China Reunion Weekend

Brown County State Park in Indiana, Abe Martin Lodge and five families that travelled to China together two year ago. It was hot and muggy, just like China, but I guess we are use to sweating together. The little girls are all getting ready to turn 3 and all are growing and talking and scampering around. Julia was at her 7 year old best. What a joy to see them all plus the wonderful grownups and siblings that the kids are attached to!

As we had to pass through Indianapolis, we took the opportunity to pick up our ShaDiamon and include her in our weekend. It has been a year since we've seen her last and it was so sweet to spend some time with her. Julia especially enjoyed have her "Diamon" to sleep over in the same hotel room, swim, and run around with. I think that ShaDiamon enjoyed herself as well and we hope to make come Christmas vacation plans.

On Saturday morning, after a big breakfast, we headed down to the stables to ride the appropriate sized horses. David and ShaDiamon joined most of the Scotts to go on a trail ride and the little girls lined up to ride the ponies.

This is an unusual pony ride. I paid for the ride at the cashier and then was told to go over to the ponies who were tied to the fence with a trough in front. I can't remember what the name of Julia's horse was but it was something cute like Noodle, and he was a real pain! I lifted Julia onto the horse and tried to get the horse to disengage from feed, head up, and moving towards the oval. When his head came up, he was headed around the oval faster than I was willing to walk him around. I pushed and pulled and slammed myself against that horse to gt him to slow down and go the way that I wanted him to go. LOL. The video would have been very funny.

Other pony riders included Petra with Kim in the lead . . .

Jaden with Momma Traci . . . .

And Jenae with Daddy Calvin.

Meanwhile, David and ShaDiamon were riding the big ones! Traci caught another side of David's ride.

After a great lunch which Becky planned and Jenae's grandma helped with, naps for the littles, swimming for my girls and Tracie's big kids, the group assembled for dinner.

And then outside for family pictures.

Becky did so much great planning for the weekend. She and Calvin and Jenea are waiting for a son and little brother coming home soon.

Kim and Ed and Petra -- oh that pixie Petra.

The Smiths -- Valerie and Kevin played with ShaDiamon and Julia in the pool and around the lodge. By the end of the weekend, Julia was hugging Kevin and telling him that she would miss him. WE miss all of thm!
Angela and Lainey looking happy and doing so well. We missed Lainey's daddy but we expect him next year.

Us!

Craft Time!

We went back to the lodge to make frames for our new Red Couch picture. I brought plastic frames, stickers, jewels and glue and paper. It was not really as cool as the tee shirts from last year but the kids could almost do these by themselves with only a little bit of mommy coaching. Who knew that we have a few craft shy among us?

Julia found time to make a little sculpture with some play dough. .










The girls ran aound and danced around.

While Tracy and I talked.
Next morning, we tried once again to a great red couch picture. Our previous attempts -- 2006 in China and 2007 in Indianapolis -- were not entirely successful. The best picture taken in 2008 can be found here. The out takes are right here!

Now here is a picture in which no one was smiling. You know how hard that is to get????

Julia was the first to advise us that she was finished posing . . . .

But not the last.

And just one more picture of ShaDiamon and Julia.

It never ceases to amaze me how fortunate we were to travel to China with this wonderful group of people. To have gone on this incredible journey for a daughter was our aim, but we came back with China sisters and dear friends. Our family grows.

Travel Day is Thursday!

(Written during our traveling) Julia and I are in Newark airport waiting to board a plane to Atlanta and another to Milwaukee. David should be at the end of the line and bring us home. Three weeks of vacation is enough for Julia, and for me. She wants her Daddy and her Puppy House. I want David and to sleep in my own bed. And a few minutes of quiet for myself. Parenting Julia for three weeks in hotels, homes, and all over Pittsburgh, Jersey, New York, and Maryland has been exhausting, but so curiously, I have enjoyed almost all of it. I see such growth in her every day. It is astounding to be present for her and with her. She is learning to depend more on me, and on David also, for emotional support. And after almost two years, I feel like I know something about this daughter of mine.

