The Bouncing Mamas

Checking out our pedicures before we bounce.

Would you expect anything less?

Mich getting in the frame.

Lisa relaxing while she snaps away.

Lazing around the bounce with her camera.

I've fallen, & I don't want to get up!

Yup. Who else would get into a toddler bounce house?

Did you really expect us to leave our cameras out!?

You asked for pics of us in the bounce! Here we are! It always amazes me that I love to get into the bounce houses with my friends & our kids. I've gotta tell you that if you have the chance to bounce with your kid, you should! It's fun from a whole other perspective.

Random Pics

I've been remiss. A few weeks ago Erin went to a birthday party for her friend Olivia who was turning 2. She played with her friends, & I played with mine. The kids bounced, jumped & had a blast. The moms got into the bounce, snapped pics & had a blast.

The Flying Pig is Here!

My friend Michelle is a marathon runner with a big heart. She runs for a reason & usually some cause is benefitting while she helps to raise funds. This time, she's running The Flying Pig Marathon which benefits the Ohio Valley Voices School. This school gives non-hearing children the opportunity to learn how to speak thereby giving them a voice. My fellow Waiting Heart Sandra's daughter goes to this school so, of course, this is a cause near & dear to my own heart. Please take a peek, & if you're interested in supporting Michelle, stop by her blog.

To All You Lurkers!

and I do know who some of you are! Come out! Come out wherever you are!

We who blog really want to know what you think. Please do leave comments for us. Many of us are going to publish our blogs in the future for our children. It would be nice if your grandchildren, nieces, nephews, etc. knew that you took the time to stop by & also what you had to say.

Ah! Purim! Let the fun begin!

Yesterday Erin's school had their Purim celebration.

I must have looked like a crazed person at the mall the day before. I ran to the Disney store after work on Thursday to purchase a princess dress for Erin to wear. The previous year she wore a Belle dress from WalMart & had welts on her waist because the tulle edges hadn't been covered. This year I decided to spend the money so she would have fun & no problems.

It was worth it. Miss Donna put Erin's hair into a ponytail since I'm hair-style deficient. Miss Wanda put a pretty pink ribbon into Erin's hair. What did I do? I left my cameras in the car. Duh! I've never done that since forgetting to take pics the day we readopted Erin. Thankfully, Miss Donna offered to use the school's camera for this pic. Later in the day, Miss Belinda emailed this to me at work. Thank G-d for these special ladies at her school! I haven't figured out what I'm going to do next year. Maybe they'll move with Erin to public school? (I can hope!)

Lessons Learned

I wonder who teaches children it's okay to be cruel. I wonder who teaches children that being mean is acceptable. And I wonder who takes the ultimate responsibility for all the negative crap that children are exposed to.

David & I are working very hard to ensure that Erin is a nice person. We definitely don't believe in original sin but know that children can say/do hurtful things. It's not always easy to do the right thing, & G-d knows that I certainly don't get there 100% of the time. I've always said that I'm not perfect nor do I want to be. However, when it comes to my daughter I try pretty darn hard.

Last night we had a situation with Erin that pretty much shocked me. David always puts Erin to bed. We have a routine that works quite well for us. Erin gives me night-night hugs, gets her pill & a drink, gives me another hug, asks me when I'm going to sleep, hugs me one more time & goes into her room for some time with Daddy. Last night David came storming out & told me that I needed to take care of Erin because he was too ticked. Since this has happened maybe 3 times in 4 years I asked him what happened.

WELL!!!! It seems that David was talking with Erin & told her that when she turns 6, she will have to start walking because we won't be carrying her anymore. He told her that this was happening because she's a big girl & getting bigger. Apparently, Erin took this very negatively & told David that he was "too darn fat." (Yes. You can pick your jaw up off the floor. She truly did.)

