It has been almost a week since I blogged and another week has gone by. I can’t believe it. The first week was very slow. We were all getting used to each other and feeling each other out. This week has been more fun. Of course, we had a teenager issue to deal with, but I think we worked it out well and unless I see signs that things are still happening that we haven’t agreed to, I think Penny has learned we’re not as clueless as we appear to be! Parenting is definitely not for whimps!
Penny has cooked for us twice now, two different Thai curries. One she made for my birthday party. It was a good bit spicy to us, but she didn’t mind it at all. Tonight’s curry was milder. She took some down to the neighbor afterwards, so I hope they enjoyed it as well. She has a very generous heart and seems to like all of my adult friends, so I hope that she will find kids she enjoys and I’m sure she will be just as generous to them.
This week she got to experience the Fredericksburg Pub. She loved it there and thought the physical building was just beautiful. I was totally bummed that they don’t do trivia any more! But we had a nice meal with friends anyway. I also took her out to the Westmoreland Berry Farm today. I thought it would be nice for her to see a quieter part of Virginia. She found it “beautiful” and “peaceful”.
She continues to eat well. We go through literally pounds of grapes every week. I bought a bag on Sunday and it was gone by Sunday night. It cracks me up. She also buys a couple of bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies each week. This week she is sampling Milanos.
Her English is steadily improving. She brought an electronic dictionary with her, but it has not been working and we have been unable to make it hold a charge. Our neighbor who is an electrician is coming over tomorrow to have a look at it, and if he can’t fix it, we will go to a local bookstore and get a paper dictionary, which Penny’s mother told her to bring in the first place. That cracks me up—I never used to listen to my mom either.
We have cute miscommunications in addition to the ones that are obvious. Penny has a bout of sneezes every single morning, and as is the custom, I say “Bless you!” after every sneeze. I asked her, “What do you say in Thailand when someone sneezes?” Her response was “Achoo!” That just cracks me up.
Penny and I have been burning up the Wii playing Super Mario Brothers. We also have learned Phase 10, as I mentioned, and tonight I taught her Skip Bo. She loves Yahtzee and the C, L, R dice that you play with candy. She is a bit of a fiend and a card shark, so I have to keep a tight eye on her, but her glee is unmistakable when she wins.
I am making a list of movies she needs to see while she is here. She has never seen Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, It’s a Wonderful Life, Forrest Gump, and The Princess Bride. We started watching the first season of Lost. She says she does not want to watch it at night any more! But then she says she does not want anyone to know that because she wants to be thought of as brave! :-)
Appearances are a lot to Penny. Today she asked me if I think she sleeps too late. I said that I thought she was fine and she could sleep later if she wants to, but she said she is afraid it will be bad manners. I pointed out that I take a nap in the afternoons and that could be considered bad manners, which she vehemently disagreed with, so we agreed she can sleep however late she wants until school starts. I suspect that she will still get up between 8 and 9 just in case. She is also worried about what kind of friends to make and asked what kind of friends we want her to make. We just told her to trust her own judgment. I hope that she will start to form friendships when we go to the new student mixer, but I suspect she is like me in making friends slowly and deliberately. We’ll see!
This weekend coming up, Penny will have her first meeting with the AFS liaison. We will go bowling with friends on Friday. Next week will also be busy with an open house at school, my physical therapy appointments, a game group at the local library, and hopefully a trip to DC. I want to show her DC by Night, as I think the monuments and sites are impressive as hell at night. I need to convince her to stay up late. :-D
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