Vegas, baby, Vegas

Last weekend we took Willow on a very brief trip to Las Vegas to help celebrate a milestone birthday of her grandmother, Bubbie Avie. She was serenaded by an accordionist at the Venetian Hotel, dined in high Cantonese-Shanghainese style at the Pearl Restaurant at the MGM Grand, and wondered just where the heck she was while we lunched on fish tacos under an artificial sky near the Piazza San Marco. She also met her aunts Maureen and Sharron for the first time, her uncle Kelly, and her cousins Benjamin and Annie, all of whom seemed much impressed with her. A good time was had by all!

Willow is walking!

Well perhaps that’s overstating things. She’s taking a few steps. But we are very proud of her, and she is very proud of herself! She is up to five good steps without crashing, usually taken in headlong, gravity-forced fashion. But this morning she did something new: She slowly and deliberately took one step and then brought the trailing foot up to join the leading foot, and then did the same thing again, again slowly and deliberately, with a look on her face that said something like, “Hmm, maybe if I slow things down rather than speed things up I can stay on my feet longer.” We did not capture that on video, but here’s a short clip of a few early steps, showing her great joy in taking them. Here, too, is a photo of Willow and her great friend Dash, who is very good natured about Willow pinching his face.

> Click here to see a short clip of Willow’s early steps 

Willow in her executive position

Family Pic

There’s no news to report but I thought I’d post this family pic showing the five of us, although I wish Waylon were facing the camera. We have so few photos of us all together, as usually either Gong or Bonnie is holding the camera and clicking (okay, usually Gong). So here we are. Thanks to our great friend Rachel for offering us the gift of this photo.

On second thought, there’s always *some* news. The good news is that Gong and Willow have rounded a clear corner and they are now completely, totally, and permanently in love with one another. Gong and Willow have developed some wonderful rituals together that include lots of playing, making silly faces at one another, eating together, and settling into bed for naps and nighttime sleeps. Willow’s becoming more of a daddy’s girl every day and it’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Willow and Annie: In Love

When we brought Willow home we had no idea how she would react to our dogs, Annie and Waylon, but as it turns out she adores them and they her. One of her very favorite things to do is to climb onto the dog beds and rest her head against the ribs of the one of the dogs. Annie is usually more cooperative about this than Waylon, the latter of whom tends to get out of dodge sometimes when he sees Willow approaching, as he doesn’t care for it when she pulls his ears or pinches his nose (understandable). Annie, however, has the patience of a saint. In fact, we believe she is one incarnate. We’re sorry we didn’t get it on video, but this morning Annie gave Willow a long bout of licks on the mouth, which Willow thought was hysterically funny. Was Annie trying to get in on some of the strawberry yogurt action lingering around Willow’s mouth post-breakfast or was it a more pure expression of affection? Though we’ll never know, we believe it to be the latter (with maybe a little of the former mixed in).

Here are a couple of our favorite photos of Willow and Annie snuggling.