Where to begin? Okay, had a fabulous mini reunion with some of one branch of our China family in chinatown. Chinese food, great company, chatty girls. What more could you ask for aside from the rest of the family. It is always amazing to watch how the girls are when they are together. This time, they were so enthusiatic at a Bubble Tea store that the lady invited them to come behind the counter and watch. They are a really cute group so I can understand being taken in by them. She also showed them how she gets the juice from sugar cane. We were really blessed; with both of our adoption journeys we travelled with wonderful people who are a great support system for each other.
Then Elspeth got sick for a while. Nothing bad but sick enough that it was made crystal clear how new we are to parenting her. For instance, she is a puker. Who knew that minor puking could go hand in hand with a stuffed nose? She also wakes up early, really early. When I am sick, I do the complete opposite, I sleep. Katrine wants to eat popsicles no matter what she is sick with. Elspeth – just wants to play with her food. What comforts sick Elspeth? Being carried – EVERYWHERE! Have you ever tried to go to the bathroom with a child on your lap? Not fun. (Yes, feel free to laugh her. It really is absurd but after an hour of inconsolable child ones gotta do what ones gotta do).
On the Katrine front things are going well. She continues to love being over programmed, and we keep hoping that she will realise it is too much and ask to quit something. No luck so far. She is going to compete in her first StarSkate competition in November. She’s competed before so whats the big deal you ask. Well, this time around it is harder because instead of doing moves in isolation she needs to do them in a sequence. Sort of like a mini program without music. Katrine is loving skating right now and even tried to negotiate with us to go skating and trick or treating on the same night until we convinced her that we could not stop time or make her be in two places at once. She is a bit bothered that she is the youngest skater in her group and we are hoping that by going to the competition she will meet other skaters her age and feel more confident.
Elspeth is now up to 37 words but don’t try to make her use them. She prefers to use them when the mood suits her. There have been some stretches of crying as we work on getting her to consistently communicate using the words and signs that she already has. That said, she really is making remarkable progress and we are quite proud of how far she has come developmentally.
Talking of how far she has come brings me to a favourite childhood activity for the fall – playing in the leaves. When the leaves in our neighbourhood first began to change colour, she would have nothing to do with them. Cried if we put them on the tray of her stroller or set her down to walk through them. Over the last week she has begun to hold them and tear them into bits or stamp on them with her feet laughing as they crunch. Today she took it a step further. After watching Katrine rake the leaves into a pile and jump on them she picked up the plastic rake, raked and then did then same. Sigh, progress. Maybe we can get her to roll in them next.
My last piece of news is that yes, I have done seasonal nails again. They are certainly not professional but they make me happy so enjoy my collection of jack-o-lanterns.
