The end of this chapter
When I started this blog, right after I had received Oscar’s referral, I am sure I never imagined that I would still be posting on it three years later. It’s seen me through the wait for Oscar’s I-600 approval, a trip to Vietnam to adopt a child I did not know I would be able to bring into the United States, a fairly serious bout of post-adoption depression, my attachment problem, Oscar’s diagnosis of his eye condition and the possibility of him losing his sight, the discovery of his brain anomaly and the questions that has raised, my search for my Etta, through false attempts in Thailand and Nepal, seeing her photo for the first time, waiting (a very short time) for her court date and bringing her to our family’s home, our family’s struggle to fit together, the demise of my career since becoming a mom, Oscar’s struggles to communicate and overcome the first few months of his life and finally our life as a family of three.
I’ve attempted to morph this blog into our family photo album, but for some reason, this always feels like my adoption blog and, while adoption will always be a component of our lives, it’s no longer the primary focus. Given that, I’ve decided that the time for this blog has come to an end.
I will be blogging about our family at www.oscarandetta.com from now on, and I’d love to have you join us. If you prefer not to make the move with us, though, I understand. I sincerely thank you for the support you’ve provided these past years. I’ve truly enjoyed getting to know you (virtually, in many cases) and wish you all the very best. And, if you’re an adoptive family, my feelings of ambivalence of blogging here do not extend to your blogs. I will be continuing to stalk you regardless of my URL.
What we brought home from Disneyland
three sinus infections (all of us)
a yucky cold (Papa)
three ear infections (two for Etta, one for me)
bronchitis (Oscar)
whooping cough (me, thankfully the kids are fully vax’d)
measles (Etta . . . don’t get me started)
two cases of pneumonia (Oscar and me)
The healthy one, now just a little crusty from her rash:
Joy of Love – 17
Today’s theme? Staying in. Something we’ve been doing a lot of lately. Well, not something I’ve been doing, since I’m slammed at work, but the kids have been doing pretty much nothing other than hanging out at the house. Know why? Cause they’re super sick. I know this because I’m really attentive to their health our pediatrician clued me in today at Etta’s well baby check that she has a double ear infection. Yep, that I missed entirely.
She and her brother have been sick for weeks, seemingly passing one virus to one another every few days. From what I have been told, they probably developed a sinus infection, leading to the nastiness in Etta’s ears. Oscar’s ears are fine, but he’s battling a very bad cough.
Because of this, we’ve spent most of the week in the house. This has resulted in Oscar missing all of his therapy for the week, which is not a good thing. In the absence of our much enjoyed OT, I have taken to providing my own sessions for the kids (at a massive savings, too!). Today we smooshed (yes, that’s a word) “therapeutic” shaving gel (that’s the kind that should cost $2, but you pay double for it) with finger paint all over the kitchen island. This turned out much messier than anticipated.
Etta has some very minor sensory issues. She hates to have food or anything on her fingers, so at first she was not all that into this project. As you can see, that quickly changed. She even got Papa into the action (although we don’t have any good pics of it). We had to bring the fun to an end, though, when Oscar decided that Etta really needed to be entirely covered in soapy paint.
Oh, and in viewing these pictures, please do not haul off and call CPS. I do feed Oscar; he just seems to be going through a growth spurt right now.
Disneyland with Sensory Processing Disorder
Any trip to Disneyland is a tiny bit daunting, but if you have a child whose needs are, say, “special,” a trip can be overwhelming. Worries abound – is it going to be overwhelming for him? Is he going to be able to enjoy any of it? Am I going to be able to enjoy any of it? What if he has a meltdown / starts raging? What about your other kids? Will we even be able to do anything they’re interested in? Are we going to end up spending most of our time in the room recuperating from all of the excitement / stimulation? If so, is this a colossal waste of money? Is it even worth it?
If you have a child with special needs like sensory processing disorder or autism, these thoughts are just the tip of the iceberg.
Obviously, I cannot answer these questions for you, but I can give you a tip that you might not be aware of that could actually transform this vacation from something you endure to something you all enjoy. It’s called the Guest Assistance Card, and (as Grandma pointed out at one point in our trip) it’s worth its weight in gold.
What is it? It’s a card you carry with you throughout your stay at Disneyland that alerts cast members to the fact that your group needs special assistance. Depending on your needs you’ll be asked to wait in a different line from the main line or be asked to stand in a designated spot while you wait. It’s tailored to the need of the guest who, for whatever reason, cannot or should not wait in the main line.
