This is Bella's current obesession. She converses quite effectively when we are really interacting, but sitting in her carseat or before going to sleep or just toddling around the house she babbles a lot, seeming to work things out for herself. Currently she seems to be working on gender. She repeats the words: "Daddy... Man... Daddy...Man" over and over. Sometimes she talks about Mama being a woman, too, and about other people but mostly it is Daddy. (Actually she was saying "Mama... Man" for awhile yesterday and we went back and forth about this for awhile! I think "man" is just a lot easier to say than "woman"--at least I hope that's it!)
I'm working on introducing the concept of "grownup," so I don't automatically attach a gender to everyone--and heck, with some of our magazines it is pretty much impossible to say for sure! We already are using "kid" and "baby."
Monday, December 12, 2005
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Halloween!
Okay, finally getting around to posting Halloween photos. I was happy to find this puppy costume for Isabella, since she likes doggies sooooo much. This picture is from the day before Halloween in Capitola, where they hold an annual costume parade down to the beach. I took several pictures of Bella running around on the beach--where I'm pretty sure dogs are not allowed!
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At the parade we ran into Bella's friend Liang, who is also adopted from China and is 2 days older. She was a lobster. Still, despite the species conflict, they seemed to get along very well for 20 month olds.
Click on either of the photo for LOTS more costume pictures and more photos with Liang.
-Andrea
With Natalie (and parents)
Bella and Natalie had a playdate a few weeks back--and the parents got to play, too! We all had fun sliding, eating strawberries, and petting a pekinese in a little red wagon at a local park. Afterwards Natalie, Dana and Lester came over for dinner and a food fight (just kidding! it only seemed like that, but not for long with our lab mix around)
Natalie and Bella also had fun playing at the Accept picnic back in September. They found the best toy--a box!
Bella and Natalie are from the same county: Tonggu, Jiangxi Province, China.
Click on the picture for a link to LOTS more pictures of the two girls playing--and a few of the parents as well!
Natalie and Bella also had fun playing at the Accept picnic back in September. They found the best toy--a box!
Bella and Natalie are from the same county: Tonggu, Jiangxi Province, China.
Click on the picture for a link to LOTS more pictures of the two girls playing--and a few of the parents as well!
In Mama's sailor suit!
This sailor suit belonged to me when I was a baby! I'm completely amazed my Aunt Jan kept it all these years--Thanks Aunt Jan! Click on the photo for more cute shots of Bella in this sailor suit.
Monday, October 31, 2005
Peekaboo with Daddy
The title pretty much sums it up. Bella had so much fun playing peekaboo behind the chair at Grandma Lorrie and Grandpa Ron's house.
Click on the photo for more pictures of the peekaboo game
Click on the photo for more pictures of the peekaboo game
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Talking and more Talking!
Bella is talking so much now! We lost track of how many words she knows sometime in September, at over 50. She has started speaking many of her signs as well. (I mean besides MORE, which she's been both signing and saying since May!) Some favorites are airplane, stars, bubbles, arm, knee, Uh-oh, bye-bye, up and eye.
Some words are a little hard to understand, at least without context. The dogs, known to us as Zima and Iris, are called Mimi and Aiiii (eye). And her good friends Ch'aska (age 6 1/2) and Callum (4 1/2) are Dada and Mum! (hmm, I thought that was us?).
Our current favorite, though (and the reason I chose this photo to illustrate the blog) is her word for Hug, which sounds just like Oak! She likes this word so much now that she is forever going around asking for an Oak! So cute we have a hard time not laughing. We have even tossed around the idea of faking her out and pretending that really is the way to pronounce it, so that she won't change, but figured that would mark us as "bad parents," so we won't (probably).
Some words are a little hard to understand, at least without context. The dogs, known to us as Zima and Iris, are called Mimi and Aiiii (eye). And her good friends Ch'aska (age 6 1/2) and Callum (4 1/2) are Dada and Mum! (hmm, I thought that was us?).
Our current favorite, though (and the reason I chose this photo to illustrate the blog) is her word for Hug, which sounds just like Oak! She likes this word so much now that she is forever going around asking for an Oak! So cute we have a hard time not laughing. We have even tossed around the idea of faking her out and pretending that really is the way to pronounce it, so that she won't change, but figured that would mark us as "bad parents," so we won't (probably).
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Vacation at Silver Lake
Okay, very far behind in blogging. I put up this bunch of pictures, though, from our vacation (in early August!) to Silver Lake, by Carson Pass and Kirkwood, in the Sierra. Click on the picture at right to see more.
Isabella had sooo much fun on this vacation! We had a housekeeping cabin right by the lake, and Jeff's parents and brother had another a few hundred meters away. So the day consisted of walking over to Grandma's and eating, then walking home and changing and going to the beach and playing in the water, then changing again and walking back to Grandma's and eating, then a hike or maybe more beach, and then walking back (she was having great fun practicing walking at this point, since it had only been about 2 or 3 weeks) for an extended eating period in the evening, and then early bed. And parents focused just on her, with no pesky phones or computers. And lots of birds and squirrels to watch. The only thing missing was her doggies, but otherwise this was heaven!
We really had a good time too! Jeff's family first rented one of these cabins 42 years ago (see photo in the album by clicking on the picture above) and have come most years since then. This year was pretty different from previous years--not nearly as much hiking or long paddles, but we got some very nice hikes in and had so much fun watching Bella having fun! And the sunsets were beautiful, and there was a really cool sun dog that we had to take lots of pictures of as well. Click on the photo to see all of the above and more.
