Mortimer's Mom

Partying with a 5 and 6 y.o. is EXHAUSTING!

just for the record, that booby picture of me is from last year's party, when she was 4. This is what a 5 year old looks like with a princess-pink-castle cake, decorated as the guests were walking in the house! (mommy was VERY last minute this year)

The Friday night supper/party was strictly grand-parents for dinner, along with cousins for cake afterward. The one exception was Dumpling's friend Cara-Li, who is Journey To Mei-Mei's oldest daughter. They are from the same orphanage, born almost exactly 1 year apart, and by coincidence, living in a neighborhood just a few street over from ours. Susan was the first person to come see me in person when we were waiting for our referral and lent me her travel books when we finally went.

We tried having the girls play together when they were smaller, but Dumpling's French used to keep them from having a good time. This year, things started changing and after a few family get-togethers and an attempt at Mandarin classes, the girls seem really taken with each other. So Cara-Li was Dumpling's one friend at the house on Friday night, and though she was quite excited to play with her older cousins, she really only wanted to talk about Cara-Li afterward.

And the next day, she went to Cara-Li's own birthday party at the build-a-bear place in the old part of town. She had a ball! I think she liked it even better than her own carnival/Purim-themed birthday party at school. Mostly though, she was so happy to see her 2 days in a row. 

She made a pink bear (shocker!) and somehow conned me into making Gigi the Giraffe for BB. And then, she further conned me into buying one outfit per bear/giraffe, and a pair of shoes. I balked at the 20$ shoes, but relented on the ice-skates, because I knew I could never make bear ice-skates. But I have since made diapers, shoes (pink satin and brown fur!) and have a request to make them silk pajamas. If you want a license to print money, open a franchise of that place! The people who go there are GAGA over the concept. And most don't even have kids! Just couples, women..... apparently, Japanese women think nothing of dropping 200$ on bear clothes and accessories!

I'm happy to report that bday-related events are now OVER. She is attending 3 or 4 other parties in the next 2 weeks, but thankfully I don't have to attend any of them. Because I'm tired. It's very very tiring hanging out with 5 and 6 year olds!

Icing and wrapping overload

Sometime between bedtime tonight and waking up tomorrow morning, my tiny little Dumpling will turn 5. We held a party for her at school today after class. The obscene amounts of presents she came home with it totally embarrassing. That's the big drawback of inviting all 22 classmates. She has selected a few to go into the Give-A-Gift box at school, which will be distributed to needy children.

Yesterday she got to go to a movie with the amazing M. Just like a big girl. And tonight, after going to dinner and *eating everything on her plate*, we stopped at a gas station and bought her some gum. Because mommy, long long ago, picked 5 as the age you were allowed to chew gum. And so tonight, I relented and in fact did not make her wait til tomorrow. In solidarity, I chewed with her. Purple grape flavored juicy fruit...... just like chewing essence of grape cough syrup! (I am not a gum chewer, and I seriously hope she gets over this)

Tomorrow, her actual bday, there will be a grandparents' dinner, followed by a princess-themed cake at home with some people close and dear to us. And to prepare for the tiny-non-party, after going to school dressed like a bride for a Purim party, Daddy is taking her to his hairdresser to get a trim and maybe even have her hair "done".

In the meantime, here are her past birthdays, for the sake of the virtual archive.

(sorry to subject you to the boobalicious pic of me again, it's the only webready pic from that party!)

Mother's Guilt

When the kids come home with a cold and then pass it on to hubs (or me), we don't blame them, it's what happens with little kids....

But when Mommy gets a big bad cold because she listened to Daddy and didn't wear a warm coat, and then passes it on to the kiddos.... Oy! The Guilt! Dumpling was coughing a bit last night. I thought it was for attention... But this  morning, she was burning hot. So I didn't send her to school, and because I had to conduct more interviews, instead she is being pampered and coddled by her grandmother.

BB seems to be safe from the germs for now, but who knows.... I guess once it's in the house, it's pretty much a done deal that everyone is going to get it.

To try to make up for making her sick, I printed up Dumpling's 5th Birthday party invites.... 5! Can you believe it??? The invites turned out pretty well, especially since they were free!

Upside-down world

Things are amiss around here.... In the last 8 months, we have rarely taken Dumpling to the restaurant. She is a much better eater now, and she eats lunch at school everyday without a fuss, but restaurants were always the last frontier. She simply couldn't behave in a restaurant. I can handle a fussy but eating child, or a calm, non-eating child, but in public, a tantrumy 4 year old who doesn't eat just doesn't fly with me. So except for the Disney trip, during which restaurants were mandatory, we have avoided restaurants meals with Dumpling. We do regularly go with BB, on nights when Dumpling is being spoiled by her grandparents.

Last night, however, was the first night that BB was going to have her own turn at dinner with the Grands at their house, so after her gym class, Hubs and I took Dumpling to a local Italian bistro that does spectacular pasta and is totally casual and no-fuss.  It was great. She was a tad high-strung, but we had discussed for many days how we expected her to either be "nice" or eat nicely. The first thing that went well was the waiter, who hadn't been there on previous visits with BB, so he was smitten with her and brought her a special mango/peach Italian juice on the house. She batted her eyelashes at him and that set everything off on the right note! He even offered to make her a half-portion, something that has never been offered to BB (though truth be told, BB can handle the whole plate!) There was only minimal coaxing during the meal, and she was rewarded with a brownie as dessert. We made a huge deal about how much we enjoyed ourselves, how fantastic it was to go to the restaurant and not argue and we asked her if she enjoyed eating out when Mommy and Daddy were so happy and relaxed, which of course, she did.

On the flip side of this little moment of bliss, BB hasn't been sleeping at the country house. At first, I thought it was a fluke, a one time thing. But it's been 3 weeks, and it's exhausting. This past weekend, she was up so late on the 2nd night (in the past, it's been a one night thing, making her so tired that the 2nd night was a non-issue) that we had to keep her from going skiing on Sunday because she was hell-on-wheels the minute she woke up from her way-too-short night. And this week, she's been acting weird. She was UBER excited for her first all-by-myself date at her grandparents' house, but today, she didn't want to go to school, then when Hubs coxed her to go, she didn't want to take off her gym clothes to reveal her beach outfit (it was Beach Party day), apparently threw fits whenever the teacher tried to leave the room and finally made a big fuss about doing her "talking class" when the speech therapist showed up this afternoon, an activity she usually loves.

So I am thrilled that Dumpling is making fabulous progress, because being able to go to a restaurant would go a LONG way in making me feel less house-bound, but I am not too thrilled about the reversal of fortune that has hit BB..... let's hope is a short phase.

The Disney line I will NOT cross

I have no problem with the Disney Princesses. Yes, the movies are cheesy, the old ones are full of terrible stereotypes, but in the end, I have no problem with them. Dumpling's first obsessions were Cinderella and Snow White, old school. How many times did we play "eat the bad apple"? And when she used to watch Cinderella in French, there is one scene where the mice are helping her sew the gown and pull and tug, in French, they say " Ho hisse" (heeve ho). She would wait for that one scene, and after that, she was done, she didn't care about the prince or the ball, she just wanted to hear the mice say Ho Hisse!

