos, perhaps some exhaustion, and a whole lotta fun. And that's just what we got! And I sure am glad!

Pumpkin Marcie

I've devoted a lot of time recently discussing Casey. You shouldn't take this to mean a lack of interest in or focus on Marcie. Quite the contrary. So if you're wondering, here's what she's up to:

She broke two more teeth (bottom molars!)
She has added quite a lot of words to her vocabulary:

• woof
• dog
• bird
• ball
• bubbles

And she's still calling Casey "big brother" in Mandarin.

She also brushes her hair, carries a bag like a purse, hugs stuffed animals to her chest, and lets Casey know when she's mad at him by crouching directly in front of him and screeching into his face.

Oh. And she is a food pirate. If you're eating, she'll drop what she has to grab for it.

Marcie is also incredibly skilled at wiggling out of laps, holding something in her hand and waving her arm around in just the right way so that you can't get it out of her hand, and riding her car ride-on toy. It is rare to see her sitting still-- in fact, I was amazed at her demands that Casey's godmother Ann read her the book Art this weekend. She insisted on turning the pages herself, and even after Ann left, Marcie wanted to read the book again and again.

My favorite thing, though, was this morning-- when Casey was laying in my bed and Marcie entered the room. He called out, "Maaaaar-ciiiiiiie! Come here, Punkin!" And she did. And they hugged. And kissed each other. Now where is the video camera when you really need it?!?

Riding the Red Trolley

Casey finally earned enough stickers to get a ride on the San Diego trolley, so this morning we gathered up the kids and took the trolley to Seaport Village to ride the carousel. Here are some photos:

This is them-- all loaded up and ready to head for the trolley station!

This is Casey waiting for the "red train" at Fashion Valley. He was surprisingly good about staying seated until the trolley came to a complete stop for us to get on it!

We climbed aboard one of the newer cars on our way downtown. The seats were super nice and comfortable.

Once we got to American Plaza, we stopped off at Starbucks for some snacks. Marcie and Casey shared a banana nut loaf, and Casey and Jason got coffee. (Actually, Casey's coffee is really chocolate milk in one of those children's sized hot chocolate cups-- but whatever.)

When we got to Seaport Village, we decided to ride the carousel. Casey's not a big fan, it turns out. Though he's smiling for this picture, I had to hope of my horse with Marcie to stand next to him right after this. Marcie, on the other hand, loved the "up" and "down" of the horse, and continued patting the horse on the head and calling it a "doggie."

Marcie sure does look surprised by the camera here-- It finally dawned on me to sit her WITH Casey so that he would feel more comfortable and she'd be able to ride the horse up and down!

On our way back to our car, we ate lunch at Santa Fe Station while we waited for the trolley. While we were waiting for the red trolley, Casey notice the blue train (the coaster) and asked to ride that. So now we have a new goal to work toward-- lunch in Carlsbad!

Even though this is the same Starbucks bag from before, Marcie is actually eating broken up pieces of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich here.

And I did manage to capture some video on my camera while we were out and about. For the bemused acceptance video click here. For the Say hi to the camera video click here.

Photos

It's been a few posts since I graced the blog with pictures of the kids. If you've been slogging through my lengthy kvetching, thanks for returning-- and see? Your reward is photos. They are old, but they are still cute.

I may have posted this before-- it's my favorite picture of the two of them. They are both looking at the camera and smiling. Not an easy feat!

I saved my prom dress and my college formals and even my wedding gown-- so that one day my daughter(s) could play dress-up. I didn't anticipate my son wanting "in," too. Not sure why I didn't contemplate that-- I'm fully prepared for the day he asks me to help him put on my lipstick or my nail polish (much to his father's chagrin). After all, kids imitate what they see. Come to think of it, as someone who doesn't wear nailpolish and often forgets the lipstick, it's not suprising he hasn't asked. Anyway, he does like dress up. Not in my old dresses-- but in costumes. He now has Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Incredible (or Dash), Spiderman, and Superman (with the blow-up muscles). He could start a Super Hero club!

I just love, love, love her expression in this photo-- which dates all the way back to Christmas. This last weekend our friends Jennie and Max gave Marcie a monkey with velcro arms and legs. I had to let her take it to her grandmother's house on Monday because she didn't want to separate from it! I think it's great that she's into hugging stuffed animals!

Cleaning Up His Own Mess

Last night while Jason was using the restroom, Marcie was sleeping, and I was away at school, we had an . . . uh . . . incident. Here is how Casey explained it to me this morning:

Me: Good morning, Casey. Did you sleep well?

Casey: Mm. Hmm. (a bunch of babbling that clearly he intends to be words but I cannot understand). Casey poo poo in his pants. Daddy got mad.

Me: You pooped in your pants and Daddy got mad at you?

