A few days of sun.....

Last week we had a few days of perfect temperatures, a little spring tease as we are now back in the 50s, which, however, does not put a stop to Leo's bike riding.  But while it was nice we headed out to a nearby reservoir for some fun on the "beach", (at least as close to a beach as you get in a land-locked state).  While the water was way too cold for swimming, that too did not stop Leo from taking a dip or two, going through both his sets of clothes.  Oh well.  We had a blast and met up with a friend whom also has a daughter adopted from China.  It was a great day for kite flying, mud slinging and bike riding on the trails, and I headed home with two very tuckered out kids.  

Leo and Madeline have come so far in their relationship, it's hard now to imagine what it was like before.  There is still some competing for my attention, but more often they are so happy to be around each other.  They squeal with delight each morning to see one another, and Leo loves to hug Madeline.  He often tells her, aside from calling her a baby, "Mao-win, you most boo-ful baby in da world".  He likes to "pet" her as he says, and proudly introduces her to all we come in contact with.  

Madeline herself has really come so far since December.  She is nearly running now, just can't seem to find the breaks before she finds the walls.  Her personality has really opened up and she is becoming just as social as her butterfly brother.  She loves to wave hello and goodbye and is always alert to whatever is going on.  At a recent development assessment they determined that even while her vocabulary is lacking a bit, she is really right where she should be for her age.  While she still needs quite a bit of reassurance, it's clear that she is becoming more confident each day.  

There are sadly still times where comforting her is challenging.   When I feel frustrated with not knowing what to do for her in those situations, I look back at December and see that as I learn more about her every day, those stressful moments are indeed getting better.  She really has bonded to me well, and we learn more about each other all the time.  I know that throughout her life she will deal with her loss in different ways as she grows, and am accepting that sometimes I just need to be there and hold her when she cries, even cry with her.  These moments mostly happen at night, and sleeping continues to be something she would rather avoid.  I still spend most nights in her room which we recently painted after sealing up the wall.  She does best for naps if she can fall asleep without knowing it, so quite often lately I've let her sleep wherever she konks out, even in a hard high chair.  We are really working on teaching her the art of relaxing before and coming out of sleep and it's getting better gradually.  Right now she has yet another cold so sleep is even harder to come by.

Leo continues to enlighten us with his stories, and cracks me up when he says things like "and THEN" or telling me what he's going to do in "two minutes", a phrase I guess I use a lot.  If he sneezes he always reminds me to "tell me bless you, mommy", and one afternoon he told me to "chill out".  I was acting a bit neurotic at the time(please refrain from comments) so I probably deserved it, and I often tell him to chill out when he's having a tantrum, so there you go.  

on a side note, you may want to scroll to the bottom, mute the music player, before listening to the video....