Rain, howling wind and tub time art.

This week we have been graced with rain storms, and this means snow in the mountains. We are hoping to get SS decked out in her snow suit, snow boots and freakishly hard to find snow mittens this weekend. The rain is not a big problem, other than keeping us indoors. But the wind, the howling wind is making life difficult around here. It petrifies SS, who is afraid of the noise as it is, but the rattling windows really send her over the edge. I do not blame the poor little thing, because I have been spending quite a bit of time in her room, and it just gets hit the worst of any other place in here. Stubborn little soul that she is, SS insists on cooking upstairs, as long as she is glued to my side. Loving every second of it. SS is going to be sleeping with us until it is safe to return to her once quiet room.

SS freaking out over noise is not new to us. Heck, SS freaking out over numerous things is normal to us. She is however, coping differently this time. She is shutting down and taking 2-3 hour long naps. That might seem as a relief, since our overly active daughter does not usually nap. It just seems odd that now, after eighteen months under our care, is when she is reacting to over stimulation by sleeping. We expected that to happen in China. If you read back then you will know that SS did not nap for long when we were out and about. Maybe I'm over thinking this, but there's a part of me that feels sad about this. I expected her to be more secure now. But this is not about me, it's about what coping mechanism works for SS. Looks like she will be napping for the rest of the week.

We have been talking about my upcoming surgery. I have a CT scan scheduled for Friday afternoon. It took me a whole week to make that appointment. Last Friday P asked me why was I procrastinating. Well, let's see, if I recall correctly last time I had one I lost a foot long section of my colon and now sport a horrific mutilated torso (never mind what comes out of said torso). I can't think of a better reason to procrastinate.

In preparation for the further desecration of my torso, we have discussed the P word, that's right, preschool. Initially we wanted to wait until I am fully recovered, not to bombard SS with too many big changes. Although SS came to us without shedding a tear and handled those two weeks in China better than we could have ever expected, she has changed her tune once home. SS is not a big fan of change and fights it all the way. It is wiser to ease her into a 1-2 days a week schedule with gradual increases, rather than dumping her one day as I am on my way to work. That's our new challenge for the upcoming months.

P just noticed that SS is having difficulty pronouncing the letter L. Because nothing is simple with SS, she has no problem pronouncing L's in Spanish. One of the first things she learned to say was "la lengua," in sing song manner "la, la, la, la, la, la lengua." But he is right, after asking her to pronounce a few words, it's different. Funky child of mine. It does not help matters that she has quite a gap between her bottom middle teeth.

Poor SS had cabin fever after her three hour nap. After lunch I allowed her to have a long bath. That made her momentarily forget the big bad wind. I had forgotten that bathtub crayons that SS received upon arriving home. Boy, SS had water, nakedness and crayons. Talk about good times.

Weather tomorrow: Gusts up to 60 m.p.h.