Quick Takes (66)

--- 1 ---

The kids and I were at the pool one yesterday and the girls had a conversation that both warmed my heart and made me laugh.

 

Anna: Mama, I'm beautiful brown.

Me: Yes, you are!

Agnes: And I'm brown too.

Anna: Yeah, Agnes is brown and Mya is brown too.  God made us beautiful brown.

Me: Yes, He did.  Who else is brown?

Anna: No one, just me, Agnes and Mya.

Me: What about Anthony?

Agnes: Anthony's not brown.  He's light.

Me: Well, what color am I?

Agnes and Anna:      

Anna: Let's go down the yellow slides.

 

It warms my heart to hear them talking about how beautiful God made their brown skin.  And their perspective is hilarious.  Anthony is most definitely brown, but standing next to the girls, he does look "light".  Stand him next to my niece Cecelia, and he looks super brown.  They made me giggle.

 

--- 2 ---

And another gem while I'm at it...

 

Agnes (looking at a picture of herself): Wow, I look really great in that picture!  I should smile like that again next time!

 

She doesn't lack confidence, does she?

 

--- 3 ---

We had a very fun 4th of July last week.  We went to a local town's parade and festival.  It was the perfect length for a parade.  No more than 20 minutes.  And lots of candy.  The kids loved it.  We also played at the park and had some carnival type food there.  

 

 

  

  

  

  

 

We cooked out that evening and had fun with water balloons and crafts in the back yard.  And a little patriotic baking.

 

 

We went and got some Frozen Yogurt (where my sister's the manager). Then we took the kids to the fireworks.  The girls had been talking about them for weeks.  Agnes and Mya had never been to fireworks (at least, that's what Agnes said.  And she's usually pretty accurate...).  They all loved them (except Anna who hid her face the whole time...).

 

Agnes and Cousin ChiChi

Ready for Fireworks!  Notice all the jackets?  We're having the coolest July temperatures ever around here!

 

--- 4 ---

My dear Mya is constantly keeping us on our toes.  We had a lovely trip the ER with her last week.  She threw a tantrum, threw herself to the floor, hit her chin on the carpet so hard that she sent her top teeth through her bottom lip.  Huge gaping hole in her mouth.  Gushing blood everywhere.

We spent four hours in the ER to receive 2 stitches (that took 5 minutes). And she's got a huge lip.  Hopefully it goes back to normal before she's in my brother-in-law's wedding in two weeks!

 

--- 5 ---

I've started reading chapter books to the girls before bed each night.  So far we've read Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.  They absolutely loved Charlotte's web (we just finished it tonight) and they can't wait to watch the movie tomorrow.

 

Does anyone have any good chapter book recommendations for 2 and 3 year olds?  They understand more than I thought, and I have quite the list for when they're older, but I can't really think of any beyond E.B. White's other popular one, Trumpet of the Swan.  Anna can't wait to read that one!

 

--- 6 ---

Okay, one more kid quote.  The girls are just cracking us up lately!

Agnes is a little obsessed with the fact that my sister is pregnant (baby Gianna, due in October!).  So she's incredibly curious about the whole thing. This conversation occurred in the car while I was driving.

Agnes: How do people make babies?

Anna: Like this!

I quickly whipped around to see what Anna was doing...  As my heart pounded...

She was drawing a baby on her magna doodle.  

I breathed a big sigh of relief and quickly said, "Yes, great job Anna!"

 

--- 7 ---

 The big girls passed another level of swim lessons!  They really are picking it up quickly and are showing off all of their new skills when we go to the pool.  It's fun to see them swimming around like big kids!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Kid Talk

I need to be better about recording funny things my kids say.  Here are some recent gems.

Anna:

Choclate : Chock-lick

Throat : Throw-up ("Mom, what's in my throw-up?" "Mom, my throw up hurts")

Bandaid : Band-egg


Agnes:

Ave Maria : All Day Maria


Playing in the yard. 
 Agnes: me and Anna are going to be the adults. So we can talk a lot and have soda all the time. Anna: and we can wear a bra (which she pronounces "brawl") when we take our clothes off. 
And for the record, we very rarely drink pop.


Talking about next week's 4th of July activities. 
Anna: The sky will turn off and there will be big boom booms and then colors and milk come out.

