Trick-or-Treat

I SEE LADY BUGS!

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.

Samantha continues to grow, both physically and in her capabilities. Two weekends ago we had the challenge of putting Samantha in our car and driving down to Leamington. This was her first true long trip. We have to say that she really surprised us - she played for a while, then slept, then played a bit more when she woke up. The trip was about 10 minutes too long, and it was almost as if she could tell we were almost there and she was running out of time to give us a hard time. Considering how she could have behaved, 10 minutes of whining in a 3.5 hour drive is nothing to complain about.

The trip to Leamington was for our niece Lisa-Marie's wedding, but was also the first time that the Penner clan had the opportunity to meet Samantha. The wedding was fabulous, and Lisa-Marie looked absolutely stunning. Her now husband Herm took a lot of shots for his black on black tuxedo, and the name Johnny Cash came up more than once over the course of the day, but Johnny would never have been caught dead driving a T-Cup. Not your typical limousine, but somehow it was fitting.

Aunt Jean took a bit of abuse from Samantha, but all was forgotten once the Cheerios came out. That is until Samantha started to choke a bit on one of them and proceeded to demonstrate how Cheerios can become projectiles. Thanks Uncle Vic for taking one in the chest to make sure none of the other wedding guests were injured.

Since our normal accommodations were fairly busy, with the wedding reception taking place in the back yard, we elected to stay with our nephew Tim and his family. This gave us a couple more new experiences for Samantha. For one, she met her first dog - Hershey. Hershey is a full-sized Golden Retriever, and we weren't sure how Samantha was going to take to an animal that was considerably larger than her. On their first meeting Hershey came up to Samantha and gave her a big wet lick on the face. Samantha just laughed and waved her arms, not in the least afraid of this beast.

The second thing she was exposed to was a big swimming pool, which she absolutely loved. She's done well in the bathtub and the small plastic one on our deck, and showed no fear here. The splashing and laughs just kept coming, even after daddy backed away a couple of feet and Samantha decided to find out if everything looked the same from under the surface as it did from above. Daddy swooped in and pulled her back up to where there was air, and the smile was still on her face. We're starting to think that she's going to love the water as much as her mother does, so we've enroled her in the swimming program at our rec. complex. The chaufering has already begun, and this ones for daddy. Mommy's turn starts soon as well when she starts taking Samantha to "Tumbling Tots". Daddy may have to go and watch that one to see who's going to be doing the tumbling.

This last week she has started doing a lot of new things, the most impressive accomplishment, for her at least, has been her ability to get to a sitting position from lying down. Samantha has also become comfortable standing while hanging on to things, and we know this is going to totally change our lives. She is also pulling herself up, which means a whole new world has just come into her reach, and one more level of the entertainment unit that needs to be cleared.

We know the next step is just a couple of steps away - the gates. Won't be long before we're going to have to limit where she can get to in the house.

This weekend we're back to Leamington again for another wedding, our other niece Kristin. Hopefully Samantha will be good on this trip as well, and the first time wasn't just luck.

Samantha's 1st Birthday

August 2nd marked a milestone in Samantha's life - her first birthday. We were foturnate to have some of Shirley family present, namely Papa, Aunt Sandra and Uncle Roy, and Samantha's cousins Thomas and Taylor. The day before, August 1st, marked Thomas' 12th birthday, and the day that Thomas became a fully certified "Baby Sitter" having completed the required training earlier this year. After helping his dad change one of Samantha's poopy diapers we're not sure how long it will be before Thomas is ready to take on an infant by himself - if ever.

After 2 big family get-togethers last Friday and Saturday, Samantha's actual birthdate was considerably more low key, but didn't go without the required birthday cake which was shared by her and Thomas.

Samantha and her cousin Taylor kill some of the scorching heat in our backyard pool. Uncle Roy was doing Lifeguard duty.



Besides the gift of having some of the extended family come to visit, Samantha received a number of gifts from family and friends. She wasn't exactly sure what to do with all the packing materials, but will surely enjoy playing with all the toys and wearing the wonderful outfits that she received.

Samantha continues to develop at a rapid pace, and having her cousins around certainly helped.




Samantha and her cousin Thomas share her first birthday cake - but Samantha's not about to give up her Cheerio, which has become a food group of it's own.

Samantha's first hit of sugar had it's ups and downs - mostly ups.






She was really more into the chocolate cake than the icing.








Samantha has also gotten her first slide and swing set. It might be a little while before she's able to go down the slide by herself, but she does like the swing.
With everyone gone the house has become very quiet and Samantha is very sad that her cousins aren't around.

Mommy has decided that it's never too early to learn how to do laundry, but somehow I don't think that Samantha has quite figured it out yet.

Wow...Where Did 20 Days Go?

