Daddy Day!

Roses are red
My eyes are gray
I want to wish you
The best Father's Day!

A day in the life of a little girl whose dream came true the day her daddy said "OK, let's adopt a little girl so she can be the princess of our family."

Making Breakfast

Getting ready to make scrambled eggs for daddy. (Yes, Kristina styled her own hair with the clips!)

Watch out, Rachel Ray... as this video shows ~ Kristina makes some scrumptious scrambled eggs!

Opening Daddy's Father's Day card

Celebrating cousin Alex's 12th birthday

The Deary boys digging into cake and ice cream.

Talking to Poppy in FL ~ we MISS you so much!

Kristina is quite proficient with using the iPhone...watch out...she may call you sometime!

Reading Grampa his Father's Day card

Kristina wanted a picture with Nana *and* the moon!


Happy Father's Day, Daddy and Grampa


I love you. You love me. We're a happy family.... (yes - we watch Barney!)


Daddy and his "Princess"

Perfect t-shirt: I LOVE being daddy's girl!

Precious Moments

Our morning routine:

5:30 -- I wake up to shower, dress, get "presentable" for the world
6:05 -- I wake up a slumbering little girl...unless she has heard me and she stumbles out into the bathroom with her hair all matted stating "too bright" in reference to the lights being on.
6:10 -- Potty break...yeah for dry pull-ups atleast 5/7 days a week!
6:15 -- Breakfast together at the kitchen table. Usually we both have cereal or toast.
6:35 -- Brush teeth
6:40 -- Get dressed and put hairbands in the hair (yes, this is the same girl who would NEVER let me touch her hair but now has to have pig tails or pony tails daily)
6:50 -- "Good-byes" "hugs" "kisses" "more hugs" and "love yous" to daddy who is usually still sleeping or watching the stock exchange from a warm bed
6:55 -- Out the door to school/work

Nothing exciting to most but what I have noticed is that Kristina is growing up in front of us at warp speed. One morning, as I was rushing her into the car and saying "Come on -- Mommy is going to be late to work" --- I just stopped. Kristina was trying to get my attention to the birds on the lawn as they really intrigued her.

My pseudo type-A personality wanted to just keep going..."can't get off schedule." But I have learned to stop. I sincerely want to enjoy every second with this little girl because as it is now, I don't get to spend as much time with her as I'd like. (Darned this "must make a living" gig...).

As I give attention to Kristina, Kristina, in turn, gives it to her baby doll. Kristina ***loves*** to be the mommy. When we get to school, Kristina gets out of the car seat and proceeds to put the baby doll in the car seat, wraps her in a blanket, talks to her baby ("ok, baby, I see you later, ok? Oh, you want another kiss? ok, baby."), and leaves her either a toy or "reading material". This was the scenario this morning. She capped it off by saying, "Mommy, cheese! Take our picture."

So I obligued gladly. :)

After strapping baby in, Kristina gives kisses and off to school she goes!

Like a good mommy, Kristina can self-feed and take care of baby at the same time! (Notice the signature "bed head".)

"Man, this motherhood thang is tiring....but, oh so rewarding!"

Just another ordinary day full of precious moments. :)

Aloha!

This past Thursday, Kristina's school had their "end of school year" celebration, the Hawaiian Luau Program. It was held at 7pm which made it possible for most parents to attend. Kristina was lucky because not only were Jon and I both able to be there (even though I was so sick with laryngitis), but also Nana and Grampa!

We got there early to try and get "good seats" but quickly found out, so did most other families. Guess parents will do anything to get good shots of their "star!"

After the 2-year old class performed (or should I say "stood there frozen like statues while the two teachers danced"), then it was Kristina's class's turn. To the sounds of applause, the 3-year olds appeared from the classroom. Kristina had tweeked her lei ~ swiftly placing it behind her after having pulled her shirt out of her grass skirt. But after a few moments, I was able to overlook her dishevled appearance as our little angel took to the stage. Growing up, I was never able to get up in front of crowds, nonetheless dance like Kristina does, so I truly admire this little girl's outgoing personality. (Heck, I couldn't sell a box of Girl Scout Cookies if my life depended on it! Thank you, again, dad....)

Anyways -- as the music played and the teachers stood in front of the children and danced, most of the children stood there looking out to the audience frozen with stage fright, while a few children simply bawled. However, Kristina and her friend, Gaby, danced their hearts out making us so proud!

Not so sure what her hand and arm gestures stood for but our little girl shook those hips like a "professional" hula dancer. No doubt - we'll be signing her up for dance classes as I think we've tapped into some sort of hidden talent!

Now, without further adoo, we present to you our little kaikamahine ("daughter", in Hawaiian)!

As the kids take to the stage, notice the little boy checking out Kristina!

A short video clip as the program begins. Kristina is the forth from the right...one of the few moving. As luck has it, I cut off the video just as she started getting into it!

Although distracted like the other kids, Kristina heard the music and busted her moves!

I found Kristina rehearsing this "clapping" portion of the dance several days beforehand. She had it down pat!

Kristina knows how to shake those hips!

One proud Daddy with his little girl.

Kristina with her BFF, Gaby ~ relieved it's over!

Kristina was thrilled to see Grampa and Nana make it to see her hula.

This little girl just brings so much joy into our lives, can you tell??!

"Mahalo for stopping by and checking up on me!"

Another "First"

The one quality that our daughter has which fits me perfectly (and always has...) is that she can be a nightowl --- she would prefer to stay up late vs. crawling into bed and going to sleep. Plus she loves to sleep in which means she's a true Deary through and through.

Around 8pm each night, after bathtime and reading books, we start turning all the lights off in the house (except maybe the TV) as Kristina snuggles into Jon's or my chest before going to bed. Lately, she's been falling asleep more and more on us which makes it very easy to just place her in her bed and wha-la...she's down for the count.

Tonight, we got home late due to car trouble when we were at Laura and Chris' house (sorry guys -- a 5-minute visit turned into a 4-hour howdy-do!). Around 9:45pm, I was in the living room gathering up all of Kristina's baby's toys and I heard her go towards Jon who was working on the bathtub faucets. Figuring she was just supervising his work and trying to fix the faucets herself, I didn't check on her.

Ten minutes later, Jon came out and signaled me to see her. Our angel was there, in her own bed, sound asleep. This is not only the first time she has initiated going to bed on her own, but it is the first time she has gone to sleep alone without the company of either me, Jon, a grandparent, a classmate at school during naptime, an orphanage caregiver, or a slew of other little children at her side. This is a big deal!

Going to sleep has always been one of our challenges since coming home last year. And if it's our greatest challenge, then we know how lucky we are. We have some friends who adopted a little boy shortly before we brought Kristina home (who was in Kristina's grupa as well!) and they have the same experience. If I try to leave the room before Kristina has fallen asleep, then she will cry or follow me out, over and over again. For a short period of time last year, the Super Nanny trick (of placing her in bed and slowly inching our way out the door) worked. But I stress, it only worked for a short period of time. I swear Kristina falls asleep with one eye open...just to make sure I'm still there!

Recently, I started letting her fall asleep on our bed and then moving her when she's sound asleep. But there are many times Jon and I just love having her there between us ~ so we just let her stay. We figure she'll grow out of this soon so we'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Next step: Moving into a big-girl bed. She's still in the crib-converted-to-a-toddler bed. The big-girl bed is in the garage and will be one of our many projects this summer. Perhaps having a big-girl bed will encourage more of the going to bed on her own. Yeah...I can dream!

Sound asleep amongst the company of her favorite babies and toys.