Silly me

Ting Ting was very happy tonight and was acting a little goofy.

"You are SO silly!" I said to her.

"No, Mama," she said. "I Ting Ting."

Carrying a torch

According to the official calendar, the Olympic torch will pay a visit to Ting Ting's hometown on June 1. Yueyang is in the northern part of Hunan province.

Shhhh! It's a surprise

Lauren and I took Ting Ting to get some new portraits made. I'm going to frame a couple of them as Mother's Day gifts for my mother and grandmother.


Because my mother doesn't "do" the internet, I can post some of them for you to enjoy now.

We took Ting Ting's favorite doll, "Baby," with us.

I thought most of them turned out very well . . .

. . . although she didn't always fully cooperate.


Here's the collage I chose for the gifts . . . do you like?

(Well, OK, we ordered just a few of the others, too.)

She calls them "Boo-daids"

Sleeping doll: $9.95

Box of "Dora the Explorer" Band-Aids: $1.98


Keeping a 2-year-old happily entertained for 15 minutes? PRICELESS

All mine

Scene: Back seat of the car. Brandon is teasing his little sister.

Brandon (grabbing her favorite doll): MY baby!

Ting Ting (trying to get it back): MY baby!

Brandon: MY baby!

Ting Ting (pointing to the driver): MY daddy!

Brandon: MY daddy.

Ting Ting: MINE

Brandon: He was my daddy before you were even born. MY daddy.

Ting Ting (pointing to the front seat passenger): MY mama!

(Brief pause)

Stepmonster Susan: She's got you there, Brandon.

Always happy when Daddy's home

Lance was out of town for most of the week recently. Ting Ting was very happy to see him when he got home -- and not just because he let her ride on his suitcase.

Daddy's Little Girl

It was cold and rainy last Saturday, so after we ran some errands I thought I would find a fast-food restaurant with a play area so Ting Ting could run off some steam. I pulled into a driveway and was slowly driving past so I could look inside -- no play area, darn it -- when a little voice from the back seat announced, "I want chicken nuggets."

Gee, maybe Daddy has taken her to the drive-through a few times, huh?

So, OK, I got in line and ordered lunch to take home, then I drove to the next window and paid the nice man. "Thank you!" he said.

"No, thank YOU!" said that little voice in the back seat.

Yes, her father taught her that, too.

Easter basket

Ting Ting's Easter basket had a bit of a "Dora the Explorer" theme this year.


You can see she was dressed appropriately.


She went straight for the non-Dora chocolate bunny, though.


Mmmmmm.

What else do we have?


Ahhh, stickers!


We had made an attempt to color eggs on Saturday. Lauren offered to help Ting Ting, but, being the artist she is, she also wanted to color some of her own. Ting Ting had a bit of trouble at first -- the only thing she knew to do with a hard-boiled egg was to crack and eat it, so she didn't really grasp the concept of coloring and decorating. I thought she might enjoy the stickers, but she quickly lost interest and left the table, leaving me to finish up the ones she started.


So can you guess who did which?

Oh well, there's always next year.

One very fine day

I won my first-ever NCAA tournament pool! I think I would have placed first either way, but having Kansas beat Memphis in overtime last night (sorry, Beverly) was the icing on the cake.
I was the only one in that pool who had picked KU as the winner.

Oh, and a guy who works for me was one of the Tribune crew who won a Pulitzer prize yesterday. Just the most distinguished prize in all of journalism. I think he possibly was even more excited than I was when KU sent the game into overtime.

Yep, a very fine day.

And it got even better when I discovered my friend Michelle finally had received approval to return to China to adopt a sweet little boy! Michelle's husband is in the Navy and was about to go off to sea for six months, and she was afraid they wouldn't get permission in time for him to travel with her (or even meet his son for several months). See -- good news does come in threes!

Rats

On Feb. 10, we all headed over to our agency's Chinese New Year celebration (ushering in the year of the Rat). It's an annual tradition in our house: this was the fourth year in a row for Lance, Lauren, Brandon and myself; the third year in a row for Casey, Candace and Aunt Chris; the second year for Ting Ting; and the first time for Aunt Gloria.

But I think Aunt Gloria enjoyed it.

Happy Ting Ting

Aunts and uncles and cousins came to our house in January to celebrate Ting Ting's 2nd birthday.


She loved it all, from the cake to the Dora napkins and plates to the gifts to singing the birthday song, which she calls "Happy Ting Ting."


Most of all she loved having her family here to celebrate with her.


Ting Ting wore the "birthday girl" hat her teacher made for her at day care. She also wore her birthday gift from her grandparents, a Predators hockey jersey. On the back it says "Ting Ting" and has a big 2, representing her age. It's absolutely adorable.


Her birthday gift from Mom and Dad was a red tricycle. She loved pushing it around the family room.

She even took Elmo for a ride.