Hands of Hatred

My friend Tom Biagini got a cameo on this short music film. The music is by Five A.M. and it came out great. He's the one that beats Edward Furlong up at the top of the stairs lol. Click twice on the arrow to watch and check it out!

Here is the info from YouTube on the clip:
Hands Of Hatred is a short narrative film starring Ice-T, Rumer Willis and Edward Furlong that demonstrates the social and political effects of violence and hate. The film features the song "Still In Love With You" by Five A.M. To find out how you can promote peace, please visit the L.O.V.E. (LoveOverViolenceEverywhere) section of www.FIVEAM.com.

The Lullaby

I don't always get a chance to sing Keira lullabies before she goes to bed. Unfortunately, she is still completely uninterested in reading a book with me before bed, but once in a while...she'll let me cradle her, stroke her hair and face and sing a song for her. Normally, she kind of stares off in the distance when I'm doing this, but over the past few weeks or so, when I do this, she actually stares right into my eyes the whole time. This may not seem like a big deal, but with adoptive families, it's a very big deal. There are always the concerns of attachment and even though you may THINK that your baby has attached with you, there are sometimes some signs that show that they just MAY NOT be as attached as you may think they are....such as not making eye contact with you. Keira makes eye contact with me when I ask her to or when we're playing, but there are times when she doesn't look me in the eye. Things have seemed a little different lately...in a very good way.

Sometimes when she is crying or upset, I'll hold her and hum a certain song for her and she will immediately stop crying and gently pat or rub me on the arm or back copying my movements...which is wonderful...

The other day, she was laying on the couch drinking some juice watching The Grinch. She is VERY ritualistic and always has to go through a specific routine when she lays down to watch a show. 1. She has to have her shoes off 2. She has to have her MeeMee (blankie) 3. She has to have Baby (her Hello Kitty doll) 4. She has to have her sippy of juice or milk. Lately, a new step has been added to this. 5. She wants either Dan or I to lay down with her. She pats the pillow next to her saying "Dooooooowwwwwn". I was the one that day that she wanted to lay next to her. I put my head on the pillow next to her head and watched the Grinch with her. I was so tired and started to fall asleep. I felt something on my face and woke up to a wonderful surprise! Keira was stroking my face and singing me a lullaby. Now granted, I couldn't understand the song since it was in her own baby language, but whatever she was singing was the most beautiful song I have ever heard :). After she finished she smiled at me and went back to watching The Grinch.

I don't think that she realizes it, but she gave me such a wonderful memory that I will always cherish...

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! It's been a crazy and hectic few days. We've been taking Keira to a few places to see different types of Christmas Lights and Christmas Trees. One very original tree was the one at Legoland. Of course it was made completely by Legos. Here is Keira playing in the Duplo Lego Room. Duplo blocks are the really big ones that are easier for toddlers to put together, so she has a great time with them.Going to get more Legos to play withKeira running around in front of the Lego Christmas tree.

Later that night, we headed up to Irvine for the Holiday Party that we held at Dave and Busters for Dan's employees. It was also Armani, Luis' daughter's 2nd birthday, so they brought her a brownie with a candle on it to blow out. She didn't want anything to do with it, so Keira blew it out.

After a big dinner, we all headed over to the game midway to play some games. Dan and Keira played the Harley game, which is the only way that Keira gets to ride a motorcycle with Daddy.
Here she played a different driving game which she did really well with! I think that she drove the car better than I would have! lol

Today for Christmas, we opened gifts a little late and Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Mike came over for Christmas lunch. Keira got so many great gifts. Here she is playing with the Pucca doll that Auntie Gigi and Max got her.

Hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

The "Boo Boo" Method

Amanda (she watches Keira when Dan and I are working) and I were laughing while discussing "The Boo Boo Method" the other day. She has 2 sons Nathen and Landen. Nathen is 2 and a 1/2 and he and Keira are great buddies. One of the things that we discovered is that Nathen and Keira have figured out a great way to distract us and hopefully keep from having to do something that they don't want to do. Whenever they have to go take a nap or have to sit down and eat and just don't feel like it that second, they pull at their pants and exclaim "Boo Boo!" This of course means "Hurry Mommy! I have a poo poo in my diaper!" Considering that we're starting the process of getting them used to the potty, what do we do? We immediately jump up, grab them and rush to the bathroom trying to catch them going number 2 in their diapers. I have to admit, it has worked a few times where I ended up distracted enough to where she probably saved herself a couple of times from having to stand in the corner when she was misbehaving. By the time we finished in the bathroom (of course there WAS no poop, but I figured I'd keep her there in case she was trying to tell me that one was on it's way) I had forgotten that the corner was where we were originally heading!

