Yes, that's right, the DD along with their loyal subjects (Mommy and Daddy) will be heading 3 hours due North to Walt Disney World next weekend to meet many of my fellow adoptive mommy bloggers. Donna from "Double Happiness" as well as Tamara and her mom Penny from "Notes from the Zookeeper" were nice enough to extend an invite my way. Donna has a list of several of the bloggers that will be there. I am also hoping to meet with a few local families that have become quite dear to me while I am up there as well.
If you will be in Orlando from 2/27 through 3/1 please give me a shout out in my comments and maybe we can meet up.
If you can believe it, this was the question that was posed to us at the check out in Wal Mart last evening. Marc and I both stood there flabbergasted, with our mouths hanging open, at the ignorance of the statement. Quite honestly, it was the ignorance of the statement that prompted us both to say yes in unison and walk away while the woman actually scratched her head in confusion at the sight of GASP!...two Caucasian parents with two Asian children. This woman was obviously and unfortunately so ignorant that there was definitely no educating her and there was no need for me to make a stink about it with the end result being that she could possibly lose her job in such a unforgiving economy.
Oh, how I wanted to do what I usually do when I get the occasional less than intelligent question or response to a question. That would be to gracefully educate the person if possible or dryly put them in their place if not. In this case though, it was woefully apparent that there was no reason to try either option. If I cannot even quantify that you have an IQ then why even attempt it?
This amazing little bubble buster came at the end of a fun filled evening at a local carnival. I will blog about those sweet moments and return to regularly scheduled programming when I can stop the involuntary head shaking that continues to plague me.
Today as we were driving home from Katie's preschool, Marc called me. I was stopped at a light and handed the phone to Katie so that she could say hi to daddy. Here is the conversation that ensued. Keep in mind while reading it that Marc runs a mobile Disc Jockey business.
Katie: "Daddy, where are you?"
Marc: "I am in my office."
Katie: "In your office at home?"
Marc: "No, sweetie, I am working in my office that is not at home."
Katie: "Daddy, are you doing the Chicken Dance in your office?"
Marc and I were hysterical. You gotta love the mental picture that Katie must have of her daddy's work day. Hmmmmm.....Daddy not only entertains at parties...he must also be entertaining in the office as well. Now that must be one fun job!!
There was lots of explaining again about what daddy does when he arrived home. Of course, Katie thinks that the only reason that I go to work is to see her Papa(my business partner) and her Auntie Kira (my best friend who also works for me) She obviously thinks it is all fun and games in the work place ;-)
Here is the moment the ears were both pierced.
We are smack dab in the middle of the birthday party circuit. It is nuts how many birthday parties we are invited to. The odds are great that on any given weekend we will be at one or maybe even two children's parties.
The reason that we are caught up in this whirlwind is that we are a part of three separate groups that have children that are our children's ages. There are the children from Katie Starr's class, the children from Ethan's class and the children in our FCC Chapter. Add to that, the occasional neighborhood child or child of one of our friends outside of those circles and there you have it...the birthday party perfect storm.
I have found that I must be very creative with our time and our budget to meet all of these preschool social obligations. We do make every effort to attend every one that we possibly can. We want to have our children take part in their friend's special days. We do whatever we need to make that happen. I can see the difference in our children's demeanor with each and every party. The become more and more socially adept and comfortable in new situations. For our part, I must be candid enough to say that it can get a bit much attending all of these parties. It's all good for me if it is the child of someone that I actually know and like but that is not always the case. The bottom line though, is that like most everything that we do for our children, you have to just suck it up and do what you gotta do.
Today, during a party I was talking to the birthday mom. She asked me what I was planning for Katie's 4th and I told her that I was not having a big shindig this year, rather an intimate family affair. As I mentioned in a previous post, Katie likes it that way and that is the way we will do it this year. I actually saw a small look of relieved happiness come over this woman's face as she mentally crossed one child off of her birthday social calendar for this year and is able to feel no guilt in doing so. I am more than happy to do that for her and the rest of the mom's on behalf of our Starr. On the other hand, I will be reciprocating with them and inviting them all to Ethan's party as our mischief man likes nothing better than to be partying like a rock star!
If it is going to make the birthday child happy and our children in the process then I will be there. I will come, children and present in hand, make small talk, follow the routine, sing happy birthday and call it another successful day on the preschool social calendar and in the life of our Dynamic Duo!
