You've all probably noticed that I haven't been posting as often recently, and I do feel bad about that, but the fact is that one day is not so different from the other any more and everytime I sit down to write I think, "what else is there to say." Maybe it's due to the fact that everything that went on in China was so monumental and now I'd be talking about sibling rivalry and carpooling. Still, this is the stuff of life and maybe easier for others to relate to. The dichotomy now is that things are going so well and at the same time the honeymoon is soooo over.
Grace still cries rather easily about little things and sometimes wakes up out of a dead sleep and in inconsolable for about a half an hour. At other times she is running up and down the sidewalk laughing and chasing her sisters. She is also giving out smiles to more and more people (including men!) Sophie is still very patient and likes to share and help out. Lily's recent behavior is probably a combination of the honeymoon being over, starting school, not napping as often, and being three-and-a-half. She is trying mightily though and her heart is in the right place. The most fun time of day is bed time when all three girls gang up on daddy and jump all over him. It's so conducive to quiet, sleepy children! Our success curve with Grace has also flattened out a little. In the beginning she was doing so well and we had read so much about how quickly these kids improved once they got home. Now that we've been home a little over a month, we keep expecting to see the "fast-motion improvement" and what we actually see is a kid still struggling with some grief and displacement. Underneath that though we are getting a good, clear picture of her true personality which is definitely happy and easy-going. And after talking with other mothers of kids in the same age range we are remembering that many of her behaviors simply come with the territory, adopted or not.
She is still pretty clingy but has become more comfortable with Dave. I have been able to sneak out to basketball practice on my own a few times and even made it to a game while she slept and the babysitter had the other two girls. For those of you who don't know, I am helping out with the Freshman girls basketball team at East Grand Rapids High School. In this crazy state of Michigan where they still insist on making the girls play in the Fall (until the Supreme Court rules on the challenge working its way through the courts) we have played four games already and are currently 3-1. Two of the games have come down to last second shots and both of them have come out in our favor. Our only loss so far was to a big consolidated school district that has routinely been beating teams by forty points or so. We lost by about twenty-five which we chalked up to a moral victory. The team has really come together since the beginning of the summer and already improved their record from last year when they won a total of one game.
The first three games, Grace came along and sat in her stroller at the head of the bench; just another part of the coaching staff. We quickly found out that she likes popcorn so she sits, holding her bag of popcorn and watching the action move up and down the court. Usually by the third or fourth quarter she gets antsy so I walk the stroller back and forth behind the bench and send the subs in with a tap on the head from behind. Hopefully we'll have her all groomed and ready for her point guard position in a few years.
School is still going well for everyone. Sophie and Lily both love their teachers and look forward to going to school every day. The rain has finally stopped and we were able to use the bike trailer for pick ups and drop offs which worked out well time-wise. Grace seemed happy in the trailer. I just have to keep her awake on the ride home so that she still takes her nap when we get there. Our neighbor loaned us a little push-car which is just right for Grace. The neighborhood kids are all clamoring for a chance to give her a push up and down the sidewalk. Those are the newest pictures.
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