Two Einsteins, a clown, and a lion

On May 20th we used our Disney passes for the last time. They expired on the 20th. We weren't sure we even wanted to go, but we are so glad that we did! It was only my mom, Konnor, Yunnie, and I because everyone elses passes had expired. We weren't going to stay the whole day so everyone else opted not to go.

I woke up around 5 AM and realized I had forgotten to check what time the park opened. I got on the internet and logged onto the Disney website. I think it is one of the most difficult websites to navigate and somehow the MGM site opened. They have shows that are kid related (Playhouse Disney and Bear in the Big Blue House being my absolute favorite!), but other than that, I don't think it is the most kid friendly park. I was about to close the window when I noticed it said you could dine with JoJo and Goliath. I like that show so I looked at the picture and it had a character I didn't recognize. I went ahead and clicked on the info button and was amazed to see that you could dine with JoJo, Goliath and Leo and June from the Little Einsteins. The Little Einsteins is Konnor's favorite show. He is always trying to play Leo and making the girls play Annie and June. I told my mom about it and we decided we would try to have one last splurge and see if we could get reservations. I had to wait until 7 to call and when I did they had one reservation left! Yeah! We were scheduled to eat lunch with the gang at 2:15.

There was construction and so we ended up getting slightly detoured and didn't make it to the Magic Kingdom until 10 AM. We did make good time though - only 3 hours to get there. I realized I had forgotten Yunnie's shoes and I tried to find cheap shoes for her to wear but didn't have any luck. She was bummed because now she couldn't walk around. We rode a couple of rides and then park hopped to MGM.

We told Konnor I had received a phone call from one of his friends who wanted to invite him to lunch. He was very excited, but had no idea who would invite him to lunch. He thought it might be his friend Quinn, from school. When we got in the doors his jaw dropped! It was totally worth it to see his reaction!. He was so excited! They had a great arrangement. There is no racing to see characters because they individually come to your table. They also had intermissions every 15 minutes or so where they got everyone up from the table to dance with the characters. Konnor was a hoot and I loved seeing his reaction. He hardly ate a thing except two bowls of ice cream. He got up and danced and sang with the characters and was in awe that Leo was there. We had great reservations. We ended up being one of the last groups sat and so we were sat in front and as time went on, the place was less and less crowded. We also got lucky and every character came around twice. Yunnie didn't want them near her and so Konnor got all their attention. It was good for him because he has really had to take a back seat since Regan came home and he has handled it beautifully. It was a nice surprise that he got something just for him. He kept saying he was so surprised that he got invited to lunch! Leo told us he loved us all and Goliath came up and hugged me because I guess he heard me tell Konnor that he was my favorite. June kissed Yunnie on the head which was not very appreciated by the Yun. It was such a good time. The whole experience was a great time and it made the trip up to Disney totally worth it.

We then headed back to the Magic Kingdom to ride more rides. Yunnie did much better on this trip and wasn't too scared during any of the rides. She like It's a Small World the best. She even sat up and watched all of Pirates of the Caribbean. We left later than we intended and didn't get out of the park until 8:30, but we still got home okay and Konnor still talks about his best friend Leo and the lunch party!

Bed Head

Two posts in two days! Wow, can you tell I am coasting until summer break?!?!? We actually have some 1/2 days so I might actually be able to answer emails, talk to people, etc! I had to post some of my favorite pictures of Regan. The ones I will blackmail her with later in life when she is bringing home boyfriends!

The picture of her eating was when she started to eat solid foods. Before I could stop her she picked up one of the dog's rawhides and started munching! I figured two seconds of rawhide licking wouldn't hurt just so I could snap a picture!

The bathtub picture was when I was waiting for the bath water to cool a little bit. I now keep the door completely shut. I noticed her crawling down the hallway and when I got to the doorway she was sitting in the tub, happy as can be! She wasn't going to wait for me to get her in the tub! I quick removed her shoes and then snapped the picture.

She does keep me on my toes!

