Crying in the Bathroom

Since Kylie went to the "Twos" class at school, she has been friends with Neil. For a while, she would come home and talk about what she and Neil did at school. Since then, the girls (and the teachers) have taken over as the main conversation of her day at school, but we still hear about Neil from time to time.

Today Kylie was eating her dinner and negotiating her ice pop dessert, when she said, "I heard Neil crying in the bathroom today." Of course this comment gives rise to many questions in my head...mainly, what was Kylie doing listening at the door of the bathroom that isn't in her classroom!?! Notwithstanding that, I engaged her in further conversation by asking her to clarify..."You heard Neil crying in the bathroom?" She responded affirmatively, so I proceeded with, "Why was he crying?" She tells me he was sad. I said, "Well did you tell him everything would be OK?" Again, affirmative response, but my curiosity is not satisfied. "So, why was Neil sad and crying in the bathroom?" Finally, I get more, "Because Nathaniel PUNCHED him!" Since I'd never heard Kylie say punched...I hid my "funny-new-word" chuckle and then asked, "So did you feel mad that Nathaniel punched Neil, because that isn't nice?" feeling so proud that my daughter is so sensitive and protective of her friends. She says, "No, I wasn't mad...but Neil was!" And Kylie's world continues to revolve around Kylie. :-)

Mickey and Minnie's Magical Adventure on Ice

This fall is all about Disney for Kylie. Her morning cartoon as she gets ready in the morning is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she will be Minnie for Halloween, and she is headed off to Disney World in a couple of weeks. So it is only appropriate that we took in Mickey, Minnie, and friends on Ice at the Panthers hockey arena.

Luckily, we had third row seats for the show and Kylie got to see all her favorites up close. Kylie had asked earlier if she could wear her Minnie Mouse costume to the show, but I told her she had to settle for wearing her Minnie Mouse T-shirt. Of course we sit down next to a little girl wearing a Minnie Mouse outfit, but Kylie only pointed it out to me twice. :-)

After the show began, she was so excited and shorted out who each character was as they came out on to the Ice. When Ariel and Sebastian skated by us. Kylie got so excited that she even peed a little on Daddy's leg! He wasn't thrilled, but was more sympathetic once they returned from the potty as she really had to go!

Harvest Moon Festival

Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar (September 14, this year), when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qiu jie." Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface.
The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal.



However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon Festival.

So in celebration of the Moon Festival, we headed to the Norton Museum of Art for their 3rd annual celebration of the festival. We met Amy and Mia there, which was great since we hadn't seen Mia in a couple of months and she has grown so much. We toured the gallery, made dragon pendants, heard the story of the festival from Sagwa the Siamese cat, and did a little shopping in the gift store for some souveniers.

Kylie admires some Chinese craftmanship.

Kylie reads up on some Chinese art (while mom, dad, and Amy try to ponder how they can take a picture of Vanilla Ice, who is sitting right behind Kylie at this point playing a game of "Chinese" checkers!)

Kylie and Mia give each other a hug goodbye.

In Search of the Perfect Ballerina Bun

All I can say is, we're getting there. Here's Kylie off to ballet class this weekend...

Halloween Preview

After considerable Disney character debate, we agreed that Kylie would be attending the Halloween festivities this year as Minnie Mouse. So before she changed her mind again - I ordered the costume. I think she was very pleased with her choice once it arrived.

This year, the Halloween festivities include a trip to Orlando with Mima and Papa for "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween", which we got a glimpse of last year. I'm glad she stuck with Minnie Mouse, as I suspect she will be a little different than the sea of princesses that will be roaming the park.

Into the Review Room

We found out today that our dossier has moved into the Review Room. While we probably won't hear for a few months that it is out of review and the Match Room is likely years away, it feels like a solid milestone in our second adoption from China nonetheless.

Tonight, as we were getting Kylie ready for bed, she asked if she had a sister. She is really in love with the idea of having a sibling these days, and she speaks about it frequently and calls her dolls "baby sister" or "baby brother" sometimes. Hopefully we'll be able to return to China with her someday and bring her little sibling home.

Not So Fast My Friend...

Just as we thought things were settling down with Kylie's new bedroom done (post to follow soon) and her doctor clearing her to come off of her skin medication, she broke her front tooth for the third time tonight while swimming underwater in the tub. So...back to the dentist for a fourth round of bonding (the 2nd round broke off a day after we got it done, so I can't blame Kylie for that one).

On top of that, our often-neglected dog Lexi (left) managed to get herself stung by a wasp just over her eye and broke out in hives all over her 100 pound body! First, I thought she rolled in a pile of fire ants as it was mostly on her legs, but the veterinarian said the bumps were hives and it was just an allergic reaction. Since I have never had hives...the thought of doggie-hives never came to mind, but I am sure glad it wasn't fire ant bites all over our poor Lexi.

Big Girl Room

Caught on Video

As promised, here is the video that Dan took on his cellular phone at Barnes & Noble when he realized Kylie was going to "perform" on the stage in the Kiddie Section. While the picture quality is really bad, I think you'll get the point. To help you follow along...she starts out with, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls...", talks about how tall the trees are, calls the Rabbit on the wall "Hop" and then shows some of her ballet. Too funny!

Clearer Days

With Hurricane Hannah long gone and Hurricane Ike on its way around us to the Gulf of Mexico, we had a weekend of beautiful weather. Hot, of course, but no rain. In addition, Kylie's skin has made great strides each day with her prescription medicine, and she is looking a lot more like her old self. Here are a few shots of her all dressed up to go to...the bookstore. Yes, Kylie is a big fan of the bookstore, which is why she picked out a pretty dress to wear. We later learned that she had a big stage show planned in the Kids' Section of Barnes and Noble (which we will upload if we can figure out how to get it off of Dan's phone), so her interest in wearing a dress made more sense in hindsight. By the way, this is her token funny face. She loves it.

Preparing for a "Fiesta Celebration"

With the weather so nice, Kylie decided to take her kitchen outside and prepare for a "Fiesta Celebration". (Can you detect the influence of Dora the Explorer?)


Evidently, there is much preparation that goes into such an event, and the paparazzi was asked to leave several times.


At the end of the day though, I think the hostess was very satisfied with her event.

Hurricane Ike

While we are well versed in hurricane preparation, having been through 3 solid hits in the last few years, and we know how much the hurricane projected paths can change over a 5 day period...this is never what a South Floridan wants to see. We live about 25 miles ESE of Lake Okeechobee, which you can see in the center of Florida on the map. Yesterday, the 5:00 p.m. advisory indicated that Ike had become a Catergory 1 hurricane with winds of approximately 75 mph. By 5:00 a.m. this morning, wind speed had increased dramatically to 145 mph - a Category 4 storm. While the storm has slowed to approximately 135 mph winds at this point, still a Category 4 storm, there is a good chance it could strengthen again according to the forecast. So for now, we'll keep a close eye on it, likely spend the weekend preparing, and hope the meteorologists are wrong, as usual.