A Big Day!

Thursday, September 27, 11:00 p.m.
Sorry no post last night--thought I'd try to get to bed early. It didn't make any difference though because at 1:30 a.m., Beth fell out of the bottom bunk, landed on a cushion, and woke up scared and crying. Well, that awakened Jack, who also started to cry. Beth was consoled fairly quickly and fell asleep on her cushion on the floor. But Jack refused to close his eyes and go back to sleep, kept getting out of bed and wandering around, and cried some more when I put him back in bed--for 2 hours! It's hard to know if he is afraid or just stubborn. Finally, I just stood in the doorway until he drifted off. But it made for a tired Mommy this morning.
We had a big day planned, so as soon as everybody woke up, we were moving to get ready and eat breakfast. Our first stop was the coffee shop so Mommy could get her mocha--definitely needed it today! We were surprised to see Mike Gaffney when we went in! But it was fun to catch up for a few minutes. Then, we headed to the store to purchase a birthday gift for their new friend, Hannah, whose birthday party was today. As soon as we walked into the store we spotted a kids' "car cart," you know, the ones where the kids pretend they are driving around while it's really Mommy pushing. They were excited to get in and spin the "steering wheels!" Meanwhile, I was breathing a sigh of relief that getting them into a cart had not been an issue!
So, we headed to the toy aisle, with Mommy praying all the while that there wouldn't be any tears when they realized that the toys we were buying weren't for them. My Thai language is very limited, VERY limited, so explaining that we were going to Hannah's house and that it was her birthday was about as much as I could do, much less explain that we were going to pick out some exciting new toys but they didn't get to have them. And I don't even know if I said that right! Well, I bought some balloons to use as a distraction and it actually worked pretty well.
Anyway, we drove to Hannah's house and went in to discover that all of the kids were outside playing. Beth and Jack, being naturally very curious, wanted to try out some of the great toys and did very well playing together (as opposed to hanging on Mommy or trying to hide behind her.) They still are hesitant to interact with the other kids, though. I imagine it must be frustrating to not understand what the other children are saying. They were very interested in the trampoline, but didn't try it out until all of the other kids went inside to open presents. They ended up having so much fun jumping and flopping around. Then they wanted Mommy to jump too, so we had a fun time laughing and jumping. All in all, it seems they did very well with their first American birthday party. We actually stayed for over 2 hours!
Back home, it was obviously nap time for Jack, so Beth did some coloring and Mommy folded and sorted clothes. At around 3:30, the Brown family stopped by to visit. Jack was still sleeping so the rest of us went out to the backyard. Beth was quite shy again with new people, but we just chatted and let the kids play independently. We finally woke up Jack and brought him outside too to have a snack. After a while, we got up to check out the garden and while Mommy was picking tomatoes, Steve started to engage the children in a game of chase. Soon Beth, Jack and their friend, Eric, were laughing together and running around the yard. After Steve sat down, the three kids continued to chase each other--the best interaction with kids their own age we've seen! We thought that was definitely a positive step!
When Daddy got home, he had some good play time with them while Mommy got dinner ready. They got to "drive" Daddy's remote controlled Hummer! Beth was a wild woman--crashing into the curb and trying to run her brother over! Jack was quite a bit more cautious!
After dinner, we all got in the car again and headed over to the Cornelius' house for a visit. We wanted to help Beth and Jack get used to going over there since we usually have a Bible Study there every Thursday evening. 6-year-old Hannah, had set up some toys especially for Jack and Beth to play with when we arrived! What a great little hostess! Even though they had already met so many new people today, they seemed to warm up to our friends a little quicker than before. By the time we left, Steve was getting high-fives from Beth and playing peek-a-boo around the kitchen island.
Whew! What a day! By the time we got home, brushed teeth, got pajamas on and got them into bed, they didn't have much protest in them. Only 20 minutes or so--way better than 2 hours!
So many of you have asked about their language acquisition that I thought I'd include a few updates and a funny story. Beth can count to 5 in English, and she really emphasizes the "FIVE". She also like to play the letter "I" on the fridge phonics over and over. I wonder why she likes that sound so much? They both say "thank you" and with prompting will say "please." Most of our communication from them depends on us understanding their Thai. We do our best to say things in both Thai and English, but often rely on pointing and demonstrating to indicate what we want them to do. So anyway, last night at the dinner table Daddy quite obviously passed gas. I reminded him that he should say "excuse me" so that Beth and Jack would learn to say it in such a situation, too. So, he dutifully said "excuse me" to which Beth responded with a strong "AMEN." Yes, we find a lot of amusement at the Wofford house now!
P.S. So sorry no pictures today--I thought Beth had absconded with the camera, but found it safely hidden behind the tool turnabout on the kitchen counter after all the day's events had passed by. (She is a bit of a packrat :) )