Cotillion.

JD and Clara get the Hero Awards for today. They played with Moses while I took a four hour nap. The last thing I saw before falling asleep was JD rubbing Moses' back after he woke up from a bad dream. Even though it's wonderful watching Moses enjoying a new home, it's just as wonderful watching the affect he's having on JD and Clara.

I'd heard from other parents that adoption had been good for their older birth kids, raising compassion, responsibility, and selflesness during a season of life that's often myopic. I'm getting to watch that happen now, and it's beautiful. This morning, I heard them sitting in the floor playing cars with their new brother. There sat a ten-year-old and a thirteen-year-old really getting into, "Vroooom, vroom, vrooooom!" If you've seen Toy Story 3, it was that scene at the end with Andy and Bonnie. In my living room! Amazing.

Tonight at dinner, we gave Moses his first etiquette lesson. We just feel like it's very important for a young man to know how to behave in delicate social dining situations. (Ahem.) Photo is attached.

If you know JD, you've probably already seen him do this with an empty donut box. I have no idea how his face stretches to such extremes, but it's hilarious. The rest of us have tried, but we aren't quite as good. (Our underground family Christmas card from two years ago shows the best we could do.) Anyway, we laughed a ton at dinner tonight. I wonder if cotillion offers family discounts?

Our entertainment for the evening is watching Bob the Builder in Chinese. I'm SO glad we bought that big set of DVD's for $10. I remember how it felt to be totally surrounded with a language you don't understand, and how good it felt to find an English movie on TV. Maybe this will be a little respite for him.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to cook some rice, I think. Moses seems just about DONE with sandwiches and bread. He was polite about eating whatever we gave him at first, but I can tell he's getting a little weary of the "weird food" here. I'm so thankful the trip showed me how that felt, or I wouldn't have understood it.

OK, better run... Bec