Today we had Maria Manuela with us again while her host parents worked. Maria arrived early and was too excited to wait for the kids to wake up, so she slipped upstairs to awaken Michel. Michel was a very good sport and not nearly as irritable as I probably would have been at her age. Michel and Maria had a great time cooking breakfast together, preparing a traditional Colombian egg dish. I learned that Colombian cooking wins the prize for the most finely chopped vegetables. (I used to give this honor to my mother-in-law, who is soooo much more patient than I am at dicing peppers and other veggies.) Monica and the girls said that many egg dishes and other recipes require tomatoes, peppers, and onions to be finely minced - as in, down to about one millimeter. Alternatively, you can also throw the ingredients in the blender. Monica said that many Colombians don't like to find chunks of individual ingredients in their food, so they mince it to the point that it cannot be identified within a dish. I should probably do more of this, to hide ingredients that Mike and the boys find objectionable!
We spent the afternoon at the Science Center of Iowa. All four of the kids - and the chaperone - enjoyed exploring motion, hydroelectricity, engineering, and other fields of science with fun, interactive activities. The Science Center has been a long-standing favorite of our family, and it lived up to its reputation with our visitors today as well.
Michel again demonstrated her long attention span and ability to focus on a task until she brings it to completion. She spent quite a bit of time building dams to alter water flow, even as the other kids moved on to other areas. Michel interacted with all of us throughout the day, but she also seemed to appreciate having some time to explore and build and learn on her own. She works well independently and took time to read the informational signs to learn about the exhibits.
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| Feedback on the egg drop. Michel needs a family who will provide this kind of encouragement! |
After the Science Center, we dropped Monica off at another host family's house for an appointment, then dropped Maria off with her host family. We headed home, where Michel wanted to try riding a bike. At the very beginning of her stay, she made it very clear that she would try almost anything except riding bikes. She didn't like riding bikes because she often fell off, and she did not want to try again. But tonight, she brought Andrew's bike to Mike and asked for help riding. She did great! Mike ran alongside, just as he did when the boys were learning to ride. A couple of weeks ago (when she made one other brief attempt at bike riding), she didn't seem to have the balancing ability to ride a bicycle. But tonight, with help, she mastered balancing and pedaling. Now we just have to work on turning and stopping!
Michel had her first real scare tonight since arriving at our home. While practicing on the bike, with Mike at her side, she veered off the sidewalk and tipped over in the grass. The lower part of her leg became trapped between the pedal and the frame of the bike. Ultimately, no harm was done, but because of the way her leg was pinned, she was afraid her leg had been severely hurt or broken...or even cut off. She screamed and cried, so scared despite Monica's and my attempts to soothe her. Mike was able to free her leg pretty quickly, without a single scratch or bruise, but I felt terrible that she was so frightened. So much for bike riding, I assumed. Wrong! She was very shaken, but after about twenty minutes of playing soccer and other games with the boys, she came up to Mike, asking in English, "Bicycle? Bicycle? Please, bicycle?" Bless her heart - she jumped right back on that bike and was riding as if nothing had happened. I still don't think biking is her favorite activity, but I was so very proud of her for giving it another shot and not letting her fears win out.
Grace. Focus. Resilience. Character qualities Michel demonstrated today that will make her a blessing to an adoptive family.
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