Julia opens her eyes wide when she searches for mine. She meets my eyes easier and she initiates the meetings more often. She has so much more to say – I am repeating myself over and over, but her language continues to change. She is asking questions, and her ‘wanting to talk’ has taken on a more direct and longer scenario.

Julia: Babja.
Babja: (Is not listening.)
Julia: Babja
Babja: Yes, Julia.
Julia: I want talk to you.
Babja: Okay.
Julia: (Quiet now)
Me: Julia what do you want to say to Babja?
Julia: I want . . . I want . . . I want . . . . talk ‘bout pets.

So this is not brilliant conversation yet, but she is closer. Last night, she also interrupted me in the car when I was talking to my mother. She said, "Julia want to talk Mommy." I see in this a recognition that I am doing something that interferes with Julia’s ability to talk to me – there are things going on outside of her. She is seeing that she is not the world in toto.

Today, our late morning plane is cancelled because of some leaking hydraulics, and she tells David on the phone, "We late because plane is broken," capturing the message and relaying it to the person who needs to know. We change our flight, have some lunch (and thank goodness she is willing to eat chicken fingers – not a favorite – and a salad, have a bit of candy – sour and green – , and sit quietly to watch a movie. We were lucky to decide to get off the broken plane at the first mention that the air conditioning was to be turned off and to move to the forming line behind just a few people who were inquiring about connecting flights. We waited pretty patiently, got our later flights, and found somewhere to eat lunch, and then seats to watch a movie on the little DVD player. She gives me time to write, and I write and take breaks to watch some important movie scene with her or to talk about broken planes, mommy and daddy planes, and just where Daddy is right now. She also asks where Cheshire went, where Abby is, and if Michael is going to school.

It is almost 8 pm and Julia and I are now bound for Milwaukee. We are above the clouds and have a view of the sunset that is magical. Julia is watching Spirited Away and I will join her soon. She has been such a good traveler today. She has moved and changed when necessary, she has waited on lines and eaten what was available. She has not complained, whined, or tantrumed. She has been cheery, has talked to strangers (especially one guy who wore a golden dragon and white tiger on his shirt) and followed my direction. She has also yawned a few times in the last few minutes. I am so happy and proud of her behavior.

A visit with MiaoMiao!

It is still hard to have Julia stand side by side with her peers and for me to make any comparison. Why I still find need to compare her to anyone is a good question. If I am expecting her to develop into such an individual, her only measure is what she did yesterday and what she will do tomorrow.

Yesterday, we visited Julia’s orphanage sister, MiaoMiao. I drove to Pennsylvania and we spent about 4 hours with MiaoMiao, her sisters, and mother. I am so very glad that her mother wants us to stay in touch and keep up some kind of relationship for the girls, but I am worried some. MiaoMiao, a year and a half younger and home about 6 months less than Julia, is far beyond Julia in her maturity, her communication and social skills, her use of her intelligence. She accepted Julia and played with her. Julia was first uncomfortable – sitting on the front lawn of the house as MiaoMiao danced around her – and then very happy to see her, but will/was MiaoMiao embarrassed or disappointed by her friend’s behavior. Does she think that Julia is a baby, unable to understand her, stupid? Julia is who she is and is making the progress that she is making. I want to continue to be in touch with MiaoMiao, albeit on a very limited basis because of our distance, I want to save the friendship so that they both have it when they are grown. I do have a bit of fear that Julia will be rejected.

Cheshire said, that she perceived some discomfort in MiaoMiao. Cheshire compared it to my relationship with Carolina, almost mute with alzheimer’s – that I am living, moving on, going past my dear friend, and she is frozen where she is, no longer able to be anything more than be physically present and my friend only in memory which may be all mine. The relationship between Julia and MiaoMiao is not so dramatic, but I can patiently visit Carolina and do what I can to connect, be sad, but still be there. My question is whether MiaoMiao can be that patient with Julia.

