Is It Really Almost July? That Means It's Been 6 Months Home!

I can hardly believe how fast the days have flown around here! I know, I've read other families' blogs and heard them say - it goes by so fast - but when you've been waiting for SO long for this, you secretly just don't believe them. Now, I do! It does fly by! I find myself missing the little girl who didn't understand quite so much English and we acted out whatever it was that we needed to say. I miss the girl who was mesmerized by The Wonder Pets, not asking to watch Hannah Montana! And I miss the days of eating chicken wings and raamen noodles for lunch!

But not really! :)

Joy has grown SO much in the last month, it is just incredible. In every way possible! Not only is her hair longer and she's over 2 inches taller, but her comprehension and ability to say what she means has just bloomed! She's really very clear about how she feels, what she wants, and what she wants you to do as well. We've had the most amazing conversations! I'm just in awe of her wit and her intelligence.

One of the most surprising things is her humor. Now that she can say what she means, it turns out that she's funny! She can make puns now in English, and jokes. She loves to catch me using a word that has 2 meanings and then ask me, with a sly smile, why I said it wrong. She knows it's right - she just likes to show me she's smarter than I am! It's so funny sometimes!

She has so much energy! When she hasn't moved enough during her day full of dance, gymnastics and swimming, she will ask to "run with Katrina". That means, take Katrina's throw toy outside to the golf course and race her back to me or Daddy. She's getting faster everyday! Then, all of a sudden, she'll sit down in the grass and announce, "I'm tired now." And then she'll ask me to carry her upstairs to bed. Ha!

We spent some time in Galveston with family from New Orleans and North Carolina. Joy was SO funny - the first day, she acted like she couldn't speak much at all, and generally stood around with her mouth open, listening and watching these strange people. By the time we left, she was talking up a storm! As one of my cousins said, if she wanted to get a word in edgewise with this group, she was going to have to start talking. And she did!

There's so much more - I know I'm leaving out important milestones here, but I want to get this posted. Here are some pictures:

Joy loves musicals and she's seen almost our entire video library, including "West Side Story". She loves the song, "I want to be in America", which she would sing at random moments for a while. When we were in Steamboat, she started saying, "I belong to America." I couldn't resist getting a picture of her with Ben smiling at her. She does indeed belong here!


Watergun Fight with Dad!! It must be summertime!


Showing off her Gymnastics medal with big sister Courtney



Not too sure about the red tutu at her dance recital.


With Daddy and Baby Garrett, my cousin's adorable little boy. Joy heard my cousin call him "Master Garrett" (she's from New Orleans - she can't help it!) and now when she sees a picture of him, she says, "That's Master Garrett!"



"Mama, carry me!"

You're Never Too Young for Shakespeare!

Last night, we took Joy to see her big brother play the role of Theseus (The Duke) in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" at his high school. I wasn't too sure we'd be able to stay for the entire thing. In fact, I was convinced we wouldn't make it past the first 10 minutes, so I had our seats changed so that we could slip out if we needed to. We also went in 2 cars, so that Tim could stay and see the whole play if we left.

Ha! Little did I know that Shakespeare could hold the attention of a 5 year old!

She sat on my lap the whole time (except when she was trying to escape and go sit on the front row). She was mostly enraptured! It was fun to watch!

I didn't tell her much about the story. I only said that it was a play, it would be dark where we were sitting, and there would be lots of talking and no singing. And that she'd have to be very quiet and if I said we were leaving, she couldn't whine. About 5 minutes into the play, she turns to me and whispers in my ear, "They are talking and talking and talking. Too many words."

But then that scene changed, and the lovers appeared. She was watching everything they did. She would turn and ask, "why is she mad" or "why is she sad" and I'd say, just watch. I couldn't really explain in the middle of things.

When Puck appeared and began climbing on the trapeze they had set up for her (the character was played by a girl), Joy was just frozen watching her! And the fairies came out and all the lights changed. And they sang a song - she looked at me and smiled this big smile, like, see? I knew there would be singing even though you told me there wouldn't be!

She made it all the way through the first half and then wanted to go see where all the actors went backstage.

