When my mom and I arrived at the Los Anglos airport in Jan 1994, I had just turned twelve years old.    No one told me (I suspect my mom didn't know either) about California "winter".  I had on layers upon layers of clothes that couldn't fit into our four huge suitcases.  Because that is what you do when you move to a new country to start a new life, you over-pack.  You don't know the price of a winter coat, you don't know weather trends, and you certainly have no idea what the future holds.

I don't think about that day very often, maybe twice a year.  But this past weekend, I thought about it every five minutes.  The images of wary travelers being halted, detained, and turned away from entering this country brings fury and sadness to my heart.  In our haste for self-preservation, it's all too easy to zoom out and loose focus over the details of human suffering.  I zoomed in.  I saw myself. In that crowd, there are lifetimes of plans and dreams, no smaller or less noble that our own.  We are in, sheer luck.  They are out, sheer madness.

Olivia at 23 month...

A quick note before my baby turns two.  TWO!

The cliche is true, the days are long and the years are short.  All the sleepless nights, and here is my baby, in the blink of an eye.  I am nostalgic every second I spend with her, holding her little body, kissing her soft hair, all the while thinking ahead to the day when she will be all grown up.  

The tantrums are there, but they are not bad.  She is a sweet baby who respects time out and after a few minutes of kicking and screaming, just wants to be held and loved by her mom. 

Her words are many and constant.  Many of which I don't even understand.  Are they gibberish or do they have have intent and purpose?  I like to think the latter.  She puckers up and gives out kisses whenever demanded, sometimes also out of the blue.  Those are my favorites, when out of nowhere you feel a little wet lip on your face and her little mouth close up.  Oh baby.  

The dimple is still there, the teeth are sprouting out, the attitude we see and tolerate... our little girl is getting bigger and bigger. 

 Olivia's favorite Christmas gift this year is the rocking horse from daddy. 

Olivia's first snow!  Mommy had to work so she spend the day with daddy and grandparents.  It was very very cold.