PLAYING

Last week D and her daughter A came over. D and I both noticed how the A's playing has changed.

The farm (Christmas pressies from GFN (a farmer!)) and the F-P vintage house (bought from auction site - I never had the house!) were both popular toys. The girls really enjoyed arranging things - they shared well but didn't really play together.

Ever since D and A's visit, Alice has played with the house a lot, every day. The car started off in the kitchen but now she's found the garage!! She loves 'dinging' the front doorbell too. Even though I like this house I do think that the more modern versions are more up-to-date, colourful and easier to play with - but that won't stop me dusting off the F-P bits that I do still have from my childhood!

MY BOOKWORM!

EVER CHANGING!

(Photos from yesterday)

Alice loves my study - the chair and the computer. She takes any opportunity to get into the study and sit in my chair. She likes to spin in the chair and reach the desk - to scribble and use the mouse, generally causing havoc! If I'm sitting in the chair then she'll take the opportunity to delve into boxes - creating more chaos!

Just when did she get so grown-up?

JUST 10 DAYS AGO - LAST SEASON!

Alice - watching for frogs in our new water feature. When they cleared the flower bed they saw a lot of frogs and toads, after the reservoir went in we saw a lone frog perched on the metal grid - Alice now looks for it every time she goes into the garden!

(I love this outfit too - I'm hoping as it's a little big now that it might fit next summer!)

NEW OUTFIT!

The weather in Wales has been attrocius all week. I've been wearing winter clothes - including long socks and polonecks. I've been dressing Alice in thicker clothes - long sleeves and tights!

We went to church this morning - I didn't need an excuse to put Alice in new clothes. I love this outfit. For this winter I've bought Alice mainly age 3-4 clothing, but it's a bit baggy at the moment. She isn't 2 for over another month but she's been wearing age 2-3 since early this year. This outfit is aged 2-3 (one of the few winter ones that is), but when I put it on her I could hardly do up the buttone on the dress - expect to see her in it a lot in the near future, I don't think that it's going to fit for long!

FINALLY BETTER

(So as not to tempt fate I've postponed blogging til I was certain!)

I've been feeling better since the middle of the week, Alice's recovery lagged mine by a couple of days (but she wasn't ill for so long).

It's such a relief to feel more normal. Alice is still easily moved to tears but they don't last long. Phew!

HARD DAY AND MILESTONES

First day back at work.

I woke 20 minutes before the alarm and so I was up before 6.30am - that's very early for me!! I crept downstairs and got things going, moping up some organisational bits for work, making my packed lunch, sorting out and tidying up. Just after 7am Alice started to squirm, I stayed downstairs and she was settled again within 2 minutes.

I went back upstairs, had a leisurely shower (quite a novelty) and got dressed. Alice slept so I went downstairs for breakfast. I twiddled my thumbs for a while until M came round to look after Alice. Alice began to wake just as I was leaving - at that point I decided to let M get her up as I thought that handing her over just as she woke would be harder on her, but not cuddling her, not telling her that Mummy was going to work, not waving goodbye, not knowing how she'd be without seeing me - was all VERY hard for me.

I try to leave home things at home when I'm working, that was harder than usual today. I don't normally ring, but today I had to know that she was OK. Of course she was fine! She was obviously pleased to see me when I got home and we had a lovely evening. She had a bubble bath tonight and had wonderful fun picking up the bubbles and blowing them away.

She's changing daily, particularly her speech and singing. She's showing more and more enjoyment of songs and singing and will increasingly join in with the words (especially the last word of the line and the verse!) Tonight she sang 'Happy Birthday to Grandpa' and gave his photo a kiss. Today, as everyday, I remember him and tell Alice about him and Granny - she finds their photos and blows kisses. Granny and Grandpa would love her so much and would be so happy to hear her sing and feel her cuddles.

Over the summer Alice outgrew her sleeping bags, even though I had the next size I hung back using them. Tonight Alice tried one of the new ones - cuddly pink jersey, it looked and felt very comfy. Once she was wearing it she lay back on the changing table and pretended to sleep - but got the giggles when Mummy snored for her!! Precious times.

We had lots of kisses and cuddles this evening - to make up for this morning. She knew 'Mummy work' (I had told her last night - which made this morning a little easier), tonight as we cuddled in front of the cot she told me 'Mummy work,' so the cuddles continued a little longer while I repeated several times that I had worked today but not tomorrow and that tomorrow was a Mummy and Alice Home Day. She's very happy at home with M and I enjoy the change of pace and feel refreshed at the time apart, but equally I hate leaving her and being apart from her, even though it's good for both of us!

