Of Opossums, Leaders and Lima Beans

Fourth grade is off to a great start.  Cassie's teacher asked the students to make a poster showing how to conserve one of Virginia's natural resources.  The students were also to write a paragraph about the resource.  All the work was to be done outside of class, which meant that parents had to help.  We began by researching endangered resources.  The Chesapeake Bay and the Occoquan River were both obvious choices.  But, true to form, Cassie had to be different.  She explalined that because most of her classmates were studying the waterways, she was going to pursue the opposum. Again true to form, reading about the opossum and writing a paragraph weren't enough.  She wanted to see a live opossum.  I called several wildlife resuce centers, but none were open to visitors.  Cassie decided to lure an opossum with food and conduct a "stakeout."  She researched the opossum's favorite food and set out a plate of apple peels, dry dog food, overdone pork ribs and acorn squash.  So it was that around 9 p.m. on a chlly Saturday night, I found myself shivering in the playhouse, waiting patiently for an opossum to appear.  No such luck. 

The following morning, all the food was gone.  But, we had no idea what had eaten it. Cassie reasoned that it could have been eaten by a fox, racoon or dog, as well as an opossum.  But, she was sure it hadn't been deer, because they're vegetarians.

The next two nights Cassie set out watermelon.  She thought that this would eliminate the carnivores.  She also set the food out earlier, hoping to invite the animal to arrive earlier so that we could see it.  She had carefully placed the food so that an animal would activate the motion detector and turn the floodlight on.  Each morning the food was gone.  But, we still didn't know what was feasting.  Cassie had conducted research on how to identify bite marks.  But, there was no food left to examine!

Then, we decided to lay out an old tarp covered with sand, with a plate of food in the middle, to see if we could get the animal's footprints.  This would help with the identification.  Once again, on a cool dark night, I found myself out in the back yard.  We laid down the tarp, covered it with sand, wet the sand and smoothed it.  Cassie put out raspberries, acorn squash, honeydew melon and pasta.  In the morning, there were footprints everywhere.  We followed this routine for a couple more days, carefully photographing the footprings.  We discovered that our visitor liked melon, bread, plums, pineapple and falafels. 

Casie next had to determine whether the animal was a raccoon or an opossum.  They both have opposable thumbs and similar footprints.  She studied photos of the different footprints and compared our photos.  She concluded that one or more opossums were visiting the yard.  And, I believe that she's right.  She wants to continue feeding the opossum so that we "lower the amount of stuff in landfills."

Cassie made a beautiful poster, complete with gems and glitter glue.  She wrote the following acrostic poem for the opossum:

"Oh, opossum with your little
Pink nose and feet,
Oh how adorable and
Sweet and
Subtle
Using your sharp teeth not at all
Marsupials you are our only ones." 

Her advice for protecting the opossum is, "Tell your dad, brother and friends not to shoot opossums.  Leave food outside for an opossum.  Donate time or money to a wildlife center."



Cassie preparing for the opossum



An opossum print

In other fourth grade news - the elementary school has a longstanding partnership with a local bank.  Students were given a chance to apply for leadership positions in the school bank.  Cassie submitted an application and then interviewed with the Assistant Principal and the Assistant Manager of the Bank.  She was very excited and dressed in a black skirt, white shirt and black sequined necktie for the interview.  She was selected to be the Assistant Manager of the Bank.  Once  afternoon a week she will help students open bank accounts. 

Finally, Cassie brought home a writing assignment today that clearly demonstrates her writing skill!  I've included it, for your reading pleasure.  We scanned it to preserve its authenticity.  The comments in green are from Cassie's teacher.

Two Eyes Open

About 10 days ago, Les took Lacey to see a retinoligst.  The opththamologist had suggested that we have the retina in her left eye scanned for a definitive diagnosis.  The doctor said that Lacey has "microphtalmia," which is simply the existence of a small, under-developed eye.  The doctor also confirmed that Lacey was born this way.  He gave Lacey a brochure showing photos of children who had been fitted with prosthetic eyes.  The purpose of a prosthetic eye in a child is twofold .  The primary concern is to ensure that the eye socket grows and maintains the symmetry of the child's face.  The secondary concern is cosmetic. 

Lacey studied the brochure very carefully.  When Cassie arrived home, Lacey ran to her and, struggling to find words to express herself, said, "Cassie!  Doctor said, ah, ah, ah. . . two eyes open!"  I certainly couldn't have found better words to express what Lacey had understood and what she was feeling.  But, I realized that since Lacey has joined our family, she has already begun to see with "two eyes open."

When we first met Lacey, she focused only on the present.  She worried about what she would eat next and what she would wear the next day.  As we traveled around China, we encouraged her to enjoy the sites.  But, she really didn't want to look at anything.  Everywhere she went she clung to her new toys and repeated the Chinese phrases for, "Give me," and "This is mine."  For the past three months, Lacey has continued to repeat these phrases.  Not surprisingly, these were the first two phrases that Cassie learned to say in Mandarin!

