Give me one perfect child and six weeks....

Brian and I have always had this little running joke that our children start their first year of life in baby bootcamp. It's not a very delicate "joke", but truthfully, the ladies at the baby home know how to regiment and regulate a life. How else can you explain that a one year old will follow along perfectly on cue when there are 12 toddlers and two caregivers. Let's face it, we have two adults in this house and one third the number of children and we can't accomplish half the routine those ladies have mastered. Anyway, it never takes us long to totally ruin any positive work the Russians have done with our children. Give us a week or two with any kid and we can really "ruin their discipline." (The ladies at Meg's baby home asked us not to play with the children on our third day there because we were "ruining their discipline." I thought to myself, lady, you don't know the half of it.) Anyway... digress digress digress. My point is (and yes, I do have one) that Meg came to us this well behaved little diva (I say diva because from day one she would turn the tears on like a faucet if she heard the word "no".) who would eat any food presented to her, didn't like cold beverages of any type and don't even consider giving her a Coke to a child who now refuses food left and right. Blueberries were her favorite yesterday (and every day before that) but now she refuses them. She will sometimes eat a banana or an apple, but she prefers CHEESE. Just plain old sliced, processed cheese. She used to beg for yogurt every morning for breakfast, now she wants her dairy in the form of a YO-GO! Go figure! Ugh! And to top it off, sister drank the better part of my medium Coke this morning from Sonic. Okay, I will share just about anything in my world with any of my kids... but don't mess with Mama's caffeine, I NEED IT!!! Do you think that the 11:00 Coke explains why she wouldn't sleep for the entire two hours she spent in her crib from 1:00 to 3:00? Maybe. Anyway, how does this happen? I say to myself every time that we adopt that I am not going to ruin this one. I am not going to feed them the junk the rest of my kids like and I am not going to let them become picky eaters. But it's just so fun to watch them explore new tastes. But, how did she start liking my ice cold Cokes with the Sonic ice? And can someone explain to me how sissy sassy decided that hitting everyone who does not obey her every whim became a good idea in her mind? Seriously, how many times a day can a mother say, "No hitting, nice touch, gentle hands, etc. etc. etc." I mean, I know that time out is absolutely pointless at this point in her bonding and attachment (probably counter-pointless), and I know that smacking a child's hand and saying "don't hit" is about as moronic as hitting in the first place (plus, duh, I would not smack her hand anyway, she has only been home six weeks, but even if she was born to me, I just don't get why people think hitting your kid for hitting ever made any sense??? I just couldn't ever make that scenario work in my head.) Anyway, the smacking thing is out of control. She must have drawn back to hit me 30 times today and she hit just about everyone else that came within smacking range too. Maybe it was too much caffeine. The other thing she does that would be funny if I wasn't always so doggone worried about bonding is that if anyone says the word "no" in her presence, she dissolves into tears and runs the other direction or throws herself onto the floor in a puddle and performs the most pitiful act you've ever seen in your life. Is this regular girl drama? I mean, people, you should see the Academy performances. But of course, I have to "reconnect" so I figure out a way to make it safe for her to come back. I am trying to repeat the words of our "attachment counselor" in my head over and over. The funny thing is, the attachment counselor isn't even for her, but it all applies to her. Sort of convenient that I am taking this Parent Child Interaction training right now while I happen to be trying to attach to a child. (I’m a “test subject” for my friend who is making a training video, etc. etc. etc… long story you don’t’ care to hear about.)

One thing I can imagine is adding to the drama level around here is that there are about five neighbors who's children live to follow Meg around and cater to her every whim. Seriously, I think the girl is probably beginning to think she has been made the queen of Egypt or something. I have these two or three SWEET neighbor girls who just literally follow Meg around and ooh and ahh over her. They are the sweetest children and I love having them here because she is getting attention and I can actually fold a basket of laundry with two hands (usually one of them is holding her on my hip.) But I think it's giving the girl a goddess complex. :) It's okay, she seriously deserves it. I mean, to think where she was to where she is now and I can't help but spoil the little angel. Oh, how blessed we are, smacking hands and all! :)

I have been really struggling lately with how to combine my two blogs. The boys have their own blog too, you know. I'm adding a link to it over there on the right hand side. But anyway, it just seems silly that there are two. I have this whole other life that most readers of this blog don't even know about. It involves three fourths of my children. That's 75% of my time that goes unheralded by me in my widest circle of "cyber friends" as my "real life friend" Amie calls you guys! :) Anyway, I still haven't figured out how I can have a PINK ON PINK blog with a bunch of pictures of dirty boys on it. And there is no way on God's green earth that I'm going generic with this thing. Plus, that might just be too confusing to have to switch the name around. My other blog is ephesiansonefive.blogspot.com. That makes alot more sense than having the boys all pile into Mary Margaret Maybe.

Well, ramble ramble ramble... just ignore me while I have a moment to myself here.

Goodbye for tonight from the land of ruined discipline.

Proverbs 22:6
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."