Casey: Mm. Hm. No poo poo in pants. Poo poo in potty.

Me: That's right, Casey. Big boys poo poo in the potty. Why did you poo poo in your pants?

Casey: Daddy going potty. Casey go potty. Poo poo in pants.

Me: Daddy was using the bathroom, so you didn't know where to go?

Casey: Mm. Hmm.

Me: Casey, next time you have to go potty and someone is using your potty, you use Mommy and Daddy's potty, okay?

Casey: Ok.

Jason's telling was a little different. To understand the situation, you need to know that we live in a two-bathroom home. It's a one-story house, and the kids' bathroom is also the bathroom that sits in the hallway between the family room and the bedrooms. So it's the bathroom that gets used the most (for obvious reasons). It's not like we prohibit the kids from using our bathroom-- not at all. It's just not as convenient, so it's not common.

In any case, I won't go into all the details, but here are the basics. Jason noticed a grape-fruit sized, brown stain in Casey's bedroom. Thinking Casey had done a poor job of wiping, then sat on his floor to change into his pajamas, he pulled out the cleaning supplies and cleaned.

Then he went into the kitchen to throw away all the trash. Where he discovered more poop. On the floor. On the counter. Pieces in the sink. (I didn't think to ask where he found Casey's dirty clothes). Water drenching the countertop, and some water on the floor. From what he could put together, Casey had pooped in his pants, then realized he'd made a mess and tried to clean it up by himself. After he'd done the best he could, he went into his bedroom where he had, indeed, changed himself into his pajamas.

Jason managed to clean it all up (probably through a series of gagging fits) before I got home (yay for me!). Casey asked to take a shower, but this is tricky-- because he loves showers, and while we like a clean child, we certainly don't want to encourage pant-pooping just so he can get a shower out of the ordeal. Anyway, Jason cleaned up Casey, too.

I really do think it was an accident because Jason was in Casey's bathroom.

I love that the first words out of Casey's mouth were to tell me what he'd done "wrong." And I love that he tried to clean it up all by himself. So gross as it may be, I can still find the cuteness in it all. Of course, I'm not the one who had to clean it up!

Milk, Mommy!

This morning:
Me: Okay, Casey, while you finish brushing your teeth, I'm going to help Marcie get dressed.

Casey: Okay Mommy.

Me (thinking): Hmm. This is odd. He's not arguing with me. . .

Me (to Marcie): Good morning, Sweetheart!

Marcie: Eh. Eh. Eh.

Casey (while I walk past with Marcie): MARCIE!

While I was preparing Marcie's bottle:

Casey: I want milk.

Me: In your cereal?

Casey: No. In cup. With lid. Like Marcie.

Me: Ok. Just a second. (I pour Casey a cup half full of milk while he runs off, distracted by some toy. Then I sit down to feed Marcie in her sippy cup.)

Casey: I want milk.

Me: It's on the counter, Casey. (Marcie finishes her milk. Yes, that fast. She drinks the whole sippy cup full in about 1 minute-- maybe even less. I think she might hold a record. . .)

Casey: I want hot, Mommy.

Me: You want me to heat it up?

Casey: Yes please. And top.

Me: Okay. (I microwave the milk and put the lid on it, thinking about how crazy it is to put the lid on it with the stopper because despite Marcie's amazing sucking ability, Casey still can't suck liquid from a sippy with a stopper.)

Casey (as I hand him the cup): Sit down, Mommy.

Me: Why?

Casey: Like Marcie. Sit down.

I sit down and he crawls up on my lap, so he can be just like Marcie.

Marcie: Up! Up!

Casey: NO! No, Marcie! Casey's turn!

Me (to Casey): Casey, I let you sit on my lap when Marcie's eating, so you need to share my lap with Marcie.

Casey: (No comment)

Marcie: Eh.

But you know what? It was the best feeling. Sitting there, holding my two most precious gifts. And on a weekday no less. How lucky am I to steal a moment like that on a weekday morning.

And in case you're wondering-- no, Casey wasn't actually able to get any of the milk out of the cup. But don't worry, he had plenty of milk in his cereal bowl!

COFFEE TO THE PEOPLE: San Francisco's Best Coffeehouse

So, WE WON!

(I'm using the word we quite loosely.)

To all of you who got online and voted for Coffee to the People as the AOL Cityguide best coffeehouse in San Francisco-- whether you learned about the voting through this blog or not-- thank you.

Hopefully this award will bring through more foot traffic-- more tourists, more regulars, just plain-old more people. Even though the owners have done a terrific job opening the joint and running it for the past year and half, mom & pop business are hard to keep afloat (and that's being generous).

So don't assume that just because they won this award, they are rolling in the dough. They welcome your patronage. They thrive on it. This isn't just a business to them, this is their dream. So please help keep it alive, and next time you're in San Francisco, stop on by the Haight District and pop in for some java and conversation. Or just java.