What isn’t it? A pass that lets you cut through all lines or go to the head of the line. This is super important for everyone to note – especially those people who are NOT carrying one (and may get angry that others appear to be getting preferential treatment) and any parents who might think that this pass is going to turn Disneyland into their own private theme park. That’s not the point here, folks.
How do you get one? Go to City Hall on Main Street and explain why you need one. You don’t need any medical papers explaining your special need, but you do need to be able to describe why you need assistance, including what would/could happen if your child were to stand in the regular line. After hearing our explanation, the woman at the desk told me that’s exactly why they have this process and stamped our card.
How do you use it? This varies by ride, but usually you go to the entry where there is a wheelchair symbol. If there is Fastpass, you just use the Fastpass system (get the ticket and come back at the designated time). If you have questions, just ask the cast member at the attraction; they’re super nice.
Why use this? Obviously the answer to this varies depending on your need. I was alerted to this system by a friend, and while I thought about using it, I kind of talked myself out of it until Oscar’s doctors, therapists and psychiatrist told me I was insane (okay, maybe the shrink said she “would strongly encourage” me to rethink my plan). For a kid with SPD, standing in a line at Disneyland, with hundreds of people crowding and pushing and the noise of the rides and all of the people, it can feel like the masses are about to literally crush you.
Last year, not using this card, we rode maybe two or three rides, returned to the hotel for 5-6 hours to rest and then went back to the park for a couple more rides in the evening. After a good night’s rest, we repeated the process on day two. All in, Oscar and I rode maybe ten rides total. In two days. And the mere thought of going in one of those lines again with a child teetering on the brink of raging after being pushed/pulled was enough for me to seriously reconsider another trip to Disneyland ever again.
This year, we did not ride significantly more rides per day (and we certainly did not run from ride to ride), but we spent more time in the park looking at things, wandering around, spending money (believe me, this thankful parent spent far more as a direct result of her feelings of good will towards the Disney family after this) and just enjoying ourselves. We still took long breaks when it was clear that we were at risk of Oscar melting down, but we weren’t at risk of that after half an hour of being jostled in lines. It was more like a “typical” risk of a toddler tantrum after two to three hours of “regular” park experiences.
The other thing I noticed was that I was not spending all of my time shielding Oscar and worrying about the impending meltdown. Last year I was constantly on alert for anything that could set him off while we were in line; finding ways to increase our personal space while avoiding a confrontation with some of the more aggressive parents waiting in line and generally waiting for IT to happen. This year, waiting in the “other” line, where most of the parents had kids like mine and were so much more aware of personal space issues, I found myself waiting in line like the parent of a toddler without sensory processing disorder. You know, a typical toddler who wants on Dumbo now. It was great. Plus, most of the kids in this line were simply a pleasure to be around.
What to know. Okay, it sounds like a golden ticket, right? In some ways it totally is. In others, not so much. Like I mentioned earlier, this is not a ticket that lets you avoid lines. In fact, at some points of the day, these lines will be LONGER than the “regular” line. Depending on your need, theoretically you could switch to the “regular” line, but that was not really an option for us, since we needed to have more space than that line typically affords. So, when we were faced with this, we just skipped the ride and tried to come back at a later point. We encountered this on both Small World and Dumbo.
You may also be confronted with at least one embittered parent wondering why your kid is getting “special” treatment, wondering aloud how many rides he’s been able to go on that day. I actually answered him that at 8:30 pm that day we had gone on exactly five rides all day. I seriously doubt that any child who needs this card is using it to ride dozens of rides per day. For us, this card just made the rides we went on that much more enjoyable because they were fairly stress free. And, if one is considering defrauding Disney and fabricating a case for his child to get one of these cards when the child doesn’t actually need one, I would encourage him/her to consider that perhaps the one thing better than having this card is not needing it in the first place.
Other SPD Considerations. Any toddler at Disneyland is going to be overstimulated by the end of the day to some extent. Kids with sensory processing disorder are going to hit that point earlier than most. Oscar’s SPD results in his being overwhelmed by sensations. While he is sensory seeking in a few ways, he is mostly what they call “avoidant”, which means he simply cannot handle sensations that children typically can cope with. In addition to the guest assistance card I discussed above, there were a few other things we did to get us through the trip.
