The Network

We had a great, busy day. It started off with a playdate with some other families with children from China. It was organized by a group called, believe it or not, Families with Children from China. I didn't think I was an FCC type of person. I did not join while I was waiting, though they do have programming for waiting families. I hadn't joined these past two years. I guess I thought I wouldn't have anything in common with people just because they have kids from the same country mine is from. As much as I hate to be wrong, I was wrong about this.

I mean, I wasn't wrong about what we have in common. I am sure there is as much diversity of interests and opinions in that group as any other. The thing that makes it special is that everyone knows what you have been through to become a parent to your child. Not that it is harder than child-birth or other adoptions, it is just different and these people know. They know the lingo. They know the special issues you are dealing with/have dealt with. They know the rules, too. No one tries to touch the kids newly home. (Bad for bonding.) No one blinks when your child has a melt-down because you can't understand what they are emphatically saying. No one does a double take when a tall blond woman scoops up a tiny Asian girl. It's just second nature and it's nice. I have also made some friends I would have never met and strengthened a friendship that would have been much harder to maintain otherwise. I feel a bit like that cell phone ad where a whole crowd is following one person to support them. Yep. I've got The Network.

Please to enjoy some photos...

Fin and Elizabeth. The first shot of the day and one of my all time favorites. No editing, just a lucky shot.


Ava has a snack.


Don't you want a snack?


Teamwork.


Just when you thought Ava, Elizabeth, and Fin used up the cute quota, enter Abby. Abby was first up the hill and started a trend.




I don't know where Fin picked up this pose.


Baked ham.



"Did you hear the bio professor wants to move lab to Friday night?"
"Well, she can dissect her own frogs. No way I'm giving up Rocky Horror because she has no life."


Fin taking a picture of Elizabeth taking a picture of Fin. Far out.


Debbie, Elizabeth's mom, was cracking Fin up with a rousing round of "High Five, Down Low, Too Slow!"


Chillin' on the tram.


I wish this had turned out sharper because I love Elizabeth's sweet expression.


We also went to see "Up" this afternoon. I will write more about that later, but for now it is enough to say, "Get thee to a theater." It was so entertaining and moving and beautifully constructed. I don't care if you have young kids, you don't need them to enjoy this movie.

Super Chicken!

Tonight was the spring concert at Fin's school and her class did a version of the chicken dance. It was really cute and they received rousing applause.

Updates

You may notice that one of my sections on the sidebar is gone, the Libby Shea Watch. Libby has been home for almost two weeks and is doing great! She is over five pounds and growing in size and strength every day. Her life has been so exciting thus far, I think she and her parents are enjoying the downtime.


Our solitary hatching is still the only one in the nest. I am less optimistic for the others every day. He has grown a ton, but always seems pretty listless, unlike the first day I saw him. I hope he does well, how sad it would be for that mama bird to not have anything to show for all of the work she did. I was able to snap a blurry, distant picture of her today and she yelled at me through a beakful of hay. (Really, Ma, the grill is crammed full, you can stop.) Can anyone tell me what she is?



Our weekend was really very nice. As you know, we went to the botanical gardens on Saturday morning, camera shopping on Saturday night, and fishing on Sunday. Fin was really, really, REALLY excited to go fishing and she was the youngest on the boat by 8 or 9 years. The boat was overrun with increasingly intoxicated, increasingly loud, increasingly cursing "fisherman". I use the quotes because many were so drunk they could no longer get the hooks over the railing without snagging them on clothing or skin, so they gave up and wandered around the boat engaging the sober people in what they perceived to be witty banter. That would be things like, "I'm from Boston, man! F----n', Boston! Whooooooo! Pah-k the cah! Whoooooooo!" Luckily, Fin was so absorbed in scoring Cheetos from the snack bar and catching a fish of any description or size that it seemed to go right over her head. Her initial fishing tactic did not work. That was dropping the line over then yelling, "Here, fishy, fishy, fishy! I got a surprise for yoooooou!" After we managed to catch one, it began to rain and we went inside the cabin where she promptly fell asleep for the last two hours of the trip. She was happy to have caught and released a fish and I was happy she didn't leave the boat saying, "I caught a f----n' fish! Whooooooooo!"

