Pass the Calamine

Quick post of the last few days:
Goofy boy decided to hang himself up on the front door the other day. I love when I happen to be holding my camera when he does something silly for the first time.

Kai and I had fun hanging out with my sister last week. They made M&M cookies per the little man's request. Kai enjoyed watching her Kitchen Aid combine all the ingredients. At our house, the definition of homemade means we "just add butter and eggs". Kai got a kick out of measuring and dumping the very messy flour and sampling the brown sugar.

Kindly ignore the cream cheese oozing from the baby dragon's mouth. I wanted to show you the lovely little rash Kai has developed this week. It would seem that our visit to the Children's Museum resulted in a stow away virus. He has developed a nasty cold and this sad looking rash all over his body. He shouldn't be contagious much longer but the pediatrician said that we can expect the rash to stick around for a while. Poor kid. It has been a rough winter for illnesses around here.


Rob and I were listening to Kai over the baby monitor this morning. It is highly amusing to listen to Kai entertain himself with songs, story telling and make believe. Today we were spying on him as he jubilantly kept repeating "Hooray!!!" In jest, I said, "I wonder what he found in his room to turn into confetti?" (Keep in mind that his room is very bare due to the "creative" ways he has shown he can rearrange his room). Well, when we went in to check on him, this is what we found...

...he had removed the foam toddler pillow from its pillow case and shredded it...making confetti and tossing it into the air. :)

We had another day of gorgeous Spring-like weather, so we headed outdoors again for some fun on the swings. The fresh air did him some good and he looks forward to the snow in our forecast. Hopefully his scabby face looks a little more clear in the next post. Until then, we will be sticking close to the ointment.

The Great Outdoors

Mid-February and temps of near 60 degrees...awesome. We had a lovely afternoon in the yard today. Kai was his usual busy self. He rode in his car and wagon, played on the swingset, and "explored" the woods behind our house.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

This weekend we attended the BIG Chinese New Year party for the families connected through our adoption agency. The event is beautifully organized and decorated by several families that pull the whole thing together. The facility becomes transformed by large silk panels that hang floor to ceiling, an array of delicate paper parasols, Chinese lanterns, drums, and more. The Chinese food is always Delicious and there is a DJ, traditional dancers, Kung Fu demonstrations, arts and crafts, photo booths, vendors selling Chinese goods, and of course the fabulous Lion Dancers. We joined three other families from our travel group and enjoyed the opportunity to catch up and watch the children play together. There aren't many photos because it is simple waaaay to hard to get good shots given the large crowd, and very fast moving three year old.

This picture was of our cake for a CNY playdate we had this week.

Kai, our broccoli lover, was still snacking while watching the performers.

There were several tables with activities for the kids. Kai had his face painted....several times. He made two Dragon masks, painted a paper lantern and cut out his own lantern with rainbow velum. There were also tables with aromatherapy, jewelry making, origami, and fingernail painting.


The Lion Dancers were the grand finale. Kai is always mesmerized by the booming percussion instruments and the rhythmic dancing of the Lions. He LOVES watching them leap in time with the music and the acrobatic skills they perform. Kai really enjoyed this Year of the Dragon festival. We are eager to go back next year.

Happy Birthday, Kai!

Our little Monster turned the BIG #3 on January 14th. He had a Nonster Bash party; two actually. On Saturday, our families joined us for round one and then Kai's friends and our local friends helped us celebrate on Sunday. Unfortunately, between a boy that never held still for two minutes and a glitch in the camera setting, I got very few non-blurred pictures from either party.

The first photo was taken a day or two before his birthday. Kai decided to make his own cake with play-doh. I couldn't find the extra candles so a cut up straw did the job.









Kai got a big thrill, riding with his Daddy around the yard, on my snowmobile at a veeeeeery slooooow put, put pace last week.

In preparation for the Chinese New Year, Kai helped with making the traditional red decorations. We hung paper lanterns and paper dragons to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. Next weekend, we will join many of our travel group friends at the annual New Year party for families connected with our adoption agency. We are super excited to see everyone again and cannot wait to see the fabulous Lion Dance.

Hey, look at me!! I'm a regular blog poster this week!

It was a bit chilly, but Kai and I headed outdoors to give his new trike a run on the pavement today. Boy does that thing move fast. It is waaaay cooler than the one he had been using with plastic wheels; this thing really grips the road. He hasn't mastered the steering yet, given his increased speed, but we'll get there. Hey,since I'm chasing him, I'm getting a little exercise now, too.




When he isn't riding it in the house, it doubles as his buffet table. :)

When 3 year olds attack...

Our friend, Jessica, and her daughter, Delia, came over for a playdate this week. After we fed the kiddos, they scampered off into the living room to play with Kai's Christmas presents and the mommies to the opportunity to fix up our plates and have a bite to eat. We were listening to their happy play as we sat in the next room savoring our two minutes of uninterrupted conversation. They were out of sight 2-3 minutes tops before I decided to peek my head around the corner and check out what they were doing. Queu the shark attack music....Dah nah, daaaaah nah, dah nah, dah nah, dah nah.....



Yup. Markers. I wish I had gotten close up shots...they were QUITE a sight. Faces, hands, necks, inside of mouths, walls, the mirrors, the window, the art table, stools, and the red end table. We were singing Crayola's praises for having invented washable markers. Everything came clean. The kids helped with clean up and we eventually resumed our eating once the contraband had been collected. And that, folks, is why Kai cannot be entrusted with markers, paint or crayons without direct supervision. My bad; I totally forgot that they were left out.