Friday

We are waiting for Paulette to come get us for the Monarchs game tonight.  I have resorted to a timer and cartoons to avoid answering the "When is Auntie P coming?" question a thousand more times.

Yesterday on the way home I heard a mother of a young child describe her life as:  "Molly gets up and gets on the Molly train and I get on the Molly train and away we go all day long."  I can say I  get on the talking Shae train every morning.  

Thursday we had our final party at my school.   Shae went with the kids to watch Cinderella until it was time to eat. Yes we had watched it two days ago.  The party, a huge success, included the giving of certificates to students for their hours in class.  AND of course a lot of homemade Mexican food.  Shae tried nopales (cactus) salad.  She liked it but didn't ask for seconds.  One of my students pointed out there were some real hot peppers in it.  She didn't get any of them in her mouth.

 We came home and she played with the art supplies Maria Paz had given her.   I finished David's T-shirt quilt.  It is not fancy but it holds his sports, concert and other memories together in one place.  And there are not five boxes of T-shirts in their garage.  Shae helped me take out all of the safety pins I had used while tying and binding the quilt.  An exciting game for about fifteen minutes.  

We went to  the swimming pool for a about thirty minutes.  She broke the no running rule so no swimming today.   When she was talking to her mother this afternoon she said "I didn't go swimming today."  There was a pause and I said tell her why.  Shae covered the mouthpiece of the phone and said, "She didn't ask."  Daddy had already asked why  so it was no secret.

We had a snack and it was time for a little bicycle ride to the duck pond.  We had a nice walk and ride to the pond and she got to take a couple of pictures with her (not digital) camera.  I am amazed at how much she can talk, how many questions she can ask and every answer requires a WHY.  I am saying there is no why.  I get a puzzled look and she says "OK" and goes on to the next question.

We had garlic, chicken and pasta for dinner along with some potato salad I had made.  She likes my potato salad and said she had never had potato salad before.

Bedtime took a while because of phone calls to say goodnight.  Here's how it went:  She called David, not available,  then Robin was unavailable.  As we hung up Denise called from Florida.  Of course she had to talk to her for a few minutes.  While we were talking Robin called back.  Then we called back to Robin.  Then everyone had to say goodnight and she wanted to start over again.  We read two  short books and she went to sleep.

Today we went to Dixon to clear out some stuff and junk.   That done we went to Davis for lunch and bought some post cards for her to send her family.  We shopped at the coop and picked up the box of vegetables.  A trip to midtown Sacramento for my race number for Sunday and we were home.  It was rest time.  Yes, for both of us.  We had a snack, she wrote her postcards and we mailed them when I picked up my mail.  She got a letter from home and was very excited.  We played Animal Rummy for as long as I could.  Now this darn waiting.

GO MONARCHS!

PS

I forgot to tell you all about our two encounters with "wildlife":  Monday morning a ladybug rode all the way to Dixon on the windshield.  It crawled behind the windshield wiper for the freeway drive.  I guess it didn't want a second ride--It was gone when we went home.  Then when I was cutting some fresh apricots, there was a worm inside who seemed to be eating the pit.  Shae corrected me when I said it was eating the seed.  When she looked she  said, "You mean the pit."  My bad.

Tuesday

We left home very early (6AM) to have coffee with my friend Adrienne. Shae, a real trooper, dressed, brushed teeth and hair and buckled into her car seat without protest. Perhaps she was just dazed at the early hour.

At Marketplace she pointed out "the three little pigs" dancing in front of Noah's bagels and Peet's coffee. I asked what kind of bagel she liked. "What are my options?" she asked. She chose sesame seed--not toasted, no cream cheese. From the juice options she chose Mango Tango over Monster C and orange.

Adrienne arrived, we ate, drank Mango Tango and lattes and talked. Shae asked to see Adrienne's bicycle after she found out she had ridden it. She told Adrienne I had bought her a camera and added "It's not digital." (It's single use)

In the computer lab she continued to click away on the English Rosetta Stone program. After our break and snack she stayed with Maria Paz (babysitter) and the Spanish speaking kids. It helped there was a girl in class who spoke English.

We visited the district office to pick up the student certificates. She explored Telly's desk while Telly answered questions about everything. She had half-and-hour nap on the drive home.

After lunch she rode her bicycle (She rides, I walk, jog and run) to the polling place so I could vote. The poll workers, all grandparent age, talked to Shae. One man asked if her bicycle was registered and did she have a license. She said, "No" with a very worried look on her face. I told him she was from Nevada. He said. "That explains it. You're OK" She gave him half a smile. Biking back to the apartment, we change to swim suits and have time for a half-hour swim.

We dry off, dress and have a snack. Then watch Cinderella (I admit I dozed from the losing of the glass slipper to the end of the wedding.)

Auntie P showed up just after Shae started asking "When will Auntie P be here?" Continuing our busy day, we stopped at Michael's to buy soap for Paulette's class to make father's day gifts. Then Paulette went into Home Depot to find out about the first Saturday craft hours. We ate Swedish meatballs, mac and cheese and frozen yogurt at IKEA for dinner. Shae went home with Paulette. I watched two episodes of Ballykissangel (I get this BBC comedy from Netflix.)

Wednesday she will come home with me after my Argentine Tango lesson.

Our first full day together

Tonight Shae is too tired to type her own entry.  Since we read Animals live in Trees she has not asked for anything, no water, no I forgot to tell you something.  I peeked in and she is sound asleep.  WOW.

We went to work this morning.  She followed me around as I opened the classrooms and got ready for class.  I took her to the babysitter, Maria Paz.  (Maria takes care of our students' children.)  After about 45 minutes Maria came to get me.  Shae was afraid and didn't want to stay because all of the kids were speaking Spanish.  So she joined me with my students in the computer lab.  I gave her the English Rosetta Stone disc and showed her how to listen and click and for the next 45 minutes she clicked away.  "I really like that disc." she said as we made our way to break time.  In the classroom she was a hit with the five ladies who were in class.  (You can tell it is the end of school--attendance is very low.  Until the party.)  The ladies practiced their English by asking her questions.  

After class we went to COSTCO.  "Are we in Reno?"  She asked as we walked toward the doors.  "No this is Woodland."  It struck me that children are growing up without being able to tell they have crossed a state line.  And they are seldom more than twenty from a favorite, or at least familiar, fast food store.  We had COSTCO Pizza for lunch.

After a twenty minute rest for both of us we hit the swimming pool for an hour.  Washed the pool water out of our hair and set off for Longs Drugs.  I walked and Shae rode her bicycle.  For me. alone, it is a ten minute walk each way; including our ten minutes inside we were gone about  an hour.

After dinner we started watching ANNIE--too many things to explain so we watched Shrek one.  She is not old enough for ANNIE.  I found I didn't like it very much anyhow.

Shae's visit

Here's Shae with Daddy and Skyler at 5pm on Sunday when Daddy and Skyler left to go back to Reno.

After church in Reno, Daddy and Skyler and Shae drove for three hours to Sacramento.  

We all went swimming and Auntie P came to Grandma's and swam with us.  We had a lot of fun in the water.  Shae's life jacket works very well and she is learning too move herself around in the water.  Skyler brought his water rockets to throw in the pool and dive to get them.

Grandma cooked chicken and rice and made a salad and we had dinner.  We had vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Shae will type her own message:

to mom dad  skyler sterling    I   love   you and   miss you. shae

kykh0jkjkikk8ku9uui,mihnmnmn   vv ,,,kjllfkykn,kty;[]o7oypy-6-6-=--pokpllopk[[;[']'g]'\\

Shae tried her touch typing here and we don't know what it say.