The Many Happy Faces of Tanje

Silly billy!

Sled heads : )

Oh no! My Papa is a princess!

Ever the clown.

 

Adorable teeny tiny girl.

October is my favourite month!

With my 3rd birthday, and Halloween, October has been a fantabulous month for Tanje! She marvelled at her princess cake, and absolutely loved dancing up a storm in front of all her family fans! And Halloween meant dressing up as a shiny red cheerleader, and eating tons of 'bonbons'! Mmmm!

Summer is...

What did she do last summer? Lots! Camping, going to the playground, visiting Mat Elaine, going to the zoo, swimming, going to Glamp with David, Vee, Tanje Josee, Mononc Mike, Grandmaman and Grandpapa, and just hanging out with Sass, Maman and Papa. A fab summer for a fab girl!

I Love to Bake

Tanje loves mixing things, pouring things, and best yet, taste testing! My little kitchen buddy!

1st Gotcha-versary!

One year already since Gotcha Day! Unbelievable how time with Tanje just flies so quickly! It's been a year of laughs, cries, giggles, growth, cheerful early mornings, exploring, trying tons of new things, learning to enjoy eating (and oh, does she ever - yippee!) and already a lot of chatting and even singing (yup!). Tanje already knew so much when we met her, and even so, she knows tons more now! She's become our little chatterbox, comedian, and best friend and big fan to her big sister. In a couple of weeks, she'll have spent half her life with us. We're so grateful she's here, and that she's the precious little girl she is : )

Princesses and Chipmunks

It's official - Tanje's 1st Hallowe'en was a raging success. She looked mystified by it all at the first house, but by the second, she was getting right in there, trying to shove aside Savannah and her friend Maddyx to get to the door and candies first! She dressed as a 'princesse' for daycare, then as a chipmunk (costume made by Maman) for the evening, and had tons of fun. Special thanks to Nanna who fed us and helped us get on our way!

I'm a Big Girl!

Happy birthday, little Tanje! You're getting to be a big girl -you even look a little older, somehow, and sweeter than ever! Tanje had not one but three separate birthday celebrations: one with just Grande Soeur, Papa and Maman, one with Tante Elaine, Grandpapa and Grandmama, and one with Vanessa, David, Oncle Mike, Tante Josee, Nanna and Poppa! Yippee! Lots of cake (an ice cream one, and a chocolate one as well as cupcakes, the latter 2 in a fall leaf theme), and some pretty thoughtful gifts, including a soft hand knit sweater from Grandmaman. Heartfelt thanks to all for celebrating this very special day for this very special, funny, energetic, chatty, playful little girl!

First Full Sentence!

It's finally happened! Tanje said her first full sentence! Unprompted, completely out of the blue, and not once, but twice (and again, when she saw how delighted Maman was)! We were having breakfast together, and all of a sudden, she yells out "Sassa, viens manger"! It shouldn't be a surprise, really, as she sure loves her Grande soeur! And Sass was thrilled to tell about it! Sweet!

Everything's Better When It's Done Outside!

Outdoor tea parties, swimming, camping, glamping, playground-hopping, picnicking, sandcastle building, puddle-jumping, wagoning, tumbling, biking, Tanje's done it all. And loves it!

And Tanje doesn't go anywhere overnight without her trusty 'Bébé ' (fear not - she has three at home and one at Garderie, and always at least one in the wash, as they're soggy from spending time in her mouth!).

Best all, the sunshine just loves Tanje, gently kissing her silken hair and making it shine!

From the Heart

Tanje's Viet Nam colourful scrapbooks are well on their way to being complete. There are three, plus at least one photo album. They are a work from the heart, representing hours of work and thought to what might be important to her later and what is important to us now and always. They're really a labour of love. They chronicle the journey we had to meet her (a very and unexpectedly bumpy one before our family's file ever got to Viet Nam), and the experiences we shared in coming together in the land of her birth. The pages strive to help Tanje and all who see them better appreciate her heritage, acknowledge her losses, celebrate her gains, and mark her life-changing journey. I'd been saving some really cute stickers over the last few years, before we even knew there would be a Tanje, and never really knowing when or where I'd used them, but wanting to apply them to a very special project. Now, we know: we'd saved them especially for Tanje! Looing forward to Tanje adding her own pages to this tribute to her!

