Puddle Play

I've been wanting to upload these photos to the blog for a few weeks, but have just been too busy with schooling and preparing for the move. So, finally, long after the puddles have dried, I present to you Katie Mei's first evening of puddle jumping. We had a nice, cooling late-day rain back in August and we had nothing better to do, so I took her out into the driveway to splash. The other two kids have done this numerous times, and I always enjoyed their very first puddle experience the best. Katie Mei found splashing me to be hilarious, but she was also amazed at making her own footprints when she got her feet wet and then walked on the dry part of the driveway. She did the same with her hands over and over.

She's also getting the hang of hopping, and practiced that a bit. But almost every time I tried to get a photo of her jumping she was already back on the ground. Her air time is very, very short. I don't think basketball is going to be one of her strengths. Only in the very last photo did I get her off the ground.

Here is a sampling of the photos I took of her. Enjoy.

Very busy blog post about a very busy two weeks

We are now at the end of our second week of the new school year, and I still don't have my ducks in a row. Seems homeschooling two kids and a toddler presents a whole new set of circumstances which require new parenting skills, more patience, and sometimes Diet Coke before noon. I picked a lousy time to start cutting back on caffiene.

Jacob is a budding Kindergartener, and pending our change in circumstances (the upcoming move to Georgia), we have decided to keep him home. He had previously been accepted into the local charter school, but we felt that with the move he'd only be in school about six weeks. That meant some kid on the waiting list would miss the first six weeks of school before Jacob's position was vacated. I felt that wouldn't be fair to the other child, so we disenrolled Jacob and ordered more books for him to use at home. The first photos are of Jacob and Katie Mei digging into Jacob's new box of books.

Then we got underway in planning some non-book activities, especially file folder games. They always come in handy and are easily found on the internet. Just print up the pages, cut them out and paste them into file folders. The kids love helping cut, and Katie Mei was the first to try the new ones out. She really enjoys matching colors.

Merrilee really loves to help keep Katie Mei occupied with games. And since Katie Mei is into colors now, we made a game with felt shapes and kitchen clips. She has to match the color of the clip to the color of the felt. Once she tires of colors, she can match the shapes. There are three shapes of each color, so it helps with her sorting skills, sorting by color or shape. Funny side note...after I downloaded this photo and got a closer look at it, I noticed Katie Mei's shorts have fallen all the way down past her butt. Her size 2T tops are always a bit snug, but her pants are always too large. Baby ain't got back!

Merrilee is in second grade now. The work load is a little harder than last year, and since my original schedule doesn't seem to be working out, we've got some revamping to do. Math tends to burn her out, so I've got to move that to later in the day and put the easier stuff up front. It's also hard for me to juggle getting one kid started on an assignment while the other kid is bored waiting for his/her turn. Jacob wasn't getting enough work with only his phonics and math, so we've had to order more books for him (The Rod and Staff curriculum, which was too much work for Merrilee in first grade, seems to be enough work for Jacob. A Beka is just too little work to keep him occupied.).

Katie Mei is also getting some fun in dexterity training. I saw an idea similar to this on another website and sure enough, Katie Mei loved it. I also let her use toy tweezers from one of Jacob's bug kits and she picks up the balls and puts them in a jar. We also let her use training chop sticks. The balls are just craft store puff balls.

And when Mommy is done washing morning dishes and have some suds left, I just plop them on Katie Mei's chair and give her a couple kitchen scoops to mess with them. Nice thing is, I don't have to clean her up afterwards, just wipe her down with the dish towel and toss it in the laundry.

And if I'm really willing to deal with a bigger mess and a little water on the counter top, I let her do this:

When Merrilee needed to work on her science planet project, Jacob wanted to paint, too. But he's just too much of a handful for me to want in the house with paint. So I got out the finger paints, sent Jacob and Katie Mei outside on a pretty cool morning, and gave them an ample supply of paper. It was Katie Mei's first finger paint experience and I thought she'd hate it. She really doesn't like getting nasty on her hands. But happily, she got right into it. They both made lots of pictures and left them in the grass to dry. But as is typical of my boy, he doesn't think ahead. He piled all of his pictures one on top of the other in the grass, and they dried all stuck together. They had to go into the trash. He was disappointed, but eh...live and learn, right?

Katie Mei is slowly learning her alphabet, too. I thought it would come faster, but unfortunately, I still tend to compare the other two to Merrilee. Merrilee knew all her letters, and their phonetic sounds, by the time she was 2.5 years old. My brain just keeps thinking this is normal, but I know it's not. So Katie Mei is at about eight letters now. She can identify A, B, C, D, M, O, S, and U. I am trying to spend one or two days a week just concentrating on one letter. This is the day she learned the letter D.