She did a great job through the second half too! When the two girls fought onstage (Hermia and Helena for those of your following the plot), Joy hid her face in my shoulder. But that was the part she talked about (and talked about, and talked about) all the way home! She wanted to know why they were fighting. I tried to explain they were mad & they were jealous, and that's why we don't hit people when we're mad, which is something she likes to do.

I don't think the play helped my cause though! What she seemed to see was that it was exciting and the audience reacted to it.

The other thing Joy talked about all the way home was why did Zach marry a different girl from Heather, his girlfriend??

She was really quite upset about that!

Well, Heather was playing Titania, the Fairy Queen and Zach was Theseus, so they didn't even have any scenes together. When Zach came out in the last scene with the girl playing the Duchess dressed in white, Joy was upset that it wasn't Heather. I tried to explain that it was all pretend! I thought it was funny that Joy wasn't bothered by Heather as Titania sitting with Bottom (with his Donkey head) - she thought that was just funny!

So, even though we had a tired little girl this morning, she had a great time and really enjoyed getting to see her big brother on the stage. She also got to play on the set after the play, thanks to Mr. Von. She even got to sit on the trapeze!

Oh one more cute thing - when she was on the set, she picked up the fake flower that Puck and Oberon had used to put the love potion on the eyes of the lovers and Titania. She was quite disappointed that it wasn't real. When I said that on stage, we use pretend things, she asked if it was pretend magic too. I said, yes it was. So she said, pretty sure of herself, that there was a flower somewhere with the right magic in it, and they should use that flower the next time!

here's a picture that doesn't really show how nice the set looked



I also wanted to post a few pictures of Joy in her new raincoat. It's been raining here the last few days and she's gotten to wear it, and her rain boots. This picture also shows that she's not afraid of Scarpia, who is barking! We're getting ready to go for a walk, and he's ready to go!




One More picture - think she's comfortable with Katrina too?
Katrina is asleep on Joy's stomach, while Joy watches cartoons upside down, her favorite position!

Lots of Energy!

Here are some pictures of Joy and her new scooter and bike! Thanks to some wonderful friends who had outgrown their bike, Joy has a new way to burn off some energy! Now, if we could only get her to ride it for 12 hours a day! lol

You've Got To Be Kidding Me!

"Perfectly Normal?!"

Tim texts me back, and I can hear the laughter in his voice, "You should be thankful that she's a perfectly normal 5 year old!"

That's perfectly normal!??

I'm standing in Super Target, trying to maintain my composure. Joy has just announced, very loudly, to the 5th mother in a row, "I want THAT mama! Not YOU!" This mother looks bemused. She has 3 little ones in tow. The last few mothers looked a little horrified though.

I really was trying to laugh and tell Joy I would be very very sorry to see her go. I tried to point out that those mothers all had children already, but she didn't fall for that one. I decided to get really distracted by looking at all the eggs in the egg case. I made her help me test them to see if they were "okay" for a while.

I then decided on a dozen eggs and put them in the cart. I leaned over her (she's in the cart as well) to kiss her. She says very loudly in her best Don't Do That Voice, "Don't touch me right now! We don't do that!" This is a combination of things I've said to her when she tries to touch me in places she shouldn't in public. I don't think I could hide my reaction to that one, so I'm sure I'll hear that again at some inopportune moment!

Learning the Routines
For my friends who have known me a long time, please keep your laughter to a minimum at this next statement - getting up in the morning has never been a strong point of mine. In fact, keeping the same schedule for more than a few days has usually been a challenge for me. I can keep a teaching schedule, but that's usually been the most my psyche can handle.

So it will come as no surprise that my new little girl needs a more rigorous SCHEDULE! I don't mean the easy things like read a book or two before bed. Or first you brush your teeth, then wash your face, then put on cream, then put on your pajamas. I mean getting up at the same time every morning & going to bed at the same time every night. I know it isn't rocket science, but it sure is hard!

The reason I think she needs more routine than we've had is that we're having little temper tantrums getting up and going to bed. It would be funny....but it isn't when we're running late or when we're all tired.

So, the Marine and the Opera Singer are trying to get up at the same time every morning and go to bed every night. Wish us luck!

Our Third Day of Routine

Well, the first two days were good! But Thursday night, we stayed up too late watching "Enchanted". Joy was loving sitting in her Daddy's lap eating popcorn and even though she and I have seen it a dozen times, Tim hadn't. It is a cute movie, if you haven't seen it. So, you can imagine what Friday morning was like!

