Getting Elizabeth... and Rachel

Zoo boo

Tonight, after much indecision mostly on my part, we went to the zoo boo with Grandma and Grandpa. We had been excited about going for more than a month, but over the past week a cold has been making its way thru our family, with one day everyone seeming ok,the next one or another member clearly sick, to the point we weren't sure what to do until last minute. Our latest sick member is Rachel... the one least likely to say how she feels.

But, the Zoo boo is basically walking along a short trail through the zoo, getting candy at the various stops. You're outside, so there is little risk of contaminating anyone, and if we held rachel or pushed her in the stroller, she wouldn't exert herself (or so i told myself), and to make a long story short, we went. And the girls loved it. And so did the grown ups.

Hua Hua fell asleep on the ride home and is out for the night. When Rachel got home she took off her costume, grabbed her pumpkin, and carefully looked at all the items she collected, saying "oooo," and "wow!!" about things like suckers and pencils and coloring books, that were particularly exciting. Then, all on her own, said, "clean up!" and put them back one by one .

I think we'll all sleep well tonight!

Halloween season has begun!

We have officially begin halloween party season, and the girls are thrilled.

Yesterday was our first party with our chinese adoption playgroup. Hua Hua is in the back with the wings. She's tinkerbell, as were 3 other girls. Rachel did actually have a costume on, but she grew tired of it and then wanted it off, so she was simply Rachel.

some of you may remember what happened to our cookie monster costume plans from a previous post. (she is still terrified of him!). We weren't sure what we were going to do for the longest time, since so many things seems to scare her. Then finally, when i was going thru some things in our basement we found Hua Hua's tiger outfit that she wore for halloween when she was 2. Rachel loved it, and our halloween problem was solved! Rachel loves her tiger costume so much, i caught her in my room (where i temporarily had it), hugging and kissing it. silly kid!

the top picture is of all the girls at the party, where they ate lunch, decorated pumpkin cookies and played. by the costume selection you can see we have many princess fans. The second photo are two friends who came to our house to change before going to the party. (many of the playgroup girls are in the same gymnastics school with a class that was right before the party.) Tomorrow night (presuming everyone feels well - which is a little shaky right now) is zoo boo with grandma and grandpa. Let's hope we're all well enough to go!

cheese?

the scene: lunch time at our house. Hua Hua is eating peanut butter and jelly; rachel a ham and cheese sandwich. Hua Hua is tired and ultra senstive becasue she insanely woke up at 6:45 am. Rachel is her normal chipper self, munching away.

Hua Hua, looking down at her sandwich, then up at me: "I want cheese, too!"

me: "You chose peanut butter and jelly. if you eat your sandwich, and you still have room, then i will give you some cheese."

Hua Hua: "whaaaaaaaa!" (picture tears, high drama, from an over-tired kid.)

Rachel's smile turns to a sad little look. she grows quiet and looks down at her food.

me: "Hua Hua, having a temper tantrum is not going to get you what you want. If you want cheese you should have chosen a different sandwich. If you eat what you requested, then you can have the cheese."

Rachel picks her cheese out of her sandwich, holds it out from her high chair to hua hua, and says in a sweet voice," here, Hua Hua. here"

She's giving her sister her cheese. The cheese that she also loves. Hua Hua stops crying, and I am almost crying at this sweet gesture. Hua Hua thanks her sister, tells her she lvoes her, and pulls it together. she eats the sandwich and gets her own cheese. Rachel eats her cheese, and gets a piece more. And me? I get a great memory of Rachel's tender and sweet spirit.

Girlfriends

Tonight i got out with some girlfriends to eat dinner and talk and talk and talk without kids. It was GREAT!!! Two weeks ago i got together with some friends to work on photo albums. And every Wednesday night i connect with a girlfriend for bible study and girlfriend time. Several times a week i'm in and out of my neighbors' homes, watching the kids play and talking. More girlfriend time. And one of the things i've come to realize about this new life chapter called stay-at-home motherhood is, perhaps for the first time since college, i've got some really great girlfriends!

I know that may sound like a weird thing to say, but when I was working and Dan was working we were both so focused on our careers and each other, there wasn't a lot of time for anything else. I'd work crazy hours at the paper. Come home and try to see my husband briefly before bed. Weekends were filled with housework, perhaps more work, and church and some couple activities and then back to work.

What was missing was girlfriend time. Let's face it, relationships that go beyond surface talk take time, and there just wasn't a lot it!

I remember reading a news article not that long ago about Americans being lonely people, becasue no one had enough time to really invest in friends. I could totally identify with the article, and then was so glad that, for now at least, I'm doing the anti-cultural thing of being home full time with my kids -- with one of the many many benefits being great girlfriends!

So, since it was so much fun to hear from all of you on preschoolers doing homework, I'd love to hear your thoughts on all this. Are americans lonely people??? Can anyone relate to what i'm saying?

homework anyone?

About six weeks have passed now since preschool and chinese school and dance and gymnastics started up. And, i think i can finally say, we're in a groove. Hua Hua loves each and everyone one of her new activities, and wants to do even more, of which we say no way. Dance - she's doing ballet and tap -- during the entire one hour of dancing she is grinning from ear to ear. i don't think the smile ever leaves her face! Gymnastics - ditto, loves it! Preschool-- loves going, loves learning new things and is now trying to read words and sound things out. Very cool. And chinese school? She talks about this all the time, sings her songs and is trying to write her characters.

I think the one thing that has caught me by surprise with all this is the homework. And it is the one thing that we're probably still struggling to get into a set pattern. Chinese school gives her homework, which is absolutely necessary and doesn't take a ton of time, but it is homework.

And then preschool gives her a lot of homework, too. I didn't know this when i signed her up for preschool, and frankly it never occurred to me to ask about homework. I think the goal of the homework is to encourage the parent to actively participate and encourage and support the learning going on in class. But it is still homework. For a 4 year old. and to stay up on this we have to spend a decent amount of time doing it. When i ask around it seems like a lot of preschools are doing this these days. But doesn't preschool sound young?

if you have preschoolers, or had them, i'm really curious --what did your preschool do?

Rachelisms

Rachel is really taking and expressing herself more and more daily it seems. She's putting together 3 word sentences. She talks constantly, and has developed some very sweet expressions. One of my favorite is "love 'em"

Take my parents dog. His name is Tai. Rachel can't get enough of him. Out of the blue she'll think of him. "Tai Tai" she'll say. "Cute." Then, "aweeeee" And then "love 'em."

And sometimes she'll say it out of the blue to me. "mama. Hold me," she'll say. So i'll pick her up and she'll snuggle into my arms, head on my shoulder, body pressed into mine. She'll give me a few loving pats on the back and then will say. "Love you!" then right after that she'll ask to be down, and run off to get into something or another.

She sure knows how to melt my heart!