January 29, 2014

You have taken on, and successfully conquered, your third country. Okay, maybe conquered is an exaggeration, but you took on Thailand with great success my darling girl. This was your first trip to see Nana and Papa in their home and to see where your mommy grew up.

I was proud of you for how you handled the cultural changes. The language didn't phase you a bit (you even learned a few phrases and have enjoyed continuing to use them since our return - sa wa di ka; kop kun ka; tuk tuk; maa). Most of the food you handled well or didn't complain about if you didn't like it. You immediately developed an immediate and probably enduring love of papaya. And you tolerated being pointed at and touched by complete strangers at random times with complete calm and grace.

We rode elephants, saw monkeys, went to artists' village where you indulged your artistic side in painting a box, rode a pony on the beach, played in the sand, went swimming every day, saw and fell in love with orchids and frangy pannies, and overall had a delightful trip.

I hope you are able to keep some memories of this trip darling, and someday we can visit again and see more.

January 8, 2015

Your dance studio performs the Nutcracker every year. And while, for the next few years, we probably won't participate in that (although you do have that option), I did enjoy watching you perform in class a little dance you learned. And it made me happy that you were able to dance with Patches.

January 3, 2015

Recently, you rediscovered the concept of "reflection." We talked about the word and what it meant. And then you spent the rest of the day finding your "refction" in spoons, doors, mirrors, car doors, etc. And a lovely "refction" it is too darling.

January 1, 2015

Happy New Year little girl. You did not stay up until midnight. However, we have been practicing saying 2015. You had 2014 down pat; time to move on.

So looking back over December memories, one of the things that really has stood out to me was your sweetness towards your brother. With all the cottage Christmas parties we attend, we've been talking a lot to you about how you and Z don't always get gifts from the groups (although sometimes we're extra blessed and you do). Most of the time, we provide you a gift at those parties (for now....). The first party I tried to see if I could do just a gift for you as Z really isn't old enough to know or care. But no, that was not okay with you. He needed a gift to. This was very important to you.

And this year you asked if you could get Christmas presents for people! So you bought daddy a video game and helped daddy pick out a present for me. And we had to take a special trip before ballet one day to make sure you had a gift for your brother because that was a big deal. And I'm glad you're learning generosity and wanting to include others.