Around the house

From this blog you might think that Cara leads a charmed life, constantly playing in the great outdoors. While she does enjoy being outside, in reality she spends most of her time at home making do with the toys we give her. And the toys we don't give her...

Kitchen implements are always fun, which we hope will translate to a daughter who enjoys cooking as much as we do. And have all our mountain trips spurned her delight in going up stairs? Only time will tell, but Cara does seem to be training for climbing. In reality, almost anything is fun to explore, including J's purse. Luckily she sometimes plays with her own toys too.

Not a loss but a gain

Sorry for the break in the posts. Another shift in all our lives, as J had to return to work at the end of August. We were a little worried at how Cara would take not being around mom all day. Losses in her life have occurred every three months so far as she shifted from nursery to foster home to our family. Would she see J returning to work as another loss? Well, from all we can tell, she doesn't seem to be grieving at all, but rather she celebrating having a loving nanny, Ms. A, as a notable gain to her circle of doting adults. Ms. A takes her to the park every day, never drags her to Target, and will happily help Cara explore a cardboard box for 20 minutes without running off to do a load of laundry or check her email. Not bad at all.

Although not quite perfect. After two wonderful weeks of having Ms. A's undivided attention, Isabel came on the scene. We're sharing Ms A. with another family whose daughter is just 1 month older than Cara. So Cara is beginning to learn the difficult lessons of sharing toys, people and space with another little girl. And hopefully also learning the joy of her first friend.

Life's a beach

Not all of Cara Hsiu-Wen's outings are to the mountains. While it is a bit of a drive to the ocean, Seattle is bounded by Puget Sound to the west and has several nice parks with beaches. A few weeks ago we took Cara to Discovery Park, along with a visitor from Norway. They were both impressed with trip, although at slightly different scales. Our visitor enjoyed the calm Puget Sound shore and pleasant cobble/sand beach. Cara was more intrigued with the cobbles themselves. They bang together nicely, are a little salty and can also bang on a log. She told us a lot about her opinions on rocks.

We're looking forward to next summer maybe actually getting Cara in the water (but on a warmer day!)