Julia and MiaoMiao played dress up, which Julia rarely does. She was a princess, and then a ballerina. MiaoMiao put a braid in Julia’s hair, and presented her handiwork, mentioning how she dressed and braided Julia. Julia very happily explored her friend’s house and room, and played with her toys and her sisters. It was interesting to see Julia and MiaoMiao play together with the same kind of tiny toys – poly pocket instead of little pets – both of them seem to have an interest in the very small. MiaoMiao has developed into a girly girl, with dolls and dress up and princesses. Julia tends to sit more on the tom boy side of the fence, although nothing compares to being dressed as a ballerina. When Julia draws figures now, she sometimes adds crossed lines to the shoes which makes the person or animal or fish into someone "doing ballet."
All the girls sat at a big kitchen table to have lunch together – hard boiled eggs, hotdogs, watermelon, and little cupcakes. Julia was in heaven. She tried to direct all the girls, as she does. She was able to answer a few questions that the sisters asked. (She really has her age down pat and answer the "how old are you question" of almost anyone.). Julia and MiaoMiao were referring to each other by their American names most of the time, although neither rejected the other for the names they were called in China.

The girls went to ride bikes on the drive way, and as MiaoMiao rode loops on her two wheeler, Julia struggle on a bike with training wheels. We took a walk around the block with one of the sisters pulling a wagon that Julia and MiaoMiao rode in. What did they talk about? Julia is still so alive in the present, I wonder how she regards MiaoMiao.

When it was time to leave, both girls wanted to stay together, but it was Julia who wanted the extra hugs. MiaoMiao did run to the car and did wave very hard. Oh, I hope they can stay friends.

Tuesday visiting

Tuesday, yes, Tuesday, we visited old family friends. Nadia the woman of the household we visited is the only and much beloved daughter of Nicholas whom my siblings and I call Uncle Nick although there is no blood relation between us. The families are distantly related through marriage – Nadia’s father is cousin to the father of another Nicholas who married my mother’s sister. Nadia suggested that Uncle Nick was great-grandpa to Julia and Julia cheerfully complied. She is very willing to call older people grandma and grandpa, and when she does this, I always wonder if she visited or was visited by the people who lived in the old peoples’ home that shared grounds with the orphanage. She did this last year when she met friends of my mother and did it again when she saw them again this year.

Uncle Nick was a childhood friend of my mother’s half-brother, Nick, our real Uncle Nick, when they both lived in Ukraine. Both came to the United States as young men, my mother’s brother after years of being brought up by paternal grandparents who were less than happy to be saddled with a young boy after their son died and his young wife immigrated to America. My grandmother did not save sufficient funds to get her son to the US until he was 16 years old. By that time, she had re-married and produced two daughters. I wonder at his thoughts and feelings as he entered a family and got to know the mother who had left him in her old country when he was a little more than an infant. She expected to make a start in America, and to have a home ready for her husband and son when they joined her as soon as the husband was released from the Russian Army. Instead, the husband died during boot camp, probably of influenza, and Uncle Nick had to grow up a virtual orphan.

Nadia’s father married before my Uncle Nick, to a woman named Genya They had one daughter, the very Nadia we visited. She, in turn, married John and had two sons, who produced a set of triplets (two girls and a boy), another daughter, and a son. One of Nadia’s sons is an artist who draws political cartoons for the NY Post and decorated St. Agnes’ Church in NYC (incredibly gorgeous) and authored and illustrated a kids’ book with his young son. Nadia and her parents (and parts of her extended family) lived in the same neighborhood on Baldwin Street in Newark, New Jersey, in the 1930's that my mother and her family lived. Their life was probably typical of the time and revolved around their church with everyone participating in choir, dance troupes, after school and Saturday Ukrainian classes, and sports clubs. From what I gather, and have gathered all through my life, our families have always been very warm and close. My mother talks of Nadia’s aunt, Olga, who favored my mother (and put bows in her hair) when her own mother was busy caring for an ailing husband and supporting their household, and possibly neglecting her youngest daughter. Nadia at 10 was the flower girl in my parents’ wedding with a long ruffled dress and long hair in fat baloney curls. She was very beautiful as a child (actually all her life) and I often thought that the pictures of her was what my mother would have preferred for her own daughter. I remember Nadia visiting my family when I was very young – 4, maybe 3 even. She brought me a big, fat, blue book that had nursery rhymes, short stories, and portions of chapter books in it. I cherished this book, the first book that was all my own, and to this day, my favorite gift to any child, especially young children, is a book. I once told Nadia how much I thought of this gift to a rather shy, fat, and plain little girl and she laughed off its importance. And that is part of her as well.

