Things We Do Know Already

This new girl of ours is so fearless!  She is resistant to interacting with all these strangers, but I can't believe the way she faces all these new, strange experiences head-on, observing everything and with no refusals.  Going to work with me, while I still think it will be good for language learning, has to be SO HARD, and yet she does it, without complaint or resistance.  I am so impressed with her.

We also know that she has a beautiful, generous heart.  Yesterday, she asked me (via translator) if we could go to the supermarket because her sister's birthday present wasn't ready.  Because of the confusion about "sister" the other day, I asked for clarification, and she looked at me like I was nuts and typed, "Sister - we just left her at kindergarten!"  Oh!  Ari!  So I took her to buy a gift for Ari.  She also (with permission for the things she held up) put a lot of junk food in the cart.  We don't usually buy so much snack food except for bulk nuts, granola bars, fruit snacks at Costco or Cash n Carry.  Wynn and I bought oreos, pringles, chips ahoy, lollipops, and sunflower seeds.  I let her buy them knowing already that although she filled a drawer full of snacks in her room, that she will not hoard them there, but share them with the other kids (rather forcefully at times).  She likes to have something to give.

She was very excited about Ari's gift.  (She chose a Jenga game.  Good choice - we all like it, and Sterling chewed up many-to-most of our old blocks when she was a puppy.)  At home, Wynn asked for glue, paper bag, and if I had any birthday cards, then locked herself in her room for a while.  This morning, apparently not done with her preparations, she asked for wrapping paper.  I took her into my closet and showed her that I have a large tub of gift bags and then pointed up at the rolls of wrapping paper that are stored over the I-beams.  She smiled so big and said (with her voice!) "Blue!"  So I gave her a roll of blue wrapping paper, tape, and scissors.  It's blue snowman Christmas paper, but who cares?!  :)

I have also noted that she's personalizing her space.  She has a paper from the Chinese show she likes (Jade Palace Lock Heart) hung up on her closet like a poster.  She also has the paper I made her that has pictures of our family members with their name and relationship to her hung up on the wall.  (I forgot to mention, when she was getting birthday cards last night, she also asked me to write down everyone else's birthday on this paper.)  And she has a napkin from her own little birthday party unfolded and hung on her wall.

As I type this, she is reaching out, and from a distance, petting a cat.