Assessment

Lulu being assessed on her math skills one Friday morning while I was volunteering in her classroom.

Wordless Wednesday.

Adjustment Period

I returned home from Cancún on Jan 21st and had the rest of that week to rest and prepare for classes to begin at Sac State on Jan 27th.  Lulu has definitely been undergoing an adjustment period since I've been home.  She had almost two full weeks with just Daddy, picking her up/dropping her off at school, making her breakfast/lunch/dinners, and giving her baths.  Since I have been home, I have gradually resumed some of those duties as I have the time and energy.

And Lulu was genuinely happy to see me and glad to have me home.  But.  She has been pushing her boundaries and limits for sure.

I'm sure part of her behavior stems from the overall level of tension in the house as we wait to see if the IVF transfer in Cancún worked (or not).  But, we have heard reports from her teacher and her after-school teacher that she has not been a good listener or very cooperative with them either.  Basically mirroring her behavior at home that has us pulling our hair out.

So, I am hopeful that once we know one-way-or-the-other that her behavior will settle down a bit.

Adora.

A little girl in Lulu's class invited her to her birthday party.  Lulu cannot pronounce her name.  Her name is Aurora and every time, Lulu calls her Adora instead.  We had a nice time at her party.  In contrast to the middle-class striving parents at Merryhill, this was a low-key affair in the backyard.  Unfortunately, it was also FOUR HOURS LONG.  The experience made me seriously re-consider my casual acceptance of birthday party invitations.

Cancún project

Mom was pretty crafty while we were lazing around in Cancún.  She knit Lulu this hat and made an additional pompom in pink.

Un sueño.

For Martin Luther King, Jr Day at school, the kids in Lulu's classroom all talked about their own dreams.  Apparently, after a two week absence, Lulu's center around me??

Lulu in Cancun

Lulu and Walter were in Cancún for only a week...and unfortunately the weather wasn't really cooperative while they were there.  But, we made the best of things and did lots of fun stuff together as a family.

During one of our (many) trips to Wal-mart, Walter found a neat Playmobil egg as a quasi-Tres Reyes present for Lulu.  She watched a TON of Mexican television--our TV was tuned to Discovery Kids channel pretty much the entire time she was there.  She was in heaven--watching all the cartoons she only gets to see on vacation, but this time in Spanish.  There were also LOTS of commercials about Tres Reyes (Three Kings) day when Mexican children traditionally receive their Christmas present (yup, as in singular present).

And we did take advantage of the one really sunny day we had to go to Isla Mujeres and go to the beach.  Lulu and I had fun building sand castles together and she and Walter played in the surf.

Another (rainy) day, we took the bus to the Hotel Zone and went to a tourist-y mall.  Lulu scored a new watch--with dolphins on it!  I liked that it was watch for helping little kids learn how to tell time (although we are SCREWED if she ever figures that out!).  Best of all though, this mall had an actual dolphin aquarium, so we enjoyed the dolphins, rays, starfish and octopus, and even bought a stuffed friend to remember our fun afternoon together.

And we ate pretty much every breakfast at 100%Natural, a local Mexican chain, across the traffic circle from our hotel.  I definitely went through withdrawal from their fresh-squeezed juices and tasty chilaquiles for breakfast.  Lulu went through a variety of breakfasts--pancakes, chocolate croissants, cereal, but she was a big fan of the juices like me.  This particular morning, she was enjoying the "magic milk," a combination of chocolate, milk, banana, and strawberry.

I missed them a lot when they went back to California and I hope that we can visit Cancún as a family again some day (hopefully when the weather cooperates).