Mother's Day

A little bit late, but I had to post about my first official Mother's Day. On Friday, Allison and Elizabeth came home from school bearing gifts. Elizabeth gave me strict instructions that I was not to go near her backpack until Sunday. Allison wanted to tell me right away what she had made and I had to keep telling her to keep it a secret until Sunday! My brother was up to something and kept insisting he had to borrow Yunnie for awhile on the weekend. I know he loves her dearly, but after spending Monday through Friday with her all day I knew he didn't feel the need to see her for hours on end on Sunday without being up to something! My mom already warns him that the weekends with Yunnie are hers and he gets to spend more time with her than all of us. I can't wait until summer when school is over and I can spend good, fun time with Yunnie. Anyway, on Sunday we went to church and I came home and took a nap while Jason borrowed Yunnie. (the nap is needed because Yunnie is still having problems sleeping ahhhhhhhh!) When I woke up I was surprised with a ladybug cake Jason made for me, presents from the girls, and we made dinner at my house. The Chinese writing on the cake reads "Happy Mother's Day".

Allison made me a cup with paper flowers stapled to it with " good-fers". Pick a flower and it is "good-fer" one favor (clean the room, take out the trash, etc). She was so excited to give me her gift, it was really cute. Elizabeth had made a picture and wrote about why she loved me (fill in the blank style). It was really nice and she stood in front of everyone to read it aloud. Konnor and Yunnie painted big flower pots, one for me, one for my mom and they had planted flowers in the pots. I wondered why Yunnie smelled like a kindergarten classroom when she came home! Yunnie borrowed some money from my mom to get me a gift card. The gift card is so that I can go buy Regan a toddler bed to try and start transitioning her to sleeping on her own. I am desperate for a decent night's sleep. It was all great and it was nice to have everyone together.

Not to get maudlin, but I have spent alot of time lately thinking about Yunnie's birth mother. I look at Yunnie and she is doing so many wonderful things. I see the things that her mother is missing and it makes me sad. Yunnie loves to hug and she will squeeze your neck and pat your back as you pat her rear end. I also think of Yunnie's first eleven months and wonder who she loved when she was just one of many in the orphanage. She desperately craves love and to imagine her sitting in a crib, wanting to give and receive love and having no one there just breaks my heart. She comes to me when she is hurt, wanting comfort. Who comforted her in the orphanage? My guess would be no one comforted her. She just sat and wanted love. She is actually going through a very clingy stage and doesn't like for me to give anyone else attention. If one of the kids is touching me, she will come up and push them away. If one of the dogs is on my lap, she tries to push them off. She cries like her heart is broken when she is told she has to share me and we don't push. Given her background, I feel for her, but it is an important lesson she has to learn. She even gets jealous of my books if I am reading and tries to push the book away or tear the pages.

On a more positive note, Regan is making such progress! These are some of the new things she has accomplished in the past month or so.

1. Waves hi and bye

2. New words: hi, bye, mama, mah (my mom), bad baby, ouch (she usually says this as she is pulling on someone's hair!), no is still the most frequently used word.

3. She has a baby doll who she knows is named Baby ( I know, not very original!). When asked "Where is Baby?", she will go and get Baby for you. She also pushes Baby around in the baby stroller. She also puts her over her shoulder and pats her back just like I pat hers. She says ahhhh in a nice voice while patting baby's back. It is the cutest thing! Right after loving on Baby, Baby usually is tossed to the curb.

4. Drinks out of a sippy cup or a regular cup with a lot of overflow!

5. She pulls her pants up and down. She is usually being ornery and does the opposite of what I want. If I'm trying to pull them down, she is pulling them up. She's quick!

6. She can now climb on the kitchen table and do chin ups on the bathroom counter.

7. She loves purses and walks around with them over her shoulder.

8. She can climb up to the top step of the bunk bed (the ladder now spends most of its time on the top bunk)

9. She has 6 and 2 half teeth.

10. She is now almost completely out of twelve month clothing and into 18 months.

Those are just a few things! She is so amazing. I can't do anything about the first eleven months of her life, I am just so glad she is here with me now.

Finally, my mom was driving home and came across the most amazing thing. She came back to get me so that I could see what she found. Along the side of the road was one of the eagles eating a carcass. We have two eagles' nests in the area. One is down by my mom's house. The other nest is on my street. We love watching the nesting process. Nesting season is just over and the two babies from my nest still fly around the neighborhood but are rarely in the nest. To see an adult eagle on the ground is something I have never run across. We were so worried it had hurt a wing or something that we stayed around until he flew away. He was magnificent.

