A day of firsts

Today I stayed with the girls all day while Alex went to work. The first time this happened last week, it did not go so well. We had just arrived and the girls were beginning another transition. We dealt with the issues the same as we did in Colombia, and things have begun to fall into place again just like they did there. Now that the girls have most of the relatives that live in the area, it was time to begin to introduce them to community and the community of Sun Prairie. After a late start of the day, and lunch at the Sun Prairie Culvers (when I first told them we were going to Culvers again they thought I was going to drive to Stevens Point, the first Culvers we had visited). It was on to a visit at Westside Elementary. It was great to see my old friends again and have them meet the girls. This was very special to me, and I later told the girls this. I told them that these were all good people, and that it was important for them to meet people they could trust in the community.

After this we went to the public Library were the girls got their first library card and checked out books for the first time. They got to meet the Bilingual Children's Librarian. I told her we would be coming to visit regularly... They did a great job finding books, singing their cards and standing in Line to check out their books.

We then proceeded to go to Target to spend gift certificates that their Aunt Laura had sent to them. This was a treat to watch. It was interesting to see how they made their choices. But The girls did a great job choosing their stuff, although Sucena was done in 20 minutes or so until she found the Polly Pockets. This was great for me, because we had not bought any toys yet. So it was great that they were able to do this. Thanks Laura for this. Later while the girls were going to sleep Mirellen said to me: " We had never had our money to buy our own toys, why do you think we chose infantile things, because when we were little we wanted things that we could not have and we always wanted them". Very insightful.. It's amazing how something that seems so little is so big to them... I was glad I was a witness to this..MM