I'll take Mulan over The Wiggles any day, and as much as I enjoyed the Dora phase, Ratatouille and Toy Story are much more enjoyable on a long car ride, to me anyways. In an ideal world, we wouldn't be watching anything, but actually, I don't believe that. I think it's OK for my kids to watch some TV and some movies, provided they have been screened by my first. Theses days, the heavy rotation is Charlie and Lola, Bo on the Go, Backyardigans and Curious George.

I do try very hard not to let "branded products" permeate our lives. We have princess underwear and we have pretty much every Dora board game ever made, but like AmFam, I balk at Princess Cereal.

Lately, I have been fighting another battle. Keeping High School Musical I/II from entering my house. That's right. She's not 5 yet, and somehow, the tweenster phenomena has infiltrated the pre-K class. At the beginning of the school year, the little girl in our car pool would talk endlessly about HSM. Dumpling had no clue what she was talking about, and I would quickly turn the conversation over to something they both knew. I thought it was just the one girl. I quickly found out how wrong I was..... I figured out how 4 year olds came to even watch HSM: older siblings. The particular kid in our car pool is actually the oldest in her house.... which is weird. But the other girls who are very into HSM have an 8 or 9 year old sister. I personally thought HSM was more for the tweenster/teenager crowd, but in speaking to my 14 and 16 year old nieces, I was quickly informed that they would NEVER watch such a kiddy movie, and that in fact, 8-10 year olds were the target audience.

With families around here averaging 4 kids, it's understandable that the younger siblings would end up watching with the older ones. The kid in our carpool saw it with her cousins while staying at her grandparent's house. But here is the thing. The mother then bought it for her. For her then 4 1/2 year old. Who is now completely versed in the entire thing. She can rattle off every word to every song. I know. Because she turned 5 yesterday and had a party at school and someone gave her the CD. And this morning, when she got into the car, she asked to listen to it. I was curious to see if my instincts were right on this one, so without showing Dumpling WHAT I was putting in, I told her we would listen to her little friends music, just this once.

First of all, the idiot-savant of HSM proceeded to introduce every song with "this is the song with the pretty girl and the other girl, and the main boy" or "in this song, the girls and boys hold hands" and finally "this song has only boys. it's stupid. I like the songs with the boys AND girls".... The music is sooooo sugary-pop, and clearly, there are no objectionable lyrics or anything.... but  it's a movie about TEENAGERS in HIGH-SCHOOL. My kid is in PRE-K!

When we got to school, I gave the kid her CD back and thanked her for bringing it, but that from no-on, we would keep listening to the music her mommy and I had agreed on at the beginning of the year (Dan Zanes, Wiggles, non-children's stuff). But I know for a fact that when the mommy picks them up, she is going to put it on. And it bugs the crap out of me. Because this is one Disney line am I not going to cross, not in pre-K.

Visit with the Chinese Cousins

This afternoon, we had our almost-annual visit with Dumpling's travel group. Usually, it's in the summer, but with 3 families having new little ones, somehow, it never happened.

The person organizing it ad decided it would be a halloween costume party, since it was only a week after. Dumpling was very excited for yet another excuse to leave the house in all her princess-grandness. Imagine her surprise when every single other girl there, save for one, was also a princess. All total, 10 girls. 1 hippie, 1 Fairie (BB) and 8 princesses, in all manners of fancy dress. In a wooden pirate ship, walking the plank. I wish I couldl show you pictures, but I have to see if I can find a way to not show you the other kids first....

So it was interesting to watch the interaction. Dumpling didn't seem to remember the girls, but was veyr happy to play with so many little girls just like her: Princesses AND Chinese! She did recognize her buddy Pebbles Flinstone and seemed a little protective of BamBam. There is a definate closeness there, they have their own way of playing. What's interesting is that with every visit, it takes Dumpling and Pebbles less and less time to warm up to each other. It used to take about 20 min. Now, about 5/6 min after getting there, they were holding hands and running around like best buds. Which is great, because we last saw them about 2 months ago.

The floors, by the way, are fixed and look great. The furniture will be back soon and I'll show you some pictures. Or maybe I'll make you wait til I do the trim-paint and the wallpaper in the living room....

thank goodness for Disney movies

Today, Dumpling had an EEG. That's the wires on the head brain scan thing. Don't worry, she's fine. It's part of the test the adoption clinic is running to help us deal with some of the ongoing behaviour issues. Just making sure there is nothing physical going on (turns out she's anemic, so she needs iron boosters, just like me!)

Anyhow, the test was ordered after we met with the doctor, and we weren't sure if it was and EEG or an EKG, so up until yesterday, we weren't sure. Once I spoke to the technician and found out it took one hour, involved more than 30 leads on her head, and, this is the kicker, she had to be still for 30 minutes. Yeah, right!

So I needed to talk to her about it BEFORE,...... I didn't want to scare her or freak her out. I couldn't think of anything that she would understand or could relate to. And then, I had an idea. I told her it would be like something out of Monsters Inc., and the doctor would take pictures of her head, to see how smart she is. And she'd have lots of wires coming out of her head like the snakes on the girl monster. She LOVED that idea.

Once we got there, we needed her to stay still to put the leads on her head. That wasn't too bad. The tech was sweet and fast and there were posters on the wall to look at (she was quite curious about Bambi, which she hasn't seen yet). The laying down for 30 min though, that was worrying me. She had brought her blanky, so I suggested she play Sleeping Beauty. Not only did she love that (imagine, a Sleeping Beauty Monster, she was in heaven!), but a combination of the hypnotic music and a kleenex on her eyes to get her to keep them closed and she was out for the count in less than 3 minutes! Just like that, asleep! It was hilarious 25 min later when we had to wake her up to do a part with a strobe light. She was so out of it, she'd give Lindsay Lohan a run for her money!

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In Beach Ball news, we had a visit from the social worker last night after dinner to write up our 6 month progress report. Yes, it's a month early, but at least it's done. I wasn't too thrilled about having her over after dinner, which is not usually a good hour around here. But met outside in the yard and let the kids play in the Bouncy-thing and in the sand box. Not a disagreement or a tear until about 5 min before she left. They were so well behaved, it was astonishing! And they stayed up late, so they both slept in til 7:30 this morning. Bonus!

3 years

May 31st. 2004 & 2007

You can't tell from the China pictures, but I'm wearing the same dress tonight that I wore when they handed her to me. As long as I can fit in it, I plan on taking that picture every year on this anniversary.

4

this would be Dumpling at school this morning, enjoying a morning snack of cupcakes. I didn't make them, thanks to the school rules about kosher, non-dairy, peanut-free, certified food, I was absolved of the cupcake baking.

