Happy Birthday, June!

I'm a little early with this post, but what the heck. June turns two on Monday and she's totally ready to blow the candles, eat the cake, the works. Here's her dress rehearsal. Notice the bending of the knees in time with the song. Cameo appearance by Pepper who wishes it were HIS birthday, but he'll be happy to eat some cake at June's party. If she shares it, which is a big IF. 

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

We celebrated Chinese New Year with our new friends--June's babysitter, her husband, son and parents. It's amazing to see the changes in  June since I first dropped her off at Yuan's house in October. She would cry as soon as I turned into Yuan's street, then break into a full-blown wail when I pulled into the driveway. When I picked her up, she'd cling to me and say home, home, home. Broke my heart. Now I can barely get her coat on because she wants to stay and play with "ge-ge" (older bro' in Chinese, pronounced guh-guh). She calls Yuan "ai" - ah-eee, which means aunty -- and her parents, po-po and gong-gong (literally, old woman and old man, but apparently they're also used for grandma and grandpa). That's them in the bottom picture, and Yuan is with her mom, June and ge-ge above. June's picking up more and more Chinese--the other day, she walked into the house and said "ni hao, pepper!" I nearly died from the cuteness.