A hodge-podge

First, here's Z in her other pair of new glasses:

She's already scratched the lens on one pair -- she took a header on the driveway this morning and landed smack on her face. There wasn't much crying, but she did scratch the glasses and got a big raspberry on her forehead. I guess it's a good thing we didn't spend a whole bunch of $$ on the glasses.

Today I went shopping with Flynn's mom here. If you live anywhere near Denver and haven't been there yet, you should really go. It's the best kids' consignment shop EVER. But I want you to know that I exercised some pretty remarkable restraint today. There were at least half a dozen things I desperately wanted to buy (oh, the dresses! the floral print pants with the sequins! the skirt with the hot pink tulle ruffle around the bottom!), but all I walked away with was something we actually needed -- a pair of shorty pajamas for Z. Hanna Anderssen PJs, in perfect, like-new condition, for $12! You can't beat that with a stick, as my Grammy used to say.

Bonding & attachment blah blah blah

This stuff all sounds like a breeze when you're taking those classes and reading the books, even a little hokey sometimes, but I have to tell you: the real thing is so much harder than I thought it would be. However, Z and I have reached a nice attachment milestone in the past week or so that's really sweet: she's been holding on to me when I hold her. She's always been happy to be carried, and in the last month has come to me with her arms out, wanting to be held. But she hasn't held me back until recently. This is a big step for her!

B has also been doing better. I alluded to his struggles a couple weeks ago, but never really went into it. It's sometimes hard for me to decide if writing about that kind of stuff is valuable enough to my handful of prospective adoptive parent readers to risk violating his privacy, and I've been on the fence about this particular case. I'll just keep it brief. He's had the usual difficulties of a new sibling -- acting out, abusing the younger kid on occasion, jealousy over sharing toys, etc. The hardest part has been bedtime though. He's been a champion sleeper ever since I read and implemented the "No Cry Sleep Solution" when he was about six months old. If you have a baby who doesn't sleep well, buy this book!! It saved our lives, I swear. Anyway, starting about a month ago, he began to seriously freak out at bedtime. Crying that he was afraid of his room, getting out of bed and coming into our room a bazillion times before going to sleep, even screaming hissy fits on a nightly basis for a couple of weeks. We did everything we could think of. We checked every nook & cranny of his room with him before putting him to bed to make sure it was safe. We left his door wide open. We spent extra time snuggling after books -- and I'm talking a LOT of extra time, not just a few minutes. We even let him stay up late and read books in bed a few times. All to no avail. Then all of a sudden, three nights ago, he was done with all that. Now he still gets some extra time at bedtime (nice for him and for us), but goes to sleep quietly without all the drama. Oh boy, I hope I didn't just jinx us by typing that. If we have a bad night, I may have to come back in the morning and delete what I just wrote.

Why no photos of the handsome B?

There haven't been a lot of photos of B in the past few posts because he's been a little camera-shy. I'll try to sneak some tomorrow. He's also been behind the camera again. Behold his latests masterpieces: