Laowai

— I’ve been busy trying to adjust to our new schedule. Bea seems to be doing great at school – much better than I imagined she would. She still reminds me many times per week that she doesn’t like school, but I can see that she is energized by it as she talks to me on our way home. I go between feeling really sorry for her as I imagine her surrounded by kids who don’t speak the same language – she’s the odd man out – she’s been doing lots of observing and listening. And then I see the hint of a smile on her face when I see her coming out of her school and I feel she is doing fine and handling it well. She had her first forest day on Friday – the class spends the whole time in the forest. She was more excited about that day than anything so far – she told me all about it and actually admitted liking it – the climbing over streams, the lizard they saw, and the fire thay made! They also have a gym day where they walk to another building and they change into shorts, t-shirt and special shoes. I originally bought the wrong gym shoes – I figured she needed tennis shoes, but it turns out they wear a sort of gymnastics shoe – like slippers with non-slip soles. So now she has shoes galore – oh well.

— Claire has been riding her Bobby Car lots, but still no walking. She is really into throwing balls. She loves it. She lifts the ball way over or even behind her head before she lets it go and then she gets a funny little surprised face after she throws it.

Here’s her hand signal for give me the ball.

Bea has been asking me to make little stuffed animals with her. She calls them friends – not for herself – friends for blankie. She picks all the fabrics from my stash and I sew it up in no time at all. She does the stuffing and viola! happy Bea.

—  It’s been warm this week but the air feels Fallish. The girls and I went down to the lake after dinner one night. There was a big, big wind and I watched some little sailboats zoom along the lake really, really fast. I can’t help thinking of my sister whenever I see sailboats. 

— In other news – I got the bad Mommy award this week because I dropped my baby on her head again. Oh golly. We were at the Mom & Tots group that I go to and she climbed out of a high chair outside. I had just stepped away for a minute – that’s always how it happens isn’t it. I had a mini breakdown because I felt so bad and she looked so bad. So all the other sweet moms comforted me and helped me get her cleaned up. She had a big scrap and goose egg on her forehead but, thankfully, she was fine.

— So it’s been a week of ups and downs. Brian was gone from Saturday through Thursday night. The girls were so happy to get to spend time with him when the weekend came. I love to hear Bea excitedly chatting with him as they go about eating breakfast – the love is palpable. And I got to sleep in.