The attention we get
When we were completing the paperwork necessary to adopt, I watched some educational videos online about what it was like to be a "conspicuous" family. They talked about the different things that we might encounter and offered response alternatives. While we waited for our referral, I read countless stories online written by families who had kids of a different race. Some of the things that have been said to them are SHOCKING! Seriously unbelievable mean and stupid comments. I knew that by becoming a bi-racial family we may get some additional and possibly negative attention.

We've been home with G for just about a year and half now. Fortunately, we've received only a handful of stupid comments and been the victim of only 2 really ugly stares that I recall. Most of the attention we get is positive... or at least intended to be positive. But sometimes, it is a bit annoying. Maybe annoying isn't the right word. Maybe "tiresome" is more descriptive.

Example: A week or so ago, I took G to a birthday party for one of the little girls from her daycare. There were about 10-12 little kids there, all in the 2-4 range. All of them very cute. I mean they're toddlers, they're cute! We were there for about 2-3 hrs and during that time the parents just stared and stared at G. I got dozens of comments on how cute she was, how cute her clothes were, how beautiful her skin and hair were, etc. At one point, I looked over and noticed that there were no less than 8 parents and grandparents standing and gawking at her as she ran around playing. I heard no one make a single comment to anyone about any of the other little children. She's like a celebrity! And, our family is always remembered by store clerks, waitresses, etc. Always. I guess we do stick out: a fat girl, a short guy and a little asian kid. It does tend to leave an impression.

In some ways, I think the attention can be a positive. I believe that children who generally receive smiles and positive comments from people they encounter can develop high self esteem as a result. On the other hand, as time goes on, I wonder if she'll expect to be treated as special or possibly even resent the extra attention she recieves???

We also get unintentionally dumb/ignorant/uncomfortable comments. One of the grandmas at the party said to me something along the lines of "its wonderful that you adopted from one of 'those countries' --thank you for doing that." So what is the proper response? "You're welcome"?? or "Yeah, you're right, it was pretty great of us"??? Its hard for people I guess. They don't know what to say. I think a lot of times they just want to let us know that they feel positively about the situation. They're nice people and they're trying to be nice. I appreciate the effort. But.... sometimes I wish they'd just treat us the way they'd treat anyone else.

Elmo's world!
I haven't posted in a few weeks. We've been super busy. Ijust feel like I have no time. Two saturdays ago Elmo came to the Inland Empire!!! G was thrilled. She loves her some elmo. We chose a package that included seats in the front row and a pre-show meet and greet with some of the characters. The meet and greet was just ok. They kind of rushed the kids up, parents could snap a couple pix and then off you went. It was unfortunate too, because there was plenty of time to let it be a more relaxing experience but, eh, G liked it. I don't think she realized she was being rushed.

Of course, we had an outfit planned for the event. G loved her elmo outfit and clippies. You can't tell from the pix but one was cookie monster and the other elmo. Both outfit and clippies purchased from an etsy seller. She kept touching her dress and saying "elmo, going to see elmo and big bird and, and, and cookie monster and osser the grouch." So, so cute!!!

The show was fun and it was really nice to be so close to the characters. Of course there's always something happening up on stage but during 75% of the show, the characters also came down to the floor and pretty much danced right in front of us and would shake G's hand or give high 5's.

At intermission the balloon guy came out with a GIANT bunch of elmo balloons. Seriously, he must have been holding about 200 of them. When G saw them, omg, the look on her face was priceless... mouth agape!! "What is that?" followed quickly by (in her most carefully worded voice) "May I have one, please?" So, how do you resist that??? I asked Bobby how much he thought they'd be. He guessed $6, I guessed $5... we're so naive. While we're discussing this and looking at G's cute little face with pleading eyes, the crowd around balloon man grew and grew. Deciding that if we were going to get in on the "opportunity" to purchase a five or six dollar balloon, we'd better get a move on, I hustled myself over there and joined the throngs of parents waiting to be ripped off in the name of making my little sweetheart happy. Those balloons were going fast but I managed to score one for the very low price of $10!!!! And, its a good thing I moved fast cuz balloon guy sold out just about a minute or so later. She really did love it though and its still floating in my family room now almost 2 weeks later so I guess it was a good investment :-)

Bobby and G waiting for the show to begin.

