lately
/She's ours. She's doing well. She's loved.
And she thinks Daddy's gruffy chin tickles more than anything else in the world.
She's also a legit American, y'all. The USCIS sent her Certificate of Citizenship this week. They even spelled her name right and everything. (I hear this is a small miracle.)
Nope, that's not a new Dinglefest dog in the picture below. That's Sadie, who we petsat for a while. We're not ready to be a two dog family, but Napoleon likes it when we pretend for a bit. He loved Sadie and so did we, but Harley is still his favorite girlfriend. (I must post a picture of them soon. Quite a comical pair, they are.)
Here's a close-up of Jocelyn's shirt. I bought it at the airport in Taiwan. (After I lose 10-15 pounds, I'll be able to fit in my matching one. I didn't plan for that to be my incentive, as I thought I was getting the right adult size. Taiwan, your sizes confuse me.)
All the pictures were for the First Day o' School 2012, Part 2. You see, Jocelyn goes to a public school during the week, but she also spends two hours each Saturday afternoon in Chinese language school.
Most kids might be bummed about the idea of school on Saturdays. This is what Jocelyn's reaction was.
We had been on a waitlist for Chinese school, due to some miscommunication. (We signed up in time, but our English and their Chinese muddled things up, as they thought we had just adopted Jocelyn from Taiwan and thus placed her in the native Chinese speakers class. When we realized the error, the non-native speakers class had a waitlist. Yep, Dinglefest Schoolin' 2012: Brought to You by The Waitlist.) I took those pictures right after she found out she was in.
Cool side-note: We first met with the Chinese language school folks a day before we knew Zoe existed. We weren't planning to adopt a child from a Chinese-speaking country then. Ain't it neat how God paved the way in advance for us?
Our girl loves different cultures and languages in a way I can't claim credit for. It's just something God infused into her little personality. Now, between the daily instruction in Spanish at her elementary school and the weekly Chinese school (including homework, which helps me learn along with her), she is loving this year. (Yeah, yeah, math and reading and all that is fun too. But languages? That's what she really gets excited about.)
(That, and soccer. Which starts again in a week or two.)
And the boy?
He's a ham. Who loves Spider-Man.
And has an infectious smile.
He might have used that smile to swindle me into buying this Spidey baseball cap at Target this morning.
PS - I now live on the side of town in which a Target trip is also a meet-up of friends. FYI, friends, I don't plan to dress any nicer for Saturday Target runs than I used to back when I lived on the other side of town from most folks. Not gonna wear makeup for Target either. Thankfully, none of my friends recoiled in horror this morning, so all is well.