WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - PART II

This kinda goes along with being wordless. My newest little sign language student can now sign the following words (at 17 mos old):

Thank you, bath, soap, wash hands, face cloth, brush teeth, hot, cold, eat, drink, cat, dog, bird, bug, play, Daddy, bear, baby, ball, shoes, socks, fish, more, again, hat, all done, please, sleep, milk, cracker, book, read, diaper and poop.

I am soooo very proud of her! Isn't she just the cutest little thing?!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

TOP TEN TUESDAY

Top ten things I tend to say (other than I love you) on a daily basis, not in any particular order.

Good job
Go easy
Pick it up please
Stop (fill in the blank)
Time for a night night
Did you poop
Don't touch my computer
Too funny
That's enough
You're killing me

RYLEE-ISMS

So we're in the backyard yesterday and some neighbourhood kids were making a real ruckus. Rylee: Somebody is screaming at the park.
Me: Not very nice is it? Do you think her Mommy should take her home?
Rylee: Yes!
Me: Maybe she should get a time-out?
Rylee: Nope, she just needs a sleep.

Rylee is not afraid of or disgusted by anything creeping or crawling. Anyway, as I was heading to the garden....
Rylee: See the big black beetle
Me (thinking - how big?): Where is it? I don't see it.
Rylee: He's gone
Me: (thinking - oh good) Maybe he went home for lunch.
Rylee: Nope, he's in my shirt!
Uh huh, she strips down and sure enough there's a 2" black beetle crawling on her! Must not show fear. Must not show fear.

Friday nights, Big Daddy takes Ry to swim lessons. Apparently, all of the littles in the class were a rowdy bunch this past Friday, not just our lotus flower. However, it is noted that our little swimmer is the instigator! Too funny! According to Big Daddy, she had the group peeling stuff off the walls and throwing it in the pool. They were lifting tiles and throwing them in the pool. They were throwing their towels in the pool. Do you see the theme here? I guess Big Daddy had to intervene several times and even the owner sat with them to try to control all of the hooligans! Saturday morning we were discussing her behaviour at the pool....
Rylee: I did scream at swimming.
Me: You know that's not nice! You do know better than that!
Rylee: I did be nice more than I screamed!
It's all about balance!! lol

On Saturday morning I'm trying to get a few things cooked when Ry and J decided I needed some company in the kitchen. They were right under my feet the whole time and I was getting a little annoyed. Then Ry shows J how to peel all the dried skins off of my cooking onions - all 10 pounds of them. Then the destructive duo moved onto the 5 heads of garlic...leaving a heap of skins on the floor. Unbelievable!! Next they headed to the laundry area and started throwing stuffed animals into the laundry sink...getting them wet. The first 3 times, I calmly stated that throwing the toys into the sink would get them wet...please don't do it! The next 3 times, I guess I must have been a little more direct and stern. On the 7th trip to the laundry area, I snapped!
Me: Rylee!!! Stop throwing that toy in the sink!! You know what will happen!
Rylee: Yup, it will get friggin wet!
What do you do?

THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW

I am giddy with a capital G!! Little Piddle hasn't demanded a milk run through the night for 3 whole nights in a row!!! Woohoo!! However, everyone was up at 5:30 to see Daddy off to work this morning. Look at them flocking around Big Daddy...or are they just after his cereal?! Even the cat is in on the cereal raid! lol Guess he didn't get to check his hockey stats this morning!

HONOURARY WONDERPET

....we're not too big
and we're not too tough,
but when we work together,
we've got the right stuff
Gooooo wonderpets!


Wonderpets has to be Rylee's favourite tv show. For those of you without littles in the house: Linny the guinea pig, Tuck the turtle and Ming Ming the baby duck rescue lost animals around the world. And this weekend, Rylee became an honourary wonderpet as she helped Big Daddy rescue a little painted turtle.


It all started when we (sans enfants) were coming back from town and old eagle eyes spots a tiny turtle on the road. A truck passes us and almost squished the poor little fella. Lyle busts a move in the CRV to make even Michael Andretti proud - roars back to the spot where he saw him and scoops him up off the road. We change places in the car - I'm now driving so Big Daddy can hold the turtle....I love animals, but not the wiggly kind....must have fur to qualify.


So we get to the house and get Rylee to put down a mittful of worms so she can inspect the little turtle. Big Daddy puts the turtle in a box with some water and....a hunk of cabbage?! Yes, I'm sure that's their snack of choice. Anyway, after some close-up inspection by little people and big people alike, the littlest wonderpet and her Daddy jump into the car to return the turtle to a safe spot. Rylee was soooo proud of herself!!!


My little wonderpet in action:

FUN IN THE SAND

Thursday night after supper, the gang headed outside. Rylee started digging in the sandbox while Jayme happily watched. She was astounded at what was going on...she'd never seen anything like it! lol Well, yesterday Rylee gave Jayme some hands-on lessons:

First, you cover your legs.

Next, you put it in your hair.

Then, you put a handful in your mouth. Oops, Mom's looking!! Lessons over!

FOR PENNY

Penny, you've inspired me to take more pictures. How's this?

FUNNIES OF THE WEEK

We were in the car heading to the big park yesterday when I nonchalantly mentioned that Jayme had never been there. Rylee pipes up and says "guess she'll have to wait in the car"! Luckily, I didn't drive into the ditch.

A few days ago, I noticed a pretty big pile of dirt on the big girl swing and Rylee was about to let it go. I asked her what she was doing. She looks at me like I've lost my mind and simply says "I'm giving all the worms a ride". She probably thinks that the CCAA matched her with the stupidest mother.

