Double Happiness

B&W Wednesday: Band-Aids --- The Beige Badge of Honor

Maddy got a little boo-boo while she was playing in the pool yesterday.  She fell on the rocks next to the pool and got a tiny mark on her flawless little hand and trembled in anticipation of what those teensy droplets of blood might mean... a Band-Aid.

You see, Maddy LOVES band-aids and, by default, the little wounds they cover.  In fact, she's been known to self-inflict a wound just to get one of these beautiful beige bandages of honor.

Doesn't she look wounded and serious?  Oh, she was so proud!

Here's the original photo - SOTC - and the original boo-boo too.  Isn't it amazing how some photos look so much better in black and white?

For more Black & White Wednesday fun, check out The Long Road to China.
More of our Black & White Wednesday posts here:  Black & White Wednesday

B&W Wednesday: Chinese Dress

This morning, Maddy informed me that she needed to wear her "China dress" today because her Kindergarten class was marching in the Chinese New Year parade at their school.  Of course, this was the first I'd heard of it and I was just happy that we had a Chinese dress for her to wear!

She was so beautiful that I had to snap a few photos before school. 

She loves to pose (and often overdoes it) but today she tossed her head around and flipped her hair and looked like the poster child for cuteness. 

 

Then, right out of the blue, she'd decide to stare straight up at her bangs and make this funny face!

 

Of course, I flipped the camera around and showed her what she looked like and then she really cracked up and was inspired to do it 15 more times!  I know you're grateful that I'm not posting the other 14 photos. 

Here she is at a peak state of amusement with herself:

After that, it was right back to cute again!   I don't think God created anything more silly and adorable than a 5 year old little girl!

 

I'm still learning about black and white photography.  It's really a challenge!  It's hard to disregard color and focus on patterns and textures and light instead.    In the color version, her dress was really eye popping but in the black and white version, it's her hair and face that you notice most.

<click here> (and then scroll to the bottom) if you want to see the original photo in color.

For more Black & White Wednesday fun, check out The Long Road to China.

Dino-Dog (Maddy's art at it's finest)

It's been a while since I shared some of Maddy's wonderful art.   We get a constant stream of it here at the house and she knows to put her best work on top of the printer/scanner so we can get a permanent digital record of it. (Check out previous works of art here:  <Maddy's Art>)

I call this one "Dino Dog" because it sorta looks like a dog but it has a row of spikes on its head like a dinosaur.  Since the girls have been watching several dinosaur cartoon DVD's lately, it's likely this is what Maddy had in mind when she created this adorable beast:

I love the blue, orange and red circle and I think it's pretty interesting that she planned ahead and included those shapes before coloring the animal.  They don't serve any purpose other than decoration and that seems like an advanced concept for a 5 year old since most other kids her age are focusing on getting other details right (like the number of legs) and trying to keep their coloring inside the lines.  Best of all, I REALLY love the lips!  Look at those!  And the alternating orange and yellow sun beams and the perfect order of the colors in the rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple).   This is probably my favorite Maddy picture of all time!

Drawing is Maddy's "best-loved-free-time-thing-to-do" (my favorite German phrase for "Hobby": liebling freie zeit beschäftigung).  She does this in all of her free waking moments and the persistence and practice is really paying off.  Her hand-writing is already better than most adults and her artistic ability might even be a bit in front of that!

We knew she could!

We knew she could do it.  In fact, she probably could have done it long before Gwen did it but today Maddy finally mustered the courage to ride her bike without training wheels and without mommy or daddy holding onto her.  Here's her first solo.  She really good at it too -- not even wobbly! 

We're so proud of you, Madeline Abigail!

Pesky Parasites and Pretty Posters

Yeah, a little bit of everything this week!

Thanks for all of the fantastic advice about our "little problem".  I'm so glad I dared to share such an icky and embarrassing experience because I got such an amazing outpouring of support and advice. 

Just knowing that families I admire and respect have also dealt with this was so reassuring!   Nobody was judgmental or condescending and I can't tell you how much I appreciate that because, frankly, I was feeling somewhat vulnerable.   

A friend even emailed me a link to the Chapman blog where they battled this eight-legged beastie earlier this summer. I love the Chapman family so much.  They've taught me more about faith and hope and healing than anyone I've ever known in real life and even though I can't get through a single one of Mary Beth's blog posts (or hear SCC sing the Cinderella song) without tears dripping off of my chin, I rarely miss a post.  But I missed *that* one. 

We caught this really early so it wasn't as much of a big deal.   My Dutch sister, Sjoukje, suggested that we slather on the conditioner and comb our hair daily and we've been doing that with very reassuring results.  I think we've beat this, folks!  Phew! 

Pesky parasite drama aside, this week was really memorable for another reason:  Maddy was Student of the Week at school!  Here's a little scrapbook page I put together for our family album:

She was really excited last Friday and proudly carried her blank poster home in both hands (I had to fasten her seat belt for her because she didn't want to let go of that poster).  We worked on it all weekend long and I had to reassure her each night that she didn't need to sleep with it -- that it would still be here in the morning. 

She helped me scour our computer for photos and thought long and hard about her answers to the various questions.  Some were easy but others were quite hard and she had to give them some thought. 

Maddy has been around many Doctors and she's such a good little patient.  For months (years?) she's said she wants to be a Doctor when she grows up so this was the easiest question for her to answer.   I love the photo she drew of herself as a Doctor!    Someday, I think this might be hanging in her office, next to her matted and framed medical degree from Stanford.  She's so smart and tenacious so this goal is totally within her grasp.  I'm just hoping that she specializes in geriatrics!

Maddy, Sweetie, we're so proud of you!