Nadia is in possession of a rich spirit and her home is full of memories. Paintings and sketches adorn the walls – both John, her husband and one of her sons are responsible for much of the art work. Then there are pictures of parents, relations near and far, children, and grandchildren. There are cabinets and cases that enclose crystal, china, and dolls from a few generations of girls and souvenirs of lives lived with great curiosity and spirit. Nadia and her family have kept their connections with Ukraine and Ukrainian relatives alive. Both she and her father visited often and for long periods of time, and send supplies often. They have hosted relations coming to the US and have helped those left behind.

Nadia’s spirit is expansive and rich. Her welcome to all of us was effusive. She knows of my life mostly through my mother’s reports, she met Cheshire when Ches was about 9 and playing violin for my parents’ 48th anniversary party. She welcomed Julia, admiring her beauty and spirit, and finding for her perfect toys and presents, some hidden and some out to be played with immediately. Nadia took Julia into her basement and offered her dolls. I think that Nadia loved/loves dolls and I understand the happy possibility of sharing a doll with a child. But Julia is Julia, and dolls are not her favorites. I was not there but Nadia regrouped and found a playschol camper set which Julia immediately set upon. Julia was more than excited. She has a bit playschol toys – little people, a hotdog stand, and some plastic clothes – from Matthew, but I have not found any sets that I like and think appropriate for Julia. This set with a travel camper, a family of five, and tiny accessories kept her occupied for hours. Julia pulled all of the pieces apart from their plastic holders and set tiny tables, put people onto tiny chairs, and even arranged tiny flowers. And when later Nadia asked her to bring some of it to the diningroom table to show her father, Julia ran to the porch room, gathered up some of the pieces into her skirt and brought them to the table. This reaction of Julia’s, so ordinary, is nonetheless such a leap! Julia is now responding by doing. Oh, I hope this continues in school. How much easier it would be for Christy and her therapists if Julia started doing what she was asked to do.

The visit with Nadia was so tinged with the old fashion visits I remember from my very young years. An hour visit that turns into the rest of the day. The children – child in this case – playing part of the time in another room, and the adults talking, catching up and telling stories, giving time to the oldest ones to say something and listening to an occasional opinion for the youngest of the adults. Well, I don’t remember the last, but saw it happening in this house. Cheshire was listened to, advised and offered all wishes, support and love. I got to talk about Julia and her challenges as both John and Nadia worked with children, some with special needs, during their working years. And again, I was listened to, advised, and offered love and support.

We ate cold cuts and cheeses and peach pie and poppyseed cake that we had bought in a bakery. My mother praised my poppyseed cake, but Cheshire found the store bought (the first store bought that she has ever eaten) good enough to indulge in three pieces – so uncharacteristic of her. Nadia told us about her own pies even though this too was bought. Nadia’s tasks right now are taking care of her aging father – 99 this year, a bit feeble but very alert – and her ailing husband. She seems to do it with such good cheer and very few complaints – those being only in relation to how her charges are unable to enjoy things as they used to. Her good cheer and devotion is natural, and both Ches and I felt that Nadia enjoyed every day. I was so happy to be included in this visit. I am so glad that Cheshire got to know such a woman. Nadia fills all of us with her expansive spirit, and possibly we caught her excitment for every day.

Nadia, Babja (my mother), and Uncle Nick. And below, Julia gets into the act.

Julia shows Babja and then Great-grandpa Nick her new toys that Nadia magically produced from her basement.Great Granpa investigate for himself and shows Julia a things AND two.

