After School Antics and Mayhem

Eli wanted me to post a video for the entire world to see that his sister can, in fact, be naughty. I could not get it to post to blogger. This particular situation ended with a pouting Sidney, complete with head down and lip out. Instead, I will post the photo of them making up. For the first several months home, we watched a shier Sidney playing with her brother, initiating none of the crazy play. Now the tables have turned, and she initiates craziness as much as her brother.

Saturday morning was Eli’s pinewood derby race. He was there for the fun of watching the cars, and hanging out with the boys in his troop, without getting stressed out about winning. He is fortunate to have a dedicated mom in charge of his troop. For once, it is not me. I say this because once your children start becoming involved; it is the same 20% of parents who do everything in a small community.

We are enjoying time between surgeries without worrying about casts or splints. Sidney and I went for our first outdoor stroller ride since last fall. 44 degrees seemed almost unseasonably warm, and she loved being back outside again. We are unsure how much time she spent outside in China. It seems like she was outside, because she had a suntan. We think it was probably concrete versus grass. Last summer, Tom put her feet into the grass and she was quite unhappy.

We believe much of the reason that Sidney has made such a great adjustment is that her orphanage was involved with Half the Sky. This is an American based nonprofit which gives resources to a handful of orphanages in China. One of the benefits of the organization in Chenzhou was additional women from the community to hold and interact with children. Sidney’s paperwork indicated she had spent time with “grandmas.” I am faxing in the paperwork and will let everyone know what we find out. Half the Sky gives children additional medical care, so we are curious to find out if they have anything else. All of this conflicts with the lack of information we received on Sidney’s referral about her medical conditions however we are happy to simply have additional photographs.

Tom is home, and my sanity has returned!