First, quickly establish which kinds of rides your SPD child can deal with. Oscar cannot cope with the “dark” rides. The noises and lights are just too much for him. We tried one and avoided that entire category the rest of the trip. Note that there are a lot of these rides, so it’s a fairly significant limitation if your kid isn’t going to go on these.
Second, find some “quiet” rides that can serve to be both an event and some down time. Oscar found one of these on his own – the big white paddle-wheel boat. He loved it and it was a perfect way to go from the intensity of some of his rides to the relaxation he desperately needed. The monorail and Disney train are also good for this.
Third, find the rides that actually serve as part of your child’s “sensory diet” for the day. The spinning from the teacups, the up/down flying motion of the rocket ships or Dumbo, the music from Small World, the carousel or the concerts throughout the park, the lights in the Toy Story ride, it all counts. There are also playgrounds within the park where kids can run, jump and climb without risking getting lost. We even threw in daily trips to the ice cream parlor for those textures and aromas.
Fourth, be aware that the fireworks and World of Colors might be “too much” for your child. Oscar loves the look of fireworks, but the noise is just too intense. Same with World of Colors; he was mesmerized by the music and lights, but some of the sounds were simply too loud for him (although we managed to stay for the whole show). We were able to enjoy the fireworks far more at our hotel room than we did in the park, although it was still too loud even at that distance.
Fifth, consider staying on site or very close to the park. This was a lifesaver for us on both of our trips. We could quickly get back to the park after a few hours napping or relaxing at the hotel or eating at a local restaurant at Downtown Disney. There is no way we could have spent more than four hours at the park at one time. Three hours was really more of our limit. Once we hit the limit, we headed “home,” where we could hang in the room or around the hotel, playing or watching movies.
Sixth, bring some of the comforts of home with you. We brought the mondo mega double stroller with the huge canopies. These were perfect for both kids when it came to shutting out the sensations. Oscar shuts his on his own now when things crowd in on him, and it was certainly helpful for Etta, too, when she needed her naps.
Perhaps most importantly, don’t treat this trip as though it’s the only time you’ll go to Disneyland. . . even if it is. This is a stressful trip, even if your child has typical toddler issues. With SPD, or other similar conditions, there is simply no way you’re going to be able to experience everything the park has to offer. At least not without losing your mind. You’re going to have to choose what you’re going to let you child experience and be comfortable that that is enough. Although we’ve only done this twice now, I’m fairly certain that the mere fact that my kids have been to Disneyland is enough for them. They’re not measuring the success of the trip by how many rides they went on or even what they missed. If that’s enough for them, it’s certainly enough for me.
Good clean fun
I think they’re starting to genuinely like each other.
When they’re not trying to kill one another, that is.
Oscar and Etta Join a Country Club
Okay, maybe it’s not technically a “country” club, but it’s a club nonetheless. A club with an initiation fee and monthly dues with a membership list that is restricted, so it feels a bit country club’ish.
Before I had kids, I had no idea that the lives of very young children were so incredibly busy. I figured one’s infancy and toddlerhood were the periods in a child’s life where the only thing they had to do was play, eat and sleep. And, maybe that is the case, but the child’s mom is apparently supposed to concern herself with where her child is playing, eating and sleeping. . . . and from what I’ve found, the kids are not supposed to be doing all (or even the vast majority) of their playing at home.
From Oscar’s first doctor’s appointment in the U.S., when he was about ten months old, I’ve been repeatedly asked whether he was enrolled in any classes and activities. Music? Tumbling? Gymb0ree? How about a playgroup? None of these things were realistic for Oscar when he came here from Vietnam. Looking back, it was ridiculous that my pediatrician, who knew what was going on with Oscar emotionally and developmentally, even asked. Back then, I just ignored the questions, thinking that if we ever got to a point where Oscar did not scream for the majority of his day, we’d look into this classes and activities thing.
Fast forward a couple few years and we’re at the point where Oscar does not scream for the majority of his day. In fact, there are some days when he doesn’t scream at all. I know, shocking. We have, in the past, enrolled (and even attended) music classes and swim lessons, and Oscar and Etta already do a lot of stuff at the library each week (storytime, yoga infrequently and crafts whenever offered), play at the park (which is usually devoid of children) and have some playdates. The thing is, it’s not enough. I know they’re supposed to be socializing more with other kids, and I know that because I have them home with a nanny, they’re not getting the same level of interaction that kids in daycare “pre-school” are getting.