Anyway, we have them both figured out now. I brought Keira over to Amanda's yesterday to play with the kids and also brought a cake for her birthday (yesterday, December 20th is her real birthday). The kids were all sitting down eating lunch and as soon as they saw the cake, they all started yelling "Cake! Cake! Yay Cake!" They started trying to get up from their seats and Amanda said that they had to finish eating first...what was the response? "Boo Boo!" I guess they were thinking that if they could just get taken to the bathroom, they could make a mad dash for the kitchen and get some cake. Sounds like plotting and planning a prison break...Pretend you're sick, get taken to the infirmary, make your escape. It's pretty funny.

It doesn't work so well anymore, so I'm sure they will both come up with some new method of distraction soon. That is how young mind works... pretty amazing.

One of the things that we were laughing about was imagining trying to use that kind of method as an adult. Can you imagine being in a meeting and getting hit with having to do a presentation? I don't think that you can get out of it by grabbing your pants and exclaiming "Boo Boo!"

UPDATE: Ok, apparently Dan says that I'm very wrong here. We discussed this issue further and he pretty much says that if you were in a meeting with your boss and your peers and your boss asked you to do a presentation that you didn't want to do...grabbing your pants and yelling "BOO BOO!" would DEFINITELY get you at least a couple of minutes to get up and leave the meeting. I think it would probably get you some mandatory leave of absence time as well lol.

Keira Day!

Yesterday was Keira Day! It was her birthday party for her 2nd birthday and it was a ton of fun! The day started out with her waking up at about 5 in the morning. I took her out in the livingroom where she saw her first birthday gift. It was a new wagon from us. She pointed at it screaming and couldn't wait to get in.

Here is Keira being strapped into the wagon by daddy. After this, they got dressed in warmer clothes and took a stroll around the block in her new wheels.

A little later in the day, we got everything ready and headed to the park to prepare for her birthday party. The Dora the Explorer jumper arrived about 30 minutes later and she went nuts! Some of the other kids playing in the park came by and jumped in it with her. Everyone started to arrive soon after and we had such a great time getting to see some friends that we haven't seen in such a long time. It was nice for everyone to finally get a chance to come out and meet Keira.

Cindy and Vivian
Chloe, Rod, Al and Glenn
Keira's buddy Nathan and Amanda.
Mark, Michelle and Maddie
My godson Isaac getting his face painted

It started out as my balloon hat that Nicky is wearing. I must have a bigger head.

Maddie and Keira playing with their balloon animals

Keira blowing out the candles on her cake. I gave her a handful of candles and just let her put them wherever she wanted to.

After everyone left, Keira and daddy played in the jumper for a bit more. She still wasn't even tired believe it or not!

Once we got home, she opened up her presents. She got so many wonderful presents from everyone. She was having so much fun and was so overwhelmed, she jumped back and forth between all of the toys, clothes and books to try to play with everything. At times she was carrying 3 different toys trying to play with all of them at the same time!

Thank you so much to everyone that was able to share this special day with us!

San Diego Restaurant Week

Well folks...it's almost that time again! San Diego Restaurant Week!!!

A friend at work turned me on to San Diego Restaurant Week a few years ago and Dan and I have enjoyed it ever since. What is it pray tell?

For any of you that that are not familiar with it, it's a week or so (most of the time they extend the time to 2 weeks) where some of the best restaurants in town offer a special "prix fixe" menu (fixed price) of $30 or $40 per person. This includes your appetizer, main course and dessert with this price and doesn't include drinks, tax or the tip.

Now, if you were planning on visiting TGI Fridays, it doesn't sound like that great of a deal, right? Well, there are places like Bertrands at Mr. A's, Georges, Top of the Cove, The Marine Room...the list goes on and on! Lots of FuFuShiShi places that normally have appetizers that cost $30 alone.

It really is a fantastic way to plan those special date nights out without completely busting your budget, so have fun! The menus can be found at:

http://www.sandiegorestaurantweek.com

Just click on "participating restaurants" and when you click on the restaurant name, you can see the menus...yum yum yum! :D