On a positive note....

If you read my last post you'll know that there is now a sense of stability in the Erwin household. So now I feel the need to update the blog with all sorts of recent events. Hopefully the photos will load tonight too....

About 10 days ago, we had "Art Day" at home. Tab & I shopped for paint & finally did something with the 16 x 20 canvases that have been stacked again the wall in the study. She had a blast! Turns out that she's never done anything like this before, and once I got them finished & hung up she was in love with her artwork. Also got the curtains sewn for her room & deployed and she is totally into decorating her room. So on almost a daily basis she's rearranging something in there or putting a new nametag on the door to claim it as hers. The cats, and especially Brie & Merlot are only allowed in under supervision & she keeps the door closed whenever she's not home. Sometimes, even when she is.... (Hmmmm, shades of thirteen.....)

We managed to work out a playdate at the Zoo with one of her best buds from the orphanage who had come to camp with her last year. We had gotten the kids to talk on the phone a couple of times, but that didn't compare to being at the zoo together. They had a grand time even though his mom & I were just melting in the 102 heat.

She was promoted from the level 1 class to the level 2 class in gymnastics about 3 weeks ago and the coaches have already said that they want to recruit her to the competitive team if a slot opens up late this year or next year. She has been sooooo excited about this! She's told me that she wants to go to contests and compete and *win*. (No competitive streak there....) So we celebrated by buying her first real "gymnastics" leotard, in pink of course.

About 3 weeks ago we entered the "Why? Why? Why?" stage. Literally every other word from her is "Why?" I remember me doing the same thing at that age and I honestly do not know how my mom kept from killing me. But her English comprehension is progressing well. I'm speaking very little Russian these days, and when I do, I'm told very emphatically "Talk only English Mom - I not listen to Russian anymore!!" Her sentences are getting a little longer, but still have a mishmash of Russian & English. She's also starting to sound out words in books and she's starting to be pretty accurate. So not too much longer and we'll be hearing some serious reading action. Last month when we cleaned her room she stacked all her Russian books up and told me to throw them away. Just about broke my heart. And no I didn't throw them away; I'll hold on to them for the future -- just out or her sight. Sunday we were told "My name's Tabitha. Don't call me Masha anymore!" Fine in theory, but it hasn't really stuck so far at home.

Last week she had a repeat eye check-up with a fine-tuning of her prescription. This time, instead of the full-body thrown on the floor with wailing effect when we picked out glasses, she picked out her own glasses and she thinks that she is "All That and Then Some!" Hard to argue since they are pretty darn cute!

Counting down the days until the end of Summer camp and then she and I are hitting the road for a road trip. Going to San Antonio to visit Doug & family and we both can't wait. Then we get home, it's "meet the teacher day" and then it's the start of school. August 10th -- how insane is that?!?!