One of the problems, of course, is that I am not a SAHM. Because of my employment status, my children are not eligible for membership in a lot of playgroups. Sad, but true. Playdates happen during the workday, and since I’m working during the workday . . . my kids are not playing with other kids. Hence the country club.
So, we joined this club, and it’s sort of fabulous. It’s basically just a humongous room with a bunch of different areas designated for different sorts of play with another big room designated for gymnastics and another area with a library and cafeteria (organic, naturally). There were a ton of kids there on Sunday when we first attended, and while most of Oscar’s play was still parallel, he did try to get an older girl to play with him on the gymnastics equipment. It’s a great place for him to practice many of the things he’s working on in OT, so I feel like that’s a huge benefit in and of itself.
The kids love it there. Oscar loved it immediately. He took off after two seconds of assessing the layout. Etta? She loved it after about an hour. Most of the time I feel like Etta has been here with us forever, but every once in a while I’m reminded of the fact that I actually adopted Etta from Ethiopia. Sunday was one of those days. She was very clingy and unsure about the whole experience initially, so we hung out in the baby section where she could kind of get a lay of the land.
After a bit of watching, venturing out into the play space and back to the baby section to regroup, she took the place by storm. Once she had the grown ups telling her how beautiful and brilliant she was (with her cocking her head towards me and grinning to make sure I heard), I knew we’d be all right. She played so hard that she took a two and a half hour nap afterwards to recuperate.
So, at least for the winter, they’ll be hanging out at the club, playing and taking a weekly art class, followed by music together. If this place were a bit like a real country club (read – with a pool, lounge chairs for mom and a beer cart (again for mom)), we’d be in for the long haul. But for now, it’s just someplace for us to escape the cold California winter. All three weeks of it.
Our first Christmas
Our first Christmas as a family of three was so awesome that we held it over so we could celebrate two days in a row. Well, maybe we held it over because Oscar awoke on Christmas day with a horrible cold. He had been feeling poorly for a couple days, with a fever running around 103 before Tylenol. With Tylenol, it was dropping down to 100-101, so no big deal. On Christmas morning, though, this is what Oscar looked like at about 8:00 am. I sat him on the kitchen island and he proceeded to assume this position, which he really did not want to change.
I, of course, thought we should power through whatever Oscar was feeling and celebrate Christmas. Etta, after all, was raring to go.
We moved into the living room, where Etta tried to get her brother to go check out the presents left by Santa. When that didn’t get him off the sofa, she decided to take one for the team and feign the holiday spirit and open some presents. Oscar eventually rallied when he saw Etta with a gift he liked (her princess ride on), walking to the playroom to get his similar toy (his birthday gift from Grandma and Papa for his first birthday). Even he couldn’t get excited about it, though, and we decided to call off the unwrapping of the presents when he got off the car and fell asleep on the floor.
Eventually, when Oscar just couldn’t muster any energy at all, I broke down and took him to urgent care. They thought it was either the flu, some random virus or pneumonia, but his chest x-ray was clear. They sent us home with a prescription to force some fluids into him, preferably something like a milkshake (why do I never get these prescriptions for myself?) and we set off to find food. Finding food on Christmas Day is not so easy. I wasn’t able to stop at the store, since I was told not to take Oscar into public areas, since he was highly contagious, so a drive thru was needed. Easier said than found. Long story short, we ended up driving almost an hour to find food. Oscar drank almost none of the required shake, but Etta made up for it, of course. We managed to get home and ended our first Christmas together by falling into bed before 6:00 pm.
I figured there was no way Oscar was recovering from this bug for at least a couple of days, so I was in for a surprise when I got up this morning and found a bright-eyed Oscar asking for food. After eating something, he ran into the living room and found his stocking. Christmas mayhem finally ensued, with Oscar tearing through a few presents and then playing for hours.
Yes, Oscar is wearing the same pyjamas as the day before (he even wore these to the urgent care). You can tell it’s another day, though, by the hair.
Thankfully, Oscar was willing to attend to his personal hygiene and take a shower (with glasses) before we opened more presents.
We got tired of opening presents. Not because there were hundreds, but I’m happy to say that my kids like to open a present and then play with it for a considerable while. No tearing through dozens of presents at a time yet. The only downside is that we have now had three present-opening sessions and will need a fourth tomorrow to get through the presents under the tree. Even I find three days of this to be a bit much.
