1.31.07
I know it's been more than a week and some of you are Jonesing for a Mary fix. Well, here are a couple of pictures from yesterday.
Merissa Jones, who works in our Annuals' division took up knitting this year - to go along with jewelry making and magazine design - and made Mary a hat. It's so cool it should distract your attention away from the bump on her lip from face-planting in the toy box.
Mary and the guitar. Yes, that is my guitar - bought several years ago and not played in at least two. Mary is already a more accomplished musician.
This is Mary after having, literally, crashed. She was sitting cross-legged, trying to fight sleep, and tipped over. Leigh, at the risk of waking her, had to get a picture.
Weekend Visit
We had the great pleasure of a well-timed visit from Grammy and Papa Fresina over the weekend. With Mary now fully ambulatory, every moment is its own adventure. We had a great visit - even took Mary to mass on Sunday to hear Leigh cantor and direct the handbell choir. Mary made it all the way to Communion and was able to receive her first blessing from the Communion Minister. She also ate at two restaurants: our favorite, Good Old Days, and also had Sunday brunch at the golf club. She was very well bahaved and has come a long way in the five weeks we've had her in the US.
Some Pictures:
Papa asleep on the couch with his best friend, Byron
Grammy, Papa and Mary
Mary working the sunglasses
Mary on the floor with Papa and Byron
1/19/07
Here is another shot of Mary walking. Yes, those are drumsticks she's carrying.
Mary Orphanage Pictures
After we received our referal, way back in the early fall, we sent a care package to Mary's orphanage. In it were two cameras and a request to the director that they get some shots of Mary and send us the camera. Well, they took the shots, but didn't give us the camera until we were in China. Because at that point we were most focused on getting to know Mary, we packed the camera away instead of having the film developed immediately. Of course, we packed A LOT of things away and have just recently finished sorting. Yesterday, Leigh took the camera to our local Wal-Mart (no aquarium/seafooof aisle there) and got the pictures. Here are a couple of pictures of Mary in the courtyard/alley/street outside her orphanage. They were likely taken in October. More to come.
Mary Walks
It began on Monday night. Leigh was out and Mary - who hadn't had a nap - was trying to fall asleep in her high chair. She looked a bit like Hemingway sitting unsteadily in a saloon, alternately passing out and waking when his head thumped the bar. I had to keep her awake for a couple of hours and decided to get her down and finish feeding her while we played. While I was sitting on the coffee table and she on her stool, she stood up and took a few steps toward me to get a cracker. This went on for a while and I did capture a little video on my phone.
Last night, while I was out, Mary and Leigh were in the kitchen with Mary playing in a drawer full of placemats. Apparently, she decided she'd rather be in the Tupperware drawer and just walked over to it. For the rest of the evening, especially after I got home, we practiced walking.
She won't be doing the Running Man any time soon, or even the Super Bowl Shuffle, but it's pretty cool.
1.08.07
Time for an update.
Mary is doing great. She's started standing on her own and though she is still far from restaurant-ready, is a lot of fun to go shopping with. She's sleeping through the night - usually for 10-13 hours, but has little interest in napping during the day. Maybe it's the 12 hours of shut-eye she's getting every night! She is extraordinarily physical and always on the move. I think she must be made of Nerf.
Today's pictures:
Laughing during lunch. She is definitely the funniest person she knows.
Sitting on her Mary Stool on the hearth.
With Will Conroy, one of our closest friends who is, yes, wearing my Jack Daniel's NASCAR firesuit...just had to try it on.
1.08.07 Part II
I would everyone to keep a family that traveled with us in your thoughts. The Taylors, whose ninth-grade son Nick was Mary's favorite form of entertainment while we were in China, have found out that their daughter Sophia is suffering from Sturge-Weber Syndrome. The extent of her condition won't be known for some time, but the family is struggling with a brand-new addition to the family being hospitalized and having very few answers to what must be a million questions. They are an awesome family and Sophia is an amazing kid. Please send some postitive vibes their way.