Here is a shot of tonights table. The grandparents came for dinner, but the cousins and aunts/uncles came over for dessert only. There were 2 cakes. The horse carrousel one is a mold, I just iced the horses. The circus tent was my doing. I will have all the details tomorrow, with step-by-step pics. It was actually pretty easy, just took a lot of leveling and smoothing.  The fruit kebabs were fun, with cookie cutters and bamboo sticks. I have a second set of them for tomorrow, along with a Cinderella cake, photos of which I haven't taken yet.

Finally, for your viewing pleasures, the sisters, after waaaayyyyyy too much sugar:

the last day of 3

Dumpling was three today for the last time. Tomorrow, she's 4. I can't believe it. I really, really can't wrap my head around it. She's so grown-up in so many ways.... She tries to help Beach Ball, she carries on interesting conversations, she's almost tall enough to reach the light switches by herself..... when did this happen?

I promise you lots of pictures tomorrow, but tonight I am too tired. I baked 3 cakes today (one family party, one kids party) and then decorated them. Let's just say I should not be allowed to watch Ace of Cakes anymore, it gives me a false sense of what can be done!

Snow Days

on Friday, we finally got a real snowfall. 30 cm (12 inches for you non-metric people). They called a snow day at Dumpling's school. It wasn't really necessary, I mean, people here drive in snow all the time, but since the non-jewish schools are mostly all on winter break this coming week, I guess they were starting a day early! (we had the jewish winter break already 2 weeks ago.)

I'm still very energyless from the B-12 and Iron deficiency, but I got my butt of the couch a couple of times and took the girls to play outside in the snow. We had a great time.

 

and yes, eagle-eyed readers, my husband was outside in doggy-print pajama pants and an Elmer Fudd hat......

I can't hear you from INSIDE the TV

Dumpling watched mommy on TV today. It was quite traumatic. When Dora asks her which to go, Dumpling answers, and Dora tells her she's right and on they go. On the rare occasion when she watches Blue's Clues and Joe asks her if she sees a clue, she screams at the TV, joe finds the clue and they move on.

But today, when she saw mommy on tv (at grandma's house) and she started talking to mommy, she got totally despondent when mommy didn't answer back, didn't say hi, didn't look at her. My mom told me she just completely lost it. I even watched it with her twice later on and she still couldn't quite comprehend that I could be here and in there at the same time......  (link here, but the episode wasn't up as of this posting)

Also, it's done:

it's the same height as the door frame! That is one massive magnetic blackboard!

year in review

I could write a whole long post about it, or I just just steal Deanna's idea and give you this:

http://mortimersmom.blogs.com/photos/year_in_review/

It's not as crafty or musical as Deanna's, but hey, I'm on vacation and I'm resting.

PS: I have taken a nap every day for a week..... the amazing restorative powers of napping.... Too bad Dumpling is most definately outgrowing the afternoon nap... we'll be lucky if she lasts through the next month!

Dumpling's Winter Fun

Nose Bead

it's still all fun in the snow up here. Dumpling went to her first official ski-school lesson today and proceeded to cry for the first 30 minutes. She did not want to go with the bunny/instructor. Last year, she cried for about 3 minutes and then forgot all about it after he took her On the magic carpet up the kiddy run. But this year, she has words. And she knows how to tell anyone within ear shot that:

a) she does not want a PuPLE bunny!
b) she does not want to share the bunny!
c) she does not want mommy to leave!!!!!!
d) she wants only a PIIINNNNK bunny!

I did what every stellar parent does, I spoke to her for about two minutes, reassured her everything was going to be OK and then, I walked away, sat inside the chalet and had a hot cocoa. And called my husband to tell him I felt like to worst mother in the world. But having been that pink bunny myself for a good 10 years (probably more, the years are fuzzy, no pun intended), I know that parents hovering is actually the WORST thing for the kids. That the instructors need to take over and distract, comfort, and be in charge. But as the parent, especially of an adopted child with trust and bonding issues, it was very hard to walk away. Of course, at the end of  the lesson, she was very excited to tell me how much fun she had and how nice the bunny was and that the bunny was going to try very hard to be pink tomorrow....

And just to show you that my parental instincts are completely off, i did notice two days ago that Dumpling seemed a bit congested. But she wasn't sniffling, just didn't seem to be breathing quite right. So after her nap that afternoon, I decided that we would have a big nose-blowing session. At first, one nostril was quite clear while absolutely nothing was coming out of the other one. Nothing. Not a tiny bit of air... I got a bit concerned. So I made sure I blocked the other one well and got her to blow again... and out popped..... a bead.   From a necklace set that I threw away in the city days ago, because I thought the beads were too small and I am trying to re-baby proof the house with the impeding arrival of Sprout. But obviously, Dumpling somehow got her hands on one of the wayward beads and.... well... how or when it ended up her nose I have no earthly idea! She didn't complain, and I did notice the breathing thing so I'm guessing it wasn't in there more than that particular morning, but how the bead made it to the country house and up her nose...... At least I noticed and I got it out!

just a tad high

let me just start by saying that Dumpling's sugar high tonight was the 3-year-old's equivalent to a Lindsay Lohan night at Hyde in LA...... the funny thing is, she was mostly high on happiness and excitement, even BEFORE we let her start eating the stuff!!!!!

She REALLY got into it this year.... even needing a costume change. First she went out to trick or treat in a Witch outfit made by her grandmother - notice the face painting, she did that all by herself.

she had a ball walking from house to house. About 10 houses into it, she started a refrain that kept up the entire night. After we left EVERY SINGLE house, she would jump up and down and say: Let`s get more candy mommy! MMOOORRREEE Candy!!!!  Also, by the second street, she woud say: "I like BIG houses mommy, they better!"

Once the plastic pumpkin was filled several times over (grandma was cleverly following with a plastic bag and emptying the pumpkin to keep it from getting heavy, we headed back home for the second part of the evening, where Dumpling gave away candy at the door, dressed in my own creation:

yes, she is Boo in the monster costume, from Monster`s Inc.

and i am not drinking wine and eating mini chocolate bars, no, not from her stash... I kept one bag and didn`t out!

the hora gogo dancer

we have just ended a 3-day Bat Mitzvah extravaganza for my husband's niece and I have a few conclusions:

• 3 formal meals with my in-laws is a lot, but you know what? It wasn't that bad.... actually, I sort of had fun... (I know, color me SHOCKED!)
• Dumpling relishes in her 10 cousins' attention. Even the 6 year olds have a great time taking care of her and keeping an eye on her (yes, I left 3 6y.o. in charge of my 3 y.o..... flame me now! i was actually just the basement of a house, we were just a few feet away, but at least, I enjoyed some adult conversation.... )
• Although we signed her up for ballet this year and she has sort of enjoyed it, my daughter, she is a Hora dancer. She loves it! (we knew that the minute she came home, having taken her to a big wedding about 3 weeks after her arrival. We still watch that video all the time, she had such a ball!) But you know what she loves even more than a good Hora? Disco dancing on top of a big speaker at the front of the dance floor. With the hired gogo-dancers (PG-13 dancers for a bat mitzvah). She wouldn't leave the dance floor!

