Not Really News or Noteworthy

Today I was telling a friend about the hectic pace of the past few days.  We had our visit with the social worker on Saturday morning.  (That, by the way, went really well except for the little argument that Cassie and Lacey had over who was going to babysit for Gladis' baby!)  We scuttled from the visit to the school carnival and on to a birthday party.  On Monday, I went from work to a doctor's appointment on to the school book fair.  Tuesday was violin day.  Today I had to deliver Cassie to school early for a field trip.  After work, I picked up Lacey and took her home, then returned to school to wait for Cassie to return from the field trip.  We peeled out of the school parking lot and headed for the dance studio.  I was sitting in the car grading papers during the ballet lesson and actually fell asleep!  Thursday we will attend an open house at the girl's school. 

In response, my friend said, "You love it.  Deep down inside of you, you're loving every minute of it."  

Hmmm.  Had to think about that for a quick moment.  The truth is that I do love every minute of it.  I especially love that Cassie still hugs me before she flits off into the dance studio.  And, I love hearing Lacey say, "You's my ever Mommy!"  I love being able to say "my girls," and "my children" and "my kids."  I love my life  I just wish there were more minutes every day with which to enjoy it!

Cassie's Community Service

Cassie and a friend are starting a community service club.  For their first project, they are trying to raise money to donate to the Red Cross for Japan.  They are painting artist's calling cards and notecards.  The calling cards are the size of business cards.  They are doing a beautiful job.  We are going to ask the supermarket manager if the girls can set up a table outside the store and ask for donations.  Here are photos of some of the cards that Cassie painted.

Reflections

One year ago, we were still classified as a "China waiting family."  Then, on March 25, 2010, we received our tentative referral.  I remember waiting anxiously for Cassie to arrive home from school.  We showed her the picture of "Haidan" and told her that we had a week to make up our minds.  Cassie said, "Take her!"  And, we did.  

On Saturday, our social worker will visit for our eight month follow-up visit.  It's hard to believe that so much time has passed.  I was reflecting on how far we've all come over the past eight months. I thought maybe, in preparation for the social worker's visit,  I should jot down a list of some of the things that Lacey has accomplished since we met.  Where would I begin?  Eight months ago, we met a child who lived only for the present.  She had no real sense of her personal history and no anticipation of the future.  She didn't know where she was born.  She had no understanding of the calendar.  She had little understanding of self control and was accustomed to screaming and crying to get what she wanted.

I decided to ask Lacey what she thinks she has learned since joining the family.  I was stunned by her ability to reflect and by her understanding of the profound changes that have taken place in her life. Her responses were so beautiful and sincere that I must share them here verbatim: You will be able to tell that she included both lessons from home and school!

"Reading, writing and listening.

Be careful.

Don't break things. 

Swim, play ball, do scooter and swing.

Don't eat like a pig.

Words.

Brush hair and brush teeth."

Pause. . . "I've got lots of things in my brain, Mommy."

"Wash the table and clean up the stuff.

Don't spill the paint.

Stay in your own place to play and don't make a mess.

Don't get the wall paint dirty.

Play Doh.

Puzzles and crayons.

Play my dolls.

Play in the playhouse.

Pick up acorns.

I make snowflakes and snowmen.

Countries!  English, China, Gladis' country - I don't know the name, and some more countries.

Sometimes the moon out, sometimes the moon in.

Sometimes the sun follow us.

The clouds bump together, they make cold winter.

I like doing marshmallows and eat outside in summer.

Shopping.

Taekwondo.

See Santa Claus.

Wash  your hands - soap!

Feed the cats.

Not being rude.

Nicely going to the party.

I taste new drinks and new foods.

Flying in an airplane.

Cassie and me play ball together.  Cassie and me on the red swing and maybe somebody push us down, up, down.

Cassie and me play Barbies.

Read at bedtime with big sister.

How to listen to Cassie's violin.

Do with Mommy the laundry and take care the clothes.  Put the dishes in there (pointing to the dishwasher).  Get the mail for Daddy and Mommy.

Cassie and Mommy and Daddy and me, we are together family."

