WARNING: SOME OF THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT ELIZA!

(If you want to read about Eliza only, skip the first few paragraphs.)

It's Tuesday and we've had a run of 90 plus degree days here in NC. That's 90 with humidity! It's not pleasant. We generally have a short spring here, but c'mon...90 already? I seriously almost passed out during my tennis lesson on Saturday morning (which I love playing by the way) and felt sick during golf too...Derek and I got in 9 holes that afternoon...not a good idea, I thought I was suffering from heat stroke.

On Sunday, Allie and I played in the season's first "family golf"...Best Ball format. We didn't score very well, but we had lots of fun despite the heat. We were paired up with my good friend Marisa and her 7 year old son Jordan, who might end up being in the same grade/class as Meiying! Allie is just getting started so she's at that phase of becoming quickly defeated if she doesn't make good contact with the ball and thus easily distracted with thoughts of "what time is it", "I'm hungry", "I'm thirsty", "I'm tired"... She has a really good swing and would seriously crush the ball if she made contact. I finally told her to slow down though and think of a fluid dancer's move...WHACK!! She did it. We did play 2 of her drives from the junior tee's (thankfully, big advantage) and she sunk a long putt to make par for us on one much needed hole. I couldn't make a putt to save our life that day so we 3 putted just about all the other holes. And the golf Gods thought it was humorous to make us play out of the bunkers quite a bit too. Yeah, can you believe out of the 2 of us in a Best Ball format, the best we could do was come up with a sand shot? Allie learned how difficult that was once you stepped down into those bunkers with a high lip staring her in the face! I've been working on my short-iron game though and I'm actually starting to enjoy that now (bunkers, chip shots)...my coach-husband is very proud of his teaching! The horse pasture comes in handy for a driving range and our sand/riding arena is great for practicing those sand shots. I'll tell you tho, my mid-40 body just can't handle the hot temps like it used to unless I'm sitting in a pool and that's still a few weeks away.

To make matters worse, our A/C is not working AGAIN. Remember that from last summer? I think we just need to break down and invest in a new unit. This is the original unit to the house and every summer, we have to replace something very expensive on the unit. Not good timing w/ the adoption expenses. I'm expecting the repair man on Wednesday and we'll see what the prognosis is this year. In the meantime, we close up during the day and run the fans and open up the windows and doors at night (somehow, Mom, that worked growing up in upstate NY, not in the south though).

So, that leads to this post on Eliza...WHICH IS WHAT THIS BLOG IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT...SORRY FOR DIGRESSING. My princess E is still riding her bike like crazy and getting more daring; don't know where she learned these things (no hands, zig-zagging, going way too fast). She took lots of falls this weekend, but didn't cry once. She's a trooper. Her knees and shins are all black & blue! We bought 2 pairs of summer sandals (her first flip-flops) and a sandal version of hightops (gladiator jelly sandals, flashback to the 80's) that hopefully, she'll keep on her feet at school. She still has that barefoot obsession. The converse hightops were the only shoes she couldn't get off so we're hoping the gladiator sandals will replace those for the summer. She wore them to school today and I asked for a progress report at the end of the day so I'd know whether to buy some other colors (Walmart, cheap, but cute.)

In today's video, I wanted to show you all the progress she's making on saying "juice" just since last week. She's really working hard on this word. Also, in the video, you'll see her appear like she's rocking (which can be an autism stim, not for Eliza though), but she's not rocking...she's actually trying to push away from the table which is what she does if I don't respond fast enough to what she wants. The problem is, since the A/C isn't working, the humidity made everything sticky, including the floors, so her chair is NOT sliding no matter how hard she pushes. Ha, ha! She also keeps looking away from the camera (which can also be an autism thing), but in this case, she's more stunned and perplexed about why she can't slide her chair. I got a little chuckle out of it when I watched the video back because I know her so well and know exactly what she was thinking...that look that comes over her "Darn it, I'm not in control".

Her teachers told me yesterday that they had a little conversation in sign language with Eliza that went like this: Eliza signed that she wanted to "walk" (guessing to her next center or task). Her teacher signed "no, Eliza, sit and wait"; Eliza signed back "sit and wait" and down she sat. No words were exchanged, only signing. That's pretty neat! They were proud of her. They are such an amazing and gifted group of teachers. I can't tell them thank you enough. She's also been mimicking everyone like crazy. She loves to watch Super Why...especially the character Princess P. When Princess P says "wands up", Eliza holds her invisible wand up. It's hilarious. In the photos below, Eliza is watching the very beginning of Super Why and I'm trying to tell her we have to leave for school (I DVR-it so she can watch it after school). Well, enjoy and wands up everyone!