At the park...

Hi guys! Here are some photos from the park near our house. Makeba and her cousin Evan played together at the park for an hour and a half! That's a very long time for their short attention spans! They were so cute! Annand had his camera out the whole time, snap, snap, snap! Those two kids are so happy to play together! That afternoon we saw 3 airplanes, 2 trucks and a lot of sand! It was so great when an airplane would fly by and the kids would both stare up and point and say "pa-lane!" Makeba loved the slide and the swing. Evan loved climbing all over everything. They both loved walking back and forth across the ramp at the skatepark. Evan calls Makeba "Bikaba" and only she can make him giggle hysterically.

Anyway, things are going well with us. Makeba is growing up alot. She's sleeping in her own bed in her own room, and loving it. She still gets up a couple times a night, but one of those is closer to morning, and the other one is not a consistent wake up. Some nights we actually get a whole sleep like normal people do!

Makeba is really learning words very well. She can put together sentences up to five words. She counts to 10 (more or less, sometimes she forgets "6"). She also likes to sing the ABCs. She enjoys watching TV (like her father) and has some favourites on "Kids CBC" including "Bruno and the Banana Bunch" and "Gofrette" and "The Doodlebops."

Makeba loves to sing. We figure we named her well! She really loves music of all kinds. Dancing is a regular event in our house. We love dance parties. Makeba especially likes it when Dada or Mama carry her around and spin and twirl with her in our arms.

She has started to call me Mom and Annand Dad. She'll say "hi mom!" in a sweet little voice, or "bye dad!" when Annand goes to work. She still calls us Mama and Dada, but occaisonally drops the "a" at the end.

We pray together every night and Makeba's favourite prayerful song is "Hail Mary, Gentle Woman" and when Makeba sings it the prayer goes like this: "Hail Mary, full of grapes..."

Well, I'm so tired now, so I'll sign off! Peace and love to all of you!
Hania

Hello!

I know you are all annoyed with me for not posting any new photos for over a month! Sorry!

Anyway, here are some of the latest. Our little Makeba is definitely asserting herself more forcefully these days. I think these photos capture her mischievous look! She likes to flash a frown at us sometimes and we think it is so cute! I guess she just gets frustrated that we can't take her seriously in those moments! We struggle with her new sense of independence, but we love her to bits!

I'm also saddened every now and then when I ask her for a hug or a kiss and she says "NO" and frowns at me. I knew it would end at some point, I just didn't know when! Oh well, that's life! She is surprising us all the time!