And spread the word.

And thanks again!

Stupid Video Camera

I insisted we buy a video camera. I wanted to capture our trip to China on tape. We didn't own a video camera when Casey was born, but our friends loaned us there for the trip, and I'm really glad we have some video of what it was like when Casey was first born. I work in an online professional development office were we have our own video specialists and an editing suite. They don't use work equipment for anything personal, but they know what they are doing. So when I was ready to purchase a camera, I did a boatload of research and took their advice.

I ended up with the Canon Optura 400.

Generally I've been pleased with it. It is very small and light-- two key elements of a camera I was trekking halfway around the world (literally) to capture the arrival of our daughter.

I started using it last spring-- April of 2006, to be exact. And I haven't done a thing with anyof the video I've captured. I still prefer my regular old digital camera (well, actually it's a new camera-- a Fuji one with a continuous shooting function, but you get my point). But this is nice for some things. Like our reactions to seeing Marcie's face for the first time.

Or Casey singing "the blues" with his Uncle Jason in Ohio. Bless their hearts, I promised I would download the video of Casey and Uncle Jason singing the blues as soon as I had a free minute. The recording happened in May. And I got some nice editing software for Christmas, which I've now downloaded onto my laptop.

But I'll be darned if I can get any of the video to download so I can edit it and throw it on a CD. I am not super computer techno savvy. I know my way around the basics, and that's it. I followed the instructions that came with the editing software, but every time I plug in my video camera, the computer tells me the hardware needs drivers installed. I've gone to the Canon site, but it insists no drivers are necessary for Windows XP. I've read the instructions on the editing software, and it explains that I need a 2.0 USB port and a video class 1.0 driver installed. I have no idea what that means or where to get it.

And so now I have (what I like to at least pretend is) tapes of incredible footage of Casey doing all sorts of clever things, visiting with his cousins in the summer, visiting his birth family, of our adoption adventure, and of our recent Christmas trip-- including Timour's proposal to Megan. But I can't put it on a DVD because I can't figure out how to make my stupid video camera download the video.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I'm sure it did come with some CD with the driver on it, but of course that was months ago now-- and I'm not likely to find it in the piles of junk . . . uh, I mean mounds of important paperwork and computer cables in our study.

AARGH!

The (Almost) Babysitter Blues-- Take 2

For Christmas Jason bought us a meal package at a place called the Dinner A'Fare. I've been to other places like this (namely Dinner Studio), and it seems to work well for us. The way it works is that you pick out your menu based on the available main entree selections and sign up for a session. Then you show up, throw together 6 or 12 meals (portioned for 3 or 6 people), store them in freezer bags (or other appropriate containers), stick them in your freezer, and have ready-made meals for when you are super-busy. Which for most people is all the time. They say it takes about two hours, but it never does. And you don't do any of the dishes or clean-up. And not only do they provide the recipes (and the nutritional information), but they have all the ingredients pre-chopped up for you and sitting out with proper measuring spoons. For me this is great because I never have time to prep food in advance. And I don't have a lot of spices to use for one-time meals (like the 5-Chinese spices spice or Cumin or a number of other things).

This is also great for us, because we just throw the food in the oven and prep some veggies, and we have a meal in about an hour. The only real preparation is remembering to put the meat in the fridge to defrost the night before. But that's just the kind of planning I like!

Anyway, Jason bought us 12 meals for Christmas, and we scheduled to go make them today. But somehow we hadn't actually contemplated who would watch the kids while we went to do this. Fortunately our scheduled time fell during nap time. Unfortunately Marcie decided to nap early today while we were out on a walk. And if you read the other Babysitter Blues post, you know exactly where this is headed.

We asked the babysitter to arrive over 30 minutes before we had to leave so Marcie could get familiar with him. We even asked him to come during her lunch so he could help feed her. Marcie loves to eat, and so I thought she'd love whomever was feeding her.

Not so much.

The minute she saw our babysitter, she burst into tears and was nearly inconsolable. She wouldn't take any food from him. She sealed up her mouth and sobbed. She wouldn't even calm down for Jason. Still, the babysitter stuck close by, so she could see we thought he was okay. And by the time Marcie was done eating, she would at least high-five him. Though she never took any food from him.

I was insanely worried. I even made Jason call his sister to come over and babysit with the babysitter. My rationale was that then Marcie would at least have a familiar face here. But she didn't answer her cell phone.

So I put Marcie down for her nap. She fell asleep after about 10 minutes of alternately screaching, sobbing, and quietly crying. And we left behind strict instructions to call us if she cried for more than 15 minutes because we weren't far away.

