Elizabeth River Run

This year, the Elizabeth River Run was splendid. The venue was ideal, starting and ending at the Intelos Pavilion. We met up with our gorgeous friends, Margarita and Migdo. Amy was an angel. I walked the 10K at a 17 minute per mile pace, which is a lot to ask of a 2 year old, who is sitting in the stroller. She would go from singing, to pointing out boats and airplanes, to minor intermittent crankiness. At the 5th mile, Don circled back to walk with us, and we actually got her out of the stroller. Amy took the last mile in with us. Don ran the race in a sub-8 minute per mile pace!!! We thoroughly enjoyed resting in the Ghent Chiropractic (HEE HEE-of all things!) tent while Amy drank Gatorade and danced, Mommy and Daddy rehydrated with ice-cold beer, and we rested our weary legs. After the race we refueld at the Village Inn and then came home for a family nap.

You don't want to go to the fishy museum, to see Spiderman on the IMAX screen, or to play at the beach?

Amy had strange behavior today. During my yoga/babysitter session this morning, I mentally crafted what I thought would be a fabulous Mommy/Amy day. I created a day in my mind where after yoga, Amy and Mommy would go to an oceanfront al fresco lunch spot, play in the sand or on the boardwalk, and then go on to the Virginia Marine Science Museum. There, we would stroll through the ceiling high fish tanks, shark tanks and the outdoor harbour seal tank until it was time to watch Spiderman 3 on the ultra-big screen. I was so excited, I could barely keep my balance in the standing poses.

So when I got home and announced my plans for us, she said, "no beach". "No fishy museum". "No Spi-ha-man". My perception of her accuracy in answering is clouded by the fact that she only recently learned to articulate yes and no, and has had some errors along the learning curve. So in my mind we were still going to the beach, the fishy museum and to Spiderman.

Then she said, clear as day, "Amy stay home", and I realized this was no mixup of negative vs. affirmative. So, I didn't get to see Spiderman, and instead played on the deck with plastic food halves, held together loosely by velcro, which are part of a toy grill-set.

My 2nd Mother's Day as Amy's (aka. "The Ster") Mother!!!!!!!!!!!

I am the luckiest woman in the world. Don and Amy took me to our local breakfast spot. There they surprised me with the Ipod Nano, engraved with a lovely message, in magenta. This device gets 250 on a scale of one to 100. I wish my dad were alive to appreciate that the preliminary computer work he was involved in, has led to toys, like the ipod, which are enjoyed by the masses.

We then ventured to Edgewater, to lovely Linda's annual Mother's Day feast. We grimly accepted Garmin's prediction of a 4 hour drive. We chose not to accept lovely Linda's invitation to spend the night, due to the "Big girl bed project" going on in our house. We are looking forward to closing the book on this noisy night-time project, so we bit the bullet and went up and back in one day for consistency. Garmin understimated!!!

Once we were there, it was all worth it to see family, eat Linda's gourmet vittles, and to receive the happy news of Megan and Aldo's engagement. Amy cleaned up, as Mike's family showered her with a toy store worth of toys, and Mom gave her a nice puzzle.

On the way home we stopped in Newport News in a random sushi restaurant, and found the fish to be as fine as any sushi restaurant in Cali or any posh location anywhere. Too bad the service was so weak!!!

I have to repeat, what an angel we have in Amy. She tolerated 10 hours of driving yesterday with only about 45 minutes total of fussiness and only a small temper tantrum in the sushi restaurant. Don and I were struggling to hold our own temper tantrums back, so we feel she is remarkable.

Happy Mother's Day!

Over the river and through the woods...

To Aunt Linda's house we go......!



No, this is not a bindi on her third eye, it is a mosquito bite!

She mimics everything!

This new mimicing behavior is probably good. Soon, I won't have to have someone watching her to go to yoga; she'll come with me! And we are getting more interest in walking/jogging than in sitting in the stroller. Pretty soon, I think, we'll just go walking together. She ate about six pieces of sushi last night. And she dances any time the music is compelling. That's my girl!

Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde

Mom, I am so glad you found a way to comment. I hope it keeps up.

Amy has been a little split-personality this weekend. On Cinco de Mayo, she cried during the entire nap attempt. No, not cried, wailed. She was inconsolable then until dinner time, and so we did not go to the party we were invited to. When dinner time came, she remained inconsolable, and rejected dinner completely. So, I carried her back to her big-girl bed and put her down sans dinner. My nerves were shot, and my Cinco de Mayo celebration was with my pillow at about 9:00.

Then today, she has been sunny and loving. She even had a solid two hour nap today. She ate like a champion for lunch at sushi. Ahhh!

Hope anyone reading this had a margarita or a mojito for me. Maybe next year!

Adios!

Comment worth commenting on

"By the way D & J, did you hear the report about China cracking down on adoptions with stricter requirements (no on over 50 years old, min. $80,000 wages, no anti-depressant use, etc.)."

Thanks Michael for bringing this up. I'm glad I get to go on my soap box. There has been a ridiculous amount of media attention about the changes that went into place this month in China regarding adoption rules. Let me just say, if you want a negative spin, trust the media. If you want a rounded view, do your research. We chose China's program because of the unbelievably good health statistics of the orphans in the healthy international pool, the fact that they were the MOST liberal country when it came to age requirements, because of my desire for a girl, and because, simply, asian girls are so amazingly beautiful. There were many other reasons that were appealing about China's program, too, but not enough time.

What if China had more demand internationally than adoptable infants? How should they weed out candidates? Wouldn't it be great if one reason that the pool is becoming limited is that abandonement is reducing, and domestic adoption is increasing? While I am in extreme grief that our window of opportunity for a second angel from China came to a close, due to our age, I feel that the China program is the best opportunity for international adoption, if you are me.

If you go to a reputable adoption site, like Holt International, that does adoptions in most of the countries that have large programs, you will see that China's program still is more liberal than most. From my own incomplete research, I think China's program is the most reliable, enjoyable and likely to produce happy parents. Just my soap box. Thanks again Michael for the
comment!!!!

One last rant. Thankfully the US is more accepting of psychiatric treatment than other cultures. I cannot change China's culture. I wish I could improve ours to remove the stigma and barriers for people with mental illnesses to get treatment. I grieve for the students, friends and families of the victims at Virginia Tech. We've got to do something in this country. Please comment. And please, if you know someone that needs help with depression or another possible mental illness, help them get help.

Amy's first night sans crib!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, it has been h&%^#$@)+? on wheels around here. Amy has been up religously at 5a for four to five days now. This upsets my pattern of coffee and goofing off at 5-6a. Oh well. We lovingly accept all of the challenges our new hunny bunny presents, because the high points frankly outweigh the bad ones. And the experience is knocking my cobwebs out, or re-setting my operating system.

The little angel climbed out of her crib solidly for the past 3 days. So, daddy had marching orders to convert the crib to a toddler bed on a school day. Thanks Don. We made a big deal out of the transition, and even had "Happy Birthday Cake" in honor of this important rite of passage. As I type, Amy and Don are sound asleep, respectively, in their big-person beds.

The last picture is Amy training to do stunts on a surfboard.

I need help from any Blogster.com savvy people. Since Blogster upgraded, and required me to change to the new format, I have had a hard time, but not impossible, commenting on my own, and other people's blogs. Grandma wants everyone to know that she is very intersted in commenting and dialoging, but can't get the comment process to work. I can't even help her, I guess unless I'm there. Maybe I should go visit my mother! I've looked in Blogster's help index, and I've looked at my settings for comments, and can't find an answer. Suggestions are welcome.

Lastly, to Kate, Karli, Karin, Linda, Michael, Alicia, Miss Patricia, Whitney, and anyone else I'm inadvertently ignoring: Thanks for hanging in and commenting on Amy's blog. We appreciate it.

Namaste!