Hot Times in the City

Kiki at our local playground.

She's grown so much (though not her hair). Here's a picture from last July.

A week at the beach in the D.R.

It was hot. Really, really hot. The sun was blazing and the humidity was near 100%. Good thing the frozen coconut drinks and sodas were all part of the package.

This was Kiki's first experience with beaches. She was hesitant at first, but she soon dug right in.


The water was beautiful. Not an oil slick anywhere....yet.



Unfortunately, we couldn't say the same about Europeans and their Speedo's.


The pool was a nice alternative to the beach. Minimal sand, perfect for wading in with Kiki. And closer to those frozen drinks...

I was pleasantly surprised with the resort. Clean, pretty and comfortable.


They even put in a few nice touches.


My biggest complaint was that nearly all the restaurants on-site were not air-conditioned. Nothing like having soup...or sushi...in 90-degree heat. Mmmmm.

There were a few A/C'ed restaurants, but they were considered "upscale" and it felt weird to bring the cranky Kiki.

On the bright side, the open-air eateries were nice and casual, and random servers would often go out of their way to smile and say hi to Kiki, sometimes dancing for her, which she LOVED. (She'd wiggle along in her highchair.) The Dominicans really love kids.


Thanks for a great vacation, DR!

Kiki meets her Halmoni

Kiki spent a quiet morning playing near her halmoni. I think they both enjoyed it!

First walking, now talking

These days, Kiki wakes me up every morning by pointing to her nose and saying, "noooooooo" which means nose. Then she points to her eye and says "aye", her ear and says "eeeeee". Every morning. So weird that that's the first thing she thinks of every day.

Scott said she went up to him this morning, handed him her shoe and said "here is a sock". I'm convinced he was hearing things, because I don't think she really has sentences down yet.

She is still very attached to her pink hoodie. On the day she went to the playground without it on (it was in the wash), she kept grabbing for all the other babies' pink things. I guess she felt something was missing...

Kiki's walking!

Kiki started walking last week!

And right around that time, she started INSISTING on wearing her favorite jacket that Lisa Eemo gave her and carrying her little Easter basket all over the apartment. Sometimes, she wants to wear her hat and shoes, too, like she's always ready to head out the door and do a little shopping.

Oh, we're doomed.





(Sorry for the bad images -- camera phone is the best I can do these days.)

Here's a pic of Kiki wearing a cute tank sent by our babysitter's mom in Canada, her very own fashion fairy godmother. As you can see, Kiki still doesn't have a lot of hair, but what she has is getting longer. At least she's finally getting a couple of new teeth!



After getting her 12-month immunization shots (at 13.5 months--oops), we decided to hang out on the front stoop with the other babies in our building. (Of the 8 apts in the bldg, 3 of us had babies in one year...and now 2 of us are pregnant again!) Cecilia (the girl next to Keeks) is 6 months older, and Jacob (in front) was born within minutes of Kiki. Amazing!

Time to pick up the laundry.

Spring brings romance!

The snow and cold finally let up for a weekend, so we took Kiki to the park on Saturday and Sunday for a long overdue romp in the playground. This was Kiki's first real social encounter with other little ones, and it didn't take long for the kisses to come out!



Still, she's only a baby and she got bored pretty quickly.