While it lasted...

This was her costume at the music together Halloween party. Couldn't get a good shot. We saved her real costume for the outdoors tonight.

Ready for anything

It went from 78 degrees to the 40s this week. Fortunately we have several pairs of mittens and Rikki was pretty fascinated by them this week.

Goodbye summer

After 78 degrees on Monday it is getting chilly and windy. On Weds we lost Rikki's first pair of mittens to a big gust. A gentleman chased them across Michigan Ave while I hung on to the stroller, but no luck....

Remembering Pops ....

Or Rikki meets Dickie. We spent last weekend in Ytown for my dad's unveiling. We were sad that he is gone, and we hope he knows what a fine new granddaughter he has. (In addition to his fine grandkids in DC).

Father daughter walk

While on our travels, we stopped in Pittsburgh to visit the Jenkins. Mom and Linda met us there. Here are Rikki and Davis strolling the grounds of the Frick Museum, where we had a lovely lunch.

Going to school

Max took his baby cousin on a tour of his new school, where she gave fist bumps to all of his teachers and his classmates. Max showed her his fist bumping technique. She was also especially fond of the steps.

Aunt

It's cool to have an aunt, but especially one who looks so much like my mom.

I'm holding my bowl sideways so that everyone can see all of my strawberries - or at least the ones that haven't spilled on the floor. Uh-oh!

Sitting

Skylar showed me lots of fun toys, but probably my favorite thing was sitting on one of her chairs. I love to sit but few chairs are low enough to fit me.

Love and Bumps

And from our guest blogger Cousin Ruth (Skylar's mom), here is today's
posting ...

>
> My new cousin Rikki is kind of small but she sure is cool. She even
> knows how to fist bump.
>
> Love and bumps,
>
> Sky
>

The baobao

Rikki calls babies "baobao" from the Chinese and that's what she said today over and over upon meeting the six-day old Sarah - who makes her look like a giant! So great that friends my age continue to have kids!

Cousin Skylar

She is my new role model, and her dad is so cool he can hold two of us on his lap. Wow!

Carousel

This was her first ride on a carousel, but she insisted on getting off and staying in my arms as soon as it started moving up and down.

Another shot

Little sisters

Rikki and I met my friend Teresa's new twin daughters and she got to play big sister. The twins are six months old and were born shortly before our trip to China. They flew in to see their grandparents in the U.S. Both moms had the inspiration to dress the kids in the outfits that our friend Sarah had sent. They really looked cute together!

Mixed metaphor or getting ready for Halloween?

Princess Sox fan dines on mac and cheese.

Check out my new chair!

This kid is fascinated with chairs and anything sittable. Good thing her sister Olive donated her Scooby Doo seat to the cause.

Now, if we could just get her to sit still ; )

Sisters

Here are a couple more adorable shots of the two sisters shot by Lizzie's mom Chen. I can't say they realized that history was being made a few yards away (i.e. the finish line of the Marathon) but we are glad they play so well together.

Marathon

We went to the Chicago marathon with our friend Lizzie and her parents. We can see the racers approaching the finish line from our window but we wanted to get a little closer and enjoy the 80-degree weather before winter sets in. I'm sure the runners wished it has been about 20 degrees cooler.

The two girls are becoming best friends. InChinese they are meimei (little sister) and jiejie (big sister) because Lizzie is one month older.
Their nannies organize playdates almost every day.

Bye Bye Choo-Choo!

I still haven't had much luck capturing her chatter on video - as you saw previously, she is too obsessed with the iPhone for me to hold it in front of her for that long. We had an evaluation done, and her speech/language is indeed delayed -- as compared with American children living in a home since birth. But for an adopted child coming from an orphanage and spanning two (or three counting Jiangxi dialect) languages, she is about on target. So as long as her understanding and her vocabulary keep expanding, we wont' worry. But we will be happy when she clearly differentiates between mom and dad.

Though the chatter video has not succeeded, she is fascinated enough with trains that I was able to capture this footage of her waving goodbye to a train passing by. We were playing in Grant Park. The weather lately has been lovely -- hitting the 70s every day. I'll take as much of this as I can get.

Another Oldie But Goodie...

This picture even pre-dates our trip to New York City, but ... so what? At least the three older people haven't changed in the meantime. It was great to join our friends Peter and Connie (pictured) for a picnic near Logan Square's farmer's market. They were here visiting their daughter Dalia and cousins. The weather cooperated nicely. We ordered a cheese crepe for Rikki, but I guess that the gruyere they meant when they said "swiss cheese" was a little too refined for her tastes.

Reminiscing...

For old-time's sake, I dressed Panpan in this little pj suit. We had sent it as part of a care package to her orphanage back in April. When she met us at our hotel, she was dressed in it. Of course, I had purchased it about two years ago, well before I would have thought to check the number of snaps!

Anyway, she hasn't worn it too often for that reason, but I wanted her to try it on before she completely grows out of it.

Another thing she is almost growing out of is her bottle. Her pediatrician wanted her to stay on formula longer than U.S. kids normally do just to ensure a good nutritional intake. She is almost ready to graduate to whole milk.

Togs

And here she's showing off some of her new togs (including some that her cousins bought her - you know who you are ; )

Livia lives!

With apologies (again) for tardiness, here is a great shot from our NYC trip of Panpan with Livia, daughter of Michael and Hillary. I remember her when she was 18 months. Now she is a volunteer at a day care center, and was full of games to play with toddlers.

Another brush with power

Today in the park we waved to what I'm told were obama's helicopters. Now we are reminiscing about the moment.

Dressed to the Nines

Meeting of the Minds

On our recent trip to New York, Rikki had an audience with Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter. Her views on education reform got quite a bit of attention. This was my first attendance at a higher ed policy meeting since we returned from China in June. But my daughter was really the belle of the ball. See next pic to see her patent leather shoes and cocktail dress.

Sorry to say I didn't snap a picture of her with her friend David, 2. But she had several playdates with him while I was had meetings. David's nanny's mother watched her and by all accounts everyone had a good time. The Upper West Side has good parks and the weather was quite lovely.

A week and a half later back in Chicago - not so much. Right now it is 44 degrees. I know I'm supposed to be happy because it may go up to 61.

My other regret is fallen behind on my blog posts. More to come soon....