Smart as a Whip, I Tell Ya'

Note: I started to type this post last night, so it's yesterday I'm referring to here.

I'd been waiting around all day hoping to get some pictures to post along with my blabber today, but it seems impossible to find the time to actually pull out the camera, let alone upload pictures. So I figured I'd go ahead and write anyways. It's better than nothin', I guess.

It's been quite interesting around here lately. See, I think God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave my Chinese beauty a Latin mother. Because as everyone knows, what Latin mothers do best is feed their young. Actually, feed EVERYBODY - it's how we show affection. If we like you, we'll cook for you. And whether our cooking is actually good or not matters very little, it's the thought that counts.

So when this little cutie entered my life and I saw how incredibly tiny she is I felt, like my own mother would say, that the wind would literally pick her up and carry her away. And so that maternal thing kicked in and I decided I MUST feed her. After all, like I mentioned somewhere before, she only weighed 10 pounds more than my 2 year old, and that is just not cool.

And, yes, I understand people in China, in particular her province (Guangdong) are smaller on average. But even on the Chinese growth charts, her numbers aren't so great.

Well, Abby is no dummy. She picked up on my need to feed her right away. So, she decided to use it against me. As soon as she realized that school does not top her list of favorite things to do, she figured she would just hang around the table all day ever.so.slowly working through her meal, hoping to put off the inevitable. Because as soon as breakfast ended, it was time for school. And she knew Mom wanted all that food gone, even if it took a while. And so it did. A looooooong while.

So after trying all sorts of techniques to nip this in the bud, I finally hit the nail on the head this morning (with a little help from above, of course. All the good ideas seem to come from there). I gave her one hour to eat breakfast. When she wasn't done, she figured she was going to be sent to bed (done this in the past, but she'd rather be in bed than do school). I said, no, that's OK, we're going to go ahead and do school. Wish I had a picture of the look on her face! Priceless.

The amazing thing is, for someone who wants to avoid school so badly, she actually does an excellent job when she is doing it. She's smart as a whip. She's already reading four letter words without sounding them out, and her English amazes me more every day. But I digress.....

She did great in school, moved right along, and had finally completed every goal I had for the day by lunchtime. So at lunch I said "You're all done with school Abby. So when you finish lunch, you get to play." And I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat that fast. All she needed was the right motivation, I guess.

And now that she knows stalling at the table doesn't get her out of schoolwork, she's eating much faster. 'Cause she actually loves to eat!!!! Especially if Momma made noodles : )