Second Week Home: Doctors Appointments and Refereeing

So the past week we have been busy with getting into a routine and various doctor's appointments. We have been to see two plastic surgeons and met Mary's pediatrician. The next couple of weeks will continue to be busy as we try to get through all the requisition forms from the doctors. So far we need to go and get some routine blood work completed, check her immunization records with the public health nurse, have a set of x-rays of her legs, and get her hearing assessed. We are going to try to space out all these appointments over the next couple of weeks so Mary isn't overwhelmed.

The two plastic surgeons will work together to repair Mary's lip. We are now waiting for the surgeons to meet now come up with a game plan. Our surgeon today did say that he expects that we will have a surgery date sometime in January.

This week also coincided with Cory heading back to work (boo!). It has been wonderful having him home the first week back from China. When we came home last time with Sylvie, he had to head back to work two days after we got back. Thankfully we are mostly over the jet lag and are finally starting to get some good sleep at night.

So with Cory at work during the day, I have added a new task to my job description of motherhood - Referee. Yes, life with two toddlers is definitely interesting. Add one "only" child, and a second toddler with very limited English skills and you get some exciting times around here in the Drinkwater house. I'm still trying to figure out how to best handle their squabbles (and quell the occasionally biting), any suggestions are appreciated.

However, there are periods of time during the day where they do play very nicely together. Sylvie is so excited to have someone to play with at home. She is forever hiding and calling out "Baby Mary come and find Sylvie" (yes, she still talks in the third person). Mary is also very taken with her Jie Jie, she intently watches her play with every toy and copies her exact moves. We're trying to encourage Sylvie to make really positive choices since she has a little shadow, and feel lucky that Sylvie is generally pretty good most of the time.

Here's some pictures taken the other night of the girl's playing in a box - I love how toddlers can turn everyday objects into the most entertaining toys!