Friday

As sweet as our days in Maryland were, today was sad and hard. The main purpose of the day was to deliver the stuff -- bike, a few framed pictures, fake christmas tree, and sundries -- we brought out east for Cheshire to her apartment. We loaded up the car and headed for Brooklyn. On the way, we passed what looked like an old couple taking a walk. It was an old family friend who is younger than David and I wheeling his very ill wife along the sidewalk. His walk mirored his father's at a much older age; his hair almost white. We did not stop but I am almost sure we will see them again before we leave. My mother had told me about their circumstances but it was still a shock to see them.

Later, after dropping Cheshire's stuff off and admiring what she had done with her room -- a soft yellow now with roman shades and pictures on the walls -- we walked 7th Ave in Brooklyn and visited Carolina and David.

David and Julia in front of Cheshire's brownstone home.

Carolina's alzhiemer's is progressing very rapidly. She has had a recent change of medication and David told us that she was doing better than a few months ago, but there was no sign of recognition, and only mumbling with a few words. At times, she looked in my eyes and started to say something, almost as if, as if there were whole thoughts and a recognition of our whole past, but if she got out two words or if she blinks, the herself that I have always known vanished. Only the shell, the lovely outside of my friend remains. Our visit did not upset her in any way, and again, I took that as a positive sign.

We walked Julia so much today. She was fidgity and alive with interest in all that was around her. Brooklyn is a feast for the senses and she wanted to take it all in. It was very hard to walk with her head turned to where she was walking and to continue when she so wanted to stop after every step to see something or someone new.

David leaves for home tomorrow; Cheshire is still with us. Maybe we will try the Museum of Natural History tomorrow. Maybe we will stop eating tomorrow!

Julia at Kennywood

Julia and I on the log ride. Julia loved the beginning of this ride but by the end, she was swearing off log rides.

Daddy and Julia ride the turtle.
Doesn't she look pert.
And she loved the whip.

Short notes

We had a piddling around day with rainy weather to keep us inside or dashing to or from the car. Best part of the day was to get Cheshire with us for a few days. Tomorrow, Maryland and Lisa!

Julia was very fidgety today -- all day and even tonight getting ready to sleep. It seemed impossible for her to be still no matter what she was doing. I know we are not do enough physical stuff for her, but we took two walks and played in two playgrounds. I am hoping the better weather will get us outside more often. The fidgety behavior is such a reminder that Julia is not like everyone else. She needs a sensory diet and she needs help to gain control.

I am reminded that we had a day like this when we were in Door County just before we saw some very visible results from the listening therapy. She is also trying very hard to connect with Cheshire and her Babja (my mother). Her conversations are bizaar sometimes but she tries so hard.

I put the new CD in tonight for 10 minutes.

Sunday evening

We have been in Jersey at my mother's house since Friday evening. We have been visiting since we arrived and will be taking tomorrow off. We can use a day to regroup, maybe go swimming, at least spend time in a playground and running around. Our DVD player that we use traveling has broken but Julia has been great traveling in the car. I hope we can replace it this week for the trip home, but I have the feeling that I can occupy her with it.

Julia is still doing the listening therapy twice a day using the same moderation CD. It has been most convenient and practical to do it while we are driving even though Annie had advised us not to do that for awhile. It has worked fine -- no ill effects at all -- so I will continue. We are supposed to introduce a second CD this week.

Julia has been a bit hyper with all the travel and doing nothing but visiting. There has not been a lot for her to do. Thank goodness we brought a few plastic bags of her toys, crayons, and of course clay. She met two little boys during brunch in Brooklyn today, and they had a great time with dinosaurs and little pets. We could use meeting a few kids like that every day.