NO-ONE WARNED ME . .

. . . about shopping for children's shoes!! Alice has been wearing shoes since February, every trip to buy leather shoes has been a challenge.

Ugh.

Dreadful.

Stressful.

Only partly successful.

Alice had her feet measured on Monday - that shoe shop could only fit black shoes, school shoes - she's going to have enough years of wearing shoes without starting early, besides which those shoes were nasty - embellished and bling, ugh.

So yesterday we went to Bristol to continue the search. We started off at the department store, now I know the first department to visit is children's shoes to get a computer generated appointment. This time we had a 60 minute wait, we browsed the girls' clothing department, took some things for a refund (!) and went off to the other shoe shop (luckily only next door). They had lots of black shoes, lots of patterned shoes, not many plainish shoes and no navy ones. They couldn't fit a pair for Alice - the ones we tried were too narrow and her feet bulged in the opening. We were advised to try 'T-bars'.

Back to the department store - in previous visits they've come a poor second to the shop that had already failed, I didn't hold out much hope! Then someone queue jumped and just asked for shoes - as she 'knew' her child's size, I wasn't happy and complained loudly, I was served almost immediately after complaining.

The sales girl brought out many pairs - I was impressed with the number of shoes she had in Alice's size, until I realised that she'd brought each style in the size of each foot!! Unfortunately she hadn't listened to the request for plain 'T-bars' so nearly all were unsuitable. The 'Mary-Janes' didn't fit as they bulged - just like they had in the previous shop. Eventually we found a very plain pair in navy - great on both counts, unfortunately though they were the only ones to fit they were only a 'reasonable' fit, after over 90 minutes (on this trip) of shoe shopping and reassurance that we wouldn't necessarily find a better fit, I bought them! £34 (or over $65), ugh. Also they are velcro fastening - I'm not a fan as Alice fidgets with them when she's bored in the pushchair or the car.

As an afterthought I mentioned shoes to wear for Alice's Christening - simple, £9, only 3 sizes available and luckily 1 was only a size bigger than Alice measures, we tried it and they fitted - let's hope she doesn't grow too quickly in the next few weeks.

THAILAND SAID . . .

. . . YES!

Not all countries would consider an application from me to adopt because I'm single and diabetic. The indicators for Thailand looked positive but hadn't been confirmed. I needed to ring Thailand and ask, but I needed to ring early-ish in the morning. I wanted to have a controlled conversation and be able to focus, so it needed to be before Alice was up! I had 1 early start last week (awake at 4am) but wasn't 'with it' enough to realise that I could have used the opportunity to phone - doubly irritating to be awake when I wanted to sleep and then to miss the opportunity! This morning I woke in darkness, lay there for a while, couldn't get back to sleep, remembered Thailand and crept downstairs. I turned on my desktop and reviewed my notes, by this time I was nervous and wide awake. I rang the official contact in Thailand and got a fax machine! Ooops! Tried again and managed to speak to her, not only did she say 'Yes,' but she also indicated a shorter waiting time for a SN adoption, probably about 12 months from receiving papers. I'm delighted, I told her too, thanked her and said 'Goodbye,' and then after I hung up I started to shake and cry - with the biggest smile on my face.

Now I'm going back to bed - probably to think about our new adventure, I doubt that sleep is going to come soon!

STILL GROWING?

Alice had her feet measured today.

Her left foot is a 7G and her right a 6 and a half G.

Has she grown? I'm not sure - she went up half a size in just over 3 weeks in May/June and then when she had her new (canvas, fragranced) shoes they fitted her up another half size as the original half sized larger seemed quite close to the end - I'm not sure she really needed to go up again at that point, I think they might have been anticipating further growth?!

She was measured today in a Cl@rks store - they could only produce school style, black shoes and they were still fussy. No chance. We'll have to go to Bristol at some stage this week, I'm not in a rush as the canvas shoes and the plastic clogs both still fit.

A NEW COOKERY BOOK

. . . I love them . . . there's a new one out by one of my fav cooks . . . should make Christmas interesting! Any ideas?

STILL HERE!!

Alice, the tummy bug and I . . . we're all still here!

J, 4 tubes - Alice and her bottom are extremely grateful - you know who, you know why and now I hope that you know how grateful I am (especially as she relapsed today)!

This post is brought to you as a direct result of a question from someone - we saw her on Friday, I posted after that on Friday, we saw on Saturday and again today - when she asked if I still had computer problems - NO, well yes - but not that stopped me posting but I've just been busy and feeling wiped out. As for the computer - can it catch our tummy bug? Not sure, but I do know that it's being better behaved but still not quite right.

