Today marked the beginning of two new things for me; both of which bring a bit of anxiety.
I have been asked by a special task force (Director and Assistant Director of Adoptions for Pinellas County Florida and our adotion attachment therapy LMHC) to start an adoption support group for Pinellas County Florida. Throughout the years Child Welfare has come to see a huge need for support for families that have just adopted. Families have been calling several years after an adoption is finalized to dissolve the adoption either because it is the only way to get a child the services they need or because the family can no longer raise the child mostly due to emotional/ behavioral reasons. The hope is that an adoption support group would become a preventative solution to these problems. So I have enthusiastically (with some anxiety) agreed to begin this group. So far things have come into place beautifully. We have a place to meet every 4th Monday evening of the month and I have a great friend and experienced adoptive mother as my assistant. Out first meeting will be October 27 (my birthday). Many adoptive families will be invited this coming month...we shall see how many come and what are their needs. I am every excited for this opportunity. I have become extremely passionate about adoption, children with emotional needs due to neglect and trauma, and yearn to help adoptive families who are struggling to become whole.
This evening I registered for my first triathlon. I will be competing in the Publix Family Fitness Cypress Gardens Sprint Triathlon October 11. I am very nervous. I have been trying to fit training in as much as possible. I have swam a number of times and do pretty well. I have biked 3 or 4 long rides towing the boys behind me. And I have been running about 3 times a week usually pushing Eli in the stroller. So we'll see how I do. I am only trying to finish and have FUN. The FUN part is really a challenge for me as I make everything so competitive and set such high expectations for myself. So we shall see. Wish me luck.
Nov. 2012
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Long Overdue Update
We've had our computer back for a while now but I haven't taken the time to update this blog. Sorry for the delay if you have been waiting.
Once a week since our return from India 3 1/2 years ago we have Community Dinner with Kyle's parents. Sometimes it ends up being just us but the many times we have others join us. Kyle's mom always does the cooking and once in a while she will spice it up a bit with a themed meal. A month ago she saw an interesting recipe for green eggs and ham and wanted to try it. Below is a picture from our DR.SUESS meal/ silly meal. The green eggs and ham were AWESOME by the way.
We were very excited about the Olympics this year. I always am but it was the first Summer Olympics that Kyle and I were watching together. We were also very excited to share it with Isaac and Prema as they have become swimmers and cyclists themselves. We started our Olympic view at Kyle's parents house watching the opening ceremonies and continued spending many late late nights at their house watching swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball, diving, track and field. We all loved it!!! Prema and Isaac would take their enthusiasm with them to the ppol and pretend to be Michael Phelps diving off the block, swimming and winning complete with ecstatic splashing of the water and fist pumps. On our Community Dinner night Sandy prepared an Olympic meal. The kids made Olympic rings for the decorations and Sandy cooked all Chinese food to eat. We drew Olympic rings on the kids' faces and arms too. Then we finished the evening watching some Olympic competition.
I've been reorganizing the house a bit. We decided to make our dining room into a place for the kids to create whatever they want whenever (they have to ask to use the supplies before starting). So we bought some new shelving and got all of our craft supplies out and in clear storage containers so the kids would be more inspired to create. We still have to finish making the "GALLERY WALL" but our front door is sufficient for now. In one of my craft kid magazines I found a recipe for EDIBLE paint. I mixed some up for Eli and let him go. As soon as I said it was edible (using that word too) Eli picked up the bowl and started drinking it. He had a blast.
Other updates:
The kids are still loving to swim every day. Isaac is a fish. He has a really good track start and can swim really far without taking a breath. He is working on his butterfly and backstroke. All of his attempts are very cute. Prema's front crawl is looking much smoother. She is also doing fairly well with backstroke. She is really trying hard to make it one length of the pool without needing someone to give her a rest stop. Eli is crazy at the pool. He is exploring new things all the time.
