Adjustments

Here are some photos of the first day of school. I ate lunch with the girls in Lalie's classroom but they're in different classes, which, in hindsight, is wonderful. Lydia was playing with a ball on the playground at recess and having a great time. I asked her if she had balls at Kidane and she said no.

Well, to say our new life at home is smooth would not be accurate. We are having a bumpy time of it with the adjustment process. I have two strong-willed 8-year-olds sharing a room and learning to live together. Yikes. I hear Lalie saying "Lydia!" and "No" many times a day. I've talked to Lalie about letting me be the police and if it's something serious to get me but to let small things go. That hasn't quite worked yet but I'll keep trying. Lydia is learning lots of English every day but explaining complex things to her yet is out of the question so when she gets upset about it all I just hug her and rock her and tell her it will get better. I'm not sure if she understands my words but she does enjoy the hugs.

Lydia loves school luckily and her teachers and daycare were all prepared for her and want to help. The second day of school I was getting them into the car and Lydia was standing in the kitchen stuffing her thick coat into her backpack. I told her she should wear it and she gave me the crinkled forehead are-you-crazy kind of "no." I said OK. She stepped out into the garage and quickly rethought her decision, setting the backpack down and hurriedly unstuffing the coat from her backpack and putting it on. Getting the seatbelt on is still a chore and at least once she's unbuckled to reach things in the car as we were driving. But, she's getting the understanding that it has to go on first and stay on luckily. When I dropped the girls off, Lalie got out first and gave me a kiss goodbye. Lydia watched that closely and got a big smile on her face, then offered me her cheek for a kiss. She's now got that ritual down pat.

The first day of school she came out of the bathroom with 17 clips in her hair (I counted as I took them out). The next day it was 11. We've now got it down to three or four which is more reasonable. We trimmed her hair so it was more straight across on the bottom which doesn't allow for much of a back ponytail at this point but she still tries. She's been pretty good though about letting it go once we've gotten to a compromise for the morning.

She went to the doctor on Monday after school and did really well. They had to wash some wax out of her ear which she didn't love but sat still for. That night we called a family with English/Amharic speaking kids to translate to her the idea of getting stool samples. You should have seen her face when the 8-year-old boy was explaining THAT to her in Amharic on speaker phone! But, today - success! I was able to get a sample this morning and get it to the lab in under an hour. (It has to be fresh.) I know, TMI but those of you who are adoptive parents probably understand my excitement this morning on being able to get that first one accomplished and drive it to the lab!

On the positive sister side, Lydia was doing starfall.com on the computer last night (which she loves!) and Lalie came in to help her. I didn't hear it but apparently Lydia said, "I love you Lalie" as Lalie left. I heard Lalie say, "I love you too Lydia." It wasn't the warm sugary type of response - more of an "I give up" sort of response but I'll take it. Of course later when I went to the computer I saw that at some point Lydia had marked on the mouse and written her name on the mouse pad in Sharpie permanent marker. I'm glad she's learned to write her name but... Luckily I was able to get them both off with nail polish remover because the mouse pad was also plastic.

So, we take three steps forward and two steps back every day it seems. Still it's progress in a small way. We'll just keep on dancing and hoping we come out ahead in the long run.