I have video, will attempt to upload tomorrow. Too tired to do anything else tonight, all that partying, I'm an old lady....

Dumpling suddenly has a lot to say

Raising a bilingual child means that you have to wait a little longer than most to hear sentences from you kids. They can communicate with words, but they don't really string along sentences until a bit later. Now imagine that this bilingual child didn't hear either of her languages until the age of 15 months and you really are in for a few delays.

From day one, Dumpling made herself quite understood, with signs, pointing, words, but we never got the gems that other got. (I have been jealous of Ping-isms for quite some time now!) Since going back to school in September though, there is no shutting up the Dumpling. She suddenly can talk for hours on end, usually about her all time favorite, Snow White, though Chichi-ella still makes an appearance now and again. But since last week, after we met the SW, I have been trying to have *REAL* conversations with her more often. Not just let her ramble on about her imaginary world, but try to keep her talking about real things.

The heartbreaking part about this is that whenever she has a tantrum and we calm her down and ask her why she is so upset about something (usually something totally silly that really doesn't warrant the reaction she had), she will say "I soooo sad Mommy" and if you press gently and ask her why she is so sad, she will inevitably say the same thing "I no know, but Dumpling very very saaaaddddd"...... now anyone who tells me this is normal 3 yo behaviour is out of their mind. This is 100% pure adoption grief, I am sure of it.

Some of the conversations are much happier though. We have had to put a hat on her to go outside in the last week, but all of the hats I knit last winter are too snug. So today she told me: "it's OK. Mommy make new one. Dumpling give petit ones to baby sister."  this was the first time ever that she strung Baby and Sister together. She's refereed to the Baby before, as in where is the baby, when is the baby coming, where is the baby going to sleep, but never My Baby Sister.... that just melted my heart. And the thoughtfulness that she was going to pass on her hats.... I just melted.

Also, I painted Sprout's room today (pics tomorrow, I hope). And she visited it quite often and asked "Why mommy paint room?" I explained. "You paint my room too?" no darling, I painted your room before you came from China, and now I'm painting this room before your sister comes from China. "Oh, mommy, you so nice. it's Beuuuuuuutiful!"...... That was the most rewarding compliment ever.

PS: not so rewarding was my husband's comment, after I expressed concern that there might not be enough contrast between the main color and the trim color (and an entire day of prep and painting on my part) :"The door knob is a nice contrast"  the door knob! That was already there! Jeez, thanks honey for your support!

In which Dumpling falls off her pedastal

I realize that most of the time when Dumping makes it into the blog, it's a funny anecdote or an adorable picture. But that is a very incomplete picture of my darling 3 year old.

From the moment she came home, she took our her anger and grief on me. She bit for a long time. But we worked hard on consoling and not being upset and by and large, we got through the first two years without major hurdles. But the last 3-4 months have not been so hunky-dory around here.

She wasn't very verbal for a long time, learning two languages has a way to do that to you. But now, she can express herself quite well and the running theme around the house is "Dumpling VERY MAD" or "Not like this, I no do it like this. I do it like THIS!!!!!!" and the favorite: "I no like you Mummy/Daddy".

She is quite confrontational, everything has to be just so or she gets set off into a super volcano of a tantrum that doesn't usually end until she hurts herself, either by hitting her head hard, biting her own tongue, catching her fingers in something.... Of course, we try to keep her from hurting herself, but we don't always manage. And once she is really hurt, we have to stop dealing with the tantrum and deal with the booboo. She's a smart kid and has quickly figured this out, thus the escalating tantrums leading to booboos.

It's very hard for us to deal with. She only does this with us. Not at school, not with my parents, not with her babysitter, just with mommy and daddy. So when we talk about it, everyone seems incredulous that this adorable little darling could have such a difficult side.  We started seeing the adoption-social-worker last week and will see her again until we feel better equipped to deal with this, especially with the impending referral of Sprout.....

The day in pictures

Well, there is really no need to write anything, just follow the link:

http://mortimersmom.blogs.com/photos/sukkot_2006/index.html

enjoy!

PS: welcome to all the new readers, or at least to the delurkers who have been commenting!

weekend in pictures

We just got back from our annual weekend in southern Vermont. We usually go more in the fall, for the foliage, after the Jewish Holidays, but seeing as we have barely had a day off since July, we left first thing Friday morning and returned at dinner tonight.

The weather was lovely, Dumpling didn't really like the long drives in the car to get to a from all the cute little towns we wanted to check out, but what she does love is the ski village at Stratton Mountain.  She remembered the wooden bears from her 2 previous visits and demanded to go wake them up and say goodnight every day. As a matter of fact, when we pulled over at Target in NY state, the closest to us (when, oh when, will Target reach Canada), she didn't want to get out of the car, she wanted to go straight to the Big Nounours (teddy bear in French)

the jacket in that last picture is vintage from the 70's, we found it in  a super cool shop in Brattleboro, which, by the way, is a town with THE BEST farmer's market ever. It's much more of an organic food outdoor food-court than a farmer's market, but it was by far the best food we ate the entire trip.

Now, I would like to say that while I drive a hybrid and compost and will spend the extra 50 cents per cup for the maple syrup instead of sugar in my limeade and will read the flier about the corn-starch cups (biodegradable!) and will walk over 3 stalls to get a corn-starch fork because my Mexican veggie taco stand only had non-biodegradable forks, I am NOT COOL with hippie mom who hasn't cut her hair in 22 years (and thus looks about 25 years older than she probably is) letting her oh-so-adorable hemp-clad 3 year old take a Number 2 in the sand box, while giggling at her daughter the whole time.  Sure, she scooped it up and tried to get most of the surrounding sand, but 5 minutes later, I simply could not let my kid play in the same sandbox.... I just couldn't. I mean, it's a grand leap between plastic diaper and public sand-box defecation!

And because I promised, it's not a very good picture, it's on top of a pile of stuff on the unused crib, but here it is:

Shake shake shake

Dumpling is suddenly obsessed with boobies. She wants big boobies, she wants a black bra. While I have the big-ish boobies, I prefer pink bras, so this doesn't come from me...

Anyhow, I often kid around and sing her Shake my Booty. She's recently also very into being nekked. Clothes-less. Bare-bummed.  Take this, add it to her boobies obsession and replace Booty with Boobies and you get the picture of the performance she gave us earlier this week, for twenty minutes in her room.

I do have video, but it's password protected, because, you know, she's nekked! Password available upon request, but I'm not going to give it to just anybody.... she's nekked!

project #1: a blue tutu

Here is the first completed project using the Dumpling Dummy: a blue ballet tutu for my little ballerina wanna-be. I used a tank-top, 2 meters of baby-blue tulle and 3 packages of little ribbon roses.

Dumpling wins with a KO

Before I tell you the KO story, let me just start by saying: WOW! If I had know the amount of responses I would get from my Dumpling sewing Dummy, I would have made it a long time ago! I guess I should tell you guys all about the McGyver-ish crafty things I put together!

Now, onto the real story of the day: How Dumpling managed to knock me out. Literally.

