So I've been a little busy lately...

Back to work. I will have to say simply that it's easier to NOT work. I sure do enjoy the company and environment I work in, the job I do--I just knew it would be exhausting getting back in the classroom, and I was right. It won't always be this intense, but I'm basically having my August/September right now. Adjustments on all fronts. Tiring.

Owen is doing GREAT. He adjusted much easier than I did. He loves playing with the other children, and scrambles to get down and play in the morning when Jeff takes him. I fly out of Trinity as fast as I can after school but since I'm an elementary teacher I still get there later than most of the high school teacher-moms, and he has a bit of a hard time when the other babies in his group have gone. The girl who is there in the afternoon with him is SO sweet to distract him and give him extra attention/TLC so he doesn't fret too much in those few minutes until I can get there.

At the end of my first week back, I was exhausted and sitting out in the driveway with Emma and Owen playing. We'd had 50's Day at school and Emma still had her black 'n white polka dots on...I shot this snippet of video on my iPhone and it is just so priceless! It perfectly captures her personality at 5, happy, playful, expressive--I love all the eyebrow movement and nose-scrunching. Just yummy.

"Mommy, I miss Lineker..."

Those were the words out of my 5 year-old daughter Emma's mouth after a few hours in the air on our way home from China this past summer. We were bringing home our son, her baby brother Owen. Full of joy, and utterly exhausted after our two-weeks of travel. I smiled because this did comment did not surprise me. Prior to our trip, I'd asked Emma what she most looked forward to seeing in China, and she said, "All those Chinese people." I was amazed at how our Emma, who usually needs a warm-up period with people, took so quickly to our wonderful guides. Sherry and Lineker in Beijing, Dimple in Changsha, and then Amy and Lineker again in Guangzhou. I realized something that our daughter was missing in her life...adult Chinese role models. Through our wonderful church, she's become acquainted with families who have adopted internationally and she's got a special friend there who was adopted from the same province as her--another "Jiangxi Jewel". She also has a friend in her kindergarten class now from China...but no adults. Our guides were funny, wise, efficient, articulate--she watched them switch back and forth between English (Sherry joked about her "Chinglish") and Chinese and lead our groups as we all depended on them and laughed at their jokes...our girl is very perceptive and I think she was blessed to see these wonderful people who looked like her in these leadership roles. I know she also enjoyed seeing the ladies in their stylish outfits each day...Emma is a girl who enjoys getting up each day and picking out her clothes...she loves "being a girl". Each one of the guides took time to get to know not just Emma but all of the children in our group.

So, because of this realization, Emma is taking a Chinese class! For one hour each Monday evening, she sits in class with 5 or 6 other girls who, I realized last night, are hard to tell apart from the back when you snap a picture. She doesn't stand out because she looks so different, and that alone has got to be a good thing for her...to sit with other lovely little girls who look like her. And the class is taught by Ms. Salina, a dear woman from Taiwan whom I had the pleasure to meet the year we adopted Emma because her son was in my third grade class. Salina's daughter Frances comes to class and helps. Frances is a senior in high school...stylish, smart, talented, and very good with young children. Emma was very nervous about this class at first, but after she got her feet wet, she is loving it and looks forward to going. She's learned colors, and we are working on counting, some names of family members, basic phrases, animals, and some little songs. A bonus--I put the CD on in the car and when the Chinese came on, Owen lit up like I'd put it on just for him! So we'll see how it goes. It's a long haul for us and I know when I start back to work it will seem longer, but I am glad we are doing it. We have two China blessings. I want to be sure they have a sense of the awesome place they are from.

He's been scrapped now.

Yes, Owen's officially been scrapbooked by his mom now. We've taken oh-so many pictures of this boy. Jeff, since he got his iPhone a little over a year ago, has become a picture-taking crazy man, whipping that baby out left and right, and now with the new one that has video, my head is spinning and I am primping more than I should be at home. ;0 But to date, I had not scrapbooked a single picture of this boy until yesterday. I always have a hard time getting my mojo back after not doing any scrapbooking for a while. I take comfort in remembering a letter I read from Claude Monet that he had written to someone after he hadn't painted for a lengthy period of time...something like 4 or 5 months. He said something like, "I know I shall have to ruin a few canvases before I paint anything worthwhile." Sheesh! What hope do the rest of us have when we grab that cherished moment of free time and hope to be productive? We can't flush those minutes down the toilet, Claude! It may also have been him who said that there is some point during which every painting he did looked terrible but it is working past that point to find the beauty. Keep working past "crappy", essentially. Hmm. OK. Wish I remembered for sure who said that nugget of wisdom (not the Ann translation) because I think that is so true and I would like to share it with students who are so quick to become discouraged. I am sure I have shared it, in fact, but sources are always good to note. I AM sure the first quote is Monet. So mojo or not, it felt really nice to get back into all my stuff and finally do a page with sweet Owen! Hung it up on the wall in my scrapbook room to inspire me to keep at it. :) The kids are all doing and saying things daily that I want to remember. I will not remember a perfectly clean and organized house, per se, but these things, I will treasure. I already do.

