Cackie & Owen Tearing Up the Polls

Well, the polling booth at least! Yesterday Michael went to pick the kids up from school and came home with this great story...

The teachers were planning a voting activity for today and had fashioned a voting booth out of a large cardboard box. Well, when Michael picked the kids up they got a little out of hand (who, my kids?) and were fighting over a spot in the voting booth. In the process of fighting they knocked down the booth and tried to tear it up. If I remember correctly, when Michael was telling me about it he lovingly referred to Cackie & Owen as "numbnuts".

Today I'm happy to report that the polling booth was intact and that the kids had overwhelmingly voted for mint over strawberry... um, I mean Obama over McCain.

Never a dull moment here!

9-1-1

You may have missed it, but two weeks ago it was Fire Prevention Week. It presents the perfect opportunity to teach preschoolers about fire prevention and how to handle a fire emergency. You know... stop, drop and roll... and how to dial 9-1-1.

Well, Cackie apparently learned her lessons at school well since she dialed 9-1-1 at least 4 times this morning while she and Owen were downstairs watching TV and Michael & I were upstairs getting ready!

I got downstairs to find the phone on speaker and when pressed Cackie admitted that she had played with it. I hung up the phone and it immediately started ringing I picked it up and Michael also picked it up from upstairs. On the line was a Memphis Police dispatcher asking if everything was OK because 9-1-1 had been dialed. I reassured them that our 4 year-old had learned how to dial 9-1-1 at school and tried to practice on our house phone. When we hung up the phone immediately rang again. It was another dispatcher telling us that the police were on their way since someone had dialed 9-1-1 at least 4 times from our number. Within seconds Cackie was in the corner!

I had already decided that she was going to have to tell the police officers what she had done when the phone rang again. The police were verifying that everything was OK and that we did not need officers dispatched to our house. Michael apologized profusely and that must have done the trick since we never saw signs of the good boys in blue.

Needless to say, I'm now glad to be at work! Michael hopefully brought her little mishap to the attention of her teachers, we sure can use their help in reinforcing that she made a VERY BAD choice!

More later about our weekend and Cackie & Owen's mishaps with the lotion bottle at my parents house....

EIGHT!

Whew, eight days to go! I can't believe it, but I'm actually glad to be back at work today. We worked soo hard on stuff this weekend that I'm seriously pooped. My concentration level at work is not 100%, but at least I get to sit down and rest! (On Saturday, while we were on our way home from the birthday party Cackie told me that she didn't feel good. I asked her what was wrong and she said, "I think all my energy is gone." Boy, I can relate to that today!)

I've become addicted to a podcast series by Seth Harwood and listening to that has helped me to stay focused on work and get some stuff accomplished. I'm also keeping my handy little notepad right beside me to write down any last minute things that I can think of. My brain is super muddled right now, I will die if I lose this notepad!
On a positive note, the weather here is absolutely gorgeous today! I stepped out to get some lunch and didn't want to go back to my desk. I should have stayed and eaten outside, but I wanted to do this post, so Blogger won.
Tonight I get to look forward to paying bills, yippee! The best part is that it will be the last time I have to worry about that until after we get home.

Hi Owen!

I've been trying to post this for a week! Finally it worked!

Last Saturday we pulled out the video camera and were talking to Cackie about Owen. Here's some of our conversation...

Yes Sweetheart

3:30 am this morning...
Michael gets out of bed and goes downstairs. I didn't hear anything (probably because I was sleeping), but I listen carefully. After a few minutes Michael comes back upstairs and gets in bed.
About 2 minutes later, I hear from downstairs.... "DADDDDDYYYYY (in a very bossy, annoyed, 3 year old voice) DADDDDYYYYYYY" Michael jumps up, runs to the top of the stairs saying "yes sweetheart". "DAAAAADDDDDDYYYYY, YOU LEFT MY DOOR OPEN."
Michael runs down the stairs, takes care of the problem and comes back upstairs.
(At this point, I don't think he knows that I'm awake. But, I couldn't resist the opportunity to point out how "wrapped" he is).

As Michael is walking back in the room I say, "you never call me sweetheart when I'm bossing you around". I think I got some silly comment back in response.

Apparently Cackie had fallen out of bed, so Michael had to go down and help her. She was calling for me, but I didn't hear her (gotta get that baby monitor turned up), so Daddy ran to her rescue (and let me sleep, too!). Good Daddy!

Fast forward to 7:30 am...
Michael & I are upstairs finishing getting ready for the day and Cackie is downstairs eating her breakfast and watching cartoons.
We hear from downstairs... "DADDDDDYYYYY (in a very bossy, annoyed, 3 year old voice) DADDDDYYYYYYY". Michael turns to me and says "am I being summoned?".

"Yes, I believe you are.... and the proper response to her is "yes sweetheart".

