Daddy has been working late these days, and half the night after he gets home, which means I get the girls to myself a bit more. Tonight I played with Meimei, who wanted to turn somersaults on a pillow while Jiejie read an Olivia book. Then we played limbo with a tape measure, and used it to reel each other in. We ripped brown paper off a table that had been in storage but kept it for another use "so we can save the earth," Jiejie said. We took Meimei to the potty about 23 times. (She's a natural.) Then we played "new babysitter," Jiejie's idea. She was Sydney, the new babysitter, and Meimei was her charge. "What will you do with my daughter today, Sydney?" I asked her. "Oh, whatever she wants," Sydney assured me. "I always do whatever the kid wants. All day." She nodded knowingly. And what will you feed her? "Bananas and apples. They have fiber."
Oh, and protein. "Some... chicken?" she said in a questioning tone. And vegetables? "I think carrots." We're going to have to try that microgreen salad again ... Even having Jiejie's lettuce patch out back is not enough to persuade them to do more than dip something green into ranch dressing and lick the dressing off.
* * *
What does it mean that I keep stumbling over photos of orphans on the Internet and seeing posts about older kids who need homes desperately, kids in China who will be on their own at age 14 if they have not been adopted, kids who are never even on any agency's list for adoption because they are cursed not only with having attained the advanced age of 12 but also were born blind?
It means, I guess, that I hug my kids closer and wonder about carving out that extra bedroom.
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