It's hard to believe that summer is over and it's been almost 4 months since we were in China. So much has changed in our lives, and it's all good.

For Samantha the summer has meant three trips to Leamington - cousin Lisa's wedding, cousin Kristin's wedding (both shown playing balloon with Samantha) and Thanksgiving/Oma's 80th birthday, so Samantha isn't the only one whose life has taken a new direction. Each of these have meant a 3 1/2 hour car ride which she has for the most part handled quite well. That was until the last ride back when she choked on a Cheerio and cleared it by throwing up, once again proving my decision to fabric guard the interior of my car was a good one.

The other major challenge for Samantha is her doctor appointments. Not having much of a medical history for her from China we need to put her through the full gamut of tests. Fortunately our pediatrician referred us to a hospital to get her blood work done. Although she cried through the whole procedure, I think mommy actually came through it with the most emotional damage. After it all Samantha still managed to wave bye-bye to the nurses on the way out. We have also decided that we are going to redo all of her vaccinations. Although we were given information from China on what she has already received, there's no way to confirm that they were actually done, or that the drugs used were full potentcy and not expired. This way we're sure that she's received all the right shots and she is fully immunized. It is painful for Samantha, and for us to watch, but well worth it in the long run.

Now for the really spectacular part. We were beginning to believe that Samantha has mystic powers. As you can see, Samantha appeared to be able to put herself into a trance. At first we thought it might just be sleep walking, but then we started to notice that some of her toys had mysteriously gone missing, and were just as mysteriously starting to re-appear. We had done a thorough search for the missing items, but they were nowhere to be found.

Finally Shirley noticed the secret behind the mystic. Samantha was hiding her toys under the entertainment unit. It is just a small opening, so it was tough for us to get under there to recover some of the toys, but Samantha's small hands had no problem. It was almost like she wanted them someplace where nobody could get at them. Her trancelike state was merely a ruse to keep us from looking too hard to find them. The next time Samantha faked going into her trance Shirley exposed her, and Samantha could no longer contain herself. She knew that she had been found out and there was no way that we were going to continue to believe her act.

Now Brian is another story. Not having been around Samantha much, and with his wife Michelle expecting, Brian was open to understanding what goes on in a child's mind. Samantha picked up on this immediately. Once again Samantha fell right back into her old tricks, and knowing she only had one shot at it went for broke. The picture tells it all - Samantha has Brian totally convinced that she can make the object on the floor disappear. She put herself into her "trance" and started the con. Fortunately mommy was watching and stepped in, but not until Brian learned lesson #1 - kids will play you for all their worth.

Okay, so what is really happening with Samantha? Well, in terms of crawling she may as well be planted on a skate-board. She can get from one side of the room to the other in no time flat. She can also get from crawling to standing up against furniture, then walk the length of what she's holding on to without any trouble. This of course has meant that practically everything is within reach. We've secured the family room and kitchen and put gates on all the doors. Unless she develops new super-human strengths, I think we're good for the time being.

She has also produced 3 new teeth - 2 on the bottom and one on top. Clearly this isn't the end of it as she continues rubbing her gums and pulling on her ears, but I think we've been saved from all the drooling by the fact that her teeth are coming in considerably late. Her lack of teeth certainly hasn't slowed her down from eating, and is eating just about everything put in front of her. Clearly showing signs that she's a Wong girl, she follows in her mother's footsteps with her appetite for ice cream and her uncle Terry's love of potatoes. Not sure that she'll get to the point of ordering potato pancakes with a side of fries, but time will tell.

Activity wise, she absolutely loves to swing. She goes down to our local park almost every day, and spends about 1/2 an hour with mommy pushing her. She is absolutely content just going back and forth. She also makes a couple of trips a week to the Ontario Early Years, which is provincially run and provides programs and activities for children and their parents. She has already made a few friends there, and is learning how to socialize with other children. She also has weekly Kinder Gym and Swimming lessons, so she's actually got a better social life than mommy or daddy.

She continues to amaze us in regards to what she picks up, and we really need to be careful of what we say and do. Not that she's talking yet, but she certainly mimicks our actions and sounds. Much to Shirley's dismay the first words spoken were Dada, but Mama isn't far behind. Before we know it she'll be walking, talking and creating huge challenges for us. And we can't wait.