Sunday, April 15, 2007 We are happy to say that tax season is finally over (well officially it is over in two days this year because of the weekend and Patriots day – oh and the big storm here in the Northeast) and we have Howard back. It was a hard few months for all of us but we are looking forward to doing family things again. We recently took Brooke to her first hockey game. She has become a hockey fan like the rest of us and has enjoyed the experience. She particularly liked the popcorn, cotton candy and ice cream. I remember Matthew learned at an early age to beckon the vendors over hoping we would buy him treats. Well little Miss Brooke has learned to do the same thing. I caved in with the popcorn but drew the line at the cotton candy and ice cream. She cried a bit but the cheers of the fans generally drowned out sobs. She also loves the mascot Sparky the Dragon and screams for him in the stands. Of course he can’t hear her and I think the other spectators think she is rooting for the game. Mets season has started and we have been to a game already. We have great seats and have had them for years so we tend to get to know the surrounding fans. I only hope that the people who sat in front of us for the last game are one-timers. Otherwise we are going to have a slight problem. Brooke had eaten her hot dog pretty well - so I thought, until I saw bits of hot dog in the women’s head directly in front of us. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Do I pick the pieces out of her hair? Do I tell her? Do I do nothing? Well I opted for the try to swipe them out of her head carefully maneuver. She gave me a dirty look probably wondering what is up with that lady and why is she going through my hair? Brooke continues to wow us with her motor skills. She is a daredevil and has no fear. She can jump several stairs at one time (I am not proud of that). She can balance herself on the arm of my recliner as if she is surfing (I am not proud of that), She can climb into her crib doing a backwards flip (no I am not proud of that either). I have been told many times to enroll her in a gymnastics class. I just need to find one that is more advanced than the baby class and not too advanced because she is still only two and in diapers. The diaper thing might be over soon enough. Brooke now knows how to strip down and get up on the toilet by herself. She doesn’t want the potty she wants the big girl toilet. She will take off all her clothes, everything…. Including socks. She then takes off her diaper and proceeds to sit on the throne for a very long time. Nothing happens. She sits and sits and sits. I really don’t mind this at all because it is the only time she sits still. On a sad note our beloved goldfish has gone on to fish heaven. I painstakingly kept that fish alive for a year and a half. I changed the water every three days and kept the bowl nice and clean. We never even had a filter and that little goldfish was doing great. He sat on my kitchen counter and we all enjoyed watching him swim around. When we would go on vacation we had a small list of qualified goldfish sitters in our family. Not just anyone could be trusted with this little guy. One morning when I thought Brooke was still in her crib, I went to look in on her and she was not there. She escapes if you remember from previous posts. Things were very quiet in the house. Very, very quiet. I started to search room by room for Brooke. Low and behold I find her perched atop the kitchen counter like a kitten looking at the fish bowl. When I got a better vantage site I saw in her little hand a bottle of Dawn Dishwashing Detergent. She was giving our fish a bubble bath. Brooke had seen me clean that bowl once too many times I suppose. I immediately changed the water but I was not sure how to help him. I found a website with a 24 hour help line. I emailed them (for $11.00 – the fish probably cost 29 cents – we got him for free at a carnival) to find out there was nothing I could do for the little guy. On a happy note, Casey our new dog and Snappy our 35 year old box turtle are doing just fine. We will be taking care of Shadow over the summer. Shadow is Matthew’s class pet, a dwarf hamster. We will have to make sure that the Dawn bottle is removed from Brooke’s site before Shadow arrives. We had many great Chinese New Year celebrations this year. We celebrated with our adoption agency, New Beginnings, at their party. It was spectacular. We can’t say enough wonderful things about New Beginnings and we continue to keep in touch and celebrate holidays with them. We celebrated with FCC Long Island which was phenomenal. This group but together the most unbelievable event. Festive, fun and educational. We also celebrated with friends and family and that was very special too. We even went to Matthew’s school and had a Chinese New Year party for his class. We brought noodles and red cupcakes for dessert. We brought crafts and taught the children how to write well wishes for the New Year in Chinese. We read a story and gave out reproduction Chinese coins and strung them on red thread for the children to wear as necklaces. Everyone had a great time and the children all fussed over Brooke. It was a wonderful experience for all. Brooke will be waking up any minute so my free moment is almost over. Until next time. Love Mandee, Howard, Matthew and Brooke.

Cruising on my bike The furry black one is real Dressed for the first of many Chinese New Year celebrations Oranges with Lindsey for the New Year Brooke and her baby My first haircut My new style

Web site by myadoptionwebsite.com