Sharing

Besides language, the thing we are working on the most is sharing. Our boys do pretty well in this department, but Alana is struggling. I noticed as a foster parent that the girls we cared for seemed to struggle with sharing more than the boys we cared for. Alana can be quite manipulative with Dylan. I will get out toys for them and after a short period of time, Dylan will have 2 or 3 of the toys and Alana will have a huge pile that she won't share with him. I intervene and even out the toys again only to have her sneak a big pile again within a few minutes. It is really quite humorous to watch her. There are times when she has something and Dylan REALLY wants it. I will sometimes try to find an equivalent toy for him to play with. Alana always decides she wants the new toy and tries to trade with Dylan. She has even gone so far as to knock the new toy out of his hand and then point to the ceiling to try to distract him while she grabbed it. I try to watch her closely to put a stop to most of this, but it isn't possible to catch her every time. I've already noticed that when Dylan gets a new toy he will usually start running in the opposite direction of Alana to make sure she doesn't get it. Oh, to be the little brother!




Have I mentioned what a tiny little thing my daughter is? She wore mostly dresses while we were in China and the size 3 and 4's I brought fit her fine. She is tall, so she really needs the length of a 4. She wears a size 3 or 4 shirt as well, but shorts and pants are a whole other story! This child has no waist! I had some size 4 shorts with elastic that would fall straight off her. I went back and bought size 3's, but the same thing happened. I went back to buy 2's, but they were out of them in pink. So, I bought size 18 month shorts and guess what -- they are still a little big!! Here is a picture of her in her 18 month shorts!





She is eating pretty well though, so it may not be long before she can wear some of her bigger pants. I'm holding off on buying much fall stuff right now to see how much she grows. I'm thinking she will probably need a 4 slim in pants. We'll probably also need to start buying a lot of belts!