G was decked out all the way to her earrings! G loves to change earrings to match her outfit. She asks to do it each morning which I think is a total crack up.

G with the characters. She was having fun but, alas, no smile.

Mommy and her very best girl

Ok, G liked elmo and the music but, because she is my daughter, she was most excited by the cotton candy!!! Yum!

G with her $10 balloon

What a weekend!!
Georgie is officially 28 mos old! She continues to grow and learn at an amazing rate. Her biggest improvement in the last month has been her ability to communicate. She's started piecing 2 or 3 sentences of 6-8 words together to get her thoughts across. She understands the concept of why/because and can answer those types of questions. Example: "Georgie, why are the trees moving?" ... "Because the wind is blowing them" or when looking at pix in a book "Georgie, how does Curious George feel?" "He feels sad" "why is he sad?" "Because he is lost. Can't find man in the yellow hat" stuff like that. We've been working on counting items and she's getting the hang of that.

She still likes to color and do playdoh and draw on her easel. But her favorite activity is going for walks in the neighborhood and hunting for bugs, seeds and leaves she finds interesting. She's quite observant and will walk along slowly looking at the ground and the bushes searching for some poor little bug to pick up on her stick. Special leaves and seeds are gathered and brought home. She has quite the collection of finds on the ping pong table in the garage at any given time!

She's tons of fun!

It was also Mother's Day of course. Saturday night I went to a dinner auction with my mom to support a local organization. They had a live auction. In an effort to raise the price of one of the final items, I bid, then won! Eeek. It turns out that the package was something I hadn't expected but sounds like a hoot! More on that in the weeks to come.

Sunday morning started bright and early with a happy Georgie kiss, hug and "happy mother's day!!" Awesome! Then I was off to enjoy a nice brunch (again at the Mission Inn) with my mom. The food, of course, fantastic and it was great to spend some one on one time with my mom just chatting. Again, awesome!

Came home to find a nice bouquet of flowers and Georgie presented me with my gift she made at the babysitter. ADORABLE!! Its one of my favorite parts of having a toddler, the holiday projects. Love them!! I knew something was in the works a few days earlier after I asked G what she'd done at the babysitter's that day and she told me that she'd "painted blue" and "picked flowers" but "don't tell mommy" hahaha! Got a hug and a sincere "I love you" from Casey and a nice call from Brett who couldn't make it home this weekend to round out the day. After G had a little dinner (I was still full from breakfast!) we went for one of our walks and I got to take some pix of my beautiful little G.

It was a great weekend! These are my flowers, a nice card and hot tamale cotton candy. Bobby knows I love, love, love cotton candy and anything hot and spicy. Voila! the perfect snack!
G with the gift she made for me. She was very proud!
Close up view. As you can see, the pot is painted blue and apparantly G picked the colors of the flowers and the stickers for the pot... "don't tell mommy" cracks me up every time!

Going on a bug hunt. G found this huge grasshopper (think 4 inches long or so) and kept tickling it with her stick to make it jump then she'd laugh and laugh. After a bit we told her she had to find another bug to torture.

The insect hunter with her septar

The sky was so beautiful I had to take a pic. See the clouds??? Silver lining!

Travel Town, Los Angeles
I'm always looking for new things to do with Georgie on the weekends. If there's a train involved, that's a bonus. So searching around on the net I came across Travel Town in Griffith Park. Its a park with antique train displays. Pretty good way to kill a couple hours with a little kid. Another bonus... admission and parking are free! G loved climbing around on all the old trains and riding the small one that circles the place saying "choo, choo" over and over. I liked watching her smile as she enjoyed the trains.

We were going to hit Pinks (famous hot dog place in hollywood) afterwards. But, when we went by the line was all the way around the building and I figured it would take almost an hour. Standing in line for an hour to eat a hot dog just seemed wrong so we skipped it. Its still on my list of things to do but next time we're going to have to pick a less popular time.

