Home One Week

It seems longer, yet it seems like I was in China just yesterday.  This week has flown by.  Every day, Ivy continues to come out of her shell.  She's not shed a tear since I posted last about her occasional crying.  I'm so thankful for that.  It appears that Ivy is truly starting to enjoy the security, safety, and love of a family.  I am still the one Ivy wants to be around all the time, but she's slowly leaving my side for some adventure.  Today all 3 girls went outside to play for a while since it was quite warm.  It gave me some much needed quiet time.  Ivy seems to enjoy being with her daddy, but she's not ready to be alone with him.  I know that will come with time.

Since I'm such a hard task-master, I decided to put the children to work this week.  No time off school just because I'm home from China!  Seth and Jack actually did quite well while I was away.  We even started some new things in school this week, while finishing some things up.

I decided to print some math worksheets for Ivy.  I wanted to see what she has learned.  I'm very pleased to say (which I already figured out) that Ivy is a very intelligent girl.  She is newly 7 and she can add double digit numbers, write her letters and numbers quite well.  She needs some work on form, size, and spacing, but I'm so glad she knows so much about the English numbers and letters!  She is also very quick to learn knew things.  We've played Legos, Lincoln Logs, Operation, Connect Four, CandyLand, and a bunch of other things; show her once, and she figures it all out.  Since Ivy was doing some school, I took this chance to start some work with Eva and Joy.  Eva loves doing school.  Joy can do about 15 minutes, then she is done.  Still, the structure was very good for them all.

Maybe I should be have more serious about the school attire, but Ivy came to the table wearing this hat.  How could I refuse with that big grin?

Joy is still a little young for school, but she likes the "idea" of schooling.  Plus, she wants to be like the big sisters.

Joy's coloring.

*Ivy LOVES the dress-up princess shoes.  She wears them all day long.

*She will need a bike for the spring time.  I saw her riding Joy on the back of Eva's tricycle today.

*Ivy asked me in English to "brush my teeth"!

*Every meal she has eaten at home, Ivy has had more than one helping.  At this rate, she should put some weight on soon.

*Seth and Ivy made our dinner tonight.

*Ivy loves to work in the kitchen.

*Today on Google translator, I asked Ivy if she was happy to be here.  She replied with a smile and nodded her head yes.

*Ivy made her connection with Jack tonight as they ran around the house chasing each other.  She followed him into the kitchen holding onto his shirt.  Aahh, siblings.

*(I forgot to mention this in China, but thought it was funny.)  Ivy had to be taught how to use a western toilet and to flush.  When we'd use the squat potties in China, she always finished much faster than I did.  I was always afraid I was going to slip.  And, I could never figure out which way to stand?  Facing the door or the wall?

*She always goes to bed with a big grin on her face as I kiss her goodnight.