Well, I haven't really slept in 5 days... I am possibly meeting my daughter for the first time today... and Mike and I are a mess with emotions. How do you meet your daughter for the first time? What do you even wear for something like this??? (retrospect, laughing at myself for even worrying about what to wear LOL)
Teresa told us that Maddi LOVES Peppa Pig. For those of you that just thought (like we did) "Peppa Who???" It's a character on a cartoon made by FisherPrice. Peppa is the older sister to her kid brother George. So, like any smart person... I march myself to Toys R' Us to educate myself in the land of Peppa Pig toys to buy "ammo" if needed for our meeting. We settled on a Peppa and George bath set and a plush Peppa Pig that sings lullabies and a good morning song. We also found a plush interactive husky dog named Belle that comes with a book about going to a new home. We thought that was a great tool to have Teresa start talking about going to a new home. (mind you, we still haven't even met Maddi yet lol)
We arrive at the church, and we meet up with Teresa and Maddi's Aunt Kaila in the hallway. Mike and I discussed me going in first by myself and seeing how that goes. Then Mike coming in after we had interacted for awhile. So, with my Peppa Pig and George bath time figurines in my pockets... I walked into the nursery to meet Maddi.
Maddi was playing at a table in the back corner with another child with her back to us.
Teresa called out to her and she turned around and looked at her and then looked at me, smiled and ran over. She ran to Teresa and hugged her leg as Teresa introduced us. Maddi hid behind Teresa's legs when I bent down to say hi... so I thought best to pull out the big guns... Peppa Pig to the rescue!
I said "Oh, do you know what I just found in my pockets?" (Maddi peeks out behind Teresa) "Well what are these?? Do you happen to know who these are?"
Maddi's eyes light up, she darts beside her grandma and exclaims "PEPPA PIG!!! LOOK PEPPA PIG!!!" (pointing for Teresa to look at what I had in my hands)
"Would you like to hold Peppa Pig?" (she nods a HUGE nod and takes them from my hand)
Maddi looked at the figurines in her hands and then back at me as I asked some open ended questions. She just nodded and said yes or no quietly...still not sure of my presence. Then she darted to a school bus a couple feet from me and we started role playing with it and singing "The wheels on the bus go round and round". At this point, Teresa has left the room and all the kids in the nursery were "all up in our business". LOL A couple kids wanted to sing with us, sit on my lap, and even gave me a few hugs!? Maddi kinda watched intently and sat closer to me while we all played together. Then we started a game of hide and seek with Peppa and George, where I would hide one behind my back and she would hide one behind her back. Then I said "You know who loves to play hide and seek? Mike! Mike, you want to play hide and seek with me, Maddi, and Peppa Pig?"
Mike comes in and the kids go crazy that he got right down on the floor and wanted to play so intently. They climbed all over him as he was trying to get to Maddi. LOL He pretended to look all over the room for Maddi and Peppa, as she was now hiding under a bench with Peppa, giggling with delight of fooling Mike.
I backed away once he started to get her involved with helping him build a house for Peppa and George out of blocks. I would join in, and we would play together... then Mike would back away, and we would play together... and then I backed away again. But before I backed away for the last time... I pointed out her shoe was untied. Maddi says "I do!" as she quickly dropped everything and started looping and crossing and crossing and twisting and carefully crossing a couple more times to "tie" her shoes. (cutest darn thing ever)
Not knowing how she would react to me touching her, I said Mike's shoe was untied, and that I would show her how to do it using his shoe. She watched intently while I talked about bunny ears and rabbit holes... LOL... and she went back to feverishly "tying" her shoes. Well, she gave up on her shoe and decided she was going to "tie" Mike's shoe. This is when I tested if she would let me touch her. I asked if I could help and I gently placed my hands over hers and showed her how to make the bunny ears and put the one bunny ear in the hole and pull. She cheered and looked up at me and went back to her shoe and wanted me to show her again on her's as well. We played a few other different things, but there was one moment that just stopped me dead in mt tracks...
I asked her if I could give Peppa Pig a kiss, and she said yes and held her up to my lips.... KISS! Then I kissed George as well. I asked if Mike could give Peppa a kiss, and she said yes again. As Mike leaned forward, he said "Yes, can I get a kiss too?" Maddi said yes again, but then leaned herself toward Mike and gave him a kiss on the lips...KISS! Mike told her thank you and she smiled at him. As soon as she looked away, his eyes darted to me as if to say "Was that okay!?" and I just laughed and shrugged LOL It must have been okay, or she wouldn't have done it!? (I'm now jealous because Mike got the first kiss)
Below are a couple of pictures of the "tying" of the shoes and a video of Mike and Maddi playing.
***When you watch the video, note 2 things (1) that we only met her an hour or so before this video. I was in awe of how much she warmed up to Mike and I so quickly. (2) We refer to ourselves and Mike and Courtney...Maddi (unprompted) right away started calling us Mommy and Daddy. She never called me Courtney to my face, maybe with Teresa when they were talking about us... and I only catch her using "Mike" when they are playing a role playing game, otherwise she always says Daddy.
Everything went so well, we decided to "go with it", and invited Teresa, her Husband Michael, and their daughter (Maddi's aunt) Kaila over for dinner at our house. We thought it would be great for them to see our home, see our community, meet our dogs, have a meal while we talked and played.
The story continues with more posts to come...but you will have to wait for tomorrow!!! :)
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