Hit the Road, Jack

On the way home from a President's Weekend trip to Philadelphia! (The faux cheetah bags are Jiejie's. The floppy puppy is the newest dog in Meimei's stuffed animal family, Silly.

Skating Away

I took Jiejie to her ice-skating class today for the first time. It was her third class, and she bravely took to the ice with a large group of flailing fledglings. She was upright most of the time, going forward and backward, doing "snowplows" and giving a little hop between glides. The tentativeness of the baby we brought home, and the toddler who struggled against her sensory processing issues were hardly visible. At her instruction, I stayed in one place so she could see me, although she did not dare wave.
Nothing could have wiped that smile from my face; it gave way once to a bit of a wince when there was a five-kid pileup on the ice.

When we got home, Jiejie and Meimei discovered they could watch Meimei's "Max and Ruby" DVD in French, so they did. Jiejie had her French dictionary (with pictures) in hand and began constructing quiz questions with some of the words, while Meimei kept her eyes on her pal Max.
"Pourquoi?" said Meimei, imitating Max.

And I squeezed her a little tighter because she can't skate away quite so fast -- yet.

Faces From the Past

Jiejie was proud last week to be helping a student who is new to her school. The little girl, Elissa, "looks just like me!" Jiejie told us excitedly. I asked her what that meant. She took her long, shiny hair and folded it up around her shoulders. "Just look at me. Her hair is like mine only this short. Her face is like mine."

This was the first time Jiejie has made a visual observation aloud about being Asian, an important step in building a strong identity as a Chinese-American girl. I have worried a lot that this might be something she learns on the playground in a difficult moment instead of observing it on her own. After all, when we watched Martin Luther King on TV when she was 5, when we stayed up late on election night, when we sat raptly watching the inauguration, Jiejie spoke sympathetically of the inequality black Americans had endured at the hands of "white people" like us. She often put her arm up to mine to show how closely our skin colors "matched." But as she gazed at me with the news of her classmate it was clear that Jiejie identified with her so fully that by changing her own hair she became Elissa.

I think she is on her way to understanding, really understanding inside, where she comes from, the first step to becoming who she is.

Why We Have Brothers

Overheard while the girls were getting their bath tonight:

Jiejie to Meimei: I can't wait till T.J. comes. Then when we play house we can have a boy to be the father.

Poor kid. He doesn't know what he is in for.

Ready for the New Year

Meimei starts preschool, Jiejie is taking ice skating and chess. Our babies are growing up!

Meimei's Knock-Knock Joke

Meimei: Knock knock.

Mom: Who's there?

Meimei: Why the chicken chase the road?

Mom: I don't know. Why?

Meimei, collapsing in laughter: Because he eat WORMS!

I think she's getting the idea.

It Beats Resting

Meimei was up to her usual tricks tonight. As soon as we were comfortably settled in bed, she said, "Pee, pee."
I took her to the toilet. Nothing.
Back in bed, she said, "Mama, want dress." Lately she has been into wearing dresses to bed. With leggings. Sometimes she has more than one costume change, signaled with the command, "New dress"; later it's "new pants," and so on into the night. Since Daddy was working late and I was feeling less than perky, I said no. Meimei"s face crumpled as the wail rose. As she eyed me to gauge my reaction, she poked out her tongue to catch the cascading tears.
"Want dress NOW."
"Not tonight," I told her. Your sister needs to sleep. She has school in the morning, and you have gym class."
"Want DRESS!"
I tried to ignore the tears and tell the story. Meimei turned up her personal volume. She drowned me out. I knew she was manipulating me, but it still broke my heart to see her in tears.

"O.K., sweetie," I told her." What if I got you a dress."
The noise stopped. She thought.
"I be happy?"
"And then would you want something else?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Blue pants."
"And after that?"
"I be happy?" She was smiling now.
"And then you would want what?"
"Snack!"
"And after the snack?"
She thought again.
"Brush teeth!" Now she was really enjoying the game.
"And what would you want after that?"
"Get Bipedal!" (Bipedal is a beanbag dog, companion to her favored stuffed dog, Blackear.
"And where would we go to get Bipedal?"
"Downstairs!"
"And then what would we do?"
"Watch 'Oobi'."
"We can do all those things, but we'll do them all at the same time, later, when I say so. Can you be patient and wait a little while?"
Her antics continued, but she waited. Soon Jiejie was asleep and Meimei and I headed to her room for the perfect dress, new undies and a little jacket with ballet shoes embroidered on it. Then down we went to find Bipedal, have a snack and watch the Radio City Music Hall "Christmas Spectacular."

Talking in Her Sleep

Jiejie said:

"boo! Boo! Excellent!" with a smile.

And later, "I paused it in my head."