What a day!

A sunny, pleasant day in Cincinnati brought us the pleasures of trying to ride bikes and scooters after lunch. It was fun and humorous putting Mayana on a small two-wheeler. We no longer have training wheels here, and we didn't expect to get to bike riding until March, so we weren't prepared for it. It doesn't appear that Mayana has ever tried to ride a bike before, but maybe a tricycle or something. She loved being held up as she tried to pedal around. (My back is killing me.)

Later we enjoyed a nice visit from a couple friends and prepared to finish chores and leave for the park. That's when everything went south. Mayana wanted to eat ice cream and play with beads. We wanted her to pick up her clothes and get ready to go to the park.
She did manage to pick up the items and put them away within a relatively short time. But despite our patience and kindness, the end result was tears, tears, and more tears, followed by extreme stubborness and excessive tears and snuffling that lasted a good hour and a half before it finally subsided. During that time she refused to be touched by anyone or comforted in anyway. (She topped the stubborness record in our house, long held by another daughter.) It was heart wrenching to feel so powerless to comfort her. Finally, she seemed to just wear herself out.

We held our collective breath and Mayana slowly regained her composure. What would be next? Soon, however, Mayana was again smiling and hugging, and we were sighing our collective sigh of relief. Dinner and the evening went very well. Mayana ate pizza and loved it, and we had lots of family time together before the kids settled in to watch Cars (in Mandarin, with English subtitles for my readers).

Mayana is now consistently, on her own, saying "Thank you" and "Sawwwrry." It sounds so cute that everything is quickly forgiven. We're struggling with "please" "help" "more" etc. She mostly points and grunts for things, even when she can say the words. I've been so focused on figuring out and meeting the needs (so important for trust building) that I've neglected the request to use language. I want to come to a good balance so as not to reinforce bad habits.

If you are still following, stay tuned, as I might actually post a bunch of pics soon.

Pam