The Three of Us

35

I've had a great birthday today.  I had a haircut this morning, which is always a treat.  I went out to an early lunch with one of my summer co-workers before teaching my afternoon class.  I stimulated the economy a bit on my way home.  Tonight M, Thanh, and I had a nice summer dinner.  Then they gave me my sweet gifts - a beach chair with books and magazines for our beach trip and tickets to an upcoming film festival.  M even started working on childcare so I don't have to worry about it.  Then we went to a little dessert place where I had chocolate cake and Thanh ate two ice creams.  And now, a little So You Thin*k You Can Dance.

 

Hives

Thanh has been breaking out in hives since Saturday.  Appointment today at 3:30.  Yikes.

Fourth of July Hangover

We went camping, Thanh napped, and then we went to a 4th of July party until 11pm.  What was the result?  A very cranky out-of-control 3-year-old.  Do I exaggerate?  No.  Some examples: hitting, stepping on M's face, throwing silverware, screaming, tearing a book... Yesterday was a pretty rough day.  Plus, M doesn't feel well so she was pretty much on the couch. 

To pass the time we went to the Farmer's Market and had a great time picking out fruits, vegetables, and a few flowers.  Thanh and I made zucchini bread, which included a lot of her sticking her hands in the dry ingredients and rubbing them all over her legs.  Yum.  Then we made home-made play-dough for the first time, which also didn't go well, most likely due to the consistency being off by Thanh once again powdering herself up.  In the evening I took her to Ta*rget.  I recognized the bathing suit her Grammy gave her and said, "That's the suit you have at school."  She replied, "L says it has germs."  "Oh," I said, "Should I take it home and wash it?"  "Yes," she said, with attitude, "A long time ago!"  So today I took her to school with two fresh suits.  So much for hygiene. 

Today was better.  We officially joined the pool, and Thanh swam for 3 and a half hours.  I plan to spend the whole week there.

Camping

We had a great camping adventure this week.  We went with our friends M and K and their kids D (age 8), A (age 6), and M (age 17 months.)   M and K are experienced campers, so we definately benefitted by camping with them.  We went to a park about an hour away.  We got there around lunchtime on Thursday, and all of the campsites were already taken.  Disappointed, we looked for other options.  We found a small campground nearby, that had a port-a-potty, cold shower with a wooden enclosure, and one faucet.  We took it!  We were expecting bathrooms with running water and warm showers.  The site was great though.  It was next to a creek, where the kids played and played and played.  It was fairly private and we had a lot of space to ourselves.  If I went back, I would choose that site over the nicer park site.  After we settled in on Thursday we went on a walk to a waterfall with water deep enough to swim in.  The kids had a great time swimming, collecting rocks, and climbing around.  It was my favorite part of the trip.  We came back to camp and made burritos and corn.  M and K had stoves, which was good since we had a fire pit but no grate to put pans on.  After dinner the kids had s'mores.  Thanh loved roasting marshmallows.  Everyone slept pretty well in the tents.  In the morning it was cold and D made us a fire.  We warmed our bagels over it and ate bananas and dry cereal.  Then we went tubing down a river.  This was a first for my family, and it was really fun.  I don't like cold water so I had to make myself sit in the cold river.  D swam along as our guide, quite sweetly, pushing us together when we drifted, pushing us away from the edge, and moving us away from rocks.  Tubing was my M's favorite part.  In the evening we had veggie burgers and hot dogs with baked beans.  We tried to go to a nearby lake, which was closed.  Instead the kids played in the creek happily and then had s'mores again.  On Saturday we packed up and hiked to two waterfalls.  We ate a picnic lunch in the parking lot and headed back.  It was a great trip with a lot of firsts for me and my family. 

Painting

Me:  I love this paint color!  It makes me so happy!  It is so warm and inviting!

M:  I like it.  I want to see what it looks like when we put everything back in the room.

Thanh:  I don't like orange!

Great Weekend

My bad mood ended and the weekend began.  Last night we hosted our adoption group.  We got out the kiddie pool and the sprinkler.  M bought and installed a net for the trampoline for safe jumping.  We brought out the karaoke machine.  The kids had a blast and so did we adults.  Two new families came who have young kids.  All the kids got along so well.

M has been working a lot of hours lately, including today from 6 am until 8 pm.  But Thanh and I had a great day.  In the morning we hung out here, playing catch on the trampoline, playing with the train set, and playing with the dollhouse.  It was beautiful out and we ate snack and lunch in the backyard.  Then we went to the pool with friends for a couple of hours.  Thanh was swimming and doing the back stroke.  It is so awesome to watch her swim.  Then we went to a picnic with our Families with Asian Children group.  It was a small turn-out but great to get to know some of the families more.  Thanh felt really comfortable, even though she didn't know the kids very well.  She even went to the playground with another family and conquered the jungle gym.  When M got home from work tonight we squeezed in a game of Hide-and-Seek at Thanh's request.