We were playing in her room this morning, she had just gotten dressed and that's always quite an adventure. She has to match her undies and socks to whatever outfit we put together (and usually vetos a few outfits in the process). She decided to play hide-n-seek, hiding between the foot of her bed and her bedroom door, which provides approximately 10% coverage... She was completely and totally visible to both of us. I decided to get up off the floor and go to my room to get dressed, this way I could pretend to look for her in another room.

But in a case of absolute *perfect* timing, she decided to spring out of her hiding space in the same instant that I walked by, and hit me square in the forehead with the bedroom door. I had no idea that a 25lbs 3 year old could have the strenght to swing a door strongly enough to knock me off my feet, but knock me down in did. I one shot. I think I stood for about a tenth of a second after she hit me, but then I fell to the floor in a single thud. Knocked out. Couldn't move. My husband, bless his heart, is getting much better at reacting in case of emergencies and came to my aid instantly, making sure I was still breathing and conscious, then he fetched me some ice and I stayed on the ground for a while, seeing stars and feeling quite woozy. (yes, that's a medical term!)

Dumpling was quite upset. This is one of those situations where I really wanted to just stand up and tell her everything was ok and pretend that it didn't hurt, but I simply couldn't. I couldn't even sit up right away. Thankfully, nothing was actually wrong with me, except for the nice blue goose-egg I now sport on my forehead, and a splitting headache that is still throbbing 12 hours later.

Any fashion suggestions to match a purplish forehead?

tape + scissors = a brand new Dumpling

first off, here is the pic of me and my fancy-pants dress at the wedding last weekend:

No, I didn't NEED a new dress, but when I tried this dress on, I simply could not take it off. I couldn't! I wore it home for no reason, other then it's so damn pretty and such a good fit!

but enough about me. Today was a total Dumpling Day. After a few errands, I decided to put my craftiness to the test and solve a problem. I bought some adorable fabric online last week and was going to make Dumpling some really cute clothes. But I've never sewn for her. So I bought some basic-shaped patterns and was going to alter them to make some more fashionable and modern kids clothes (have you seen the pattern books lately? My holly hobby dress from 1978 is STILL in there!). But after I cut out the pattern pieces, they looked huge to me. So I measured Dumpling, and while she is a size 2 in waist, 3 in length at most kids stores, according to the patterns, she should be in a 12-18 months in the home-made clothes! I remember from sewing clothes from myself that there is always a discrepancy in sizing, but this is ridiculous!

Not wanting to ruin my very pretty fabric, I decided to resort to something I had done for myself a few years back when I was plus-sized and couldn't buy a seamstress dummy: I made my own.

Step one: clad Dumpling in an over-sized t-shirt that will be stuck inside the dummy forever:

Step 2: wrap Dumpling in layers of wide masking tape. No, this isn't a new child restraint method! We told her we were making a Dumpling Robot. She was quite happy with the process, until I did the shoulders and her arms got pinned.

Step 3: cut Dumpling out of the dummy by making a long cut with scissors down the back. Mark the waist and belly button while they are still in it!

Step 4: tape it back shut, tape the neck shut and fill it with plastic grocery bags.

step 5: find a way to make it stand, at the same height as the Dumpling. I used a fabric roll (I actually had to take out the bags, put the roll in and re-stuff the bags). Then, I wanted it to stand up. A search of my furnace room produced a electrical wire bobbin, which not only provides a stable base, but is actually the same height as Dumpling's knees, so I know exactly which length to make dresses!

I present to you my low-budget Dumpling sewing dummy:

Finally, just before her bedtime, I was still a bit scissor-happy.... her hair was getting quite long and with swimming and sandbox both on her daily schedule, I decided to give her her first real haircut. We've been trimming for the last 2 years, but we've never changed her look before:

Watch out, I've still got my scissors!

2 years a family

2 years ago to day, I met Dumpling for the first time. She was so scared and frozen.... oh, how times have changed! She is a spark-plug now, and she has no off switch! The personality on that kid, boy there really was no hint of that on that first day.... She is such a big kid now. She does everythign by herself, it's her way or the highway, if she harnesses those powers for good when she is older, watch out first chinese-jewish girl ruler of the universe!

It's a hard time of year for me... no, not the anniversary of her adoption. Silly you! The end of the television season! come on! You know me, I can't live without TV! So in the last few days, I've read everyone's blogs and taken on lots of long overdue projects, including (I hang my head in shame as i fess up to this), making a scrapbook for my daughter... of the adoption trip..... Because even though we snap away every single little even of her life, I haven't put a single picture in an album or scrapbook since she came home. I did print about 400 pics last year, basically her first 4 months, but they stayed in the box and I never did anythign with them.

So in honor of the second anniversary of her adoption, I've been scrapping away and I'm halfway done with the China trip. I know, it's horrible how long it's taken me to do this, but since the wait for Sprout is growing by the minute, I am resolved to scrap every moment of Dumpling's life with us. Thankfulle, with digital time stamps and my blog, it takes about one second to recall every day that has passed.

So unless they come up with some really good summer shows, expect to hear a lot from me! And by the way, the pool is now open, so anyone wanting to visit both the Kibutz and the Kibutz of the north, we're wiating for you!

Twee!

It's now official. She is three. As of today. But the turning-three extravaganza started on Satruday night, when all 10 of her cousins, plus all her aunts and uncle, grand-parents, and my own god-father and aunt came over to the Kibbutz of the North to honor the princess in all her glory. And when I say princess, I mean princess. My mother, bless her heart, has been sewing official princess costumes for weeks. I present, Dumpling as Sleeping Beauty, Dumpling as the Witch, Dumpling as Cinderalla, and my personal favorite, Dumpling as Snow White:

Beign Super mommy, I made a Dora cake, all by myself:

And then, we watched, as Dora exploded all over our house. There is the Dora chair (the round one), the Dora Doll, which is actually so big, Dumpling can hardly carry her. The Dora Bingo, Dora Candlyland (which she both loves and manages to win without her parents cheating to let her ), the new Dora Pirate DVD, Dora fingerpaint, the Dora easter basket head, which sort of freaks me out, the Dora suitcase on wheels, Dora bubble bath and of course, we can't forget the Dora undies!

I actually like Dora. She's unlike any other girl-tv show out there, she's full of moxy and finds her way out of all the binds, but if they liscence Dora toilet paper, I surrender!!!! With all this stuff, so far, there as been only one double, the Dora Candyland, but since we have 2 houses, we're keeping them!!!  Tonight, her actual birthday, we had dinner with my parents. I spend the day setting up her computer, which she won't see til tomorrow morning. Yes, I bought my 3 year-old an actual computer. Don't get me started!

Tomorrow afternoon, it's the kids party, we invited 8 kids. and got a Dora Pinata, Dora plates, a mold to make Dora-head rice-crispy treats.... you get the picture. And then, the birthday extravaganza will be over and we will attempt to make the world stop revolving around her..... Attempt I said!!!!

Back in the fold

It's always hard to get back to routine after a vacation.  Back to work, back to school, back to TV, and now, back to blogging!