When I went into her room to chat, she was already hysterical because she knew that she had done bad. The usual response is that Erin will tell you she doesn't know why she said what she said. I explained to her that we cannot say things that are hurtful or rude because we don't want to give someone a sad heart & make them cry. Lately, I've had to remind her that there is NOTHING she can do that will make us stop loving her, send her back to China or leave her alone. I reminded her that we want to be her mommy & daddy & even flew all the way to China so we could have that job. Since Erin is in Hebrew School Sunday mornings, I know that my friend Karen is teaching the class all about mitzvot (G-d's commandments). I asked Erin if Miss Karen had taught about mitzvot yet (knowing full well that it's an integral part of the curriculum) & she said yes. I asked her if what she said to her daddy was doing a mitzvah or not. Needless to say, she knew the answer.

I told her that she was right. Daddy & I are fat. However, that is not a nice thing to say to anyone. When we finished our conversation, Erin went out to David & told him that she was sorry she made his heart sad.

She seems to understand what I was saying & was quite upset over having hurt her daddy's feelings. Hopefully, we won't have this chat again soon.

You Go Girl! Again!

She's done it again! Erin has amazed me beyond words today. I don't know why I'm shocked though.

Last night Erin decided that she doesn't want to have a nightlight on in her room anymore. I thought for sure that she'd change her mind, get up in the middle of the night & turn it on. Nope. Not only did she leave it off, but she also fell asleep & stayed asleep till this morning. BTW, she's trying it again tonight. I wonder if this will be it. Will she fall asleep easier? Will she stay asleep? I hope so.

This morning Erin told me in the car that she was going to do something special for her daddy's birthday. She wanted to make a birthday card for him so I told her that he would love to get a special card just from his little girl. When she came home tonight, she gave him a birthday card that she made in aftercare. She must have told her friends because one little girl who she's really friendly with made David a card also.

Tonight we ordered dinner in for David's birthday. He worked late & then had to pick Erin up because I was supposed to have a meeting which would last until 6:15 - 6:30. (Yay! We got out early!) Anyway, I was going to stop off at the grocery store & pick up birthday subs (yes we have made subs a weekday birthday tradition) but when I say it was pouring, I mean the heavens above opened up & just let it all come down. And, of course, the lightening was pretty nifty too. That said, we ordered in. Erin asked for miso soup again along with her shrimp tempura roll. While she didn't finish either the roll or the soup, we're pretty impressed.

Okay Erin. Here's your "High 5!"

Like It's Going Out of Style

That's how Erin has been eating this week. After school on Sunday, we went out to eat lunch at one of our favorite places. We've been going to Moon Thai since before we brought Erin home so it's always a good guess that we're going to end up there.

In the last 6 or 7 months Erin has been dipping her finger into my salad because she loves their super yummy peanut dressing. She recently began to eat some of my lettuce as long as it is totally coated (read drenched here) in the dressing. This past Sunday Erin decided to eat her own salad (again lettuce drenched in peanut dressing) & got through about a quarter of it. When the miso soup was served to us, she promptly tucked right in & ate almost half of it. Why is this so surprising? Well, she's never eaten soup before & turned us down repeatedly in the past with our offers for her to try it. She enjoyed it so much that the server sent her home with a whole new cup of soup. We thought that would be the end of Erin's lunch & probably food for the day. Nope. She managed to eat some of her pad thai dish.

No sooner than we got home that she started with "I still hungry." HUH??? Who the heck is this kid with a bottomless pit for a tummy!? She got to eat grapes. We only had green grapes which she's always refused in the past. Munched on those like there was no tomorrow!

Dinnertime came, & Erin ate her entire slice of lasagna. She even at the meat from the sauce which she usually leaves on the dish. It made me so happy to see her eat with enthusiasm. After dinner, she was again still hungry but we decided to put the brakes on her eating.

She's been eating like this all week long! I can't believe that she's eating 3 complete meals a day now. Too cool!

3 Word Sunday

She's 5 & definitely still needs her naps. So why does she fight me on this? Could it be because she's 5? Could it be because she might miss out on something?

That's okay. When she gets to be my age (a well-kept secret), she'll learn that naps are perfectly delicious!