Labor day + 7 month anniversary 9/10/11

My parents came out for Labor day weekend and we went to Jerome, AZ for a day to hear Blaine play. ‘O’ loves watching Blaine perform and provided some dancing entertainment up in front. It was a long drive because of an accident on the way up, but worth it because there's a great fudge place up there (oh, and because Blaine and Dilly put on a great show).

‘O’'s preschool day is extended now by 25 minutes for "enrichment classes". On Tuesday she stays for music and Thursday is Spanish. We are glad she's doing cool things but really we just see it as an extra 1/2 hour for Blaine before he has to pick her up .

‘O’ is definitely getting into the groove of being part of our family, and Blaine and I are getting more used to it now, too. Being an adoptive parent has very unique challenges, especially when the child is so much older like ‘O’. She definitely has a strong personality, and then when you add to that her history and attachment issues, you have a whole new ballgame. Blaine and I are using the therapeutic parenting lingo often, although it's not always easy. We just have to remind ourselves that she is a completely different person than she was 7 months ago. Today she has been living with us for exactly 7 months, which is only about 15% of her entire lifetime. I have to remind myself of that when she gives attitudes or has meltdowns. It's still such a short time in the grand scheme of things.

Her latest thing is to talk about when Blaine and I get old. She said the other day, "When you get very old, I will take you places". We've had to talk a lot lately about her not trying to always have control. We are in charge, we keep her safe, she doesn't have to worry about it anymore and she doesn't need to try to control everything. So she said, "When you are old, I will control you." Well, yes, you probably will.

-joni