Lia is going thru a stage where she wants to wear her "Ni Hao Kai-Lan" purple tutu dress. Every. Single. Day. Never mind the fact that she has a closet full of adorable clothes that have been gifted to her over the past several years. Nope, the $5.99 Walmart Kai-Lan dress it is. Everyday. God forbid when laundry day comes around and the purple dress goes in the wash...it's not a pretty sight. There are tears. So if you look at my photos here and on Facebook and notice that she always seems to be wearing the same outfit. You are not mistaken.
This week Lia went to the park and actually enjoyed the toddler swing for the first time. The last few times we have tried it, she was very nervous, and would start to whine as soon as we got any real motion going. This week she got going fast enough to feel the wind in her hair, and she loved it!
Lia also decided that a good accompanyment to her purple tutu dress is a pink feathered princess tiara. So that was pretty much the get-up everywhere we went this weekend...Starbuck's, grocery store, Dollar Tree, Texas Roadhouse, Lake Coeur d'Alene, IHOP, etc. People stop and say to her, "How cute, is it your birthday sweetie?" and we tell them no, she just likes wearing this outfit. A few of them give me the stink-eye - like I'm indulging her "diva" behavior. And maybe I am. It's certainly not worth a power struggle in my opinion. I know I don't pressure my little girl to be a "princess". We don't call her Princess, we don't play Princess, and we really don't watch any Princess movies (since they all have scary parts). God knows I am not a girly-girl type! I'm lucky to remember to run a brush thru my hair and put on some lip gloss most days... But right now she is definitely attracted to all things girly. If it's purple or pink, and sparkles or glitters, then it's okay with Lia.
Another interesting habit she's picked up over the past week, has been crawling around on the floor, following us around and pretending to be a dog. Tongue out, panting away... This seems to disturb our real dogs more than it bothers Steve or I...again, no biggie. Lia's an only-child. I'm glad to see her using her imagination!
We also continue to have daily "concerts" in our home. TV talent shows such as "America's Got Talent" and "The Glee Project", have spawned a performer! She grabs the flexible light from our portable lap desk, and uses it as a microphone, dragging it around the room as she belts out her tunes, uses hand gestures, and throwing her head back and closing her eyes on the big notes - it's hilarious! Once she is finished and we start clapping, she stops to take a bow...what a ham! Steve caught some of it on video the other night:
Our big 2.5 year old girl has grown almost an inch, and gained 7 oz. over the past month! Lia is now almost 37 inches tall. We are still trying to reach that elusive 26 lb. weight mark, however we'll take what we can get. Lia no longer wears a bib or sits in a high chair to eat (except at restaurants). She now sits in her "big girl chair" (booster seat) at the dinner table with us:
We are finally getting to enjoy some summer-like temperatures here in the Northwest. Lia loves to be outdoors and look at all the flowers. Every day she asks her daddy to cut some fresh lilacs so she can "smell" them. So we've been spending time relaxing on our back patio and grilling all sorts of new foods for her to try.
Since being out of arm restraints and back on a normal diet, Lia has really been packing in the protein! She now loves chicken nuggets and tenders, shrimp, sausage, hot dogs, scrambled eggs w/cheese, etc. She even ate several green beans one night (that was a first!) We always offer her green veggies, but she'd never actually tried them (w/out immediately spitting them out) before...
Lia saw her first hot air balloon in the sky last week. She has always loved balloons, and to see one so high up in the sky really blew her mind. Everywhere we drove she kept looking for it and pointing to it.
She also tried her hand at karaoke for the first time last weekend. Our neighborhood block party was held at the home of the family who had the machine. We were outside chatting, when I realized I wasn't sure where Lia had gone. We went inside to check on her and there she was, mic in hand, putting on a show for several of our neighbors. She loved it. We may have a future showgirl on our hands!
We had a great Memorial Day Weekend. My parents, uncle, and sister traveled to our house and got to spend some quality time with Miss Lia. My sister Tracy brought Lia a Tinkerbell gift bag filled with goodies. A "Barbie-sized" Tinkerbell doll, a couple pairs of Hello Kitty socks, purple sunglasses (Lia's favorite color) and large Koosh ball type thing. Lia was very excited over her new treasures and dolled herself up like a diva strutting around the house:
We also received very good reports back from Lia's doctors last week. Her surgeon was very pleased with how her palate has healed since her surgery May 4. At this point her palate looks completely intact, and she *should* not require any further palate surgeries until her adult teeth come in. We all have our fingers crossed that no more fistulas appear in the meantime. She is still eating only soft foods for one more week, and then she will be released to a normal toddler diet. We also hope that this set of eartubes will last longer than the first set did (only 3 months!) If we can keep them in place for 10-12 months, it is possible that her ears may not need them after that - or she may need another pair placed. We'll just play that one by *ear* (haha)... Her pediatrician also had blood drawn during her surgery for a variety of tests, and called today to let us know that everything looks good. All of her counts are within (or close to) the normal range for a child of her age. So all of that is good news!
In other news, my sister will be starting her third round of chemo (in three years) in the coming couple of weeks, so we appreciate all positive thoughts and prayers sent her way. Lia LOVES her Aunt Tracy! She loves to watch Tracy put on her make-up (something mama does very little of!) and she lets Tracy do her hair up in all sorts of cute styles:
Right now Lia is ALL girly-girl and absolutely loves Tinkerbell, Minnie Mouse, Princesses and Barbie, etc. She also loves "puppies" (what she calls dogs of all ages). But she mainly loves anything that glitters or sparkles. Her favorite color is purple, (with pink coming in a close second). She is also becoming somewhat of a clotheshorse, wanting to change her outfit several times each day and shoes by the hour. People always comment on how cute we have her dressed, and I always explain that SHE picks out her clothes! She is a strong-willed kid and no longer wants me to pick out clothes for her. But you know what? She has a great sense of style! Right now if a piece of clothing has one of her favorite characters on it, it is likely to be in high rotation...and shoes embellished with sparkles or flowers are also a high priority. We are going to work on potty training in the coming weeks. I'm hoping all the cute Tink and Minnie panties will be enough motivation to get this kid out of diapers. She seems ready. Wish us luck!
We are Julie and Steve. We live in the Pacific Northwest, and this blog is about our Life with Lia. Our daughter Lia joined our family from The Starfish Foster Home in Xi'an, Shaanxi, China in August 2010.
