What a fun week!!

BTW, I LOVE strawberry banana smoothies!! Yummmm!
Daddy and his girls at the zoo! 
Scarlett loves the keyboard. She was busy emailing everyone she knows for about 30 minutes. Daddy says this photo is her 'raging against the man'
Scarlett in her 'Sister's Oregon' hat

Swinging Girl Video

This week has been full of fun and excitement. First we went to the zoo on Tuesday with Grandma Janie, Auntie Joanne and Ava. It was a very pretty sunny day at the zoo and most importantly the muir cats were out (those are Ava's favorite animal). We also saw the baby elephant "Sam" who is quite the charmer. And when we were cruising through the Africa exhibit, guess who showed up, Daddy!! Andy popped over on the Max and finished up the zoo with us. It was a neat treat to see him and plus he rescued Scarlett from the stroller for a bit, which she was excited about. Ava also got a ride on his shoulders so it seemed like everyone was very happy that he was able to join us. 

Today visited Julia our childcare provider. That went great. We'll be visiting again next week and then doing a 'dry run' week before I start back at A-dec. The kids there all real cute and very sweet. They really want to play with Scarlett and she did warm up and play for a while. She of course had to verify that I was still there periodically then go back to playing. 

Then we saw our good buddy Mary Jean at the Reedville Cafe for lunch and had a quick Costco run and then stopped by Chris's shop. Once Daddy got home we walked over to the park and did some swinging which Scarlett LOVED!! She cried for a bit when we left. My mom said that when I was small they used to take me to the park and I loved swinging soooo much I would fall asleep in the swing. So all in all a super busy day. 

On another note, (okay this is my soap box, but isn't that part of blogging?) a few of my friends have been asking when they can watch Scarlett... the long and short is, not for a while... She isn't ready and neither am I. I want Scarlett to develop great relationships with everyone and she will, but remember we just had our 2 month anniversary, only 2 short months (even though it seems longer than that). Building a family through adoption is different than bio-kids so patience is a good thing here. We are going to be working on attachment for our first year together so that means that we aren't going to be leaving her with folks during that time (except for Julia, b/c I have to work) We need to be her primary caregivers to establish the bonds we'll have for a lifetime. 

Scarlett is doing great and adjusting quickly but we all have to remember that she was in an orphanage for a lot longer than she has been with us. In short, I'll let you know when you can watch her, take her places etc., because she needs to be comfortable with it and so do I. 

I know you all understand, but are just excited and love her and that is awesome. It is easy to think that because she is adjusting so well we don't have to focus on the attachment stuff but that isn't the case at all. In fact once Scarlett starts day care, I think we'll have to be even more diligent about it. 

Here is a great article I have referenced before (Grandmas' ignore the title): www.emkpress.com/pdffiles/grandma%20guide.pdf

Enough from my soap box tonight. Hope you enjoy the photos!!