Eight and Almost Eight

Eva turned eight last weekend and had her party this weekend.  She was thrilled to explore Toys R Us for the first time and to get all kinds of presents.  She was happy to have a party.  And she had a few meltdowns.  The girl can go into a sulk in a split second.  I wonder if she might be an actress someday because she truly embraces every single emotion.  Whatever it is, she does it 100% (and fortunately, most of the time it's very happy and adventurous). 

She had her favorite foods-fruit, chips, and later-ice cream cake.

It snowed a couple of inches the night before the party, so the kids were stuck inside, but overall they seemed to have a good time.

I have other photos from my small camera, but we can't find the cord to download them, so I guess they'll just have to wait.

Now, on to Aidan.  He was quite miserable before February vacation-he hated Eva and wished she had never come to live with us (though he didn't actually wish her back to China).  He said she stole all of his friends, got him in trouble and everyone always believed her, and that life was perfect with just his parents and himself before she came.  So there was daily fighting, sulking, being mean, etc.  Then over vacation there was a transformation that became brother and sister vs. everyone else and occasionally it was Aidan and RB vs. Eva, but there was less of the out and out refusal to accept her.  (They play very well when they are alone, of course)  We're still working on that and I imagine we will be for a long time.  My little brother always had my first two nephews around and it is not easy.  Aidan finds it especially hard because he's very needy emotionally and more shy than Eva.  She's a pretty happy-go-lucky child  (except for the occasional body slumping sulk and tears) and she's pretty confident.

One good thing happened last week, though; Aidan said "I love you" to his father and when asked if he loved me, said, "Yuh."  He has never said I love you to either of us before.  When asked if he loved us, he would say that he loved Mangus, the dog.  That was safe.