And finally, our project for the week. Merrilee is doing a year of astronomy and the first project was to make a model of the solar system. The book's instructions were to just use balloons and blow them up to proportional sizes and stick them on the wall with thumbtacks. Nuh-uh. No thumb tacks. And I thought the pear-shape of balloons was stupid. So like any other scientist mother, I highjacked the project and bought Merrilee some styrofoam balls and got out my tempera paints. The rest was up to her. Except for using the compass to make Saturn's ring. I did that but showed Merrilee how a compass worked. Then it was her job to cut it out. Once we get all the planets set up, we'll post the final project photo.

Until then, we're off to the family reunion in Indiana. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Love,

Petrie

Advocating for three little girls

Our two girls were both in orphanages sponsored by Half The Sky. This is a wonderful, nurturing program which provides homes and children's villages, trains and educates caretakers, and provides surgeries for some SN children. I feel so blessed that HTS had it's hand in our girls' early lives. Today I received this email and feel compelled to share it with you.

Love,
Petrie

August 22, 2009
A FIRST FOR HALF THE SKY
Dear Friend,
If you’ve been following Half the Sky over the years you may know that while we do everything possible to ensure that every one of China’s orphaned children has a caring adult in her life, the one area we never touch is adoption. Ten years ago, when the Chinese government first gave us permission to actually operate programs inside welfare institutions - hiring and supervising our own staff – hands-off adoption was their one condition. They worried that volunteers might use our builds to “shop” for babies. We have always honored our commitment and, as you know, those concerned government officials have come to trust us and we now have full access to every orphanage in China.
Earlier this year, when we opened our new China Care Home in Beijing, we welcomed 29 tiny fragile children into the HTS family. Since our opening, 18 have already received life-saving surgeries. 28 new babies have arrived to have their turn. But three little girls with complex heart conditions stand apart. There is no help for them in China. Because the surgeries they need are high-risk and need multiple complex interventions, there is no simple trip to another country for repair. These girls need families who will fight for them – families who won’t be put off by the tremendous challenge ahead if these young lives are to be saved.

Half the Sky has received extraordinary, one-time permission from the China Center for Adoption Affairs to help find the "forever families" for these three special little girls. Today, all three are thriving in our China Care Home. We can't give up on them.
You can learn more about LiuFang, CaiPing and ZiJun on our website. If you are a waiting parent and feel that one of these girls is meant to be part of your family, please contact us. I don’t believe you will ever hear me make this statement again.

Change of Command

Well, after 14 months of being in charge, I have been allowed to hand over the household command to Jay! Hurray! He's finally back home and I am no longer the Momdy.

Jay's Change of Command ceremony was Friday, and we all drove home together Saturday (all of us in one car!) for the first time in ages. It felt so good. It's going to take awhile for me to get used to being second in command, but it's a change I'm looking forward to making. Single-parenting is not for sissies.

Blessed Among Mommas

Yesterday I woke up with a terrific migraine headache. I took aspirin, had some coffee, had a muffin and a glass of milk, but nothing helped. In fact, I mostly just got sick to my stomach the more I tried to get rid of the headache. I told the kids we were just going to have to be late to VBS. And if we didn't make it to VBS, then at least I hoped to get them to swim lessons by 11 am. This Thursday was particularly difficult, because we're going from VBS to swim lessons to gymnastics all between 9 and 1:30.

Unfortunately the headache was so bad that I cried a little in front of the kids. It has happened before, and they know my headaches are killers. The sad part is that there is nothing the kids can do except try to stay quiet and let me lie in bed for awhile.

So Merrilee, ever the compassionate one, made a card for me. She loves to make cards, and I love to receive them, but I have to say of all the cards she's ever made for me, this one touched me the most.




Thank you, Sweet Girl. I love you.

Momma

Swimming in the depths of grace

I'm not sure how to share this post, because it's mostly meant to be a recorded memory and reminder for me of God's grace in a difficult situation. If it blesses anyone else, then I'm thankful for that, too.

This week was the last week of swim lessons for Merrilee and Jacob. Those kids have worked so hard in the past four weeks and have really accomplished a lot. I'm very pleased with both of them.

On Wednesday I told Merrilee to ask her teacher if she could stay later after her lesson to practice treading water a little longer, just to get more practice and see if she could do it for one minute. So after class I walked over to Merrilee's group while Merrilee asked the instructor for a little extra time. There was a little boy from the group who apparently hadn't been taught to mind his own business, and he demanded to know what Merrilee wanted to ask the teacher and where she was going. For some reason he took an intense personal interest in what was going on. I told him Merrilee was going to practice treading water and I walked away.

So the teacher spent more than just the minute or two with Merrilee. She took her to the deep end, let her swim back and forth across the pool, and then let her tread water for one minute intervals three times. Then she even let Merrilee practice diving a little bit more. I was blessed and grateful that the instructor was interested enough in Merrilee that she spent about an extra fifteen minutes with her when she didn't need to.

