Memorial Day weekend at the Sand Dunes

Feet, Feet, Feet...

Alex's new favorite book is The Foot Book.

Appropriate since so much revolves around his little feet.

Which are doing great by the way!

We go to physical therapy once a week, well he does.  He acts up too much when I'm there so I get to sit in the waiting room and read.  

We started a mommy and me gymnastics class which had been really good for him.  It's forcing him to do a lot of toe movement which is tough for him.  And he gets to climb and jump on the trampoline, what can be better than that?

Alex still wears his "bar bar" (Ponseti brace) at bedtime and now he has AFO braces that we call "Car Boots" that he wears several hours a day.  That's to help keep his feet in the proper position while walking around.  He tends to curl his feet when he get tired, so these are helping quite a bit.

 But does that boy have some serious stinky feet!  I wish I could let him be barefoot all the time because his feet are just icky!

  It's been a long and sometimes discouraging road, but I'm hoping we're on the right track to keep his feet straight, healthy and pain free!

Mother's Day

Syd's had something on her mind lately and
she's not quite sure how to bring it up or deal with it.

Is it the upcoming trip to China?

Is it the hockey tournament in California?

Is it because she's going to her first sleep over this weekend?

Ahhh, the light bulb finally goes off.

It's Mother's Day.

And she has a mother on the other side of the world that she will never meet, she will always wonder what that mother looks like,
she will always have a piece of her that is missing.

Every year Syd has a hard time with Mother's Day.
She's wonderful and caring and loving to me,
 but there is a part of her that is so very sad. 

The best I can do is not try to fill that missing piece
but to be here for her, help her work through her feelings

Let her know that it is always-always-always ok to think about
her birth mother/father/siblings and
it is always ok to talk to us about them.

Several of Syd's friends have had birthdays in the past couple of weeks, they were so excited to turn 9 at exactly noon or 8:05 am.
Syd told me she wishes she knew what time of day she was born.

I can't answer that question for her but I can at least tell her what day she was born on by plugging in her birthday here. 

I wish I had answers for her.
She wonders so much what her birth family is like.
She wonders if they would be proud of her hockey achievements and how well she does in school. 

I believe her birth mother would be very proud of all of Syd's accomplishments and for the exciting things that life still has to offer.

Happy Mother's Day to the woman that gave my daughter life and made the heart wrenching decision that brought that
 precious, beautiful life to us.

Happy Mother's Day...

Any long lost (rich) relatives out there?

It's going to be a crazy summer!

Well, really a crazy July.  The rest of summer will probably 

be boring according to Syd.

Syd and I are leaving for China on June 30th and returning July 11.

Syd and James are leaving for sunny California 

on July 12 and returning July 17.

So I guess it's only 17 days in July that will be crazy!

And why are they going to California?

These kids

are going to a national inline hockey tournament in San Jose!  

The day after we get back from China. 

Syd didn't have jet lag after we got back in 2010, so hopefully it will be the same this time.

So if there are any long lost relatives out there that would love to help out the Stallions, give me a call :-)

Sometimes it's hard not to say anything...

We were sitting in the stands at one of Syd's MANY hockey games this week when I overheard a family teasing their son who looked about 4.  Now I didn't hear the beginning of the "fun" so I'm not sure what started the conversation.

Dad:   You must be adopted.

 

Mom: Yeah, we just found you on the side of the road 

           wrapped up in a blanket.

 

Dad:   Yep, right on the side of the road.  

           Just left there.  

           Nobody wanted you.

 

 

After they saw me looking at them in, not a friendly way, 

they stopped "teasing" their son.

  

Maybe they thought I was bitch for listening in 

and giving them the evil eye.

 

Maybe they saw the cute little Chinese boy sitting on my lap and realized that the 2 red heads can't possibly be his "real" parents.

 

Maybe they just didn't realize that what they were

 saying was just not nice.

 

Or maybe I'm reading into the whole thing too much.

I'm sure when people make comments like that just don't realize that the kid sitting next to them may have been left wrapped in a blanket on the steps to a police station on a spring day in March.

Or that his big sister may have been left wrapped in a blanket, 

in a cardboard box at the entrance to a market on a cold January day.

I'm so glad that Syd wasn't sitting there because that would have hurt her so much to hear people joking about what her reality is.  I'm glad that Alex is too little to understand what they were saying.  

I know that I could have treated this as a learning experience for the family and gently explained to them why their comments could be hurtful.  But I was so mad that I wouldn't have been nice or gentle and I probably would have cried because I cry when I'm really mad.  

 

So maybe it was better that I said nothing at all.

Doh Doh for P.T...

Alex has been doing great with physical therapy.
He's getting stronger, actually walking heel to toe with his toes spread out
instead of curled under his feet.
He gets new exercises every week and his newest one involves play doh.
So I looked up how to make the home made version.

and fun was had by all.


I think.
When I ask him to smile,
this is what I get.
Sigh...


This is what he really looks like when he's having fun.

And here he is doing his exercise,
squishing his toes only in the dough.
Not as easy at it sounds but he loves it.


I wish exercise was just play for me too,
I might do it more often :-)

Easter eggs and an experiment...

This is Alex's first year to decorate Easter eggs and he just went at it with markers :-)
The dye took forever to color and there's no way he would have sat that long but Syd had a great time with daddy!
The experiment is posting this thru e mail.
I want to make sure I'll be able to post from China this summer.
It seems to have worked :-)