Four Generations of Chinese Women

Flying West

We are in the midst of a tremendous thunderstorm and, no, the basement flooding problem hasn't been resolved.  We've Googled possible solutions, looked in the Yellow Pages, checked the Sunday classifieds, surveyed the yard, and talked about what could and should be done to stop the water from coming into the house.  Happily, the spring also brings our annual visit to Colorado.  After spending weeks searching for "the best fares" I decided that there is no such thing.  But, playing with the dates and throwing in a rental car did lower the price a bit.  For those of you who we will be blessed to see during our trip, we will be arriving in Denver on Thursday, April 14th and staying until Wednesday, April 20th.  We can't wait to see you all!

Signs of Spring

Lacey is very anxious for Spring to arrive.  She does not understand the cycle of the seasons and keeps asking how we are going to make Spring come.  Lacey says that she doesn't remember Spring in China.  This isn't really surprising, since the city of Shanghai consists mainly of high rise buildings.  Cassie loves Spring and is doing her best to teach Lacey what Spring means to us.  

Here are the top 10 signs that Spring is coming to our home:

1.  The doors slam about 100 times a day as the girls race in and out of the house.

2.  I have enough energy to do both yard work and housework!

3.  The red-headed woodpecker in the backyard wakes us up each morning.

4.  Popsicles fall out every time I open the freezer door.

5.  Thanks to the girls, there are as may leaves, rocks and twigs inside the house as out.

6.  The school is asking for money again.  Oh, that would be year-round, not just in Spring!

7.  The girls have outgrown all their clothes.  I guess that would be year-round too!

8.  I'm making Cassie listen to stories of how we ate dandelion greens when I was growing up.

9.  The pile of dead moles outside the doorway rivals the mound of flip-flops inside the doorway.  And. . . 

10.  Like the Phoenix, Les rises from among the couch cushions and heads for the hardware store!

"Little House on the Prairie"

"Four Cynthias"

We are growing again!

Once again, our family is growing!  We are so happy to share the news that Gladis and Julio are expecting a baby in August.  They don't yet know if the baby is a boy or girl.  Gladis and Cassie have had baby names picked out for years.  If the baby is a girl, she will be named "Gabriella."  If the baby is a boy, he will be called, "Anderson."   We are very anxious because we have already dragged two large boxes of  baby clothes into the living room and begun sorting.  I'm afraid that we have very few items that are gender neutral.  Almost everything is very feminine.  Gladis had an ultrasound this week.  But, she reported that the baby wasn't ready to show its "secret parts!"  They will try again next month.  Lacey overheard us planning a baby shower and is now proclaiming that "Cassie is going to throw Gladis a shower in a BIIIG bathtub!"

We enjoyed a beautiful high of 77 degrees today and are anxious for Spring to arrive.  We set out bits of colored yarn for the birds' nests.  Cassie somehow missed the signals and wore fur-lined boots to school today. 

In other news, I was horrified to discover a two-inch, capital "L" carved into the coffee table.  We called Lacey over and asked if she knew what it was.  "L, for Lacey," she chirped.  Of course, she denied doing the carving.  Later, I overheard Cassie telling Lacey in "Changlish" (a rare mixture of Chinese and English) that it was okay if she confessed.  It would just be their little "me me" or secret.  Oh, no they don't!  I am definitely not ready for any kind of conspiracy.  I told the girls that Mommy needed to know what happened to the table so that she could fix it.  And, if Mommy didn't find out soon, NOBODY would be going to the book fair next week.  That announcement quickly left Cassie deflated.  And, Lacey ended up explaining that she had used the plug on her new headphones to do the deed.  She demonstrated true remorse.  And, although the table looks sad, I'm happy that Lacey has a conscience and has learned that it's better to tell the truth than to lie.

We celebrated Lacey's first St. Patrick's Day with corned beef and McDonald's shamrock shakes.  The shakes were much  greener than I remembered - almost looked like they'd been radiated.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Life After Odyssey. . .

Saturday afternoon, Cassie and her teammates competed in the regional Odyssey of the Mind competition.  They had been working since November to write and perform an original drama.  They did a fantastic job and had a lot of fun. Les prepared a luscious meal of crab legs to celebrate.  I'm not sure whether he was celebrating the team's wonderful performance, or the fact that we were finally finished.  But, it was quite the jolly meal.  Midway through dinner, I asked Lacey if she was happy.  We are working hard to help her understand happy situations that involve more than the receipt of toys or candy.  Lacey smiled and said, "Yes, I'm happy for Cassie!"  That statement was music to my ears and made the Odyssey experience even more valuable.

