Leap Day

We missed Molly's first year and eleven days of life and that will always be a little bit sad. We are grateful that we met her when we did but thinking of the time that we could have been together and removed her from life in an orphanage is a bit painful, but it just got a tiny bit easier. Because today it struck me that we get an extra bonus Molly day because today is leap day, the one extra day on the calendar that comes around every four years. By my calculations with these days bonus leap days we will have caught up to that missing year in only 1500 years. Well, one down and 1499 to go.

Spring Festival

Although Chinese New Year is celebrated for only one day, in fact, Spring Festival is a longer event so it was just last night that we went to the annual FCC chinese new year banquet. It was a special event for Marie and I since we first attended in 2006 while we were a waiting family. Being there and seeing the dozens and dozens of little girls smiling, playing and obviously in loving families made us want to bring Molly home that much sooner. We didn't know at the time that our wait still had over a year to go. This time we had our girl with us and she could finally join in the celebration. It is a loud and sometimes chaotic affair in a banquet hall that is packed to the rafters with families but Molly loved it. The pictures aren't great since it was dark and so crowded it made it hard to get great shots but you can get the idea. She loved the Chinese acrobat who balanced stuff on her head and the magician who did tricks and juggled on a unicycle.


We thought she might be scared by the dragon dancers but she was brave. They enter the room banging drums and cymbals and two dragons weave through the room. Molly sat and watched them pass her by and then she got bold and dragged me through the room chasing the dragons. She got right up close and touched them (although she did grip me a little tighter the closer they got to her)


They had a smaller dragon for the kids to play with and she loved that. When the bigger kids would put on the head and run around Molly was brave enough to go under the silk and become part of the tail.



The night ended with "fireworks" for the kids - huge rolls of bubble wrap that all the kids jump up and down on and fill the room with crazy popping.


She really burned the midnight oil dancing and playing with some of her friends she met in China, Lily and Jin Jin. We didn't leave until after 10pm. We had every expectation that she would fall asleep in the car but no such luck. But after a few books and a tooth brush she was pooped and went down fast, dreaming of dancing dragons no doubt.
Marie had the chance to speak with a waiting Mom while we were there and we love that. Being able to speak to people who are in the situation we were and knowing that we took comfort in speaking with new parents at the time is very gratifying to us.
We also had a woman approach us who was a self-confessed Mollyholic! She knew Molly from the blog and told us her husband pointed us out from across the room by saying, "Aren't those the people who make you laugh? He's over there making goofy faces right now." She is the Mom and author of the andjemmamakesthree blog which we watched while we were waiting. It was great to meet a Mom who helped us survive the wait and for her to meet Molly in person.
It was a great night and a lovely final way to welcome in the year of the rat.

Molly hosts a pot luck with friends

On Sunday night three families from our bouncing munchkins play group came over for a little play time and a pot luck dinner. It was so nice to get together and have the Dads join us, everyone had a great time!

We set up the kids table but we weren't sure if the kids would go for it? They lasted on their own long enough to snap some good photos then it was back to sitting with Mom and Dad for all of them.

The Day After

I had a realization the other day that, while I am indeed looking forward to Molly's 2nd birthday on June 15th I am even more looking forward to June 27th. That is the day that she will have lived with us longer than she hasn't. We tell her all the time that she was a part of our family all along from the day she was left in her box with her pink blanket and that we just hadn't met each other yet. But for Marie and I, and for Molly too, everything changed on June 26th 2007 when she was placed in our arms. That day will be it's own anniversary for us but that day after...that will be special. From that moment on for the rest of our lives we will have been a family longer than not. The way it was supposed to be. The way that feels right. The way that makes everything in life better.

Strong Baby!

A while ago Dad taught Molly "Strong Baby" and she flexes her muscles. She learned it in the tub. In her mind the only way to do Strong Baby is shirtless, which I guess any body builder would tell you is correct. So when Marie said "Strong Baby" to her while the camera was on her she flexed once then thought the better of it, stripped off her shirt and gave it a real "Strong Baby".
We found this hilarious.

Ducks!!!

Molly loves ducks. She has rarely seen them outside of her books but she loves them just the same. We wanted to increase her experience with live ducks so off to the park we went. There is a huge park really close by that has tons of space and lots of ducks. We brought along a loaf of bread and she had a ball. It was the kind of southern California day that people cite as the reason we all live here, it being February and all. Sunny, warm, bug-free and the air was filled with Molly laughs.

She took her first few tries on a big girl swing.

Daddy chased her.

We sat by the creek. It was a great day and she took a serious nap that afternoon!

Our Little Artist

Today Molly and I met some of the Moms from our Culver City Moms Club play group (the bouncing munchkins) for "messy art" at http://www.play-losangeles.com/  This was Molly's first time with a paint brush and she dove right in and loved it.  Mom loved it because she could get messy and it wasn't at home so I didn't have to worry about the clean up.  We can't wait to go back again with Dad!

A slumber party

The day recently came where we bit the bullet and took Molly off her bottle.  We never thought she would still be so good at taking an afternoon nap and sleeping through the night but she hasn't missed a wink with a little help from her friends.

These photos were taken when I finally woke Molly up after one of her three hour afternoon naps. I am not bragging and don't want to jinx us, I am just proud of our big girl.

Molly's new desk

Molly has been experimenting with coloring and clay and I have had a hard time finding a good place for her to do this where she feels comfortable and won't damage our furniture.  I finally found this new desk for her and it's a big hit!  She sits here and colors, scribbles and plays with her stickers and molding clay and Mom gets to bake and cook dinner.  For any one interested it is called "The write desk"  by step 2, the best $40 we've ever spent.