Isaac is 100% self sufficient at riding a 2 wheel bike now. He rides his bike 3 times a week for 3 miles next to me while I run and never gets tired. Prema is riding but struggling to start herself and come to a complete stop before putting her feet down. Her week abs and legs are really causing some difficulty with those two things.
Prema is doing really well at school full time. She's had a few off days but for the most part her behavior at home and school has been quite good. The school continues to be very supportive of our wants and her needs. Its very nice to have so much collaboration. The boys and I are starting to get into a good routine while Prema is at school. Its really nice to have more time to focus on them.
Eli has started to sign a lot of words. Any time we show him a new sign he tries it right away now. A lot of his signs are starting to look the same as he can't make the fine finger details happen, but its very cute. Eli is also finally loving shoes. We discovered he has a double wide (almost triple wide) foot so all the other shoes I was putting on him were not comfortable. His new shoes he loves and stomps around in them all the time.
hopefully it won't be so long before i post again.
Once a week since our return from India 3 1/2 years ago we have Community Dinner with Kyle's parents. Sometimes it ends up being just us but the many times we have others join us. Kyle's mom always does the cooking and once in a while she will spice it up a bit with a themed meal. A month ago she saw an interesting recipe for green eggs and ham and wanted to try it. Below is a picture from our DR.SUESS meal/ silly meal. The green eggs and ham were AWESOME by the way.
We were very excited about the Olympics this year. I always am but it was the first Summer Olympics that Kyle and I were watching together. We were also very excited to share it with Isaac and Prema as they have become swimmers and cyclists themselves. We started our Olympic view at Kyle's parents house watching the opening ceremonies and continued spending many late late nights at their house watching swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball, diving, track and field. We all loved it!!! Prema and Isaac would take their enthusiasm with them to the ppol and pretend to be Michael Phelps diving off the block, swimming and winning complete with ecstatic splashing of the water and fist pumps. On our Community Dinner night Sandy prepared an Olympic meal. The kids made Olympic rings for the decorations and Sandy cooked all Chinese food to eat. We drew Olympic rings on the kids' faces and arms too. Then we finished the evening watching some Olympic competition.
I've been reorganizing the house a bit. We decided to make our dining room into a place for the kids to create whatever they want whenever (they have to ask to use the supplies before starting). So we bought some new shelving and got all of our craft supplies out and in clear storage containers so the kids would be more inspired to create. We still have to finish making the "GALLERY WALL" but our front door is sufficient for now. In one of my craft kid magazines I found a recipe for EDIBLE paint. I mixed some up for Eli and let him go. As soon as I said it was edible (using that word too) Eli picked up the bowl and started drinking it. He had a blast.
Other updates:
The kids are still loving to swim every day. Isaac is a fish. He has a really good track start and can swim really far without taking a breath. He is working on his butterfly and backstroke. All of his attempts are very cute. Prema's front crawl is looking much smoother. She is also doing fairly well with backstroke. She is really trying hard to make it one length of the pool without needing someone to give her a rest stop. Eli is crazy at the pool. He is exploring new things all the time.
Isaac is 100% self sufficient at riding a 2 wheel bike now. He rides his bike 3 times a week for 3 miles next to me while I run and never gets tired. Prema is riding but struggling to start herself and come to a complete stop before putting her feet down. Her week abs and legs are really causing some difficulty with those two things.
Prema is doing really well at school full time. She's had a few off days but for the most part her behavior at home and school has been quite good. The school continues to be very supportive of our wants and her needs. Its very nice to have so much collaboration. The boys and I are starting to get into a good routine while Prema is at school. Its really nice to have more time to focus on them.
Eli has started to sign a lot of words. Any time we show him a new sign he tries it right away now. A lot of his signs are starting to look the same as he can't make the fine finger details happen, but its very cute. Eli is also finally loving shoes. We discovered he has a double wide (almost triple wide) foot so all the other shoes I was putting on him were not comfortable. His new shoes he loves and stomps around in them all the time.
hopefully it won't be so long before i post again.
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