For the past couple weeks I was steadily overseeing the production of scenery, props and costumes; filling out paperwork for the competition; and supervising rehearsals.  I thought that once the competition was over, I would have a lot of time on my hands. Well, life after Odyssey hasn't really been much different, except that Cassie keeps telling me how much she misses being able to focus on Odyssey.

Sunday afternoon I did the grocery shopping.  I hadn't shopped in about 10 days, so my cart was pretty full.  I was happily and quickly placing my groceries on the belt.  I grabbed the extra large container of blueberries and discovered that it wasn't closed.  Whee!  Blueberries went bouncing and rolling everywhere.  This might not seem very funny to you.  But, given the pace of activities during my last couple weeks, this was about the funniest thing I'd ever seen.  To make things funnier, it was as if the other customers could smell the blueberries.  Soon, there were squashed blueberries everywhere.  Meanwhile, I was trying to get the cashier's attention to explain what had happened - as though he couldn't see.  He had to call for a manager, who had to study the situation for a few minutes before he decided to call someone for a "dry cleanup."  Before the guy with the broom could arrive, Cassie returned from the produce department, new container of blueberries in hand, and managed to mash the few berries that remained whole.  The guy with the broom made a valiant attempt to sweep up the blueberries that were just about embedded in the floor tiles by this time.  As we left the store, I felt compelled to apologize to every store employee we passed on the way out.

Sunday afternoon, we journeyed into Washington D.C. to meet up with Ken, who was in town for a conference.  We had a very pleasant meal with him at the Dubliner restaurant.  We wished that we could have spent more time with him. 

To get to D.C., we had driven to Pentagon City Mall.  We were going to take the Metro.  But, because it was pouring rain, we had the doorman at the Ritz Carlton flag down a taxi for us.  The rain persisted, so we returned to Pentagon City via taxi.  Of course, Cassie had to use the restroom.  We left Les and Lacey by the escalator and wove our way through the food court, across the mall to the restrooms.  I was tired and disoriented by the number of yellow plastic cones lining the hallway outside the restrooms.  I should have taken all those plastic cones as a warning sign.  First, I walked right into the men's bathroom.  I don't mean that I headed in the direction of the men's room or started to put one foot inside the doorway.  No.  I was about 8 feet into the bathroom before I realized that the loud noise in the background was Cassie hollering at me to get out of the men's room.  Yes, there was a guy in there and no, I didn't see a thing.

Next, we walked into the women's restroom.  The first thing I saw was the attendant.  She was wearing large, black plastic trash bags over her shoes.  The trash bags were secured by several layers of toilet paper that she had wrapped around her ankles.  That would explain why there wasn't any toilet paper in the stalls.  The attendant had a long-handle floor mop and was using it to wash the bathroom counter and mirrors.  Whoa!  We walked gingerly toward the stalls.  Lucky us!  The selection included a stall with a flooded toilet, a toilet swathed in black plastic trash bags, a stall covered with what looked like toenail clippings, and a toilet with no seat.  As we fled the restroom Cassie said, "Mommy!  This is supposed to be a nice mall!"  I reassured her that next time, we would not only take advantage of the doorman at the Ritz Carlton, we would check out the hotel's bathrooms too!

The Verbally Gifted

I just have to say how proud I am that the girls are both so verbally gifted. 

Let's begin with Lacey.  She has adopted several new phrases in the past week.  She can now say, "You're not the boss of me!"  "So what!!" and "What the hell?!"

Then, the girls are both becoming quite the little polyglots.  They can say that they have a runny nose in Spanish.  They can exclaim that they just passed gas in German.  And, believe it or not, they can ask someone to kiss their behinds in Mandarin!  We are quite thankful that they choose to utter these expressions in languages other than English.  And, sharing secrets in other languages is really helping them bond!

Finally, Cassie is studying similes and metaphors in school.  She and her friends all tend to overuse the word "like."  So, I'm like really happy that she's like learning other ways to like use the word like!  Here are some of the similes and metaphors that she wrote for today's homework:

My Dad is like a towering bear.

My sister is like a whining mosquito.

My Mom is as nice as a cup of hot cocoa on a cold day.

The clouds are smudges on my palette.

My Aunt Susan is a wildflower in a field.