As promised, I picked a few pics from the Disney extravaganza to share with you guys. If you want to save yourself the saccarine, here's the one you can't miss:

She likes the Teacups, yes she does!

We had another great weekend at the Kibbutz of the North (which now has a hand painted address sign that boasts the name! That way you can find it when you all come to visit!). Sunday, we had friends visit with their kids. Dumpling and her little buddy A. were sledding in the driveway like Formula One drivers, laughing all the way to the snow bank!

This weekend, hubby and I are heading to NYC for our annual visit to the Gift Show. With the two stores now, it promises to be very exhausting. Normally, I would issue a warnign to fashionistas that I am about to descend on their city and refill my srping wardrobe. But fear not, Anthropology's stock will likely remain full, as Sunday, instead of shopping, I am heading over to Figlet's house! I am SO EXCITED! So many of my online posse are going to be there, it's nerve racking. What-ever shall I wear? OK, maybe I'll have to shop on my way to her house....

apparently, not diverse enough

back in early December, I blogged about Dumpling's interview for pre-K. During the whole process, they kept saying how they were looking for Diversity. They didn't want a school filled with cookie-cutter jews with big cars who all live the same lives..... well, apparently a french-speaking chinese-jewish girl with parents who aren't doctors or lawyers isn't diverse enough.... or maybe a bit too diverse for their taste. She has been wait-listed. I am crushed. I really wanted her to go to that school, but now I'm so pissed at their fakeness that I'm not so sure it's the right place for her anymore.....

I am sure a big part of their decision is based on me. I have definately not made friends with the other moms. Not for lack of trying. But I can't be fake, and I don't have time to go to all the play dates, what with having a real job and no helper to schlep my kid to and from the *right* activities. But she is in the toddler school program and loves it. And I must admit, I was a bit complacent with the whole french speaking, chinese thing. I mean, would they have the balls to refuse the poster child for modern judaism. Apparently, they did. I guess that's a lesson to me. But now she's the one who will suffer for my refusal to play by the rules.

I am truly bummed by this news.

Edited to add: Actually, my dear husband IS a lawyer, just a non-practicing one. wait, maybe it's HIS fault!!!!

window dressing

When I was a teenager, I had regular teenage dreams: marry Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, go on a date with C Thomas Howell, become a school teacher. In my later teens, when I started to think about more realistic options for my future, my knack for languages lead me in the communications direction. But briefly, I dreamed of being a window dresser for Simpson's (a defunct Canadian department store). I'm sure it came from watching Andrew McCarthy in Mannequin one too many times. I always wanted to roam a big store after hours.  The closest I came was working in the paper and office supply department, which was located in the basement. They let me re-organize the eraser display. I only worked there a few weeks, as my student-exchange letter came through and I left to go play Heidi on the Austrian mountains.

Since we've opened the stores, I've been playing window dresser a little bit. But the first store has only a tiny window, so the possibilities are limited. The new store has been much more fun. We have 3 giant windows, and we regularly change the displays. By far the one that stops the most people on the sidewalk is the one with the kids' tees in it. It's pretty cute when all the funny little tees are hanging on a clothes line across the window. But for the holidays, I went all out. I pulled out all the stops and created the big window of my dreams:

Now BUY people, BUY!!!!

On a Dumpling related note, she's turning into quite the princess.... It's my fault really. I bought her the Cinderella DVD a few weeks back. It was the first full lenght movie she ever had patience for, she likes the cat and thinks the mice are mean to him! anyways, she's now quite... princess-like. We've never played dress up before, but today, at the evil toy store, she DEMANDED a dress up pink dress with tutu.... I relented. She put it on right at the register, over her clothes. And will not take it off. At All. I do not know what we will do at bedtime..... We've had to wiggle the sweater and other layers off without taking the dress.

In the mean time, for your viewing pleasure, here she is, in her own fashion creation: the princess dress, blue undies (because we can now stay dry in the house for hours on end!) and a Santa-hat that is really for the dog. She just took it off Lucy's head and put it on. I present my Chinese-Jewish daughter:

two and an ass

Dumpling is bilingual. Actually, that's not true. She speaks one language: Dumpling language, a perfect mixture of French and English and 2-year-old toddler-speak. It's quite amazing to watch her build 3 to 4 word sentences while mixing it all up to a perfect blend. Because my own brain is bilingual and I know an additional 3 languages, I can usually understand her and the logic behind how she put things together. For the time being, I am the official Dumpling translator.

Adding to the interest though is the fact that she is still learning to master some sounds. She mispronounces a lot of things. it's not a *truck*. the *tr* sound is an *f* in Dumpling's world. Makes for a funny car ride. Big Truck!

Lately, when people ask her how old she is, we have been trying to get her to expand from her usual Doo (a mixture of Deux and Two) to attempt Two and a half. She says Doo, we prompt her with *and a* and she screams *ass!!!!* at the top of her lungs... in the middle of a brunch for a bris! Fun!

(Speaking of the bris, friends of ours had the bris and baby-naming this morning for their triplets.... Can you imagine?!?! I was trying to wrangle a squirming Dumpling for 90 minutes and was exhausted and all I thought was trying to wrangle 3 of them...... L & M, my heart goes out to you! They are beautiful babies, I hope you got a lot of rest before they arrived!)

uuum, hi.....

yah, remember me? hi!

So how buzy has it been that I have left you without an update for so long? So busy that.... I can't even believe I'm going to say this, I sent my kid out for her second Halloween.... in the same costume as last year.... I know! They'll take away my Martha-pinking-shears for lesser offenses!!! At least, this year it actually fit her without rolling the legs and sleeves and she was able to walk without looking like gumby....

(hey look! you can compare to last year with the picture on the left!)

I know she loved it, we had to take her out twice as a matter of fact she had such a good time, but I never thought that me, the queen of all things hand-made, would not come up with a new costume for every year....

Truth is, I fear it's a sign of things to come. We are crazy busy with the store. We are a hit with the French-language magazines and last month, we were in 3, yes 3, cross-canada major magazines.... don't believe me? here's the proof!  It's so fabulous, I still can't believe it's actually happening... but we weren't ready for it. I'm still months behind on the accounting, we can't keep up with how much stuff we have to order to meet the demand and I have rearranged the layout at the store so many times now to try to fit it all in, we can never find any of the overstock! And just as we are catching our stride, it's the holiday season already and I have come up with the most fabulous window display ever, but I must somehow execute my vision.... yaeah, right!

So Dumpling might be forced to fit her little body in that dog costume a few more times!!! (won't be possible, she wont' fit in it next year) We'll hold on to it for Sprout though. And speaking of which, when I'm not depressing about how much I am not getting done, I'm depressing about the latest CCAA rumors. If you are not a member of the chinese-adoption community, you won't know what I'm talking aobut: we were expecting a 6-7 month wait between the mailing of our file and the referral of our little Sprout's picture, but there have been some actually fact-based rumors lately that that wait might be nearer to 10-11 months.... Which would mean late summer. That totally sucks. Yes, it would mean more breathing time to adjust to our new business successes, get Dumpling into toddler school 5 mornings a week, enjoy the new coutry house and just get properly ready. But the truth is, hubby and I both seem to thrive when we are juggling a thousand things, and we really wanted the kids to be as close in age as possible. Oh well!

