T's friend Sidney

the kiddos gravitate to the back fence to plot their escape

now if we both put our foot here...

daddy, it's my turn!

We pretended that the weather was nice this past Saturday and invited Kate, Bill and Sidney over for kebabs. Sidney wasn't feeling that great but riding in our neighbor's red flyer wagon made all the difference at least for a little while. Her little black pants are from us for her 1st birthday so of course we think they're so cute, note the little ladybug. Her mom gets tired of always dressing her in pink. Timothy is not as aloof with Sidney as he has been in the past (we've been telling him he'd kick himself later for this behavior). He loves Kate and is fascinated with Bill.

Looks like Timothy will need more surgery in June since he still has a large hole in the roof of his mouth. Sigh. The doctor told us it will be outpatient this time and he won't have three other procedures done at the same time but still wish he didn't have to go through this again. He was in a lot of pain last time and the medicines didn't seem to help him that much.

We are celebrating Timothy's 1 1/2 birthday this Saturday since we weren't able to be with him on his first birthday. Just a quiet celebration with just the three of us. I'm making cupcakes and we've gotten him a train set and a work bench. I've already given him two presents early - a little rider firetruck (about two injuries thus far) and a baseball cap that he refuses to wear more than two seconds but it is sooooooooo cute on him, it really is fun to dress him in hats.

People tell us all the time that he's starting to look bigger - friends that have seen him from the beginning - that his body is starting to fill out and legs looking longer. We haven't noticed but are happy that others are seeing progress.

Teaching sign has been a bit challenging since he likes the current system of pointing and grunting and grunting louder if given the wrong item just fine. He does still talk his own little language (or Chinese for all we know) and tries to say words. He will sign to give us an occasional thrill like milk, kiss and more. He does a variation of 'all done' for almost anything and also almost immediately after we sit him in his high chair.