Ruby is doing exactly what I knew she would do upon our arriving home with a brand new big sister. She is competing for attention and throwing multiple knock-down-drag-out temper tantrums. Like I said, I completely expected this and I know it is totally normal for her to react this way. What I didn't expect is how quickly I still lose my patience with her. Even though my rational head is telling me "You knew this would happen, be patient and kind to her" the angry part of my brain just won't listen. Thank goodness it was Dave's turn to read her bedtime stories tonight because I had just about had it by then.
Lin had another really great day. No sadness, no tension on her part. I know that we will see more tears from her, more homesickness, more frustration... but my feeling is, as long as we can delay those emotions with more of these good days, the more bonded she'll feel to us when she needs to grieve.
We took her shopping this morning. She came to us with quite a few possessions, actually. We expected her to just have the clothes on her back and little else, but she actually has a closet-full of T-shirts and many keepsakes from her life in China. However, she only came with one pair of pants and one pair of shoes. Thus, shopping!
We took her to a good kids' shoe store here in town, where she would be properly fitted for good-quality shoes. In China I guess-timated her shoe size to be about a 7. Boy, was I wrong! Turns out she wears a size 3 1/2!! It was really awesome, though, when the sales lady put those shoes on her feet. Her eyes lit right up, she got a huge smile on her face, looked at me and gave me the "OK" sign. Needless to say, she wore the new pair of shoes out of the store. I wonder if she's ever worn a well-fitting shoe before today?
I'm sorry to say I'm going to have to break it to her that her other shoes, from China, are going to have to be trashed. To put it delicately, I have assumed from the day we met her that she had a puberty-related foot odor problem. I even brought it up with the doctor yesterday because the smell is overwhelming in a small space like an exam room. However, now I'm pretty confident that there is some sort of mold or fungus growing inside her China shoes. They're darn cute, too! It's a shame but, honestly, I can't even bring those shoes in the house due to the smell. At least it's not just her!
I realized near the end of the evening that I felt like I hadn't spent much time with Lin today, and I missed her. She was in my presence all day, but I was so consumed with Ruby that I didn't spend time with Lin. I am going to make every effort, each day, to spend one-on-one time with both girls, just playing. I was able to play a quick game with Lin while Dave was reading to Ruby, but I know it was not enough. I need to get to know this girl, and just having her sit there while I interact with Ruby won't do it.
Here's Lin playing the Nintendo Wii for the first time.
She got the hang of it!
Isn't this a great picture of Ruby? This picture was totally random and non-posed.
And here's what happens when I ask Ruby to smile. I'm going to stick with the random shots from now on!
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