Just what the world needs, another paparazzo.

SS had a really horrible night, lots of whining and very restless. Why did I think it would be a good idea to transition her to her crib full time? Got it, because I suck at the parenting common sense thing. It was really disturbing for us to watch her in such distress. It did not appear that SS had a night terror, but she definitely had a nightmare and could not recover from it, even though she was between us. She would clearly say "Mama please..." but I could not understand the rest. I had no sleep at all and P only managed a couple of hours. Since SS will be sleeping with us during our upcoming trips, we have decided not to attempt such a big change until after we return from Grandpa's. Last year and now, our travel ended up around the time SS came home, and this might not be such a good thing for her. It has to cook her toddler noodle to be in airplanes three consecutive years, right around the same time. For the last two days SS has become upset at the mention of the upcoming trip and said she wants to go to China instead. I was very surprised by how serious she was about her request. Sweetie, I wish the same. So far she is giddy about going to Grandpa's, knows JJ will be there, she is getting a bucket and a shovel (a big deal to her) and is going to see fishies. You go Island Girl!

We love the Internets and early this morning we received a reminder why. The mother of a Yunnan child, a Kunming Kutie, left a comment. At least in the U.S., there are not many Yunnan province adoptions. Every time referrals arrive we look and nada. It seems that Jiangxi and Hunan cuties are all we see. We wonder what is that about. Anyhoo, she helped us with the DS vs. Leapster dilemma, and confirmed my concerns about the kiddie digital cameras. As I was reading the comment I decided to be productive, since I could not sleep. I started dinner at 5:30 a.m., and while throwing ingredients in the slow cooker I remembered something. I bought a digital camera the year before SS came home. I was not pleased by its performance, because at 6 megapixels, it did not take better pictures than our almost 10 years old, 4 megapixel Kodak.

The problem was that the camera had resided in the van's glove compartment for the past two and a half years. Would it still be operational, or had all that heat fried it? I found the rechargeable batteries and charger, an old 128 SD card, then went to look for the camera. It still worked, although I quickly remembered how it was not user friendly. I was annoyed that I had forgotten about it, because I could have passed it on to someone else, but that someone has a camera now. Looked like SS scored, if she could operate the thing. The shutter needed more force that I thought SS could provide with her tiny finger. I should not have worried, SS managed to get the hang of it in no time. She also got the hang of looking at the screen on the back right away. She still had a lot of blurry, cut pictures, but that is the fun of looking at life through the eyes of a toddler.

I think she did a really good job with this one.

Mama paparazzo.

Baby paparazzo. Yep, she took a picture of me while I was taking a picture of her.

The flash in SS's camera is brutal, we are going to have to find a way to deal with it.

SS could not wait to show Baba her "new" camera and her new skills.

SS has been talking about cupcakes for a while now, asking for one almost daily. Since tomorrow is an extra special day, we thought we could celebrate with cupcakes. Halfway through I thought, "what the heck kind of parents have their kid make their own special occasion treat?" You are reading their blog.

This smile is so rewarding to us, because SS's first instinct upon hearing the noise from the mixer was to flee like a bat out of hell. She is still hypersensitive to noises.

But like the very serious baker that she is, SS sucked it up and resumed her task.

It's not chocolate, but it has sugar and raw eggs, yummy.

Her expression reminds me of that picture I posted on Family Day where she is looking at SS bear.

Since I do not have the money nor the space for a learning tower, I had to improve with a less safe alternative. Maybe it is not wise to allow SS to stand on her high chair, but it did the job.

Forget about icing the cupcakes, it's time to chow down chocolate.

SS did much better this time about getting messy.

Not only did SS manage to get chocolate around her eye, there is some on her back.

SS is getting more confident jumping in the pool. When I saw the swimming instructor on P's left, I wonder how much we would have paid for swimming classes by now. I also wondered if SS would have enjoyed the time as much.


SS is obviously trying to give is a heart attack. This is her first attempt at diving into the pool. It was completely out of the blue, unprompted and we have never asked her to do that before.