Bonding Update

I haven't written much about home life lately. I've been torn about giving the girls some privacy and sharing our journey. I'll try to walk a reasonable middle ground.

Lucy has been doing great. We (she and I) went through a period early on when she told me not to touch her. We had a "collision" while in China when she bolted across a street and I went after her afraid she might get hit by a car. My cheek bone hit her head and she said I hit her. She seems to have moved past it. Given a choice between me and Dad to drive her to kung fu class, she requests me to drive her. She fixed her own hair in China. Every morning Lucy and Alice race to be the first to ask me to fix their hair. Lucy enjoys leaving school early to spend the afternoon with me. We get some studies done, but I think she just enjoys the time alone with me and the attention.

It's not all smiles all the time. Last Friday we were working on her math. We've been working through some workbooks to get her a better foundation with fractions. I had fallen for her "neediness" the day before and spoon fed her the information. When she had to try the next page she was lost. I erased "our" work from the previous day and we did it again. She was in tears - her typical response when she feels frustrated or overwhelmed. I basically ignored the tears and retaught the material. A few hours later, on her own, Lucy pulled out the workbook and did the 2 pages we had left for the next day - and it was all right!

Bedtimes are interesting. Neither of the girls liked to be hugged or kissed, but I've been able to get Alice comfortable with a bedtime kiss on the top of her head. Lucy absolutely doesn't want that and will sometimes cover her head just to be sure she's safe, BUT we developed this routine when the nights were cold. She would ask me to warm her feet by rubbing briskly on top of the covers over her feet. Now that the weather is warming (today was over 80 - yikes!), I'll have to look for something else to replace foot warming.

Alice is a cool cookie. She's harder to read. She is almost uniformly agreeable and happy ALL of the time. She and Lucy get along well. Alice asks for my help with her hair and homework. But is there love yet? Hard to tell. She seems to like us fine and enjoys living here. She lights up when the older sibs stop by and she loves when any of us will play card or board games. Lucy loves games too, but definitely prefers winning! She's not a sore loser, but it does dampen her mood. Alice rolls with it - win or lose.

The other attachment going on is Dad. If you've been following our journey from the beginning, you know that Steve was the typical "reluctant husband" or RH. Adoption was NOT on his bucket list. He went along, but I was the driving force. You should see his face when he walks in from work to a happy enthusiastic chorus of "Hi Dad!"

We watched Mary Poppins this past weekend. It was so funny when Mr. Banks started singing about his once quiet predictable life that somehow was now turned upside down with way too much fun and silliness in the household. Steve cracked this big smile and said that could be his song! Life is good.