Two hours later, when we pulled into the driveway, there was no sign of the babysitter's mom's car. There was no sound of sobbing leaking out through the door from the house to the garage. In fact, there was our babysitter playing video games right where we'd left him. Both kids still fast asleep (until I woke them up).

Marcie got to see the babysitter again before he left. But she wouldn't let go of me-- she was not happy we would consider leaving her behind. Not. Happy. At. All. But we can't be stuck to her like glue forever, so we'll continue taking these baby steps for now.

In other news, today Marcie skipped her morning bottle and took her milk in her sippy cup! I think we will do the same thing tomorrow. And if it works, for the rest of the week. And then we'll take away the nighttime bottle and repeat the process. Heck, maybe we'll try to eliminate the nighttime bottle tonight. If she's willing to sit on our lap and suck down a sippy cup contentedly, there's just no reason to keep the bottle anymore that I can think of.

AND Marcie officially has a "name" for Casey. It's ga ga (or ge ge, or ga gah with the emphasis on the second gah). The Mandarin word for "big brother." It's taken us a while to figure out that's what she's saying. But it is so consistent now-- and so clear, that it is definitely what's going on.

She's also blowing kisses. Now that's something worth capturing on video!

Lost

Tonight we went to Friday's for dinner. We were impressed by the variety on their children's menu, but not impressed by the speed of service. The kids were both very well-behaved. Casey even ate several carrots, chewed them up, and . . . drumroll . . . swallowed them. (Yeah he did it because I promised him a lollipop-- but, folks, my boy ATE CARROTS!)

While we were waiting for our server to collect our bill (this took quite a long time), Casey decided he was ready to leave. He headed for the door, and because we'd arrived from separate locations, we had two cars. I was going to go home with Casey, pull in the trash cans, and feed the dogs. Jason would follow as soon as he paid the bill.

In the amount of time it took me to pull my keys and Marcie's jacket out of the backpack, Casey wandered all the way to the door of the restaurant. Although we couldn't see the door, we could see right outside the door-- so he couldn't have left without our knowing. . .

As I threw the backpack over my shoulder, Casey came running back toward me with an expression that crossed between panic and sheer terror. As soon as he caught up to me, he literally lept into my arms and began weeping and wailing. I sat back down with him, and I helped him breathe so he could calm down. I checked him all over to see if he was hurt, and then he finally said to me, "I scared."

He realized he was all alone when he got to the door, and this frightened him. I feel badly that he felt so afraid, but I think this is probably a healthy fear-- particularly given not only the recent stranger kidnapping in Missouri of a boy getting off a school bus, but also of the recent near-attempt at kidnapping in a local neighborhood of a couple boys walking home from school together (the boys ran to a neighborhood home and called 911, smart kids).

I know "stranger danger" is a little alarmist, but at least that means Casey will be sticking a little closer for a while. He's usually so fearless, I think this will help temper that impulse. At least I hope.

***UPDATE***
It turns out the local attempted kidnapping case was not an attempted kidnapping at all. The boys thought a man in a truck was trying to entice him into the vehicle, when the driver was actually trying to wave him across the street (literally). Also, the boy didn't call 9-1-1. He called his parents. Really, just as good (though I wonder how he knew which random house was actually safe to go to and ask to use the phone). This still doesn't change my point-- a little bit of fear, of awareness, goes a looooong way.

Behavior Modification

When we were trying to toilet train Casey, we weren't having much luck. The Montessori school he was attending was really pressuring us-- and really not being very helpful in training him. And he was the youngest kid in his class. One weekend when Jason had the flu, I turned off the ringer on the phone, pulled Casey's potty into the kitchen, and proceeded to follow the directions in the book How to Toilet Train Your Child in One Day. The book is kind of old-school, and I was worried that saying things like, "Bad Casey. Good boys do not pee pee in their pants. You are a bad boy," and then making him clean himself up might be a little much. Not to mention that Casey didn't even have the skills to dress and undress himself at this point-- despite the fact that he was 3. But I went through the motions anyway.

We started by teaching Potty Scotty, an anatomically correct doll, how to go pee pee in the potty. And I tried having Casey sit on his potty every 10 minutes (or whatever the book said to do).

It wasn't exactly successful. At least, not at first. Of course, once Casey was finally ready to be toilet trained, that first, all-day training paid off. I'm still convinced it helped teach him what to do. But what really did it was Thomas the Tank Engine. One day Jason told Casey that if he went in the potty like a big boy, Jason would buy him a Thomas train (Casey owned maybe two at this time). Casey didn't listen at first. But Jason sat him in front of the TV on the potty religiously-- in fact, the only time Casey was allowed to watch TV is if he was sitting on his potty for a while (that's how we motivated him to try in the first place).

