No, Your Honor, We Didn't Use Her for a Doorstop

Doesn't it figure? Last Saturday we had Katie Mei's six-month post placement visit with the social worker to satisfy China's requirements. And the week leading up to the visit Katie Mei managed to bash her forehead in the exact same spot four, yes FOUR, times.

The first bash happened on a Friday when she was outside playing while Daddy worked in the garage. He turned on the air compressor (which about scared the snot out of her) so she took off running and fell on the asphalt driveway. She got a lovely blue goose egg and a scrape on her forehead and nose. Then, the next day, our family participated in a church workday. While I was washing windows in one of the Sunday School rooms with Katie Mei in tow, she pulled on the back of a chair toppling it right down on top of herself. The frame of the chair hit her right on her lumpy forhead. The goose egg grew more purple and swelled.

Two days went by and the bruise started to get more tear-drop shaped. Then on Monday, as she was outside playing and having a blast with M & J, she went down the slide while Jacob stood at the bottom to catch her. Now Jacob has a forehead of concrete, and he's quite used to using it to catch walls, floors, and sidewalks. But Katie Mei had never met Jacob's forehead before. So as she came down the slide, their fates crossed, and her beckoning goose egg met Jacob's indomitable frontal lobe. His skull was no match for her tender little lump, and needless to say, her pain was heard and felt by all who witnessed the event. Even a bag of frozen Ore-Ida Tator Tots couldn't stop the tears and discomfort.

Finally, by Wednesday, the goose egg, which I was starting to believe was from the Goose That Laid the Golden Egg, was beginning to calm down a bit. The scab on her nose was about gone, and her forehead was a paler shade of purple. I was certainly feeling more hopeful that we'd get past this, and by the weekend we'd be in the clear.

Well, it wasn't meant to be. On Saturday morning, just a few hours before the social worker was to visit, Katie Mei and Merrilee were playing in the toy room. Suddenly I heard a crash, and then a cry. Merrilee shouted that Katie Mei had fallen and hit her head directly on the edge of the drawer of the toy table. I knew then that we were not going to be able to hide the remnants of the week's worth of bashes under her thin bangs.

So far we've gotten no calls from the Department of Social Services. And no police or members of Family Services have come to our door. We might be safe. But Katie Mei...I dunno. She might need a helmet.

The bruising has now gone down into her eyes, and she looks like she's been in a gang fight. I'm hoping we can get to next weekend without any more forehead issues. I don't think I can take it anymore.

Jumping for Joy!

I have to admit, I was more than pleasantly surprised at how swim lessons turned out on Thursday. Both kids were naturals stepping up to the diving board and jumping off. Jacob had no fear and just walked up and jumped right in. Merrilee, who has expressed a very healthy concern regarding jumping into deep water, was a natural. I told her the diving board was like the vault in gymnastics and that she could run and jump at the end and spring into the water. So her first try, she just ran and jumped off the end. I was amazed! For her second try, she decided to run and spin in the air as she jumped. You can imagine, my jaw dropped. The photo is below. This is only her second time on a diving board over 12 feet of water.

I must say, I was expecting some scary faces and a little fear, and maybe even hoping to get a good picture of a little flash of fright on one of their faces, to no avail. Both my kids were valiant swimmers yesterday, and I am reeling in joy for them!

So we are all pleased with Merrilee and Jacob passing their starting levels after just two weeks of swim lessons. Merrilee will go into level 3 and Jacob into level 2. Now the tough stuff starts because both kids are entering into swimming levels where they will be challenged much more. Merrilee must master the butterfly stroke before she can move on to level 4. Since she only has two weeks to learn it this summer, she'll most likely not pass (I'm not going to hold her to high expectations on this...I was never taught to do this swim stroke, and it looks difficult to me!). I believe she'll pick up on level 3 next year when we start lessons again, unless I go crazy and decide to extend lessons and push my sanity envelope a little longer this summer.

Merrilee's very first diving board jump.

Jacob's second diving board jump.

And just for the record, Katie Mei has also been enjoying the baby pool and getting more comfortable being around lots of people during our two weeks of swim lessons. She's always been a little hesitant about walking too far away from me, and to play in the water without me standing right next to her was outside her comfort zone. But now she is able to play in the baby pool while I sit 15 feet away. She is growing so much, and it's great to see her become more comfortable in a larger social environment.

