"Ange-Laurette is sure aging!"

Bruce thought it would be funny to send this photo to our adoption worker and to say that we are concerned about how quickly Ange-Laurette is aging! They were having fun dressing up at Grandma's, and Bruce took this hilarious photo of her. I especially like the go-go boots....that was one hot grandma in her day!!


The kids absolutely LOVE it at the farm. They love the freedom to roam, the decorated shed where they can finally play "house," and the outdoor fun with cousins and kitties. The night they returned from their 3-night stay there, Ange-Laurette called me into her room after being tucked in. She said, "I feel like I want to cry. I miss Grandma's house already." She has already decided that she is going to live there one day!

Pierre's first birthday party

I wish I could record Pierre's squeal! He turns into a little boy all over again each time he gets excited. Although we try to remind him of "4th grade behavior," it is a precious thing to watch him experience everything for the first time. As quickly as he learned to ride bike, he out grew his bike! That is what he wanted for his birthday: a new big bike and a fishing pole. At 5 feet tall now, he actually "fits" this new bike!


He invited his new friends and cool little brother to a backyard birthday pool party the weekend before school started. It was encouraging to see how he fit in, and it was a joy to see how he enjoyed every single aspect of the afternoon. From the "froggy" ice cream cake, to the timed sports obstacle course (which he easily won), to the bubbles and silly bands he handed out at the end...Pierre was in heaven! He must have thanked and hugged us a dozen times that night. (As you can see in the photo, Ange-Laurette is doing ok with the long wait until her December birthday :)

Summer tutoring success ~

Both Pierre and Ange-Laurette were blessed with this special lady, who offered them tutoring in reading all summer. We found the perfect program (LiPS) to help them both hear the sounds in words by focusing on speech sounds related to the formation of our lips/tongue/teeth...while segmenting those sounds and syllables to form words and sound them out. (Not sure I am explaining this correctly :) The point is that we had the best luck yet in helping Pierre finally focus on sounding out words, rather than guessing. Even more importantly, he LOVED the tutor and continued to work "like a dog," as he likes to put it. For Ange-Laurette, it was tolerable. :) Although she loves books like the Junie B series, she would much rather be out front playing 4-square. Pierre's "pursuit of excellence" is not something she has internalized just yet!


Still, her efforts in other areas are admirable. Ange-Laurette has simply never been taught the skills of being a good friend or of offering encouragement to others, etc. It is not that she is not kind. She just did not receive the coaching we offered our other kids from Day 1. After being with friends, she will still turn to me to ask, "Is THAT being nice, Mom?" She admits that her birthmother did not smile much. Ange-Laurette remembers that she did like babies and little children but says she did not greet or stop to talk with others very often. So many stories like these are surfacing.

As I braided her hair the other day, Ange told about the only time she visited her grandmother. She and her birthmother traveled "about 4 hours" by tap tap (taxi). They had to walk a long ways even once they arrived. Her older birth brother lived there with cousins. She remembers that they had lots of good water and trees to climb. Ange-Laurette's favorite memory was climbing trees for "co co ay" or coconuts. They would throw them down to the ground. If they would break open, all the cousins would run to drink from them. Then, the ladies would take "the inside white and mix it with rice and mmmmm, that was so good!"