Easter's coming

Sunday is Easter, and Holly is so far not terribly confused by the baskets with fake grass, and the bunnies all over the house. I think she flows with whatever happens around here pretty well. I would be very interested in what she thinks of the actual events of the weekend, right down to taking perfectly good boiled eggs, dipping them in dye and making them different colors, and then just leaving them until the next morning, when she wakes up, and they are all gone. No wait. They're not gone. They're outside,... in the grass... under buckets... in bushes... all over the place. Then, what happens next is even stranger. We run around the yard finding the eggs, putting them in our baskets, but we aren't concerned about the fact that they were outside getting dirty. We are thrilled to find each and every one, not at all angry or upset. Happily we take them back into the house where we... wait for it.. ..we eat them.

We crazy Americans. What will we think of next. Uhm, when should I tell her about Halloween?

Life around here has taken a new normal path. Now that both Tim and I are back at work, Holly has had to get used to our comings and goings, and she has done pretty well, since the girls brought her to see me in dispatch. Once I had gotten home, she was fine again. It was as if she had processed that I don't just disappear, and I really am at an identifiable place. I always come home from that place. It's called Work, and Daddy goes to a place called Work, too. He always comes home, too. Now that she understands, she's fine with it.

Her language acquisition is really picking up. She says most things in English now, or at least combines English and Chinese in the same sentence, using Chinese when she doesn't know how to say it in English. She still grieves now and then, not for very long, but, it still happens. I'm guessing that when she comes out of her grieving, as long as we are very normal with her, and not pitying or overly concerned, she is better able to get back to feeling content. It just wouldn't do her any good, since we don't really have the ability to get inside her head and know exactly what she is mourning or who. We just let her know that she is safe with us, and we love her and we know she is sad and that's ok. She has the right to feel sad.