The Birthday Boy

It's officially official even in our time zone - Colby is FOUR. FOUR FOUR FOUR - I still can't quite take that to be the truth. I can - I know it to be a fact, but I feel like there's just no way he can be FOUR already.

I've seen it coming for some time now. His imagination is developing to a brand new level - his pretend play is actually getting to be pretty complex. He's able to grasp more abstract concepts, and his memory is getting sharper. He's becoming fond of recounting stories about "when I was a tiny baby". The biggest change I've seen (and I'm so thankful that I am realizing it and not getting lost in the thick of everyday drudgery) is that we now have more good days than bad. We had quite a rough patch "mid-three" that left us tearing our hair out for a solution to his horrific behavior. We tried everything we could think of and nothing seemed to make any difference to him. He rebelled, he tried us, he yelled at us, he refused, he stomped, he screamed, and he railed against any kind of authority we laid down. He still does, sometimes, but now more often than not he is at least remorseful in some sense after the fact. He's getting there and he's railing MUCH less. The light we hoped was looming on the horizon of age four seems to have been real - it's here and it's better and I'm really looking forward to spending these next months with him before he starts school - and that is truly something to be thankful for! He's always been and always will be my sweet, funny, sensitive little boy underneath the dirt, noise, and defiance. It's just that now there are more days that I want to keep him instead of setting him free to be among his own kind.... ha ha ha.

Misger Mixter

Colby and I baked his birthday cupcakes this morning. He asked me if he could use the mixter on his own. Then he self-corrected and asked if he could use the misger on his own. I told him I didn't care what he called it, he wasn't using it on his own (although I did let him help me steer). I'm going to miss all of his little mispronunciations when they eventually go away. Just last night as I tucked him in after our nightly potty run he said, "I love you." Not "I yub you", but "I love you". I was kind of happy and kind of sad all at the same time. He's going to be four in just a few short hours - already is if you take into account the time change between here and Taiwan. I'm glad to see four because as we've approached it, his behavior has improved and he seems to be making a return to reason and civility. I'm sad to see four because that means that our days of being home together all day are coming to a close. I know he'll enjoy school and that it will be good for him, but it's just one of those times of change that are hard on a mom. I'm going to try for a proper birthday post tomorrow, but I couldn't let the misger mixter go by without some kind of commemoration.

THIS

is a pointelism. Mystery solved.

Please, mama, please?

Kailin was cutting out small hearts with pictures of us (her family) on them this afternoon for a school art project. All of a sudden she was asking me, begging really, to let her cut her hair. --Not asking and begging to get a haircut - asking and begging to cut her hair - herself. I said no. She asked again - politely. I said no. Then she said, "Please, mama? Please? I really really want to do it. Just one tiny little piece?" I told her that if I let her do it, she was to promise me that she would never ever again cut her own hair and she did. So I let her do it. I grabbed a little piece of it and held it between my fingers about an inch up and told her where to cut. She snipped it right off and you know what? She giggled gleefully and with the kind of joy that only children have and her face lit up and that was maybe one of the best decisions I've ever made. Really, what difference does it make to me - it's one tiny bit of her hair and she has so much and it gave her immense joy. It was a good reminder to me that I need to start saying yes more often.

Time for bed!!

We recently had a book out of the library in which the main character (a little girl about Kailin's age) proceeds to put her mom to bed in the evening complete with yanking her forcibly away from her computer, giving her her "bath toys" (a caddy containing a razor, bath oil, and a loofah), reading her a bedtime story (Anna Karenina), getting her a last drink of water, and leaving the door open "just a little". Then the little girl goes downstairs and says, "Whew....one down!" and the final picture is of the little girl's dad sitting in front of the tv with a bag of chips. She yells "Daaaaaady....time for bed!" The end.