This morning I was clipping her toenails - which are the thickest, gnarliest things I've seen on a delicate little lotus flower - anyway, I said "you have nails just like your father". She retorts "nails just like a dragon".

My funny big girl:

THE MEDIA....TAKEN WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

Have you noticed how the media covers news stories these days? They love to slip in totally irrelevant information....and why? What's the purpose?

There was a little girl in the U.S. who died recently from diabetes related symptoms. Her parents are under fire because they prayed instead of taking her directly to the hospital. Uh huh....then comes the zinger....the little girl was homeschooled! Gasp! Oh that explains everything!

How about the polygamist ranch in Texas? Now before I'm filleted, let's make one thing clear: I do NOT agree with men having more than one wife. Why should they get all the fun? :)
If the purpose of the "invasion" by local and federal agents was to rescue the 16 yr old girl who made 2 phone calls to authorities for help, then why hasn't this girl been found? Do you think she really exists or was it just an excuse for the cavalry to bombard the compound? Makes you think.... The footage of those women in their long dresses being loaded onto buses was just fantastic, wasn't it? The country lapped it up like milk from a saucer. Of course the media just loves to play up the fact that these poor women are living in "3rd world conditions" (Media's words, not mine) They are forced to sew their own clothes, to grow a lot of their food and....they school their children at home! Eeeyikes!
Hmmm, when I think of 3rd world conditions, usually partially clothed, unfed children with no way to get an education comes to mind!!! Yes, let's get all these women saved from this torturous life they lead....perhaps we can get them minimum wage jobs and put their children into daycare and public school. Problem solved! Now they can be like everyone else! That's what we want, right?! Oh yeah, what was the point of the news story?

Now how about that gang of hooligan girls who lured and then viciously beat a girl until her face was unrecognizable to her own father? They just wanted to post a beating on the internet! Are you kidding me? Bet the press failed to mention that they were all products of the "regular public school system"! But then that wouldn't stir up anything, would it?

Rant complete....for now.

GIRLY GIRLS

I would love to post a picture of my girls strolling hand in hand, with their long, flowing dresses blowing in the breeze. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture like that. But I do have these.......

Farmer Joe doing a little dance in pajamas and rubber boots!

Worm girl with a big bowl of freshly dug up treasures!

Yah gotta love it!

ON SUICIDE WATCH

Well that's how it feels. Why do the under 5 crowd seem to gravitate toward every dangerous situation imaginable? And the little beggars can even dream up wild and woolly adventures to go on....danger zones that I would never have dreamed existed.
So here's the run-down from the past week:
1) 30 mile an hour 2-kid collision
2) slip in the tub (I almost had a heart attack with that one)
3) fall off the couch
4) jumping and fell off the bed
5) baseball to the face
6) hanging off the front of the couch, slid off head first.
7) fell out of a laundry basket and whacked the dresser
8) had a pencil crayon in mouth, knee hit it and cut the inside of her mouth (2nd heart attack)
9) washing machine door to the noodle
10) fingers caught in the register
11) fingers in a portable fan
12) choked on food

Can you believe that 2 delicate little lotus flowers can get into so much trouble? lol

THE TALK

Every parent knows at some point in their child's life, they will be having "the talk". As kids are being forced to grow up way too early, it seems that "the talk" inevitably comes along sooner than we'd like. As adoptive parents, we get double duty. Yes, the "where do I come from" talk is also on our agenda. Right from the start, we've told Rylee her story. She has her life book and pours over the pictures while I recount all the tales of receiving her. It's just been a matter-of-fact. She has even witnessed first-hand and understood how the process works due to having a baby sister join our family. Or so I thought.....

Tuesday April 1 2008 will be forever etched into my brain. Yup, started out as just another ordinary day here at home....Rylee at her art table, Little Piddle having her nap. I was in the kitchen when I heard her have a tiny tantrum - she made a mistake on one of her drawings - then a second tantrum and hooboy a third one all within a few minutes! The noise level was about to hit the upper limit of what Little Piddle will sleep through, so I hurried into the playroom to see what was going on. She was really upset!! I held her and rocked her for a minute. Her anger then turned to distress and she was sobbing uncontrollably! Then this tirade came out of my first born that shook me to the core! She kept saying "Rylee go away and Mommy get a new Rylee". At first I was stunned, then she added "Mommy bought Rylee in China". "Rylee go back to China". "Mommy bought Jayme in China". "Kids go back to China". At this point, I'm sobbing right along with her and trying to reassure her that she is staying right here with us. No one is going anywhere and I promised that I would never leave her and go back to China again!

So how long has she been hanging onto these feelings that she couldn't express to us? Has this been part of her anger for all these years? What has she heard from other kids? Where do we go from here?

Well, we have to make a few changes to "her story". We'll have to incorporate some new words and ideas. We're heading into foreign territory here so we're treading lightly. Rylee made the first step that day....unfortunately for her, it came from a sense of insecurity! That makes me sad! On a side note...she's been a whole other kid since the talk!

I have a few years, but I do hope the next "talk" will go much better! Hey and maybe I'll even be ready for it! Oh probably not! lol

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - WORLD AUTISM DAY

WAY TOO MUCH TIME ON THEIR HANDS

Now if I could get them to clean the tub first....before they organized the tub critters!

RED SPOTS - MUMPS OR MEASLES?

Neither - just a bad case of ladybugs!