Train display at entry:
Peering out the window, waving to mommy. The trains are huge. I guess I never realized how big they were until I stood next to one. No steps to get in either, you had to climb a ladder.

G was pretending she was a choo choo while she walked around this little painted track. It didn't seem that exciting to me but it must have been great fun for a two year old --there were several other toddlers doing the exact same thing. Too funny!

On the choo choo with daddy

Checking out some of the equipment in one of the engines.

Ahhhhh...
So, Brett came home this weekend for a surprise visit!!! I haven't seen him since spring break which was about a month ago. It was nice to have a chance to hug the biggest of my babies --yes, even at 21 he's still my baby :-)

G loves her big brother and the feeling is totally mutual. Its really sweet to watch them interact. Funny too because while we were waiting I worried that G and the boys wouldn't have a relationship or that there could possibly even be conflict. WRONG! B and C are head over heels for her.

Anyway, Georgie came in the house after being out and she was taking off her shoes when all of a sudden and completely out of the blue she looked up at me and said, "I love my family." Seriously, I was completely blown away. I told her "your family loves you too sweetface"

Like I said, ahhhh so sweet!!!

Pix of a recent bubble blowing session. G loves to blow bubbles!!!

Amy's Farm with Friends
One of our Lucky Mommys, Christy, has a relative with a working farm nearby. They also do school tours there. We were fortunate enough to be able to visit! A few friends were not able to come due to other commitments so it just ended up being the three girls and moms. We still had a great time though!

This is G in front of the cows. She loved the cows but, somewhat disturbingly, was more fascinated with playing with the many flies that surrounded the cows. Gross, right??
G and Mia looking at the cows
G loved climbing on the fence and looking over at the cows, roosters and chickens.

She'd been hunting for a ladybug and once she finally found one she was able to catch it! I was glad she didn't squish it. Tanya was glad we found a ladybug. She's hoping that means her travel info is on its way quickly.

G loved the goats. I think she could have stayed in their pen petting them all day!

Feeding Wilbur the pig some organic lettuce that our guide had just picked!

Combing the miniature horse. This little one is blind, he was a rescue horse. Gracie in the back looks on.

Group shot. G looks really unhappy. She's now willing to sit with the group for a photo but isn't that happy about it. Baby steps.

G also got to try some fresh from the cow milk... I mean really fresh. It had only been out of the cow for about 30 secs. She decided it was "good"

Afterwards, we all went to my favorite fast food place in the whole world CHICK FIL A. G fell asleep in her seat and then slept on my shoulder for about an hour while the mommies chatted. Poor little thing was zonked out.

Awesome day!!!

Rocking the skinny jeans!
I actually took these pix a week or so when it was still kind of cold. The weather's been flipping back and forth here between hot (think high 70s) and cold (low 60s) so quickly its hard to keep things straight. Anywho I totally loved these little skinny jeans. G loved wearing her boots!

The new neighbors were having a little work done to their house and a truck belonging to one of the painters was in front of the house that day. G was so excited when she saw it "purple truck!!!" she yelled over and over and pointed. I think its funny that she recognized that was unusual. She said "I want to go wook at it mommy!!!" and then "picture with me!!!" meaning she wanted me to take her picture with the purple truck.

Sure baby, whatever you want!

G was doing some kind of fairy dance with the flower here. Too funny!

March and April editions of "The Tutu Two Year Old"
Ok, I know I'm running slightly behind on my post of the March St Pat's photos but, in my defense, I've been busy. Luckily I wasn't so busy that I couldn't get the pix done. We actually just did the April photos today because I haven't had much time.

G's ability to have her pic taken has improved over time. Its always somewhat of a crapshoot as to how cooperative she's going to be though. March was not a terribly cooperative month. The poor photog tried really hard to engage her but she was really wound up and, although she was enjoying herself, it was really difficult. I think they must have taken about 100 pix that day. IMO, we did finally end up getting some really cute shots though.