Whining

The whining is driving me NUTS!
We have had lots and lots of whining lately, so I’ve really started playing the Santa card when the whining starts up.
Yesterday after picking Cackie up from school we had to stop at the drugstore to pick me up some antibiotics (yes, yet another sinus infection for me!). She started whining from the moment I told her we were going to the store and just wouldn’t stop. Nothing that I said or did could stop it. So, I told her that for a little girl who’s hoping that Santa will bring her lots of nice things she sure was doing a lot of whining. I reminded her that Santa was at the North Pole packing his sleigh, but that he could see and hear everything she was doing and saying and that she’d better shape up or Santa might take some of those nice things and give them to another little boy or girl.
Her response was “well, he’s not talking to me” - meaning that since she couldn’t hear Santa he couldn’t hear her either. Oh, the logic of a 3 year old!
So, then she wanted to know how Santa could see her. How do you explain this to a 3 year old? “Oh, he has a magic ball that he can look in and see you.” Yeah, I can just hear the questions coming from that one! So, I told her that Santa just had to think about her and he could see what she was doing.

Then I reminded her by singing…
“He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So, be good for goodness sake.”

All was quiet in the backseat for a second and the she said “yeah Mommy and he’s coming to town too!”

Stifling my laughter was nearly impossible! Gotta love 3 year olds!

LOI & Tianjin (&blogs!)

We're LOI! (letter of intent, that is)
We had to submit a LOI to our agency, basically saying that we know all about Wei Jian Hang's condition and that we want to adopt him. We sent this and some other pictures and information to CCAI yesterday, they should have received it this morning.
Now, CCAI will take our LOI and send it on to China. Once China receives it and "processes" it, they will issue us a PA (pre approval). Basically, this means that they know that we want to adopt Wei Jian Hang and that they are moving our dossier from the non special needs area to the special needs area.
So, now we wait some more...

At the same time, I'm soo excited! I know of two other families who have received referrals from Tianjin this week. Their referrals are here... http://ladmans.blogspot.com/ & http://www.barry-family.net/ They both have sons waiting for them with repaired cleft lip, unrepaired cleft palate. Does this mean that we'll get the chance to travel together? Don't know right now. The special needs program with China is sooo different than the non special needs program and it's really all up in the air. I'll be talking with these families more for sure and will stay updated on their statuses.

And, tomorrow the Lewis family leaves for China to adopt their son David from Tianjin! I'll be following their blog to learn all I can. If you'd like to learn more about Tianjin, you can follow along too. Their blog is http://lewises.blogspot.com/.
They are planning on visiting the orphanage and are hoping to have the opportunity to ask about the boys who now have forever families. I'm hoping for good news, but just knowing that they are there and thinking of the other boys is a huge plus for me!

Another family that I've been following is in China right now. They were LID just before we were with Cackie and adopted their Mary just before we travelled to China. They just adopted a beautiful little girl with a repaired cleft lip & palate. Heather is a great writer, very down to earth and I love reading her journey. Isn't her Ella just beautiful? http://2china4ella.blogspot.com/

I'll leave you tonight with a Cackie'ism...
Back when we went to MS for the football game and Caryn came camping with us, just after we got to the campground we got out Cackie's tricycle for her to ride & play. She was goofing around on it and started trying to stand on the seat with her hands on the handle bars. Caryn told her to be careful, that she was about to fall. Of course, Cackie responded like a toddler and didn't listen. So, Cackie stood on the seat again, the bike fell over and she fell to the ground with the bike on top of her. Before Caryn could say anything she heard Cackie say "see, that's why you don't do that" - A sign that she'd learned something, NAH!

When I get big...

Most of the "Cackie'isms" lately have come with this clause attached. It usually comes out as "I can do that when I get big" and usually she's referring to something that there is no way that we would ever let her do now, such as driving, drinking alcohol, riding her bike in the street, letting the cat sleep in her room... you get the idea. Hey, at least the kid knows that she has some limits, right?

So, here's a "when I get big" example....
On Monday we went out test driving new cars. If you've purchased a new car anytime in the last 15 years, you know the drill... you peruse the back lot, looking for the vehicle that meets your needs (they always ask you what color you want, like that matters more than $$$), then when you find the ONE, they go back to the office to get the key so that you can then take it for a test drive. So, we found the car we wanted and while we were waiting for the key we checked out some other offerings on the lot. We'd open the door and Cackie would climb in the drivers seat and play driving. (This in itself amazed me. I don't think she has ever been in the drivers seat of either of our vehicles, yet she instictively knew to turn the wheel from side to side and make vroom vroom noises!) She was having a grand ole time and was behaving, so no complaints from us.
The saleman came back to us with the key and we were ready for the test drive. We all headed over to the car we would be driving and Cackie headed straight for the drivers seat, climbed in and said "I want to drive." LOL! Then, the inevitable came when we told her no. "I can drive when I get big..." stinker

So, then yesterday we're driving home from her school and she wants to talk about my sick car (when the car went in the shop we told her it was sick and needed to go to the doctor (now it just needs to be put out of it's misery... can I shoot it?) anyway... we're talking about my car and the conversation goes...
C: "Mommy, when I get big I can drive"
M: Yes, Cackie when you turn 17 you can drive. Just 14 more years.
C: Do I need to wait that long?
M: Yes, Cackie.
C: OK Mommy, When I get big I can drive.
M: Yes, Cackie
C: And you can sit here in my seat!

