She's at it again...and an update

Let's just say that 2013 is starting off with a bang for Madeline.  This little girl of ours is bound and determined to do it all.  Last month, she learned to ride a bike without training wheels.  Last week, she declared to me that she learned how to hula hoop.  And to my surprise, when I walked outside to said hula hoop, she was hula hooping!  You may recall the photos I took of the dumplings hula hooping at the Winter Carnival.  Caleb was hula hooping then; Madeline was faking it. lol.  Now, she no longer has to fake it.  

And if learning to hula hoop wasn't enough, she has learned to tie shoes!  As with Caleb, I had Madeline tie my shoe when learning because adult laces are longer and, therefore, easier to work with.  She's had the first part down for a while, and she has watched me tying my shoe one-handed.  (I figured I'd better learn how to do it myself one-handed if I was supposed to show her how to do it one-handed.)  Well, she found her own way of doing it!

This was her very first time tying it by herself.  I wasn't even sure she was going to do it because she did it completely different than what I had just shown her. But she did it!  After she ran off to play, I watched the video several more times so I could see exactly what she did.  Then I figured out a way to tweak her version to make it easier.  Instead of holding the loop in her left arm, she now just pins the loop down with her left arm so she can take the other lace around.  Also, she generally uses her left arm to help make the criss cross and pull the laces tight.  She was just being a bit silly using her toes because she knows she can't tie both shoes that way.  Stubborn and silly.  That's Madeline!

Oh, and one more thing....she's reading!  She's still working through Webster's syllabary and using the Writing Road to Reading phonogram cards to learn all the multi letter phonograms.  But  we've now added the McGuffey Primer and the Abeka K readers to the line up. She's something else, I tell ya!

Well, the reasons I have been MIA from bloggy land lately are many.  We are in the process of updating our home study for Havi, which has required me to collect a long list of documents (like practically all of the documents we needed for the original homestudy, with some of them needing to be updated.)  We finally sent that off to our agency this week and hope to get this update completed before our LOA arrives.  Our hope is to submit our Supplement 3 along with our I-800.  And we're hoping and praying that our Supplement 3 will be ready and waiting for our LOA to arrive and NOT the other way around.  I'm dreading the idea that this update might delay this part of the process for us, and that might mean bringing Havi home in July rather than June.  I soooo want to go in June.  *sigh*

And speaking of the little peanut, I have been busy sewing for her.  Prior to bringing Madeline home from China, I had the privilege of my niece Leah trying on new garments because she was/is just 5 months older than Madeline.  Well, my nephew Josh is also 5 months older than Havi, and I've already hit him up with a cute little romper.  My sister and brother-in-law are being such good sports and helping this mama out. lol. But unlike with Leah, I will NOT be photographing Josh wearing Havi's clothes!  I will, however, have to take some photos of the garments so I can share them here on the blog.

We are also preparing for a few special visitors who will be heading down here next week from Connecticut to help Madeline with an early birthday celebration.  We're looking forward to seeing Aunt Shell and Lydia!!!!  And we apologize in advance that the weather won't be bringing its A game.  But hopefully it will still be warmer than the winter you've had to endure this season.

I also haven't had much time lately to take any photos with my big girl camera.  So I just might have to whip up an iPhone photo bomb or post some older recents shots I've stumbled across.  I'll see what I can get around to...if I can pry my fingers away from my sewing machine.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Day 1 in New York City: Museum of Natural History

Since I took lots of photos each day (both with my big girl camera and iPhone), I'll cut to the chase.  We had an early morning flight which meant grabbing breakfast at the airport. Caleb thought teasing his sister with his shark tooth necklace would be a good way to pass the time.

One of Caleb's upper front teeth was very loose. I thought it might fall out before our trip, but I was wrong.  Instead, I found him wiggling the tar out of that tooth with his tongue or fingers during our entire trip.

The dumplings took turns sitting by the window. They love to fly/travel.

Lorna Doone cookies were an in-flight hit.  They always are.

Thankfully our flight and cab ride into the city were uneventful.  And once our bags landed in the room of our hotel, you better believe Madeline was searching for that infamous pad and paper.

The kids loved gazing out the window, and so did I.  We stayed on the 35th floor of the Marriott Marquis in Times Square.  People watching is fun from up there.

