July 30, 2013
Part One of Two
Today was a full day with lots of tales to tell, so I'm going to break today's report into two posts. Come along with us for dental appointments and butterflies and S'Mores! Enjoy!
We headed to Ames this morning for dentist appointments for all three kids. Dr. Debbie Grandgenett - our amazing pediatric dentist who we have seen since Andrew was a year old - had previously agreed to see Michel at no cost while she is here. We weren't sure what to expect, as far as what kind of dental care Michel would have had in Colombia or if she would have ever seen a dentist. (I've worked with many immigrant kids who have never been to a dentist upon arrival in the United States.) However, the child protection system in Colombia seems to be very on top of medical and dental care. The kids have regular check-ups every six months, and problems are addressed right away. Knowing that Michel's last dental visit was in February, I was hopeful that this would not be a lengthy or traumatic appointment!
Michel did great at the dentist. She said it was similar to the dentist in Colombia, except the office was nicer here and the Colombian dentists do not have flat-screen TVs on the ceiling showing cartoons. (That's okay - my adult dentist doesn't have cartoons on the ceiling, either.) She was very cooperative for the cleaning and check-up. I think she may have been a tad anxious - or perhaps just eager - during the appointment, because every time an adult walked into the room, she asked, "Is that the dentist?" You don't realize how many adults (dental assistants and hygienists and other office staff) pass in and out of a dental appointment until you have to answer the question every two minutes. But eventually, she had the chance to meet Dr. Debbie, who was kind and caring and wonderful, as always.
Michel had no cavities or other concerns, and the only surprise was that she has an extra permanent tooth! Dr. Debbie she sees about one patient every day (out of thirty on an average day) that has one extra tooth. Once she pointed it out, it was obvious, but otherwise, I never would have noticed anything unusual about her beautiful smile. Nothing needs to be done about it, it's just one more little thing that makes her special!
Just like our two boys, the hardest part of the entire appointment was picking a prize at the end. Before the appointment, I had told her that the boys almost took longer to pick prizes than to have their teeth cleaned. I naively believed that she wouldn't take as long, being older than the boys and also being forewarned about the prize-picking process! Silly me. She narrowed it down to two favorite items, and then couldn't make a decision. I tried every negotiating and compromising skill I have, but she just wanted both. I admit - I wanted to tell her to just take both prizes, but I really didn't want to take advantage of an already-free appointment. It probably wouldn't have been a big deal, but it sets a rotten precedent for the next time the boys go to the dentist. So we waited. And discussed. And deliberated. And finally, finally, finally selected a sparkly pink notebook. Hopefully she will enjoy it!
After lunch, we decided on Panchero's. One of her traveling companions loves Panchero's, and Michel wanted to try it.
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| "Stand for something," says Panchero's slogan. Could you take a stand for a child in Colombia who needs the love of a forever family? |
Wow - I wish we had visited Panchero's earlier in her stay! She loved Panchero's and devoured every millimeter of her large burrito. It's the largest lunch she's had in a while, and I'm glad she had a relatively balanced meal. I figured she would be full, but she still had room for ice cream when we stopped by Cold Stone Creamery next door. We have certainly made the grand tour of ice cream stops this month, but Cold Stone is Michel's favorite so far.
When we left Cold Stone, we saw a Chevy Camaro with decorative calligraphy decals parked in the parking lot. Apparently some of our boys' fascination with vehicles has rubbed off on Michel, because she immediately led the boys to the car to admire it. She turned around, posed against it, and motioned for me to take a picture. Watch out, potential adoptive families: this girl may want a sports car when she turns 16!
Before Michel arrived, we had been advised to keep a jacket or sweatshirt handy for her, since she might not be accustomed to air conditioning. At home, that has not been a problem at all, but we don't exactly set our thermostat to 68 degrees, either. However, I have noticed that Michel gets chilled in public places who set their air conditioning to "frigid" all summer long. Somehow, I still haven't learned to remind her to bring a jacket along if we are going somewhere that might be overly air conditioned. So, inevitably, Michel was cold at the dentist, cold at Panchero's, and still mildly chilled at Cold Stone (although eating ice cream probably didn't warm her up much). Thinking that she might start to show signs of frostbite, our next stop was K-Mart to find a sweatshirt to take the chill off.
Oh my goodness, I had forgotten what it's like to be a preteen girl on a shopping trip. We tried on every sweatshirt, every size, in the entire girls' department and some of the boys' as well. She had a great time, but I was starting to wonder if we should check out the sporting goods section to buy sleeping bags, in case we had to spend the night in the aisles of K-Mart! Fortunately, the boys found these great sweatshirts that form a face if you zip them up over your head, so they had plenty of entertainment trying those on and taking pictures of each other while Michel enjoyed all the riches of K-Mart.
After forty-five minutes, she had selected a sweatshirt, and on the way out, she found a butterfly necklace that she loved. I told her we could buy it as her going-away present, since I had been planning on picking out something special for her.
I thought the butterflies on Michel's necklace were very fitting. Not only were we headed to the butterfly pavilion at Reiman Gardens, but there's a beautiful, oft-quoted inspirational story about butterflies as they emerge from their cocoons. Here's one version of the story I found online:
The Story of the Butterfly
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day, a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it has a swollen body and shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste
did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.
Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.
One day, a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it has a swollen body and shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste
did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.
Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.
(Found at http://www.motivationalwellbeing.com/motivational-stories.html#ixzz2c0gCpOq5 on August 14, 2013)
(To read more tales of butterflies - with pictures! - head for Part Two of this post...)
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