So there you have it. I'm still around, just busy dealing with autumn colds, re-surfacing of the drive-way, gutting and rearranging of the worst-ever-layed-out laundry room and spending every extra minute shopping to furnish the country house, which will be ours in just a month!

Adventures in babysitting

Let me start by saying that I am soooo glad this didn't happen to *me*!!!!!

My mother, bless her heart, saved our behinds today by coming at the last minute to babysit Dumpling while I was working and hubby was seeking medical help. He came down with sharp, fall on your knees kind of pain in his back this weekend. Having had gallbladder stones in the past, he didn't want to go to the emergency room on the weekend, he wanted to see his own doctor on Monday. But the docotor couldn't see him in the morning while I was available for Dumpling Duty.

So a quick phone call and my mom agreed to come and take care of the child while we both got on with our day.  About an hour into the babysitting gig, my father called. It seems that my mother had locked herself out of the house. The store was very busy, so since my dad works 2 blocks away from the store, I offered him my car and my keys to go and unlock the door and let my mother and Dumpling into my house. At first, I wasn't too worried. I figured they would go to the park and kill a half hour until the door was unlocked. It wasn't until he picked up the keys that the rest of the story became clear: My mother was locked out of the house. Dumpling was locked *INSIDE* the house!!!!

You see, the doorbell rang. it was the mailman, delivering my husband's internet-ordered skin-care products (see, it's somehow always hubby's fault!!!). Our dogs are very, very loud barkers. They scare the living daylights out of the mailman. But they would just lick him to death if they could get to him, except, you know, he doesn't know that! So my mother, in an attempt to keep the dogs and the mailman seperate from each other, closed the door behind her. But she tugged a little too hard and actually locked it.

Thankfully, Dumpling was napping. She napped through the whole thing. My mom had to go to the neighbours to call my dad (in all the excitement, she couldn't remember my number, and her cell phone was in her purse, inside the house!), who came and got the keys, and drove over to open the door. Thankfully, the barking dogs didn't wake up Dumpling and she is none the wiser to this adventures in babysitting.....

Tomorrow, I will make a spare key and leave it with a neighbour who always has a helper at home. Also, it turns out hubby has a slipped disk... ouch!

Sprout and Bloom

In Sprout news, our facilitator just confirmed this week that our DTC date of August 12th has given us a LID date of September 5th. The countdown can officially begin. I could start building a second baby shrine, but instead, I will be using Sprout's room as a temporary holding facility for all the crap (pardon me, collectibles) that will migrate from the house to the new country retreat.

And speaking of collectibles, I wasn't aware that our episode of Srading Tpaces was airing again yesterday, so if you are here after googling the store and somehow finding the blog, welcome!

Finally, a bit of TV commentary. I haven't said anything about TAR-Family because I really, really wanted to give it a good shot, but frankly, meh. There are no intersting personalities, and the complete lack of any adventure is just killing my show. Drive here, drive there, find a giant chair, please!

But there was one speck of interest on tv tonight, in the form of a guest appearance on L&O: SVU of Brian Bloom... Remember him? Dusty Donavan? Those freakishly piercing blue eyes.... haaaaaa, I'm 16 again! I had to google him and was shocked to see how much work he's actually gotten, I just missed it all!

a photo-blog by Dumpling

Since I'm so busy these days, Dumpling will be sharing her life in pictures via this photoalbum.

In the pictures, you will notice that Suzy has arrived. Some of you will know that I bought Suzy from Run Girl Run when she offered to sell it for a donation to hurrican relief. She was asking for a certain amount and I really wanted to get her, so I offered a bit more. But I was a victim of false advertising. Because when Suzy arrived yesterday, she didn't look like the pictures..... She was sooooo much better! If I had known, I would have offered twice as much!

Seriously, her maker needs to stitch her little fingers to the bone and make more dolls! (do you hear that, S???)

twins and no flake

She's here. she showed up and promptly swept a hapy Dumpling to the park.

And I'm wearing the twins. Did you think I could actually leave a pair of Campers in a box for a whole day? These babies need to breathe! Plus, the Fly London ones are actually going to make a good base for a dressier outfit I need to put together tomorrow night for a fundraising evening I must attend.

the red ones, if you must know, are Indigo by Clarks, are positively cheap compared to the other ones and are readily available everywhere.

full of flakes

Apparently, the world is full of flakes. The first flake was the babysitter we met who brought her references on a post-it note....

The second flake was the one who was actually nice but didn't bother calling to tell me she didn't want the job, she just didn't show up and emailed instead.

The third flake is the professional nanny, who is currently employed with a family nearby, emailed me a list of 12 complicated questions she wanted answers to (we're talking essay here) and wouldn't meet us until we gave answers, along with salary, sick days and vacation information. Finally, we set up an in person interview for tonight at 6 pm. I was online at 5:15, just surfing, when Flake #3 emailed me to say her current employer is now extending her contract til December. Another email, what's with these people and NOT calling!!!!!

The small silver lining is that Sunday, we interviewed a lovely first year university student who just moved here from San Francisco. Her parents are from France, so she is fluently bilingual, sweet as pie and tons of Summer Camp and babysitting experience, including CPR course.  The only drawback is she can only do of the 3 days I need, but at this point, if she actually shows up for the 3 hour baby-sitting trial on Wednesday, I think she'll get hired. She has a phone! She actually called me the day of the interview to confirm the time and place! Cross your fingers and hope she shows up Wednesday morning, without emailing!!!!

a champ!

I don't even need to tell you this: she was a champ! She woke up yesterday morning with only one thing on her mind: Abby School! Abby being the teacher.... So off we went to see Miss Abby at school... she remembered where the classroom was, and right away rearranged the kitchen to her preferred layout. I think they are fighting a losing battle if they think they can keep it *their* way!

We stuck around for few minutes, but she really didn't seem to care one way or another, so we said goodbye, gave her a big hug and kiss and just walked out. Easy as that. Hubby did stick around in the yard for a while, just in case, but heartless working mom that I am, I left and went to work. He picked her up a few hours later and got the following report: she loved finger painting, though she painted on surfaces not meant to be painted, she comforted the other kids that weren't as happy to be there and she fed every single doll in the room.

On the babysitter front, we really thought we had found someone great, but she was supposed to come today for a 2 hour test run and didn't show up. So I checked my email and she changed her mind and didn't call. I'm ticked. Not only because I liked her, but because I think she should have called. I know all about conflict avoidance, I'm really good at it too, but if someone is waiting for you, you call to say you're not coming!

no velcro baby here

Last night, Mortimer's Dad and I attended parent's orientation at Dumpling's toddler school. As my dear hubby himself pointed out at the end of a very long, very boring evening sitting on 11 inch chairs: "It was a bit of a fashion show in there..."  Ha yes, don't I love the yummy  mommies! I myself was sporting my GAP jeans, an H&M cardi (very retro with sparkles) and pigtails. I certainly didn't impress anyone.