Today, we spent the afternoon Chinatown. At first, Julia was a bit hesitant about being there, but the shops, the smells, and the food lured her in, and by the end of our visit, she did not want to leave. We managed to be there during a church parade -- the Chinese answer to the San Genareo festival, which is a regular event in Little Italy next door to Chinatown. There were dragon dancers, a Chinese band (Old guys in white hats playing strings, some sort of loud horn, and drums), a ladies' drum band, and groups of kids, families, old men, old ladies, and finally, a statue of the BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary). It was not clear exactly what they were celebrating but it was great fun. Also, in one of the small parks where we found swings and sliding boards, there was singers and musicians doing something that sounded like an opera in Chinese, people doing Ti Chi, men doing a formal wrestling, and lots of kids. We got a good deal of stares -- the old white midwesterners with the crazy Chinese kid. Looking at the kids playing, I can see that Julia is getting to look pretty American in her manner but not completely so. Not like the Chinese American kids there. She still has a bit of China -- a stance, a way of moving, something almost so subtle that it is hard to pin point, but I could see it. So interesting.

We had a lunch of three kinds of noodles and dumplings. Although Julia usually loves dumplings, and these were wonderful (thin skins and very fresh), she did not finish even one and gave her full concentration to the noodles. We have braised noodles, fried noodles and cold noodles with sesame sauce. Each was better than the one before. David and I realized how mediocre the Chinese food that we usually get is. And this was not a really special restaurant but it was soooo good. Ah, NYC! Nothing like it at all.

I have no idea of what went through her head. She knew it was not China which was very good. She like being there. I am so happy about that. Sometimes, no most of the time, I wish we had more explaining, more real conversation. Julia is being a bit rough on me. She can be so angry with me. and she talks about hurting me. We have our attachment work cut out for us.

I am on dial up right now and can't post pictures. I may have to wait until I am home to add any to these posts.

Pittsburgh, the review

Pittsburgh has been an interesting city for a few days. It is rock hard to get around here! Driving is insane. The city is laid out on a number of grids and general advice is "you can't there from here" -- someone actually told David this when he was asking directions. The person said that it was the stock answer for requests for directions.

Okay. Not real tourist friendly.

A good deal of the confusion comes from the fact that Pittsburgh exists on various levels and with two rivers running through it. In the best of times, driving means navigating in an around and up and down. It is also an old city and highway type roads seem to be all over the place -- in neighborhoods and down any small street, and once on a highway, the exits seem to be only more highways. This summer -- and I am not supposing that it is every summer but who knows -- there is lots and lots of road work. That means detours! Finding the right road by number to begin with is no easy task, added to that signs for 4 or 5 or 6 detours which are not in any particular order and which seem to pop up just before any turn off and it is pretty tough on the visitor. At times it did make me appreciate what a good convention city Indianapolis is.

We tend to favor parking our car and taking public transport when we travel; however, there doesn't seem to be much public transport here. Maybe a typical midwest city, although I saw a few buses. No one suggested that I try to take a bus -- unlike New Orleans where every suggested I take buses. There is also a strange cab rule here -- a visitor can hail a cab! You can only get them at hotels or a few other places -- and you have to know where those places are. I have lived in places where there are few cabs making hailing a cab impossible but not one in which cabs on the street will not pick you up because they just don't do that. How did that get to be a good idea?

All that said, Pittsburgh is starting to grow on me. It is pretty gritty -- at least the little of it that I have seen. The museums are good and interesting. I have the feeling that they do what they do well. The food, if and when you find it, is also good and varried. But none of it is easy. Maybe that is why I finally can say that I like it -- it takes work to be here. Nothing like a challenge!

Good eats for us (and we did not go to many places so this is in no way a comparative study) -- Kaya inspire from island food from all over the world. We had a calamari with chayote squash, radicchio, coconut, peanuts, and sesame-banana vinaigrette. David and I enjoyed it; Julia made it her main course. I found a very good little Italian cafe on Smallman Street called __________. Julia and I shared Dad's Fritata that had spicy sausage, onions, peppers and tomatoes in it. It came with a basket of toasted Italian bread that sent me back to Frascati. I also found a great chocolate shop for a few treats to bring home.