When we got home that afternoon, Merrilee seemed quite sullen and thoughful. I asked her if something was wrong and she responded by asking me if I ever had someone make fun of me. I told her that I had, and that it hurt my feelings. She then told me that a kid in her swim class had made fun of her. Apparently the instructor had told the children to do something, and when Merrilee tried to do it, one of the other child sang the "Na, na na, na, na, you ca-an't do it" song. Merrilee was embarassed and hurt. She has a very tender heart and I doubt she's ever even considered making fun of anyone in her life, so this cut her to the quick.

I told her that getting made fun of happens often, and that the person making fun really doesn't know her well enough to know what's inside of her. And of course, that we should not compare ourselves to others or take what others think of us too seriously. But come on, we all know that there are no magic words to completely heal our kids hurt feelings when something like this happens. I knew what I said wouldn't be the salve she needed. However, I did remind her that knowing how it felt should help her to remember to never do it to someone else. I also told her that the best thing she could say to someone in a situation like this is "Duh, of course I can't do it, that's why I'm in swim lessons!"

The next day, Thursday, was to be the final day of swim lessons...you know, the day when the kids get to slide down the slide and use the diving board. Big fun day, but no formal instruction. So Wednesday had been the official testing day and end of lessons. I prepared the kids the week before that they should not expect to pass their levels so easily this time. They were both in very challenging levels for their abilities. Jacob tends to sink like a rock (he's just made densely, and to defy gravity, even in water, is a major feat for him), and Merrilee's level III required learning several strokes that she'd never done before. I felt both kids were going to need to repeat their levels at least once.

So imagine my surprise on Thursday when Merrilee's teacher hands her the certificate along with the Red Cross Swimmming Instruction card that indicates that she passed level III! I almost fell out of my flip flops! Turns out, only two kids out of the class passed. Merrilee was every bit as surprised as I was.

So here's the clincher. After the fun hour of swimming, jumping, diving, and sliding, it was time to leave. As we got out on the sidewalk, I saw the nosey curious boy climbing on a retaining wall. When we were past him I asked Merrilee "So which kid in the class was it who made fun of you?", to which she replied "That boy we just walked by." (Imagine that....) Then I asked her "And who was the other child who passed level III? Was it him?"

She pointed to a little girl getting in a car with her mother. "No Mom, it was that girl."

Thank God for small favors. My daughter got to see that we should never take too seriously someone who makes fun of us. Proverbs 19:11 says "A man's wisdom give him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense."

Now I pray that I would have the wisdom not to teach my daughter to compare herself to others and throw the "Na, na na, na, na" song back at him. It is so tempting to teach her that "It serves him right for making fun of you." Fortunately, God knew I'd be tempted in that way, and he brought a friend to remind me (before Thursday's swim lesson took place) that comparing ourselves to others can only have one of two outcomes: pride or despair. And both are sins.

Lord, help me to teach my children to know their blessings come from you, whether they be material blessings or accomplishments. And give me the grace to show my children how to be graceful when those around us are not. Help me to remember Proverbs 17:9 "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats a matter separates close friends."

My only regret is that this event didn't occur last week. If it had, I think I would have told Merrilee to invite the boy to VBS.

Still growing in grace--and with a lot to learn,
Petrie

Last Day of Swim Lessons

Finally! My rushed mornings and daily treks into town are over. It was a wonderful experience, and the kids really got a lot out of swim lessons, but I am pooped! I'm ready for a week with no scheduled activities whatsoever.

Jacob was in level II and got a little more comfortable swimming on his back, but still cannot do it alone; the teacher has to hold a hand under his head. Merrilee completed level III and learned to do the crawl and breast strokes. Learning to swim with her head out of the water was a big challenge. She can swim just fine under water, but above water and/or coming up for air takes a little more coordination.

Yesterday was the big finish, and they had the diving board/slide event in the deep end. Jacob asked me if he could go without his life vest, but I had to gently request that he wear one. He still has to stop to touch the bottom with his feet every few strokes--I didn't think that would work with him in 12 feet of water.

Katie Mei got in on the action, too. Merrilee's instructor came up to me and asked if I'd like her to take Katie Mei down the slide, since Katie Mei was just sitting around with nothing to do while I took photos. So I asked Katie Mei if she wanted to go down the slide and she said "Yes". She didn't look like she was thrilled, but at least she wasn't afraid. I thought that was really nice of Ms. Linley to offer.

Merrilee did her first actual dive off the board, where her feet didn't jump out ahead of her. It looked more like a belly-flop to me, but her instructor gave her credit for a dive because she finally didn't put her feet out first (like in the first two photos). Notice, there is no life vest on this girl. And this is in 12 feet of water!

Now I'm told I need to get Merrilee on a swim team to really hone her skills. I've heard this from several people. So I guess next year we'll be looking at more hours spent at the pool. It's going to take me a whole fall, winter, and spring to get ready for that.

Love,

Petrie