Lura and Cheryl came back from Hawaii with Cheryl's Mom on 14 January 2004. After flying there together, we're very grateful that Grandma came back so Cheryl didn't have to take care of Lura alone on the trip. Lura's a pretty good traveler, whether it's a five-hour flight or an eight-hour drive, but still it's good for Cheryl to have a helper! Here's Lura back on our familiar couch; Mark thinks this photo looks like she's talking to an interviewer or something!
As long as we were changing environments on her with all the traveling, we decided that this would be a good opportunity to move Lura from the borrowed cradle next to our bed into a larger crib in the nursery. She made the transition without a hitch, though the loud clicks of the spring-loaded latches (necessary for one-handed lowering and raising of the crib side) occasionally awaken her when we put her to bed! For this photo, though, Cheryl put her back in the cradle with Huggy Bear so they could show off their matching outfits, complete with teddy-bear slippers! Lura doesn't have a whole lot of room; you can see why we thought it was time to move her.
Two pairs of our friends with older children gave us the "activity centers" that their children had outgrown. These have cloth seats surrounded by things that click, crinkle, rattle, squeak, or play music. We have one upstairs in our bedroom and one downstairs in the living room, so Cheryl can put Lura down in them when she needs to have both hands free to do something and Mark isn't around to keep Lura occupied. Sometimes Cricket joins Lura in the upstairs one.
Usually Lura enjoys herself quite a lot in these rigs, and she's learning to manipulate the various components to elicit their different sounds. We just thought this picture of the "Entertainer" downstairs was funny because Lura clearly doesn't look like she's being entertained here!
Of course, Lura's favorite place to sit is on somebody's lap, like Grandma's!
Grandma flew back to Hawaii on 23 January 2004. Here's a photo of her with Cheryl and Lura, as we always take before she goes home. Lura is almost five months old here; compare with the earlier photos at four weeks and eleven weeks!
The next day we went to a Chinese New Year party at the home of our neighbors Mark, Grace, and Iris; Grace works four doors down from Mark (Looper) at Aerospace, and they live four doors down the block from us. Lura wore a warm outfit with pink roses that had been given to her by Fong, another of Mark's co-workers.
Here's Lura with Grace over at their house. Some of the other guests brought their children, who are classmates of Mark & Grace's daughter Iris; Lura was a bit too young to play with the big kids, but she enjoyed watching them!
We made the traditional dumplings, steamed or fried; Grace says the idea is that wrapping up the dumplings is like wrapping a present, so it represents the gift of good wishes for the new year. Very tasty, too! There was an interesting division of labor here: the women made the food, and the men watched the kids. Hey, at least we didn't watch the football game!
Here's Lura at five months of age. As in the photo at the top of this page, Mark thinks she looks like she's sitting for an interview in this shot. Put a long cigarette holder in her right hand, and she could be a Hollywood star!
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