Park Pictures

A couple of weeks ago we went to the park. I completely forgot to download the pictures! What was so amazing was that Regan played in the dirt. She has come a long way from the little girl who freaked out over a blade of grass! Her shoes are not quite the same anymore, but we've gotten alot of use out of them. I actually had to take the squeakers out of her white shoes because they were quite distracting during church. She is now refusing to walk, lazy bones and I am worried her knees are going to be permanently black. Crawling is so much faster for her that she refuses to take the time to learn how to walk more than a couple of steps. Anyway, her pink shoes don't see as much squeaker action because it is the tops of the shoes that are feeling the abuse! She did enjoy climbing all of the playground equipment. She can scale the rock wall thingie, climb up the small slide, and she can hang by her arms from the bar for several seconds. As you can see, she is still refusing to smile for the cameras. Little stinker.

A Little Disney Magic

My mom, Konnor, and I had a very pleasant surprise several weeks ago. We used to be annual passholders to Disney World. What with expenses from the adoption, trip to China, and Regan's hospitilization there have not been any added splurges. I got a letter from The Mouse a couple of weeks ago with the usual savings, please renew you pass, save 35$ if you do it by your anniversary date of May 20th. What! I backtracked and reread the anniversary date because I think it means my pass is still good until the 20th of May. I called Disney and sure enough! My mom, Konnor, and I had all bought passes on the same day and they were still valid. Yeah!!! Mickey Mouse here we come! With everything that has gone on, we figured our passes were expired and never thought another thing about it!

We headed to DW on April 18th. I thought my little adventurer would love Disney World. She did not. One of my favorite characters is Jiminy Cricket. This started when Konnor was little and he loved Jiminy Crickwit. We were walking around Tomorrowland when a Disney person stopped us to tell us Jiminy was down in a gazebo and only comes out a couple of times a year. I have never seen Jiminy (probably becomes he only comes out twice a year!) . We got to wait in a very short line (I don't do character lines unless is is a true favorite, they are all so long) under a gazebo with a fan blowing on us. Not too shabby. Jiminy was there in honor of Earth Day and was teaching everyone how to save the earth. The kids also got to release lady bugs because they are natural pesticides. Because ladybugs are considered lucky in China, I thought this was fitting. Regan had the same reaction to Jiminy as she did to the Easter Bunny only not as loud because the giant green cricket didn't try to hold her.

Unfortunately, Allison did not get to ride any rides or see Jiminy because she made the mistake of being dishonest during several incidences in the two week prior to our leaving. She also called her daddy a liar when she was caught being dishonest and so she did not have such a magical day. That is why she is not any very may pictures.

Anyway, we rode all the rides and it was a beautiful day. Regan did not smile much throughout the day. She was sober for much of it and I think it all worried her. She did not even like the carousel ride. I couldn't believe it! She is such a daredevil, I thought she would love every minute.

The Magical Part:

Regan took her first steps!! We were hanging out in a restaurant eating dinner and Regan was sitting at a seperate table with my brother, his girlfriend and my mom. Regan wanted more of my chicken fingers. My brother stood her on the floor and she walked three steps toward me before hitting the floor. So exciting! She also learned to clap and she did so appropriately during the Monsters, Inc show. She also learned to point (we've been working on this forever!) and she finally pointed on the It's a Small World Ride. I was pointing out all the things to her and telling her to "look". She pointed up in the air and copied me saying "ook". She hasn't quite mastered where to point and will often just point up in the air and throw her head back to look up. She does do a cute new dance though with her "pointers" out - kind of like a John Travolta disco dance move with pointers up in the air!!!

Pictures:

1. The group with the best dressed giant cricket in Florida.

2. How to do Disney cheap: Bring in all your own drinks, uncrustable sandwiches, goldfish and cheese and only eat snacks at the park.

3. The kids posing (well, two kids posing, the little one trying to pick Konnor's nose)

4. My brother and I have pictures when we were younger on these things, the tradition has been passed down

5. Regan's new trick: refusing to look at cameras. About two minutes later she was looking for me though. As soon as the teacup really started spinning she was looking for her mommy!