Birthday post

Dear beetle bop,
Oh my, I can not believe you are three. The twos are described as terrible and although you threw more than one tantrum and shouted bad people at more than one unsuspecting stranger I would call this year nothing short of magnificent. You have a wealth of vocabulary in which you can put together and get your point across. Your daddy and I have loved laughing with you this year. You have learned so much. You can sing your ABC's and you know a variety of other songs Old Mcdonald is your favorite. You can be one of the most strong willed little ones I know and you have recieved more than your fair share of time outs this year. You love routine and are very sure you do not want to deviate from the norm. You are very very good at entertaining yourself and your love of trains has developed throughout this year and is nothing short of an infatuation now. My forvorite thing to see and hear is when you pat the floor next to you and say Play wif me mommy. How could any sensible mommy resist. Thank you sassy pants for being so fun and just too adorable.
I often wonder if all mothers feel as lucky and honored as I do or if that is a territory that comes with adoption. Through the process of adoption I think one comes to understand the privilege it is to be ones mother. Motherhood becomes less of a divine right. I get to feel this privilege, but you being the adopted child, I have come to realize that your feelings will eventually differ from my own. For while I gained so much there will come a time when you realize your loss. This I know, will be the year, that you will understand a small fraction of what it means to be adopted. I know this year, as you will not grasp the full concept, you will see it as I see it as a part of your life that makes you special. I hope that in this 3rd year of your life that I can lay a foundation for later discussions, so that you my love, will know that I am here to listen. That I will try my best to always be what you need. I hope that this year as we begin our first discussions about the beginning of your life we can lay a foundation where we can love laugh and cry together throughout your journey, which through an act of god or destiny or just the best luck ever I get to share in. As always on your birthday I wish I could wrap my arms around your birth mother and tell her you are safe and happy and that we will cherish you each year we get to share with you. That we love you to the ends of the earth and back and that we are so indescribably grateful that we can share the gift of our gem. So my dear beetle bop I know our adventure will continue and you will change during your 3rd year in ways I can not even begin to imagine. Know forever that I love you and that you make me feel the luckiest mom on earth. Love you to the moon and back, Mommy

Look who's 3!

What happens when a Delap turns 3.

You wake up and there is a super spectacular train table.

You get to play with the table with a little bed head.
Daddy and Mommy make you pancakes and they put M&M's in them. Did you hear me I said M&M's!

Then people come over for a party and they bring presents.

Mommy can not believe I am free (3) today

Presents

Who told all the guests that I like trains and horses and books and clothes and oh my even more.

Grandma and Grandpa

Our friend Jake. His mama is the cake extraordinaire. Keep looking you have got to see the cake.

presents are fun!

Is this not the cutest girlie train cake ever! Thank you to my friends Meg and Carrie for sharing their talents.

Yummy!


Oh my oh my this train is mighty tasty.

We are so happy that Diana and Dani traveled 3 hours to see us. We get to go to Dani's bday in a couple of weeks.

Eating cake with Nonnie and Auntie Jessica

Sharing my new train table.

Oh my goodness did you know I'm a big girl.

Big girls sleep in big girl beds.

Mommy and Daddy are wondering if they will get any sleep tonight.

Lilyism

So to set the scene Lily and I are sitting in the back of the car and her finger is way up her nose. Some serious gold digging going on. She catches me looking so she takes her finger out of her nose and pops it in her mouth.

Mommy "ewww yucky"

Lily Giggle giggle

Mommy "Lily why do you eat your boogers?"

Lily "They taste like lemons"

Mommy Giggle giggle.

Dear Lily, When you read this later in life. I love you and I'm sorry but I just couldn't resist. You are too funny My sassy little one.

Tell me what you think

I want to know if I am over reacting or if my feelings are valid. I work for a brand new school district. I used to work for a small district where things ran smoothly and you could make a phone call and someone would call you back. Last year it was voted by the community that my small beloved district was to become a large k-12 district. So I now work for this big machine that is not well oiled and I am frustrated about what has happened. So I went to a in service training on Friday already feeling frustrated. The morning was spent at a high school with k-12 teachers discussing linguistics I guess you could say. The presenter was telling us that we needed to acknowledge our students vernacular but then teach them academic language. Well duh, I am still with you. Yes children need to know that there is a time and place to speak slang. I speak differently to my best friend than to my students. Occasionally when I feel passionately about something an F bomb may slip out. Shocking I know. So here is where the conversation got sticky and offensive to me. The presenter focused solely on "ebonics" and "spanglish." once again the presenters words and not mine. Instead of focusing on the academic language that needed to be taught so children coming from all backgrounds could be successful test takers it became directed at 2 subsets. It became like a translation from slang to formal English. I did not need to be told what "I be trippin" means but funny side note the stuffy presenter needed to know cause she thought the direct translation literally meant I am tripping. Anyways as a teacher I am asked to teach directly to my English language learners for a half hour a day and I can tell you children from all backgrounds are in this group occasionally even English only speaking children because they have not been exposed to language. and yes some of them are white American born children. What is offensive to me is that we still have to be having a race discussion instead of a discussion about children. The presentation could have been rich and taught me something about language that my first graders need to hear in order to be successful on the standardized test. And then language that they continue to hear throughout there schooling cause none of us as parents walk around asking our children what the sum of something is. We ask them how many there are? Or some form of that question. I think my role as a multicultural parent made me feel so passionately that my district had the focus of the discussion wrong and offensive. Because when my child enters the world she will be perceived a certain way for the way she looks and it makes me angry that in 2008 we have not moved very far from where we were 50 years ago. That fact was just dropped in lap thanks new district for given me a dose of reality I suppose. So tell me what ya think? Am I overly sensitive?

Quote

I stole this from my friends blog. I know it's not nice to steal but I love this quote.

our children are not ours because they share our genes......

they are ours because we had the audacity to envision them.

That, at the end of the day...or long sleepless night,

is how love really works.

author unknown

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Get ready for picture overload. We went to the pumpkin patch today and had so much fun. I am enjoying the cool crisp air and the season these days. I am still a sun goddess but there is certainly a lot to love about Autumn. Enjoy!

sicky poo

My poor baby. Lily is a very healthy child. she has had her fair share of colds but hasn't had anything that set her back for more than a day or so. She caught a stomach virus. I brought her home from school on thursday and she vomited all evening. Yesterday she couldn't keep anything down and today she has eatin a little but is still not herself. She has been in my lap for 3 days now. She whimpers and tells me she has a sicky tummy. I am so sad for her that Mommy can't fix it and either can the magic doctor. No medicine perscribed for a stomach virus. I know this will be the first of many, hopefully she wakes up from her nap and feels better
:(