Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Wynn was very excited about the holiday (unlike Halloween).  She went through her closet several times, asking me, "Please help me find something suitable to wear."  She wore new clothes for Thanksgiving!  Until then (and again since then), she repeats the same three outfits.  I think that she would actually be fine with just two outfits if I were more prompt with washing them and returning them to her.  She dresses in many layers - one or two T shirts with one or two sweatshirts, and most often her coat, even indoors.  She thinks we keep our house too hot and occasionally (until caught and corrected) will open the door to cool it down.  We can't convince her to take off her coat instead.  (Well, our heating bill might look really good if we all put on our coats and turned the heat off!)  Thanksgiving morning, I heard words come out of her mouth that would never emerge from an American-born teenager:  "I have too much clothes!"

So dressed and excited, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house, where she seemed entirely comfortable and made herself at home, helping herself to food and drinks (literally gallons of Wyler's "koolaid"), and willingly trying new Thanksgiving menu items.  I told her that it was a very traditional dinner and that most people in America are eating the same dinner this night.  She was very pleased to meet her cousins.  She didn't interact with them as much as I thought she might, but she has looked at their pictures and named them many times since then.

After Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa's, we went to a second Thanksgiving at Nana and Gramps'.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with them after the "official" holiday to accommodate my sister Denise's work schedule (she is a night-shift RN who worked Thanksgiving) and to make it easier for us to celebrate with both sides of the family.  It worked out very nicely.

Wynn made herself at home at Nana's house too.  We made an effort to incorporate her into the preparations because she has shown that she enjoys cooking.  She helped make deviled eggs, rolled pie crusts, and assembled banana cream pies.  But she was far more interested in playing the piano and running around with the kids.  She even showed some interest in kittens.  (She has maintained her statements of dislike for our dogs and cats.)  Conor and Cameron made great efforts to catch the mostly wild rural kittens that live behind the house.  A couple of these were really small, and Wynn was intrigued with the "baby cats."  Conor and I showed her how the kitten would lick food off your finger, and the kitten thought it was a good idea, stopped trembling, and actually started purring.  :)  Wynn fed the kitten a little bit of egg yolk (from the bowl that had been for deviled eggs) off her fingertip, squealing when touched by kitten tongue.  Later, I saw her on the back deck with egg on her finger, calling, "Cat, cat, cat."  She didn't get any takers.  She was also intrigued when the raccoons came up on the deck to eat.  I counted 9 of them, interspersed companionably with an approximate equal number of cats.

Wynn also made a couple of friends.  My cousin Amanda (weeks from turning 12 but taller than any woman at the house) and our friend Sally (also 12) were there, and Wynn ran around, giggling, squealing and playing hide-and-seek with them.

When it came time to go, she gave my mom and my sister each a hug!  That was very unexpected.  Although I put my hands on her shoulders and give her squeezes fairly often, she has only recently not pulled away from that, and she has never accepted hugs from anyone besides Gabrian and Ari.  I was thrilled.  (I think they were, too.)

When we arrived home at night (past bedtime), she immediately wanted to call her mom in China.  I checked the world clock on my iphone (quicker than trying to calculate in my head) and gave permission for the call.  She chattered, and chattered, and chattered.  It seemed like she had a lot to tell about the holiday!

Pictures are still very hard to come by, as she strongly objects to the camera, and earning trust with her is more important than pictures - though I want some!!!!  She looked at these pictures, asked permission to delete them (permission given), and then showed me that she chose not to delete them.  Yay!

Stamps and fun - making cards with Denise and Sally.

Piping a pretty top to her banana cream pie