The weekend of August 18 through Thursday the 23rd

Before I begin this post, I just want to add an omission for the last post - more for our journal records as I am not keeping track of things anywhere else. On Monday the 13th of August, Indigo had her 15 month check-up (she was 15 months on the 15th). I think the shots were so traumatic for me that I had blocked it from my memory. Our little girl was 20 lbs, 14 oz and 31.5 inches long. The doctor feels that her development is very normal and commented that her attachment to me seemed very strong (it is to David as well, but he was not there for the appointment). Anyway, she received FOUR shots, two in each thigh. It is not easy to hold the arms of your child down while they hold her legs down and stick these injections into her. However, it's part of life and we did survive. She had MMR (measles, mumps & rubella), she had the chickenpox vaccine, she had Haemophilus Influenzae Type b (Hib) vaccine and she had the Polio vaccine. We still have to take her for a lot of other bloodwork and testing - all to be on the safe side, but I must confess that I have been delaying that and there is no way it's happening without David being there too.
So onto the weekend that began August 18th. Mom and Dad left that Saturday morning and we were sad to see them go. We packed a picnic lunch and had an outing to Clemy Jontri park. This park is the mother of all playgrounds - it's quite unbelievable in all that it has to offer in the way of playground equipment. It is really a neat park but was very crowded on the weekend. Indigo is still a bit young to take advantage of most of the playground but she sure loved being there and soaking it all up. She did take a carousel ride and managed the whole ride although she was tentative about it but no crying.

Later that afternoon we went to the birthday party of Adam Till who was two. Indigo enjoyed the birthday party very much and apart from having some food and a cupcake, she pretty much was queen of the sandbox. She really loved playing the sandbox. Other kids would come and go but she just loved being in there. We all had a good time at the party.

On Sunday we all hung out together at the house, doing tidying up and chores. In the later afternoon, our very dear friends, Marty & Laurie and their boys, Connor and Aidan came over to meet Indigo and to enjoy some lake fun. We had lots of fun swimming in the lake and really enjoyed ourselves. After the lake we came back to the house and had a great bar-b-que. Laurie et al. had also bought more gifts for Indigo (she is not indulged at all) and she enjoyed opening her presents with help from the boys. She loved her gifts. Laurie had made the most incredibly yummy dessert and Indigo really enjoyed having some tastes of that. While they were still here, my cousin Ruth came by with her husband David and their girls, Anna and Sarah Grace. David had been living with us from May to August and now the whole family was moving down here so they had come by to start collecting some of his things (however, Ruth confessed that it was really because she was dying to see Indigo). The girls were very sweet with Indigo. Anna also loved petting Egan. We said farewell to Laurie et al after having had the most marvelous time with them - also, Indigo really liked Marty and wanted him to pick her up that was very cool. We got Indigo to bed and then visited a while with Ruth et al. before they left. A very lovely day.

On Monday Indigo and I stayed home for the whole day without any activity. David had left very early in the morning to fly to Chicago for work and he was gone overnight. She was really cute in the day and found these three large crumbs on the coffee table and she fed each one to Caleb. She would take a crumb and then go to him to give it to him and then back to the table to get another crumb! Our daughter was also testing the theory of gravity and took great delight in throwing toys etc. down the stairs. She would take whatever toy could fit through the bars of the gate and throw things down. Some made it all the way down to the bottom of the stairs, but a lot just hit the top stair. On Monday night we had another visit from Ruth et al. and again the girls enjoyed the dogs and playing with Indigo and Anna read to her. David was ecstatic when Indigo willingly sat on his lap.

On Tuesday Indigo and I took a drive to Maryland where we met our friend Allyson and her boys, Jacob and Joshua for lunch at our very favorite sushi restaurant. It was so yummy! Indigo enjoyed her miso soup and also some tofu dish from the buffet. After lunch we went back to Allyson's house and Indigo played with the boys in the playroom. She had great fun. Later that evening we went to pick up Daddy from the airport - it was a bit late but we wanted to greet him so we got him and then we had some supper at the airport - she had already had dinner but still ate some of our food and some grapes the waiter brought for her.

On Wednesday we had a lovely visit to the office and had lunch with Daddy and all her aunties from work who were properly adoring! She had a great time and played with her aunties and was letting them hold her. We were at the office for about 3 hours and she was full of smiles and was very confident walking around. We had primarily gone because my boss was in for the day from Milwaukee and he was keen to see her. However, the meeting he was in for, went way past its scheduled end time but we did have a quick visit and it was lovely to see all the work people who care so much for David, me and our beloved daughter. On Wednesday afternoon I caught her pulling all the diapers out of the package - I love the mischievous grin on her face! On Wednesday night Indigo stayed home with Daddy while I went to get some girlfriend time with my friend Tricie.

On Thursday, we were met at the house early in the morning by my cousin Ruth and her daughters and after a wake-up start at Starbucks where you see Anna and Indigo enjoyed looking at books, we headed to the zoo where we had a great day. We were so lucky with our animal sightings! We saw the orangutans on the o-line - really remarkable. The o-line allows the orangs to climb these towers from one habitat, and cross over the zoo on these cables connected the towers and go to another habitat so they are swinging on these cables high above the people.

They can stop and rest at each of the towers but the towers have electricity so that they won't come down amongst the people - they can come down the towers into the habitats. Even though I am at the zoo all the time I have never seen this so I was excited. David has seen it twice before - you have to be there at the right time. Also, the mom and dad panda have been put back together so they were wrestling and we saw the hippo keeper working with him and got to see his great big mouth. We also saw the brand new baby giant anteater as it clung to its mom's back but she was shy about bringing him close so photos were difficult. We also saw the three cheetah brothers out together and the small-clawed Asian otters were out swimming and playing. One of the clouded leopards was out in full view (normally more elusive) and the baby sloth bear was being very playful with a twig of leaves. Indigo's favorite animals still seemed to be the giant elephant shrew and the meerkats. See pictures. She can see them up close and then tend to be active so she sees their movement and then is captivated by them. It was another good day at the zoo. We drove to have a late lunch and when we got home, I found that Indigo's Certificate of Citizenship had arrived! Very exciting - she has been in the country just over a month and

now has her proof of American citizenship. This helps with other documents we need to

obtain.