Somewhere only she knows!

Early September 2011, we joined the Rodgers' for dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant (Fu Wing Lo) or as we call it "Kenny's". The owner; Kenny, has been a friend of Iris' family for many years, ever since the family began dining at Kenny's father's restaurant in the Los Angeles area. Both Diane and Kenny are very kind and have a special bond with Tanith, who is not only Chinese but also became a part of our family in the same city as the two were born.

As it is customary after dinner, we sit around for a few minutes and converse a bit with Kenny and Diane.  While talking to them and waiting for the bill, Tanith stood on one of the restaurant chairs, against her better judgement and just as I decided to talk her down, it occurred to me, that it had been a little over a year since we came back from China and Tanith had not been exposed to much Chinese aside from the occasional Ni-Hao-Kai-Lan TV show.

I asked Diane to instruct Tanith in Chinese of the dangers of standing on a chair and to please seat down. What followed, was not only amazing but it revealed to me a very important detail of my daughter's identity.

Upon hearing Diane's commands in Chinese, Tanith immediately paused, fixed her eyes on Diane's and the sweetest, most endearing smile slowly formed on Tanith's lips. Tanith was happy and without loosing sight on Diane, she grabbed onto the back on the chair and slowly proceeded to sit as instructed.

The amazing part is not only that she understood her native language, but the fact that I was able to see that my little girl had traveled back in time to a place that is perhaps full of friends and wonderful memories of her very short past...a place that only she knows!

Grandma's Birthday

The family went over to my mom and dad's house on Monday, Sept 26th to celebrate grandma's birthday. Had a nice dinner and some leftover birthday cake from the previous days celebration.  Happy Birthday mom/grandma...we love you very much!

Lovely Day for Football

Had a wonderful day on Sunday with the family. Started by waking up at 6:30 am to get ready...out of the house around 7:30 am and on our way to San Diego to see a Charger game. Tanith was dancing, playing and cheering all day...just having fun. She is such a trooper and did not want to miss a minute of action...so really no nap, until after the game was over (only a 30 min in the trailer) and then we headed out and got home around 7:30 pm (full day).  Great food and fabulous time with friends and family!

Weekend Stuff

Spent the day hanging out at home working around the house, then had a nice visit with my cousin Sam and wife Karen and got to meet the baby twin girls Delaney and Audrey.  It was a short visit, but Tanith played a little with her cousin Tyler and loved looking at the twins...you can tell she just wanted to hug them tight. I got to hold one of the babies, but that was short lived as Tanith did not like it...never seen this reaction from her before, but seemed she got a little jealous that mommy was holding another baby.  She actually ran over to me and wanted up.  After our visit we went over to my parents house for dinner and to see my sister who was visiting from Arizona. We also got to pre-celebrate Monet's 3rd Birthday (Monet turns three on Sunday) and enjoyed watching the girls play. Turned out to be a nice relaxing Saturday.

Here are some photos from the day.

Labor Day at the Santa Ana Zoo

Today we decided to spend some time at the Santa Ana Zoo.

Tanith loved seeing all the monkeys and even got to ride a camel. We walked through a Rain Forest, although Tanith did not like it so much when it would start to rain. There was a large pond that had a lot of turtles which sparked her attention.  One of the turtles was trying to climb out of the pond and almost made it up, but another turtle blocked its way and back into the pond the turtle went. This upset Tanith, as she was very concerned for that little turtle. Love this about our daughter, she seems to have a true love for all animals. We wrapped up the day with some lunch and then back home for some rest. It was definitely a nice relaxing family day.

Checking In...Two Years and Two Months Old

Decided that an update was in order.  Tanith is two years and two months old today. Weighs in at a respectable 26.6 pounds and is 34 inches tall...I know she has grown taller since the last check in, so I must have gotten the numbers wrong somewhere...but close enough.

What's New:  Tanith is speaking a lot more clearer these days and of course there are the words that we just understand because we are mommy and daddy. I have been singing her the ABC's since we got home from China and she is finally trying to sign along.  We are also working on her 123's, Shapes and Colors...for some reason she will say two and three, but avoids one :) I think its on purpose because of a game daddy plays with her.  She has also started using her Leap Pad learning book that we originally gave to her cousins when they were little.

She no longer let's me dry her off after bath time...she insists on doing it herself. I had created a little song with sounds that I would sing to her when I dried her off from her bath and now she does the same thing...super cute (I know...everything is super cute).  In addition she wants to dress herself and is the master of putting on (and taking off) her shoes.  We know once the shoes are on...they will be off just as fast  Even takes her shoes to bed with her...I think she practices...not joking.  I knew this day was coming. The day our little girl would do more on her own, but a little piece of me misses our daily routines.  She is definitely an independent, strong little girl, but she still loves bubbles and her Pooh Bear and I do not think that will change anytime soon.  Everything needs ice. From a little scratch, bump on the head and sometimes she fakes it...ice she says...ice ice ice (at home its a frozen bag of green beans).

She has a few new things that she enjoys doing, which consists of playing with Play-Doh and her new Barbie house.  Here favorite books are Dear Zoo and Dirt is Delightful. Taking pictures with her IPod is a daily activity and and she will take pictures of everything, especially of the dogs and us.  She continues to set the photo up by making sure that we are standing in frame, in the right spot and then tells us to say "cheese". 

Say's "me mommy" every time she wants to see what daddy and I are looking at...needs to be involved in everything.

The potty training has officially begun, but slowly.  She occasionally tells me when she needs to go to the potty and gets an M & M for telling me, one for #1 and two for #2..so sometimes she scores with four M & M's.  She even pretends that her Pooh Bear needs to go. Tanith is still asking "why" and I absolutely love when she says "thank you mommy".  Still working on saying "no thank you" instead of NO...correcting this when it happens with a nicer "no mommy" for now. 

That sums up what is going on now and I will update again soon. Here are some photos from the last two months.

Tanith took this photo of Todd, Summer and Alyssa during dinner.