How about me?

Yesterday SS was looking at a set of pictures she has looked at for the past two years. The frame holds nine pictures and all of them are of our pre SS lives. SS was talking about what she saw in each picture, Mama, Baba, JJ, Baba and Grandpa, Mama with monsters (Halloween Haunt), Baba with monsters, etc. SS then got a serious look on her face and asked "How about me?" "Where's SS Mama?" I explained that she was not born when those pictures were taken. SS asked, "SS in China?" No, SS was not in China, SS was not born yet. As is the case with children her age SS moved on to something else, fully satisfied with my explanation.This was the first time SS asked this.

I told P and it made him sad. He wanted to know that SS was really OK. I reassured him that SS's inquiry was very normal. I remember asking my mother where was I when I saw pictures of her with her college friends. P's concern was that SS would think that we were not there for her. Well, we weren't there for her for fifteen months and eventually we will have to explain why. That time is approaching quickly since SS has had China on her mind for the past month. As we boarded every plane SS asked if we were going to China. Yesterday we bought her a book of stickers, even though she still has three quarters left of the one we bought for the Chicago trip. But this one has ocean creatures and P happily made the unnecessary expenditure. SS wanted the sticker book in the van and P told her we were saving it for the next plane ride. SS quickly asked, "Plane to China?" So yeah, she has been thinking about China and how it all fits. I took her question as a positive sign that SS knows she is a part of this family, a part of us. When she sees us she wonders where was she, a baby step, but a very important step in my opinion.

This should not come as a surprise to our three readers but we are having a sedentary Sunday. P has not had a day off since we returned home, has been working long hours, very early hours and replaced the radiator in his car a few days ago. Nothing like working 10 hours then coming home to toil in 99 degree heat. He is napping upstairs as I post. I asked him if he wanted to spend an hour in the lazy lagoon and realized immediately what a stupid question it was. Dude is spent, plus he has been dealing with my and SS's colds. It turns out that our tough girl takes the common cold just like her Mama. Poor P is dealing with two constantly crabby women. So much for not having a genetic link and not passing on my bad genes.

Yesterday we got a surprise in the mail. At the reception we misplaced one of SS's sippy cups. I brought only two this time (we usually have one for milk, one for juice and one for water), but also had 4 straw cups as we are trying to transition SS from sippy to straws. We left her blue sippy in a waiting area and went walking with SS. When we returned it was gone and we did not think much of it. When we checked the mail I retrieved an envelope with P's uncle's address. Aunt M found the sippy and mailed it to us. The funny thing was SS's reaction, it was as though she was reunited with a long lost friend, like it was Christmas morning. Our daughter is such a funky chicken.