Pictures

Cachetes (Cheeks)

This one is our favorite hands down. I did not expect the photo session to go as well and we are proud of Baby S rolling with whatever crazy idea her Mama had. We arrived without an appointment and they were booked solid. DUH, it's Christmas time. Then Baby S, who had been very quiet in her stroller said "Hi" to the lady behind the counter. She takes one look at Baby S and states, "there is no way I can't take her picture. Besides, the people with appointments are running late. Then next thing I know I have all three photographers in the room with me. It was quite surreal, I mean, how many photographers does a 20-month old needs?

One of the photographers actually took over assigned photographer's camera and snapped this shot. It was quite embarrassing because by this time the people with actual appointments had arrived. But there they were gushing over Baby S. I felt bad and called P for some moral support. He could not care less as he was pleased that we were getting portraits after five months home.

In their excitement the photographer's kept asking Baby S to look, move and do things that I knew were way beyond her comprehension. No one asked about her origins and I did not bother to share, but did feel bad for a clearly overwhelmed Baby S. Then on a whim I asked, "Baby S, where are your cachetes?" My girl did not disappoint and placed her hands on her cachetes, thus the picture above. I cut the session short because I felt we had plenty of pictures and to avoid a meltdown. It was a pretty cool experience given that Baby S never strays from my side for long (unless it involves P and JJ),

What an incredible gift.

In this one she was pointing at her image on the computer screen. Watching herself is still one of her favorite activities.

The Yunnan Ham

P's second favorite, because it's so Baby S, she is always sticking her tongue out. He actually had it added to one of the collages.

Baby S had a rough night and we think she reached her all time high number of time outs. The Wii controls proved to be our daughter's undoing. No amount of "NOs" and time outs eased her fervor. Add to that a long night out on the town (for a 21-month old) and not a single nap all day and her meltdown at close to midnight was inevitable, Poor thing had reached her melting point and when that happens she does not know what to do. Holding her does not help as she gets rather anxious and overactive. I just coax her into leaning on me and within minutes she is sound asleep.

Before her meltdown she had a blast cheering her Baba and her JJ while they played with the Wii. Since bad Mama would not allow her to hold the controls, she took matters in her own hands and used her Snoopy hair brush as a control. We have some cute video of her pretending to "play" along with P and JJ. Plus their controls do not do anything for their grooming. :)

P played some rounds of boxing and I know he is going to be sore today. He hardly ever makes it to midnight, so this was very unusual. I fell asleep much later and JJ even later. I got up early to post so Abuela could enjoy the post about her grandchildren (she is 3 hours ahead and SO over me). Now, at 6:25 a.m. I am going to try to get some shut eye before Baby S wakes up full of energy.

I'll post pictures later in the day and if we are lucky, the video of Baby S "playing" with the Wii. It sucks that P has to put in another 12 hours today and return Friday, but he burned all his vacation time and more in China. Life is good.