Kailin has been BEGGING us to let her "put us to bed" ever since. I'm perfectly happy to play the part, but the problem has been that our kids go to bed on the EARLY side since they are such early risers, and between getting supper done, on the table, eaten, and cleaned up and it almost always being a school night when she remembers to ask, we've had to say "not tonight" more than a few times. So we scheduled it. We actually scheduled it. Friday night. It was pizza night, so there wasn't a lot of cooking or clean-up. Then I dutifully went upstairs and got my jammies on and Kailin was right there to remind me what to do. Then she pulled back the covers and she "read me" "The Gingerbread Man." I chimed in sometimes, just the way she does, and before the end of the book, Steve and Colby were snuggled in with us as well. When the book was over she declared "lights out"and we bellered for a night light, a drink of water, "bed bugs" and anything else we could think of. She warned us to be quiet and go to sleep or else. We laid down and were quiet, but she continually opened the door (and sometimes flipped on the light) to check on us. Finally, we ducked under the covers and the next time she opened the door we heard silence followed by a booming "I know where you are!" and then she ripped the covers back and we all had a good giggle over it. It was fun and I'm really glad we did it. Of course then it was truly the kids' bedtime and they made it a real chore for us...but I guess after the hard time we gave them, we deserved it.

This would be so funner!

Colby has rediscovered his ZhuZhu pet from last Christmas. He's in love and plays with it constantly. Kailin was lamenting that hers was broken yesterday, but she pitched in and was being a real sport about "helping" Colby play with his. Steve happened to find hers and brought it to me. It turns out that all it needed was a new set of AAAs and it was squeaking and squealing from the kitchen. Colby perked up his ears and let out a scream when he heard it. He yelled, "Bubbee!!! Bubbee!!! Your ZhuZhu pet! This will be so funner! Bubbee!!!!" and ran gleefully into the kitchen to see what was going on. I handed over the pet and they ran off together eager to play the new, "funner" game. The glee and the peace lasted about 30 seconds, but in that 30 seconds I remembered exactly why I longed to be a mom for so long. It filled me up until I was ready to burst (good thing it was short lived then!!).

a labor of love

We bought quite a few pieces of art in China and a few in Taiwan (we just weren't in as many touristy places in Taiwan where we could buy the types of things we bought in China). I've been meaning to put them all up for some time now - have had a vision of how it would look in my head, and I've had the frames for almost everything bought since....well, since before Colby came home. Yet somehow the project always seemed too daunting.

Enter the power of nesting. Today we tackled the project. It involved laying everything out on our bed and arranging and rearranging and it also involved Steve braving the top of the ladder (where neither of us like to be) on the steps. But together we got everything hung, we both love it, and we had zero disagreements during the process.

I'm glad to have it done, I'm thrilled with the results, and my nesting instincts are (at least for the moment) fulfilled.

Guess what?

I TOOT ON YOU!!!!!!!! This is Colby's favorite thing in the whole world. Climb up on my lap under the pretense of giving me a hug or having a cuddle and then ask me, with an impish look in his eye, "Guess what?" "What?" "I TOOT (with a staccato little t at the end there) on you!!!" and most of the time he's not making it up. One time I thought he was angry - nope, just trying to force one out. What a stinker - in every sense of the word!

Who is the fattest one of all?

We listen to a lot of Disney Princess stuff around here. A lot. Much. Copious quantities. All the time. Often. We have several of the "Songs and Story" cds. They're actually not too bad unless the kids get bent on one and we listen to it 3-5 times a day for say....3-5 days. Then I'm about done. It's getting to the point where they know most of the words to most of the songs. I choked a little yesterday at lunch when Kailin belted out "Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fattest one of all?" I was really relieved that she wasn't looking in my direction when she said it!

Can I sit by you?

"Can I sit by you on the bus?" is the ring of power amongst all children who enter my house these days. The Wonder Twins will be going to school half days in the fall. They are already brokering seats on the bus with each other and with their older siblings. There is no worse threat, it seems, than to declare "If you don't stop that/do that/play this/share that then I won't sit wif you on the bus!" Any proclamation of "I won't sit wif you on the bus" is usually followed inside of five minutes (especially in Colby's case - he has a HOT temper, but remorse usually follows) by a humble, "Will you sit wif me on the bus??" The fact that it's 8 months until this is even going to happen makes me laugh.

Kailin, on the other hand, is keen on formulating plans for how many days/trips she will sit by Colby "and then he's gonna hafta learn to sit by himself in a seat. Otherwise how will he ever learn?" OH MY.

