In some ways, bringing a child from a Chinese orphanage into an American family is like bringing someone into this century with a time machine. Dolls that look real but aren’t are scary. Toys that talk to you are terrifying. Toys that come to life with bells and gongs and lights and vibrations are horrifying. [...]

Yesterday there was a lot of talk in the forum about the food in China. It made me miss China.
So, I got my cookbook out and looked to see what we had. I wanted noodles, and a quick look through the noodle recipes brought me to Ants Climbing a Log. Ingredients include ground sausage [...]

TwinkleToes is thrilled with her new independence in the pool.
When we first put them on her she was very unsteady and needed me to hold her. I was holding her around the rib cage and she was holding onto my arms.
Within an hour she was pushing my hand away when I tried to help her.
She [...]

Everyone slept through the night last night!!!
TwinkleToes woke up when I did this morning though, which made things a bit interesting. Usually I get up and do my hair and makeup and get dressed and then wake the girls and get them ready.
No such luck this morning. I put my makeup on with TwinkleToes sitting [...]

TwinkleToes went doo-doo in the potty twice today!!!! The first time I got a phone call at work to tell me she had asked (sign language) to sit on the potty and she proceeded to make a nice deposit. The second time was after dinner tonight. She signed potty, I took her diaper off [...]

Most nights our household sleeps through the night.
Last night was not one of those nights.
GlitterGirl was up once, and TwinkleToes was up several times. One of those times TwinkleToes was up for over an hour. It was a rough night.
And yet, this morning she woke up smiling and waving and just as happy as can [...]

Ratatouille gets a solid “okay”. Good, not great.
There are some scary parts for very young kids. If you have kids that are sensitive to bad guys and danger then you may want to skip this one. We see a woman firing a shotgun at rats, several car chases, a few harrowing rides on various [...]

Some of GlitterGirl’s old 2t panties will stay up on TwinkleToes. I won’t go so far as to say they fit, they are very baggy, but they do stay up. And that’s all that’s really needed.
GlitterGirl thinks she is such a big girl wearing panties. When she wants to, that is.
Some days she is interested [...]

The computer bonding time is helping. There are still moments of jealousy, but the time spent on the computer has brought GlitterGirl’s nurturing side back out.
There is now a lot of big sister taking care of little sister activity going on again.
I know there will be ups and downs with this, I’m just happy to [...]

GlitterGirl has now introduced TwinkleToes to the computer.
She had her up in her lap and then went on the Sesame Street site. And the Caillou site. And the Bob the Builder site. And the Clifford site.
There are some Elmo games designed for babies. The baby touches the spacebar and Elmo does something. Touch the spacebar [...]