December 2007
12 Day China Tour
Cindy and Richard ended the year with a trip to China—without Emily! While she stayed happily at home with her Grandma and Papa, her Mom and Dad enjoyed a China tour with a company called China Spree. The trip was an unbelievable value that included airfare, 4-star hotel stays, tourist site entrance fees, most meals and 4 friendly and knowledgeable English-speaking tour guides.
 |
 |
 |
 |
We don’t know how China Spree makes any money but we’re not complaining! Trip attractions included: The Imperial Palace, Tiananmen Square, The Summer Palace and The Great Wall in the Beijing area; Historic Gardens in Suzhou; West Lake and a Tea Plantation in Hangzhou; and in Shanghai we saw the historic Bund area, the Shanghai Museum, saw an acrobatic performance, took a ride on a Magnetic Levitation train (top speed 272 mph!) and visited the Jin Mao Tower—the world’s 4th tallest building.
Christmas At Home
With a Tahoe weekend planned for New Year's, we're looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home. We've put up our tree and Emily thinks the lights and ornaments are really neat. She likes to get close and touch the ornaments but so far, she hasn't pulled any off.
New Tricks in December
Emily is getting better at walking but is still pretty wobbly on her legs, especially when she's tired. She can walk all the way across a room and from the front door to the car with help but it takes her a while to get there!
She knows that everything has a name and she wants to learn them all. She frequently points to things and says, "This?" It's still pretty hard to understand anything she says but every now and then we'll recognize an attempt to say a certain word.
She is also learning the names to her own body parts - such as hand, nose, belly and foot - and can point to her belly when we ask where it is.
Some of her favorite toys/activities this month are:
- Fisher Price house
- Fisher Price bus
- A big purple ball
- Magnetic cookie tray
- Magnetic Fridge Farm Animals
- Playing in the bath
- Bobbing her head up and down to music
- Playing in an empty box!