Christmas Bates

I have fond memories of Christmas as a kid. Making loud noises so everyone would wake up, meeting on our parents bed so everyone went to the living room together, and wearing everything you were given at once... no matter what. Our first Christmas with Little Miss turned out a little differently.

I woke up at 7am, but stayed in bed, until Little Miss came in at 8am. We all had a round of Merry Christmas then went to eat breakfast. Little Miss had yet to fully grasp the concept of presents galore that would be consuming her shortly. We opened one present with Daddy made breakfast. Then after eggs and toast, we sat in the living room for presents. Little Miss was looking sadly at her stocking and said, "Mom- Santa didn't bring me my Teddy Bear". Could have cared less what was there, but there was no bear! We talked about Santa knowing what everyone got her, to be patient. She opened bubbles, fun funky socks, jump rope, and coloring books. She started to enjoy herself and just let go.
Our big present was the play kitchen. She loves them, plays with them at school, the doctor, and at church. Upon having her very own? Her first comment after opening her eyes, "But Mom, there is no FOOD". Thank you Little Miss, for continuing your streak of inappropriate comments at big events. Classic!

We opened all of our presents, Skyped with Grammy to open hers, and went off to Auntie K's house at about noon. We were some of the first ones there, played Lego Rock Band and hung out while the crowd came in. That drumming part is HARD.. we all were horrible at first!
It turned out that 20 people showed, and the presents and seating were both unbelievable. There were people everywhere. The kids all got a crazy amounts of presents. We got fun stuff and had a fun time hanging out. Little Miss finally got her bear (thanks to Uncle M and Miss K and also to Daddy's Aunt) and food for her kitchen (thanks Princess and Racer)... because without those two things... Christmas would have been a disaster!

We stayed at Auntie K's until 8pm. There is a hilarious video of me doing a rendition of "Rudolph the Pooper" while laying on the floor with Auntie K and Little Miss, skyping with Grammy and niece Abs. It was an exhausting and fun and trying day. I will remember it forever. Little Miss had some confusion about where presents came from, who to thank, and what the whole day was about. We had to answer questions all weekend. In the end, it was a very fun day and Little Miss spent ALL weekend in PJ's giving her bears and dolls a picnic with the new kitchen. Whew... she really does love it! (relief)
Side note: My outside the box, art themed, present for Daddy was a success! Led Zeppelin album with custom painted portrait of Robert Plant will be framed soon!
Merry Christmas to All and to All a Goodnight!

Merry Christmas!!

As our first Christmas with Little Miss is about to transpire, I am filled with more anxiety than excitement. As the Doom and Gloom PS-Mapp adoption classes firmly planted in my brain, your most exciting moments will be their most terrified. Little Miss has certainly had a hard time this week. Reflective, overwhelmed, and outright sad. We have managed to turn that frown upside down every time but one. Tomorrow marks the first Bates family Christmas. The presents are wrapped and under the tree.

There will be stories and memories abundant from tomorrow, I am sure. But for now, as this daunting task of turning Christmas into a magical and loving day of family looms, I want to wish all my family and friends the Merriest Christmas of all. For all the support and love and time and advice and shoulders to lean on, Thank You.

DaddySitting

Friday Little Miss had to stay home from preschool with a high fever. I had the day off (working half day from home) for an MRI on my knee and a court appointment with the foster care review board. Daddy stayed home to take care of Little Miss while I was out. When I came home from court, it was too late for Daddy to realistically go to work across town. I turned around and left, running a ton of errands we had been neglecting. I came home at 3pm. The dogs were at the door, but the house was quiet. After looking around, I found Little Miss curled up snuggling with my husband in our bed. Apparently they had watched Shark Tale, then fell asleep. The menu music was playing over and over again in the background.

This was so adorable. I stood there and watched them for several minutes before sneaking away to get the camera. Despite all the hard times and troubles that we have been through, moments like this are so sweet and endearing they make it all have perspective. Love that Daddy! Nothing makes me love him more, than when he is such a great Dad.

Christmas Time

There is so much going on at Christmas each year, that I am always reminded of why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. This year promises to be memorable, no matter how it shakes out. There have been a few key Christmas memories that I want to hold on to from the past few days. Here they are in no order whatsoever...

1) Firsts: Little Miss had no idea who Santa was, what a Christmas tree was, why people put up lights and decorations, or even what Christmas was (commercially or spiritually). Getting through these firsts makes me thankful to experience them with her and sad she hasn't had them before.

2) The Nativity Scene: I have an old nativity set made of plaster that my Mom hand painted way way some time ago in the past. I absolutely love it. We haven't set it up in a few years, but being as Little Miss had no idea what Christmas was, I decided that was a good place to start. We had a fun afternoon putting up the people, she asked questions about who they were and where they went, and we made an end table in the living room into the Nativity Scene.... on an extra Halloween spider web... I am resourceful and I didn't have Hay or anything else fancy. Of course, Little Miss's favorite piece was Baby Jesus. She still holds him and plays with the set.

