Marisol and Alex

Marisol finally got to spend some quality time with her new cousin Alex yesterday.

David, Betty, and their two grandchildren

Betty and Alex

Betty and Alex

Marisol and Alex

Betty, Marisol, and Alex

Six Band-Aids

This past week Marisol had her first check up here in the United States. So far everything looks good and the results we've gotten back look normal. She had to get caught up on vaccinations and have a TB test and have seven tubes of blood drawn for various tests. It was a rough morning, but she handled it all as well as can be expected for a 17 month old (as of yesterday, she's 17 months!). The band-aids lasted until bath time that night.
Marisol is getting more comfortable at the YMCA pool, too. She isn't ready to stray too far away from me, but she'll scoot off the edge of the pool into the water and she'll stay on the steps without clinging to me.
Getting comfortable with other little kids at church might be a struggle. She seems to like her personal space and panic if other little kids get in her way.

Talking on the Telephone (We cut the really short cord off this toy. I guess the toy maker was afraid kids would get the cord caught around their necks so they made the cord less than a foot long so Marisol had to hold the whole phone up in order to pretend to talk)

Playing With Grandpa David

Grandpa Is A Lot of Fun

Wearing a Newspaper Hat

Even Mom Got A Hat

Ready For Church

Back to Work

That sounds way worse than it really is! I did go back to work this week, but only for the last two days of the school year, Thursday and Friday, to clean up my classroom and make sure my grades were turned in. Now Joe and I are free until mid August! Mari's Grandma Betty babysat for the two days (with afternoon help from Grandpa David) and they all had a blast. Marisol even started walking with the help of her little car (next post)!

Everything is going well and we're starting to make plans to make it out to New Mexico and California this summer so Marisol can meet the rest of her family. Marisol is eating well (beans and bananas--but not together--are her favorite foods) and is sleeping all night, most of the time. The last two Sundays she's gone to church with us and has done very well in the nursery. She's referring to us as Mama and Dada, which just makes our hearts melt and is getting more comfortable (too comfortable?) with the dog. She head butts him and tackles him, but he's mostly really patient. She does offer him her toys, which usually ends with us chasing him around the house to get them back before he destroys them.

Here are some more pictures of her this past week.

Getting Closer to Walking

Okay, so this post is really more for my parents than anyone else. When they were in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago, they bought Mari this little car. She mostly has just played with the horn and keyboard because she isn't strong enough to push herself on it, but just a couple days ago she started to walk behind it and use it to keep her balance! She goes all over the house and round and round the island in the kitchen. She's also started to take a few steps by herself, but Joe or I have to be really close by in case she falls. Hopefully she's be walking before too long!