Anyway, it ended up being a beautiful day today and we ventured outside to play with Oscar’s scooter.
The kids were having a good time, but I noticed Etta wasn’t looking quite like her fun-loving self, so we headed inside.
When we got inside, Etta showed me something awesome. A nose even runnier than her brother’s had been the day before. Super. Then she threw up (which was the first symptom Oscar exhibited). She’s now asleep with a fever, and I suspect that we’ll have to postpone our last day of opening presents and read some of these gifts instead. I’m thinking that little kid who said “pooh” to receiving books for Christmas (see youtube) wouldn’t last long in our house. . .
Hope your holidays were healthier than ours.
TTT – Days 15 – 20
We wrapped up our trip to Thailand doing what we do best – eating, drinking, taking walks, visiting a zoo (seeing the pandas seemed to be Oscar’s second favorite thing on this trip) and swimming. There was some shopping in there, too, mostly for antique bells (from temples and cows from Myanmar), but some things are sacred and should not be photographed.
TTT – Days 13 and 14
Vacationing with children really is exhausting. Just like at home, we get up every morning by 6:00 am, if not earlier. Some days, far far earlier. Today, we made it to 6:00, but given all we had scheduled, I should have rolled us out by 5:30. I got us all showered and dressed, with the kids racing around the room and Etta crawling everywhere to find new things to stick in her mouth, fed Etta her pre-breakfast meal of baby food brought from home, and we were on our way to the restaurant by 7:30, with everyone fed for real (and Oscar’s clothes changed because of a mishap with his tomato soup) by the time we took off with our tour guide for our day with the elephants.
After a beautiful hour-long drive into the hills of Northern Thailand, we arrived at our elephant camp. It looked at first like we were the only guests, which was a lot of fun, since we had a bunch of elephants to ourselves to feed. Oscar thought the elephants were amazing. He kept pointing at them and yelling “el-ee-FANTS”. We bought bunches of bananas and some sugar cane, and I tried to get Oscar to hand them over to the elephants, but he kept peeling the bananas for the elephants. He finally got into the swing of things by the end, though.
After feeding the elephants, we watched them be bathed in the river, followed by a short show where the elephants moved logs around and demonstrated how many ways there are for a person to climb onto and off of an elephant before a baby elephant painted a little picture, which was cute. At about this point, Oscar announced to the audience that it was time to ride the elephants, and people actually started to head out, only to be called back, since Oscar is not an employee of the elephant camp. He’s just a very bossy three-year old.
A few minutes later, we were allowed to go to the stand to ride the elephants. It was at this point in the day that Oscar about lost his mind. We were at the stand, and other people were getting onto their elephants, with Oscar literally jumping up and down, saying “elephants . . . ride elephants! hi, elephant. ride elephant.” At some point, we were led to our elephant, which was huge, and Oscar jumped right onto it, with me taking a bit more time. Our tour guide convinced me to let him keep Etta back with him and the other guides, since it was very hot, there were a lot of bugs out and Etta was acting like she needed a nap. I’m now hoping that she forgives me and doesn’t make me bring her back to ride an elephant since her brother got to do it.
Oscar got a lot more out of the trip than I did. It was very pretty up in the hills, and it was interesting to ride an elephant (although, as my parents reminded me, this was not my first trip – I rode one at a circus once when I was a kid. I cannot imagine that I enjoyed that trip either), but I was distracted by the fact that the path was a bit treacherous and I could imagine my child falling from the elephant at every turn. Oscar thought the entire thing was amazing, though. He could not get enough of watching the elephants feet. I don’t know why, but this fascinated him.
After an hour, we were finished with that part of our day, and we headed on back to the city. We stopped at a hill tribe community that is related to Oscar’s tribe. I considered going to visit the Long Necked Karen village (this is the group where the women wear the gold rings around their necks), but despite the explanations by many guides and other Thai people we’ve met of how this was not exploitative of these women, I couldn’t get comfortable about it. So, we headed on back towards the hotel, making the obligatory stop at the shopping venue where one’s tour guide gets a kick back. We did find a grocery store and bought diapers and formula, so Etta is set for the rest of the trip. This sets her apart from her brother, who now wakes up asking for corn on the cob and chili for breakfast. It’s good we’ll be home soon.