Sunday night we had a tasty and relaxing dinner at Nancy and Mr. Pat's. Fin invented a delightful game of Tickle Brandon. (I am not sure Brandon found it delightful, but he gamely played along.)


We are settling back into a busy, short week for us both. Summer is approaching and I have made all of her camp plans; some gymnastics camp, some summer school, some at the day camp she went to last year. I hope she will have fun.

She certainly is fun. I am finding that you can have surprising and interesting conversations with five-year-olds that you can never have with an adult. Tonight, we were having dinner and she wanted to talk about her little savings bank and how much money she has. Now that she knows money can buy things, she can get really obnoxious about it. Our dinner conversation went like this:

Fin: I have lots of money.
Mommy: Then you are very lucky.
Fin: I am going to buy lots of stuff with my money.
Mommy: I can't think of anything you need.
Fin: I need toys.
Mommy: You have more toys than you even know you have and there is no room to put anymore.
chew, chew, chew
Fin: I have more money than you.
Mommy: You may be right, but it is rude to say so. I want to stop talking about money at the dinner table. Money is not that important.
chew, chew, chew
Fin: How about mermaids? Can we talk about them?

The Lost Day

Ava's mom was very kind to go through her gobs of pictures and send me some of Fin from Saturday. I am so appreciative! I am also incredibly jealous. Do you see the clarity and the brillant color in these shots?

Gone Fishin...

Not So Good For the Ego

After a wonderful morning with Ava and her parents at the Botanical Gardens, we all went to Chik-fil-a for lunch. Can't get any better, really; fountains, chicken, playground. Until Mommy says, "I think I lost my camera." Yep. I can narrow it down that I either left it on the counter when I was given my drinks and someone took it, or, more likely, it was on the tray and I tossed it. The nice people at Chik-fil-a even dug through the trash can, but it had already been emptied. It wasn't a fancy camera, it was an older (in tech years) compact point-and-shoot that I kept in my purse, but it worked well and took a beating. It also had the pictures from the gardens... the best pictures I have ever taken. I can't prove they were and you can't prove they weren't, so they will be a shining beacon in my mind to my incredible photographic prowess.

We went to Best Buy and got a new, little camera. Then, we went to 7-11 and drowned our sorrows in Slurpees. (Fin's mouth is a little orange in the video so I didn't want to send you scrambling for WebMD.) Hopefully Ava's mom got a couple of shots of Fin with her fancy camera that she didn't lose. I know she got some great ones of Ava, so I will link you over there again when they are up.

Doing really stupid stuff like this is not at all good for my ego.

The Babies Are Coming!

Well, hatchlings! I heard the first one today. He/she is brand new, very loud, and looks like a little dinosaur. (Really, it does! Click on the picture to blow it up.) Fin is so excited, but sad that we can't keep it.


Maggie says, "Get in my belly!" Bad cat.

Sponsorships Currently Being Considered

Thanks to the generosity of my parents, my aunt, and my sister and brother-in-law, Fin is sitting pretty in a brand new, properly-fitting, last-her-forever, car seat.



It arrived in the mail yesterday, all 33 pounds of it complete with incomprehensible instructions. Fearing I would mistakenly install it upside down, I arranged to go to a local fire station this afternoon to have it installed. Two firefighters, one fire chief, and 25 minutes later, it was in. (I still have to lower the shoulder straps, though.)

She really does like it. She likes the comfy padding, the cupholder, and she really like the armrests that go up and down. Why is that so important? Well, she thinks they are a gas pedal and a brake pedal. On the way home, I was treated to a running commentary. "Go faster, Jimmie Car! Now slllooooooooow. Don't hit that car! Faster, faster... now STOP! Red light!" I made the mistake of calling it a race car seat. I will regret that.

