You Didn't Come Give Me a Hug

A few months back, I went out with a friend for the evening and my husband put Lilly to bed.  She was asleep when I got home; however, I did go up and give her a kiss and hug when I returned.  I got ready for bed and was just about asleep when she woke up crying.  I went up to see what the problem was, thinking it was just a bad dream or something...but no.  She was upset because she thought I had forgotten to give her a hug and kiss when I got home.  I told her I had come up there, but that she was asleep and didn't notice me.  This made her very upset. 

When I put her to bed at night, I usually leave our dog Lucy in the bed with Lilly until I am ready to go to sleep.  So, I tell Lilly that I will give her a hug and kiss when I come up to get the dog.  She always insists that I wake her up so that she'll know I was there.  I tell her that I won't do that because then she might not be able to get back to sleep.

Our solution to this problem:

I put a stuffed animal on the floor beside her bed and I tell her that when I come up to give her a hug I will put the stuffed "friend" in the bed with her.  This way when she wakes up and wonders if I have been up to hug her all she has to do is look for the stuffed "friend" in the bed.

So far it has worked out great and honestly I hope I have many more years of putting a stuffed "friend" in her bed so that she will know I was up to check on her while she was sleeping.

She is Reading

We have been doing schoolwork off and on since Lilly was about 3.  This year we were pretty consistent with doing our preschool work until I received her kindergarten curriculum in the mail.  I began to look at it and realized that she knew a lot of the beginning stuff.  I knew I had two choices: a) I could go ahead and plunge forward with the kindergarten curriculum early and she'd be ahead or b) We could take a break from school work for a while and start as planned in August/September.  With all the uncertainties of the adoption process, I opted for choice b.  So, as it is, we are still learning every day, but just not sitting down to do actual school work. 

Here are some videos of her reading books we checked out at the library:

 

Houdini

Lately, Lilly has turned into a hider.  She wants to hide everywhere we go.  It started in the store - what a scary time for a Mommy when you look around and can't find your child anywhere.  Then, what a frustrating time when you realize they are hiding in the middle of the clothes rack.  I remember my brother doing this when we were little, but I can't remember how my mom handled the situation.  I didn't do much at the time, except to say no more hiding.

Then, there was the incident at church when I was working in a Sunday School classroom and turned around to realize she was gone.  I called for her, I looked for her and then it dawned on me that she was probably hiding, so I started looking behind things.  I found her, hiding behind the little kitchen in the classroom.  Again, I didn't do much about the situation, just said, "No more hiding."

Next, it was the car.  We drove to the store.  I got out of the car and went to open her door to let her out - no Lilly!  What?!  I look around to make sure she didn't get out and then I hear her hiding in the trunk of the car.  She had hopped out and jumped back there before I could open her door.

At the house, she hides and then when I call for her she doesn't come out.  I can usually find her but I do not like to play hide and seek all the time.

So, we finally had a talk about when and where it was ok to hide.  I explained that hiding is only good at home or when you are playing hide and seek with friends and that when I say come out, she has to come out.  After our talk, we played hide and seek.  It would have been more fun for both of us had Lucy not given away all our hiding spots.