Court, Potty training....

After court. Feeling tired.

Grace with her Junior Deputy Star

Grace being served her papers.

Waitng for Grace to be served.

Rice Play

House play

Gym time

Good-bye song

Art time

Well, today we went to the court building in Downtown Chicago (the Daley Center) and had our hearing to "readopt" Grace. In order for us to get an Illinois birth certificate, we needed to adopt her in Illinois. It's nothing serious. It was kinda cute in a stupid way. We had to be at the Daley Center by 8am, so that meant Brian and I were up before 5 to start getting ready. Grace heard us and woke up at 5:30. We were at the train station on time and caught the 6:30 train. It was a mile walk to the building. Wasn't so bad, except Brian's back is really bad and he was tempted to get a taxi. We went in up to the 17th floor and met our lawyer, who had us sign some documents. She then went down to the 7th floor and filed our petition. We then had to meet her down on the 7th floor and be served with papers. Actually, Grace was served the papers. It's kinda funny. Grace is the one that has to be summoned, so she is served the papers. The Deputy acutally gave them to her while our lawyer took a photo of her being "served". We then had to go back upstairs and wait while our lawyer submitted our paperwork to the judge. When it was our turn for court, we went in and were sworn in. The judge asked how we were doing, and noticed that we had been home with Grace for almost a year and said congratulations. He signed the documents and wished us a good day. That's it. As we were leaving, a deputy offered Grace a sucker. We waited outside the courtroom for a few minutes while our paperwork was finished , then the lawyer came out and gave us our copy and that was it! We were done by 10. So, now she has to get a letter from our agency (which she says will be a challenge because she hasn't had good experience with getting paperwork in a timely manner from that agency) and after she gets that paperwork, she will apply for a new Illinois birth certificate for Grace, which will take about three months. We paid one flat fee, and that covered all the work she will do for us.

So, I will post the pictures from court, we have a picture of her being "served". She also received a little Deputy Star after she was served. Then we have a picture of us standing by the window with a really nice church in the background that Brian took after court. We would have liked to get a picture with the judge, but he was busy and we didn't want to sit around until the other three couples went.

I will also try to post some pics I took of Grace at playschool. I took video there, and was able to freeze-frame a few of them for still pictures. I'll see how that works.

Potty training is going well, but right now it's more about "parent" training. She pees on the potty no problem, but pooing on the potty is a whole other story! I am usually good about sitting her down when I know she should go (right after breakfast and sometimes after lunch). I have been trying to keep her in underwear because the pull-ups were giving her...problems.

Gotta go for now. We have AWANA tonight at our church, and I teach the Cubbies! Grace gets to come along as a practice Cubbie, and I appreciate it because otherwise I'd need a sitter because Brian has docotor appointments on Wednesdays. Go red table!

School Time!

There are a lot of preschools in our area that have programs for 2-year olds. However, I was too lazy this spring (or maybe just not ready...) to register her on time. So, I still wanted her in a "class", so I contacted our local community center for a list of their classes. She's not old enough to enter their preschool program, but they do have a Playschool for two and three-year-olds. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we go to Playschool. Parents stay and participate. The first 45 minutes are free play. There are TONS of different toys. There are ramps for them to run up and down (Grace likes to actually run to the end and then jump off right into a pile of cushions), an airplane teeter-totter, a little play house, dress-up clothes, dolls, buggies, play vaccums, puzzles, oh, too much to mention! So, we play for 45 minutes (rather, she plays and I try to keep up with her!). Next, we clean up and gather in a circle for song time and snack time. Last, we go into the gym for gym time, or do an art project. It's an hour and 15 minutes max. It was really nice. She went to the first class, but missed the second because she threw up that morning. Nothing serious. She just had a ton of post-nasal drip in her tummy, and she had to get it out. I just kept her home to make sure it wasn't anything else.

I also wanted to get her into some sort of gym class or dance class. The only class our Park District offered for her age was a pre-gymnastics class. They learn about balance, rhythm, and such. It's cute. The class is about 45 minutes long, and the children go in the class by themselves, while the parents wait outside. Her first class went well, according to the teacher.

I will be taking a video camera with me for the next Playschool class and gym class so that I can get photos from them.

She is doing well. She started Sunday School again today. We had the summer off. She walked right in and grabbed a doll stroller. Didn't even glance back to say "good-bye". She does very well in classes and such. We hope it's because we don't make a big deal about it. The Sunday we were back, we took her to church and put her in the Church class for her age. Anyway....

We are looking forward to our fall and winter. We are very close to our one-year "Gotcha-Day" anniversary. She has gained about 7 pounds the last year, and grew about 6 inches or so. She is still having eating issues, but she continues to gain weight, and we are hoping that the eating problems are just a phase. There are other parents who bore their children that are having similar problems, so I'm not too worried at this point. I am sure I will write more next month, but for now I'll go. I'll post pictures of her in Playschool and Gym class next week....