I'm kicking myself that I didn't pay close enough attention to this next shot and subsequently placed the window pane right through the "2012" below the ball.  *insert slapping my forehead*

Once we got settled, we decided that we still had some time to hit the Museum of Natural History for a little hands on learning.  It's located in the Upper West Side right next to Central Park.  So the kids gazed out at the expansive park before them and tried throwing fallen leaves over the wall.

Then it was time to hit the museum.

The bonus for arriving so late in the afternoon was that our tickets were discounted.  Woot!  And good thing because we made up for that by purchasing some really silly photos of us with dinosaurs.

We spent a wee bit of time checking out American birds (since we studied them last year as part of our natural history studies), the animals of Africa, and Asian history.  

But we primarily spent our time browsing all the dinosaur exhibits.  The kids used our iPhones to snap their own photos.  And I just kept snapping them doing it.

A nice gentleman offered to take a family photo.  Madeline's double chin smile is hilarious.

These last photos of the dinosaur exhibit crack me up.  We're very open with Madeline about her limb difference.  We talk with her as needed about how to handle people's questions.  One of the responses I told her she could use if she felt like being funny and getting a rise out of the person asking was that she could tell them she (or her brother or whoever) got hungry and just ate her arm.  So here she is at the dinosaur exhibit sticking her missing left arm in the mouth of a dinosaur fossil and pretending that it's eating her. 

And I guess if it's eating your arm, you're at liberty to poke its eye out! lol.

That night we hit Becco's for dinner, right there on Restaurant Row.  We were relieved they sat us waaay before our reservation as it's popular with theater goers.  I had the absolute best stuffed peppers ever, served over fried spaetzle.  Delicious!

Well, to sum it up..our first day in NYC was a fabulous one, and it only got better! And since I don't have the time to be organized right now, I'll be sharing my iPhone photos in a separate post later.

And that's a wrap...almost

I thought it would be fun to participate in Darcy's weekly Sweet Shots linkup.

There's no theme to the linkup.

However, this week she's celebrating her 100th Sweet Shot

and encouraged those linking up to participate in the 100 theme.

So I tried.

Congratulations, Darcy!

So what's my contribution to the 100 theme?

A "100 flat" from our base 10 math manipulatives.

Next week, we will be finishing up our core homeschooling year.
Hip hip hooray!

We have thoroughly enjoyed using Ambleside Online.

Last fall, we got our feet wet by incorporating some Charlotte Mason principles

and a few of the suggested readings for Year 1.

By the beginning of this year, however, we dug in deeper.
And I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I've learned quite a bit this year as a result.

We spent a fair amount of time watching birds.

We set up two bird feeders and a bird bath for our viewing pleasure.

We see blue jays, cardinals, and mockingbirds every day, plus grackles, doves, and red bellied woodpeckers.

We placed the bird bath right outside our living room window.
These shots were taken from inside the house (through the window and screen.)

As I've mentioned in a previous homeschooling post, Caleb has wanted to learn to type.

So he's using Typing Instructor For Kids.

Because of his brachial plexus injury, he types one-handed.

Although the typing program is intended for two-handed typists, 

he's doing very well.  He uses a child-size keyboard, which is necessary
due to the added reaching required to type one-handed for anyone.
Really, I find myself typing one-handed at times, and it's a stretch.
Try it.

Anyway, now that summer is here (at least, here in Florida, it's felt like summer for a while now!),

we will be transitioning to our "light school" schedule.

We will regularly do math and reading, while

throwing in some nature study, writing and whatever else interests us.

We keep this schedule because I believe it is important to teach that learning can happen

anywhere and anytime, not just fall through spring, or Monday through Friday, for that matter.

In the fall, we will begin Ambleside Online's Year 2.

However, we have already been enjoying the free readings suggested for the year 

because we just couldn't wait.

So there you have it...

a readers digest version of our year in review.

I'm sure I'll be sharing some of our summer schedule highlights 

as we move into the real summer months.

And after three years on this homeschooling journey, I have to say 

that we wouldn't have it any other way!

We love it!

Sunday Snapshot: A little update...'cause a LOT is going on

Yep.  We have been hopping over here.  Busy.  Busy.  Busy.I always intend to update the blog regularly.  However, when life gets busy, there's just not enough time to talk about it!
So here goes the reader's digest version of the last few weeks.
For starters, I have some unfortunate news.  I have been trying to digest it myself for the last few days, delaying this post even more.
My sister's dear friend, Gina, continues to battle breast cancer.  And the latest news is not good.  The clinical trial she began in Houston has not been effective.  They are starting her on new chemotherapy drugs. This news stinks beyond stink.  I can't say much more besides that without sobbing.  So I'm moving on.
Back when we were celebrating Madeline's birthday at Disney with my sister, brother-in-law and niece, I had the chance to snap a few quick photos of my sister and nephew, Joshua.
 

