Chef P

Pryce is always the first one in line to help in the kitchen. He LOVES to cook. On a whim, I signed him up for Cooking Camp at our church. There, he not only learned to cook, he learned proper table etiquette, played games to encourage healthy eating and made some adorable crafts for us to hold on to. Thursday was his day to show off what he had learned.

Each child helped decorate their family's table and served the family members in attendance. Pryce did so with a smile on his face the entire time.

We were all very proud of him!

And look who is sleeping in her "girl, girl bed"....it's true, MK finally gave up her "cribbie" to sleep in her new bed that daddy made for her. She calls it her "girl, girl bed" and it is one of the few things that we do not correct her on in the speech department....it is just so cute the way she says it! She means to say "big girl" but being that we don't want her to grow up too quickly, I am just letting her call it whatever she wants. She transitioned very well and she loves to make up her bed all by herself....no complaints here :)

Another MK saying that seems to come out quite a lot lately is, "I am seriously!" She says this when she is wanting you to listen to her and give her credit where credit is due. She also tells us that we "made her feelings" aka we hurt her feelings. Continuing to love her sayings!

Sometimes the statement, "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff," applies directly to me. I sweat a lot of small stuff. This is true in our adoption as well. For instance, bonding and attachment is something that is largely focused on in adoption land and what I would consider a "large stuff" kind of topic. I don't sweat that. I do believe in it, I am aware of it, I am quite considerate of MK's needs, I do believe it can be a real issue. However, I do not sweat it. Instead, I sweat the small stuff. The "stuff" being the comments people make or the captions writer's write. I think I have shared before how I could do without reading a magazine caption where an actor/actress is pictured with her son, John Doe, and her "adopted daughter", Jane Doe. That drives me crazy. They are both the children of the actor/actress, yet they entered into that family under different circumstances.
The other day as I sat having my hair colored all sorts of colors, I was having a conversation with a lady in the salon. She stated something to the effect of, "Well, you know, she is not even her daughter. She is adopted." The person stating the comment thought nothing of it. However, the person hearing it (me) did. Did I say anything? Surprisingly, no, but I was thinking all sorts of stuff.
We are fortunate to have been able to parent both biological children and an adopted child. Do I love them differently? Yes, but not because they are bio or adopted but because they are different children, each their own person. My love for all of them is a parent's love, a love that no one else can measure because they are not my child's parent, I am. We are. We are the parents who laugh with them, cry with them, smile at them. We are the ones who diligently fix one carrots knowing he will not touch corn or cut up little pieces for fear of choking or give one a variety of foods knowing he will try it. We are the parents who hold them when they are sick and hug them when they have succeeded in a job well done. We teach them. We mold them. We make them feel secure. They are our children, all three of them. We are responsible for all three, committed to all three equally, divided by all three the same.

We celebrated MK's 1/2 birthday last Thursday! She was so NOT excited. Why? Because she kept saying, "Ugh, I don't want to be three AGAIN!" She wants to be bigger, older and she has no patience for being little. Despite her dislike for her age, we had a great day of making her feel special....sprinkle pancakes, movie date, swimming and out to dinner at her favorite local pizza parlor.

For a 3 1/2 year old, MK is quite the swimmer. She started off the summer enveloped in a swimvest while swimming. That quickly came to a halt when she realized the vest was holding her up when she desperately wanted to go down, under the water. Weekly, she has made great strides in swimming. She jumps in and swims to the side, she falls in backwards and comes up laughing only wanting to do it again, she dives down to the bottom of the pool and walks on her hands, she does her version of the backstroke, she is AMAZING. Her latest feat is jumping off of the diving board and swimming the length of the pool....and keeping up with her brothers and their buddies. Just last night I watched in awe as they were playing this "movie" game....basically similar to Sharks and Minnows and MK was right in the middle of it. She would shout the name of some movie and swim across swiftly so she would not get caught. Again, she has come so far!

On a paperwork update, STILL no word. No more contacts from the two Consulate offices we are dealing with, no tracking numbers coming up with info that our packages are in route, NOTHING. So, in a nutshell, at the current moment, our paperwork is lost....both offices said our paperwork was being mailed last week....ugh.