First day done

All in all, it was a pretty good day. I'd say it was great about 80% of the time. The girls had a great time playing together - play dough, colouring, leapster, barbie, braiding, trampoline, bubbles, chalk...Our house was spotless when we got home and it is a disaster now.

20% of the time we had behaviour issues. Some of it is from lack of understanding and communication, and the rest is just defiance. We're trying to be careful as to which battles we pick, but when we pick a battle we have to win it. So far so good. Mebira's reaction anytime she is corrected is to immediately run off and hide or withdraw. I usually go and find her, give her a kiss and tell her I love her or tickle her and then let her come back when she's ready.

It's hard for us when she withdraws. She had an issue with Elizabeth today and then refused to be near her for a while after that. Poor Elizabeth was heartbroken...the sister she had been thrilled to have, the one with whom she played with and helped all morning had rejected her and it really hurt. I can totally identify. Mebira seems to pick and choose whom she likes at the moment and if you're not on her love list it hurts. I wanted to fix things so bad but couldn't. The best I could do was to explain to Elizabeth, offer my compassion and help (and a little chocolate), and then we went and played ball to distract her. Elizabeth was giggling in no time and after a few hours things were good again between the two of them.

We've learned a few more things about Mebira - she LOVES Barney. It's so cute when she says it...she rolls her 'r'...Barrrrrney. They watched a movie tonight and pulled out some old Barney books and a CD that we had. She knew two of the songs and sang along in perfect pitch (with a cute accent, of course).

We also went to the playground today. It went fairly well. She doesn't have much fear and was able to climb up every obstacle there was.

I put the photos of all of the kids from the Transition House into her album today. She smiled and pointed at each picture and said the names. She has looked at it over and over and seems so happy to see them again. We'd love to skype with anyone who has kids her age so that they can see each other and chat (then she'll finally have someone who understands what she's saying!).

Anyway, the kids are in bed and I have to go tuck them in. Things are actually quiet upstairs right now...could I hope that they're already asleep? Not likely...but I'll keep my fingers crossed!