Can you believe this precious munchkin is going to be 9 months old this month?
During the local school's spring break, we had a chance to head to Tampa to catch a Yankee Spring Training game against the Minnesota Twins.  My sister, Andy and kids, along with Andy's parents also made the trip.  We had a blast.  We also spent one day at Busch Gardens and another on Clearwater Beach.  A truly fantastic weekend.  I'll share those photos a little later.
Madeline continues to dance and prepare for her upcoming recital in June. 


We had a chance to observe last month.  She is regularly one step ahead of everyone.  It's quite funny to watch.





Last week, we had the opportunity to meet up with a fellow adoptive family visiting the Mouse for Spring Break. The Crebbins are an awesome crew. We had such a blast. Caleb and Kaia hit it off. Jaelyn and Madeline were unfazed that they were both missing parts of their left arms and just had fun. Now, we're just gonna have to plan a visit to the Pacific Northwest some time soon. Those photos will come later too. 
 Also last week in baseball, Caleb hit his first ever double! Not only that, he hit two of them! And I managed to get them on video. Here he is making his first double.
 
He was a bit under the weather this past week. However, he rested up all week so he would be ready to play baseball this weekend. And what did he do? He hit his first ever triple! We are so proud of him. All of his teammates played a great game today. They continue to improve each week. It's so fun to watch.
I've also been doing a little bit of sewing.  I made Madeline a cute little bubble top and shorts for Easter tomorrow and a simple little skirt.  Next up are some lounge pants for Caleb since he's outgrown the few I've already made him.  Then I plan on working through my big stash of fabrics so Madeline will have some fun, new clothes for this spring/summer.  I've had some of these fabrics sitting around for two years.  So it's about time I find the time to make some cute pieces for her.
A quick note about Havi's adoption.  We've been working on our dossier and home study documents and will finally begin our home study this month.  We'll probably be DTC some time late summer.
Well, that just about sums up the last month.  I do apologize that I have neglected the blog. I will come back some time this week with a few more photos to go along with all these fun times.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter.  
And please, please pray for dear Gina- for healing and peace.

Did this really happen?

I certainly wasn't expecting this day to arrive so soon. Madeline is just three and a half years old. How could she possibly understand? But she does. Insert sigh.

Of all places this could've happened, it happened to take place at church. I volunteer in Madeline's class at church. I do this as a way to help foster trust and help her feel safe in the class before eventually "leaving her there" without me during the service, which will happen at some point in the future. We have been attending class together for about four months now and see a lot of the same kids.

She plays well with the other kids and participates in the singing. For bible story time, though, she sits on my lap on the floor with the other children around us. This one little boy sitting in front of us kept staring at her. Okay, this is not unusual. It happens all the time. However, most of the time, Madeline is oblivious to the stares because she's listening to the bible story. Not this week.

This little boy asked her what happened to her arm. Again, no big deal. Madeline promptly answered, "Dat way I born. Dat way God made me." His staring continued, as did his question. She finally got so fed up with him that she. hid. her. arm. *SNIFF* Oh, how my heart broke into a thousand little pieces for my precious baby girl.

I quickly told the boy, "She doesn't like it when you stare at her arm. It's not okay. Turn around." Thankfully he listened. But the damage was already done.

As if that was NOT enough, a little boy sitting on our right kept getting up to look at her arm and kept asking the same question, "What happened to her arm?" Again, she answered him the best way she knows how, "Dat way I born. Dat way God made me." Nope, that's not enough. He got right up into her personal space to get a real, close look at her arm. Again, she hid her precious, little arm. Okay. Enough already. I respectfully told this boy the same thing I told the other one.

As soon as the boys sat back down, I took Madeline's arm from behind her back and placed it in front of her. I told her it was okay and that she shouldn't hide her arm. I told her that God made her extra special, and she shouldn't be ashamed of that.