3) Santa: This was tricky. When Little Miss asked Daddy who the man in the big red suit was, Daddy was astounded. He started to explain about Santa and his ways. Little Miss asked Me over dinner that night, "Mommy, When Santa comes can I show him my Baby Jesus?". No, I explained, because Santa only comes at night when good little girls are Sleeping. She thought about it a second... then asked "When Mommies and Daddies are sleeping too?" Yes, I answered (let me make it clear that I should have thought this through a little more at the time). Little Miss replied vehemently that she didn't want him to come and please please please would Daddy and I protect her... she didn't want any of his toys. Oops. Then came the next week of talking about "Magical Santa" and watching Rudolph, Frosty, Santa is Coming to Town, etc. Princess and Racer invited Little Miss to the mall to go see Papa. Auntie K and I devised a "walk by" of Santa... Little Miss was fine and agreed to take a picture after Racer and Princess did it first. Now, Santa is exciting and magical and eats cookies but only with chocolate milk because that is his favorite....

4) Holiday Singing: Little Miss's preschool class has been practicing a few songs to sing for the parents. The day before the performance, Little Miss came home with a 103 degree fever. She is over the fever now, but still fighting off the cold, and thus missed Friday's performance. She was very upset. Daddy and I let her sing for us, but it soon became apparent that she wasn't having any fun, just missing her classmates. Next year, Little Miss, there is always Next Year.

5) The Tree: I love Christmas trees. They are important to me. I was thrilled when Little Miss and I spent a few hours putting the ornaments on the tree, her eyes emitting the same love and sparkle of the tree as I was feeling. While I was explaining the ornaments, she picked up an old rocking horse that had my name on it, when I flipped it over it said 1983. I was moved, and told Little Miss that Grammy had given me this ornament when I was 4 years old. She held the little horse in wonder and said "You were 4 years old like I am 4 years old?". She lovingly put the little rocking horse at her eye level in the middle of the tree. It is her favorite, she tells everyone who comes in the house. She will sit and stare at the tree or make the bells ring or "dance" with the angels almost everyday. Having someone love the magic of a Christmas tree as much as me, Priceless.

The Nutcracker

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, Auntie K and I took Princess and Little Miss to the Nutcracker ballet. I was offered the tickets by our adoption coordinator, and since Princess takes ballet and Little Miss idolizes Princess... I thought it would be a fun night out.

We got all dressed up, hours of preparation went into our outfits. Okay okay. Auntie K showed up at 4:40 instead of 5pm, and I was reading in my sweats while Little Miss and Daddy were taking a late nap. Whoops! So, we woke up Little Miss and Daddy. I ran to change my clothes while Auntie K did Little Miss's hair. We took a few pictures, which with Little Miss and her smiles is like deciding between Prison Mugshot or Scary clenched teeth smile. Then, when the camera is put away... she smiles like an angel... figures! PS. .. Little Miss and Mommy did not match on purpose, but its cute!

We set off on our fun adventure. We ate dinner at the Olive Garden. Made the girls try black olives, the salad dressing, and various veggies from our salad. We were waiting for a long time to get our food, so played the "eat eat eat EAT" game and ran to the car. We drove to the community center and dropped off Auntie K, with 2 minutes left literally until the woman from the agency was going into the show. Little Miss, Princess and I drove to a nearby parking lot and RAN to the theatre. We actually played red light green light, while dressed up, the whole way.

Our coordinator was there, and Little Miss was so thrilled to show her the new dress she was wearing. She stood up in the theatre and called out her name and waved... thank goodness the show hadn't started! Little Miss was a really good 4 year old sitting through an entire ballet. She was a fidgety after intermission but since I couldn't barely take the ballet, I didn't blame her. Princess thought she was in heaven, I have never seen a kid clap so hard and with the enthusiasm that she did when it was over! Little Miss has no idea what it is about, but didn't like the scary red eyes or the firecrackers. Princess and Little Miss ended up in our laps during the war scene between the Prince and the Rat King. The people sitting next to us chuckled when they flew into our laps very scared at the loud noises.

It was Little Miss's first trip to a show of any kind. She kept her ticket stubs, without any hint or suggestion from us, and wants to go again please... but to one without scary red eyes or fireworks!

Bates? Me?

Little Miss and I were driving home from the store, either Monday or Tuesday of this week. She said that they were talking about family at preschool. Then, she asked "Mommy, What is Grammy's name?". I told her that Grammy's name was really Sherry. She said, no her WHOLE name. I told her that too. Then that Papa, Mimi, and Uncle M all had the same last name. That Auntie T, Auntie K, and I used to have that last name, before we married. Little Miss was thoughtful for a second. In her silence, I continued to tell her about the family. That Auntie K, Uncle R, Racer and Princess all had the same last name. That Auntie T, Uncle L, and Abs had the same last name....

Then I told her that one day, before she goes to big school, before summer time comes back... that a big Judge was going to tell us we could absolutely keep her forever and ever. On that day, she would become Little Miss Bates. Bates, like Mommy and Daddy. A family.

Little Miss started crying. Which broke my heart, maybe she didn't want to be a Bates after all. Maybe she had an attachment to her current name. Then, she started squealing... or making noises in octaves that only dogs can hear... and started saying "I am so Excited" "I'm so Excited".

She ran in the house, laughing and hugging the dogs, hugging me. When Daddy got home, she ran up to him and told him she was going to be a Bates like us one day... and then bestowed upon him the biggest hug ever. How can you not love that? Pitter Patter goes my heart.