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It echoed through the house this morning as I got out of the shower.  In my head, I beat out the mantra, “Stop.  Stop.  Stop.”  Only, when I saw the cause of the ruckus I smiled and couldn’t tell Carlo to stop.  He’s so inventive.  He’d dragged down two of the drawers from his toy chest in his room and stacked them in such a way as to build a drum or “piano” as he claimed.  He’d pulled the kitchen step-stool up to it and completed the ensemble with two plastic bowling pins (that are usually to be considered light sabres).

I decided to snap pictures of all of the kids and here is Nicky looking thoughtful.  He smiled for the following photo, but this one is more true to his personality.

And, the morning was topped off with admiration of Noelle’s outfit.

By golly, I love Noelle.  I love her personality and her self-confidence.

At school she and her classmates make books every week.  The teacher provides the start of a sentence and gives each child a blank sheet with a big area for a picture and a line below.  The children cut out the start of the sentence and paste it onto the line and then write down the words they would use to complete the sentence.  Then they draw a picture of their sentence in the big box.  Then the teacher takes all the sheets and binds them into a book and the book comes home with each child for one night and is returned the next day (though, we did misplace a book one night and it went back about a week late).

Tonight Noelle brought home the, I like my _______., book.

Her classmates made sentences such as:

• I like my world.
• I like my friends.
• I like my baby brother.
• I like my cat Alyssa.
• I like my house.
• I like my teachers.
• I like my teddy bears.
• I like my baby blanket.
• I like my Mom.
• I like my puppy.
• I like my Daddy.
• I like my baby sister.
• I like my birthday.

Noelle’s sentence is: I like my jewelry.

I suppose we now know what Santa should bring for Christmas.

I’ve been writing an essay in my head on and off about adoption, international adoption, etc. This research, my children, adult adoptees … so much to consider when thinking about adoption.

The Lie We Love

Suffice it to say that, as with much in life, nothing is clear cut … there is nothing that is starkly white and black.

My essay probably will be forthcoming, someday when I’m not writing so much at work (I’ve only got so many words in me on any given day), but think hard about your reasons for adoption (it is *so* not charity) and from where you adopt.

Carlo had new tubes put in his ears on Friday.  There was nothing else for it.  The old ones had come out after only seven months, whereupon he instantly got an ear infection.  Seeing as he has not had any ear infections since the first tubes went in last February and he has been growing like a weed since then, it had to be done.  The only real trouble is the environment.  Its a fine enough outpatient surgery center, but its not a children’s hospital.  When Nicky gets upset pre-surgery, they just dress me up in an outfit and I get to take him back to the operating room and hold him until he falls asleep.  At the outpatient surgery center, they just carry Carlo away from me and on Friday it involved my peeling him off of him as he was crying and clinging to me.  The surgery itself was tiny.  I was only away from his side for 20 minutes and he recovered just fine.  He’s been oozing out of the ear ever since, but the ENT said there was fluid back there when he pierced the drum.  I think its just those tubes doing their job.  He was probably days away from another ear infection.

The title of the post is an actual statement Carlo made to me on Friday, “I no like that doctor.”

It was a good, if busy weekend.  We had gymnastics yesterday morning and then I spent much of the rest of the day cooking (chiken tikka masala, fried rice, whole wheat bread, white rice, cookies, and banana muffins — I’ve decided we spend too much money on bad snacks, hence the cookies and muffins), cleaning the kitchen and doing laundry.  Our friends Mark, Angie and John joined us for dinner at the Chinese buffet last night.

A complete aside — the Iron Chef has Lou Diamond Phillips as a judge tonight for the Thanksgiving episode!

Today we putzed around in the morning … more dishes and laundry.  I made the kids the big Sunday breakfast they’ve learned to enjoy.  Waffles for Carlo and Noelle (and enough extra for Carlo to have a waffle every day for breakfast this coming week).  Nicky choose  fried rice.   And everyone enjoyed the bacon.  Some more playing and putzing and cleaning, and then it was a quick lunch before meeting Kathy and the kids at Madagascar 2.  We had a good time at the movie and then went to the local FCC gymnastics event.  Then we were all hungry and went to the pizza place for dinner.  Finally home for tubbies, showers, books, kisses and bed.  Carlo may have been asleep just before his head hit the pillow (no nap ).

What’s the sign of a busy weekend?? The kids have to go to bed on Sunday night in their sleeping bags because I stripped the beds and never got back to making them before it was 8:30 and past bedtime on a school night.