DRY DIAPER!!!

Yep, I said it! Can you believe it? Asha went all night with a dry diaper and then went on the potty first thing this morning. What a good girl you are sweetie. Daddy and Mommy are so very proud of you.

A couple of weeks ago Asha started to request to go "poo poo" whenever she had to go potty, but that soon stopped as she began to say poo poo for everything. Oh well. She'll get the hang of it soon.

EXPECT TO HAVE TEA WITH ASHA IF YOU ARE COMING OVER FOR A VISIT...

We had our good friends over on Monday evening and their son Evan, was the latest victim to be forced into a tea party. What a good sport!

TRYING TO SLEEP...

DANCING...

Asha is such a funny little girl.

She absolutely loves the heater downstairs. She says goodnight to the heater and even dances with the heater, and when we go in the basement the first thing she looks for is.. you guessed it! The heater. With the heat off, there is still a light at the base that remains on and she will adamantly tell you that it is hot and burns and is dan-gar (danger)! But the cutest thing she does is walks up to the heater and in her sweet, little voice, almost in a whisper says, "Hi Hot".

Here she is dancing with her friend "Hot":

OUR DAUGHTER IS SUCH A GEEK!!!

ARE YOU READY FOR IT???

Asha asked me to put my glasses on her this morning.  All I can say is let's pray that either her head grows larger or that she never has to wear glasses!

SHE SAID THE SWEETEST THING LAST NIGHT...

Asha was in her jammies and we were just about ready for bed.  Daddy and Asha always like to play in the basement at night before bed.  They giggle and dance and sometimes we will even watch a show on Treehouse.  Asha knows her routine so well... first jammies, then play time, then her tea-tea (which is her bottle), then we put on some soft music, read her a story, say goodnight to the butterflies and moon, and pray.  We were playing downstairs and Asha suddenly got on the couch and sat very still and quiet.  She clasped her hands together, put her head down and said:

Haiti... Pray... Amen.

I almost cried and I thought, we have been blessed with such a sweet and bright little girl.  My 18 month old daughter is praying for Haiti on her own.  I am so proud to be her Mommy!!!

QUITE THE DAY...

We had such a good day on Thursday. 

Daddy didn't have to work until almost noon, so all three of us got to go to Scooters at church together.  Scooters is an event that the church puts on once a week.  They set up a ton of different activities and play areas for children from ages one to four.  It is a great time for the kids to play and also for parents to socialize with one another.  Asha especially loves to color; well she tries to color.  And when she isn't coloring she is either eating the crayons or throwing them all around the room.

Asha normally only has one nap for about two hours or so.  But she had so much fun at Scooters, that she fell asleep in the van on the way home and then later in the afternoon had another nap!!!  She had already been sleeping for over two hours, so I snuck into her room to wake her gently as it was already getting late and I didn't want her to have to much energy so that she wouldn't sleep at night. 

The pictures I got were priceless!!!  Plus I got to cuddle her and kiss her and hold her hand.  You might be thinking, don't you always get to do that???  Nope, not with Miss Asha; she is always running somewhere and we're lucky if she sits still for even a minute.  No wonder she is such an amazing sleeper. 

I "ATTEMPTED" THE HAIR...

Unless you have had to style or brush through a dark person's hair, you have no idea!!!  Black hair is so terribly difficult to style and brush.  We will take 20 minutes or longer just to pick through Asha's hair (which we do at least three times a day) and a half an hour later it will be all tightly wound and knotted together again.  Scott's Mom always talks about how her hair forms perfect little "pea" curls. 

Caribbean people take pride in their looks and especially their hair and I want Asha to feel the same pride.  I have tried to do several things in her hair on several occasions, but she will not let me touch it for very long and any ribbons, bows or bands get ripped out almost as quickly as they go in.  Sometimes I wonder what other people - including Scott - think of my actions... I have even been so desperate at times that I will stop brown skinned people in the mall just to ask them how they do their hair or what products they use.  They often look at me like I am a stalker until I explain that I have a daughter and need some tips.  There is just not to much here for help and Asha has been blessed with the tightest curls imaginable. 

I say that I attempted Asha's hair because by far it does not look like Asha's hair did when some of my Caribbean friends styled it in St. Vincent.  But the important thing is that I tried and I can only get better right?

ASHA IS NOW A STARFISH...

Yesterday marked the very first day that Asha became a true starfish.  We enrolled her into swimming lessons at the YWCA which she will attend every Sunday until March.

Asha first began to cry while we were waiting to be told that everyone could get into the pool for the lesson; not because she was scared but because she loves water.  As soon as Asha and Daddy got in, she was so excited to start moving around.  We soon learned that Asha no longer has a fear of her face getting wet.  She jumped and kicked and splashed and got dunked again and again without complaining once - she especially loved the bubbles in the whirlpool and even loved eating them.  Asha kept talking about the pool and bath and shower and water.  We know that she can't wait to go back again next week!

ALL OF ASHA'S WORDS...

