All She Needs are the Boots

My Little Pony, for real

Ann and I needed some time to do heavy-duty cleaning and re-arranging here at the house today, so Grandpa Ken and Grandma Barb graciously picked Wynn up mid-morning. She had quite an adventure today - they went on a hayride, picked pumpkins and painted them, and Wynn got to ride a horse!

Apparently Wynn is something of a 'natural' in the saddle; she had excellent position and full control of the horse (Miss Chevious) from the get-go. Barb & Ken's friend who owns the horse said that Wynn was handling the reins properly all by herself - not needing any intervention - and with just a couple more hours' practice could be riding around solo. 

Tonight, Wynn's reading the Fleet Farm toy catalog and making the clicking noises you use in the saddle...

Our little girl is all business - wearing her Pony shirt of course. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie seem to approve.

What does a rock star do?

She's got the moves already...

She's so much like us

 Ann and Wynn realize they're wearing matching outfits for school.

After we tuck her in at night, she often likes to read quietly for a little bit and listen to her music. Several times last week I found her in a similar pose, fast asleep with (literally) her head in a book.

Loving Yinghua Academy!

Here she is Monday morning, at our front door in her uniform and ready to go to her new school.

Any worries we had about Wynn transitioning into Yinghua were put to bed Monday afternoon; she adores the place. This morning as I dropped her off, she was skipping all the way to the front door of the school. She has art and music classes several times per week, gym every day, an hour plus of math every day, and of course all the Mandarin she can drink in.  She's already begun showing off what she's learned; last night she wrote the characters for 1 through 6 for us, and then used wooden building blocks to make the symbols, too.

* proud Baba smile *

Friday afternoon I'll pick her up a little early and we'll go to her ear doctor for the post-surgical follow-up. She's not complained of pain at all over this past week - had some dry skin back behind the ear a couple nights ago, which Vaseline took care of. No fever, nausea, or any other complications, and she never needed the Tylenol with codeine that she was prescribed. (In fact, she only had a pain reliever Wednesday afternoon, and nothing since.)

She is one tough cookie.

I'm hoping she gets the all-clear to start swimming again Friday! I'm missing our Friday Family Swim Nights!

First Day of School, Take 2

When your first day of school is in late-September, you leave when it's dark out.

Snazzy new uniform, though...

Feeling MUCH better

The bandages were off Thursday morning and she had a wonderful time with her Grandmas Thursday and Friday. She did need more nap time these past four days, but otherwise she was active and up to her usual activities.

She's not reported any pain or nausea, and has had a normal appetite this whole time. She's taking eardrops three times a day to prevent infection, and we'll get a follow-up appointment scheduled in the next few days. She's got packing on the inside of her left eardrum which will dissolve over the next couple weeks; right now she's a little hard-of-hearing on that side because of all that stuffing. Outside, there's only a small patch behind her ear where they shaved off hair and a teensy scar; if you weren't looking directly at it you'd never see it.  We have to keep the area dry until the follow-up appointment, so we carefully wash her hair - and no Family Swim Time.  That's probably been the biggest disruption this weekend.

Ann and Wynn toured Yinghua Academy Friday afternoon and she got to meet her teacher.  The first day at her new school is tomorrow! Hooray!