Meanwhile, Tanje's continuing to grow, runs faster and faster, chats up a storm and climbs anything she can. She thoroughly enjoys her sister, her papa and maman (especially tackling us with Savannah's help when we play outside on the grass - they just find that hilarious, as do we) the library, her swings and slide, any playground we visit (lots), her cousins, her grandparents and matantes and mononcles, truck rides, and just being on the go. She's happy and thriving. Zoom!

Caught on Camera!

Aha! We finally caught Tanje's smile on camera! Not that she doesn't smile often: she does. She also giggles impishly when she figures she's pulled one over us. It's just that she doesn't like to stay in one spot for very long, and by the time the camera focuses, she's outta there! This time, she actually sat for a few minutes, and when I asked for a smile, there it was! Brilliant!

Tanje sure enjoyed getting a ride from Savannah, and jumping in and out of the car a zillion times - good thing it's just her height. Thanks Grandpapa for fixing it!

Tanje's continuing to use tons more words, climbs the steps to her slide (and slides down like a little fearless daredevil), and totally loves to imitate her big sister. She saw her first sunfish today, and laughed and laughed when we let her touch it.

I'm #1!

Yeah!

Here I am, practising `clicking` my lifejacket. Houdini has nothing on moi!

One happy `glamper`

 Two happy `glampers`! Thanks Chartrands and Morrises for a nice long weekend together! Tanje`s counting the weeks `til next time!

Still Runnin'

Tanje's still as active as ever, and now, she's starting to 'jargon' a storm. She's also using quite a few words, including 'lait, bebe, poupou, en haut, en bas, encore (pronouncing it 'enta' - so cute!), debarquer, dehors, maman (still calls many adults this, but getting specific more often), papa (although she still also calls him maman, but has started calling him papa spontaneously more and more often), d'autre, dada (for Savannah, although recently she occasionally uses 3 syllables to refer to her), oreille, main, pied, nez, and tete.

Tanje absolutely loves going outside, taking wagon rides, running, playing ball, climbing stairs, playing in her playhouse, and now, going for car rides (must be the DVD player!). She is a big fan of her big sister, knocking on her door and calling her in the morning, and imitating her moves.

A Going Concern

Tanje just never stops moving, except to crash out at bedtime (phew!).
She has 2 speeds: stop, and go go go! I thought Maman was just being a wuss, but even the daycare staff say she's a going concern, non-stop. No wonder I'm fried by 2030 every night!

First full day at daycare, and first pigtails! So cute! Tanje adapted quite well, and made quite an impression with her smarts, and her right away seeming to catch onto and follow the routine e.g. washing her hands, lining up behind big sister Sass to get her hair done...

Baptism

Tanje was baptized at St Thomas d'Aquin by Pere Jean-Marc Raymond (as was Savannah) on January 23rd. She didn't cry until we tried to hand her to Franco, her Godfather. Hmmm! She seemed fine with Godmother Joanne though. Vanessa read beautifully, and David kept Savannah entertained. We shared the day with cousin Michel LeBeau, who was baptized as well.

Then, we all went to Terrace Suites for a delicious celebratory breakfast. We celebrated the double baptism, but also, 2 birthdays: Savannah's, who turned 3 the same week, and Tanje's, to coincide with Tet, Vietnamese New Year, which falls on February 3rd this year, and is the traditional time when birthdays are celebrated, no matter what the date of birth, which is good news for us, as we got to celebrate Tanje's first birthday after all! Tanje loved the beautiful cupcakes Tante Josee so caringly made for her, and so did we!