I've always prided myself on being a creative mom.  When Cassie was little, we sometimes fingerpainted at breakfast, and had a tea party for lunch.  We never knew what dinner would bring.  Cassie would sometimes appear as the president's daughter, a princess, a newspaper journalist, or maybe a pioneer.  One time, she even role played an emperor's daughter.  We quickly realized that Lacey was unaccustomed to freedom and wasn't going to thrive in this type of environment.  We had to adjust our style and establish a very defined routine for her.  This was difficult for all of us, but helped Lacey begin to open her eyes and explore her new world.

Looking around our house now,  you can easily observe how Lacey has changed.  In the kitchen, a plastic grocery bag, filled with acorn tops, hangs from her chair.  On Cassie's placemat rests a drawing from Lacey that has Cassie's name printed in shaky letters.  On the counter sits a vase of water that is home to a handful of dead leaves Lacey collected in the backyard.  The bottom half of the refrigerator holds a collage that she made by gluing leaves together.  The family room floor is littered with drawing paper, crayons, colored pencils, and an overturned bucket of cookie cutters that Lacey was tracing.  The stairs are adorned with doll clothes, books and craft supplies, all waiting to be put away.  The bulletin board in Lacey's bedroom holds family photos, brochures from the cat show, tags cut from new clothing, and other little mementos.    

If you eavesdropped on our home, you'd be amazed at the volume of English that Lacey can produce.  She uses beautifully complete sentence such as, "Cassie, you can use my crayons." and, "Can I help you?"  Yesterday, she told me which classmate had to go to the quiet table in the cafeteria.  Today, her class visited a farm and she provided a vey detailed description of what she saw.  Recenlty, Lacey overheard a conversation between her parents and piped in, "Me no kiss anybody's butt!"

Lacey is also gaining a sense of time, and starting to anticipate future events.  Shortly before school started, I realized that she had little understanding of the calendar.  She couldn't name the days in Mandarin and didn't know that there were seven days in a week.  I began showing her a calendar and after a few days got her to understand that it represented the passing days.  She was able to understand that we had met her and brought her home in July.  I could really tell that she understood when she began rapidly paging through the calendar and asking me over and over again to show her Mommy's, Daddy's and Cassie's "Happy Birthdays."  This awareness of time might be her most enlightening experience so far.  Every day now we look at the calendar.  We talk about what she will do at school tomorrow and how many days before the weekend is here.  I now understand that she lived only in the present, without thinking about her personal history or future.  And although Lacey is much more eager to talk about the future, she has begun sharing small details of her life in China with us.

 I too have to look with both eyes open to appreciate how far Lacey has come.  And, while there are many adjustments for us all to make, they're not all bad.  I have started getting up just a couple minutes earlier in the morning.  This is because now when I tiptoe on my ritual trip down the hallway, I have to stop and listen for the quiet breathing of not only one, but two sleeping girls.

Track and Field Day

Columbus Day dawned especially bright for me.  It was a holiday for Les and for me; but, the girls had to attend school. Because many parents were home from work, the girl's school had scheduled Track and Field Day for Columbus Day.  As is his custom, Les had volunteered to help with Field Day.  Ahhh!! For me this was shaping up to be a holiday in every sense of the word.  The house to myself?  A trip to the mall?? A good read in the coffee shop???  (To be honest, even grocery shopping alone would be a luxury.)  But, it was not meant to be.  Cassie asked if I could PLEEAASE help with Field Day, and guilt got the best of me.  However, it was also "Daddy Doughnut Day" at school.  All the kids lined up early with their dads in order to slop down juice and doughnuts in the gymnasium, and I did get about 20 minutes to myself.

The morning began perfectly -  a little cool and overcast, with dew on the grass.  Third, fourth and fifth grade Field Day was held in the morning.  Les signed us up for "the parachute."  This activity involved getting about 20 kids to grab onto the edges of a large and colorful parachute.  Then, everybody had to squat simultaneously, then rise up, holding the parachute above their heads.   Finally, everybody had to snap the parachute down and try to flick off the balls that were riding on top of it.  Here are some pictures to aid your understanding.

A group of kids (and Les) holding the parachute

Raising the parachute

And the balls go flying!

This activity was great fun for both kids and adults.  We were all laughing and screaming.  Of course, the kids weren't strong enough to do this without help from the adults.  About an hour into the activity, my body was screaming in pain.  Did I mention that we had signed up to help the entire day?

