Is anybody out there still checking? I wouldn't blame you if you stopped all together. My consistency has been abysmal. Life is full these days. Summer is here! We've got lots of plans and have spent lots of time mapping our weekends until September. D has already completed one of her three weeks of day camp - basketball camp. I was really skeptical of this choice that she made. She really doesn't seem to be the team sports kind of kid. No aggression whatsoever (stealing balls away is just not polite!) and she possesses not a shred of competitiveness. I'm not saying these are bad traits at al, but they just don't lend themselves to much success on the field or court. Usually her favorite parts of an team sport are the shiny uniforms, hugging people, cheering and eating a snack at the end. I was really shocked and proud when she came home from the third day elated that she had made her first and second baskets of her entire life because she had "persevered" (her word). She participated in a total of 12 hours of basketball camp, making just two baskets over four days and still soared with pride. She says she wants to keep it up so she can reach her goal of ten baskets. This quality that D possesses is so incredibly amazing to me. I think I tend to dislike things that are very challenging to me and put my efforts mostly into that which I can be successful without a ton of effort. It's cool to learn from your kids.

E's "math lesson before being allowed to play video games" consisted of discussion of the value of money, and his concept of time. Funny responses included guessing that a new car costs $1, J and I have known each other for "60 years, wait no - one hour!" and that abuela (my mom) is 101 years old. More work to be done in these areas. E has two straight weeks of sports camp the week after the Fourth of July. Last year, the cool "teenagers" (college aged UM athletes who act as counselors) nicknamed him "bon bon" and inspired him to wear his baseball cap backwards every day. We'll see how exhausted he gets having to leave the house at 8 AM and play gym games until noon. Today he slept in till almost eleven after going to bed around ten. He may not have my genes but we share a similar love of sleeping. D, L and Jeff on the other hand... L has some crazy internal clock which signals her to wake up screaming at 7:15 AM plus or minus about two minutes every morning. It's uncanny. D, no later than 8 AM. Childhood stories of J have him rising at 5:30 AM every morning. I count myself quite fortunate that L has not followed in her father's footsteps on that one. Sleeping is erratic, but improving. It would probably help if J and I went to bed before 2 AM.




L is days away from walking. She "cruises" around the living room, climbs whatever is blocking her path, crawls up the stairs, has attempted to "walk" up the stairs holding the railing, gets on tiptoes and hangs from anything taller than her, and runs across the living room with the assistance of her "car" (pictured above). It's a strange feeling having a little one who is ahead of her peers and feeling guilty when other parents seem insecure or worried about their baby's development because of it. Of course, it's easy for me to say, "Oh, don't worry, _____ will be walking around before you know it too." Of course it's really no reflection on us at all or the other parent whose kid walks later, but of course, humans like to compare and compete, even about their babies. It is a weird experience to be on the other side of this issue now and to see a kid develop from day one, realizing all we missed with the other two. From what we can tell from the paperwork and what her birthmother told us, D was older than 2 before she walked. She could barely climb stairs when she came home. Now she is the star of her Tae Kwon Do class and a pretty darn good dancer. E's birth mom claims he was potty trained by 1 year old. Is this even possible? He can shimmy up a flag pole and swing effortlessly across inclined monkey bars. However, he can't ride a two wheeler. Then again he can speak and read in two languages (even though he refuses). Will L walk at 8 months and then plateau and be a huge clutz? J remarked that L is doing things that D couldn't do at four years old. Of course, D could barely hear or speak at four either and now she's on the fourth Harry Potter book. It gets me to thinking about how much of an impact nature versus nurture really has and which force is stronger. I think it depends mostly, barring any serious disability or continued abuse or deprivation, on the child's will and determination (perseverance - to steal a word from my wise 8 year old). Us parents have little to do with it. The credit for my amazing kids goes to the kids themselves. They are incredible.

In other news:

D's birth sister's adoptive mom finally contacted me from Norway by way of inviting me to become her "friend" on Facebook. I cannot think of anything else that would have inspired me to wade into these shark infested waters. Now I have all kinds of people I don't know asking me to be their "friend." Anyway, we hadn't heard from her for two years and got a recent photo which was priceless. Also, we got a new address where we sent a package of letters, photos and presents collected over the last two years. It's one thing I can mentally check off of my long-term, highly unlikely to be done anytime soon, "to-do" list.



E's birthday was a hit, despite a typical K and J debacle of taking a van load of kids plus screaming baby to a closed bowling alley. E was gracious with the sudden change of plans which included extra at-home party games conjured up at the last minute. One of these games was a tug o war in which three out of five boys were left sobbing either from real or feigned injury and/or embarrassment at having lost to the "girls" (D, myself and another mom). Whoops!




L can imitate us! I swore she said "hi!" to me today. D sings "la la la la la la la" and L repeats. We clap and laugh and squeal and she imitates us. Fun, but dangerous. Soon, she will be saying "oh shit!" like the big kids imitating me this morning, lines from Harry Potter books and songs about poop. She also has no teeth but isn't too interested in pureed food anymore. She likes to hold an entire banana or nectarine and eat it like an adult. She is crazy for MEAT. J is elated.

Now this post is getting so long that I have been working on it for two days. I will try to post shorter stories more frequently.