I see Daddy's France!!!!

My children have only just recently been introduced (by their Dad of course) to the old "I see London, I see France, I see so and so's underpants..." saying. Interestingly enough, the word in this saying that interests them most and elicits the most giggles is not in fact "underpants," but "France." France. France is funny. I've never thought of France as funny, but it brings peals of laughter from my children. Tonight it had Steve and I doubling over in fits of laughter when Colby ran screaming up the stairs holding his underwear-clad butt cheeks yelling "I see YOUR unnerpants! I see Daddy's FRANCE!!! I see Daddy's France!!!!!" Oh I love that boy!

Is it Hocus or Pontus?

Kailin wondered to me this afternoon about whether the princess on the screen while she watched her "Disney Princess Sing Along" DVD was "Hocus" or "Pontus". Hmmm...try "Pocahontas" dear. Try "Pocahontas".

This is why....

This is why I love my husband (well, one of the reasons, anyway). I found these pictures today while going through my July pictures for my scrapbook. (yes, I'm that far behind) I didn't realize I had them and they depict so clearly one of the many things I love about my husband - he's a big kid at heart and he's never afraid to get right in there with the actual kids and let loose. He's such an amazing dad - no wonder kids flock to him! I am so blessed!

We've come a long way...

Friday we had our homevisit with our social worker. It's one more step in completing our homestudy so that we can apply for USCIS (immigration) approval to bring Carter home. I realized that it was almost six years to the day of our very first homevisit for Kailin's adoption.

I had to laugh at myself. Six years ago, I spent hour upon hour cleaning, scrubbing, arranging and primping to make our house pristine and well put together. I think it actually shone in the sunlight like a diamond...or maybe not. It was darn clean, that much I can tell you. Conversely, for this homevisit, I decided to wipe the kitchen table, put out the "grown-up" placemats, and then gave some thought to vacuuming. And that was all. Ha - we've come a long way in six years.

I'm thankful for our social worker, a mom of four herself, who knows that what matters in a family has little to do with dust bunnies and dog hair and a lot to do with love. And I'm thankful that because of that I didn't have to be stressed out and maniacal and could instead enjoy our visit and just stress about whether or not my children were going to act like maniacs....

Time difference

I use a toolbar in my browser that earns me credits toward free gift cards. It costs me nothing. Sometimes they send out little codes that you can input for extra credits (now I feel like I'm back in fourth grade!). Recently, I started re-receiving codes that were issued SIX MONTHS ago. They're long expired and also they're annoying. I emailed the company about them to see if there was a glitch that was causing them or perhaps something I could do to stop them. I was specific about the fact that the codes appearing were from six MONTHS ago.

The response I received indicated that their toolbar is administered by a third party company and that they suspected that the "time difference" was to blame for me not receiving my codes in time to redeem them. I've been to the other side of the world from where I live twice now and the time difference was 13 hours. So.....I'm wondering if they actually have ALIENS administering their toolbar such that the six MONTH time difference is coming into play?! I'm considering emailing them back to ask them just that. I wonder what their reply to that one would be?

Mom, is that?

We were out grocery shopping on Saturday morning and were picking up some cheese. Yes, I see the humor in that. Kailin reached out and grabbed a round of cheese. I scolded her because we don't let the kids touch food in the grocery store unless we have asked them to grab something for us - after all, other people are going to eat that and the kids' hands have been all over who knows where.... Anyway, she said, "But Mom...." and I said (of course), "But nothing. Put that cheese down. It's someone else's food." and she said, "But Mom...." and I'm glad that I had the presence to just say "What?" instead of laying into her about arguing with me again and she said, "Mom, is that Colby's name.... on the CHEESE?" and then we all got to have a good laugh about how there is cheese called Colby. We assured her that she wouldn't be finding any Kailin or Carter cheese even if she looked hard. Ha ha ha.

three Thursdays and a Monday

Colby got a set of Thomas the Train socks for Christmas. There are seven pairs of socks in the set and unbeknownst to me when I purchased them, they are labeled with the days of the week. Between the packages and the tag removal and two adults being home multiple days in a row, I either wasn't paying attention when they went into the wash or wasn't the one who put them there.