Tonight, Ethan walked into the room and told me "Daddy is mad, daddy goes (and he makes the sound of a big heaving sigh)" I said "what do you mean?" He said, "Daddy mad at computer" and then he makes that sigh noise again!! I cannot tell you how this made me laugh as it is a running joke with the people that know Marc very well in the work place (Kira!) that computer problems frustrate Marc more than anything. There have been times that I have thought he was going to hit his head against his computer screen in exasperation, so sighing is just the beginning of the sounds that are being emitted in frustration from our home office tonight. At the tender age of three, Ethan already knows what that sigh means..(Smirk)
Earlier today, Katie was playing with her Barbie and Diego dolls. These two have been an item for a few days now and they really look like an odd couple as Barbie is 3 times as tall as Diego. I told Marc that we need to get a Ken but we have not done that yet ;-) Katie has Barbie and Diego hugging, kissing, talking, walking hand in hand and just plain ol' enjoying each others company. Today, I overheard the following discussion between them. Barbie: "Diego, I love you..will you speak Spanish to me?" Diego: "Uno, dos, tres, quatro, sinco, seis." etc...you get the picture....OMG, where does she get this stuff?!?
Katie is one of the sweetest children that I have ever known and I find it so amazing that I get to live with this sweetness on a daily basis. I do not say this in the spirit of bragging. I am blogging about it so that I can capture the beauty that is this child's personality.
Katie Starr wakes up every morning in a wonderful mood and it is VERY rare to see her good mood turn sour. In fact, the only time you see a darker side to her personality is when she is ill. I always know if something is amiss with her health as she gets cranky and that is so not Katie. She never has temper tantrums and she is strangely reasonable for a three year old. Sometimes I think she is more reasonable than I am; actually I know she is!
Katie never likes others to be upset and is quite empathetic. She hates to see others in pain or ill. She is learning to share quite well and even shares her mommy and daddy's affection with her brother Ethan without any negativity. Sometimes, when we are loving on her little brother, I can see something flicker in her eyes ( a little bit of green eyed monster) but she really controls it and seems to really understand that we adore her and that there is enough love for all.
She is the type of child that approaches other children that she knows and takes her brother by the hand to introduce him to them. "Say hi to my brother, his name is Ethan." If by chance they do not answer in a nanosecond she turns to me and says "please tell them to say hi to my brother or he will be sad!" She also hugs and kisses him hello and goodbye every day and on her own without provocation.
She approaches children on the playground that she does not know in order to say hi and to tell them her name. Unfortunately, some do not respond in kind. You never see her look sadder than when a child does not return her attempts at friendship. She always asks me why they are not talking to her.
She adores her family and closest friends that are like family. She loves nothing more than to have her crew close by. When I asked her where she wanted to do for her 4th birthday party that is upcoming in a couple of months, she told me that she wanted it at home with a Princess cake, that was it. I asked her who she wanted to come and she named us, both of her brothers and Judy, her grandparents, Aunt Jane, Uncle Steve and Sam, Marc's Uncle Howard and both sets of godparents (The "P" Family and Kira with her hubby Dennis.) That is her happiness, those that she loves. She has many other friends but Katie likes things simple and does not like huge parties like her mama does ;0)
The reason that I thought to write this post today was because of the example of her sweetness that I will end the post with. This morning as we were getting ready for school we told Katie to choose something to bring in to school for "Show and Share." She chose to bring in a page of stickers that she had just received from us. She wanted to pass them out to all of her friends. Off, she and Marc went to school and when they walked in they found that there was a new little girl by the name of Sasha in her class today. Katie immediately said hi and asked her to play. When Marc went back to get her he was told that Katie had passed out her stickers during "Show and Share" and when she got to Sasha she gave the little girl two stickers and told her "Here is an extra sticker for "Gratulations" for your first day of school"
If there were more of that in the world it would sure be a wonderful place. I want to be just like Katie Starr when I grow up!
Tonight, the Dynamic Duo were invited to their friend Luke's 4th birthday party at the local bowling alley. The DD really had a good time trying their hands at it. Then, out came dinner and cake. The children ended the evening playing video games. We don't have to feed those wonderful machines one red cent, as the kids have no idea what they do anyway....aaaaah....love the innocent years!
When we got home and after the kids had their bath, we sat around relaxing while Katie colored and Ethan played in the other room. I asked Katie whether she enjoyed the bowling. She said, "I loved it Mom but you know what I loved even more?" I asked her what that would be and she replied with, "eating the cake"....."Ummm, Katie, you did not eat any cake, what are you talking about?" "Mommy, you are so silly, I was thinking that you ate the cake and I was just so happy that you ate it!" I told her that she was the silly one because I never ate the cake. She then told me that she was just happy thinking that I was eating my cake. "That just makes me so happy you silly Mommy," Katie said.
I love that silly girl of mine and the things that go through that sweet little mind of hers.
Here are some pics and a cute video of the bowling...enjoy!
Where is Nana? I hope she gets here soon!Yay, she's here..let the fun begin. Can we get in and on top of your car Nana? Of course, this is the same woman who parks at the far reaches of every parking lot so that there is absolutely no chance that her car gets a scratch....anything for her grandchildren!
Of course, you guys can do anything you want to!
Cool Nana, why does the top of your car do that?
Woweeee...the top closed...cool!