Jeremy: Agnes, why do you ask so many questions?
Agnes: I don't know.
Jeremy: I don't know either.
Agnes: why did you say "I don't know either"

Me: Mya! It's your adoption day! Are you excited?
Mya: Yes!
Me: do you know what that means?
Mya: I have mommy

Me to Agnes: your adoption is on Monday. Do you know what that means?
Agnes (excitedly): yes! It means I get to stay here forever!

Taking a walk before church.
Agnes: we're like pizza!!
Me: why do you say that?
Agnes: well, there are three girls and triangles have 3 so we're like pizza!

Taking a walk before church.
Agnes: we're like pizza!!
Me: why do you say that?
Agnes: well, there are three girls and triangles have 3 so we're like pizza!

Me: ok, let's dye some Easter eggs.
Agnes: I don't want them to die.
Me: it means we are going to color them.
Agnes: where are my crayons, you said we were going to color them.
Me: we are going to take these white eggs and make them pretty colors using these dyes.
Agnes: I don't want them to die     

New Normal

There was a moment on the evening when Agnes and Mya were dropped off to our house when I thought, "What have we done?  Will we ever see "normal" again?"

It was a brief moment, a quick pit in my stomach.  It was gone a quick as it came, but I remember it vividly.  Life has changed.  We never did get back to "normal".  How could we?  Our family nearly doubled in size overnight.  Our toddler count sky rocketed.  What was "normal" was gone, done, never to be heard from again.

As time went on, I realized we wouldn't go back to how things were.  That's not really how it works when you add people to your family.  I should've known this.  But I learned it on a whole different level adding two toddlers from challenging backgrounds.  They brought baggage and we brought only our limited parenting knowledge.

It's been amazing to see how we've all grown.  Certainly we've grown as parents.  But what is more amazing is how Agnes and Mya have grown.  And I'm not just talking about the 5 inches Mya grew in the last 6 months (I'm not even joking!!).

Looking back at pictures, you can see the fear, anxiety, and exhaustion in their eyes.  They're lives had been uprooted again (for the best, but still uprooted).  They didn't know what a family was supposed to look like.  They didn't know how to feel loved.

October - Forced smiles or no smile at all for the kids (all but Anthony, you can always count on him to be happy through anything)

June - All real smiles (Anthony was being goofy)

As I look at pictures now, our most recent family pictures in particular, I can see the difference.  The girls are happy.  Truly happy.  They have a family who loves them unconditionally.  They have come to realize that they get to stay here forever.  They've come out of their shells.  They're willing to try new thing, gain new experiences, test boundaries (because they have some now), be silly, act like kids.

A good example for me is their experiences at the pool.  I'm not sure if they'd really ever been to a pool before.  They came with floaties... but they had no clue what to do in water, very unlike Anna and Anthony.  The first time we took them to the pool, they stood on the side crying.  They were afraid.  Agnes wouldn't get her face wet.  Mya wouldn't walk in the 1ft. deep water.  Anna and Anthony were running around and splashing away.

We quickly learned with the girls that we had to force them out of their (very small) comfort zone.  We had to literally push Agnes down the water slide.  Two seconds later, she'd climbed the stairs and had gone down by herself.  We had to force her to jump off the side of the pool.  Now, she begs to jump by herself.  Mya's been the same way.  It seems harsh at the time, but they quickly realize how much they love it if they just try.  We go to the pool now and they're swimming around, splashing, putting their face in the water, jumping in, doing "tricks" and having an absolute blast.  The smiles on their face say it all.

Our adjustment period is over.  It was a few months ago.  We gave our family some time to come to a new normal.  Our home looks much different than it did a year ago.  But it's better for sure.  The girls were meant for our family.  They are truly special, happy, wonderful little girls and we love them dearly.

I laugh at that "moment of dread" that I experienced at first.  When I questioned God, "Are you really sure about this?"  He laughed.  Life is fun, crazy, chaotic, and full of joy around here.  All four kids are happy to be siblings.  They're best friends and they act like siblings.  We're a family, and I think all 6 of us feel that now.

Adoption is hard.  Especially through foster care.  The kids come from challenging places.  And "normal" isn't a word they know.  But I sit here now, thankful.  I'm so thankful that my kids have found their normal.  That we, as a family, have adjusted and come out stronger, happier, and definitely louder than before!

June 2014

October 2013