Happy Adoption Day, Ina!

Today...

...you woke up smiling and announcing to the still-quiet house that it was Adoption Day!
...your big sister asked if we were going to adopt some more? (No, we are not. But on days like this with all the memories, I can't help but go there in my mind. Briefly.)
...your Pre-K class made a big fuss and celebration over your special day and you loved it.
...it is cloudy and threatens rain just like it did on that original adoption day.

Happy Adoption Day, Ina!

A Walk on the Dark Side

This Halloween was our first "dark" Halloween. Until now, every Halloween has been fairies, princesses, or angels.

Correction, last year they were pirates. Well, pirate princesses. Which means that there was a lot of sparkle and glitter to go with the bandannas and eye patches, and the only dark part was the "Arghh!" that they had perfected.

But this year, Ina determined early on that she was going to be a vampire. That she even knew what a vampire was surprised me.

Isa was of course going to be a princess. And she was sure of that for several days, no doubt hoping that Ina would be wooed back to the light with promises of sparkle and glitter.

Ina would not be wooed, but Isa would be tempted. Suddenly Isa decided she would be a witch! And she announced it with gusto! As if she felt wickedly liberated in her decision.

After giving them a couple of weeks to change their mind (sparkle and glitter is so seductive), we hied ourselves to Goodwill to look for the missing items: for Ina a small, black men's button-down shirt, for Isa a black dress or skirt, and a belt.

Isa loved Goodwill; it was like dress-up heaven. And she got to shop in the ladies' section, which is her fondest wish! After some initial distractions - "Focus, Isa, focus. We're here for a witch's costume!" - she found herself a drapey black skirt with layered ruffles on the bottom that gave the illusion of a torn hem. Then she found a black belt with a big silver buckle.

We took our loot home and started assembling. A little ribbon here, some costume jewelery there, and we had the beginnings of two pretty good costumes. But the finishing touches of hair and makeup would have to wait for Halloween...

(click collage to enlarge)

Frida - A Year Later

You may remember Isa's version of Nickolas Muray's photograph of Frida Kahlo (Frida on White Bench) from last year.

A few months ago, she discovered the book again, and like last time, was mesmerized by the cover. So after I showed Isa what she had done a year ago, she decided she could do better now. What do you think?

GENIUS! PRODIGY! Normal.

Around the time Isa won her 2nd place ribbon in her first art show, Ina started asking, "What's my talent?"

Our first, honest reaction was: "Remembering things!" Ina has the memory of a steel trap. She forgets nothing. It is actually kind of eerie.

Well, she has a new talent to add to that one: Ina can write her name backwards. As in mirror-image. She doesn't just write the letters in reverse order, no, she writes it from right to left, with the letters actually mirror image. If you hold the page up to a mirror, it is perfect. And she does it fast!

The first time I saw her do that was one morning as I dropped her off at pre-K. Each child "signs in" by writing his or her name on piece of paper. Whoosh, Ina wrote it backwards. I did a double-take. I told C about it. Surely it was an indicator of superior mental skill! Couple that with her steel-trap memory, and we might have a genius on our hands!

The next morning, again, Ina signed in backwards. I gently pointed out to her that her name was written beautifully, just um, backwards. Her teacher casually acknowledged, "Oh, that? Totally normal." "Really!?!?" I asked. "Oh, yeah."

Mentally, I sniffed, "Normal. Hmpf." But sure enough, after a good ol' google, we found that little Ina is, in fact, totally normal. But with some really cool talents!

Momniscient

One morning a couple of weeks ago, Isa was finishing up her morning chores:

when she called out from her room,

"Mama, I'm dooooone!"

"Did you make your bed?" I called back from the kitchen.

(pause)

Isa walked slowly into the kitchen. "How did you know I didn't make my bed? I know how, it's because you have magic eyeballs that see all the way into my room."

She slowly walked back toward her room, talking more to herself at that point, "...and that follow me around wherever I go."