Favorite Quotes

Yes, they continue to amaze us, these kids of ours. Here are our favorites from the last month or so:

As Sophie was heading out the door to school, I hollered, "Do you want your iPod?"

She replied, "No, I have a book. I only need my iPod if I don't have a book."

Now there's a child after her parents' hearts! Lost without a book at that age, and still, both of us. How wonderful that she's discovered this lifeline of learning and entertainment. She's to the age that Jeff is finding books for her that he's read about...and she and I are reading some of the same series. Very fun at a time when we may sometimes struggle to connect.

Now Emma. They have this little beehive in her classroom. If you behave, your bee stays in the hive, and you color in a green honeypot on your calendar that goes home each night. Bees with behavioral challenges ;0 may have to move out of the hive to yellow, orange, or even red honey pots. After three nights of green honey pots, Emma heaved a sigh of satisfaction while looking at her green honeypots and told me, "Mommy, I know I'm always going to have green honeypots. I'm always going to listen. That's just the way God made me." Such a sweetheart...and with only two days left in September, so far she is right.

On to Owen. Since he got the tubes put in his ears, he has begun to hear so much better, and guess what--speak! Just little things, but more than his former repertoire of "Mama" and "Uh-oh". He now says "apple" (aaa-ooo), and "hot" (aahht), "light" (sounds just like hot but I know the difference!) can imitate the dogs barking, and understands little phrases. For example, when I say, "Do you want to take a nap?" he starts to cry, or if I say, "Are you hungry?" he'll say "Mmm!" SO cute! My favorite Owen quote? We walked by the stove and there was a boiling pot of water on it. He saw it and said, unsolicited, "Aaahht!" By the way, he is also walking! Today is his 18 month birthday. I'll be sure to get a snippet of video to post of him walking.

Now for a photo. I've discovered the best way to get kids interested in a long-forgotten toy or anything is to put it by the front door to be loaded in the van for its journey to GoodWill. Here's a case in point. The little couch was a birthday present for Emma on her 2nd or 3rd birthday but we find ourselves tripping over it more than anything these days...until they all had to squeeze on it. How I love these kids!

And the yummiest thing we found at Whole Foods was...

Solid Food:Owen::Chocolate:Ann

Yeah!!! My boy can eat something besides a liquid diet! Here he is, almost frantically consuming the little Gerber-type "puffs", on deck is some macaroni and cheese, and under the chair are Shadow and Abby waiting for morsels to fall from the tray. We saw Dr. Kelly today and he said Owen is healing beautifully, so we don't go back for 6 months. (I just LOVE that little dimple that flashes as he chews. And notice the little "smack"? He could not do that without a palate in place, bless his heart. A new sound we noticed. He's getting used to the wonderful feeling of a mouth repaired the way it should be...so amazing!) After next Thursday, three weeks from our surgery day, Owen is cleared to eat anything. All is just about right in the universe! Now it is time to focus on developing his speech. We are SO thankful for Dr. Kelly and the wonderful professionals at Vanderbilt. And for mac 'n cheese. Enjoy, sweet boy.

My little imitator

Emma used to imitate us so much we called her "the Emma-tator". Owen seems to be the same way. When it was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, I passed by the TV holding him as they were showing President Kennedy emphatically saying those famous words, "We choose to go to the moon..." I put the words in italics because if you watch the footage, he is gesturing with his hands very forcefully, almost pleadingly. I looked down at my little 15 month old, and his eyes are glued to the TV, and his little arms are doing the same movements! Then, a month later, we are at Emma's kindergarten check-up with our pediatrician, which happens to be not too long before Owen has his surgery. He's on the albuterol nebulizer treatments and we are holding our breath hoping he'll be well enough for surgery in about 10 days or so. Dr. Meneely runs through the standard checklist of things 5 year-olds should be able to do: hop on one foot, hold your arms out like this, move your hands like this, etc. He looks over at Owen on my lap, and he's watching Emma and doing the same thing with his hands! Dr. Meneely was quite amused. :) He said, "OK, Owen, watch Emma...see how she's breathing? Now breathe like Emma!" But this morning takes the cake for me. We are out front in the cul-de-sac, Owen on his little car, and Shadow's running around with us. It's a beautiful morning and we're taking advantage of the fact that there's not much happening out there, letting Shaddy-boy run free. He's so good about not running off. Mommy's his GPS, so says Jeff anyway, and he doesn't like to get off my radar (although he will follow Abby, who is a free spirit, so poor baby has to stay inside). So out comes our neighbor, gets ready to go in his truck. I start hollering for Shadow, the neighborhood Welcome Wagon, to come back over. I snap my fingers. Then I hear Owen holler for Shadow: "Ahh ooo AHH AHHH!!!" OOOH ahhAHHH!" The best part is, those tiny 17 month-old fingers are trying to snap. Yep, he's looking down at them, little thumb and pointer finger, flicking them together, not sure why he's not achieving the same effect as Mommy, but he's going for it just the same. We gather up Shadow and I can't stop laughing. I love this little guy so much!