-Andrea
Isabella had sooo much fun on this vacation! We had a housekeeping cabin right by the lake, and Jeff's parents and brother had another a few hundred meters away. So the day consisted of walking over to Grandma's and eating, then walking home and changing and going to the beach and playing in the water, then changing again and walking back to Grandma's and eating, then a hike or maybe more beach, and then walking back (she was having great fun practicing walking at this point, since it had only been about 2 or 3 weeks) for an extended eating period in the evening, and then early bed. And parents focused just on her, with no pesky phones or computers. And lots of birds and squirrels to watch. The only thing missing was her doggies, but otherwise this was heaven!
We really had a good time too! Jeff's family first rented one of these cabins 42 years ago (see photo in the album by clicking on the picture above) and have come most years since then. This year was pretty different from previous years--not nearly as much hiking or long paddles, but we got some very nice hikes in and had so much fun watching Bella having fun! And the sunsets were beautiful, and there was a really cool sun dog that we had to take lots of pictures of as well. Click on the photo to see all of the above and more.
-Andrea
Monday, August 22, 2005
Red Egg and Ginger Party!
A Red Egg and Ginger party is held to celebrate a child’s turning 100 days old. Since Bella’s 100 days with us corresponds with her 18 month “birthday,” we thought it was a good time for a party!
Saturday, August 27th, 3pm to 8pm
Potluck—bring whatever you like! (Bella says to bring fruit!) (and you know there will be wine)
Bring wishes for Isabella for her scrapbook – there will be paper to write them on here, or you can use your own.
Bring kids—Bella loves older kids! (and of course younger ones are also welcome)
Need directions? Other questions? Email or call us.
Can’t make it, but want to meet her? Give us a call!
Best wishes, love and hugs to all of you, and we hope to see you there!
Andrea, Jeff and Isabella Youlan the MaoMaoChong
Red Egg and Ginger links:
http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa012303a.htm
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring99/wong/wong1.html
Saturday, August 27th, 3pm to 8pm
Potluck—bring whatever you like! (Bella says to bring fruit!) (and you know there will be wine)
Bring wishes for Isabella for her scrapbook – there will be paper to write them on here, or you can use your own.
Bring kids—Bella loves older kids! (and of course younger ones are also welcome)
Need directions? Other questions? Email or call us.
Can’t make it, but want to meet her? Give us a call!
Best wishes, love and hugs to all of you, and we hope to see you there!
Andrea, Jeff and Isabella Youlan the MaoMaoChong
Red Egg and Ginger links:
http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa012303a.htm
http://www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/spring99/wong/wong1.html
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Look at her Walking!
Okay, she really is walking now, as of July 22nd. She played "fetch for about half an hour! Jeff joked that since we'd learned our parenting skills with dogs, it made sense that she'd be learning to walk by playing fetch. (Actually she's better at it than the dogs. Zima, especially just wonders why anyone would do something so boring and call it a game.)
Oh, and the ball she's using was given to her by Janus Blume, and was on the altar to celebrate Solstice, so maybe it had some magic in it!
(click on the photo for more walking shots, including one great one where she seems to be invoking her superpowers--more magic!)
Oh, and the ball she's using was given to her by Janus Blume, and was on the altar to celebrate Solstice, so maybe it had some magic in it!
(click on the photo for more walking shots, including one great one where she seems to be invoking her superpowers--more magic!)
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
At the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival
The last weekend in June, we went up to Laytonville, California (150 miles north of San Francisco) to the Kate Wolf Memorial Music Festival. Isabella really seemed to have a great time! She just loves music, and notices when the music is winding down and starts to clap! Even before everyone else! Plus there were a lot of attentive campmates around to dote on her and especially to FEED her!
We weren't sure how to handle sleeping arrangements, and even considered renting an RV till we saw how much that would cost. We ended up putting all our stuff in the tent and sleeping in our station wagon, with us in the back and MaoMaoChong in a special nest of pillows in the passenger seat. Everyone slept well, but the first morning after Bella woke up she cried for about 20 minutes. We imagined her thinking: "Is this my new house? It seems awfully small. I liked the last one better!" She cheered up after that, though. The howling pictures from the photo album are taken in the car the second morning.
We weren't sure how to handle sleeping arrangements, and even considered renting an RV till we saw how much that would cost. We ended up putting all our stuff in the tent and sleeping in our station wagon, with us in the back and MaoMaoChong in a special nest of pillows in the passenger seat. Everyone slept well, but the first morning after Bella woke up she cried for about 20 minutes. We imagined her thinking: "Is this my new house? It seems awfully small. I liked the last one better!" She cheered up after that, though. The howling pictures from the photo album are taken in the car the second morning.
Monday, July 11, 2005
What a smile!
Okay, this was already in there in the present opening section of the "album," but oh my, what a smile she's got!
In her Bear Towel
On the other hand, maybe >this< is the cutest! She's just so adorable in her bear towel from Jenny and Mike and Alicia.
Just the cutest!
Okay, just blogging this because it is sooo cute! And you can tell she's really thinking as well. I think this was the second weekend home from China. She's gotten a lot bigger, I can see just from the face. And she's a LOT heavier, too!
Bella in "her" hat and glasses
She likes so much to imitate us, especially mama! Doesn't like to wear her own hats, though, and especially not the sunglasses.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Bella loves presents!
Bella has gotten quite a few presents since she returned. As usual at her age, she really loves to open the packages, and doesn't usually care as much about what is inside them. Mama and Daddy like the stuff inside, though!
Click on the photo for more present opening pictures. Most of these were from one big session of present opening where we had a camera ready. So many adorable moments don't get captured, but it's hard to play with her and photograph too!
Click on the photo for more present opening pictures. Most of these were from one big session of present opening where we had a camera ready. So many adorable moments don't get captured, but it's hard to play with her and photograph too!
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