And then one day the stars aligned and Casey peed in his potty. Of course, we all did the potty dance. And then we went out to buy Casey a Thomas train. We started with the least expensive ones-- the battery-operated ones that come with the pieces of blue track (they sell at Walmart). And when we were there picking out a Thomas, we picked up more than one. We came home and set them up on the shelf above the TV, where Casey could see them but not reach them. A few times each day, Casey would "visit" the Thomas trains. We might let him hold the box, but he couldn't have them unless he went potty. It didn't take long before he'd collected them all. And we went out for more-- until we realized he was playing us. Holding it in until we were there to watch him pee, so he could demand another Thomas toy. I'm sure we spent more than $200 on this endeavor-- was it worth it? Probably. We probably saved that much in diapers, actually. Not to mention the priceless value of his self esteem at school. We did have to actually ask the preschool to please remember to walk him to the bathroom every hour. But once they started following through, he was toilet trained.

At least we thought he was. After we'd been in China for two and a half weeks and returned home, Casey went through a readjustment period which lasted, I'd say, about a week. During that time, he'd poop in his nighttime pull-up. Intentionally. He'd actually find a quiet, kind-of-private place to do it. I'm actually not sure what ended it, but he started using the toilet again relatively quickly, and all was right in the world.

Until Vegas.

When we returned from Vegas, Monday and Tuesday mornings he pooped in his nighttime pull-up again. On purpose. After I asked him to go to the bathroom, he slipped off into his bedroom to poop. In his pull-up. Yuck. In a moment of (I'm guessing) exasperation, on Tuesday Jason told him if he was a good boy and didn't poop in his pull-up on Wednesday morning, we'd take him to the Totally Thomas Toy Depot Wednesday evening. Of course Casey didn't poop in his pull-up on Wednesday, and so we took him to the store.

He was all over the place. He liked the Thomas tent. And the Truckee character (from Jay Jay the Jet Plane). And another plane character. And finally he settled on wooden rail train characters 'Arry and 'Bert. Just before bedtime, Casey asks me for the Thomas tent. The one that cost $35. The one we didn't buy. (He sleeps with a Lightning McQueen tent on his bed already.) I explained that we didn't have enough tickets to get the tent (Casey calls money "tickets). He seemed fine with that explanation and went to bed.

Then Thursday morning he asked for one of the planes. I reminded him we didn't get the plane-- he picked out some trains. I kissed him good-bye and I left for work.

After I left, he troddled off into our bedroom to tell Jason he didn't poop in his pants. As if to say, "so now I get another toy, right?" Apparently he responds well to rewards.

And so today marks the day we officially begin our behavior modification program. We have a chart. We have pictures of the things we want him to do (without screaming): get dressed, go to the bathroom, eat breakfast, brush teeth, wash face, wash hands, comb hair, be nice to the dog, avoid hitting Marcie, etc. For the next couple days, each time he completes a sequence without melting down, he gets a reward-- an extra book at bedtime, a 1/2 hour of Dragon Tales, etc.. And each item he completes earns him a sticker. When he gets to 10 stickers, we'll get him a Thomas toy. Then we'll up the ante-- some things won't earn him a sticker. And he'll need more stickers to get a toy. We're hopeful that this behavior modification will help him make better choices. Now if only it were a strong enough incentive to help him with his (lack of) impulse control. I swear, sometimes he just. can't. help. himself.

Oh! And if you're wondering, Marcie got a toy, too. She's been very well-behaved (if you don't count waking up at 4am). She picked out Ice Bat (an Ugly Doll toy), which she's been carrying around, hugged to her body. She's also been carrying around a little Marcie-sized gift bag, which she uses like a little purse. I have to get a photo of that!

And Marcie has definitely been holding her own with Casey. This morning when Casey swiped her stuffed bear away from her, she squatted in front of him and shrieked. Just once. He looked stunned and gave it right back. I couldn't help but think, "That's my girl!"

On Preschool and Applesauce

I'm exhausted. It's 10:30pm, and I just walked in the door. Today I've been feeling badly about the fact that I am now spending only . . . oh, say around 20 minutes with Marcie directly each day. That doesn't include the car ride to Grandma's house, but a car ride together hardly counts. I know it feels like I see next to nothing of her (or Casey, for that matter)-- and I suppose that would be a fair assessment-- but it's not much less time than before I went back to school at night. I mean, in January, I still had to be at work at 8am. And I wasn't picking her up until 5:30 or 6:00pm (depending on traffic). After getting home and disposing of jackets, that only leaves around an hour and a half. At least 30 minutes of that time I was preparing dinner. Another 30 minutes was devoted to Daddy for bath time. So that left maybe another 30 minutes of time-- an hour if I was lucky-- with Marcie. Which means all I've really reduced our time together by is that final 30-60 minutes of the day. I have no idea if that made sense to anyone reading this-- but I'm glad I got that off my chest anyway.