I let her sleep an extra 20 minutes or so, since we didn't have school that morning. We worked in the garden in the morning, which means she drew on the sidewalk with her new chalk and ran around while I worked. The dogs were tied to the tree so they were mostly happy to be out and with us.

After we came inside, she plopped down on the couch while I got lunch ready. Before I could even get a simple lunch together, she was asleep. I woke her up, but really probably shouldn't have. I can't believe I used SpongeBob Square Pants as a bribe to get her to eat something! She ate a little bit, played with the dogs outside in the backyard, and then promptly crashed. I checked her and she had a little fever, so I let her sleep. I guess that's one way to get a nap! She's fine now, I think.

So, while trying to establish routines, I'm trying to be flexible! However, I don't need to watch much more SpongeBob....

Speaking Our Own Language

Several people have asked how Joy's language skills are coming. We are just astounded by it, is my answer! We were making a list last month of all the words she knows and stopped at over 250. Now, these are words that she knows what they mean. She can't always find them in her head to say when she needs them, but she's getting better with that. She is learning a few words in past and present tense, although the understanding of yesterday and tomorrow is a little fuzzy.

It's fascinating how she'll work on a word. Once she's got the meaning, she'll go sit next to Scarpia and repeat it a thousand times. Sometimes the way she's using it makes sense, and sometimes not. But we hear the word all day long!

Joy seems to have lost almost all of her Mandarin. But she doesn't know it. She is now telling me what everything in the house is called in Chinese. It's really funny! "Dji-jah" means stool, she'll tell me. Then I'll say it and I'm doing something wrong, and it makes her laugh and laugh! The next day, the word for stool is something different. It's hard to keep up!

I asked her the other day if she was dreaming in English and she said yes. Maybe that's why she's sleeping better these days?

Potty Words are Funny in Every Language

Did you know that "pee-pee" is a funny word? Or "bum-bum"? Or "boo-boo"?

Or any variety of made-up words that might be left-over Chinese or some variation of English words, but if they mean something vaguely naughty, they are funny!

I'm sure that Joy got to laugh at bathroom words when she was 3. And now, happy girl, she gets to laugh about them all over again, this time in English.

Oh, it makes going to public bathrooms so much fun! Since she's tall for her age, she almost looks like she's 6 years old. No one has asked me in public about it, yet, but if we don't get over laughing and saying as loudly as she thinks she can get away with any word that she knows she shouldn't say, I bet someone will!

Toes

I know kids can be cruel, but toes? Honestly!

I have had a hard time getting Joy to take her socks off at the Little Gym. All the other children go barefoot, but not Joy. At first, she would literally scream if I even suggested she take them off. (She's better now - she'll just say, very loudly, no thank you.)

So, I have been a little anxious about summertime and sandals. She had seen the fingernail polish in my makeup drawer and she's been enamored of any woman with painted nails. I thought - aha! Here's a bribe I can use! I've been telling her that when it's summertime and we wear sandals, we can paint her toenails. A smile a mile wide was my reward.

But those cute sandals in the closet didn't even get tried on without socks. So, I was worried about the first day of Sandal-wearing.

As we're putting them on in her room, talking about how hot it was going to be that day and how much fun it would be to wear sandals (and I promise to wear sandals too), I finally hear why she doesn't want to go without socks.

Some kid told her that her toes are too long!

Really!?

She has long toes, like her long fingers. Her second toe is longer than her big toe, and that clearly was what bothered her.

So I got to stifle a few laughs, then tell her about my childhood.

You see, I'm scarred because my mother, who has long toes, used to use them to pinch me! Really! (Where is social services when you need them?) ha!

I'm sure you've never noticed, but my toes are NOT long. In fact, you might say they were "short" and rather "stubby". But they work, so I don't complain!

I showed Joy my little toes and she just giggled and giggled (and giggled and giggled....)! And now, she'll walk up to me if I'm barefoot in the house, hand me my slippers and point to my toes and say, "Your toes are too small!"

Then she'll point to her own toes and exclaim, "My toes are pretty!"

Mission accomplished!



Here are some recent pictures.