So this morning, we took Dumpling for her first visit of her classroom. It wasn't an actual class day, just a one hour visit of the facilities and meeting the teacher. So guess which one kid, out of 14, hugged the teacher, got her to pick her up and hug her, played all by herself, moved all the play-kitchen furniture around to a layout she preferred,  took out every single plastic plate and fake fruit piece... Guess, guess, I'll give you 3 chances......

Tomorrow, we attempt to leave her there and walk away. Some of the kids already were exhibiting some *velcro* attachment tendencies towards their mother's and they might have to stick around tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to leave without too much trouble.  It's not that I'm heartless, really, I've been waking up in the middle of the night with a dreadful pain in the pit of my stomach, worried that we're separating too fast after attaching. But right now, I really think it's a great place for her to go and she'll learn so much. Plus, she'll run herself ragged and hopefully have a tad less energy for her tired parents.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

Wet

it's hard to blog funny when the TV is filled with images of devastation. the closest we've ever come to something like this up here was the Ice Storm. The biggest shelter in town had around 2500 people and it was hell, I can't even imagine being in that stadium right now.

As far as I know, I don't know anyone directly affected, except for Shelba, who is safe and is waiting for news on her parents' house.  We've been wearing rubber boots all day, the rain having made it all the way up here. Dumpling delighted in the puddles, but being soaked before even reaching the car sort of made me realize how truly horrible the conditions must be down there if we're soaked all the way here.

Now, since some of you have been leaving not-so-subtle hints about the Dumpling's adventure, here is what I know: she was good, she ate like a pig from all the vendor's displays (they went to the farmer's market), tried fruits that she would never try with mommy around, and loved playing in their sloppy backyard. Their cat survived her enthusiastic games, though he did fight back a little and she went on and on about the booboo from the meow....  Her special aunty even stopped by the next day, so she must have not been a little terror!

Now, for the Rock Star groupies like me, how much are you loving Suzie? I liked her first because she's Canadian, but her performance on Rhapsody made me forget about Ty, it's Suzie all the way, That Girl Can Rock!

Inventory has come and gone, now comes the analysis of what's missing, what's broken, and all the posting mistakes we've made during the expansion of the empire.

Speaking of the Empire, I'm spent. I am so tired, working day and night, something has to give. So after much debating back and forth, and as much as I hate admitting this out loud, hubby and I have come to the decision that we are longer capable of being full-time stay at home parents AND work at the same time. It was doable with one small store, it's no longer possible and Dumpling is suffering.

So she will be starting her 2 mornings a week at toddler school next week, but we are currently running ads on craigslist and have signed up for mybabysitter.com in the hopes of finding someone to come to the house 3 days a week to provide so stability in Dumpling's schedule and a bit of free time for mommy and daddy to run errands and do work without having to park Dumpling in front of the Wiggles.

I hate this. I never wanted to have someone else involved in the child rearing, but the reality is that the new store is a big success and we can't hand that over to anyone else at this point, so we need to come up with something. Also, with Sprout on the way, I think it will be good to have someone already here ready to help with Dumpling if we have our hands full with Sprout.

So we are looking for a Mary-Poppins, who will do educational stuff and crafts with Dumpling. Since we speak 2 languages at home, we have agreed that whoever we hire will need to be either a native English or French speaker. This rules out all the foreign nanny agencies, so we have a bit more work to do. Also, we don't need housework or cooking, so I think we are going to look for a university student with few classes.  Any tips on interviewing care givers?

She's a rocker!

*typepad just ate my post.... the re-write might not be as funny*

Sometimes, my husband is a genius. Thanks to a tip from a Blue Rodeo mailing list we are on, hubby found a free outdoor show from 6 to 8 pm in Burlington Vermont. We've been toying with the idea of taking her to a concert, but we really didn't want to take her indoors anywhere (too loud) and most of the evening outdoor shows are too late. But this was perfect!

So we drove down after lunch, with a napping Dumpling. We got to Burlington, left our car near the Park where the show was going to take place and spotted the tour bus. So we strolled along to the back of the stage, only to find Bob Eagen reading the paper on a chair and Jim Cuddy strumming his guitar under a tree! We chatted him up, he greeted Dumpling by name (I'm sure he didn't actually remember her name, he must of heard us coming up) and the serenaded her for a few minutes and *let* her * strum* his * guitar* !!! Can you imagine! Our FAVORITE singer let our toddler play his guitar! Of course, to Dumpling, Jim Cuddy doesn't hold a candle to Murray Wiggles, but still, to us, it was pretty exciting.

After a walk around the town center and a long visit to the nearby playground, we stretched out our blanket 40 feet form the stage and joined the 300 people who were there to raise money for hungry Vermonters and see the show. I can't believe how few die hard Blue Rodeo fans from Montreal made the drive, but all the better for us!

The show was great. But even better was watching Dumpling rock her little tush off for 90 minutes! She took her best Wiggles move - Wags the Dog, Point your fingers and do the twist, I am a dancer - and applied them as best she could to the rocking sounds of Blue Rodeo. The people on the nearby blankets were all transfixed!

For the Encore, people got up and went near the stage, so our by-then pajama-clad Dumpling got up on our shoulders, thrusted her hand up in the air to the rhythm of the music and rocked til the end. All that was missing was the lighter!

After the last song, we went backstage again and got to say goodnight, before making the drive back, a sleeping Dumpling dreaming of her rock debut.

Photographic Evidence can be found here. Seriously, if she's already rocking hard at two and half and is already backstage hanging out with the band, does this really bode well for her teenage years????

We use our powers for good

In my last post, I sent you over to the article that had me and my gals up in arms.  Things got pretty heated over there, we weren't going to back down. We were all speaking on behalf of our children (and ourselves, of course).
And you know what, today, we got our apology. If even one reader *gets it* and changes their way of thinking regarding adoption and finances and refrains from asking someone at the store how much their child cost, it was all worth it.
That's what a bunch of adoptive mothers and mothers-to-be can do. So if you have a battle to fight, send it our way, we only use our powers for good (well, except for that one thing, but nobody knows that's us.....)

On to the Dumpling. She's still sick, though her mood has improved tremendously and she's back to being a naughty 2 year-old. It was mommy's day at home today, and by nap time, I was exhausted! So when hubby got home this afternoon, I treated myself to a rare manicure. I don't have long nails, but they came out pretty and... clean! Let's see how long that lasts.

Finally, on a fashion note, i just want to tell you this breaking news: Green is the new orange, which was the new pink. Never mind all the turquoise you see everywhere, the new color is green. I now find myself with 2 cute spaghetti-strap tops in green (one mossy, with sparkles, one minty and satin), and a green striped belt. 3 items in one week. the last time that happened, I went all pink a year before pink was in. So when everything is green next year, just remember, you heard it here first.