Cassie and her friends

Cassie and classmates

 When our lunch break came, we were too tired to go home.  We dragged ourselves down the street to a fast food restaurant and absorbed as much air conditioning as we could.  When we hit the field for the second half of Field Day, the temperature was almost 90 degrees.  The smaller children really didn't have the strength for the activity.  Les and I had to work harder than ever.  We were able to recruit a few more parents to help us.  Finally, the day came to an end.  

As we were packing up the equipment, I got to be the one lucky parent who was singled out by the principal because my child had gotten overheated and thrown up.  "Oh, Mrs. Minihan," she said, "The heat got to be a bit much for the little people.  Lacey just got sick."  I immediately began whooping and doing the "end zone" dance down the hallway, knocking over a couple parents in the process, because I DIDN'T HAVE TO CLEAN IT UP!!

 I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder and heard, "Oh, Mrs. Minihan!  Are you all right?" 

"Oh yes," I replied.  "The heat just got to be a bit much for the big people too."

Now, if you're thinking that I was acting a bit selfish or shallow, let me explain that I got to carry "the clothes" home, sealed tightly in a plastic bag.

Lacey perked up about 10 minutes after we got home and I got to do an unscheduled load of laundry.  

Lacey with her friends

October is Here

Everybody has settled into the school routine.  I have pretty much accepted that my life will never be routine.  That makes everything easier.  

Les and I survived two "Back to School" nights.  Lacey is doing very well in school.  She loves being part of a large group of children.  Recess and physical education are her favorites.  Her English is progressing incredibly quickly.  She can recite rhymes and speaks in complete sentences.  Her understanding of phonics amazes me.  For example, she can list about 10 different things that begin with the letter "B."   Today she wrote letters to me and Cassie.  She had "Mommy" written on the outside of one envelope, and "Cssd," written on the outside of the other.  Inside, she had placed drawings with our names on them.  I'm guessing that she'll be reading soon.

Lacey and her favorite sport - eating potato chips!

Cassie is enjoying 4th grade more than she thought she would.  She is making new friends and has helped some of her classmates organize a club.  I believe she is the "creative director."  Our friend, Maria, gave Cassie an easel and a set of oil paints.  Cassie went right to work, letting her talent flow.  Cassie is also busy writing a play for school.  And, she has been rehearsing with a group of young violinists that will play Christmas carols at the Festival of Lights in December.

The artist at work

We finally had the kitchen floor redone.  The tiles have been breaking for the past six years.  Our house was in upheaval for 10 days and most rooms are still covered with a powdery white dust from the construction.  But, as you can see from the before and after photos, it was worth the effort and wait.  Cassie and I saved a box of broken tiles for future craft projects.  Well, I'm supposed to wait 28 days before washing the new floor so that the grout can thoroughly dry.  During the following 3 hours, muddy feet made about six sets of tracks across the floor and two glasses of milk were spilled.  I did a quick wipe up with paper towels and told everyone that I refuse to be coerced into washing the floor before its time.

Before

After

The orange doors

 Over the weekend, I painted the pantry doors.  They are sort of a dark, country shade of orange.  This is the same color that I had used to paint the kitchen chairs.  I don't have the time or money (frankly it's a money thing) to tear off the faded wallpaper in the kitchen and redo the walls.  This was a much cheaper option - it cost me one can of paint, a little cajoling to get Les to agree, and a couple hours of labor.  We hung the doors today and I think they look great. 

 

In the midst of the construction, we celebrated my birthday.  The state of the kitchen was a good excuse to eat out.  We enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner and wonderful behavior from both girls at Red Lobster.  Here are a couple pictures of me with the girls.  I would be the one wearing the princess crown.

 October is notorious for blowing germs into our household.  I refilled all the allergy and asthma medications, hoping to deploy a good defense.  Thursday afternoon I had to pick up Cassie from school.  The verdict from the nurse was "croup or bronchitis."  I took Cassie home and discovered that the basement was flooding.  Did I mention that we were in the midst of a downpour?  Gee, I had thought that the new sump pump we installed after the fire in August would have done the job.  I took Cassie to the doctor on Friday and she does have bronchitis.  When I had her prescription filled, the kind pharmacy employee took a good look at me and asked if this wasn't my fourth visit to the pharmacy in as many days.   I responded that yes, now that I thought about it, I had made four consecutive trips to the pharmacy.  The lovely lady continued, "Now, Mrs. Minihan, I surely hope that Cassie is feeling better.  But, it seems to me that you're the one who's going to be needing rest."  A little sympathy is always nice.

Staying home with Cassie on Friday gave me a head start on cleaning the kitchen.  I basically had to wash everything in each drawer and cabinet, and the entire contents of the pantry.  I discovered that, thanks to Les' enthusiastic and vigilant shopping, we have three bottles of Worchestershire sauce; about four gallons of white vinegar; six containers of Wasabi paste; three bottles of red vinegar; and at least two gallons of olive oil.  I guess we are ready for the next flood.

So, our house if full of life, and that life is good!