Other news - first day of school - I went in for the morning of the training day, feels like I've never been away! It's also a possibility that we'll be introduced to another family with 2 daughters adopted from China - I'm really looking forward to it!

Now I'm off to the next thing on the list - reading 'Love's Journey' volumes 1 and 2 - looking for inspiration for Alice's baptism.

P.S.

Does anyone know how to reprogramme the extra button on the side of the mouse?

I've downloaded the mouse-specific software but I still can't get the red button to be 'Back' again!

STRESSFUL DAY

Still no sign of the newish gardener - it started so well, he was helpful and he turned up. August - as I was away for the first 2 weeks I paid him for his time in advance, now, 4 weeks later, he's only managed 5 hours in the whole month rather than the 4 days that I was expecting. We're working up to a biggish party in mid October - at this rate the curtains will be closed so that no-one can see the shambles of the garden!

The paver was here, bright and early, cheeky as ever, working hard - wonderful. He finished this afternoon and the paving looks great!

The electrician was here to create the power supply for the new water feature. Channels were created, cables were eventually threaded through tubing and finally the pump was turned on - to create a TRICKLE of water. I returned to the retailer of the pump, they were shirty until I mentioned mis-selling, then they became helpful, a new part is on order but I'm still sceptical that it will solve the problem.

The computer chappie arrived on time and was here (as expected) all afternoon. He's great and computer is behaving better, but now I have the stress of returning all of those 'non-savable' settings to the way I like them - the pig button to count words in Word etc!

Meantime the house is still a tip, T and I are battling boxes, Alice is trying to add to the chaos with unscheduled unpacking and the fridge is empty and we've run out of bread!

HEART-STOPPING MOMENTS

Today my computer was scrubbed and all the software reinstalled - I've been having techie problems that I don't understand and have been causing big hiccups for over a month.

In preparation I bought a new external memory thingy. I copied all 'My Docs' to it on Wednesday - that took over 2 hours just for the info to transfer. My techie chappie checked it before scrubbing began, fine, before he left he started it copying files back.

Tonight I've been returning settings to my usual things, including the desktop background - ONLY ALL MY FOLDERS OF ALICE PHOTOS WEREN'T THERE.

OH MY G*D . . . PANIC . . . SWEATY PALMS . . . FEELING SICK . . . TEARS IN MY EYES AT THE VERY SUGGESTION OF LOSING THEM . . .BACKUP YOUR FILES . . . PLEASE!

On rechecking the external thingy I found them - but in the meantime it was awful.

HAPPY TEARS AND A FEW SHAKES TOO!

I've just spoken to SS (Social Services). My SW for Alice's adoption is off sick until November (last week she had been expected back soon) so I've opted to work with a new SW. The head of the team anticipates that my Homestudy should start within the next 2 weeks, wow!

(Note to American readers - UK Homestudies take significantly longer than yours with more visits - Alice's took 8 or more visits, each several hours long and with homework to do between visits!)

A PARENT'S PEROGATIVE?!

GFN couldn't believe it when he saw how long Alice's hair was!

INNOCENCE!

It's only very recently that Alice has begun to understand any form of directions. She can follow a pointing finger and is quickly becoming more observant when looking for things (she's always been very observant but until now not so good at looking for things!)

This afternoon, playing with GFN, she was looking for one of the yellow stacking buckets, we told her it was by the trampoline. She was quick to move towards the trampoline and look over, under and behind it, but she simply couldn't find the yellow bucket (yes, the one behind her head!)

Do you think we should tell her where it is yet? ;-)

MILESTONES

This morning we went out in the car and a childrens CD was playing. Alice doesn't seem to respond to these CDs but I keep hoping that one day she'll appreciate that I play them for her benefit, even more than that I hope that one day she'll actually join in. Today she did! Halfway through 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,' I realised that she was droning along at the end of the lines, I cried and replayed dear old Twinkle several times (nearly enough to learn the 2nd and 3rd verses, didn't even realise that there was more than 1 verse until recently!)

Never thought I'd cry to Twinkle or The Wheels On The Bus (reminds me of all the minibus travel in China, I think I sang it on nearly every journey - even had to post to the blog for help remembering more verses!!)

SPECIAL VISITOR

GFN finally made it to see us (having been trying ever since we returned from France).

Alice had a wonderful time with him and he taught her all sorts of things, mostly bad habits! (Eating choccy biccies, throwing balls inside, daftness, etc, etc - they had a fabulous time and it was a joy to watch the fun and share the giggles whilst taking lots of photos.)

The adoration on Alice's face (1st photo) says it all!