Tomorrow is my first day of not working after two weeks of science camp.  My goal: painting the dining room.  Tonight I took most of the furniture out and took off all of the outlet covers and curtain rods.  This will be our first paiting project since we became parents. 

Father's Day - Disfunctional Style

Sunday morning I turned on the computer and realized it was Father's Day. I hadn't bought or made cards for my dad or M's dad.  Typically I make cards.  I love to make cards, but that isn't why I go out of my way to make Father's Day cards.  Shopping for Father's Day cards makes me angry and bitter because the cards in the stores don't describe my dad.  I usually read the cards and start adding the word NOT to the sentiment.  Like this:  You have NOT always been there for me, You have NOT always been supportive and kind...  If I buy a card, I buy a blank card and write Happy Father's Day.  But there I was on Sunday with no cards.  I meant to call instead, but we were really busy, swimming and haning letters and such.  Suddenly it was Monday.  I went to T*arget to buy cards.  They had taken them away.  I guess everyone else had already bought their Father's Day cards.  I found one card mixed in with the others that had a "Have a relaxing day" message that I got for my dad.  I found an attractive blank card for M's dad.  I wrote in my dad's card and put it in the mail.  I left M's dad's card out for M to deal with.  Fast forward to yesterday when my mom sent an email including the question "Did you forget Father's Day?"  I have such a bad relationship with my dad, and my mom has a bad history of getting in the middle, that this email has greatly pissed me off.  Some replies (which I will not send.)

*The truth...

*Yes, blah blah blah.  But you know, I put a lot of time into throwing H's shower lately.  T asked me to come early for the wedding so I've rearranged my plans to do that for him.  When I came up for H's shower, we arranged our schedule for leaving around dad's schedule so he could spend time with Thanh.  I know I messed up, but I put a lot of effort into being a supportive member of this family, and pointing out my mistake makes me feel like crap.

*Yes, blah blah blah.  But wait, did Dad forget my wedding, or just choose to not come?  Did he forget the baby shower for Thanh?  Did he forget her name for a while, or was he just pretending she didn't exist?  Did he forget to be a supportive dad when I got into college, or did he mean to make that day really crappy for me?  Hmmm.

Obviously, I need some serious therapy.  But for now I'll just be really mad.

Swimming

We've decided to join one of the pools in our community.  A lot of families from my school and Thanh's school swim there, so it is a lot of fun.  Thanh is so into swimming right now.  M has been swimming with her all year, but sees a huge improvement in the past 2 weeks.  We've been to the pool 4 times in the past 5 days.  Tonight Thanh (next to M) was swimming the length of the deep end back and forth.  Sometimes she would pause and hold on to M, but then she would swim again.  She is so determined.  I love watching her jump off the diving board.  She is fierce.

Christmas in June

We've been having fun playing with the toys I took out of storage.  Some are hand-me-downs, like the skates and legos, and some are baby shower gifts that we hadn't gotten out yet.

 

 

For Christmas I made Thanh a set of letters that spell DREAM.  CV made Thanh a set of letters that spell her (first) name.  A co-worker drew my name in our homemade gift exchange, and made a beautiful mirror with photos from our trip to VN and first weeks home, plus snippets from the emails I wrote from VN.  All 3 gifts have been sitting there for over 6 months.  Today we hung them.  (We means M hung them while I handed her things.) 

 

 

(One of the letters CV made.)

Nothing says Christmas in June though, like the flannel pajamas Thanh wore to the party yesterday.  Look at the miserable determination on this face.

 

Flannel PJs in June

Today we went to a party for Thanh's school friend E.  It was an outdoor party, and it is really hot here, but Thanh insisted on wearing flannel pajamas.  This is the same kid who couldn't stand long sleeves in winter.  M and I both went to the party.  We feel like we're really getting to know the other parents, and it is fun to spend time with everyone.  Most of the kids have been together since they were in the infant room, so most folks know each other pretty well.  E's parents really know how to plan a party.  They served pizza but also vegetables with dip and fresh fruit.  Then E's dad had a scavenger hunt game.  Instead of written clues he had pictures of places in the yard.  E had to recognize the picture and lead her friends to the place.  At each place there was a prize for each kid.  So fun!  He also had a parachute and did parachute games.  We had such a good time that we're thinking about having a summer cookout for all of the families. 

While Thanh is sleeping I'm working on a toy rotation.  Fun, but hard work.  I've made 2 bags of toys to go to my mom's house and stay there.  I threw some broken things out and put some things in bags to give away or put in the attic.  I got out some hand-me-downs that Thanh hasn't played with yet, including legos for her age (instead of the duplo ones she's been playing with), roller skates (!), opposite games (she's really into that), and toy computers.