A Wicked Good Time

What a great day! Fin went to her first, big stage show! Wicked is in town. There was no way I was paying for full price tickets for a 5-year-old who might want to leave after 30 minutes (or might be so obnoxious that everyone around us would want us to leave). But, they were doing a lottery for 20 show tickets at $25 each. Luckily, we got the tickets and, when we went to our seats, were astonished. They were on the second row, just to the left of center. NO WAY!

I have never seen Wicked and was just blown away at the quality of the storytelling, songs, staging, costumes, and talent. The woman who played Glinda was fantastically funny and engaging. All of the voices in this production were top-notch. As far as Fin, she surprised me again. I know it seems like I am always shocked at her good behavior, but one-on-one, Fin is a handful. So, when she sits through the whole show without making a fuss, talking loudly, or whining to leave... it is a surprise from the day-to-day. We received compliments on her behavior from everyone around us and the grandparent-aged couple sitting by her couldn't stop gushing. I said a demure, "Thank you," like I had anything to do with it. I felt like I was in a commercial. "Tonight we are replacing your normal child with this quiet, polite, charming child. Let's see if anyone notices."

She had fun. I had fun. We got free cookies at lunch. Really, a pretty great day.


They dyed the fountain in front of the venue green for the show run.


Sometimes I look at her and think, "She's growing up so fast. Where is my little girl?"


Here she is!

What Are You THINKING?!

Don't you watch Jon and Kate, MamaBird?



Edited 5/16 to say... Yes! Sometimes an egg is just an egg. :) The mama bird that laid eggs in my grill, now has six in there. I have no idea how one little bird is going to support sextuplets!

Happy Mother's Day...

to the mother who made me...


and the one who made me a mother.

I Never Said I Was Smart

I'm just getting caught up with a weekend post.

Today we attended a Kite Festival held by the local FCC. We had been invited by Ava's mom, A, and it was a chance for their family and ours to finally meet in person. It was held at a location approximately 2 states away, but we made it... very late. On the way, Fin and I stopped at Target to pick up a kite. While there, I picked up an additional bathing suit for Fin because it was cute. The park was beachside and very nice. Fin didn't want to eat nor did she care about the kite. Fine. I couldn't get it to fly anyway. She wanted to play on the beach. I really hadn't planned for this and when Fin asked to go swimming, the answer was "no."

Fin settled into playing with Ava's generously loaned sand toys, A and I chatted, and Ava buried her daddy under mounds of sand. I watched as Fin went to the shore to fill a bucket with water. I watched as she met a little girl around her age. I watched as they held hands and jumped in the water. I watched as they fell over in the water and rolled over to get up. I watched as they overtook a big hole filled with water dug by some little boys. When it was time to go, she was soaking wet and all of her clothes and her shoes were filled with sand. Her pants cuffs were so full of sand, her pants were falling off. Her shoes and socks had probably a cup of sand per foot. So, I took her to the car and changed her into the only dry clothes I had... the new bathing suit. I never said I was smart.



Ava would chat with me, but it was all a ploy to get my camera. That look says, "I am studying your every move and I will pounce when you are stunned by my cuteness."





In other weekend news, we took a rain-shortened trip to the zoo on Sunday. Why all three of the decent pictures are in left profile, I don't know.

Waiting for the train:

After feeding goats, she would skip back to the food dispensers. The goats were practically skipping with excitment, too:


She fed her hotdog buns to some appreciative peacocks:

Bored Meeting

Fin was at my work tonight because we had our annual meeting and Nancy, her usual board meeting companion, attends this meeting. Fin was actually really great and started off in my office playing a reading game on the computer. Not long after, Nancy checked on her and found her in my desk chair.


She woke up after about half an hour then came down to where the dessert reception and meeting were being held. Neither she or Nancy lasted long after that. (Yes. This is in the room with the meeting.)


When we left, Fin said, "We stayed a really long time at the party, right?" Well, they had cake so it must be a party.