Waiting for Hari

Mommy's little Julia is 6 years old

January 16, 2007

Julia is 6 today. I am not home today and so cannot report her doings but she received the best present ever because Cheshire came home today. Cheshire told me that she has never been greeted with joyful screams and so the reunion must have been a good one. We had a lovely weekend of visits.

Last Friday, Julia and I went to Toby’s house and Julia played with Toby’s younger daughter. We visited for almost 2 hours and apart from a very few times when Julia grabbed the toy that Elana was playing with, Julia did pretty well. I was able to intercept the toy grabbing at least twice and Julia did not get upset when I took the toy from her and gave it back to Elana. There were times during that visit when Julia played beside Elana, or in the same room, rather than with her. They ate their snacks together and hugged each other before we left.

Julia found a hobbyhorse in Toby’s playroom. She had no idea of how to use it but loved the horse head. By the end of the visit, Toby and the girls offered the hobbyhorse to Julia since the girls don’t play with it anymore. Julia was so pleased and is enjoying "riding" around the house since then.

On Saturday, Robin came and spent part of the day with us. Julia was in heaven with Alison and Nathaniel. It took the kids a little while to get in sync but once they did, they dragged out all of the toys and played. At times it was hard to tell that one of them was not totally understandable or understood. We had shared birthday cupcakes for Alison and Julia. We sang and they each blew out 3 candles. Alison did it in one blow; Julia took awhile to focus her blowing and then blew each candle out individually.

Then on Sunday, Julia and I went to Lisa’s house – a house with two boys who really have lots of dinosaurs! Julia had a good time. She went downstairs to the playroom/basement and was not heard from for hours on end. Lisa’s kids played with her and I think they were very patient. They are all older than she is and that is easier on her. It was amazing that although she had a great time with the kids and the toys, she was not at all adverse to leaving without any of those toys. My girl is learning.

It is still hard for Julia to have me away for three days. This week we had a rocky start when I first came home, but she warmed to me pretty quickly. She is her Daddy’s girl and she just loves to insist on his doing stuff for her. One evening, we were going to watch television and I gave her the choice between watching a certain movie and going up to bed. She chose going up to bed by just taking David’s hand and telling him to get up and go upstairs.

She is wearing pajamas now – not all the time, mind you, but often. Prior to this, she has put nightgowns on during the day but only went to bed in a shirt and panties. David said it happened for the first time last week when she volunteered to put on pj’s with pants! So first pj’s and first pants since we’ve brought her home. On Saturday night, she wore a sleeveless night gown with a short sleeved shirt underneath an a pair of pajama bottoms. I wonder if we will ever get to pj pieces that are meant to go together or just plain nightgowns. Julia’s fashion choices are so very interesting. We watched the movie Pocahantus and the rest of the weekend, Julia was Poke-thomas. Well, that is when she wasn’t a Ceretops or a Longneck – there is frequently a roaring dinosaur around the house.

posted by Suz @ 9:05 PM