Has it really been more than a month?

... since my last post? Doesn't seem possible. I've been meaning to, but other things have taken priority, I guess.

What's happened since March 9th:

• March break - I planned a special activity every day. To the farm, to the Nature museum, an outing skiing with both kids (and a teenage friend to accompany Giggles on the slopes), a trip to the ceramics painting place, and one quiet day at home cooking and doing crafts (that was Monday). March break activity photos to come soon!


• Giggles' third Family Day. Her adoption anniversary usually falls during March break; this year it was the Friday, so after our day's special activities, we all went out for supper at her favourite Chinese restaurant. Her favourite dish there? Congee!!!!! I always order one (big!) bowl for eating there and one for taking home.


• Easter - we dyed eggs three times. The Saturday at the beginning of March break, the Sunday after (Palm Sunday) and once with friends at their house, on Easter Saturday. Giggles is a master egg dyer - I think she needs a dozen eggs to do all on her own! Poppet did good work too. With our friends we used the Ukrainian egg dying technique (though not quite so fancy!) but Poppet didn't use the kiska much, he's still a bit young and not good enough fine motor control. Giggles is getting better at it. Our favourite technique though is to put rubber bands on the eggs (the big ones that come on broccoli are the best) and then dying the eggs. It gives nice, solid patterns. Did you know that this year was almost the earliest Easter will ever come? It's the earliest any of us will ever experience Easter - the next time it will fall on 23 March is some hundreds of years in the future. It can also fall on 22 March but that also won't happen for longer than any of us will live.


• Shaved Poppet's head! His hair had been growing since we got him and was getting a bit long and shaggy. Well, not really shaggy, but longish. With very tight curls. So Laoye got out his shaving kit and went to work. I tried it too, so I can do it myself later. It ended up very unevern and weird-looking. But the next day Laolao got out her scissors and fixed it up so it didn't look too bad. I think I need practice!
  
• Laolao and Laoye head home. They flew back out west on Easter Sunday evening, leaving me on my own with my expanded family. Okay, now comes the real test! So far it's been okay. My friend L is now taking Poppet once aabout every other week for a few hours so I have some more time to accomplish stuff around the home (and to start planning for summer holiday) and also to give me a bit of one-on-one time with Giggles, which she dearly loves and needs. Since Laolao and Laoye left I've had a bit more of the "I hate Poppet! Can't we get rid of him? I wish it were just us again!" When they were here Laolao did take Poppet and do stuff with him from time to time, even just in another room, so I could have some snuggles and story-time with just Giggles, for example. So I think she's missing that a lot. Everyone says it takes a good year for families and siblings to adjust to a new addition, so I expcet it will settle down in time.


• We celebrated Poppet's three month-iversary as part of the family on 31 March. Went to one of the local Ethiopian restaurants with some friends, another soon(?)-to-be Chinese-Ethiopian adoptive family. Justice's daughter is very close to Giggles' age. Her (one or two?) Ethiopian kids are still just a twinkle in the eye, but they will come in due course!


• Met P and F, another single mom and her Ethiopian daughter (who arrived home last November). They live a good distance outside Ottawa, but had to come in for an appointment at the International Adoption clinic, so had supper with us since we live just a skip and a hop from the hospital.

• Got rid of (most of) the snow!!!!!!! There was a huge storm here in early March - actually two in one week - that dumped tons of snow on us. The rest of March was below average temps, and it seemed the snow would never leave. But it's now almost gone - still a few big hills, but they're hills instead of mountains, and in isolated clumps rather than whole ranges. Last Wednesday it actually hit 17 degrees - I was out in my shirtsleeves! Hauled out the bikes and Poppet spent the day riding up and down the alley (with training wheels). Have been throwing a bunch of the snow from the piles onto the street to promot thawing, and by now our front garden is almost bare, and at least half the grass is showing in the back. HURRAY!!!! This weekend is cool again, but they're promising nice weather again on Wednesday. Hope it doesn't change.