It's all my fault!!

Watch this! It is just too funny. And yet. And yet. It also made me almost throw up a little bit.

If you'd like to send it to all your friends, here's the link:

http://www.cnnbcvideo.com/index.html?nid=CAG2_bd9Nj9JyTa_NV4LhTEyODM4MA--&id=-10899267-I70ZlDx

There are other films on the website, including:
Cheney tapped to lead new Department of Ongoing Illegal Activities
Gore: For the Love of God, did You People Learn Nothing?!
and
Bush: I am Vindicated

I'm sorry, I never meant to have a political blog. But it's time! It's time! It's time!

Saly and Lac Rose

Eric's brother, nephew and mom are still visiting, so we took them to see Lac Rose and Saly.

The hotel in Saly, Les Amazones, rocked! It had a fabulous pool with a shallow end that slanted into steeper waters. Dessi played there all day long. Here she is showing off her balance



and crawling down the incline to daddy



We also had a waterfront backyard just maybe 50 feet from the ocean. Here's Cousin Aksel showing Dessi a thing or two. I believe he actually was saying to her just as this photo was taken, "OK, look at this, Dessi -- you're gonna love this!"



We went to Lac Rose, a shallow lake that turns a deep pink during the dry season (this is not) and at some magic time of day, purported with equal certainty to be morning, mid-day, or evening, depending on whom you ask. Regardless, we've yet to hit it right, but we had a really great time; the adults led the way over some small sand dunes (we had a big ol' truck) while Chris and Aksel four wheeled.



Afterward, we stayed a while at the lake side to watch the men mine salt from the lake bottom (they stand in the salty water up to their chests and dig the salt up with a shovel), and then the women help them put it into piles. Each of these piles is marked and belongs to a specific family.





We bought a 2-kilo bag for about $1.25.

Senegalese Safari

There are supposed to be big game animals in eastern Senegal, but it's a pain to get over there and, for the effort, one would be better served just going to Kenya. But about 90 minutes south of Dakar there is a private park called Bandia; it's probably more like Bush Gardens than Yellowstone, but at any rate you get driven around in a cool little safari truck



and get to see animals that could run away from you if they felt like it. Sometimes, as much as we hate to be a part of it, the tourist thing just WORKS.

We saw zebras



and giraffes (my favorite)



and a white rhino.



The white rhinos are endangered and are deadly animals during the "time of copulation," according to our guide (who was chased by this rhino during said time earlier this year), but this one, as you can see, seemed pretty unlikely even to lift his pretty little head off the ground.

Speaking of copulation, 'tis the season for tortoises, apparently.



This was a strange sight. The male was shouting out what sounded exactly like "WOW" every four seconds for the entire time we were standing there. (Which, for the rest of my family was about 30 seconds, but for me was about 5 minutes. I was fascinated.) The guide said they go on like that for up to two hours. Lordy.

First Birthday

This year's birthday was big for all the obvious reasons, but it also marked the day, six months prior, when we adopted Dessi from Ethiopia. Which means she has now known us for longer than she has not known us. Every day, I count my blessings and give my thanks and hope that I'm up to the task of being a mother to this pure little light of a baby, who has the sweetest, most trusting and open little heart I ever imagined any child could have.

Here she is at her party, preparing to open a present



and waving, as per our request, before very sweetly ripping the hat off her head.



I could say that she is walking now (four steps at a time, regrouping, and then four more), or feeding herself or going underwater a little bit in the pool, but really I want to say that she is so, so delighted with the world -- with meeting people and seeing things -- and that wherever she is, the people around her are laughing with her and exclaiming about how they have never seen such a happy baby. She makes jokes (and she laughs at her jokes), she makes a mess (she has recently discovered the bounty of food that we JUST LEAVE THERE IN THE REFRIGERATOR), and she cuddles and hugs and has started doing the sweetest little close-your-eyes-a-little thing where she still is looking at you but squinting and smiling as if to say, "MAN I love you just SO much!" (This is, of course, a mama's interpretation. Leave me be.)

