Madeline's Protest

We were getting ready for an appointment this morning when I noticed Madeline, all of 4 ½ years old, moving her guitar and keyboard into her sister’s room (not yet adopted from China but we are anxiously waiting). Madeline is very eager to be a big sister and is frustrated that the adoption has been taking so long. In fact, on a side note, she is already planning and praying for the adoption of her brother. Well I was busy getting both of us ready and asked her what she was doing, without really listening for a response. When she came into the bathroom to brush her teeth I said to her so you are having a party in your sister’s room? And she said, “no, I’m having a protest.” Thinking she had the word wrong I again said, you mean a party? And again she said, “no I’m having a protest that china is taking so long!” I then asked her if she knew what protest meant and she quickly and with confidence replied, “it is when you are mad and you want people to listen to you”

Under Dog and Under Cat

While in Florida celebrating Christmas, Madeline renewed her fast-paced, non-stop relationship with her 4 year-old cousin, Reese. We arrived late in the evening but that did not stop them from hitting the ground running and playing, playing, and playing. It seemed the only time they took a break from playing was to sleep. At one time Reese and Madeline were actively running around (with 2 year old cousin Teagan closely in tow) and Reese came darting out of the back room exclaiming "I'm Under Dog!" Madeline was following right behind and exclaiming, "I'm Under Cat!". Madeline and Reese being Power Ranger Overdrive Since I have a girl, I do not really understand what that means...Christmas Eve morning rolled around and the kids were overly excited about Santa coming that night so I got on the Internet and pulled up a time zone map to show them where it was night time and where Santa was, but they did not really understand what I was trying to do. So Kelly got onto either Google Earth or the Norad website and tracked Santa's movements. They were able to Santa's sleigh and reindeer and what country he was in. They tracked Santa all day and night and kept Kelly busy for hours on end on the Internet.

Reese and Madeline putting out the cookies and milk...

Christmas morning arrive EARLY at 5:30am when Madeline woke up. Fortunately, we got to hear Santa finishing putting out all the gifts and eating his cookies, actually, I think it was the cat rummaging through the presents, but Madeline believed it was Santa. We kept Madeline quiet for about an hour until the rest of the clan woke up and that was a difficult task. The present opening did not last long but the fun lasted a long time.