There's no doubt she is keenly aware of her limb difference. And up until this point, I thought we had prepared her for answering the same, basic question she always gets. But now it seems it's not enough. We need to help her deal with the "perpetrators" AND her emotions when the stares and questions get to a point that they bother her. Wow. I was not prepared for this to happen at the age of three, let me tell you.

Lord, help us to equip our daughter with all the wisdom, love, and support she'll need to live the life You have planned for her. Help us to prepare her for the stares, the questions, and the eventual ugly and mean comments all because she was born differently. We know in Your eyes, she's just perfect. Help her to trust in this truth. In Jesus' name. Amen.

(By the way, she's sporting one of cousin Leah's princess outfits. Just darling if you ask me.)

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Last week the time finally arrived when Madeline's hair was long enough for a cut. Since this precious girl of ours had seen her brother get his own hair cut multiple times, she knew exactly what was expected of her. She did so well, never crying. In fact, she was quite happy at the whole prospect of a hair cut. "No move. Snip snip," she would say in preparation for the big day. You'll have to pardon the quality of all of these images, as they were taken with my iPhone. The digital noise is horrendous. But still, I wanted to at least brighten them up so I could share them.

When the gal was finished cutting her hair, she asked if she could put ribbons in it. I, of course, said yes. When she asked what color she would like and tried to answer her own question with "Pink," I had to correct her. "Orange, please. Orange is her favorite color." Yup. Craziness...and a good thing, I tell ya, that she has orange bedsheets and an orange, custom-made bedskirt. lol.

Caleb got his hair cut too. He just keeps looking older and older (and more and more handsome!) He loves to get color "painted" in his hair, always going for red and blue stripes. I took the kids to Chick-Fil-A for lunch afterwards (and to play). They had a great time.

We've been keeping busy with our light summer school schedule. Caleb blows my socks off in math, as he is now tackling division with quotients and remainders. I. kid. you. not. I remember doing this stuff in 4th grade. I'm just blown away.

We LOVE our new phonics/spelling program, doing the Writing Road to Reading, using the Spalding method. Caleb has almost all of the phonograms mastered. (Out of 70, there were about 15-20 that he hadn't learned from his previous phonics program.) I gave him a diagnostic spelling test, and he tested at Grade 2.9! So with his program, I'm sure his spelling is going to take off. And I can already see improvement in his reading. :)

Caleb has thoroughly enjoyed playing Stack the States on our ipads, and consequently has learned all his states. He loves looking at maps and our new globe. About a year ago, I purchased a Melissa & Doug states floor puzzle, in the hopes that it would help him to learn his states. I helped him put it together a few times, but that was it. Fast forward a year (and after Stack the States), and he can put that puzzle together lickity split! He even insisted on putting together the states puzzle at the library when we were there the other day. I just love his zeal for learning. It warms my heart.

Next week, Caleb and Madeline begin swim lessons through Infant Swimming Resource. They will each have 10 minutes every day 5x/wk. Madeline's lessons will likely go for 6 weeks since she doesn't know how to do anything in the pool. She will learn how to float on her back and wait to be rescued, which is what we want her to learn as a newbie "little fish."

Caleb, on the other hand, knows how to swim. He can swim the length of the pool under water and can also swim in the deep end. But we want him to learn what his limitations are and know how to rest safely in unfamiliar water. Swimming in our own pool is one thing. Falling into the river is a whole 'nother animal. We want him to be prepared. Hopefully his lessons will only last 2-3 weeks. This means our summer will be quite busy, to say the least. I'm at least thankful for an ISR instructor who lives 5 minutes from us, who can schedule the kids back-to-back, and who is willing to work with limb different children....

...which reminds me. I knew our application would get flagged for medical review because my sister indicated it would (with both kids having limb differences.) Well, as I was reviewing their applications, I wondered why Madeline's wasn't getting flagged. So I went back to review the questions to be sure I answered them all correctly....I didn't. I totally missed the first one, which asks "Does your child have any physical or mental disabilities?" I answered "No." Oops. Technically Madeline does have a "disability" because she's missing her left forearm. But it's clear as day to me that she really doesn't.  It's not a label we use to describe her because nothing can stop this girl. She can do anything she puts her mind to. So she might have a disability "on paper", but that's where it stops.

Anyway, both kidlets have colds at the moment. Not fun for either one. I've been wiping noses A LOT. Hopefully they will resolve before swim lessons start next week. And hopefully they don't pass them on to mommy and daddy. Somehow I doubt that will happen.