The first full week after Christmas, I excitedly told Colby that he could wear Thomas socks all week. It was then that I realized that they were labeled. I couldn't find the Monday socks, though, and had to put him off. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday went off without a hitch. Thursday is laundry day around here, but I slacked a day and it was Friday before I did the laundry. I found a Monday sock and a Thursday sock in the single sock bin when all was said and done. I was a little beyond annoyed that we'd lost Monday before he ever even wore them. I blamed the dogs. They are known sock eaters and frequent offenders. Darn dogs.

Then another week went by and I did the laundry again and I paid attention when I folded. There was a complete pair of Thursdays and yet the Thursday and the Monday remained in the single sock bin. Looks like we got three Thursdays and only one Monday in the bunch. Lovely. Guess we'll have to save that pair for Lent...get it... Monday Thursday.....I know BAAAAAAAD joke. (and I also know it's Maundy Thursday, but I couldn't resist)

Miss-o Man....or "the Missle Man"

I can't even remember if I've posted about this before or not, but today in the car we were listening to a bunch of kids songs and "This Old Man" came on. Kailin sings "Miss-O Man" and Colby sings "Missle Man" and neither can be dissuaded. Steve and I were totally cracking up about it in the front seat and I didn't want to forget. So here it is.

Coming home we were treated to Colby's version of "You Spin Me Right Round" (the Chipmunks version) which sounds a lot like "You pin me wight woun baby wight woun yike a weckababy". The important thing is to ram wecka and baby together as one word. I think I might just ask him what he thinks a "weckababy" is. I bet he doesn't even know. Ha ha ha!

Pointelism

"Kailin, what did you do at school today that got green under your fingernails," I asked Kailin tonight at the dinner table. "I don't know....Oh right - we painted today. Do you know what a pointelism is?" "Uh....Steve, do you know what a pointelism is?" (receives shrug and smirk from Steve) "No, honey, I don't know what a pointelism is. What is it?" "I don't really know." Long pause. "I think maybe it's a paint. Well, you take paint and a q-tip and you just make dots and you DON'T smear. That's a pointelism."

I'm going to be very curious to see the pointelism when it comes home - and I might just be curious enough to email Kailin's teacher before then to see what on earth it really is.

I was going to post about Kailin today anyway. She wore her hair down today (hair that, by the way, she is planning to cut inside of a few weeks) and she just looked....all grown up to me. I snapped her picture just because. I can't believe how much of a young lady she seems to be becoming - even at five and a half. It's just amazing to me. It's so cliche, but it does seem like just yesterday she was naming her brother "Gunk" and now she's doing pointelisms at school. Time FLIES.

All boys come from Taiwan...

We've always been open with our children about their adoptions and how they came to be part of our family. Kailin has taken a moderate interest, is proud to tell those who ask (if she's not being shy) that she's from China and will talk with me about how she grew in her China Mom's tummy - not mine. Colby, on the other hand, has never said word one about any of it. If asked where he came from, his stock answer is "here". Not so much anymore! Although the idea of Carter joining our family is still rather abstract to Colby (Kailin remembers our wait for Colby and more specifically when we went to go get him), I think it's finally made adoption "click" for him to some degree. It seems like not an hour goes by these past days when he isn't saying, "I come from Taiwan!" It's not all clear, though.... "Where is Carter waiting for us?" "Taiwan." "No, Carter is in China." "Oh, right. Carter in China. Carter going to Taiwan." "No, Carter's in China and he's going to come here to live with us in a few months." "Oh. Bubbee from China. Bubbee a girl. I a boy. I from Taiwan." "Well some girls are from China, but some boys are from China, too. And some girls are from Taiwan. Where's Carter?" "Taiwan." Okay.

















The boy on the left is from Taiwan. The boy on the right might be going there. It all depends on who you ask!

Jesus and Ramona

My kids and I are settled down watching Beezus and Ramona at the moment. It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid and I am hoping that the movie does it justice and that the kids love it. Colby asked (for about the millionth time and we're only five minutes in....), "What's this movie again?" Kailin replied, "It's JESUS and RAMONA, Colby. Now STOP talking!!" I laughed right out loud.