Thanks for letting me brag on my kids a little bit today. These little successes are some of the things about motherhood that bring me so much joy. Knowing my kids worked hard and endured, and successfully accomplished their goals without my help, is a goal accomplished for me!

Love,

Petrie

Summer Fun for a Little While Longer

I'm starting to get that itch to start up homeschool again, but Merrilee is not the least bit interested. Of course, I wouldn't do it in July, but this time of year makes me feel like I need to get started or I'll get behind. It's probably left over thinking from last year when I knew we had to start in early August because we had a trip to China and a hospital stay looming ahead of us. This year we've got a likely move to another state which will eat into our school year. I also think it's because this is the time of year I order books and teaching materials, and once they start arriving I want to use them. I love the feeling of new text books, fresh subject matter, and the lure of a new science book.

But instead of starting school, I'm trying to let the kids enjoy the nice, not-too-hot days we've had. Swim lessons will last the entire month of July (and I'll have some more fun photos after Thursday, when the kids get to end the first session with jumps off the diving board into the deep end of the pool. We're all looking forward to that, though I wonder if they'll chicken out when they finally step out onto that board over 12 feet of water. This will make for some interesting photos.)

Jacob got a new tent last week. He's been begging me to make a tent in the backyard, but I was not that excited about taking my blankets and sheets outside into buggy tickville. So I went ahead and dished out the bucks to buy him a nice little tent. He had instant friends.





We also got out the Slip-N-Slide last week when we had some technical difficulties with the backyard pool, and the kids enjoyed tearing up the lawn. Katie Mei always wants to do what the big kids do, but she didn't quite get the hang of running and sliding. She would lie down on her belly and let me give her a big shove, sending her sliding to the end. However, her preference was to crawl down the length of the Slip-N-Slide on her hands and knees until she got to the end and then lay her chin on the orange bumper as if she had slid into it the way Merrilee and Jacob did.

Yesterday we went to the playground and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Katie Mei has developed a bit more strength and independence on the playground equipment. She can now climb the steps to the top without any help and go down the slide on her own. Her balance and upper body strength, which had diminished after her long stay in the hospital, has improved and I was able to step back and just let her have fun. I'm looking forward to having Jay home this weekend so we can take her back to the playground and he can see her accomplishments for himself. By the way, I did not pull her socks all the way up her legs. She insisted that her socks be maxed out yesterday, and wouldn't have it any other way.

We've got to get ready for our swim lessons once again this morning, but stay tuned for diving board photos at the end of the week.

Love,

Petrie

She picked out her own accessories

I'm not making this up. Katie Mei decided today that she was going to wear her green Christian fish necklace and Merrilee's old Sea World hat. She turned the hat backwards herself, and put on the biggest show of a smile, begging me to take her picture once she saw the camera. After I took a picture of her alone, she came over to me and grabbed my neck for me to take a picture of us together.

She cracks me up. She can barely talk but she sure has a lot on her mind and thinks of things I wouldn't expect. Everyday with her is a bout of hilarity waiting to happen.

(Three blog entries in one day...guess I have too much time on my hands today without swim lessons!)

Swimming Lessons

Merrilee's in pink, Jacob's in orange. Both are doing great and having a blast. This week was their first time taking formal lessons, and Merrilee was moved up to level 2 within the first five minutes of the first class. She's built for swimming and I think she has a future of being a very strong swimmer. Jacob loves to swim and can swim underwater just fine, but the moment he stops moving he sinks like a rock. Lessons will do them both good.

Learning to tread water in the deep end

Swimming on her back the second day of classes

Learning to have confidence on his back

Safety lessons before each class

Practicing the back stroke --Notice, she's the smallest kid in the class.

147 Years in Dog Years

That's 21 years for you humans. Our anniversary was yesterday. If our marriage were a person, it would just now be able to drink legally.

In 21 years we've done more than most people do in a lifetime. The really interesting thing is that most of the stuff we've done was accomplished in the first 11 years of our marriage. The last ten years have been spent in the same place.