These are the words that Asha now says.  Thought it would be nice to keep a record so that we can look back on them when she is older.

ASHA, MAMA, MOMMY, DADDY, DADA, EVES (Levi - our cat), NANA, NANNY, PAPA CHE-CHOO (Chico), CHASE, AUNTIE, UNG (Uncle), GRAMMY, ESA (Lisa), CASSIE, JORDA (Jordan), ABBY, DENNIS, SHAWN, SEE-A (Cynthia), AUBY (Arby), DOCTA (doctor), HEART, EEDLE (needle), ON, OFF, FLY, BUTTON, BOOTY (this is a new one that Scott just taught her...oh boy!!!), POTTY, PEE-PEE, POO-POO, USH (flush), DIEPOO (diaper), DIRTY, BOOK, DANTO (danger), BET (bed), SEEPY (sleepy), ROLL, FAN, FUN, WEEEE, NOSE, EYES, TOES, FEET, SHOES, PRITTY (pritty), JESUS, CHURCH, AMEN, OPEN, POME (come), PUP (cup), MOTE (remote), DOTA (deodorant), TENT, EATING, LIGHT, MOON, SUN, COUCH, OH DEE (oh dear), OH OH, OW, SHOOT (so cute when she says this), DON'T (gets this from me), BABY, SHODEN (lotion), PHONE, CHAIR, SIT, STRETCH, SIT (sick), RUN, CAR, MAN (van), PURPLE, YELLOW, DUCE (juice), TEATEA (which means her bottle or her babies bottle), SHIT (shirt - scared ya didn't it?), SHOPPING, STORE, PUSH, JUMP, TACHOO (tattoo, and then she looks on her leg to see if she has the same one as Mama and Dada), PICTURE, WATER, ROCKING, BUMP, ALL DONE, PEAS (please), BRUSH, HAIR, HOT, BANANA, CHEESE, CHITEN (chicken), BURN, TOSH (wash), BATH, POOL, SHOWER, PLATE, HI, BYE, SEE YOU, TOUCH and HAITI (we pray for the people in Haiti every day with her).

She is such a smart little girl and doesn't forget a single thing.  She will remember the meaning of something or the word even if it was only told to her once.  Now, she is even starting to put two, three or four words together, and if you start counting and say 1, she will say 2, then you say 3 and she says 4 all the way up until 10 - and then at 10 she gets so excited.  Too cute!

HAITI...

There are really no words to describe the deep sadness I feel for the Haitian people right now.  It truly breaks my heart just thinking about all of the people who have lost loved ones, their homes and their identity in this tragedy.  What touches me the most is the children in the orphanages who were almost ready to make their way home to their adoptive families, but now there will be a longer delay in joining their forever families because their paperwork is missing in the rubble.

Although Asha is not from Haiti, she is still Caribbean and I feel a special closeness and connection to the Caribbean people because of this.

We have friends who are from Haiti and who are forced to face this tragedy all the way from Canada.  They have relatives from Port-Au-Prince who are still missing and cousins who have died.  Although we are not in close proximity to Haiti, this tragedy is very real.   It saddens me that I cannot do too much from Canada - I truly feel helpless.

But in the wake of sadness, this has been such an eye opening tragedy for me.  I feel so truly blessed to have an amazing daughter, loving husband, warm home, food in my refrigerator and clothes on my back.  This tragedy has made me think about what is most important to me and it has made me think a lot about the fact that I am only on earth for such a short time so I need to live my life to the fullest.  I am so richly blessed and praise God that my family is all safe and together.

From living in the Caribbean for three months, I can tell you this... Caribbean people are some of the most loving, caring and generous people on the face of the earth; they have a true love for people and strong family roots.  They WILL get through this trying time.

Dear Lord, please be with the Haitian people.  Be a comfort to them and give them hope and strength.  I pray that they would continue to glorify Your name throughout this trying time.  Please also be with the men and women who are giving their lives in order to help these people in need.  Provide these homeless people with food, water and comfort from others.  Be with those families around the world who are mourning the loss of relatives and friends.

ASHA'S FIRST CHRISTMAS HOME...

By far, this was the best Christmas we have ever had together as a couple.  In the past Christmas' were spent in tears and dreading the day because of the fact that we were childless.  But not this year!  This year was so different and so very special.  We were not only celebrating the birth of Jesus, but also the new start of our family of three and how much we had been blessed with over the year.

ST. VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES ON ABC NEWS...

CLICK HERE to watch a short video about SVG.

This really takes us back to our second home.  It makes me miss not only the beauty of the islands but of the people as well.

WHERE HAVE WE BEEN YOU ASK?

There is one word to answer that question...BUSY!!! Asha is quite the busy body and it seems like when she does finally slow down, all we can think about is sleep!

But, my promise to all of you (if there is anyone still out there who is following our blog), is that I am going to post more this year so that many of you can continue to follow our family of three. So...look forward to some new posts soon - including pictures of Asha's first Christmas home!

Happy New Year!

The Parisien Family