Now 30-60 minutes isn't nothin'. Don't get me wrong. But when I'm not getting home until after 10:00pm, it sure feels like more than a lost hour. It feels like many lost hours. So it'll take some adjusting. And continuous reminding that it's just until May . . .


Last night when I got home, I just couldn't resist picking her up. I knew I shouldn't, but I couldn't help myself. Of course, it woke her up. And then she didn't want me to put her back down, so I rocked her to sleep on my lap while I (unsuccessfully) attempted to watch television. As I started dozing off myself, I slipped her back into her crib, and she slept peacefully until the usual 4:00am.


Is it odd that I now consider waking up at 4:00am for 20 minutes normal? I mean, at 14 months, I'd think she could last 12 hours without eating . . . hmm.

Anyway, none of this is the reason for this post. I wanted to share our happy news of the day. Marcie has been accepted to preschool. Yup. My girl has been placed for the fall! The way the law works, she can't start preschool in a 2-year-old class until she is 22 months old, which will be September 15th. The school year starts the first week of July. Which means the preschool is holding her spot for 2 1/2 months! How great is that? We are so glad that Casey and Marcie will be at the same school for the next year. We think it'll really help Marcie's transition to preschool (and my transition to life in a law firm). It's such a great school, and Marcie goes every day to drop off and pick up Casey, so she's familiar with it-- and with the staff. Yay for Marcie.

The other reason for this post is our recent Applesauce Experience. Marcie is so good at stealing her brother's left-behind spoon and eating whatever remains of his apple sauce or yogurt that I thought I'd let her try it on her own. And we followed the apple sauce with a meatball sandwich chaser (she loves meatballs). Of course we broke up the bread and the meatballs into little pieces, but somehow that didn't reduce the mess. In fact, after dinner it took me a while to figure out how to get her out of the highchair without making things worse. Check it out:




And just for good measure, lest you think Marcie gets all the attention around here, check out what a good giggler our Casey is:

Who couldn't love such a cutie?

The Park

This morning I wandered out with the kids to the nearby park. It's a bit chilly, but not too bad. And the sun is out. And I needed the exercise. Here are some photos:

Casey with his new sunglasses from Grandma Linda, Grandpa Jim, Big Sister Haley, and Big Brother Bryce (sent from Ohio last week).

First time on the swings with a smile. (Last time I took her, she kind of wimpered the whole time.)

Monkeying around-- trying to climb on the equipment all by herself (she has quite an idependent streak!).

Marcie crawling through a tunnel. She wanted to stand up and try to walk through-- I had to insist she crawl.

He looks so grown up, doesn't he? Casey was pretty patient with Marcie while he was playing.

Coming down the tube slide-- all smiles!

Good Time (in Vegas) Had By All

So I've been wondering how I'd handle this semester with the lack of sleep I've been experiencing. During my Winter Break, I've been able to crash around 9:30pm each night, and I've still be exhausted when I wake up in the morning. But now that I'm back in school, a 9:30pm bedtime is just simply not an option. Last week Marcie slept all the way through the night every night, so I thought we'd turned a corner. Except that last week Casey decided to start joining us in bed every night, and he is too wiggly for me to sleep with. But we let him join us because he was feeling sick.

Then, I got a little spoiled when we went to Vegas for the weekend. No, I didn't go to bed at 9:30pm either night. In fact, the first night, we didn't even leave San Diego unti the 9:00pm flight out. But while we waited for our flight, we sat in the airport bar, where I consumed a Vodka and Red Bull (a double, thank you very much) and a hot dog. Jason had a beer, I think, and a sandwich. Apparently that Red Bull did the trick, because we fell into bed some time between 3:30am and 4:00am (maybe even after 4:00am) Friday morning.

That was after several hours of gambling at Binions (which used to be the Golden Horseshoe) downtown. The nice thing about gambling downtown on a Thursday night is that it's a $5 minimum. So you can play for a much longer time. Yeah, you don't win big. But I don't ever actually plan to win when I go to Vegas (maybe that's the wrong attitude, huh?). I'd show you photos, but they don't really like it when people take pictures in the casino, so I don't have any from Thursday night. I can tell you, though, that Pai Gow is the game to play if you want to play for a long time without losing much. I was ahead after a couple hours of pai gow, and Jason was a little down-- but overall we were up.

Then we moved to blackjack. There, I was down and Jason was up. But I was more down than he was up. Still, all in all, losing only $25 after playing for four or so hours isn't bad. Especially when you consider all the free alcohol we consumed-- more than $25 worth, I'd wager.