The tshirt says "Lucky Charm." Top, tutu and korkers came from etsy sellers, don't recall which ones though!

I think this one is really cute. It looks like she's blowing a kiss but actually she was playing with daddy and pretending she was eating "delicious bugs" --somewhat odd I know, its a little game they play, I don't quite get it but they get really into it :-)

April pix were a different story. OMG she was sooooo cooperative! She was in a really good mood, super happy about playing with the props and, thankfully, liked the outfit. This surprised me somewhat because when I first tried to try it on her a week or so before she had a minor freak attack and kept saying "No! I don't like it! I don't like it momma! Want to take it off!" Ugh. I didn't push the issue and just put it away. More proof that toddlers can be fickle, fickle, fickle.

Anyway, we ended up with tons of cute pix to choose from and I had to be brutal about choosing which ones to get.

I love this picture so much! This is the one they chose to bring out in a b&w color enhanced framed sample... you know, the pricey one they torture you with??? I was good though and didn't bite (insert congratulatory pat on back).

Next month is May. I'm not sure what's in store for the tutu two year old. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Easter Weekend: Part 3
Brunch again. This time with my mom at the Mission Inn in Riverside. I'd been there a few times before for lunches (mostly business) but had never been for their sunday brunch which I'd always heard it was super nice. Reservations for holidays like easter and mother's day are taken months in advance. I was a slacker and never got around to making reservations but, through some fast talking on the phone with the reservation people saturday night, I was able to score us a table even though they'd been turning people away for a couple weeks!!

Well, the stories were true. The place did not disappoint. The food and surroundings were lovely. The Mission Inn is a very old and beautiful hotel dripping with spanish style plantings and fountains. There are even parrots at the entrance to greet guests. For Easter they had a bunny who greeted the kids and passed out cute little baskets. As always, G loved the bunny and would get super excited when she saw him at various times throughout the morning.

We sat inside the main dining room of Duane's (very old school with big leather chairs, lots of woodwork, oil paintings and silk draperies). It was very posh but knowing what I know now, I would choose to sit in the patio on such a beautiful spring day --not complaining, just planning for next time :-)

This is G with the bunny. I always find it surprising that she has no fear of these giant stuffed things. You can see the cute baskets they were giving out to the kids.
G in a serious moment in front of the ironwork. G loved wearing her dress again --same one she wore for the bunny pix at the mall. It has a little petticoat underneath it that makes it flare out that way. Great for twirling which G tried a few times!
G was a perfect angel at the restaraunt which was impressive because we were there for almost 2.5 hours! She ate --I'm not even sure how many strawberries my little girl put away --laughed, drew and looked around hoping to spy the bunny. I brought this little drawing thing for her to keep her busy. I thought it used the kind of markers that only mark on the paper and not on other things but.... I was wrong. Instead they were the most deadly, messy markers I've ever come across. I thought for sure her dress was a goner but as luck would have it, it remained unscathed!!! Can't really say the same for the tablecloth though. It was so marked up they probably had to throw it away when we left.... ooops.

After a breakfast of strawberries with whipped cream, G wanted dessert. What better dessert could there be than strawberries with chocolate! G was fascinated by the chocolate fountain and wanted so much to do it herself. I just couldn't imagine that turning out well. Here she is carrying her prized strawberry back to the table.

Not to be outdone, Bobby enjoyed a little chocolate of his own!

This is G enjoying the parrots. They were quite entertaining screeching "bye bye" etc. Every few minutes they'd start fighting which G thought was hysterical. There was quite a crowd of people around watching G interact with the birds. She was really into it!!

G and my mom out front on the way out. G really wanted to sit on this canon. I have no idea why there are canons there but they make really great climbing toys as well as unique photo props!

After the morning's fun, we came home and G had a nice long nap. When she woke up it was windy so we went to the park and flew a kite!!! G held on the kite for a few mins but then lost interest preferring to go run barefoot in the sand instead.

It was an almost perfect day marred only by Brett and Casey's absence.