I'm impressed with how willing Michel is to accompany us on any adventure, big or small. When Mike took the kids to football evaluations last night - after a day of heat advisories and a triple-digit heat index - she wanted to go along. When we drove Michel's chaperone to the home of another host family after dinner this evening, she was the first to head for the car. If I go to the grocery store, she's always ready to join me. She never seems to tire of errands and appointments and excursions!
That said, I need to remember to prepare Michel with enough advance warning when we need to go somewhere. She's very responsible and independent when it comes to getting ready to go. She always comes down with whatever is needed: bathing suit and towel for swim lessons, water bottle for a trip to the park, Kidsave t-shirt for weekend events, etc. However, she does take a while to shower, dress, and come downstairs, especially if I don't give her enough lead time.
I was waaaaay overly ambitious this morning, thinking I could get out the door with three kids by 8:30 (even though they've all been sleeping until 9:00), meet a friend at the zoo at 9:00, leave the zoo before 11:30, and have all three kids fed, wearing swimsuits, and coated in sunscreen in time for a 12:00 swim lesson. Uhhh...no. I had promised all three kids a zoo outing, but I completely failed in mobilizing the kids to get out the door in time. When I realized that we would only have an hour to "do the zoo," including time for parking and walking to and from the entrance, I decided to skip the zoo, save my sanity, and plan the zoo for another day.
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| Umm...maybe another day! |
Everything I know about kids in crisis situations and foster care and new environments says that cancelling a fun, anticipated outing at the last minute is a BAD IDEA. I bend over backwards to keep my word and not change plans on the kids, so that Michel learns to trust us and isn't disappointed. But today, that just wasn't an option. Michel had been excited for her first zoo trip ever, but I was surprised - and relieved - to see that she seemed to roll with the schedule change with no problem at all. When I offered the park or another small-scale field trip, she said that she was fine playing at home until swimming lessons. Oh, I was so grateful! She is much more flexible than I had expected her to be.
When we changed to Plan B instead of the zoo, Michel and I assembled a clock from a Discovery Kids DIY science kit this morning. She has previously mentioned that science is her favorite subject in school, so I thought the science kit might spark her interest. She dove right into the project and enjoyed figuring out how the gears worked together to operate the clock. She was quick to assemble the pieces, but also willing to wait for instructions or change her initial attempts if a piece wasn't quite in the right spot. I loved watching the slow smile spread over her face as she turned one gear, which turned the next one, which turned another gear...all making the clock come to life. She was so proud of our accomplishment (and it even keeps time!) and was quick to show off her handiwork when her chaperone visited us this afternoon.
Michel loves to read and has already exhausted my supply of Spanish children's books. At bedtime, Mike usually reads one book to the kids in English, and Michel reads one in Spanish (or, if it's a bilingual story, Mike and Michel take turns reading a page in their respective native languages). This morning, during some downtime, she picked up a book of traditional Spanish nursery rhymes and children's songs and read through the entire thing out loud. Then she found a book of first words in Spanish and English and read every page, sounding out the English words for practice. I ordered a few new books from Amazon that arrived today, and she was so excited to check out the new titles. Her face lit up when she saw Curious George Visits the Aquarium. She told me that she had seen Curious George on TV in Colombia, and that he is popular all over the world. He is a well-traveled little monkey!
Michel clearly seems to be getting more comfortable with us. She tells us lots of stories about Colombia - everything from friends at school to foods she prepares. She laughs easily and frequently throughout the day, and she is comfortable helping herself to what she needs. We are also seeing more of the giggly behavior that seems typical of preteen girls. Sometimes during swimming lessons, she will start to laugh about something like falling off her floating "noodle", and then her (teenage) swimming teacher will join her, and soon there are two giggling girls splashing around in the water! I had forgotten about that "giggly" phase that all girls seem to go through, but I'm sure my parents remember my giggles well!
It's entertaining to see Michel instigate more "sibling play" with the boys. She's the first to start a tickle fight or hide their food if they leave the table during a meal. She really seems to want to fit in with the kids and be a part of the family. She continues to encourage them to behave, and so far, they have responded better than they do to Mike and I!
I introduced Michel to her first game today, a card-style game called "Spot It!" I had no idea what a favorite this would become!
The basic idea is that there is a circular-shaped set of cards with a variety of images on each card. If you pick any two cards from the deck, there is always exactly one matching image on those two cards. (The images may be different sizes but must be the same shape and color.) There are a few different games you can play, but we play the basic version, where each person starts with one card. You turn over one card in the middle, and the first person to name the object on their card that matches the center card wins the center card. You continue to play until all the cards are gone, and the player with the most cards at the end wins.
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| Can you tell which object is the same? |
I asked Michel this week what she would like to do when she grows up. She said she wants to be a psychologist, and if not a psychologist, then a scientist of some sort. (As I've mentioned before, she loves science, especially the study of animals and the human body.) If those plans fall through, she would like to be a teacher, preferably for the early elementary ages or maybe preschool. She dreams of attending a university to further her career, but she also recognizes that may be difficult for a kid coming out of the foster care system in Colombia. She said there are career options for someone who doesn't attend the university, such as police officer, but she really wants to attend college. I hope and pray that she will soon connect with a forever family that can support her in those dreams and watch her soar.
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