We have lived (in the first 11 years of marriage) in

1. Indianapolis, Indiana

2. Bloomington , Indiana

3. Garrisonville, Virginia

4. Pensacola, Florida

5. Kaneohe, Hawaii

6. Morehead City, North Carolina

7. Naples, Italy

8. Lexington Park, Maryland

We have traveled internationally to

1. Japan

2. Australia

3. Italy

4. Spain

5. Austria

6. Ireland

7. Germany

8. China (three times!)

9. Mexico

10. Lots of little Caribbean islands

Jay has been to lots of other places, but these are the places we went to together.

Tidbits of info you don't really care about:

We have had five cats. Three have died, one is MIA --still unaccounted for and presumed dead, and one is still present and yacking on the carpet. The longest-lived cat died this spring and would have been 18 years old this summer.

We have had two dogs. I am not a good dog owner. I was glad when we got rid of them. The second one, a stray in Italy, had a cancer of the vagina. It was gross and I had to take her to get chemotherapy until her tumors shrunk. Blech.

We've had lots of fish. The last ones were outside in a little barrel pond. A snake ate them. We're done with fish.

We renewed our vows on our tenth anniversary in Naples, Italy. Seemed like ten years was a long time to be married back then. We haven't renewed them again. I think they stuck the second time.

Combined, we've spent at least four years apart while Jay's been deployed or on travel. That's actually a very good rate of togetherness for 21 years, as far as the military is concerned.

Our honeymoon was a cruise. We've taken two more cruises since then.

We've never gone camping together.

Jay was a guinea pig in a government experiment when I met him.

I always make Jay sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door when we're in a hotel.

We don't cook or do dishes together. Jay hates having me help him in the kitchen if he's in there. He'll quit if I try to help. We need a much bigger kitchen with more elbow room.

Since we've been married, between the two of us we've had a Ford Mustang, an Oldsmobile Cutlass, two Chevy Blazers, a Chevy Silverado, two Honda Civics, a Volvo, a GMC Yukon, a Jaguar, and two Honda Odysseys. I think we've had eight cars in just the past 11 years.

We've climbed Ayers Rock in Australia together.

We were both certified scuba divers when we lived in Hawaii.

It's been a quick 21 years. It seems like a long time, though, because we've done so much. When we get through our next 21 years, we'll look back and think the first 21 years was so long ago and our marriage was so young.

Love you, Jay. Here's to many wonderful years ahead of us!

Love,

Petrie

Quick vacation recap

A couple weeks ago the girls and I took a trip down to NC to visit Daddy and then headed futher south to see Grandma and Grandpa in SC. Since Cousin Patrick was also at Gram and Gramp's house, we got the added bonus of getting to visit him, too.

Merrilee and Katie Mei thoroughly enjoyed the evenings we got to go to the pool. Katie Mei is really a little water hound and just loves to swim...even when her head goes under. She hasn't quite mastered jumping yet, so she can't really jump off the side into my arms. But she does allow me to pull her into the water from a standing position. Even though she goes under, she comes up happy and wants to do it again.

We took a day to go to Magnolia Plantation in SC and enjoyed a tram ride through the swamp and old rice fields; a little visit to the petting zoo; a walk through the gardens; and a stroll through a small portion of the boardwalk over the swamp. The kids were tired, it was hot and muggy, and we all wanted to head home after awhile, but it was a wonderful day.

I do have to admit, the trip was a bit stressful for me. Between nasty road construction on I-95 in NC and me taking a couple wrong roads on the way down, the six-hour trip took 8.5 hours,and a bout of food poisoning for me when we returned to Jay's place after our SC portion of the trip, I felt like I needed a vacation after my vacation.

The trip was a good deal for me, though. Jay traded in my van for a new 2009 Odyssey EX, and I have to say I'm mighty impressed. The thing linked right up to my cell phone so I have hands free bluetooth while I'm driving, it has a GPS/navigation system, XM radio, built in DVD entertainment system, and backup camera and sensors (if you recall my little mishap back in November) which Jay thought would be prudent.

So we're back home and Jay is here for the holiday weekend. It's nice to be in our own house altogether, and just enjoy hanging out. And I get to look forward to a night out with my hubby on Sunday evening...some friends offered to babysit for us! Woo-hoo!

Enjoy the photos!