Eventually we made it back to the hotel, and the kids were so tired that even Oscar didn’t want to swim . . . for about 90 minutes. After watching Wall-E for the 10th time in two days, we headed to the pool for some late afternoon swimming and the kids ate dinner at the pool, which was really convenient, since Oscar got terribly messy eating spaghetti, but it didn’t matter, since he jumped back into the pool immediately after eating. I finally got the kids back to the room, bathed and into bed at 7:00 PM, but Oscar decided to wake Etta up half an hour later. Thankfully, he’s started to kiss his sister, so he woke her by kissing her and saying “night night Etta, niiiiiight,” while jumping on the bed right next to her head. We used the opportunity to Skype the grandparents, and the kids just went to bed a little while ago – at 10:00 PM.
I am now too tired to even sleep. Why is it that that only happens at night, and not, say, at 6:00 am when your kids are forcing you to get up?
Pics from elephant day, not enough bandwidth to post pics for both days.
TTT – Day 3
Maybe our approach to curing our jet lag isn’t all that stupid. When last I left you, we were about to try to get some sleep at about 1:00 AM after we had slept the day away. We tumbled into our beds and awoke around 3:00 AM when Etta couldn’t rest. I tried to coax her back to bed by hauling her into the big bed with Oscar and me. I gave her some milk and then Oscar decided it was time to have some fun. Somehow I got them both calmed down enough to almost sleep and then it happened. Etta sat up and blew formula all over me towards Oscar. It came out of nowhere, and after she had managed to get it out of her mouth, she sat back and laughed. Oscar, however, was not so cool, yelling “wet, wet” over and over. I called housekeeping and got all three of us into the shower, and within minutes we could have been back in bed, fast asleep. You know that didn’t happen, though, didn’t you?
While Etta and I dozed for a few minutes after 6′ish, Oscar has been up since 3:00. We didn’t let that hold us back today, though. we got out of the room around 8:30 and by 9:00 had a cab for the day and were headed towards the reclining Buddha. Oscar loved it here. Every room we entered evoked audible oohs and aahs (literally). He loves statues of Buddha, and when he saw the reclining Buddha, he about lost it.
After adoring his Buddha and running around like a wild man, Oscar went to Buddha’s backside where there were a series of 108 buckets aligned for visitors to place coins. The coins are donated to the temple, and the thought behind this is that you drop a coin into a bucket, make a wish and it will be granted. I bought coins for him to place in each bucket, but Oscar had his own ideas (naturally). First, he ran around, saying “money, money, money,” then he threw a few coins in one bucket, ran to another down the row and did it again and finally dropped a bunch of coins on the floor. A number of Swedish women came to his rescue, picking up the coins for him, while their husbands captured the moment on film. When I went to collect Oscar, their faces crashed, and I realized that I had probably ruined the moment for them. I think they had imagined that they had been helping a little Thai boy, and instead, they had only assisted an American. I’ll be more careful in the future.
Oscar oohing and aahing
When we went to Wat Arun, Oscar had had enough site-seeing. Who could blame him? It was a million degrees, he was sweating and he likely wanted to get some sleep. Instead of visiting the Wat, Oscar decided to become a peeping tom at the local dance academy. Unfortunately, that is not where it ended. On our return, Oscar escaped me to actually JOIN the class, where he ran around the room for a while after he had jumped into the middle of the girls who were dancing. His dance moves did not seem to be very well appreciated, so I grabbed him, apologized profusely and we left. He also made a friend on the streets, although this pic only captures the moment before they began their muay thai boxing moves.
You may be noticing that Etta is not featured in these photos. Sadly, she spent the day in the carrier because of the crowds. You see, Etta is a bit of a superstar here in Thailand. People rush her to take their photo with her. I am not joking. They come up to her by the dozen, not simply snapping pics, but asking to either hold her or to be in a photo with her. I get that she’s beautiful, but is this more because she’s African? I imagine there could be more white Americans and Europeans here than people of African heritage I asked our tour guide about it at the Royal Palace, and her take was that Etta is just so beautiful and happy that people want to be with her. Who knows. Just know that her radiance was documented for many happy tourists today.
I’ll add photos of our trip to the National Palace in our next post, since I’m starting to worry that the bandwidth here won’t be able to load this post as it is.
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Etta’s Hats
Where I’ve Been