I can't believe that it's been 20 days since my last post. No wonder I've been getting some rather pointed emails asking what she looks like, since there haven't been any recent pictures posted. It's not that the pictures haven't been taken, it's apparently just that I've become lazy.

We continue to see amazing progress with Samantha. With Shirley's family visiting, she's had the opportunity to interact with other people, especially her cousins Thomas, Taylor, Tyler and Aliya who are always on the look-out for ways to get her in trouble. Oh yeh, if we're talking about trouble we can't forget Auntie Lana who's constantly on the look-out for ways to stir the pot. Fortunately "Papa" is here as well, and he is still the head of the family.

Terry, Heidi, Tyler, Aliya and Lana flew in on Wednesday, but unfortunately were only able to stay until Sunday. Sandra, Roy, Thomas, Taylor and Papa showed up on Thursday and will be here until this coming Friday. The visit from the family is a welcome distraction for us, and the extra sets of hands are probably the things that we will remember most from their visit. We also can't undervalue their child raising experience and the wealth of knowledge they have passed over to us - you know what I'm talking about, the stuff every mother eventually comes to understand but you can't find in any book.

Samantha has been absolutely wonderful in large family gatherings and her few recent visits to restaurants. She's still challenged in long car rides, but I'm sure we'll get that worked out in time as well.

Anyway, enough of the words and on with some pictures.

Moving Forward

Well, life continues to progress in the Penner household. Samantha seems to have adjusted her time and is now sleeping through the night, going to bed around 8:30 and getting up around 7:00. Unfortunately she still wants a couple of bottles during the night which keeps mommy ever alert listening for her fussing - need to get the bottle into her before she wakes up. So, as you can imagine, mommy is a little sleep deprived. Daddy gets to sleep, but still wakes when he hears Samantha and mommy, so he's not getting as much sleep as he's used to either.

Daddy has gone back to work, but is working from home as much as possible. Mommy still appreciates having a 2nd set of hands around, and daddy enjoys having lunch with the family and taking a break from work to go for a short walk with them. Samantha has finally gotten used to her stroller, and doesn't scream when we put her in it. She actually fell asleep yesterday when mommy took her for a walk. Hopefully this is a good sign for the car seat as well. We've taken a few drives in the car and she seems to be getting better, although she's not too keen about just sitting with the car not moving. She likes to see action.

Samantha is really coming out of her shell, and we're seeing a lot more of the little girl going through the learning stages - like all the funny noises she can make with her mouth. Drooling aside, she can be quite funny. Teeth still not here yet, but they won't be long. Samantha also doesn't let us forget her roots. She is definitely going to be the hot tempered girl from Szechuan Province.

Interesting how Shirley and I seem to have lost our names - we are now mommy and daddy. Kind of has a nice ring to it.

Dealing with Jet Lag and Time Change

Well, the first few days at home have been quite interesting. After the initial terror when we got home, Samantha seems to have adapted quite nicely to her new home. We still have her sleeping in our bed as we make the adjustment, and she seems to be taking over from Shirley by infringing on my side of the bed. We are still struggling with the jet lag and the 12 hour time change. Last night was the first time she sort of slept through the night, although she woke up at 11:00, 02:00 and 04:00 wanting a bottle. Finally at 5:30 she woke up again and that was it. This wasn't bad considering the first 2 nights it was up at 4:30 and 3:30. I don't know about you but I wasn't really in the mood to play at that hour, but that doesn't seem to matter. She is getting better at sitting and playing by herself. This morning she played from 5:30 to 7:30 with very little from me - I was just sitting there half asleep pouring coffee down my throat.

This morning was also our first walk around the neighbourhood with Samantha in her stroller. The whole concept of being restrained is something that we are going to have to work on, whether it's stroller, high chair or car seat. Samantha does not like to be strapped in, and begins to scream immediately. In the stroller she does settle down once you start to move, and in the high chair she's good once the food starts. Still need to figure out the car seat, but then again her only experience was from the airport when she really wasn't at her best. Like everything else, this will take some figuring out.

Some of you have also been asking how Rusty is doing with another person in the house demanding time from us. We had really expected that Rusty would become a recluse and basically stay down in the basement. We couldn't have been more wrong. Not sure if it was because we were gone for 2.5 weeks and he didn't get any attention, but Rusty has been up and around most of the time. He is for the most part keeping his distance from Samantha, preferring to be on the other side of the room our just outside in the hall, but he's not hiding. We are making an effort to spend time with him as well, and he's currently under the desk on my feet, a place he has always spent a lot of time.

So, we are adjusting. One thing for sure, Samantha's appetite hasn't changed at all and she'll eat almost anything you give her. The only thing she has refused so far is pork liver, and I can't really blame her for that. We thought Rusty's wet food smelled bad until we smelled this.

We'll continue to post for a little while, as we all adjust to expanded family life. We hope that you have all enjoyed following us in our journey as much as we have enjoyed sharing it with you.