The birthday party itself was a simple affair -- Eric, Uncle Chris, Grandma and Aksel returned around 4 pm from their trip to the northern town of Saint Louis, so we had cake (she's still off of wheat, milk, and egg whites and so had a creme fraiche and egg-yolk-only souffle thing which truly did look a little pathetic, but it had some sugar in it so she was psyched), and she opened her presents of books, a musical bunny, and a hammering toy, but mostly she worked at trying to steal Aksel's matchbox truck (which, who knew? The child likes trucks!)



Now, it is tomorrow. When she wakes up from her nap we'll have a trip to the pool, then lunch, a trip to the beach, then naps, then dinner and bed. A day like any other, and yet somehow, really, it does feel different to me. Even though it's just a technicality -- it's just math -- it feels like we've got some time under our belts now.

Steps

So, it is one week before her first birthday and Dessi has taken a step all on her own. Eric thinks it was two steps but, really, it was barely even one -- she moved her left foot but was already fully on the descent before her right got off the ground. My video camera works great but I've sort of lost interest in it because I can't get anything to download onto my computer anymore, so I don't have any of these mobility milestones recorded. Man, you should see her face, though! Concentration and then delight, time after time (as she stands alone). It's very zen.

In lieu of first-steps footage, I have this, which I just came across yesterday; it was taken last month and shows Dessi with her good friend Zola, who is out of town right now and we miss her!! (And her mom!!) There are always sweet, sweet moments when these two get together -- lots of kissing and eye-poking (gently gently, of course).



HI ZOLA AND AMBER!!!

A Whirlwind Trip Home

We are home!! It is still raining!!

To back up. One rainy morning I rose to feed my crying baby, splashed through the 2-inch puddle that was our foyer, and walked into our living room which, during the night, had been festooned from one end of the room to the other with the webs of five busy spiders. It was weird, and I suddenly was homesick.

So Dessi and I left Eric to work and have been in Whitefish, Mont., for the past three weeks. We had a fabulous, amazing, belly laugh of a trip. We saw grandmas and grandpas, aunties and all manner of friends who instantly fell in love with this new, practically grown up Dessi, and she for her part learned to clap; wave bye bye; stand on her own for five to 20 seconds; feed herself (what a relief!); undo her own diapers (not so much!); and "talk." (She is consistently using particular grunting noises to mean particular things. I count this. She also grew her first two teeth.

What a ham she is! After three days of getting used to her adoring fans, she just started soaking it up. She would clap or wave and then look around to see who was going to give her a cheer for her success. It was really heartwarming, and it was good for her to be around so many other people.

Here she is in our garden





Feeding herself:



Waving ...



Double waving ...



Clapping ...



And being silly.



Here are Dessi and Auntie Cheryl:



We also took a camping trip to Calgary to see this gigantic international horse jumping competition.

One cold morning (it rained both nights. Blech.) ...



With Derreck, after the show ...



Riding a horse! (No jumping yet ...)



And with our friend Lesley ...



The stadium was okay but pretty crowded and challenging for an 11-month-old's attention span. Here we are upon arrival:



And this is after about 20 minutes:



And lastly, Lesley, Jenny and I took a three-day shopping trip to Seattle, where we stayed with the Young clan and ate sushi (at speed-eating rates so as to not interfere with the shopping) and laughed a LOT.

Here is Dessi with Grandma Ginny



And at the Nordstrom's shoe department! Yeah!




And now we're home. Dessi's doing well now, last night was the first night (out of last five) that she slept through the night. This is sorta jetlag, and sorta just because she stayed awake the whole flight and got home and was just ravaged schedule-wise. Which has really sucked for me, because my husband can sleep (and does) through anything; he says I should just nudge him and he'll get up and take care of her, but somehow in the middle of the night I just get bitter about it and storm off to the baby's room. :) It does not serve me well, particularly because he is not awake to see it. Plus when I get up for more than 10 minutes, I'm up for hours. (I can't go back to sleep.) Which has left me reviwing lots of Sarah Palin footage, which is not a sleep-inducer, either. 'Nuff said.

Saly

A few weeks ago we took a beach vacation getaway, if you can imagine that. I admit, it's funny, but the waves in Saly (about 2 hours south of us) are so much gentler, and we can really just hang out with Dessi without lifting her clear of a crashing wave every five to ten seconds. So, it WAS relaxing. Except that I forgot the baby formula.

Anyway, it was a great trip.