What I like about you.

She's 3 1/2. Is she EVER.

This brings challenges that all my mama friends tried to warn me of. The 'THREE's' are worse than the 'TWO's'. I am now a believer of this. I will sing it from the rooftops for all those in the trenches behind me. This age is challenging.

But we like this kid. A lot. (Of course we are madly in love with her.) We like how her personality has transformed into this phenomenal story-teller, singer, dancer, musician, jokster. We like her out-of-this world vocabulary. We like that she tells us "I love you" as much as she says "I want..." in any given day. We like the little person she is shaping into.

Quirks. Oh, she's got 'em. And at least for now, they seem to be set in stone. And because WE are a work-in-progress, we don't always understand them (they are hers, after all).

Yesterday we were invited to Madrin's 7th birthday party at a rollerskating rink. I will tell you that I spent a good deal of time on roller skates as a kid. It was a BIG deal to hit the rink on the weekends with my friends. I will also share that I haven't been on roller skates in over 25 years. It's like riding a bike, right?? What you won't do for your three-year old. Larry had never laced up a pair before yesterday.

So once we were laced up and ready to go, the lights went out. And it looked this cool. And Ella freaked. While Larry and I were trying to get our bearings, clomping around on carpet with skates, we were also trying to calm the cling-on of a child yelling about the flashing lights. We did a good deal of watching from the sidelines as Ella's BFF Roz was out there embracing the lights and loud music with reckless abandon. Ella was perfectly content to be on the sidelines taking it all in and the work-in-progress parents figured this out :)

The lights came back on and she was a new kid. "Let's go!", she said. And we did.

How Katie managed this shot while skating behind us, holding Roz's hand...a mystery.

And Roz got quite brave before the day was over!

It was so much fun that we all napped for over two hours on Sunday afternoon. Slugs, yes...but it felt great.

I'm also including a link for insight on the changing face of China's orphans. Check back to this Love Without Boundaries blog for more writing. They are a wonderful organization.

~H