We wisely stopped off at Fat Burger before heading back to our home base-- the Mirage-- to grab a bite. Jason and I shared a fatburger and fries. And some diet coke. I think that did the nice trick of ensuring we wouldn't be hung over the next day (well, I don't really get hung over-- knock on wood-- so it was really good for him, I guess).

The next morning/ early afternoon, we headed downstairs for some coffee (I haven't had a mocha in probably 3 or 4 years, and mine was delicious). Jason, Matt and I stopped by the White Tiger, which was out playing in the water. Then Grace met up with us. While the boys chatted, we popped over to DKNY where they were having a great sale.

We wandered over to the Paris hotel for crepes (did you know that word is actually pronounced more like "craps"? I didn't know this until Lisa, our French-teacher-friend-who-is-adopting-from-China kept saying it that way and I finally asked, "Is crapes the wrong way to say it?" I guess it is!). I've never had food crepes-- just dessert crepes. So it was cool to try a ham and cheese crepe for a lunch snack. We actually walked to the Paris from the Mirage, even though it's a bit of a hike. Though it was on the chilly side, the sun was nice-- and it was great to get out in the fresh air for a while. This is a picture of Grace and me and Lisa. I forgot my sunglasses. It was just coincidence that we all opted for black for the day-- and I always forget how short I am until I see a photo with normal-sized people in it next to me. Anyway, there we are.

After we stopped off at Paris for a snack, we continued out to see if we could find some more, inexpensive pai gow-- on the strip. This is not an easy thing to do. After stopping in Casino Royale, we sent the boys on to Barbary Coast and we swung into Sephora, which was right outside the Casino Royale. The Sephora experience was actually pretty cool. We asked for some advice for lipstick for Lisa, and Lisa and Grace both proceeded to get (unintended) make-overs with surprising (in a good way results)! We weren't without our hesitation-- when the woman started putting a coral-colored lipstick on Grace, Lisa and I were definitely worried. But by the time she was finished, she had made believers of us!

Then we wandered over to the Venetian for a snack. We weren't there for long though because either they were piping in the gawd-awful perfume, or some "more distinguished" woman without a great sense of smell and wearing a boatload of perfume was nearby. All I know is that the smell made me feel so nauseous, I had to go back to the Mirage to lay down for a bit! We did manage to snap a photo of the boys on our walk outdoors, too. You can see that to the left. That's Jason, Tito, and Matt.

Now Jason and I haven't spent all that much time with Lisa and Tito. I met Lisa when I was in grad school and she helped me get set up to teach Spanish (at Grace's request). But I've only ever met Tito at a couple parties. Our major commonality (other than the fact that Lisa and I both love Grace to pieces and have taught foreign language) is that they are adopting a baby girl from China through CCAI. We are so excited for them. I wish we'd been able to travel overseas together, but it's still a cool thing to have in common. And they are just really neat people. Lisa is Persian and Tito is Spanish. They speak Spanish and English in their home. And they will be introducing Chinese culture into the mix soon. Their daughter will be multi-lingual, which I think is just so incredible. Anyway, they are just really easy people to be around-- and it was nice to spend the time with them.

So Matt and Jason have been to Vegas quite a number of times without me and Grace to see UFC fights. Every time they go, they have dinner at Mona Mi Gabi, a restaurant in the Paris hotel. They always, always get the hanger steak. And this time they invited the rest of us to join them at "their" restuarant. (This is a picture of the two of them. ) The food was excellent. I had filet mignon, and the bread was delicious. And the wine was great. If you know Matt, you know that he is the guy to take with you when you want to drink good wine. He has impeccable taste.

Here is a picture of each of us couples at dinner:

Me and Jason

Matt and Grace

Lisa and Tito

After dinner, we headed back to the Mirage to see the newest Cirque show-- Love, which is sort of a tribute to the Beatles. It was beautiful. It wasn't all acrobatic like I thought it would be, but there was a lot of stunning choreography. I was exhausted after the show, and we went to bed around 12:30am. As it turned out, my dad was going to be arriving in Vegas that Friday night/Saturday morning around 10pm and would get to his hotel around midnight. It was a total coincidence, which I didn't even discover except that my mom called me on Friday during the day and told me I should call him if I want because he might be in Vegas, too. (My dad is a pilot and one of his routes is through Vegas, which he does relatively frequently.)

It took a tiny bit of cajoling, but I convinced my dad to meet the gang for brunch at the Four Seasons on Saturday morning. Jason and I met up with him a bit earlier so we could chit chat. Then we went over to the Four Seasons. Now this is not a cheap brunch, but it. is. amazing. I love getting the weekend brunch there. They have a guy who makes donuts on the spot! Anyway, I don't get to see my dad as often as I'd like (he used to do San Diego overnights so we'd see him once a month, but now Las Vegas is the closest he gets). We had a lovely brunch conversation, and I know my dad was glad he came to join us.


