Saturday, April 7, 2012

Spending Money

The other day our little princess was talking about me buying things for her and when I said I don't have any money her reply was yes the red card (my debit card) and made a sliding motion and a beeping sound! She said it had lots of money on it! Oh boy!!

Well she herself as earned quite a bit of money and while I did make her buy her own candy a few weeks ago decided it was time again for her to use her money!

We had just finished her book of Ivy and Bean and she wanted the 2nd one, I told her that Daddy and I would take her to the bookstore to buy it, but she had to pay for it, she was fine with that.  As she counted her money yesterday (while we had our social worker visit!) she realized she had enough money to buy 2 books!  So after our 3 month visit, breakfast at Denny's we went to the bookstore.  She found both the 2nd and 3rd books and then she found another sticker book she wanted, so we told her she would only have enough money for 2 books not all 3, she paused, and asked if all her money would be gone, we said yep.  At that point it hit her, she was going to buy 2 books but have no money left!   She put one Ivy & Bean back and said maybe she would get it the following week, the sticker book was still appealing though and she was very confused.  I reminded her of the sticker book she had at home that was huge and she had barely touched, so she decided that maybe this new sticker book could wait until next week too!  I had her pay for her book (no at this point I did not have her hand all the quarters to the cashier! I told her to use her dollar bills) she did great! counted them all out herself.  It was quite adorable!
But I am realizing that we do not have a set system for giving her money or doing chores, it is random between Duane and I, so now the system must begin!  I am not sure yet what it will be or look like, so any thoughts for a 7 year old's chores, please let me know! 
On a similar note, she HATES shopping! While we are doing it she is definitely all about getting things, but she never wants to go and after says it was awful...This is very strange for Duane and I as we both LOVE shopping!

Thursday, April 5, 2012

update

Ok, so I am finally updating!!  My days fly by so quickly!  Chaltu is growing, learning, adapting so well.  It is hard to believe that we have only been home for a little over 3 months, but then when I interact with her it seems like we have been home for so long!

Her language, all I can say is WOW!! I mean seriously, she is doing so well, although we did have an incident  at school where 2 girls were talking down to her and taking advantage of not only her limited english but her sweetness...the teacher handled it very well (so glad she is in that school) but she was pretty upset, they were talking to her like she was a baby and getting her to repeat things.  I just want to scream every time some one speaks to her like she is a toddler!  So does she!!

School is fantastic, her spelling skills and understanding of the words is awesome, she excels in math and seems to be doing great in everything else! 

Home...well she is very comfortable here, we did notice this week though that she is becoming a bit "bratty" if you will...so I am going to need to do a bit more structure and time for some more responsibility at home!! 
We are finally getting her to play in her room with her toys, she does not do this to much but when she does you can tell she loves it! 
She has grown- she is almost 50' tall and has gained 3 lbs, I think she had gained more, but I am so excited for this!  It is good to see her filled out.
While food is no longer a battle it is only because I don't make it one! She has added pancakes and waffles to her breakfast choices and now is in love with red potatoes, that is about it though! Oh well! She eats super healthy so I quit worrying about it.

She does know when to ask for things, she asks if she can watch tv, if she can have gum/candy...she is a very sweet and loving girl.  She loves Jesus and even started tearing up when we were talking about Holy week and his last few days.  Her heart is wonderful!
She still dances around the house 24/7 and sings!!

She is dying for us to adopt another (or a few) more kids!! She wants us to have a big family!
I cannot think of what else although I am sure there a billion things I have left out!
She is just a ray of light that I could not have ever imagined.  We are truly blessed that God gave her to us.