We did not do that grown up thing that I was hoping to do -- see Wright's Fallingwater. I have wanted to see this architectural wonder for a long time and it is about an hour outside of the city. It did not; however, seem like something that Julia would enjoy or tolerate very well. Taking her on a tour of an interesting house that just might contain many interesting things while someone talks about the interesting history of the house and its designer would well have turned into a trying and exhausting, and probably frustrating time for us. So, maybe we need to come back when she is older and try a few more restaurants.

Thursday

It is hard to write everything -- even the important things. Sometimes I am not disciplined enough to delve into the behavior, the doings, the learnings that will show me what Julia is learning and how she is developing. I favor instead easy tellings of events of our days. And then, sometimes all I can write is the events and that has to be enough. Breaking through to a place where I write what matters, what I can really learn from, and what can help Julia in the future is where I want to be.

Julia's behavior has been better on this trip than on any other. She does ask about going back to her house and every so often is not pleased that it will be almost two weeks before we are home. She is testy and stubborn at times, sometimes even sitting down on the ground or shouting "no" to make her point, but she is quickly talked down from this impulsive behavior. She is also much more concerned about how I feel. She asks if I am angry or sad, she tells me that she is happy in order to please me. This solicitous behavior alternates with a defiance towards me and a rejection of anything that I say. Tonight, we were working on two letters -- P and R -- and I was trying to have her draw the main line of the letter and then put in the half circle. She did not want to make the letters this way, and yet she seemed to know that her way of making the letters -- drawing a circle and then a line down -- just didn't look like the letters. She has done this sort of this before and at times I've gotten frustrated. Tonight, I kept at her in a calm and steady voice and manner. I told her how I knew she could do it. I told her that she had to listen and do as I say because my way would enable her to make her letters correctly. I told her how smart she was and that listening to me and following my directions would make her smarter. How much did her understand? I am not sure, but this constant patter allowed her to give in in some way and to do what I asked of her.

Julia has also been favoring David when ever he is with us. I know that she gets much more of me than of him, and she enjoys being Daddy's girl, but I feel like she does reject me whenever she can. I don't take this personally. Just maybe this is an attachment issue that we need to work on. Poor David! These last five nights, she has slept in a double bed with him while I have the other bed to myself.

And oh, she loves staying up late! That girl can keep on going way past what I remember Cheshire doing. She will almost never fall asleep anywhere but in bed and anytime but at night. This concerns me to the extent that she might be staying viligent and not allowing her self to rest anytime during the day.

We have been pretty good keeping up with her brushing and theraputic listening during this week. I will be starting her on a new CD later this week. Just 10 minutes during one of the half hour listening times. We'll see what changes it brings.

Tuesday is Hienz country

Maybe Carnegie is closer to the truth since the Museum of Natural History was funded and stocked by the old man himself. Julia was in heaven! And David and I were just in awe. This is an old museum with old bones that have been fixed and refurbished, but there is no way to duplicate this stuff. Most of what we saw was real which is different from lots of new dino exhibits, and the sheer number of prehistoric skeletons was more than impressive.

The dino is the picture is outside the museum and is just one of the long necked monsters that is inside. Below is Julia hugging a leg.

Julia knew so many of the dinos from their bones and was not at all intimidated by the size.
She also had no trouble using the touch screen computers with more pictures and information. She did skip the boring all info pages infavor of the pictures.
More on today, tomorrow

Pictures from Monday (mostly)

Julia after 10 hours in the car. Not so bad, especially considering that our little DVD player stopped working because the power cord to the cigarette lighter was frayed. Movies usually help our traveling immensely, but with Daddy's help and playing in the back seat when I drove.

This is a really cook stingray that we saw at the zoo. It is almost the same kind that is the teacher in Finding Nemo. Okay, now I know how much I've made the transition to total mommy track! Anyway, this stingray was really interested in Julia -- seemed to almost be communicating -- shades of Harry Potter and the snake.Here you can see the stingray climbing up the glass trying to get closer to my spicy dragon. Stingrays and dragons? Julia just thought it was very exciting.
And nothing like a cold icy snowcone after petting the deer and kangaroo