Before Jason and I headed off to the airport, I insisted we take some photos of me and my dad. When I was a kid, we used to do this thing-- which is probably really dumb, but I loved it as a kid. We would pick a funny face to make and then we call out to my mom (or whoever was nearby), "HEY! Don't we look alike?!?" And then we'd make the silly face. So I say to my dad, "Hey let's do a 'don't we look alike face' for the camera." And he says, "Ok. Stick out your tongue and look to the left. Ready?" And then Jason shot the photo. But my dad played a trick on me! Here's how the picture came out:


But it was too funny for me to be at all mad at him! After that we had to say our goodbyes, and Jason and I took a cab to the airport, my dad walked to his hotel, and the other two couples headed off to a movie (they were taking a later flight home). I wrote in my last post about how we talked about our children all. weekend. long. We missed them. But it was the perfect time to be away for the first time.

And since I got consecutive and uninterrupted hours of sleep while in Vegas, you can imagine how very grumpy I was that both the kids insisted on sleeping WITH us last night or crying. Marcie was up no fewer than FOUR TIMES. Every time I'd put her back in her own bed, she'd wake up again. And Casey tried to come to bed with us once (I walked him back to his own bed and laid with him for a while because Marcie was already in our bed at that point, and four bodies in our queen-sized bed is just too many bodies!). I am so glad we don't do the family bed thing-- but this was a little ridiculous. If we have a repeat performance tonight, I may have to resort to shutting off my baby monitor and putting a pillow over my head for 20 minutes at a time. I have no idea where our kids got the idea that we wanted them to join us in our bed; it's certainly not our usual routine. And not much makes me crankier than lack of sleep (though lack of food comes in a pretty close second!). Don't get me wrong-- I still love them to pieces. Just in their own beds.

Our First Big Outing Without the Kiddos

Despite our less than successful trip to the local Brigantine restaurant last week, we headed out to Las Vegas this weekend-- sans kids. I planned the trip a while ago. I wrote about it cheerily on this blog (I realize I could refer you to this post, but I'm too lazy to look through my own archives, and I certainly don't expect you to). We spent our time with two couples-- one of which is adopting a baby girl from China through the CCAI, our agency. Their Log-In-Date was less than 6 months after ours, and they have already passed their one-year-0f-waiting mark and are looking forward to another 6 months or so of waiting.

We had a terrific time with both couples-- and I'll post more about the trip (complete with photos) later, but I'm tired now and I just wanted to let you know how Casey and Marcie did without us.

We left town late on Thursday night (our flight was around 9pm) and returned this afternoon, just in time to pick up the kids after their afternoon nap. We called Friday evening, just around dinner time to check in with the kids. Here is how our conversation went:

Me: Hi Marcie. Are you being a good girl for Grandma? Mommy and Daddy miss you so much, but we'll be home tomorrow.

Marcie: UH. (that's a grunt of some kind.) Followed by a bunch of static that was probably Marcie chewing on the phone receiver.

Jason: Sweetheart, are you still there? Daddy and Mommy love you!

Marcie: Uh. (another grunt.) Followed by a series of beeps in our ear that told us Marcie had hit the re-dial button.

Grandma: Want me to get Casey for you? He just finished taking a shower.

Jason: That'd be great.

In the background: Caaaaaaa-seeeey. Mommy and Daddy are on the phone for you. She said something in Cantonese that I didn't understand, but I'm sure Casey did-- and I'm pretty sure it was to come talk to me on the phone. Then: Casey, come say hi to your Mommy and Daddy.

Casey (still in the background): No. Don't want Mommy and Daddy.

Grandma (still in the background): Come on Casey. Your Mommy and Daddy want to talk to you.

Casey (still in the background): No. No no no no. (And then we could hear him running around.)

Us: It's okay. Sounds like he's having fun. We'll just talk to him tomorrow.

So they didn't really miss us. Which is actually kind of a relief. Marcie clung to Grandma like super glue most of the time we were away, but she felt safe and that's what matters most. And they were super-excited to see us when we rang the doorbell to pick them up. We could hear Casey yelling, "Mommy and Daddy are here! Grandma and Grandpa! It's Mommy and Daddy!" It's always nice to feel loved.

It was a good length of time for us to be gone and alone. We haven't actually been on any dates (other than that one last week) at night because we've been so militant about keeping the kids on our bedtime routine. So it was nice to spend some time, just the two of us. Of course, we talked about the kids the whole time we were gone. But it was still nice.

And yes. We know how lucky we are to have Jason's parents nearby, responsible, and willing (and actually wanting) to watch our kids.

I'll post some blog-appropriate Vegas photos soon. And Mom, if you're reading this-- you can look forward to one of me and Dad (who happened to be in Vegas this morning for work and we talked him into joining us for brunch).