Great, she's 3 and already planning on how she can get even with me! When she starts driving, I get to sit in the back seat, strapped into the car seat, lucky me! Who knows, if she starts out driving anything like me, I'll be safer that way! Sorry Mom!

Funnies....

Been blogging up a storm tonight! I'll leave you with this....
Cackie is definitely growing up and starting to notice that not everyone is alike... especially Mommy & Daddy.
Since the weather has gotten warmer and we're busier in the evenings, instead of taking baths at night she has started taking showers with me in the morning. She really used to hate showers, but now she looks forward to them... and she loves to SING in the shower!
So, poor thing, she knows all about what Mommy looks like. Well, this morning she took a shower with me and then was in the bathroom with us when Michael got out of the shower (we're trying to be open with her, so we don't hide our bodies... we don't strut around, either... just natural). He was drying off and she pointed and said you have a.... (didn't finish the sentence, lol). So, Michael said, yes Daddy is different than you and Mommy.... my wee wee is different. Cackie stared a little and then told him... "mine hasn't grown yet... not Mommy either" (and it never will, darling!). It's really hard to keep a straight face when she gets thoughtful!

OK, another....
Last week she started transitioning to the "big kids class" at school. There are a handfull of her friends who had already transitioned to that class and she has missed them soo much. So, I think she was glad to be joining them again. Well, on Wednesday when I went to pick her up we got called into the director's office. I was informed that one of the little boys in the new class (one of her old buds) was holding Cackie's hand on the playground when another little boy got very upset and pushed him away and then grabbed Cackie's hand and ran off with her. Little boy #1 got hurt and they had to fill out an accident report. I was able to figure out which little boys were involved, but I'll keep their names secret to protect the innocent... but, I'll say that both are considered highly for future boyfriends by Mom & Dad! She's only 2 and they're already fighting over her! She's definitely her Aunt Caryn's niece! Michael is going gun shopping this weekend, figures he can't be prepared too early! LOL! We are soooo in trouble!

May 25, 2007

We were headed upstairs this morning to get showered and ready for work & school... while climbing the steps I told Cackie that 2 years ago today Mommy & Daddy got on a big airplane on our way to China. She nodded her head excitedly. Michael then asked her, "do you know who we were going to China to get?" She said, "Me... Cackie" and pointed at herself. We said "yes, we went to China to get Cackie." Her response.... "You're so silly, guys!"

Later, as I was getting dressed, she asked what my shirt said. I'm wearing my Phillies T-shirt and I told her it said "Phillies". I never told her who the Phillies were, but she must have figured it out. She said "Go Phillies", so I of course took the opportunity to chime in with her. From the bathroom Michael said "Go Cardinals", so Cackie replied "Go Phillies". It was really cute. And, still somehow I got swatted with the towel!??!

Cackie'isms

I’ve been meaning to write these down to keep them for later years. Here’s a few that I can think of now and I’ll add more as they come up or as I remember them…
-The other morning she was real quiet in the car on the way to school. That’s not like her so I asked if she was feeling OK. She said that she didn’t feel good and then I could hear that her breathing was kinda heavy because she was congested. I asked her if her nose was stuffy and she told me, yes Mommy… I’m snoring.

-Cackie’s Chinese name is Fu meaning good luck. I have a silver charm that I wear on my necklace a lot that is the Chinese character, Fu. When I wear it, I often talk with her about what the symbol means and that it is her Chinese name. She’s learning that her Chinese name is Fu Xia and that it means Good Luck Summer. So, one day I was wearing my charm and she said that’s my Chinese name. I said yes, what is your Chinese name? Her reply was…. Mary. Don’t know where that came from.

-Michael took her over to his Mom’s so that Cackie could spend the night. She was sitting with him on the couch and was about to get up to go play, but stopped before hand to give him a hug & a kiss. A few minutes later he got up to leave and asked if she was going to come give him a hug & a kiss. Her reply was “I already”. (as in, do I really need to do that again?)

-Cackie is starting to develop favorite foods, colors, etc. She has been showing a real preference for the color orange lately. I have not influenced this (mostly because I know it drives Michael nuts), because I want her to choose her favorites. But, it is very obvious that she really likes orange. I picked her up from school the other day and in her file was a painting that she had done, all in orange. On the way home we were talking about what she did at school and I asked if she painted the picture. Here’s how the rest of the conversation went…
C – yes, it’s orange
D – Do you like orange?
C – Yes, it’s my favorite. I love it.
D – Did your LaoYe (my dad, Chief Big Orange) get to you?
C – Yes, he like orange a lot.
She figured that one out quick!